Its a beautiful day in Lasgidi. The Sun is up and its as bright as i'v ever seen it since returning to my home country after a sojourn in the Queen's land. Mondays&Tuesday usually have nothing surrounding them to be happy about, but this week has been an exception. I'll have you know we love football down here, and maybe the sweetness in the air isn't unconnected to the heartwarming win recorded by the Super eagles in faraway Ethiopia. Watching that game,i couldn't help but feel sorry for the hosts. 1st half, they played some quite impressive football. Their movement, skill and technical savvy left the eagles looking lost all over the pitch. The Ethiopians as a matter of fact played a bit like Arsenal used to in 2007/2008. But in the Eagles, they were up against an experienced side and eventually found out fancy football is nothing without end product.
Speaking of which, iv sometimes asked my self. What on earth has kept me a Gooner all these years? through all the tears,disappointments, talent departures and yes that Carling cup Final? We have definitely had it rough of late haven't we? I recall sitting in my seat at Wembley in the Carling Cup final 2011,dejected and heartbroken asking myself why i even bother..It was the lowest point in my Arsenal supporter-ship life and it wasn't funny at all. Like many out there, i had hoped that trophy would help us kick-on to better things that year, we were 2nd on the table behind United by one point at that time and still in the F.A and Champions league,but to have seen it all crumble like domino almost destroyed me. But we all pushed on, and kept on hoping that one day we'd overcome our challenges and win something again. Hoping that even though we knew our Love for the Club would never die,we wondered was there a chance we would ever be able to smile again at a Trophy?
I had also asked a few other gooners what is it about our club that sets their heart racing? Is it our history, our style of play, what exactly? Is it even the Manager? That's not a joke, as there are some young gooners that have known no other manager than Wenger. For a long time, it was the style of play we had come to adopt under Wenger that did it for me. The invincibles team when firing on all cylinders were simply a delight to watch. Henry on the right, Reyes in the middle, Pires on the left , Ljunberg in the hole all combined to form a devastating attack quartet that ran all opposing defenders ragged. The synergy and understanding between those guys was sheer magic. Goals always came with ease, as it was a rarity all 4 would suffer bad days at the same time. Deeper down the field were Vieira, Gilberto, Edu, and Ray Parlour. A mixture of Power, graft and stamina that was as effective as it was reliable. One indelible sight stuck in my head is a young Patrick Vieira ghosting past people in midfield with his long legs galloping like a wild horse in the wild. Box-to-box he was unstoppable and in him we had a leader we could rally around when push came to shove. And then our Defence, with Toure, Campbell, Cole, Keown and Lauren. All Lion hearted toughies who went into games with that Gladiator spirit. Micheal Owen paid tribute to them in a recent article stating how hard it was for him as a Liverpool young star to face that defence. Those truly were the days. Even in the years after the invincibles, players like Hleb, Rosicky, Nasri, Fabregas, and Van Persie have all passed through and played their roles in entrenching this style of play that has won us plaudits Globally. A sense of pride always overwhelms me when our style is mentioned as a distinguishing factor amongst Europe's elite and we have the manager to thank for that.
Being a Gooner is a decision i made happily and chose to stick with. I have seen many others with lesser stomach for the years gone by give up and denounce the club. No one should bare them any grudge, each to their own. But this season we have for the first time in a while started the league strongly. Everyone is talking us up and the runaway fans are starting to find their way back. One look at the EPL table and a nostalgic feeling fills the senses. You get the feeling, that's' where we belong not only just now, but come May 2014. The board must take a cue from this and empower the boss to strengthen the team in January. We remain one world class striker and a central defender short of being a complete team. Similar additions of the caliber of Ozil will ensure we remain in contention by the season end and hence stand a chance of ending the trophy drought in grand style. It was worrying seeing the fans react the way they did after the Aston Villa game. I was among those who didn't see those reactions as just rants. The fans actually were correct to voice out their frustrations. They Love this club and want to see it succeed not struggle. Its great to be a Gooner on any day, we have class in the way we do our things both on and off the pitch. And you know what, i think rival fans have a healthy admiration for us even if they would never admit it openly.
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