Stock taking as the dust from the Old Trafford defeat settles

Its been nearly 7days since that debacle at Old Trafford...Much as i pride myself as an open minded gooner and never one to mouth-off stupidly on impulse when results don't go our way, i have to say i found it hard not to feel disappointed with our trip to Old Trafford. My Last post told its own story. I had posted that piece just minutes after the game and it reflected my exact feelings at the time..Many a seasoned bloggers will say the first rule in Blogging is ''Never post an article immediately after a loss''. Chances are you will post more out of emotion than sense and as a result sound like a Jilted lover. But on that occasion i went against that rule because like many of you out there i had hopes of a win! I had pictured myself posting a Celebratory Post, where i'd gloat my ass off  like a WWE wrestler would do after executing a Top rope spinning body slam on his opponent. It hurt to lose that game, and more so lose in the way we did but i guess in the context of the fact that only on few occasions in history had we ever had a good game up there in recent memory, do you then feel less pain.

The skipper on the day says it all in terms of how big a chance we blew. It definitely was a big opportunity to lay down the marker of our intentions this season but it appears the sheer size of the task ahead of us gave us a bit of  the proverbial ''Deer in the headlights'' syndrome and we froze. We have now had a week to endure the taunting of the Manc fans and pretty much everyone with any remote interest in our quest to end this trophy-less odyssey. Its not been fun for you guys, i can imagine but the season isn't over yet. Its time to stop licking our wounds and regroup for the challenges that lie ahead. You think those taunts sound bad? Wait till the season is done and we don't win anything (God Forbid). The players are professionals, but i'm willing to bet they get picked on too about Arsenal's trophy drought. It may come from their National team mates, personal friends, family members, or heck, even the bloody milkman for that matter. If there's any entity associated with Arsenal that wants this trophy matter ended ASAP its the players. That's what makes me confident that there's going to be a real fight between us and all the other contenders this season. I only just ask that we never allow ourselves cower under the weight of expectation surrounding a game, so much that it literally stifles our play and we end up not delivering anything close to our best on the day. I think why the game on Sunday hurt me so bad was because as i sat there watching the team in yellow shuffle around aimlessly in the first half and marginally better in the second half, i couldn't help but feel that  if only we could just produce 1/5th of what we are truly capable of we'd have blown United of the pitch.

Now its back in another wees time to face Southampton at home. I know the cliche that'll make the rounds about that time will be all about responding, but devoid of any delusion the Boss, Players and co have to realize that this isn't a chance that will present itself again so soon. We sit atop the premiership after our hard work and collective effort. Lets make the most of it and never again allow whatever nerves or self doubt we harbor in the Big games numb our strengths on the pitch the way that strange flu wiped out Per and Rosicky off the pitch.. ..later