Arsenal Gooners Diary 2002/3


Previously:
Our Cup Runneth Over	Mon 12 May
It is ironic that I spent the last few months of the season praying for Robbie Pires or Freddie Ljungberg to start producing the sort of superb supporting role performances that saw us storm to the title last season.

Life Can Be Oh So Kewell	Tue 06 May
Don't get me wrong, I am not about to slit my wrists. After all we should be more than used to playing second fiddle to our far more affluent Northern nemesis.

Pressure Drop But Hope Springs Eternal!	Wed 30 Apr
2-0 up and delirious after biting my nails in frustration for the entire first-half at the Reebok, I'm sure I wasn't alone in hoping we'd go for their throats and achieve the sort of margin which would insure our goal difference against the drubbing I expected Utd to inflict on Spurs the next day.

Yet Another Sunday Doze At The Theatre Of Dreams	Tue 15 Apr
Tomorrow's titanic encounter has loomed large in the fixture list for a long time. It's odd that the outcome of a marathon thirty-eight game season might all rest on a single result.

April Showers?	Wed 09 Apr
Considering it has been four years since Man Utd beat the Scousers at Old Trafford, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by their victory on Saturday.

Coming Down To The Wire? The Water's Luvverly!	Mon 31 Mar
With the injured Arsenal trio's absence from the England v Liechtenstein match and no live broadcast of Brian Kerr's baptism of fire in Georgia, I was suffering from the delusion of a starvation diet of sport for the first weekend in several months.

Lest We Forget!	Tue 25 Mar
Bound for Valencia, I was sitting on a plane to Madrid when I first noticed the 'Squeaky Bum' headline on the back of my neighbour's tabloid. It wasn't until I cadged a look at the article that I realized it was a quote from Fergie. Talk about the pot calling the kettle brown.

A Chance To Pay Our Dues And Put The Inevitable Bad Result Behind Us?...Or The Beginning Of The End?	Mon 17 Mar
Saturday's result at Blackburn must have been a bit of a bombshell for the Irish bookie who has paid out somewhat prematurely on the Arsenal winning the Premiership and for all those who seemed to assume the last quarter of a season was nothing more than a formality.

Making Whoopee In the Mestalla Or Sinking In The Mire?	Thu 13 Mar
Positively the best thing about the FA Cup is the increased allocation of away fans. Giving one end of our ground to the opposition usually ensures that the draw will throw up games which generate the sort of atmosphere so rarely seen at Highbury since the advent of all-seater stadia.

You Can Keep Your Coffee Shops, Clogs And Edam Cheese, I'll Take Charlton Any Day	Mon 03 Mar
Increasingly over the past decade we have witnessed the TV tail wagging the football dog. As a result, these days the traditional 3pm kick-off on a Saturday afternoon has become the rarity rather than the norm.

What Goes Around Comes Around	Mon 17 Feb
Despite the accompaniment of several alarms to Saturday morning's dawn chorus, set at ten minute intervals from 6am and strategically placed to ensure I had to struggle out of the sack to silence them, we still managed to leave for Manchester an hour later than intended.

A Taste Of Spring On Tyneside	Mon 10 Feb
I felt like a bit of a spoilt kid, whining about wanting another ice-cream after a wonderful day at the seaside, but like all the other Gooners descending the seven flights of stairs from our seats in the gods at St. James Park, we were all definitely a little down in the mouth.

Hunger Strikes	Fri 07 Feb
With travel plans to coordinate, tickets to St.James Park, Old Trafford, the Amsterdam Arena to worry about and trains, planes and automobiles to organize, the possibility of dropping points in a home banker against Fulham was the last thing on most Gooner minds.

Theatre Of Dreams Revisited, But Whose Dreams and Whose Nightmares?	Tue 28 Jan
Bryan Robson has never been my favourite player. He certainly wasn't my Man of the Match on Monday. I'd started writing that morning and left myself with a paragraph to comment on the Cup draw. Then Pallister and partner went and pulled Utd and Arsenal out of the hat.

Going Down With Lee Bowyer	Sun 26 Jan
The heavenly fare on offer at Highbury these days has ensured that our games are frequently featured live, via satellite TV. We Gooners regularly feast on such delicious haute cuisine that I would hope fans of the game in general are delighted with this arrangement.

Swords Drawn & Time To Sort The Challengers From The Also Rans...	Tue 14 Jan
....and for the rest, as always, there's always next season. Tantric sex might not be my particular cup of lotus blossom, but when it comes to synchronicity, I think Sting might be on to something.

It Won't Just Be Our 'H's That Get Dropped Down In 'ampshire	Mon 06 Jan
Apparently Oxford Utd had the ball in the back of the net after only 58 seconds. Thankfully this extremely unsporting attempt to score before I'd even settled in my seat was ruled offside.

All We Want For Christmas Is Plenty More Boxing Days	Wed 01 Jan
Condemned to their parsimonious regime over Christmas, I doubt the majority of players would agree with my sentiments, but the crowded Yuletide calendar usually has me salivating with the prospect.

Will The Real Freddie Ljungberg Please Stand Up?	Wed 18 Dec
Doubtless it was intended to drum up some calls from demented football fans, as is regularly the enraging wont on these radio phone-in shows.

Downhearted Before Derby Day? - Not Bloody Likely!	Wed 11 Dec
Hopefully by the time you read this, our roasting at Old Trafford will be a rapidly receding bad dream. I only pray a hangover from the weekend doesn't leave us undoing all the hard work done in Rome.

Venimus, Vidimus, Vicimus	Mon 02 Dec
In view of the aggravation and expense of the arduous detour after missing my flight to Dortmund a few weeks ago, I didn't dare go to sleep last Tuesday night. As always I still managed to make a meal of getting to the airport on time for the 8am departure to Rome.

A Saturday Afternoon On The Premiership Hard Shoulder	Mon 25 Nov
Ever since the football bug bit Grainne big time when we first brought her to Highbury, she has been making annual pilgrimages from Dublin to The Home Of Football. However when Róna's sister arrived on Thursday she hardly expected to be making the trip with us to the South Coast on Saturday.

Bring 'Em All On	Mon 18 Nov
If there is a more breathtaking sight in this beautiful game of ours than that of Titi Henry on the burst with the ball at his feet, carving his way through the crisp November air, like a hot knife through butter,

Business As Usual	Tue 12 Nov
As a result of the daylight robbery of all three points in the corresponding fixture last season, Graham Poll is one of the only referees who is so vilified, that he is the subject of his very own ribald rhyming couplet on the terraces at Highbury.

We Came, We Saw, We Qualified!	Tue 05 Nov
Like most of my fellow Gooners, I'd hardly given the Worthless Cup a first thought, let alone a second, before the balls were being thrown into the hat for the fumbling formalities of the 3rd round draw.