Arsenal's season overview- High drama, humble defeats, fairytale comebacks, return of the legend and finally Champions League football!!

For most of the fans, Arsenal’s season summed up in three letters- RVP! Although the significance of Van Persie cannot be ignored, there was much more to the season than just RVP.

Arsenal opened the season with their worst Premier League start ever- gaining just 1 point of the first 3 matches, which also included a 0-2 loss at Emirates against Liverpool and the heartbreaking reverse scoreline of 2-8 against Man Utd. It was needless to say that the departures of star players like Fabregas to Barca and Nasri & Clichy to Man City only proved drastic for the squad!

However the result at Old Trafford did act as boon disguised in bane. Arsene Wenger- the shrewd buyer in the transfer market made 5 last day signings in the likes of Benayoun, A. Santos, Arteta, P.C. Young and Mertesacker! However this too didn’t help much as we lost 4-3 against Blackburn at the Emirates and left with a bitter taste of defeat against our rivals Tottenham, losing 2-1 away. Pundits termed us a mediocre team and predicted us to struggle finishing in the top half!

Nevertheless, results did take a positive turn as we secured victories in the Champions’ league group stages against Olmpiakos and Marseille. Back in the league an astonishing 5-3 win at the Stamford Bridge changed the course of the season of us. Robin Van Persie scored a brilliant hat trick in the thrilling come back!!

The Carling cup run ended for us as we lost the quarter finals against Mancini’s expensively assembled Man City. On the other hand Robin van Persie continued his goal scoring exploits and fell just 1 goal short of Alan Shearer’s 36 goals in a calendar year. However, he did surpass our club legend- Thierry Henry’s record of 34 goals in a calendar year. Arsenal ended December on a high with victories against Aston and Rangers and fighting for Champions League places.

The year started with a fairytale homecoming of our club’s greatest legend ever! Thierry Henry made a shocking return to his ‘home’ as he was signed on a short term loan from N.Y. Red Bulls! And he did come back in style as he scored the winner against Leeds in the FA Cup! Gooners and Premier League fans around the globe witnessed one of the greatest comebacks of a hero in true Hollywood style!

However, we fell short of victory against our old rivals Utd as we were beaten 1-2 in our own backyard. Well maybe, the revenge of 8-2 loss wasn’t on cards so soon. Nevertheless, we did bounce back with victories over Villa and a 7-1 thrashing of Blackburn which included a hat-trick from RVP, a brace from the future star Oxlade Chamberlain and a goal from our club Legend- Henry!

Gunners secured another late come back as we came back to defeat Sunderland 2-1, courtesy another winning goal from none other than Thierry Henry! His loan spell indeed proved fruitful as it raised the morale in the dressing room and also helped score vital victories!

Although, the joy didn’t live too long as Gooners witnessed one of the saddest Champions’ League night ever in the form of 4-0 thrashing received by AC Milan in the knockout round!! We were well written off from Europe and also the qualification of Champions League as were trailing by 11 points to our fiercest rivals- Spurs! Gunner fans were even mocked that there won’t be a St. Totteringham day this season!! L

Then, came the turning point of our season. Trailing 2-0 against Spurs inside 40 mins at the Emirates, not even the most ardent of Gooners must have had much hope. But, goals from Sagna and captain Vantastic inside 3 mins put us level at half- time. The second half of the match summarized our whole season we fought back to win the match 5-2 which included a brilliant brace from Walcott and a goal from resurgent Rosicky! The match truly summarized our whole season. The way we would fight back in crucial matches and against all odds come up higher than expected!

The defeat of Spurs started a run of comeback wins for Arsenal as we defeated Liverpool 2-1 and just fell short of a goal of making way to the Quarters of UCL, beating the Rosonerri 3-0!!! The win against Spurs also triggered a run of 9 consecutive victories including one against eventual league Champs, Man City.

This brought us to touching distance with our bitter North London rivals. Well, it seems Wilshere was bound to win his bet against the Spurs fans! By gaining a point against the likes of Chelsea and Stoke, helped us cement our 3^rd place position!! Well, we started the season in the bottom five!!!

A last day comeback (we’re so used to it) against WBA helps us finish 3^rd at the end of the season, above our bitter foes- Spurs!! St. Totteringham’s day finally did arrive, although a bit late. Wilshere won his bet- Spurs forever in our shadows as they say!

The season was quite a roller coaster for the Gooner fans with high drama, the Hollywood return of our club legend, fairytale comebacks, and late goals to secure victory, the goal scoring exploits of our captain Vantastic, the emergence of new star player Oxlade Chamberlain, Sczesny establishing himself between the posts which is quite a relief!!

So, it was the 7^th season for our club to be trophy less! But, does it mean that the season was a failure?? Well, arguably not at all. Considering our poor start and the position we finished, our season was quite a turn- around!! Finishing 3^rd against all odds and securing Champions’ League football for the 13^th consecutive season is no small task. And maybe Le Professor has finally learnt his lessons. The early signing of Podolski and the possibility of Yan M’Vila is sure to reap its rewards next season! There is just one uphill task in the off season- securing the services of our Captain Vantastic (the PFA footballer’s award winner for the season) in a long term deal!!!

    

El classico

Ever wondered why is the Barcelona against Real Madrid fixture termed as 'El Classico' ? Of course, there are also other great rivalries like the Milan derby, Liverpool against Man Utd, Arsenal against Tottenham and the list goes on. But then too, its only when the top 2 Spanish teams face each other, it is called the 'Classic' match. Any doubts about why the fixture is called "El Classico" must be cleared after last sunday's breathtaking display at the Camp Nou. Barcelona proved their Champions Stature with a 5-0 thumping of Mourinho and Co. Apart from Barca's supremacy, the match proved to be a real epic encounter as sparks flew between the players. The field was witness to almost the whole of Spanish World Cup winning team- 7 players in Barcelona shirt and 3 in the Madrid shirts. In spite of the wonderful chemistry displayed by the same players during the World Cup, the match gradually took an ugly turn. 


The first brawl took place when Christiano Ronaldo shoved away Pep Guordiola for not giving him the ball for a throw in. This incident saw Victor Valdes running half the pitch and give C.Ronaldo a piece of his mind. Even the usually composed Iniesta was up against Madrid's no. 7. Among these was one of the best Right Backs of the league- Sergio Ramos, who dint have a night to remember. Ramos was the main culprit during Barca's 2nd goal and defended poorly throughout the 90 mins. After a series of bookings, fouls and a scorecard which displayed a humiliating 5-0 scoreline, you must have guessed that one of the players was bound to walk to the dug out earlier than expected. And so it did, Sergio Ramos was send off in stoppage time after a challenge on Lionel Messi, which saw all the 22 players gather around the scene. After losing his cool for being send off, Ramos did the unexpected. On the receiving end was the soul of Spain and Barcelona's defence. Ramos slapped the face of Carlos Puyol which threw him in the air and saw him animatedly fall on the pitch. and to add to this, Ramos even shoved away Xavi hernandez who was already substituted. Can't imagine these were the players wearing the same shirt during their nation's road to glory. Wondering when was the last time u saw a Rooney slapping a Terry or a Lampard bashing up Gerrard??? 


Its not only the brawl between the players, but the result too caused quite a stir. The match was supposed to be closely fought. It ended as 5-0 in Barca's favour. I can bet that if a 100 people would have been asked to predict the results of the match, only 2 people must have gone MOCKINGLY for a 5-0. Apart from this another aspect which adds fuel to this fire fixture is the completely contradictory football philosophies of these two clubs. Barcelona FC, a club which evolves itself over the years with home grown players and upcoming youth starlets. On the other end are the Capital's giants- Real Madrid. Their spending over the years must be more than the spendings of rest all of the clubs in the league!! Large fortunes in turn demand instant success. Another contradiction between these sides is their playing styles. Barca always have a Pro-Active approach towards the game. The usually have the lions share of possession with complete domination in midfield. And the don't care about their opponents playing styles, they always impose their beautiful passing game upon the opponents. Mourinho, on the other hand, has a Reactive approach towards the game. He studies the opponents style carefully and accordingly plays his game.

 By now you must have realised why is Barcelona v/s Real Madrid called "El Classico" i.e. The Classic of the season. And last Sunday night really did prove it to be a classic as Barca and Madrid are just like the poles of the earth. To end it on a personal note, I don't think even the Gods of Football would have been able to defeat Barcelona that night!!!