Santa Is A Gooner

It was as if all our Xmases had come at once last weekend. Arsenal fans were positively airborne on route down Avenell Road for Saturday’s early kick-off, huge grins plastered across every Gooner gob, after Thierry Henry had pledged his allegiance in the morning papers. Some might accuse me of naivety for taking Titi’s revelations at face value. But it was wonderfully refreshing in these mercenary times, to read that one of the world’s greatest talents had for once prioritised his loyalty to the club’s cause, above that of his own selfish concerns.

It’s just a pity that Thierry didn’t put us out of our misery with his declaration of intent a few months back. He might’ve dispelled the demoralising cloud of uncertainty that descended upon the club, prior to our Premiership form taking a nosedive. Nevertheless, as they say, better late than never, since we are now over the proverbial moon at the prospect of being bedazzled for at least another season, by the most breathtaking player ever to don the red(currant!) & white.

There’s little doubt that we’ve enjoyed the most cultured pleasures from the prodigious footballing brains of Dennis Bergkamp and Liam Brady and there are other Premiership players with amazing attributes, who demand our respect. Yet despite the strength and low centre of gravity that gives him such balance on the ball, the likes of Rooney is a little rhino compared to the animalistic grace of Henry. In my humble opinion, for fans of ‘the beautiful game’ there isn’t a more awesome sight than Titi in full flight with a football at his feet.

Although he’s more like the “Where does he sit? Where ever he wants!”, 800lb gorilla, when it comes to murmurs from the Doubting Thomases in the media that the deal is far from done and dusted. Henry will get what ever he wants from the Arsenal. No matter how much it costs to keep him at the club, it’ll be a helluva lot cheaper than the far-reaching consequences, across the board, of losing our best player. Meanwhile most Gooners believe the superstar is such a “mensch” that his word is his bond.

The timing of Thierry’s announcement is interesting. Some are suggesting Le Prof might’ve persuaded him with details of his big spending plans. However while Arsène might be intending to splash out with the huge budget that is supposedly available to him, come the summer, up until now he’s always stuck rigidly to his principles of not buying players unless they are better than those he already has.

The cynic in me is wondering if Henry’s decision is a deliberate attempt to deflect the pressure for our manager to push the boat out in the January sales, so Wenger won’t need to waste money shopping for any of the nearly men that other clubs are trying to offload. Moreover how on earth could Arsène top the revelations that Titi intends to stay?

It will be interesting to discover to what extent Titi’s indecision has affected our form to date. Hopefully we’ll witness a marked improvement as the team returns to playing the sort of carefree football we’ve grown accustomed to in the past and our captain will start doing the business again with the same incredible consistency of the previous three seasons. Perhaps our other problems will also melt away. We might be lacking the leadership qualities necessary to grab a game by the scruff of the neck and turn a result around. But this isn’t nearly such a crucial factor when you are a couple of goals to the good.

There was some evidence of a reaction on Saturday. The Arsenal combated Cardiff’s attempts to kick us up in the air, by moving the ball around far too quickly for them to be able to get anywhere near it. I guess the two early goals knocked the stuffing out of the visitors, but I was so looking forward to the thrills and spills of a combative Cup encounter, that to be honest I was a little disappointed by the Bluebirds lack of bottle. Basically we cruised into the 4th round and another bloomin’ brawl with Bolton at the Reebok, without really breaking sweat.

With their abysmal reputation, the 7000 travelling Cardiff fans are hardly the most affable bunch. Yet I was almost happy that they at least had something to cheer about, when their side scrambled home a late consolation goal. Although I would have much preferred for us to build on the confidence of a 5th consecutive clean sheet.

They’d been chanting “on the pitch” but mercifully only one maniac actually carried out this threat and they soon changed their tune, with the feint possibility of pinching a late equaliser. But the Gunners took the sting out of the last few minutes, demonstrating the gulf in class with a game of keep ball that left Cardiff chasing shadows. Considering our complete domination, it would’ve been more than a little farcical if they’d forced a replay.

Yet if I felt denied a sufficiently satisfactory fix of FA Cup adrenalin, I didn’t have to wait long, as we were treated to the coverage of a fabulous live encounter between Luton and Liverpool later that evening. Then after Roy Keane’s Celtic debut was ruined and Man Utd were held to a draw by the non-leaguers the next day, our FA Cup weekend was brought to a perfect climax savouring Spurs capitulation at Filbert Street.

After hearing the Scousers taunts on TV the night before, I couldn’t resist texting all my Spurs pals. I swear it was as if the Foxes fans heard me as they started singing the second I hit the send button “2-0 and you f***ed it up”. The poor long-suffering Lilywhites, they were just beginning to grow a little cocky about Jol’s side avoiding the usual mid-season collapse. Suddenly it’s only January and all hope of any silverware has evaporated for another season, after conceding late cup goals against lowly Grimsby and Leicester.

Never mind the supposed shift in the balance of power, next thing you know we’ll be leapfrogging Spurs in the league and the North London divide will be restored to Grand Canyon proportions from a Gooner perspective!

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