The Nature Of The Beast
May 13th, 2007 by 'holic
So a season of frustration has ended with one last gasp twist. Nothing too dramatic you understand, but a penalty gave Liverpool third place, or to be more accurate, two penalties gave Liverpool third place.
The Gunners arrived on the south coast with their third choice goalkeeper, six defenders, three midfielders and Julio Baptista, who remains impossible to classify to an audience that may include the young and impressionable! On the bench were five kids who had answered an S.O.S. on Southsea beach before the kick-off.
In fairness this curious assembly put together some typically slick Arsenal passing moves and if Baptista was genuinely a ‘beast’ the visitors could have been a goal or two to the good at the break. Typically though, Julio betrayed his nickname.
After heading a Fabregas free-kick wide when it seemed easier to hit the target, the Brazilian saw his penalty saved by David James when Primus upended Eboue in the box. It’s been nice knowing you Mr B, mind your head on the way out!
The second half was all about Graham Poll’s parting gift to the Premiership. Kranjcar finally got one past Poom with little more than twenty minutes remaining. Poll was happy enough to award the goal until persuaded to consult with his assistant and rule the effort out for offside.
So with Liverpool surprisingly behind to Charlton at Anfield it looked as though we had climbed into a position I saw described this morning as ‘runners-up to Manchester United and Chelsea’. A last minute Kewell equaliser from the spot denied us even that small crumb of comfort.
Elsewhere, Sheffield United discovered that you can be outside the bottom three for as long as you like, but it is a really bad idea to fall back in there on the last day. Are you really sorry to see the back of Neil Warnock and his team? No, me neither.
So that is it. The summer really does start here. I have one or two ideas about features to fill the page when the transfer speculation defies comment. Other than that it just remains me to thank you for coming to visit me in growing numbers as the season has progressed.
Stay tuned for another load of old ‘holics in the close season.
3 Responses to “The Nature Of The Beast”
Yes I also took a certain smug satisfaction from Sheff Utd going down. That lot of cloggers and hoofers won’t be missed. It still leaves Chris Morgan playing a couple of leagues above his natural ability though.
It’s such a shame about the Beast not working out for us. He really would have offered us a plan ‘C’ upfront but it wasn’t to be.
I would really love to see this team pay off to justify Wenger’s faith. We’ve seen little snippets of what they can do when they click, but they’ve just had no luck. Surely we have good luck in the bank for next season after what we’ve been through this season?
I think the good luck needs to be complemented by a couple of astute signings Passenal, but yes, I would love to see it too.