Life’s too short to stay sober

It's 6.40am and I may well just start preparing for work, as with those who caught the game.

First thing's first, we always knew that those missed chances in the first leg would come back to haunt us. On the 9th minute, it did, thanks to some slack defending. What a way to concede.

Wenger said before the game that Arsenal will attack. Uh-huh I say. I can't recall any clear cut chances. There weren't even missed chances seriously. It was like he fielded the exact team which loved the 4 goalless draws in a row to get a draw in Rome. Well, a draw would have sent us through without all the hassle of extra time + penalties but SRSLY, gosh. If we thought the team would be more purposeful playing in Europe I guess we've all just been proven wrong.

Eboue for all his troubles and attempts at redemption, was silent throughout. Either he was intimidated by the size of Roma or he didn't want to get involved in any incidents which might just send his crowd meter back to -832740738490. Maybe I should be thankful that for a lack of incidents rather than something similar to Sp*rs.

I suppose after some thought I can understand why Wenger played Robin and Nicky. Roma are huge. But the midgets of Arsenal who are full of craft can wrongfoot a giant and cause all sorts of problems. Vela could be one of them after his fantastic performance midweek. But sometimes, all these don't really matter since we're through anyway, right?

It's just those nerve wrecking moments we all had to go through. And how we knew very well that had chances in the first leg not been missed, we wouldn't be put into such a situation. It's like painful.

Then there's Totti. I used to love him, dating back to World Cup days. Now he's an absolute twat. Ass. He owned Denilson through dirty means. 180+30 minutes of dirtiness. I believe him, as the bloody captain, would take on the responsibility of carrying the team on his shoulders etc etc etc. But he's such a cunt. If I never have to watch him play again my world would be merrier.

It's a good thing we're through. And the team can watch Manuel Almunia's time in goal during the shootout and be more motivated to win the damn game in normal time. He is absolutely attrocious. The only consolation is that Doni is too. ManUre have Edwin Van der Sar who owns penaties. He has won trophies on penalties. When was the last fucking time anyone ever had a 7-6 shootout? It's times like these you know you miss Mad Jens. Before the dude even steps up to take the kick he puts them off in every way possible e.g. dispute that ball not on the spot, shouting at the player, shouting at own player etc etc etc. And I guess that works. Except that I think Almunia tried to put of one Julio Baptista and it didn't work. Fancy facing 2 different beasts in consecutive games. (Burnley's keeper is also nicknamed the beast) Also, he totally screwed up that chance which would most certainly put Roma through. Like when Eboue comes on during a nil-nil to try and change the game to a win, I know with my entire being that it's a freakin lost cause. When Baptista came on I knew we would win somehow.

But of course, we didn't in normal time plus extra time. So I guess he his made it remain status quo the same way Eboue does. They're in the same league.

Dudu didn't take his penalty as well and it's not something we expected from him since he totally has the calmness to stay cool. But it's ok, the rest of the lads showed composure and converted it all till one of Roma's lost it. Comments on BBC thinks Max Tonetto could be the name of the next super ice cream. Is conetto Italian? I only know they're all made in Malaysia.

Attention shifts to the league now. Martin O'Neil took this opportunity to bring his Villa team for a R & R plus training in Dubai. So now they're heated up by the sun for the season's run-in. I suppose he didn't learn from Moscow where they threw the game in favour of the league and then managed to throw away a 2-0 lead in the last 4 minutes and then getting owned by Man City. Look at Arsenal when players are rested. Nasri was bollocks. Denilson as usual. Van Persie just wasn't creating. Bendtner was back to normal. Normal being bad.

So. resting players can be a bad horrible thing. I hope it's a bad horrible thing for Villa. Blackburn beat Fulham and we face them next. Fulham like owned us in the nil-nil game and then they got creamed by fucking Man Utd in the FA Cup and now Blackburn too. People up their game against Arsenal but Arsenal do not always up their game at all.

Arsenal is supposed to be exciting and the players knew what to do on the counter attacks. The final balls into the final third were supposed to be quality. Now it's all rubbish and I only have one word: lacklustre. I guess Arshavin does bring a different dimension to the team but he's freakin cup-tied. Without him the team went back to normal i.e. cannot score, except that this time the defence went back to being sloppy.

Goodness gracious.

I thought the learning curve could apply. It's upward sloping LAH. When will the fans stop being disappointed? I suppose for now most of us are just thankful to be through. Whatever lies ahead doesn't sound like great fun though. The funny thing is, there isn't any Italian team in the last 8 and 50% of the teams are English. Septic Blatter will have much to say.

P.S. I wish all travelling fans safety from vicious Roma fans.

Labels: Almunia, Aston Villa, Eboue, Roma

A Little Drunken Madness @ 6:39 AM