Sunday 12 May 2013

It's Not Easy For An Arsenal Fan To Cheer Stoke

This has been far from a vintage season for Arsenal, but the next week will decide their fate. All they have to play for is a place in next season's Champions League, but that's a prize worth winning. With it comes plenty of money from television as well as gate receipts and sponsorship money.

As well as that there's the attraction of Champions League football to any potential transfer targets and Arsenal need to be busy in the transfer market this summer. Their squad has a fair deal of talent and plenty of potential, but it needs some real quality added to it. If the  stories of Arsenal's large transfer kitty are true then they will have a very busy summer ahead of them.

The bonus of all that Champions League loot added to the already large transfer kitty promises an awful lot this summer. Without the Champions League money it should still be a busy summer but maybe not at the level the club need to be shopping at. After eight years without a trophy Arsenal need to make themselves truly competitive again next season.

Their task is very simple with two games left as they just have to win them both to finish fourth at worst. There's still a possibility of a third place finish if they win both of those games and Chelsea fail to win their last game at home to Everton. Things would be an awful lot better for Arsenal though if fifth placed Spurs were to drop some points too and that's where Stoke come into the equation.

I've never really liked Stoke although I appreciated the fact that Arsenal got both Lee Dixon and Steve Bould from them back in the 80s to help form their legendary defence. Since their promotion to the Premier League they have played a brand of football that is not only ugly, but very dangerous to their opponents too. Aaron Ramsey knows only too well what Stoke are capable of after suffering an horrific injury against them three years ago.

Thankfully Ramsey has come back from that injury and only now looks like becoming the player he promised to be before it. The Stoke fans still boo him for not accepting the half hearted apology from Ryan Shawcross who claimed he never really meant it anyway. Ramsey has shown tremendous strength to come back considering what has happened to both Eduardo and Abou Diaby after similar injuries.

However, Stoke play Spurs on Sunday afternoon and as a result I will be forced to cheer for them for Arsenal's sake. If I was sure Arsenal could beat 18th placed Wigan and 17th placed Newcastle in their last two games I wouldn't have to cheer for Stoke. The team haven't exactly been at their best in recent games though and have ridden their luck a little.

Wigan showed exactly how good they can play in beating City in the cup final yesterday and Newcastle are never an easy team to go to. If Stoke can even get a draw today then Arsenal would only need to win one of those games and surely they can do that. So at 1.30 this afternoon I will cheer Stoke for a couple of hours until their game against Spurs is over and then I imagine I will need to shower to remove the dirty feeling I have when the game is over.

The life of a football fan isn't easy but the lengths you go to for the sake of your team make it even harder. I can make that sacrifice though as long as the team come through for me and do what is needed in their last two games.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.

7 comments:

  1. Arsenal fans always ridiculous. Ramsey is a really poor player. And stop to cry about Shawcross. If your players are little girls, it's not the fault of other teams.

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    1. I think you'll find Shawcross was the player who ended up crying when his mummy collected him from the stadium after what he did to Ramsey.

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  2. Stoke play a very unattractive brand of football, that much is sure, but they are in the league on merit and are not statistically more of a danger (in terms of injuries caused by challenges) than any other team. I couldn't be more at odds with how stoke play, but as someone who respects the Arsenal way, if your name isn't Aaron Ramsey, drop the Shawcross nonsense, it just makes what should be us fans of the beautiful game seem like disillusioned entitled whiners.

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    1. Arsenal have suffered more severe injuries like Ramsey's than any other PL team and they have ruined the careers of both Eduardo and Diaby. As a fan of Arsenal I feel perfectly entitled to complain about those horrendous challenges that caused the injuries and the petty 3 game bans that accompanied them. When serious foul play is taken seriously by the FA then maybe these challenges will stop but I can't see it happening unfortunately.

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  3. Well at least if we lose today,I will get at little bit of joy in knowing it will damage your chances of finishing fourth. I'd love sometime in the future, to read an article written by a ARSEnal fan that doesn't mention Ramsey/Shawcross.

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    1. That will happen after next season when Stoke has been relegated. Something to look forward tror.

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    2. It's highly unlikely that you will ever read one as it's which we were pretty upset by. It's nice to know you will have some joy in a defeat if it happens, I can't say I've ever had any joy in any defeat for Arsenal.

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