By Boris Mellor
April 28 2013

Arsène Wenger believes it can be misleading to judge teams on the gap in points between them, well he would say that wouldn’t he as his team managed only it’s 5th point in top five of league games for the whole season on drawing with Man Utd. No doubt this dropping of 25 points against top opposition explains why the Gunners are limping towards the finishing line of the 4th place trophy.

No doubt Wenger believes that this gap in the points tally is hiding the real strength of his team, and that Podolski and Giroud do add up to a decent striker between them and that Gervinho is a great option to bring on to terrorise championship winning teams when the score is at 1-1.

All is deception

No doubt points totals also gives a deceptive impression of a full back that appears to have packed his suitcase already. No doubt the points tally made it appear that United barely broke into a sweat because they had the league in the bag, whilst the reality was that this was a real clash of titans with Arsenal boldly challenging the Manchester side.

The points tally also hides that it is Wenger who is the greatest manager in the league with his 3 league wins, not a man who has 13 titles, but has cheated by insisting on buying quality players when his club is in debt.

 Surely fans prefer watching mediocre journeymen who will never win anything rather than not see a healthy balance sheet. That 13 titles, numerous cups, and two CL trophies is not what counts, but 4^th place and Financial Fair Play is what it’s all about.

Meanwhile down the pub we were discussing is it really worth renewing our season tickets to watch ground hog day again next season.

Battle of the balls

Syd the cabbie and me had a real change down at the greasy spoon, with Chicken Escalope on the specials. As we devoured our meal we both looked into our crystal balls, Syd saw them scoring first and the Arsenal scoring the next two. I saw Arsenal scoring first and chucking the lead away, but I thought I had blown it when it was 1-1 by half time, I couldn’t see it staying that way, but it did. United were looking worse for wear, and did not seem that bothered by a draw.

I was surprised at the number of club level seats unfilled as they usually fill up for “big games” but maybe the thought of watching the guard of honour was too much for some fans. The response to that was fair enough, some fans jeered, some clapped, and most just chanted Arsenal. There was no Poznan.

A minority sang the “She Said No Robin” song which was embarrassing, but I was told it didn’t happen down the Clock End, Rooney was serenaded by the fat granny lover song, which is probably fair comment. I am pleased to say that Rio was not singled out for any special treatment, except jeers for one or two industrial tackles.

Some fans were outraged that RvP didn’t celebrate his goal, but they would probably have been more outraged if he did. Then he outraged even more by applauding us at full-time.

Personally I am saving my outrage for an owner that has let his club degenerate to being out of contention for the league by November two years running, and that the field is left clear for the city of Manchester to take all our best players. “Stanley Kroenke he sells when he wants”.

Positives

Great tackle by Gibbs, steady match by Mertesacker and Koscielny, and a great save by Woj.

Negatives

Walcott made no impact after his goal, Podolski struggled up front, and Gervinho and Jack made no impact.

Arsenal 1 Manchester United 1

Walcott 2 minutes.  RvP penalty 44 minutes