Match report – Player ratings – Ramsey reaction – Video
As I said yesterday, what I would do and what Arsene Wenger would do with regard to his team selection were two very different things, and the manager picked a strong side for the final game of the season.
There were some changes, all right, but nothing like the collection of ne’er-do-wells and janitors I’d have picked. Lukasz Fabianski, significantly I think, started in goal. Carl Jenkinson came in at right back with Sagna moving to centre-half in the absence of both Mertesacker and Vermaelen, while Kieran Gibbs returned from injury at left back. Further forward, Tomas Rosicky was selected in the Santi Cazorla role, but beyond that we were at full strength.
I guess he viewed momentum and match sharpness as the most important things going into a cup final, placing them ahead of the risk of injury, and after a win (and no obvious maimings) I suppose we can say he got it right. It was a game with a real end of season feel to it, the most interesting thing about the opening 20 minutes was listening to the away fans belt out song after song, loud and clear, and they remained in fine voice throughout the day.
We had some nice moments. Podolski had a shot saved by John Ruddy; Giroud should have scored with his right foot but the keeper was equal to it, and also to a left footed curler from the Frenchman. At the other end the most exciting bit was when Snodgrass lashed a shot at goal from outside the box, only to turn away in disgust after it rebounded back off the arse of Johan Elmander. He’s just lucky it wasn’t Grant Holt or physics would have seen the ball bounce back into his own face and smoosh his nose all over his face.
The second half was a bit more lively though, brightened up by three rather lovely moments.
1 – Aaron Ramsey’s goal
We’ve scored some crackers this season but this is right up there with the best of them. While credit goes to Giroud for the quality of the ball to the back post, Ramsey watches the flight of it all the way and is actually still moving backwards when he cracks it into the top corner.
The technique to do that is just outstanding and the goal was so good some Norwich fans behind the goal even applauded as it went in. I know people say that having one player fit wouldn’t have made that much difference to where we ended up this season, but it’s very difficult to look at Ramsey and not think he could have made an impact in certain games which cost us points (thinking Stoke and Swansea at home in particular).
2 – Carl Jenkinson’s goal
In terms of its eye-catching splendour, the finish wasn’t really on a par with Ramsey’s, but we all know that Jenkinson is a Gooner born and bred, so I think we all enjoyed his celebration for that reason. He wheeled away like Marco Tardelli in the 1982 World Cup final, celebrating as if he’d scored the winner in the most important game of all time, ran towards the fans and executed a knee slide so woeful I’m surprised he didn’t banjax both cruciates.
Yet, you could see that goal meant the absolute world to him and for us, living our Gooner dreams vicariously through the young man, it was a goal we could all identify with. It’s the way we’d react if we were lucky enough to do the best thing in football for the team we love, so for him to make his mark – even if the game itself was meaningless – was a really lovely moment (and I heard his dad was going to release a special single to celebrate further).
3 – Abou Diaby’s return
Lovelier still was the reception the Frenchman got on his return to the side after 14 months out. Having done his cruciate in training, suffered a set-back, and considered retirement, Diaby took the field in the 75th minute, and had his name sung loud and proud by the traveling fans.
How nice for them just to get behind the guy. Whatever you think about his future, or his past for that matter, here was an appreciation of a man – not just a footballer being paid footballer’s wages – who has been through the absolute mill in terms of his career.
The gulf between the bollocks spouted online and real life was never more apparent. They didn’t mock him, they didn’t call him a waster or a sponge, they sang his name because they understood what it meant for him to be back in the red and white, and it was a touch of class from which some people really ought to learn.
He had some really nice touches too and for him to make his comeback before the end of the season will surely be something that will give him encouragement ahead of the next campaign. Whether that’s with us or elsewhere remains to be seen – he just 12 months left on his current deal – but you’d have to be stone-cold not to have been moved a little by his return and the reaction to it yesterday.
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So, it finished 2-0 and that was that for Norwich who were relegated, and our final league points total of 79 (just 7 behind the title winners) was our highest since 2008. There’s a lot to discuss over the next few weeks, I’m sure, in terms of what we need to do to improve ahead of the next tilt at the title, but in stark numbers terms, 7 doesn’t seem like that much at the end of the day. It’s not difficult to see how we could make that up.
Obviously, there have been some disastrous moments in this season, ones that reflect badly on us and the way we were managed through them, but I have to say I feel a lot more positive overall about what we did from August to May than I have done in previous years.
While I enjoyed the final day sneaking over the line ahead of Sp*rs stuff – and who wouldn’t from a very primal point of view? – the seasons as a whole were painful and not that much fun. There was far too much wrong. Even though we let it slip this time, I enjoyed being top of the table, and perhaps allowing myself to dream of winning it. To me, it’s far easier to see how we can make progress now than after a season of inconsistency and struggling like a drowning man to reach the life ring of fourth spot.
Anyway, that can wait, as can a season review until after Wembley next weekend. The league campaign is over, but the season is not, and we have a mighty chance of adding a trophy after so many years. That is what the focus will be on this week, and I’m sure as it progresses the excitement will build.
Meanwhile, I fully expect the selection of Lukasz Fabianski yesterday means that Wojciech Szczesny is going to start the FA Cup final. I know some people believe it’s the manager giving him a bit of playing time before the final, and I do understand that, but it’s not as if he’s done that before previous rounds. He’s come into big games, against the likes of Sp*rs, Liverpool and Everton, completely ‘cold’, if you like, so I don’t think that’s even in Wenger’s thinking.
It’s something I’ll go into more on the Arsecast Extra today, but for me it’s going to be Szczesny in the final, and I think that’s the way it should be.
If you do have any questions for us to answer in the podcast, send them to @gunnerblog and @arseblog on Twitter with the hashtag #arsecastextra, and we’ll do our best to get to it. We do get plenty though, and we can’t answer them all, but really appreciate you sending them.
Right, until the Arsecast which should be out around lunchtime. We’ll also have a series of articles this week from Tim Stillman building up to the cup final, so plenty for you to get your teeth into today.
Breakfast!