t'aint over 'til it's over
kojodinho - talkingOfArsenal.com
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It feels like a thousand years since my last post, it seems like so many things have happened.
This weekend, we dropped to third position in the league after losing 2-1 to Chelsea, and with Liverpool being immediate neighbours below us, it is to say the least, a position we haven't had to suffer for virtually all of this season.
And I've been asking myself all kinds of questions. And once it started, I found I couldn't stop, it really was like a gushing well - included here are a few of the 'publishable' ones.
Like, why is it that this season, we've gone from seeming to have strength-in-depth, to appearing to have an impossibly thin squad compared to everyone else?
Is our bad form solely down to the double-pschological blows of Eduardo's horrendous injury and dropping 2 points in the manner that we did at Birmingham City?
Are the players simply mentally tired, after all it's mostly the same players who day-in-day-out, have featured in the league (bar 2-3 injury-prone players)?
Given our relatively poor form over the last two years, have we over-achieved this season? Or, given our undisputed talent, have we under achieved considering the lead and our points position with 10 games to go?
Is this team collectively too young and inexperienced to understand what it takes to win the league?
Is our current form really down to the losses against Spurs and Manchester Utd?
How did we go from so comprehensively beating AC Milan 2-0 at the Sans Siro, to only managing a draw against Wigan?
Will the squad learn from this seasons mistakes (regardless of how well or badly we do) and bring this to bear next season?
What does Wenger think the problem has been this season, if we don't win the title?
Was the fact that we had more home games and no clashes against the other top-four in the first half of the season, the reason we were flying with momentum, and has fatigue and the relative thinness of the squad caught up with us?
If we don't win the league title this year (and it's becoming unlikelier by the game), will our showing this season spur the lads on for the next season, or will the fact that we came so close demoralise them?
Why doesn't this team shoot from outside the box more often?
Is it really possible for us to recover, and for Manchester Utd and Chelsea to both drop points, given that there are just 7 or 8 games to go?
Has it really gone all wrong, considering that clearly this squad is on a journey, and perhaps it hasn't arrived yet?
In the league this season, we've drawn about ten games, and lost twice. And we are now 6 points behind the leaders. Will the squad start to think of draws as though they are losses, instead of what appears to be resigned acceptance of draws?
Is Adebayor really good enough to carry on scoring goals throughout a whole season?
When will the midfield start contrbuting substantial amounts of goals, not just the odd chipping in here and there?
Will the young team learn to play with more authority, and stamp their mark on games in future?
Was the league really ours to win in the first place?
Like I said, I have lots of questions, and virtually no answers. One thing is for sure though, and I will do my best not to forget:
It is not over until it is over.
Here's to hoping that the squad answer some of those questions over the coming weeks. Here's to hoping that they fight to the bitter end, even if, as it seems now, it becomes clearer that the title is not heading home to us just yet.
Here's to The Arsenal!
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