{"id":1793,"date":"2020-11-18T11:01:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T11:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2020-12-05T14:54:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T14:54:06","slug":"its-always-darkest-before-the-dawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1793","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Always Darkest Before The Dawn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Defeats that struck deep at our hearts \u2026but were far from terminal<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The desperate feeling that we all felt as we were taken apart in the second half against Aston Villa is a relatively rare feeling for an Arsenal fan but from time to time we experience a defeat that is so important or profound that at the time it feels like the world is caving in. This has happened to Arsenal teams down the ages, some of them extremely good teams and when the defeats occur it is easy to feel a season is likely to end in massive disappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some defeats are epically disappointing. The two most cataclysmic for me, in emotional terms were the 1969 League Cup Final against Swindon Town and the 2006 Champions League Final v Barcelona. That they occurred in finals accentuated the pain. At the closing whistle the contrast between the rejoicing opposition fans and us was stark and painful. A long journey home is always far more daunting with a massive defeat to contemplate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\ndefeats can also be watersheds and can provoke responses that\ntransform a seemingly hopeless situation and underline the character\nof a side. I shall touch on three such moments that prove there truly\nis darkness before the dawn. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First let us flip back to May 1989. There are three matches to go in our season and after enjoying a massive lead in the title race, the Hillsborough tragedy caused a delay in the season. We watched as agonisingly Liverpool clawed back our lead. At kick off time we were two points ahead of Liverpool with a marginally better goal difference? Our opponents were Derby and we were confidently expected to beat them. I remember a girl in our office asking if she could attend the game with me because her new boyfriend was a Gooner and she wanted to surprise him with her knowledge of the team. The real reason was that I was clearly irresistible to women but I remember being deeply irritated by her constant questioning as Arsenal stuttered unconvincingly and missed a slew of easy chances. Never mind – news came through that Liverpool were losing at Wimbledon. Midway through the half, against the run of play, Dean Saunders lashed a half-volley past Seaman and in off the bar. Liverpool turned the score around against the Crazy Gang and as the second half wore on a clumsy challenge on Saunders by Tony Adams in a Derby breakaway resulted in a clear penalty which Saunders dispatched comfortably. A very late Alan Smith goal was not enough to bring us back meaningfully into the game. A few days later we entertained the Crazy Gang. Despite leading twice through a Winterburn right-footed screamer (honestly!) and a Merson close-range effort we were pegged back twice . Liverpool\u2019s five goal victory against the spineless Hammers left us needing to win by two goals at Anfield. A completely impossible task… the rest is history!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving on eight years we had entered the Wenger era. The 1997-8 season had begun very promisingly but two recent defeats had seen us slip seriously behind Manchester United. We welcomed Blackburn Rovers to Highbury and the game began well with Overmars seizing on a long lobbed pass and dinking it past Flowers in the Blackburn goal. It is salutary to think that we fielded our legendary back four but in the second half we fell apart as we allowed Blackburn back into the match. Firstly Wilcox volleyed the equaliser and then Kevin Gallacher swept a bouncing ball past Seaman into the top corner. As we pushed up for an equaliser the loathsome Tim Sherwood (looking several yards offside) found himself clear of the Arsenal defence and beat Seaman at the second attempt. The reaction from the Arsenal fans was vitriolic. Several around me talked of another season written off (in November) and outside the main entrance in Avenell Road a distressed Ian Wright berated the critical fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defeat prompted a heated team meeting in which Tony Adams (who had a very flawed game rather like the Derby performance) called out his two French midfielders for not protecting the defence more. It is interesting that we tend to think of those players as infallible but there were periods in their Arsenal careers where the wheels seemingly came off. Arsenal did not lose another game in the League that season until the title was secured and for good measure completed the League and Cup double. Might a defeat that comprehensive have been a blessing in disguise? On Easter Monday in the return fixture, (played in snow for long periods!) we were 4-0 up at half-time and ran out 4-1 winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defeats can definitely represent watersheds in a season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to prove that even the best teams can slip to defeat my final example is in the marvellous Invincible season. We sailed on serenely until March in all three competitions. Chelsea were still within reach of us in the League but we had already prevailed over them three times that season. Fate decreed that we should play them again in the Champions League, four days after an FA Cup semi-Final against United. Arsene has subsequently said that he needed to rotate more given the size of the stakes facing us in that week. A traditional Nemesis, Paul Scholes, scored the only goal of a semi-final in which United employed the tactics that they employed to combat us during that period by trying to kick us off the pitch. We didn\u2019t bring Henry on until late in the second half but on a frustrating afternoon, the chance of a domestic double had gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Credit: Professional Sport \/ Contributor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But we still had the Champions League. As we prepared for the second leg we were drawing 1-1 after the game at Stamford Bridge where a rare Pires header had given us the crucial advantage of an away goal. After a first half in which we were well on top, Reyes scored just before half-time to put us ahead on aggregate. Surely this was to be our year? We reckoned without a rare handling error by Mad Jens who palmed a Makalele shot (as unlikely as a Pires header!) to Fat Frank Lampard who tied the score up. Anxiety grew as even the Invincibles failed to take control of the game and then with about ten minutes left Wayne Bridge proving a cruel and unlikely assassin, latched onto a pass in the inside left channel and slotted home. I think that was one of the cruellest goals I have ever seen Arsenal concede as that team would have faced a very beatable Monaco and then Mourinho\u2019s Porto in the final, if we had prevailed over a team we used to beat for fun at that time. That team carry one wonderful title as ‘the Invincibles’ but nothing will persuade me that we weren\u2019t the best team in Europe that season and that was our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three days later, on Good Friday, we met Liverpool in the Premier League at Highbury. We trailed twice and were losing at the interval but a fine second-half rally illuminated by one of Henry\u2019s finest ever individual goals saw us run out convincing 4-2 winners. That win assured us of a title which we clinched, to our delight, at the Swamp a couple of weeks later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there a moral in this story? I think there is. Even fine sides \u2013 and these three sides were among the finest Arsenal have ever had, are human. Great defenders make mistakes and fans lose heart and belief. But fine sides and talented managers react in the right way and we need to have faith that while we may not see league titles from this current Arsenal side they will improve and be ready to challenge in the future. The darkest time really often is before the dawn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defeats that struck deep at our hearts \u2026but were far from terminal The desperate feeling that we all felt as we were taken apart in the second half against Aston Villa is a relatively rare feeling for an Arsenal fan but from time to time we experience a defeat that is so important or profound […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1793"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1804,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793\/revisions\/1804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}