An Arsewiping Absence

OK, OK...the Arsewiper has been away. A combination of real life, and travelling to places where ready internet access was an issue.

But quite a few things have obviously transpired in the last couple of days, and I should start with the earlier (and much happier) events at the Emirates. 3-0 to the Arse against a really weak Villareal that without Marcos Senna, would make Fulham look like Champions League material. Without Bobby Pires, and Villareal would make Boro look like Champions League material too.

As I'd hoped, we got the early goal from an in-form Theo, and we really should have had the game wrapped up by the first half. But, we had to wait till the hour, and I suppose that's not too bad all in all. Of course, Captain Adams had things to say earlier about our defence, and we can only be thankful that Villareal did not really threaten to do too much with our make-shift defence. But speaking of defences, I wouldn't really characterise them as make-shift. First, Eboue has played at right-back in times past. In fact, I'd say that was his better position, where his failings in the attacking half didn't quite show up as often. Second, we had Kolo. Third, we had Silvestre, who really should be seen as a strong and experienced replacement. So, we can't really keep going on about our defence...

Which of course brings me to Saturday's semi. All things must come to an end, and for us, it really isn't that bad that it came to and end at a semi-final at Wembley. It just sucks as always that it was against Chelski. And F-!#$%&*! * Fidier Frogba.

I'm not going to go into those painful events of Saturday into any unnecessarily gory details, except:

(1) The starting line up was first to strike me. Now, I was watching the game with German commentary, so I could understand zip. But why Arshavin and Nasri didn't start - only Le Boss will know.

(2) After the starting line-up, the next thing to strike was the absolutely crap playing surface at Wembley. That was in all honesty, totally disgraceful. There is nothing the FA can say to defend it. It was simply pathetic. Even if we had won, I'd say the same thing, and say that there's no way a final should be played on that surface. Hell, I don't think teams in the Championship play on cow patches like that week-in, week-out. On a surface like that, there would be no way in hell Arse could play. I know Le Boss and Sir have had their fair share of comments, and there will be some who will say that it's all sour grapes. To that, let's just say that the English FA have seriously embarassed themselves. If this is what the world's oldest knock-out competition can offer at its latter stages, let's stick to playing semis at neutral grounds like Villa Park and finals in Wales.

That being said, the two goals we shipped were just as embarassing. Silvestre was made to look like he was friggin' invisible for the second. I won't put too much blame of Fabianski's shoulders. He shouldn't even have been put in that position. Can't believe it, but fingers crossed that we have Djourou back for tomorrow.

So tomorrow. Pool. Really can't tell we can pick ourselves up for this. I have my doubts. We have never as a team been good enough at picking ourselves up. Hopefully, Arshavin will start, and add some spark to what will be a tired team. Ade and RVP are out - which really isn't that bad a thing. Despite his goal, Ade wasn't really convincing against Villareal, and was made to look crap by Chelski and the grass at Wembley. RVP needs a rest, and we can always count on his groin to help him out there.

That leaves us Eduardo and Bent Nick - who really should be two guys ready to give it a go. With Stevie G out of the Pool squad, we can only be slightly more optimistic. So let's see.