Does this not make you just a little sick?

Comments are out there from our captain - something to the effect that we're "scared of losing" against the bigger guns. Basically, that we choke when it matters. Read all the various reports on his remarks, and no matter how you see it, it dawns on you quite quickly that he's hit the nail on the head.

But that really doesn't quit convey the entire nauseating feeling that I have right now. And you know why? Here's why.

For those of us who remember, all those lovely (not-so-recent) victories over the likes of Chelski and Man U:

Arsenal 1 - 0 Chelski (16 Dec 2007)

Arsenal 2 - 1 Man U (16 Nov 2008)

Arsenal 2 - 1 Man U (21 Jan 2007)

Even that 2-2 draw at home with Man U, when Gallas scored the last-gasp equaliser.

Despite these fixtures all being firmly part of the past, and for now, consigned to fantasy in the future, you know what they have in common?

Yup - you guessed it. All fixtures from the pre-Fabregas Captaincy days. Let's say, it was the Before-Cesc (BC) period. Better than talk about the lack of bollocks from the current team, let's start comparing statistics with the BC days.

It's probably a tad stark to put everything on the shoulders of the man/boy, but hey - that's what being captain is about, and that's what happens when you spend your summer flirting in warmer climes. So when Fabregas starts talking in the collective "we", there are just a few out there (including me) who would prefer that he start with the Man in the Mirror. (By the way, the Man in the Mirror looked decidedly the most scared at Old Trafford last week).

As I've said in previous posts, let's just take this season, as with more recent seasons, as part of a rather lengthy transition, a flirtation with a vaguely presumptive period of glorious youth. This is the tail-end of that transition, thankfully, with recent purchases giving some hint: Vermaelen, Koscielny, Squillaci, etc.

By July, with Fabregas gone, someone else will have to take up the arm-band, the balance will shift once more, and hopefully then - it shifts yet more in the direction of strength, confidence and constructive aggression. For now, this final transition year may just bring us the Carling Cup.

For that, I give thanks.

In the meantime, it's 7 more days to football.

But damn. It's Chelski.

Do I smell fear?