How Many Fingers?

I've no idea where to start with that. I've no idea how to say something that hasn't been said elsewhere or a thousand times before. In the past I've resorted to posting kittens in hats to avoid joining the festival of moaning. Last night was the embodiment of all the clear problems we've been talking about for ages. We were found out in the most public of arenas. To lose to Fulham can go unnoticed by non Gooners but this exposes you. It had an inevitable feel to it. It felt like a watershed.

I've said before that I've been lucky enough to see special teams like the invincibles. I've also seen awful teams (most of the 80s!) This group are good. No more. No less. A good team will get you to 4th if they are lucky while losing to teams they should beat along the way. A good team might just win an FA Cup. A good team might come up against a much better team in Europe and get hammered.

Not so long ago you'd need both hands and a toe to count the world class players in our first team. Now you need one hand and, depending on your views, may have fingers spare. Put Jack in that side last night and that's the first team. How many fingers are you holding up?

Consecutively replacing top quality with good quality takes its toll. Scraping for 4th has replaced challenging for 1st. There is a lack of confidence within the team and the fans that's eating into the place. I can't remember the last time I went to a match 'knowing' we would win. 'We could win this 3-0 or lose it 1-0' is a common response to the 'what's going to happen' question. We never seem to build on a good result. Each game is insular. We have no form at all.

The blogs will be alight today so l'll end now as we've read it all before. Saturday has now become massive. We could win it 3-0. We could lose it 1-0. Who knows. That's what good (but not great) teams do. We're good, but often, just not good enough.


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