ONLY A FEAR OF FAILURE CAN STOP ARSENAL ENDING THEIR TROPHY DROUGHT NOW The FA Cup may well have lost some of its grandeur but the events of this weekend just gone confirm the competition will forever retain its unique appeal. Victories for Sheffield United and Hull City prompted scenes of unbridled joy, while Wigan’s defeat of Manchester City represented the most astonishing upset since, well since the Latics won the trophy at Wembley nine months ago at the expense of Manuel Pellegrini’s side, then managed by Roberto Mancini. At the Emirates Stadium 24 hours earlier the overriding emotion was one of relief as a frenetic and thoroughly absorbing cup tie ended with a scoreline that hardly reflected the evenness of Arsenal’s meeting with Everton. Following Wigan’s heroics the threat of City has been removed and the overriding emotion must surely be one of nervous expectation as one of England’s most famous clubs edges closer to shedding the mother of all monkeys from its back. While the doom merchants will rightly point out that the other three teams left in the competition are unlikely to be intimidated by Arsenal, the reality of the situation paints Arsene Wenger’s side as justifiable and overwhelming favourites to end their agonising trophy drought. It would be disrespectful in the extreme to paint Wigan, Hull City or Sheffield United as also-rans, their cup exploits this season alone dictate they should be considered anything but, yet it is an inescapable truth that the biggest barrier between Arsenal and the silver they crave are Arsenal themselves. Masters of their own downfall in the years between Patrick Vieira’s winning penalty against Manchester United in Cardiff nearly nine years ago and the present day, a fear of failure has been allowed to engender itself in the fabric of the club. It was that fear of failure that contributed to the farcical concession of the League Cup at the hands of Birmingham in 2011 and which has paralysed Arsenal on every occasion they have seemed destined to deliver on the rich promise and potential Wenger’s most recent sides, for all of their faults, have always carried. Despite his many wonderful and worthy attributes, the Frenchman has lost the most important habit of them all: winning. Wenger is yet to put pen to paper on a contract extension that has been there to be signed for months – perhaps he needs convincing he is still capable of getting this or any team over the line before prolonging his managerial career? Were he and his side to squander this most open of invitations to render the term “Arsenal trophy drought” obsolete, then Jose Mourinho’s “specialist in failure” jibe would carry an extra depressing dose of truth. Wenger and Arsenal simply cannot allow that to happen. -goal editorial
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 13:21:04 +0000
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