Life's such a Pitch

A Part of Something Great

So, yet another piece of history was made by the team under Arsene Wenger, as we marched into the semis of the European Cup for the first time in our long, not undecorated history….

And I dozed off half-way through it.

In mitigation, I was scrunching up on the bed just before the game, hit by rather bad gastric cramps and had to down a couple of pills. They weren’t sleeping pills but guess I was a little drained both physically – from lack of sleep & too light a dinner – and mentally – the whole day, my nerves had just gotten tighter & tighter as kick-off got nearer & nearer.

Thankfully, I didn’t miss much – ok ok, the entire second half actually (I had collapsed at half-time and woke up just in time to see the post-match report on Sky), but then, as evident from the next day’s repeat telecast & news reports, Juve did not fully recover from the shock they got at Highbury and we shut them out comfortably to book a date with dear old Villareal.

It’s really some era we are witnessing under Arsene, aren’t we? Never have things been so scintillating, gut-wrenching, and utterly awe-inspiring. It is history in the making and we are all part of this extraordinary era. I can’t say how lucky we are enough.

As I’m writing this, I’m also reliving the warm fuzzy memories of one of our most amazing FA Cup come-backs on the telly – the 3^rd round away tie at Preston Northend in the 1998-99 season. We were the holders and defending Premiership champions, they were in the second division. We found ourselves 2-0 down within the first 25 minutes, before storming back to win 4-2 with three strikes in the second half. A certain Emmanuel Petit - he of our original French musketeers - had a brace, while Marc Overmars and Luis Boa Morte scored one each. The starting eleven that day, Monday 4 Jan 1999: Manninger, Dixon, Bould, Keown, Vivas, Parlour, Vieira, Petit, Overmars, Boa Morte, and Mendez. It’s a testament to the constant evolution, innovation and advancement under Arsene that in just seven years, on Wednesday 5 April 2006, a whole new eleven took to the pitch in Turin and disposed of Italian champions Juventus to write a new chapter in the club’s record books.

And whether our current chief musketeer, TH14, stays or leaves at the end of the season, you can be sure that the amazing evolution will continue under Arsene's reign.

Allez les Rouges. Vive la Arse.

posted by snowcalla @ 12:18 am (UTC+8)