Injuries?
Convenient excuse for not actually winning games when it counted.
In 2002 we had plenty of injuries going into the end of the season. We still won the double.
In 2008, we shit the bed
What about the 1-1 game at home in the league?
If we want to win the league, we should be winning that.
Again, bottling bastards.
Iâll concede I think it was the draws vs Villa, Wigan and Boro following that Birmingham game that cost us the league, should have at least won 2 of those.
The European tie vs Liverpool we just got completely robbed though, the better side lost.
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Itâs not an excuse. That season we had basically a squad of just 16 players. With major injuries of Rosicky, van Persie and Eduardo. At least when Pires got injured in 01/02, Wiltord could fill in.
Just because you hate Fabregas, you donât have to rewrite history.
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In 2002, Henry and Bergkamp also got injured at crucial times, in crunch games. Adams as well.
I went to the Birmingham game as well as the Man United cup game the weekend after. We canât blame injuries for inept performances (and being there, it was all too clear we didnât have the mental capacity to win trophies)
Arsenal bottled it.
As for rewriting history, it appears youâre doing that by putting Fabregas on a pedestal as a demi-God. In my experience back then, Arsenal fans didnât think a team with Fabregas in the middle could win us the league.
Henry and Bergkamp played 33 and 33 games in the League that season. Rosicky, van Persie and Eduardo played 18, 15 and 17 games. Whilst we had a lot less depth. How is that not crucial?
Iâm not putting Fabregas on a pedestal. Iâm saying that your hate for him is blinding of what he and that team could do. Which he has shown at Chelsea in 14/15. Won the League with him as creative hub on their midfield. 19 assists.
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And Iâm saying he isnât the kind of player we needed at that time to win a league.
Iâm not resorting to the lazy opinion pundits had at the time âArsenal have been sussedâ âtheir team is too shortâ âthere are no leaders out there for themâ. However, it was clear that we werenât going to win the league due to a lack of mental fortitude. Fabregas is part of that bracket, not outside it.
Chelsea is a weird example. They still had winners all over the pitch. Terry, Cole, Lampard. He wasnât the driver. Itâs no surprise that the only trophy Fabregas won with us is when he was surrounded by Invincibles.
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In that regard Lehmann, Gallas, Toure and Silva should have carried Arsenal. But the experienced Gallas had the biggest meltdown in that Birmingham game. Yet you still find a way to put that on Fabregas.
No, Iâm saying weâre conveniently saying Fabegas wasnât a bottler. While he didnât have a visible Gallas like breakdown (something @Craigie reminds us of whenever he posts 
) we canât just say he deserved to win the league. He was part of a team that couldnât win the league. Thatâs on his shoulders (no more, no less) than the others on the pitch
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Iâm saying that you canât admit, because of your hate, that there were circumstances beyond their control (again Rosicky, Persie and Eduardo all played less than 20 games that was 2/3 of our striking force and we had no proper creative midfielders on the bench) as to why they didnât win the League. Not because they bottled it.
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If youâre 5 points ahead at the beginning of February and canât win the league, youâve bottled it.
That was the narrative back then and it continues to be the general thought (outside Arsenal circles) to this day.
There are bigger bottle jobs out there but Arsenal 2008 is generally considered as one
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Of course. Because they donât know fuck all of everything that was going on that season. Eduardo leg break, small squad etc. What they do is apply 10/11 and 15/16, those were bottle jobs, on 07/08. Like itâs all the same. It isnât.
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We do, though.
We associate the Birmingham City game not only for Eduardos leg break but Hlebs inability to shoot at goal and Clichys brainless challenge in the box to give away a last min penalty.
All part of the bottle job
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Thatâs a nonsense though mate. Chelsea werenât close to the title until they signed Fabregas and Costa. Both were the catalyst to pull them over the line
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And the game after the Birmingham game we played with Diaby, Cesc, Flamini and Hleb on the midfield and Adebayor and Walcott as CFs. Seriously lacking in the creative department and those injuries had influence on our game. We felt the abscense of Eduardo immediately.
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To add to Rosicky, Van Persie and Eduardo injuries⊠If I remember correctly Flamini (who was very important that season) got injured somewhere after that too and also missed the crucial part of the season⊠Sagna also got injured somwhere towards the end of the season.
We were seriously crippled in that decisive part of the season.
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Apparantly he played his 800th game as a pro this weekend. These dudes make me feel old.
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That passing ffs.
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Looks like a worldy, can we sign him?
The second pass in that videos is flat out disgusting, wish he never left man ;(
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