I went to the Emirates Cup on Sunday with friends to watch two matches of hopefully decent football, to taste the atmosphere and have a good time. Although I had a good day and enjoyed the matches, something stuck out like a sore thumb. Booing. At a pre season friendly. A meaningless game which saw us lose the only trophy for the first time in 3 years. Urgh. A bit much, “fans”.
I could see why fans booed - Arsenal proved that they can’t hold a lead for the billionth time, letting Henry’s New York Red Bulls grab a late equaliser after a lazy few minutes and basically handing over the Emirates Cup. It was the same old problems that hadn’t been addressed, same faults that critics were keenly able to point out, but most of all, our confidence hasn’t really changed. Fair enough, I guess. I saw that moment happening and I was annoyed like everyone else. But I never booed. That was a tad too far. If this was a competitive match against say, Wigan and we lost 4-0, that’s when I would have booed. But no, this was just pre season. This is where you mix your fringe players with your first team players with a pinch of youngsters for a test of how your team plays with different tactics, formations, etc. It’s taken not as seriously as say, a cup match, but it’s a time to get to know how well your tactics work. It was quite clear that this was a friendly.
I was gutted that we had blown it again, but to boo our lads wasn’t exactly going to do anything positive. Sure, I had spent at least £80 on train ticket from Gloucester and the match ticket, but I didn't want to. Maybe it's who I am, not exactly the harshest of people, but to boo, jeer, and insult the team is never going to rise morale. Booing an already vulnerable team isn’t going to do its confidence any good, sort of like calling a teenage girl fat based on her arse isn’t going to make her feel like eating a giant chocolate cake.
With the boos, it’s clear that the pessimism and negativity has stuck around, sort of like a bad smell. Not like there hasn’t been anything to cheer about, we’re uncertain of the futures of Nasri and Fabregas (most worryingly), let possible transfers pass by and how deadwood players are still in the squad, basically on the dole. The tournament was an opportunity for the team to put on a show for the fans, win with style and raise the spirits of the fans who are increasingly worried about the future of the team as well as the club as a whole. Clearly, we never really fulfilled those targets, but rather stumbled out drunk, wobbling all over the place. A real shame and with 2 weeks to go before the big kick off, I’m very worried for not only the player’s mentality, but the fan’s attitude.
Wait, hold on - it was a friendly? People were happily chanting "Stand up if you hate Tottenham" and even doing Mexican Waves (Bloody fun, mind) but suddenly conceding a late goal turns it into a super serious MUST WIN game? If fans came into the game on Sunday with the knowledge it was a friendly with no real competitive edge to it, then to have the cheek to boo the players off at full time is an act of stupidity and proves how serious fans are about a meaningless game in a meaningless tournament. Crikey, it's like going to special school.
Wait, hold on - it was a friendly? People were happily chanting "Stand up if you hate Tottenham" and even doing Mexican Waves (Bloody fun, mind) but suddenly conceding a late goal turns it into a super serious MUST WIN game? If fans came into the game on Sunday with the knowledge it was a friendly with no real competitive edge to it, then to have the cheek to boo the players off at full time is an act of stupidity and proves how serious fans are about a meaningless game in a meaningless tournament. Crikey, it's like going to special school.
But it's a time to be reasonable with the situation we're in. Of course, we should be winning games comfortably and winning trophies, but given the the state the team is in, the Premier League increasingly becoming more competitive year in, year out, it's not surprisingly that success isn't coming as natural to the team in an era of mega spending clubs. Arsenal is a big club in terms of support, not really a successful club at the moment. Fans have to lower expectations, I guess. We can't win everything, so we should rather expect a dire 1-1 draw against Blackburn but be rather surprised at thumping Manchester United 3-0.
All in and all, fans really shouldn't have booed. Doesn't really achieve much over than knocking the player's confidence and just makes out that people were taking a friendly against some bog standard US football team with Henry and Rooney's brother rather too seriously. Wouldn't be surprised if the same people played Call of Duty in the mindset that it's an actual world war.
