Both Robin & Arsha Feel ‘A Double’ Is In The Offing..

Tazz — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:57:17 +0000

The 'Double' Is On..

The season is 19 games old now and we have suffered two defeats thus far. Both coming in the space of a week@Manchester. Only God knows how we deserved to win them hands down given the way we played. But no point sulking now, those two teams su#k and we don’t give a damn about them anymore. What we do give a damn about is the way we have played and dominated the opposition this term. ‘Goals, Goals and more Goals‘, has been our mantra and boy have we flourished doing that or what!?

Star strikers Van Persie and Arshavin believe that this shall be Arsenal’s season and no one can stop us ‘Doing The Double‘ come May. We@11Gunners salute men of such reverence and fully agree to their thoughts..

The Dutchman was a little apprehensive when he agreed that trophies have been something, he has seen a very less of in his time with Arsenal. ‘Just Two’ as he put it. This is what he said:

“So far I have only won two trophies at Arsenal – the FA Cup and the Community Shield. That’s not enough and I would hate to finish my career having won only those here.”

“I desperately want to win the Premier League and the Champions League with Arsenal and I truly believe that’s possible.”

He also took a moment to appreciate his teammates and how much he loves playin football the ‘Wenger Way’. He added:

“I get the chance to play with the likes of Fabregas, Arshavin, Eduardo, Walcott, Nasri and Rosicky – great players who play a beautiful game. “Then I watch some teams on TV and think: ‘Oh my God, this is so ugly!”

“That helps me realise how special it is to be at a club like this. I want to win it all with Arsenal.”

Arshavin too, agreed to the above in equanimity. He heaped praise to the brand of football Arsene believes in and fully backed his Manager’s foresight. He said:

“Arsene is extremely revered at the club, and deservedly so. After all, with Arsenal he has won everything in recent history.”

“There was a time when they were always winning. Maybe this time will come again. Suddenly this season, something could change. I hope this season will be better, but it has just begun. There is no order (from the board) telling us what they expect from us. We all understand well that the task we always face is to win.”

“I feel more than ever that a Double can be achieved with this Arsenal squad we have. Champion’s League and Premier League are the biggest draws and we have it in us to win them both this season. As long as we believe in ourselves, we remain in contention for both.”

Well he can’t be more right. Actually both Robin & Arsha put the words straight and highlighted why this Arsenal team is ‘Special’. We have started the season on fire and are already through to the next round in the Champion’s League. In the League too, we are 5 adrift of the leaders Chelsea, but have a game in hand. Glory beckons..

11Moments- ‘Double’ The Fun: ‘71(Part 5)

TheGooner — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:28:33 +0000

The Distinguished Men

I can barely imagine what it would have felt like to be an Arsenal fan in the year 1969. 12th position in First Division, knocked out in FA Cup 3rd round replay, trophy-less for a long 17 years, despairing times those must have been. The 1970-71 Season didn’t exactly start well either. Early in the Season, the Gunners got hammered 5-0 by Stoke. What happened next, was a fairy tale and 11Gunners relives the story..

Once upon a time, there was a group of individuals whom everybody knew to have talent but they lacked the Silverware backing through which they could prove themselves. People had their doubts whether this team could make it big and the apprehensions were at their peak when Stoke thrashed us on a fateful 26th September, 1970. That defeat instead turned out to be the blessing in disguise. The boys stepped up a gear and took English football by storm.

14 games without defeat in which they had drawn only 3 saw them make headway into a 3 pronged Title race – Leeds being the clear favorites, Liverpool and Arsenal close on their heels. But this story has its share of twists and turns. The Arsenal team was one which didn’t boast of any renowned star but a group of diligent players who complemented each other to good effect. Their attitude was their hallmark and captain Frank McLintock was a symbol of that positive energy which a team needs.

“Now is the time for you to be really ambitious and to aim for the success which may never be possible for you as players again in your lifetimes.”

These were the words of inspiration from the Captain when Arsenal looked in an ominous mood but overhauling Leeds was something nobody expected frankly. An FA Cup semifinal victory over Stoke and the captain gladly announced:-

“We are going for the Double”

The climax is what makes the story special. Picture this – Last day of the Season, victory and our names enter the Histroy books, defeat and Leeds take away all the Glory, and where do we tarvel – only a few kilometers away to a place called White Hart Lane, a place where we ahve received so much “Love and Affection” over the years. Their intentions were clarified by their captain:-

“Arsenal have got as much chance of being handed the title by Spurs as I have of being given the Crown Jewels.”

I do not know if he was actually given the crown jewels but Arsenal did their bit in this one and they had to wait a long 88 minutes to do that. It was nothing comapred to the 17 year wait, was it, and thumbs up to this romanticism we call “Football”. Nightmarish for the Spurs fans, and since then to this day they have been destined to play second fiddle to us!

We became only the second team of the Century to complete a Double and altough the feat was repeated a number of times by a number of clubs including the Wenger-grown Arsenal but that feat in 1970-71 was by all means special.

May the Glory days come back, Waiting..

This high flying group of Gunners weren’t close to being satisfied. Liverpool stood between us and History as we squared up against them on a hot may afternoon at Wembley. The weather got the better of the two teams who failed to find breakthrough in normal time. 2 minutes into Extra Time, Liverpool struck and the dream became a distant blur. I wasn’t talking about attitude for no reason earlier. We rallied back to equalise and then the master Charlie George clinched it with a thunderous shot from 20 yards. Graham celebrating with his arms outstreched is an image I am sure you would have seen plenty of times.

We Were There!

11Gunners: The Unofficial Arsenal FC Blog and News » double

Both Robin & Arsha Feel ‘A Double’ Is In The Offing..

11Moments- ‘Double’ The Fun: ‘71(Part 5)