It might be time to look on the bright side.
It might be time to consider how much weaker the opposition could be next season.
With Cristiano Ronaldo gone, Man United will get 12 points less.
I don’t care who Sir Alex buys, no player, no pair of players, can give them what Cristiano gave them.
At his best he was a one-man army, a super-gladiator who scored 42 goals in 2007-2008 when they won the title and the Champions League in Moscow.Then they retained the title but lost the CL final 2-0 to Barcelona.
Cristiano regarded that as a wasted season in his career. He spent the year perfecting his free-kicks.
With Cristiano gone, the two best players in the EPL are Andrey Arshavin and Fernando Torres.
Arshavin is a better player than Rooney, Lampard or Gerrard. When Liverpool played Arsenal on Tuesday, April 21, Torres scored two goals and Arshavin scored four and it finished 4-4.
If Liverpool keep Mascherano and Xabi Alonso, I fancy them for the title. But in the crazy circus that is the Premier League, anything can happen in the next six weeks.
As soon as Fabregas was injured on December 21, Arsenal slipped to 5th.
Worried that they might miss 4th place, they bought Arshavin and were still 5th at the end of January and still 5th at the end of February after four consecutive 0-0 draws which included Arshavin’s first two league games against Sunderland and Fulham. Then they beat West Brom 3-1 and Blackburn 4-0 and went 4th and finished in 4th place nine games later.
So let’s get one thing straight: Arshavin’s brilliance confirmed 4th place, so he paid back his £15 million fee right there.
His reward for that was to be dropped for the FA Cup semi-final. Wenger gave him 14 minutes against Chelsea.
How weak will the opposition be this time?
ASTON VILLA ? Well, Martin O’Neill is over-rated and Villa have declined since skipper Martin Laursen suffered that knee injury. The big Dane was half the team. He is 31 and has retired. And Gareth Barry has been sold to Man City.
CHELSEA have terrific team spirit but the trophy they want is the Champions League. New boss Carlo Ancelotti might struggle and Guus Hiddink could return after the World Cup. This could be an interim season for the old men at Stamford Bridge.
EVERTON are grafters and will remain hard to beat.
MAN CITY have wonderful pace from midfield and Stephen Ireland is much fun to watch as anybody in the EPL. If Roque Santa Cruz plays 35 games he might score 20 goals. City want to get into the Champions League but Champions League players don’t want to join them until they qualify. They really crave 4th place but big spending doesn’t mean they will threaten Arsenal in 2009-2010.
So that’s the good news : Manchester United declined last season and have sold the best player in the world. Liverpool went close but may not sustain it, and Chelsea are trying their fourth manager since sacking Jose Mourinho.
Arsenal might do OK as long as Wenger builds round Arshavin and makes sure we all know he is the main man. If he had the right players, he could build round Arshavin as cleverly as he built round Bergkamp in 1997-98. But he can’t afford the right players.
If Bendtner was as good as Anelka, if Nasri scored as many goals as Overmars, if Melo could have pressed like Petit, if the back four could defend a ball into the box, Arsenal could be champions.
But I’ll stop myself there. It’s 8.30a.m. and time to stop dreaming.
This will be a very, very big season
Wenger’s already said it’s a decisive season. I agree. If Arsenal win nothing, Arshavin and Fabregas will leave.
Mostly I use YouTube for songs not for parodies on Newcastle’s relegation.