Five Talking Points: Arsenal 0-1 Blackburn Rovers
With the dust beginning to settle on Arsenal‘s disappointing – some would say cruel – home defeat to Blackburn Rovers, here are five salient points I could glean from the fixture:
1.) This is Arsene Wenger’s first home FA Cup defeat against lower opposition
In the seventeen years Arsene Wenger has been in charge of Arsenal, he has never lost an FA Cup game at home to lower league opposition…until yesterday.
Of all the domestic cup matches Arsenal have played under Wenger, they have only lost three to lower opposition. The Blackburn defeat aside, they also lost away to Burnley in 2008 (0-2) and as everybody remembers, to Bradford on penalties at the Valley Parade Stadium late last year.
That brings his total loss against lower level opposition in domestic competition to three, with one being at home.
2.) The fans need to get behind Gervinho and the rest of the team
When Gervinho played for the Ivory Coast at the recent African Nations Cup, he was in scintillating form as he scored two goals in the first two games of the tournament for his nation.
That was because the fans were behind him.
At Arsenal, however, that is not the case. In possession of one of the most – in this writer’s opinion – fickle fan bases, Gervinho appears to be a scapegoat, the latest in a long line of goats who have been scaped.
This is obviously getting to him, and if the Ivorian is to hit the heady heights that he did at Lille which prompted Eden Hazard to call him the best player he’s ever played with, the fans need to support him. With the fans behind him, however, he could once again be the force Arsenal expected him to be when he arrived at Ashburton Grove.
Gervinho aside, social media has been lighting up with insults directed at Abou Diaby, Wojciech Szczesny, Tomas Rosicky and Olivier Giroud because of what fans perceive to be their poor performances last night. These players don’t need barbs like this just before a massive game against one of Europe’s elite.
3.) Michael Appleton could be the man to bring Rovers back into the Premier League
Appleton has had a topsy-turvy six months. From turning the tide of Portsmouth’s downward slide to lasting just weeks at Blackpool to finally being handed the Rovers job, the former Portsmouth defender took his new team on a five-game unbeaten run after taking the reigns at Ewood Park and has surely won over the fans with this scalp over the Gunners.
Now eighth in the Championship and with plenty of the season to go, Rovers could push for a promotion spot at the first time of asking and Appleton could be the man to take them to the Premier League.
With their Indian owners Venky’s finally releasing the funds for players to come to Lancashire, we could see Blackburn Rovers back in the top flight next season.
4.) Can we expect a Milan at the Emirates against Bayern?
No, I’m not talking about that 4-0 walloping at the San Siro. I am talking about that stirring 3-0 game on what Arsene Wenger called a ‘real football pitch’ which saw Arsenal come close to taking the game to extra time, but ultimately fail in doing so.
They were on a similar run of results then as well, and a resounding win here could set the stage for a titillating second leg in Munich two weeks from now.
There is no doubt that Gooners all over the world will be supporting Arsenal despite their recent upset against Rovers.
5.) There is no place for either racism or xenophobia in football
A lot of the insults being hurled at Gervinho and Diaby yesterday were of a racist nature. Those being slung at Szczesny, Rosicky and Giroud reeked of xenophobia.
This from the same group of fans that watched three Frenchmen, a Dutchman, three Englishmen (two non-whites), a German, a Swede, a Brazilian and another Ivorian go a season unbeaten. Much of that team also went to the Champions League final in 2006.
Racism is a disease we should exterminate. The colonial era ended a good sixty years ago. I think it’s time this went out the window too. It is the same with xenophobia, where we live in a multicultural world.