Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory...

To be honest, I don't know what is worse; the fact that we were mugged by the referee not once but twice, that Jermaine Pennant gets to celebrate being part of a team that has knocked us out of the Champions League, or that I simply can't stand any of the 4 remaining contenders, one of whom will win the European Cup in a month or so - it all makes me want to puke.

Of course one of the teams left in the competition are Barcelona, who this week reportedly stated they would let Thierry Henry leave in the summer for the right price. So let me just get this straight. For 3 years they repeatedly unsettled our star striker, making a mockery of laws against 'tapping up' players, and caused Thierry's ego to inflate massively at which point we finally caved and sold him for 16 million pounds. Now, one season later, after trying to shoe horn him into a team of equally inflated egos, they are ready to cast him off? I hope for their sins Frank Rijkaard resigns and they are forced to take on Sam Allardyce as their new manager, and Txiki Beguiristain is then asked to make El Hadj Djouf his number one target for the summer. Actually I hope they all get taken by sharks whilst swimming at Mar Bella - oh the irony.

Of the remaining three, i'd rather clean my eyeballs with a nailgun that see any of them win the Champions League. Liverpool are probably the least despicable of the three, but by no means will I be able to handle seeing Gary Neville hold aloft the most prized cup in club football. Which is why it is so frustrating that we let slip a great chance to save the world from footballing evil.

There is no denying that we have suffered psychologically as a team recently. Some might say bad luck has been a big part of our season, but a fair slice of our fortune has been down to a lack of big name players stepping up when it counted. Couple that with various Wenger experiments that have failed to pay off and it's turning 2008 into a gooners nightmare.

The hollow shell that is Gilberto is one such example of failed experiments from the usually faultless Wenger. Where last year, in a match like Tuesday nights, Gilberto would have been leading by example, he looked a mere passenger. That he wasn't given the captaincy may not be the absolute reason for his entire loss of form, but it certainly hasn't helped him mentally. As Mathieu Flamini was stretchered off, I couldn't help but wonder what difference a player like Lassana Diarra might have made. Though that is not to say giving the captaincy to Gallas was an error on Wenger's part - more that he chose to keep a player at the club whom he clearly felt wasn't part of his first team plans and whose physical powers are obviously in decline. You can almost here him creak when he runs.

Meanwhile Emmanuel Eboue was once again a massive disappointment - I've decided he is the Robert Mugabe of our team. Clearly out to antagonise the right wing whilst somehow remaining in a position of influence despite massive opposition from the people. I don't believe that Theo Walcott has 'come of age' as many of the papers were extolling earlier this week after his mazy run for our equaliser, but certainly he is now the peoples choice for that position. I feel further competition is needed (Ben Arfa for instance) to keep him progressing, but Eboue should be turfed out now in preparation for a new revolution on the flanks.

The only interest for our season now rests on us somehow getting back to our feet and sucker punching a ManUtd team who are perhaps showing some end of season shakes of their own. A result on the weekend probably won't bring us the title, but at least it'll give us a few more weeks of proper footballing interest and help stave off for a few more weeks the inevitable rumour mill that will fire up over summer... if we lose however, bring on the gossip because although radical changes are not what is needed, there should be a reasonable clear out of those players that Wenger doesn't feel can grow with the team towards success over the next 2 or 3 seasons. To which I say Viva La Revolution!

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