Walking It In

So, we're almost in March and it seems we've decided to loan our frustratingly frustrating Russian back to Zenit St. Petersburg.

What a bizarre move if it actually happens. I mean, yes, Arshavin has been awful this season and was pretty poor the season before, but do we really want to be shipping players out at the business end of the season?

Why not sort it out in January and actually bring someone else in?

That's our record for the 2011/12 season so far.

Forget the transfer deadline day tumbleweed - Arsene Wenger has shocked the footballing world by going against type and signing an unknown German 19 year-old midfielder from Borussia Dortmund.

Thomas Eisfeld has joined us on a 'long-term' deal and comes with a CV that suggests he has a bit of something about him, having spent seven years with Dortmund's academy and been captained of the German Under-15s.

Not quite the the established forward or defensive signing we were all hoping for, but also not surprising really.

So I think we can safely say that at half time yesterday we were staring straight into the abyss.

Knocked out of the Cup with little more than a whimper by a rag tag bunch of under-achievers.

As the boos rang out I just stared into space for five minutes running through all the possible scenarios.

The first thought that came to mind was that we had yet to see the obligatory Robbie Keane goal - so things could only get worse.

Then it was that the cheeky tenner I had on with Paddy Power for the half time/full time was up the swanny.

Then it was concern at the abuse that would be hurled at the manager and certain members of the playing staff in the messy aftermath.

Then I consoled myself that it might not be so bad what with Jose Mourinho being available in the summer.

It was that final, utterly sickening and horrific thought that snapped me out of it and sent me to get a Bovril. Fucking hell it was cold over there.

What I hadn't considered was that we'd be able to turn it around. And I really wish I had if only to get one up on Paddy.

Yes, we were fortunate with two pens and a lucky rebound, but who cares? It was a glorious comeback against the odds, and hopefully a turning point for the manager, players and fans. Whatever was said at half time and whoever it was said by did the trick. Plus it helped that Villa were shit.

We've had a few false dawns recently, but you have to think that with our fullbacks on the mend and the emergence of The Ox we might be able to make a real push in the FA Cup and Champions League, while hauling ourselves into a more respectable league position.

We'll have a big litmus test of that theory on Wednesday with our trip to Bolton, then again at home on Saturday against Blackburn and then away to Sunderland - all three sides are scrapping for their Premier League lives.

We really need nine points from those games if we've got any ambition at all. Seven at a push. Anything less will be disappointing and if there's a defeat in there somewhere we'll be back to the drawing board for the 99th time.

But now there's hope of better things where before there was none. And that's a bloody good job because with Liverpool starting to find some form bums are going to get very squeaky very quickly.

Might we get a couple more bodies in on transfer deadline day to help in the effort? Not a chance. The only 'new signings' we're going to have are the returns of the proverbial injured players.

It's been a football-packed weekend for me, having spent yesterday at the Lamex Stadium watching Stevenage v Notts County.

Everyone I was with described it as 'real' football. And it was - a shit kicking 90 minutes (Notts County's fault, not the Nidge), tight ground, terracing, great local and travelling support, cold and muddy.

I'm going to put down some some more thoughts on the experience in a day or two. For now we're back to the main event as we take on Villa in the FA Cup 4th Round, which I guess we should call 'fake' football.

Given that we've got a real chance of winning the competition, today is a massive game. And a win - scrappy or emphatic - will go some way to putting us back on track after what has been a dire January.

It won't be easy even though we have a 2-1 win at their place under our belts already this season - Villa are a bunch of shit kickers too and will probably park that double decker bus, so I think the crowd are going to play a huge part in how things turn out.

There's every chance what we could go into half time at 0-0. If that happens, the last thing we need is a load of booing and recrimination again. That was last week and now we need to get behind the team, especially if we're struggling.

Team-wise I hope we put out a strong side, though with Bolton looming there might be a couple of changes I suppose. Maybe Henry will get a start? That would lend a bit of excitement to proceedings, wouldn't it?

I guess we could also see Park get a starting berth and I hope Oxlade-Chamberlain keep his place.

Oh and did I mention Alex McLeish? Always nice to get one over him after the League Cup thing. I'm not bitter.

UTA!

Let's get one thing perfectly clear: Anyone who chanted 'You don't know what you're doing' at Arsene Wenger when he subbed The Ox yesterday is a fucking idiot.

I was genuinely shocked when what felt like everyone around me erupted into the above chorus - and I sit in the Gods with the more mellower folk in the upper corner of the Clock End.

Looking down at the wild gesticulation in the block behind the home dugout when Oxlade-Chamberlain's number went felt almost surreal. Like when someone who's usually mild mannered suddenly loses their mind out of the blue. You know, like Bilbo Baggins when the ring gets the better of him.

My brother, who sits in said block, said Wenger looked shocked. I bet he fucking did. This is the man who took us through a whole season unbeaten. To say he doesn't know what he's doing is plain insulting and completely lacking in respect of everything else he's achieved.

How has it come to this? Well, the vitriol triggered by the substitution wasn't orchestrated, it was a spontaneous release of pent up frustration. As a fellow season ticket holder said to me today, it was an echo of when Eboue was subbed having only just come on as a sub, two years ago.

Yep, that's how long the relationship between management, players (key personnel leaving, RVP showing displeasure yesterday) and fans has been deteriorating. Probably longer.

Clearly, the reaction wouldn't have been so extreme if we hadn't have screwed things up so royally against Fulham and Swansea. I think I saw that this is the first time we've lost three league games on the bounce since 2007.

Coupled with the position we find ourselves in in the table, it's plainly not good enough. I personally don't think we'll make the top four come May. We're lucky Liverpool and Newcastle performed worse than us at the weekend, or else we'd be sitting in seventh now.

Bad times.

I blogged on Sunday morning that the game against United marked the 43rd time Wenger and Ferguson had gone head to head in club competition. Will there be a 44th?

Well, unless something quite spectacular happens, we're clearly in the middle of the beginning of the end of the Wenger era. Given the unlikelyhood of a sacking (please God let's not have a sacking), the length of time that process takes to play out will be Wenger's decision entirely.

In fact, it probably wouldn't be a surprise if he walked away of his own accord in the summer. But please, until then, let's have a little respect for the man who made this club what it is today.

And let's get behind this team between now and May. We still have the FA Cup and Champions league to go for - both cup competitions where anything can happen on the day/night and one of which is emminently winnable.