It was always Gunner be a real cup cracker
I PLONKED myself on to the sofa on Saturday evening to feast my eyes on this year’s FA Cup final.
It has been difficult enough to get overly excited about the English cup showpiece in recent years, given the complete disdain the big clubs show for the competition when they have bigger fish to fry, seemingly only taking it seriously when they manage to stutter their way to the latter stages and have one last opportunity to end the season on a high.
In the main the once grand old tournament has become as diluted as a Miwadi poured by a penny-pinching barman.
However, last weekend’s rendition held a bit more intrigue, with Arsenal desperately trying to salvage something from a disastrous season and Chelsea hoping to celebrate on the double to round off a successful first term in the English game for manager Antonio Conte.
Thankfully, for once the contest lived up to its billing.
There were more highlights in Mezut Ozil’s hair at Wembley than he had managed to produce on the football field in much of the earlier part of the season, but it was certainly a good ‘herr’ day for the German on Saturday.
While the World Cup winner might be a player who can blow as hot and cold as a wonky hair dryer, one guy who delivers with more regularity than a top-class courier service is the Duracell bunny that is Alexis Sanchez.
Arsene Wenger certainly needed his two stars to shine and they didn’t disappoint, getting on the ball more often than Ant and Dec are on our television screens.
It wasn’t all about Arsenal’s attacking threat though, with long-term absentee Per Mertesacker coming back from the injury-plagued wilderness to give a masterclass at the back.
After Moses went down like a gannet that had just spied a tasty herring with the Arsenal defence parting like the Red Sea, it was quickly and justifiably followed by a red card for his blatant attempt to con the officials.
Referee Anthony Taylor obviously saw enough blackguarding on his infamous stag do in Marbella to recognise play-acting, and Moses was never going to be the Victor in this particular battle, getting the old heave-ho from the man in the middle.
Simulation is not something I like to see in the game at the best of times, but with the amount of column inches it has got recently, with talk of retrospective punishments, the Chelsea man deserves to spend extra time on the sidelines for sheer stupidity.
The Pensioners didn’t become Premier League champions for nothing though and it just had to be Diego Costa that dragged them back into the tie.
The Brazilian-born striker always plays the pantomime villain role, and opposing supporters would be quick to accuse him of robbing a rattle from a baby, but there’s no doubting the man’s talent when he’s on song, although the smile was quickly back to a scowl after Ramsey’s almost instant response.
The big question now on the lips of Gunners fans is will Monsieur Wenger stay or go but, regardless of the outcome of that conundrum, at least that have something to celebrate in the here and now.
Whatever about the financial ramifications, it’s always better to get your hands on silverware than to qualify for a competition that you’re almost certainly going to be knocked out of at the last 16 stage next season.
Winning trophies is king; just ask Manchester United fans who are now celebrating with great gusto after garnering prizes they would have openly scoffed at a few years back.
After United’s triumph in the Europa League final, England will have five representatives in next season’s Champions League, but whatever about quantity they’ll still lack the quality to have a major impact on the continent’s big competition.
It’s hard to imagine Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich et al quaking in their boots at the thoughts of facing the best England has to offer, no matter how many hundreds of millions they gamble on overpriced players.