Performance Art

I've finally got round to writing something after weeks of being "off the air". OK, the subject is football again but, hey, it's a (re)start...

To paraphrase that great intellectually challenged philosopher,Forrest Gump: football is like a box of chocolates--you never know what you're going to get. It's not for nothing that football is called the beautiful game. Sometimes you come to a football match, expecting nothing in particular, and you have the privilege of watching something extraordinarily beautiful being made right before your eyes.

Such was the case with Tuesday night's Champions League game. Arsenal, at the tail end of what's been for them a decidely lacklustre (English) Premiership season. Juventus, riding high in (Italian) Serie A, eight points ahead indeed of their nearest rivals, AC Milan.

You can see why I didn't have particularly high expectations of my team.

But this is football we're talking about here.

To a man, the Arsenal lads were absolutely outstanding!

What a game and what a player that young man Fabregas is! Juventus, the mighty Juventus, were made to look like a bunch of tottering old-age pensioners. They were completely and utterly outplayed.

A statement of the literal scoreline "Arsenal 2, Juventus 0" is, in truth, extremely misleading. To put it like that would be to that Arsenal simply beat Juventus by two goals to nil. But that would very far from the truth. The gulf between the performances of the two teams in not one that can be quantified. Qualitative descriptions too are inadequate since the English Language does not have words to describe what happens on Tuesday night.

Unluckily for Juventus, the Arsenal team that showed up to play them was in invincible form. The game they played was one of breathtaking beauty, performance art if you will. Arsenal, and Arsenal alone, were the story of this game, from first to last.

There've been moments this season when I've doubted Arsene Wenger's strategy with the current Arsenal team, but I have to be honest and say that the man has been totally vindicated. What a manager.

Bring on next season please.