Adrian Wagenaar
Sunday was our 30th Cup Final and the defeat to Birmingham was our 16th loss in a final, so defeat was, percentage wise, definitely a possibility. It was obvious we were in a game and I certainly expected a real battle but as we were preparing for extra time we had a modern day ‘Ure & Wilson’ mix up. Many of us will talk about bottle and lack of leadership but we had Frank McClintock as skipper against Swindon and players like Winterburn and Rocastle against Luton - nobody makes a drama out of a final like The Arsenal.
How do you explain the winning goal? A rookie keeper coupled with a centre back in his first full season in The Premier League, maybe, but then explain "Nayim from the half way line" against one of the best goalkeepers in the world! These ‘accidents’ seem to be in our DNA - perhaps it is our Corinthian spirit that suggests it is not the winning that counts but the taking part. Is it the players, leadership or mental strength? Don't tell me that the side that was robbed by Liverpool in Cardiff did not have mental strength because it won the double the next season and was "invincible" two years after that.
The final added Birmingham to the list of clubs who had not won a trophy until they met football's most generous benefactors The Arsenal in a game that, had United played Alex McLeish’s side, would have finished 2-0 to the Mancs and been an excitement free event.
For the analyst in me we lost far too many first balls in the box but it was the second ball we failed to cut out that cost us the first goal. The second came from the longest dead ball kick ever from a goalkeeper to the ‘lighthouse’ Zigic. He again won it and the rest is added to our long list of calamities in cup finals.
Yet had Rosicky's effort been a foot or so nearer the goal we would have been marveling at one of the finest breakaway goals ever seen in a final. Nah, no chance, we are Arsenal and the other team are underdogs and we of a certain age know exactly what that means! Still it could have been worse, had the linesman been awake we would have lost our keeper, probably been a goal down and played the rest of the game with 10 men. And that perhaps would have given Wenger the excuse he was looking for - which would have been unfair on Birmingham.
As for the rest of the season - thankfully we have a game every 3 to 4 days so we will have other challenges to concentrate on, but key signings that were not made over the past two seasons will, in my opinion, see us run out players long before the season ends and confine us to yet another barren campaign.
