It’s Football But Not The Same by 'The Dover Marksman'

I used to write a blog of my own (myarsenalopinion.blogspot.co.uk) which was my way of venting the joys and frustrations around being a match-going Arsenal supporter.

A change in job role which meant spending most days in front of a computer screen saw me drop off the radar bit by bit until, eventually, I just stopped writing altogether.

My first articles were actually on the Gooner website a decade ago. Two years on from my last article on my own site, in which I expressed deep dissatisfaction with the sale of Jack Wilshere – Emery’s first mistake, I called it – I find myself sitting here typing once again.

I have no intention (not yet at least) of going back to “full-time” blogging with a number of articles in any given week, but the first editorial by Layth Yousif for The Gooner online – and his clarion call to get the real Arsenal supporters’ voices out there instead of the actors on a certain YouTube set-up -has inspired me to try and get back on the bike at least occasionally.

My favourite pieces to write have been nostalgia, accounts of my own experience on great (and not so great) Arsenal days. Maybe that’s what I’ll try and explore some more going forward. I just hope to get the bug back a bit. Enough about me now, let’s talk about The Arsenal.

Follow The Dover Marksman on Twitter 

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Arsenal reaching the FA Cup final has made me happy - but until supporters are allowed back it won't feel the same

For people like me, supporters who have a season ticket and go home and (at least some) away, this lockdown football is completely alien.

Quite honestly it’s hard to watch at times. What’s harder is not feeling the same emotion that comes from actually being there when Arsenal score, or when Arsenal win, or even when they lose. This really came home to me last Sunday and again on Saturday night.

Let’s be honest, losing to Tottenham would normally cause utter desolation. Last Sunday I didn’t even watch the game on TV as I played cricket for the first time this year instead.

That might sound odd to hear from someone claiming to be a “proper” supporter, but the way the behind closed doors football makes me feel just a little bit cold very much influenced the decision to do something other than watch The Arsenal.

I was batting when someone called out to me that we’d lost and I tried to take the leather off the ball (with very little success) for the next few deliveries I faced.

Within a couple of minutes I’d calmed down and basically forgotten about it. Losing to Spurs meant virtually nothing to me. I’d never felt so disconnected from my football club to the point where I almost couldn’t have cared less.

Normally I’d have been angry and upset for days and my irritability would have really annoyed my wife, children and work colleagues. The difference that watching EVERY game on TV, with no crowds in the stadium, has made to my football emotions right now is beyond belief.

I still shout and scream at the TV when the game is on, I might even let out a loud “YES” when we score a goal, but afterwards I’m struggling.

This brings me on to Saturday night and the Manchester City game at Wembley.

The first thing to say is that I was absolutely bloody delighted. I thought the performance at Wolves had been excellent a couple of weeks ago, the best team display away from home since the Santi/Coquelin inspired win at City five years ago.

The Liverpool win on Wednesday had been a very welcome surprise, but probably a 1-in-10 type victory by which I mean you’d probably lose on the other nine occasions you play that game in that way.

Nonetheless, those two matches were clearly the rehearsal for what happened at Wembley at the weekend. Mikel Arteta is smart enough to know this Arsenal side can’t go toe-to-toe with the likes of City or Liverpool, but with some organisation and 100 per cent commitment, you can give yourself a chance.

If you can then take the opportunity to get the ball to strikers like Lacazette and Aubameyang when you get the chance then you can score goals.

What we saw from Arteta's Arsenal on Saturday evening was almost a defensive masterclass.

In a way it was very similar to the Parma game in 1994. The way in which the team performed more than merited the deserved victory and gave us a place in another FA Cup Final.

It is also the sort of win that gives the players and supporters some belief and confidence that we can still compete on any given day with the top teams.

Arteta deserves great credit for the way in which Mustafi and Xhaka, in particular, have improved under him simply by apparently being given an instruction on what their role is.

They will still make some horrendous errors, of course, and I’ve no doubt the online “support” will seek to destroy them again when they do, but credit is due to both men.

Similarly you have to admire the character of David Luiz to come back in recent weeks and look a different performer, as well as very clearly being a huge leadership figure for the younger players and appearing to be extremely popular with everyone involved at Arsenal.

It was great to win on Saturday night and it made me very happy indeed. Or did it?

This brings me back to what I was saying above with regards to how it “feels” right now watching Arsenal play football. I was excited when we won. Happy. Smiling. Off my sofa with my arms outstretched. And then I sat down again.

I started Tweeting about the game and was really very pleased. But it wasn’t the same. What I was experiencing is what 99 per cent of modern fans feel thanks to the saturation of TV coverage, even though they rarely (if ever) go to a game.

You see, for those people who watch from their armchairs every week this isn’t particularly a different experience to a “normal” season.

For those of us who go and travel to games it’s nothing like the same.

I started to reflect after the game and considered what it would have been like to be walking out of Wembley, probably about 15-20 minutes after the final whistle, with the 40,000 other Arsenal supporters who’d have been there.

We’d have been singing the songs, bouncing about, caught up in the atmosphere that only those of us lucky enough to be there can truly understand. I’d have still been smiling today, knowing that I was going back to Wembley for the FA Cup Final.

But I’m not. We’re not. None of us.

It was great that Arsenal won and it left me very pleased. Winning the FA Cup would make this a season we can look back on with some fondness.

But it’s not the same for people like me. It never can be until we’re allowed back.