Tobi’s Thoughts: I Almost Do Not Care Anymore!
There is this special caveat when you hear a big team has been knocked on of a cup competition by a “lesser” team. You look at the defeated team with scorn and derision, wondering how they could be so naive and probably profligate not to dispose of a lesser opposition. Then you shower praise on the smaller team, at the same time praying your team do not get to face them in any round. Take for example last season’s Emirates FA Cup, when Sutton United and Lincoln City eliminated Premier League opposition in Burnley and Leicester City. They were both non-league teams and it was really a massive upset. So when my team (Arsenal) beat both in the 5th round and quarter finals respectively, I’m pretty sure like I was, most supporters were indifferent to the results. We have the firepower to beat them, and we did. Nothing special there. I don’t need to start with what would have happened if we’d lost, or even drawn any of them.
So when we were drawn with Nottingham Forest in the third round this season, I almost didn’t care about the opposing team. “This should be a pretty complicated but normal win for my team”, I thought. That (un)eventful Sunday evening, I almost didn’t want to watch the match but when nothing else came up, I decided to keep myself “busy” for the next two hours. I remember telling a friend (a Man United supporter), “just like most Arsenal matches, I would sit down, complain, hurl insults at every player bar the one — or ones — who scores, and leave completely satisfied. Not with the match or the result, but that I had said my mind. To the television. And other viewers. I digress.
Anyways Arsenal lost, heavily. We didn’t deserve a single goal in the game, we had only one shot on target in the first half in contrast to six by Forest. Nothing just went well. A team consisting of seven internationals could not beat a team relatively struggling in the Championship, who had lost five of their last seven games, and had an 18 year-old leading the attack. It was a shambolic performance, and one thing really surprised me after the game: I wasn’t surprised!
Granted, losing to them was an upset but I didn’t feel angry whatsoever. I just shook my head, wondering how on earth these players came to my team, and genuinely pitying the very few players who actually tried and the supporters who actually were expecting a treat but were treated to something not delicious. On my way home, I was mulling over the game and just couldn’t think of what to say. I just turned on my laptop, connected my game console to the system and played FIFA. At least my virtual team (Northampton. Don’t ask!) does not disappoint me like my “real” team. It’s early January and Arsenal already gave me a new year’s gift. It wasn’t pretty but I almost do not care. We face Chelsea on Wednesday in a two-legged semi final encounter in the Carabao Cup — I think. We can hope for the best and scrape out a draw like we did exactly a week ago. Or we can bottle it up and get humiliated again. Except this wouldn’t be upsetting. Even then I almost wouldn’t care.
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