Its May 2005, and Arsenal have just won the FA Cup against Manchester United after Patrick Viera scored the winning penalty in a shoot-out finishing 5-4. Arsenal fans are jubilant, Arsenal players are jubilant, Arsene Wenger is jubilant. Surely with such a fantastic honour won The Gunners would go onto further success? It seems not, because in May 2005 Arsenal won the last trophy they would in a while. I'm writing this in 2011, still no silverware since that penalty shoot-out win. They've lost two of their best players and Wenger is starting to feel the pressure. Is this famous club falling down the footballing ladder?
Celebrate it whilst you can lads, you won't win another in a while.
The gradual fall of the club didn't start with that FA Cup triumph. In 2006 they reached the UEFA Champions League final where they were narrowly beaten by a little known Spanish side called FC Barcelona, you may have heard of them. However in the league they had gone from finishing 2nd in 2005, to finishing 4th in 2006. They failed to win a trophy in the 2005-06 season, but not to worry, its probably just a blip. Teams like Arsenal don't just stop winning, there's always next season.
2006-07 season. Arsenal are in the final of the League Cup! Now it their time to win another trophy...oh dear, Drogba's just scored in the 84th minute to put Chelsea 2-1 up. Never mind, maybe they can win the FA Cup? Unfortunately for Arsenal in the fifth round they were out of that at the hands of Blackburn Rovers, another one bites the dust. Their Champions League dream was also over, having exited in the first knockout round against PSV of Holland and another frustrating Premier League season saw the North London club finish 4th, again. By now Gunners fans were starting to get a bit anxious, two years is a long time for a big club to go without silverware especially when you've been used to regularly winning stuff.
Another trophy-less season followed. The 2007-08 campaign saw Arsenal finish 3rd in the league, get knocked out in the quarter finals of the Champions League against Liverpool, get crushed 5-1 against rivals Tottenham in the League Cup semi final and exit in the FA Cup fifth round after a 4-0 away defeat against Man Utd. Yet another unsuccessful season for Arsene Wenger, a manager that has always been stubborn even when the media and fans are shouting "buy a bloody defender" right in his face. Unfortunately for The Gunners, he is a manager who listens to no one, even when they're right.
Another trophy-less season followed. The 2007-08 campaign saw Arsenal finish 3rd in the league, get knocked out in the quarter finals of the Champions League against Liverpool, get crushed 5-1 against rivals Tottenham in the League Cup semi final and exit in the FA Cup fifth round after a 4-0 away defeat against Man Utd. Yet another unsuccessful season for Arsene Wenger, a manager that has always been stubborn even when the media and fans are shouting "buy a bloody defender" right in his face. Unfortunately for The Gunners, he is a manager who listens to no one, even when they're right.
2008-09 and by now Arsenal Football Club are becoming a bit of a laughing stock, who cares about trophies and success when you play beautiful, perfect football? However that truly magical style of play didn't work as much as Arsene had originally hoped. Slight improvement in the FA Cup saw Arsenal knocked-out at the by eventual champions Chelsea in the semi final, but improvement or not it still wasn't silverware. An embarrassing early exit against Burnley came in the Carling Cup followed by another 3rd place league finish and a promising semi final defeat in the Champions League to eventual runners up Man Utd.
In the 2009-10 season Arsenal's Champions League would come to end in the quarter finals against Barcelona, a match they were hardly expected to win. Again The Gunners finished 3rd in the league, just above Tottenham but a worrying 11 points from champions Man Utd. Not much glory would come in the FA Cup or League Cup either, with a forth round FA Cup defeat to Stoke City and a 3-0 loss in the Carling Cup fifth round at Man City. At the end of this season, people were quite rightly questioning whether Arsene Wenger should still be managing. And who could blame them?
No FA Cup glory in the 2010-11 season either as Man Utd knocked them out in the quarter finals. Nor was it their year in the Premier League, they ended in 4th having been beaten to 3rd by Manchester City. Yet again Barcelona had something to say about Arsenal's progression in the Champions League, a first knock-out round defeat to the Catalans saw Arsenal leave Europe's premier club competition. However was it their year in the League Cup? Could they finally lift some silverware? At Wembley they met Birmingham City in the League Cup final and it was looking as though it was heading to extra time before in the 89th minute Obefemi Martins but the Blues 2-1 up to end Arsenal's first chance of silverware since 2005.
So as the 2011-12 season gets underway we're sure to see a season full of twists, turns and shocks. We don't know who will win the league, we are far from finding out who will be victorious in the Champions League and who will win the FA Cup or League Cup is anyone's guess. However one thing we can all be sure of is that Arsenal will win none of them, and the rest of the country will be laughing at how brilliant they are at under achieving. But don't worry Gunners fans, you're nailed on for next year's Emirates Cup!
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