I am not a firm believer in destiny – I choose to believe the positives about my future and disregard the negatives. And that too, in the predictions of a chosen few astrologers. Yet, sometimes I go out of my way to predict something. With the result being usually bang opposite to what I had stated. It’s one of the principal reasons I’ve stayed away from gambling all my life!

A few weeks ago, I wrote this article: Arsenal 2008-09 season in which I propounded the theory that Arsenal would succeed this season because of the presence of a winner in their midst. Oh, how wrong I was. The winner has been performing woefully till date: because he has been overplayed as some would have you believe; or maybe that he has lost the hunger now that he has some valuable trophy under his belt; or the fact that his best friends are no longer at the club. Much can be made out of Cesc Fabregas’ poor performances this season. Yet, the fact remains that in football, unlike in most other sports, you lose as a team. You can win on off days by a spark of brilliance from one chap; you can win on others by a stroke of luck. But you can lose only if the entire team does not have the same focus.

Whether Arsene was aware of the media hyped “deficiencies” of this team is anyone’s guess. What he was aware of was that there was probably a good chance (given Arsenal’s history in this department) of injuries knocking out players at crucial times in the league campaign. The list of injured now stands as follows:

Long term absentees:

Rosicky, Eduardo, Walcott

Short term absentees:

Eboue, Toure, Sagna, Nasri, Gallas

That Gallas is not injured and has been removed from the team (as per Arseblog) due to his misdemeanours off the field is besides the point. No Arsenal captain, in my lifetime at least, has mouthed off to the media like this son of a (*^*%&^$) has. Not only has he showed the club and its players in poor light but he has also damaged the aura that surrounded AFC. Smaller teams will now visit The Emirates with a view to take away three points as opposed to praying for a non-shellacking performance from the Gunners. Gallas will never be forgiven by any Gooner and he deserves to be left out of the team.

Yuri had commented on my previous article that Arsenal were probably not going to see out the entire season at the top of the table (forget being there at the end of it). He had said that come the second half and the performances would peter out. How wrong he was! The performances have petered out in the first half itself. As a fan of a “top 4″ team, I have every reason to expect more from the team than what they have shown on the field. We fans are indirectly paying their wages. If you employ someone to work for you, you have every right to smack (not physically) that person in case s/he is not performing upto her/his capabilities! Failure is not a problem! Low aim, not failure is a crime. It is the indifferent performances that the team is capable of delivering is what is damning!

I am done predicting for the near future. The season is over for us, no matter what anyone says about mathematical possibilities. I can only hope that Arsene bolsters the squad in January and that we see out the end of the season without any major casualties. If Gallas chooses to leave, so be it. So long as Arsene knows what he is doing, we hope we have a chance at winning something. Carling Cup, here we come! :/