Can "Arsenal" and "optimism" be in a same sentence?

My second post is all about Arsenal. As you all know(but I'll be a bad girl and remind you), we didn't win the famous and very prestige ( :) ) Emirates Cup couple of days ago. We draw both of our games, 2-2 against Boca Juniors, and 1-1 against New York Red Bulls. I'm sure it would be 3-3 against PSG(I'd write 0-0 but they scored so much against Boca hehe). I was lucky enough to watch both games, yeah. And, I didn't let the results to ruin my weekend. How is that possible, unless you're not so into Arsenal?

Well, on the end of last season, I promised my self some kind of break from Arsenal. I was an active member of Arsenal Croatia's forum (active is really an euphemism for what I was there haha). It was a great community, lots of people talking not just about Arsenal but about life in general, I loved it there. But, Arsenal was getting on my nervs. They were ruining my weekends, I suffered mocking amongst my friends, too much time was "wasted" on nothing. So, I decided to take a break and have a happy summer. I removed the forum bookmark, and all sport news portals too, I only left Arsenal.com, cause they don't bother to write stuff about transfers :D It wasn't easy, but I was so mad at my team. I mean, I skip hanging out with famliy and friends to watch Liverpool scoring in 11th minute of extra time! I mean, come on. Something had to change. It didn't look as Arsenal would, so  I had to.

I love Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, and he actually gave me the idea to take a break. He did that once, but he came back, just as I knew I will too. First week or so was ok. No Arsenal at all, I was lucky that Croatian media doesn't care so much about Arsenal. But then, Twitter happened. Basiclly all people I follow have something to do with Arsenal. My timeline was full of transfer fairy tales and horror stories. Cesc to Barca, Nasri to United, Nasri to City, oh look Jenkinson, google, ok, next, Clichy to City :( and so on and so on... Clichy to City made me sad. I know he wasn't so good, but he was one of my favorites, the last invincible. And about Cesc and Nasri, I never believed they'll leave. And I still don't :) There was a lot more things happening, you know all of them. It would take too much time to write down all players we were connected with and all the clubs that want our guys.

So, here we are. Preseason friendlies, Asia Tour, Emirates Cup. I didn't watch any of the preseason games, only the EC ones, and I don't think I've missed anything, the Arsenal bloggers told me what I needed to know. To be honest, I was more about Thierry Henry coming back to Emirates than about winning our first trophy of the season. That's why I wasn't so angry or sad or frustrated when we didn't win. Like I said, I watched both games, and I actually enjoyed. You may call me crazy, but I love the fact you have to be nervous and scared until the final whistle is blown. I love that expectation, all the little heart attacks I get when oponnents cross the middle of the pitch. Of course, I'm sad when they score. BUT, I don't yell at Wenger for not buying world class defenders. I mean, we have Vermaelen and Koscielny, I love that pair, they are one of the best defenders in Premierleague. Squillacy, well, I share the same opinnion as most of gooners. Djourou, I like him, he can be good, he can make mistakes. The thing here is, they are replacements, and you just can't expect us to have a world class 4th defender. The same goes for Vito Mannone. He is great as 3rd goalkeeper.

People love to moan, gooners especially. Oh, Djourou didn't run for ball? SELL!! DAMN YOU WENGER BUY SOMEONE! I mean, people, chill. I'm not saying there should be no criticism at all, it's really welcome. But, be objective as much as possible. It's a lot to ask, I know, but I think that would help the team more than constant moaning about every little thing that goes wrong. It's football, it's why we love it, unpredictable, full of surprises, good ones and bad ones, that's just how things work. We just have to hope for the best. I do that, and I really can't wait for the season to begin. I'm very very veeeeery optimistic. I don't expect injury gods to help us, I don't expect any big name signings, but I have faith in my team, and in Wenger. Bring me the Premiership, the Champs League, all the Cups. It's a brand new season, we'll have ups and downs as always, others will too. But I have this feeling that everything will be ok . :)

Thanks for reading :) Comments are welcome!

Roza