Paul Wilson FA Cup Final
If Arsenal against Newcastle United has the ring of a real cup final about it, for all the traditional reasons, then it is also a final in which neutral viewers would traditionally have known which side to support.
But if a week is a long time in politics, a couple of managers represent an age in football. Had the Gunners met the Toon at Wembley three or four years ago, Kevin
Keegan’s laughing cavaliers would have been pitted against George Graham’s roundheads and, as everyone’s second favourite side, Newcastle would have cleaned
up on the sympathy vote as they attempted to capture the elusive silverware we all insisted they deserved.
It isn’t quite like that any more, and it isn’t all Kenny Dalglish’s fault. Newcastle certainly scored a few own goals this season, and Dalglish succeeded in making Keegan’s team boring, but that is only half the story. The other half, more surprising in a way, is how Arsenal became compelling viewing; thrilling to watch; steely and skilful at the same time and successful with it. All the things, in short, which Keegan was hoping Newcastle would come to represent.
If it seems odd to have Arsenal as your second favourite team at the moment – bear in mind that even Tottenham fans have grudgingly admired Arsene Wenger’s style this
season – there can be no argument.
Arsenal’s eason has been simply exceptional, they have displayed stamina and skill in equal measure in sweeping the title.
Like all champion teams, their success can be traced back to an outstanding goalkeeper (in this case a choice of two) and a tight defence, but the other classic ingredients of a dominating midfield and a truly inventive forward line are also in place. Only an out-and-out, 30-goals-a-season striker is missing.
But for now the combination of Bergkamp, Overmars, and whichever English/French/Liberian striker Wenger chooses to play in front of them is quite enough. Arsenal’s continental conglomeration is being greeted as the best thing to happen to English football for years.
Almost literally. Without wanting to take anything away from the panache of Arsenal’s
first Premiership title, it is worth pointing out that part of the feelgood factor is due to relief around the rest of Britain at Manchester United’s failure to win it again; most football followers instinctively feel the title should be shared around a bit, rather than monopolised by one club. Liverpool should have won last year’s title, for instance, but could not summon the consistency. Newcastle should have won it the season before, but lost their nerve and their lead.
The fact that Arsenal never once wavered from the moment they got a sniff of a chance is why everyone is regarding their achievement with part admiration, part gratitude.
It is for the same reasons, though Newcastle’s wretched performances on and off the field also come into it, that the Gunners would make popular double winners.
Newcastle, however, have rarely looked as potent, and Arsenal may conclude that with Asprilla gone and Gillespie injured, they have little to worry about.
But that would underestimate Shearer who, whatever the form book says, has the
capacity to be the central figure – with his affinity for Wembley and an appetite for the big occasion.
As long as Roy of the Rovers is not completely on his own in his first Cup final there is hope for his side. Arsenal have not always punished supposedly weaker teams at Wembley, and Doubles, as Dalglish knows too well, are fiendishly difficult to win to order.
ENDS