Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Too Many Kiss-related Puns?

Cesc Fabregas produced a masterclass in midfield play against Blackburn last Sunday. Having assisted Arsenal's first three goals he decided to cut out the middle man and simply put the ball in the back of the net himself.

The ensuing celebration was notable for one main reason: it contained the ever popular badge kissing from a player who's been linked with a transfer to pastures greener, in this case, Barcelona.

The more cynical Arsenal fans might have cast their minds back to the beginning of last season, when Emmanuel Adebayor scored a pre-season goal for the Gunners and decided to show his loyalty to the club by kissing the badge in front of the Arsenal supporters. Fast forward to 12th September 2009, when Adebayor decided to taunt Arsenal supporters by celebrating a goal he scored for Manchester City right in front of them.

What then of Cesc's celebration? Is his kiss of the Arsenal badge the kiss of death for his career at the club? Or to put it another way, like Judas, has he betrayed them with a kiss? Unlike Adebayor, Fabregas is loved by the supporters of Arsenal football club, and so if he decides to leave at the end of the season it will surely be on good terms. After all, he has been at Arsenal for seven seasons, which is almost as long a service as recent legends Viera and Henry, the latter of which was a witness of Cesc's demolition of Blackburn and received generous applause from the Emirates crowd prior to the game.

However, unlike Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera, Cesc Fabregas has yet to lead Arsenal to a piece of prime silverware. The fans will feel that he still owes them some trophies, and so they must remain in hope that the latest Gunner to kiss the badge is not planning on kissing the club good-bye any time soon.

However, should he pack his bags next summer he will still be remembered fondly by Arsenal fans as a wonderful playmaker, whose commitment to the club on the field was rarely if ever in question. But he will also be remembered as someone who failed to bring the club the glory it so desperately craves. Can he live with that? Perhaps he won't have to if he continues to play like he did on Sunday, because in that kind of form Arsenal will surely be walking away with a trophy or two come next May.

3 comments:

Gav said...

Hey! I've got an idea for a resurrection of your blog... the footballing one, there other one's already had one resurrection too many. So it's simply called "Top 10 Predictions". It's just 10 footballing predictions for the rest of the season. Champ League, Prem, WC... whatever you want but there has to be some degree of risk to them. Like the 10 most unlikely things you think will happen. Thus leaving us plenty of scope to be mocked later. For instance: I think Spain will win the WC (not valid). I think Ferdinand won't be selected for the WC (valid). Cleary needs to be involved too... that man is ludicrous.

Dec said...

At this point I may be forced into making random predictions, because I'm really not seeing many matches. "Top 10 predictions" it is so. Expect it some time in the next 4 days...

Niall said...

C'mon now. Look at Imbrahimovic, tearing it up, just like I said he would.