Kills Me Dead

Hello, 5th place!

1. Tottenham still have a game in hand so perhaps we should not be getting too ahead of ourselves with dreams of a 5th place finish and the final Europa league spot. Still, considering that there was a time this season we were in the relegation zone, this is a new and different feeling.
2. I really, really, really love Dirk Kuyt (AND HIS AMAZING WORK RATE!). My sister and I have an ongoing conversation about whose name to get on our next kits (she’s waiting on her new Andy Carroll jersey even though he didn’t cure AIDS) and while I have definitely decided on the new away kit with Carra’s name, I might just get one of the old away kits with Kuyt’s name (if they’re still in stock). This guy just kills me.
3. Nice of Suarez to finally score again after all the other goals he creates for other people.
4. Joey Barton seemed like he was purposely trying to rile up the Kop the second time he took a corner and placed the ball and the wrong side of the line.
5. Not much else other than that I’m glad we secured three points because that’s just one more game won, one more match closer to maintaining fifth.

I’m consistently surprised by the audience at the pub. On match days against sides in the lower half of the table where the game starts at 7:00am, I usually only expect to see the regulars who are there week in, week out. Today was weird because the one group who is there regularly were not and then there was some new dude I’d never seen before. Just when I think I’ve figured out who goes to what matches, I get thrown off again.

I stayed for the Arsenal/Man Utd match because even though it would not at all impact the table in a way I cared about, it was still likely to be an enjoyable match.

1. As Arsenal entered The Emirates, all the players were shaking the mascot’s hand, except for Robin van Persie who started a hug trend followed by Jens Lehmann and I think Theo Walcott. This amused me.
2. I cannot figure out what was the deal with the ref, and I’m not even talking about any number of bad calls for either side. I would think that the number one rule of refereeing is to STAY OUT OF THE GODDAMNED WAY. Sure, occasionally you might see a wayward ball collide with a ref but maybe you should be keeping your eye on the ball in order to, you know, NOT RUN INTO THE PLAYER CURRENTLY IN POSSESSION OF THE BALL? This was amazing on so many levels.
3. I enjoy all the footie jokes on The IT Crowd and most of them came up today, e.g. Rooney being a naughty boy, Arsenal refusing to do anything but walk it in, etc. It made me wish that Maurice Moss was one of the commentators.
4. I don’t think I’ve seen Arsenal play this enthusiastically or energetically all season. How new and refreshing!
5. On the flip side, it must be really hard to watch Arsenal every week knowing that even if they’ve completely dominated the play and are a goal up, there’s still a chance they’ll fall apart at the end of the game. I swear it felt like there was still a significant possibility that Man Utd would not just tie the game up but could go ahead. Way too stressful for those of us not actively rooting for either side.

That was my last pub visit for the season, sadly, as Liverpool play Fulham on a Monday and then I’ll be in England for the final two matches. So excited!