arsenal articles you should read

• The team of misfits Fabregas has to tame (The Independent)
• Nicklas Bendtner sends Cesc Fabregas's Arsenal into Champions League last 16 (Telegraph)
• Bendtner blows away the gloom as Arsenal do bare minimum (The Guardian)
• Fábregas enjoys the perfect start as captain prodigy (The Guardian)
• Bendtner's late hit puts edgy Arsenal in the pink (The Independent)

Maybe some people gave up on the team. Maybe some people think this game is a sign that things will get better. Maybe they blame things on Gallas or Wenger or Bendtner's shoes. Maybe people think this game was a fluke. Maybe people think Nicklas Bendtner doesn't deserve respect. Maybe, maybe maybe.

But they're all wrong. The game means all of three things: a) Nicklas Bendtner is better than you give him credit for being -- no matter what you think about him; b) Arsenal is and will remain inconsistent unless something is done during the January transfer season or, at the lastest, during the summer transfer season; and c) we're going to the next round of the Champions League.

Nothing that happened during the game signified that there was a turning point in Arsenal's season. Our new captain didn't cause or stop any drama, he didn't hurt the game nor did he help it. The team is and will continue to be hampered by injuries. Players are not getting along with each other, there's drama in the dressing room, Nick's shoes are pink, blah blah blah. None of this means we should turn on the team or the players. It means what it means and that no team is perfect and it's yet another rebuilding year. Maybe it means the end of Wenger's tenure at Arsenal, maybe it means that next year, Bendtner, Gallas, van Persie, Fabregas, whoever, will leave.

Not that we can't complain, bitch and moan, because we do. It just means that this is football. And, football, like all sports -- like life itself, isn't fucking fair. Except today, for the briefest of moments when Nick kicked that ball right into the net. It was.

And, like I said over at TIET, pink shoes really do make you fly.