This Weekend's Fixtures & Two Others (25/26/28/29 April).

[Niall_Quinn]

As we found out with the Cup Final win, momentum doesn't necessarily carry forward.

We found that out when I pointed it out to you after you tried to use the fact we've reached the FA Cup final again as an indicator of progress.

13 attempts to beat these chavs without success and a humiliation on Wenger's 1,000th game in charge. We can either face the enemy and take them on and beat them, or we can beat Villa in a cup final and wave at the chavs from a safe distance. I know what I prefer.

It doesn't matter if we don't win the league this year provided we win all our remaining games. Winning all our remaining games is most certainly in our hands. It will cement us in second, place us to pick up the spoils in the ulikely but possible event the chavs collapse, leave both mancs billionaire spenders in our dust, automatically qualify us for the CL, have the fans and the media buzzing about our chances next season, give Maureen and his chavs something to mull on during the summer, prove this is a team of winners rather than also-rans, there are so many positives it'd be hard to count them.

Or we could beat Villa in the cup final and wave a pot around for a while. If that's all this team can achieve then so be it. But let's not pretend it's the big prize or even a prize of any real significance. Certainly let's not use it to make excuses for underachieving in the big tournaments. For example, and FA Cup win doesn't hide that farce against Monaco.

That's if we even win the cup. Bit of a lottery that match, more like a drunken happy hour. Beating the chavs and keeping the winning run and the winning mentality intact would be useful.

In fact there's no valid reason that can be used to downplay the importance of Sunday's game. The biggest game of the season so far. The most important game of the season so far. The biggest must win of the season so far. A proper test and a proper measure. Hopefully we measure up otherwise I guess we can limp away, regroup and go and beat on some little kid like Villa.

[Letters]

We found that out when I pointed it out to you after you tried to use the fact we've reached the FA Cup final again as an indicator of progress.

Where have I said that?

[Niall_Quinn]

Where have I said that?

http://www.goonersweb.co.uk/forum/sh...l=1#post454710

In the context of:

If we win two cups in two years - having thought, especially after the Birmingham debacle, that under Wenger we'd never win another trophy - and get a similar number of points to what we got last year (which was the most since 2007/8) then IMO it would show we're on an upward curve.

Yet you state:

I don't see much pressure on the Chelsea game, we're not going to catch them, we're not going to fall out of the top 4.
It would be nice to finish 2nd but the priority for the club (and in this case for me, as we're in the Cup Final) is to finish in the CL spaces and win the Cup.

If we repeat what we did last year but fail to finally beat the chavs then how is that progress? It is repetition maybe, but not progress. It is imperative we beat the chavs and then go on to make the strongest finish possible for real progress to occur. All the cup can do for us to to ensure we don't end up worse off. It's a sign of precisely nothing.

[Letters]

Oh. Elsewhere I said I didn't see this season as progress compared with last year - I didn't use the word progress above. There are signs we're building up a head of steam though. Over a longer period we seem to be heading in the right direction. We're signing better players, we've won a major trophy and have a decent chance of retaining it, we've won a some big games this year in situations when in other years we've failed.
The Chelsea game would reinforce that but it is a one off game, it's not the be all and end all. If we win the cup and finish top 4 then it is a repetition of last season, agreed. Arguably a marginal improvement if we finish 2nd.
For years we've been moaning that the club regard 4th place as a trophy and don't win any, it seems churlish to then pooh-pooh two major trophies in two years, especially as we've continued to stay in the top 4 while winning them.

The PL is the big prize, obviously. We need to seriously compete for that next year. A win against the Chavs would put a little psychological marker down but so did the City and Utd games. I thought winning the Cup would give us some momentum, but it didn't. I'm not sure you can be so confident that a win against Chelsea would, especially when they're clearly going to win the title anyway.

[Niall_Quinn]

Well you hold two competing views then. Which is fine and actually a very good debating tactic.

Nobody is pooh-poohing what has been achieved so far. But progress and success must be sustained. If you aren't going forwards you are standing still or going backwards (or fucking sideways worst case). We've beaten the gypos, we went to Old Trafford and won. Good stuff. Now, on our own pitch, it's time to beat the chavs. We don't want to take a step backwards at this point. We don't want to lose momentum. Let's not downplay the importance or significance of this game before it even kicks off. Let's make no room for excuses. This is a must win for all the reasons I already gave. This is professional sport at the highest level. There's no second best, no consolation prize. If we've really progressed this season and now have the squad and the ambition and most importantly a manager who can put a team on the pitch with the tactics to win let's see that in action on Sunday. Add our prior wins of note to a win on Sunday, power through to the finish line and top it off with a win on 30th May - now we're talking. That's what winners do. Will bode well for next season.

Wenger will fuck this though. Top 4 and the FA Cup will be good enough for him. In fact top 4 and a reasonable excuse about how we were unlucky in the cup final will be good enough. I hope I'm wrong of course but watching Wenger in action over the last few games has been depressing, even though the players themselves have done well. Despite him.

[Letters]

Well you hold two competing views then. Which is fine and actually a very good debating tactic.

No. This really isn't complicated. If we win the Cup and finish 2nd then that is, perhaps, a little progress from last season. If we win the Cup and finish 4th then that's none at all although some of the results this year, particularly those away games in Manchester, are encouraging. But over a longer period we seem to be heading in the right direction. The financial shackles are off, the level of players we're signing are at a different level to those we were signing, we're not losing our top players every summer (well, we haven't been, let's see what happens this summer) and we're finally winning trophies.
If we win the Cup then the stadium will be marked with another trophy around the perimeter of Club Level. That's what the history books will show. If we don't but we beat Chelsea there will be no asterisk in the league table to say (* - yeah, but they did finally beat a Mourinho side).
I do see the psychological value in winning that game, obviously. I'd love it, just love it, if we beat them. #Keegan
I'm just not sure how much effect, if any, it will have on next season.

[Niall_Quinn]

I see we can't possibly agree. Your definition of winning is at the opposite end of the spectrum to mine. Doesn't matter, everyone is entitled to their opinions.