Read this and thought it was a very fair assessment of the game and all that surrounded it.

So let's see.

The Game:

Brilliant football, especially in the first 20 minutes, that was a joy to watch. I felt that initially, some of our fire went out after Drogba's quick equaliser; but it was still on tiptoe balance. But when Robben came on, and when Terry was injured, we got rattled. Robben made our defence even leakier and Terry's injury pretty much disabled Diaby, and our midfield began to lose control and sharpness. All in all I think Chelsea deserved the win, even though on another day we could have won it, and we need to be proud of our youngsters. Drogba's equaliser could have been decided either way (and indeed, Adebayor was offside when it was exactly the same situation), but if that had been us we wouldn't have complained. The second goal was a cracker too.

Denilson was ineffectual, by the way, and Eboue was useless when he came on, wasn't focused at all, and Hleb didnt have an opportunity to do much; but other than that, everyone was excellent. Almunia should have saved the equaliser, but ah well.

The Brawl:

I'm not too concerned about talking about who did what and why it began and all, since we probably would never know the full story. What's important is:

Toure: It's probably a good thing he started it all, because more than anybody else, he will sit down tonight, know that what he didw as silly, and apologise to his teammates and make sure he doesnt do it again. There is no question about that.

Adebayor: There was a strong sense of indignation and injustice that made him act so uncontrollably. If I guessed that, for example, Webb sent him off for hitting Bridge when it wasn't even him, and Adebayor in fact got more abuse than he gave out, then I probably wouldn't be far off the mark. (Or at least, Adebayor THINKS that he got more than he gave out.) He's a passionate guy but hopefully Thierry will have settled him down a bit - you have to learn to live with what you see as crazy decisions by the ref and villification of you by the media that is now inevitable, to be a top player.

Cesc: Hopefully AW will have a sit down with everyone and have a good talk about discipliine, but especially Fabregas. IN the brawl and everywhere else, he did not help. Think it was a dive when he clutched his face too, the replay showed the hand hit the chest - though I'm not 100% sure.

I think what's important here is we move on, AW keep a tight rein on discipline, but make sure to recognise the achievement of the youngsters. Oh, and consider the tactical implicaitons of losing ANOTHER striker, losing Walcott anyway, losing our best defender and an extra yellow for our playmaker.

And let's not forget:

Firstly John Terry, who might have suffered as bad an injury as one suffered by Cudicini or Cech. It's a horrible thing to happen to anyone and we should wish him a speedy recovery.

But also Diaby - I feel sorry for him. As I said before, the last thing he would have wanted to do after coming back from the Sunderland crunch was to inflict an injury on someone else, however inadvertent. Diaby must be feeling so low right now, especially after watching the Brawl and the loss. Hopefully it doesn't have a long-term effect on his football mentality.

My god ! what's this? common sense and a rational assessment coming from an Arsenal source? soon we will have Mr Wenger saying we deserved to win the game, and he and JM are off on holiday together in the summer!!!!!!!!

My god ! what's this? common sense and a rational assessment coming from an Arsenal source? soon we will have Mr Wenger saying we deserved to win the game, and he and JM are off on holiday together in the summer!!!!!!!!

Exchanging expireience about settling oldmans and way of handling a bunch of useless french youngsters.....

Maybe decent expirience for JM

I saw that quote from Arsenal land and to be honest some of the boys on there are not a bad bunch, much more likely to talk sense than any other opposition Forum I have seen.

obviously they love their team like we do ours but some of the things they say makes sense.

has anyone been on Redcafe? that is about the complete opposite and even the threads headlines are often just abuse for opposing teams.

A very fair and balanced view of the final. Surprising to read it!

That Gooner desrves a pat on the back for a very balanced and well thought out view. Very refreshing.

My god ! what's this? common sense and a rational assessment coming from an Arsenal source? soon we will have Mr Wenger saying we deserved to win the game, and he and JM are off on holiday together in the summer!!!!!!!!

that's the funniest thing I've read !

Read this and thought it was a very fair assessment of the game and all that surrounded it.

So let's see.

The Game:

Brilliant football, especially in the first 20 minutes, that was a joy to watch. I felt that initially, some of our fire went out after Drogba's quick equaliser; but it was still on tiptoe balance. But when Robben came on, and when Terry was injured, we got rattled. Robben made our defence even leakier and Terry's injury pretty much disabled Diaby, and our midfield began to lose control and sharpness. All in all I think Chelsea deserved the win, even though on another day we could have won it, and we need to be proud of our youngsters. Drogba's equaliser could have been decided either way (and indeed, Adebayor was offside when it was exactly the same situation), but if that had been us we wouldn't have complained. The second goal was a cracker too.

Denilson was ineffectual, by the way, and Eboue was useless when he came on, wasn't focused at all, and Hleb didnt have an opportunity to do much; but other than that, everyone was excellent. Almunia should have saved the equaliser, but ah well.

The Brawl:

I'm not too concerned about talking about who did what and why it began and all, since we probably would never know the full story. What's important is:

Toure: It's probably a good thing he started it all, because more than anybody else, he will sit down tonight, know that what he didw as silly, and apologise to his teammates and make sure he doesnt do it again. There is no question about that.

Adebayor: There was a strong sense of indignation and injustice that made him act so uncontrollably. If I guessed that, for example, Webb sent him off for hitting Bridge when it wasn't even him, and Adebayor in fact got more abuse than he gave out, then I probably wouldn't be far off the mark. (Or at least, Adebayor THINKS that he got more than he gave out.) He's a passionate guy but hopefully Thierry will have settled him down a bit - you have to learn to live with what you see as crazy decisions by the ref and villification of you by the media that is now inevitable, to be a top player.

Cesc: Hopefully AW will have a sit down with everyone and have a good talk about discipliine, but especially Fabregas. IN the brawl and everywhere else, he did not help. Think it was a dive when he clutched his face too, the replay showed the hand hit the chest - though I'm not 100% sure.

I think what's important here is we move on, AW keep a tight rein on discipline, but make sure to recognise the achievement of the youngsters. Oh, and consider the tactical implicaitons of losing ANOTHER striker, losing Walcott anyway, losing our best defender and an extra yellow for our playmaker.

And let's not forget:

Firstly John Terry, who might have suffered as bad an injury as one suffered by Cudicini or Cech. It's a horrible thing to happen to anyone and we should wish him a speedy recovery.

But also Diaby - I feel sorry for him. As I said before, the last thing he would have wanted to do after coming back from the Sunderland crunch was to inflict an injury on someone else, however inadvertent. Diaby must be feeling so low right now, especially after watching the Brawl and the loss. Hopefully it doesn't have a long-term effect on his football mentality.

Bollox.

We were all over em'.