All will be well that ends well

So it’s back, all the agony and the ecstasy. The familiar twisting knots in the stomach, almost seeming to follow the minute-by-minute tracks of the football on the field as our dearest club gets off the blocks in this new Premiership season. A 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur later, I am surprisingly not blowing my top and ranting all about those 90 minutes to anyone who’d care to listen, because I’ve got it all figured out, and I invite you all to ponder the same.

Last season, we blew everyone away with our breathtaking beginning to the season. Even Fergie choked on his chewing gun, John Terry was forced to add us to the top of the title-challengers list, and old Rio probably spent a few minutes gnashing his teeth over every sparkling victory we churned out, unfailingly, one after the other. The latent voices in the background used to only whispering about our trophy ambitions in the league became louder and louder, nearly a cacophony. Unfortunately, this fairytale didn’t have a happy ending. You all know what happened, 2009 brought with it a Gerrard bar brawl, a Rafa rant, tons of dropped points and heartbreak, and ultimately, a position in the league for which there exists no trophy.

So I’ll take this for now, opening blues, a bit of a stumble early on, lessons learnt and all, if it means the business end of the league goes our way. In Niccolo Machiavelli and his ‘ends justifies the means’ theories we trust, and hopefully, the slackness shown today can soon be consigned to distant memory. Bring on the rest, we’ll be ready. Meanwhile, whoever you see delighting in our loss today, don’t hesitate to sock it to them.

YNWA.

PS — But what did all of you think of today’s match?