I want this season to be over.
Normally I hate it when the football ends and we are supposed to be content with tennis?! but this season I have had enough.
After all most of the Boro players stopped caring last winter, so why do the fans persist?
Boro threw it away in December and never really recovered despite the occasional win.
As a fan and a season ticket holder, I will be at Boro's remaining home matches and I will watch the away games on my laptop praying for a miracle. It is what fans do.
But each game brings a new level of torture. If we win, as against Hull, there is all that false hope, if we lose or draw we merely continue our downward spiral into fully deserved relegation.
Getting into the Gunner's box was not actually that difficult, they couldn't be bothered to stop us because the chance of us actually scoring was so slim, but once there we looked panicked.
Having given Aliadiere a nice build up last week, the Frenchman completely blew it, twice.
Tuncay, Johnson, Downing and I think King also shot straight at Almunia just to check he was still conscious and the lack of power, belief and effort from pretty much everyone in a Boro shirt summed up our season.
A special mention to Gary O'Neil who, for the first half at least, really 'had a good go' at the Londoners.
Did I expect us to beat Arsenal? No. But I was not expecting such an utter waste of a ticket. I wanted to see The Emirates and figured this might be my last chance in a good long while, an opinion which the Arsenal fans voiced fairly regularly on Sunday. I was very impressed with the stadium and the perfection of the pitch but the fact that watching the warm up in the sunshine was the highlight of my day says it all.
There wasn't even much superb football to watch on offer from the Gunners because they did not need or want to exert themselves against such a poor excuse for opposition.
I think it was a combination of 'we've got bigger fish to fry' and 'don't kick them when they are effectively already down' from long time Southgate admirer Arsene Wenger. This was made crystal clear when Fabregas was subbed immediately following his second goal.
The only positives I could see were that Brad Jones now catches more than he flicks away with his breakable fingers, Digard looked like the player we vaguely remember from before Cattermole saw him coming and David Wheater finally chalked up a good display this season.
Next up it is Manchester United, the least said about that the better, and then Newcastle and oh look Mark Viduka's back, Michael Owen is fit and Martins will continue trying to fashion goals from the scraps laid on by team mates.
Beating Man United seems at this point so unlikely that I expect the words to vanish after I type them.
I'd love to beat the Geordies and I still think they are probably going to be joining us in the Championship next season but I'd be shocked if Viduka doesn't leave them with the kind of goal flurry he signed off from Boro with and you can bet we are his number one target.
If you were hoping I'd found a silver lining in Boro's personal dark cloud then I can only apologise but I can only see rain ahead.
First published on www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/fanzone - Apr 09
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