'Gas stuff, altogether

This is where we're supposed to thank Cesc Fabregas for his time at Arsenal. We're supposed to wish him well and offer no hard feelings. I'm just about as convincing in offering these platitudes as I am in approximating Irish English in accent and vocabulary. No, it's not His fault that Arsenal hasn't won silverware since the antebellum period. No, we wasn't ever surrounded with the type of talent that is required to thrive in the Premier League. He was never going to be able to do it all on his own and maybe that's part of why he wants to be a part of an ensemble cast for a little while. What many people are going to focus on is the fact that a team built around him fell just at the finish line time and time again.

But when was that ever part of the Arsenal way? Aren't Gooners secretly delighted in the misery of not being quite good enough? Granted, I slept through the first 110 years of that, but popular culture rarely lies about these things. So at a subconscious level, he gave us exactly what we wanted: the odd bit of excitement. Fabregas presided over what was supposed to be a short transitional period that lasted much much longer than anticipated because of a lack of winning. That's all there is to it.

The question that really matters now is: Is there such a thing as a 'winner' in football? If so, how can Wenger get it so consistently wrong? Patrick Vieira was a winner. Dennis Bergkamp, ditto. As long as we continue to keep score, then winning has to matter. Arsenal are clearly short on those. Presumably, there's a statistical metric to determine how a footballer contributes to wins. But if it was that simple, wouldn't a man with a Ph D in Economics be able to figure it out?

I don't think anyone at the club has the cajones to make a change at that level, so all we can do is hope for the odd bit of excitement. Someone else will provide it, and that's just the way it goes. And someday that person will break our hearts by leaving. I suppose that's what makes sport simultaneously so heart-breaking and so dependable. It's a constant cycle and without these low points the high points wouldn't matter nearly as much.