How does it feel?
Spurs 2 Them lot 1
I’m happy. You happy? It wasn’t vintage. It was never going to be, what with 0 spectators in the ground. I was uncomfortable pre-match. I had little confidence. I don’t think many supporters, truly do, regardless of the form you take into a derby game. We’ve been pumped many times after being the critics favourite. On this occasion, many feared a home day humiliation. But alas, no. Jose Mourinho doesn’t even need to muster a masterclass tactical showcase to get one over them lot (having never lost to them in a home game for any given club he’s managed). Average bog standard class will do.
Arsenal in the build up: Be like water. Arsenal during the game: Hi! We’re a big puddle of p*ss.
Still, at 1-0 down, I had that ‘here we go’ sinking feeling. Slack defending, a peach of goal. Only for it to be instantly vanquished with the reality that if there is one side that can out-do our defence, it’s Arsenal’s back four. The late headed winner, from a corner no less, would have sent the Tottenham stadium into delirium. Shame that. It was a welcomed sight regardless. A little bit of glory.
To win by coming back from a goal down and them celebrating their short-lived moment like video game characters was delicious. To beat them and to take the three points. Wonderful.
We played well. No really we did. In patches and places and pockets. The passing was far better than it’s been. There was a sense of urgency, a willingness to get forward. There was some classic Jose annoyances (for the opposition) with tactical fouling and some annoyances for the Spurs faithful too (long balls).
Look, I know you know that I know the football wasn’t pretty. But it was productive, more so than in recent weeks. We created opportunities and if not for the lack of sharpness, we should have punished them further. Very much a repeat of the Manchester United home performance. If the visitors had any astuteness in preparation, they would have restricted us by sitting back and countering. Basically, do a Spurs. Instead, we retained the art of patience and kept our discipline. It was alright. It was clear that the players understood their responsibilities and as a unit, did okay. For all their possession, they did little to harm us and force further mistakes. In the end, it was arguably vintage Arsenal.
I can’t remember much in the way of them having a go (woodwork aside early on in the 2nd). The longer the game went on, the more mistakes they made and the more ‘here we go’ moments we enjoyed. Even Lucas impressed with some fine passing and he was everywhere, and not remotely in a headless chicken type of everywhere.
We had to bounce back. For the sake of our well being too as I can’t imagine (I can) how bad things would be right now on social media. The bickering and the rest of the scapegoating. We got a bit of room to stick our feet up and chill. Enjoy the weekend and the days leading up to Newcastle away.
One single win can spin your perspective around too. Just momentarily, it lets you reflect and perhaps not think too far into the future. Enjoy the present moment and all the broken children petulantly crying about whether it’s us or them that have the worst side of recent memory. Because from the looks if it, we’ve got worse. They have been stagnating for years. So I guess we can get the credit for being the ‘worst Spurs side of recent memory’ and still do’em over accolades. These bragging rights have really diminished in terms of prestige.
Sadly, both clubs have a long way to go before they can consider flirting with a title challenge again. We’re barely Europa at the moment. Talking of which…
FPP
So City are still guilty but have had their punishment reduced? Gotcha. And it's been reduced to such a degree that it makes the guilt and punishment pretty much redundant. £10M has really taught them a lesson here. The lesson being 'go ahead and do it again'. Fraud is alright it seems.
Financial Fair Play to Financial Flair Play. Break the rules, get an advantage, get away with it. There really is no point to this, is there? Like banks being bailed out by the government, the authorities are a mess with how the process is handled.
The caveat I guess is whether City should have been punished in the first place. If they got off because of loop holes, maybe UEFA should have done their homework and not punished them in the first instance.
The long game here is that it’s best for the super elite to be protected. At some point, this brand - football - will be global and the Super League will exist and teams will play their games world wide. Hopefully, I’ll either be dead when this comes to fruition or plugged into a VR console reliving the 1980s.
ENIC OUT
It turns out that the fan that collected money to pay for a plane to fly over the stadium on Sunday with a banner calling for Levy and ENIC to ‘get out me club’ was a scam. The account was renamed not that long ago, had prior history selling memorabilia and apparently the owner is based in Africa. To dare is too dear it seems.
That isn’t the funniest thing you’ll see this week though. I prefer to gently eat popcorn whilst reading a monolith proclaim that he was right all along about Levy and ENIC and that it’s far too late now to get rid of him because of the accumulated debts. Fair hot-take but pretty much inconsequential if you share this now having been pro-Stratford back in the day. Mocking supporters that dared to demonstrate and then cashing in by stealing a logo design (belonging to the We are N17 group) and selling t-shirts for profit. Business acumen that even Daniel would be proud of, no doubt.
TL;DR - Can a parasite call out someone else for being a parasite?
SERGE
Horrible news concerning Aurier’s brother. RIP.