Saturday, April 22, 2006

If Justice or Karma exist, we will be in the Champions' league next year.




First of all we should all admit it: Sp*rs outplayed us in the first half, and we were fortunate to go in level. I say fortunate - Jens was a behemoth, a monolith, an impenentrable, immovable object which Sp*rs could not penetrate. We sat back too much and didn't get in amongst them. Adey and RvP did not link up well; Diaby looked a bit average; Gilbs passing radar was non-existant; Lennon caused the Flamster a host of problems.

Second half, and a different game. While I hope Phil is ok, Eboue immediately made a difference at r-b. Djourou has looked a bit edgy there, and he looked far more comfortable when he was moved to centre half. We began to pile on the pressure, and should have gone one up when Robin was put through. His miss was unforgivable, and not Arsenal standard.

Once Fab and Tel were on - i.e. we were actually playing with something resembling a full strength team, although we really missed Hleb today - we began to take Sp*rs apart.

And then it happened: an incident which will never be forgotten. Gilbs and Eboue clattered into each other and Eboue went down, clearly injured. Now, in England, when this happens, the other team puts the ball out. It's called sportsmanship. Instead, with the Arsenal team pausing to await the stoppage, Davids flew down the wing, crossed the ball and Keane scored.

This, and I will be frank, is cheating - gamesmanship of the highest level. I thought for a moment Davids was protesting that the goal not stand as he hadn't realised what had happened. But no. The spudsl were 1 up. Jens screamed blue murder at Davids, and i thought he was going to push him over and get a red card - thankfully the referee accepted that Jens' anger was justified, and nothing further happened. Arsene was so angry he squared up to Jol on the touchline; he subsequently refused to shake his hand after the game. I wonder if Spurs will make the same offer that we did to Sheff Utd when a similar incident happened Kanu did this to them at Highbury. Somehow, I doubt it.

We were outraged, and from the restart we hammered at them. I was apoplectic with rage, and when Jose's - who was excellent today - volley was saved superbly by Robinson, I thought that this was it. Last Nlondon derby and we go out like this.

But no.

Adebayor - who improved markedly after tel came on - deftly controlled the ball and fed it through to Tel who, holding off the defenders at his side in a, even for him, heroic fashion, then sweetly nudged the ball into the corner of the net.

Joy unconfined. I don't think i'd celebrated that hard all season; and Tel also celebrated with a level of rage induced delight that we haven't often seen from him this year. I did see, in the celebrations the seeds of a signed contract: this derby means as much to him as it does to us. How could he give us up? After the goal, karma was obviously re-aligning the world, but had not quite done enough by the final whistle, despite us being manifestly on top. Davids was rightly sent off the near the end - realising the predicition I'd made half way through the 1st half.

So, if we're all being honest, the spuds probably secured fourth place today. But they were not the better team, and only outplayed us in the first half when we had a clearly weakened team. They can bang on about missing King, Mido, and Jenas - but in the first half we missed Henry, Fabregas, Hleb, Ljunberg, Sol and Ash. They had the advantage and they didn't take it.

So, as the title suggests we now have to rely on the intangible forces of karma and justice, or to merely hope that 'cheats doth never prosper'. Sp*rs scored today through gamesmanship and cheating, and did not outplay us over the 90 minutes. I had thought that it might be a bit harsh if we took their CL spot if we won the CL. Not any more: it will be karma realigining the cosmos, it will be justice being served, and it will be the better team entering the competition.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Karma and Justice" from the team whose chairman cheated their way into the Premiership in the first place...

Anonymous said...

as much as I hate to see it, I think that Henry at the end was saying goodbye to the fixture and our rivals.

I'll bet anyone £100 he isn't here next season, and god only knows how we're gonna replace him.

Anonymous said...

Pablo Di Canio anyone?

Anonymous said...

this game pointed out that in big games we need the combination of Cesc, Eboue and Hleb. we missed their creativity in the first half. ALSO, although Flamini was and is playing great, A.Cole is the type of Left Back who would have had A.Lennon on lock down. But we went in at o-o which was a bit undeserved. but seeing as they didnt take advantage of our tiredness and weakened team, they cannot really say they deserved to be leading. once Eboue, Cesc and Henry were on you could see the difference. it looked to me as if we would be the ones to score first before that piece of injustice. oh well. at 1-o down i said id be happy with draw, then at 1-1 i wanted a win, now i dont know if i should be pissed off or celebrating a bit. they got Bolton next who are still after a Uefa spot and are back to winning ways (currently 3-0 up vs Charlton), so 4th still aint out of reach.
ANYWAY, WE'RE GONNA WIN THE CHAMPS LEAGUE SO ALL THIS DOES'NT REALLY MATTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

No gamesmanship. No quality. I have no respect for such an undeserving team. Even if they get into the champion league next season, they will still be unable to make it past the qualifing rounds.

Anonymous said...

spurs still have 2 tough games.

Anonymous said...

Lets face it, Spurs were all over us today and it's obvious we were lucky.

If Henry leaves us, we are truly fucked.

And really, as much as we can claim it was unsportsmanlike, the ref did tell them to play on after checking....We just didnt have it in us to win.
Hopefully we'll win CL....
Spurs deserve credit though and could be quite the force in the next few years.
And are any other Gonners embarrassed by Lehman...bit of a drama queen!!!!

Anonymous said...

suggest some of u "we r so great we r in 4th place" yids re-watch the game the ref stops running goes back to the player on the ground then realising the cheating fucks were playing on has no choice but to continue with the game he didnt wave play on in fact it looks like he was waiting for the ball to be played out oh and we never bought our place in the premiership that was the old 1st div over 50 yrs ago just how far back to u need to go to find something to pop at north london finest .... by the way in recent games we have beaten juve and real madrid can u even remember playing in europe

Anonymous said...

what a bunch of cnuts you all are. Your lot were totally outplayed for 75 mins of the match, neither player that went down needed treatment and if your own players are going to run in to each other why should the oppo stop play. the ref saw the incident & decided that there was no reason to stop play. Get over yourselves and just get used to the fact the Spurs are a decent team again. You lot will probably still get 4th but just get used to the fact that spurs are back and will be for a long time to come.
COYS!!!!

Anonymous said...

Interesting read, although I don't agree with anything you said.

Did those two who clattered into each other get injured?

Simple fact is that Wenger chose the wrong side, he's clinging onto the CL and the League is a side issue.

We're no fools, we know it's not over yet, still games to play and points to win. I can see you winning all 3 of you games and us dropping points.

Pleased to see not all of you are wearing your Rose tinted glasses. The Lehman comment in particular, they guy is an embarassment to your team.

Any comments about Carrick? Id that guy was Brazilian or French the press would be drooling over his talent. Superb game, and Henry's snidey little comment re MOM was totally unprofessional, just as Wenger's "Liar" comment was.

Anonymous said...

Post 5.25
The ref has got a whistle and he can blow it any time he wanted you wholley. I bet your lemons are as bitter as your grapes are sour

Goonerboy said...

I think the fact that not one Spurs fan on here has appears to feel they need to apologise just screams of 'methinks the lady doth protest too much'. Victory at any costs eh?

Carrick is quality, but in one second he let greed rule over sportsmanship. If hope he learns his lesson and doesn't do it in any England games this summer.

Spurs were the better team in the first half, but they didn't score, and when our first team was actually on the pitch we outplayed them. Also, as Arsene pointed out, we played three days, ago. Having no European football left spurs a lot fresher.

Finally, watch Tel's interview on the bbc website. As HE puts it like 'ANY OTHER TRUE GUNNER' he knew that to lose today would be a betrayal of our club's history. He, therefore, counts himself as a true gunner. Very encouraging. I hope he stays, because RvP and Adebayor isn't going to work up front.

Anonymous said...

Wenger again is showing his underhand tactics to deflect bad coverage of his team. His side were outplayed for much of the match but low and behold it was down to bad play rather than another side being the better team on the day. This way he diverts focus from his players performance preserving morale and confidence for their mid week european game, but bringing the game into disrepute once again. His players were play acting at home as usual to gain advantage, when it didn't work they threw the rattle out the pram. Pride of English football? I think not. Sadly their conduct and behaviour does not reflect their ability on the pitch. The hipocracy of Wenger has to be admired. Calling Jol a liar, this coming from the man whos routine post match interview has involved him 'not seeing' incidents against his own team since he arrived on these shores. Accept the result graciously, but theres as much chance of that happening as Wenger playing a home grown player - Zero

Goonerboy said...

Accept the result graciously? There's as much chance of that happening as a spurs players putting the ball out for an injury.

Goonerboy said...

Oh no! Not the barb about no English players! I refer you to my article in my archive 'By god! That pardieu's wrong'. And Ryan, we didn't lose today. I know taking a point from us must feel like winning given how you haven't beaten us at Highbury since 1993 - it certainly feels like a loss to me - but you didn't actually win.

Anonymous said...

Oh no! Not the barb about no English players! I refer you to my article in my archive 'By god! That pardieu's wrong'. And Ryan, we didn't lose today. I know taking a point from us must feel like winning given how you haven't beaten us at Highbury since 1993 - it certainly feels like a loss to me - but you didn't actually win.

Man up, you pikey shite. We could have and should have won, and you know it... underneath your pit-stained Seaman jersey there still beats a human heart... which is about the only thing you have left going for you. You have also understood that the tide is high and you're moving down... Ronaldihno's gonna look great with the CL trophy in his hands. You and your illegitimate team need to take their asses up to Cashburton Grovel and the millions of ARSE*** supporters who wouldn't know Judas from Judas Priest.

Bring it.

ryan.pattie@gmail.com
RYAN, CHICAGO IL
arguing is fun, eh? Arse*** fan or not, you're a good scribe.

Anonymous said...

Carrick is quality, but in one second he let greed rule over sportsmanship. If hope he learns his lesson and doesn't do it in any England games this summer??

Least we'll have a player representing England in the summer instead of playing against them with experience gained in our own league and at the expense of England prospects, i.e, Matty Upson, Jermaine Pennant, Justin Hoyte, Theo Walcott, Richard Wright, David Bentley.. I digress...

Anonymous said...

which arsenal fan is going to be big enough to admit;
a) spurs were the best team
b) keane was blocked by senderos in the first half blatant penalty
c) what a load of bollocks about spurs' goal, two arsenal players run into each other!

I have had a lot of respect for wenger in the past even though I am a spurs fan, but what is he on about regarding the spurs goal. if we had a decent right back arsenal would never had scored, you are lucky to get a point, and we were without our most influential player (king) and also Jenas, he's not bad you know, and also Mido our second highest goalscorer with 11 goals. Face it your a one man team and we pissed all over you.

Anonymous said...

Wow 9.44, you know what how could any of us Spurs fans argue with that. Why we have an intellect on our hands here boys, I give up, yes yes you are so correct in your judgements how could I be so naive. Unfortunately for you my friend this side thats 'not a patch on you' is four points clear and has been lording it above you in the league for months, and we've only just started my old son. We're nowhere near to achieving what we've set out to yet. This season is still our development and look how much more we've achieved than was aimed for originally. Isn't it great to see the shift in the tide gets the Gooners all aggitated like this as they see the end of an era fast approaching. But don't fret, worry 'the not... after all the futures bright, the futures blue n white! To coin a phrase, It's a funny old game. COYS!

Anonymous said...

(yawn) sour grapes

Anonymous said...

It pained me to see Spurs draw.
By now AW and Arsenal shd realize that when such incidents happen,do not ,I repeat do not,expect the other team to kick the ball out.
A similar incident happened when
Sutton scored in almost identical circumstances for Blackburn abt ten yrs ago.
I hope against Villareal Arsenal do not display such generosity or sportsmanship when so much is at stake.
Do not be sirprised to see a Villreal player writhing on the ground when Arsenal are clean thru and abt to score.

Goonerboy said...

doesn't matter if they tackled each other: if you go down injured, you put the ball out.

But fine - if all the spurs fans on here are fine with you getting a point like this, that's your prerogative.

Karma will bite you with the arse one day.

Anonymous said...

What did Henry say regarding man of the match? I missed that part.

Spurs should of kicked the ball out but on the other hand Adebayor clearly fouled Stalteri TWICE before passing to Henry

And your criticism over Van Persie's miss was way over the top. How the hell was that an unforgivable miss. It was not as easy as it looked, the ball had a lot of pace on it and the keeper was at his feet very quickly which meant he didnt have much to aim at. I've Henry miss easier chances. About not Arsenal standard *shakes head*.

Anonymous said...

Can you imagine how much these half arsed w*nkers are shitting themselves that we might just knock them out of the CL when they've done all that hard cheating er I mean work to get 4th place (not that they've got it yet of course)?

Having said that, we aren't going to win 3 games against anybody if AW keeps p*ssing about with the spine of the team.

Perhaps he wants to do it the hard way?

Anonymous said...

Look at all the spuds going on like they actually won the game. You deserved to but in the end your unparralled inferiority prevented you from actually doing so. How can you be proud of the fact that you outplayed the worst Arsenal side in a decade but STILL couldn't beat us???? If I were in your shoes I'd be gutted at that fact and seriously worried about how you expect to challenge the big boys when you've only managed to beat Blackburn of the prems top 7 sides thus far this season.

Yes, you deserved to win but you didn't. You failed to capitalise on Arsene's mistakes and only came away with a point. Whats the use of outplaying us for 60/70/80 minutes if you cant get the desired result?

Always and forever will be LITTLE tottenham from the lane!

Oh and to the Arsenal 'fan' that dared to criticise Lehmann(arguably our best player this season), how about you actually WATCH a gooner game rather than checking results online you fucking prick!

The English player argument is so pathetic you dont realise what you sound like. Arsenal are one of the few Engliah run clubs left in the country. If my memory serves me right, even good ol' english spurs were on the brink of selling thier souls to Abramovic till he realised Chelsea were the better option. I dont care where our players are from. I'd rather watch Fabregas than that Faggot Jenas any day of the week.

HAVE YOU EVER WON THE LEAGUE AT HIGHBURY? HAVE YOU FUCK?!?!

Cigamybab said...

Wazz up

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