october 30th
A game of two halves at White Hart Lane yesterday. Wanky Sp*rs had the best of the first one and took the lead through Ledley King when he was left totally unmarked to plant a header past Jens Lehmann. Carrick had powerful drive fizz wide and Jens made a fantastic fingertip save from Jermaine Jenas.
At half-time we brought on Robert Pires for Flamini and things turned around somewhat. Jens had to make another smart save from Jermaine Defoe – all the Arsenal nearlys reminding Arsene Wenger what he could have bought. And that included Paul Robinson who made a couple of good saves from Robin van Persie when he came on.
Then on 77 minutes Robinson fumbled a cross, perhaps thinking of his post-game meat pie, and it fell to Robert Pires. He made a very difficulty finish look very easy, squeezing the ball between three or four Sp*rs defenders and the near post. He has an amazing record at White Hart Lane. He’s scored 8 in 10 and on each of his last 5 visits and yesterday’s goal came on his 32nd birthday. And it just adds to the enigma – I don’t think there’s anyone, Bob included, who wouldn’t say his form this season has been poor but so often he scores in big games or scores important goals. If this brings a little renaissance to his season then I’m all for it. Commenting on leaving him on the bench the boss said “If he was left out today it was more down to the fact that I wanted the midfield to be potentially stronger. Maybe if he had started he wouldn’t have scored.”
I assume by stronger he means physically because when Pires came on we certainly played better and one fantastic pass to Robin van Persie deserved a goal. And speaking of van Persie he’s got to start games. He looked a real threat when he came on, forcing saves from Robinson and getting involved in a number of other dangerous moments. I understand the boss’s need for experience but with the greatest of respect Dennis never has as many chances and poor José looks he’s never going to score again.
I think with a good run in the side Robin could easily get 15-20 goals this season. I hope he gets a chance against Sparta Prague.
In all a good point even if Arsene Wenger thought we’d have won it if the game had gone on longer. As usual there were some unsavoury moments with Sol Campbell gettng involved with a fan at the final whistle and Jens Lehmann being hit on the head with conker thrown from the crowd. They eat conkers here in Spain and would be appalled at the waste but it’s something the FA need to look at seriously. It’s happened to Thierry at Chelsea and now Jens. There seems to be the temptation to brush these kinds of incidents under the carpet
but they should be making a point of cracking down on them before somebody really does get hurt. It happened at Highbury too with some clueless twat throwing a coin at Jamie Carragher so I’m not just saying this because it’s Sp*rs. Fines don’t work as they’re just too small to make a difference. Close parts of the ground and threaten a points deduction if it happens again. As much as we all have our rivalrys most of us should be better than that.
So, still no away win but a bit more promise and boastful Sp*rs given a reminder than just because we haven’t started so well that the balance of power in North London hasn’t changed just yet. Have a good Sunday.
