From Neil Youngson :what a difference
Hi Myles,
What a difference it makes when Wenger takes a cup competition seriously!
A strong City side were lucky not to lose to Blackburn today, suggesting their away form problems are not solved yet, and the second coming of Jose Mourinho is, like most sequels, not up to the quality of the first.
To those Arsenal fans who tremble when they look at the March fixtures I say: we are top of the league, let them fear us!
From Cecil : January
Arsene must now win his next five games, but also find a way to rotate and rest ahead of the two stretches of crunch matches in February and March.
I believe Arsenal can get results at Liverpool and home to Man Utd. the real test, as others have pointed out, will come in the back to back games against the two other title challengers: Chelsea (A) and Man City (H).
If Arsenal don’t drop many points between now and those two games, and then simply don’t lose both of them, I think we can be champions.
From Andy Hill : It’s just not cricket
Dear Myles,
I hope you are well.
Another good performance at The Grove today.
Always nice to get one up on our local rivals. And Arsenal were more than good enough for their win. An excellent defensive performance, and plenty of flair, pace, and bite in midfield to create chances aplenty. 2-0 was possibly a flattering scoreline for the visitors.
There were some top individual performances, and I felt Walcott did well in the centre-forward role. Rosicky\’s solo goal was a peach.
Plaudits to Gnabry, too, who I thought was outstanding. What confidence and technical ability for such a young player. He could well turn out to be another of Wenger\’s unearthed gems.
As I\’ve written before, this season I am taking my kids to watch Arsenal for their first full season. They are 10 and 8, and take it turns to join me for all the matches (except weekday school nights). They both enjoy the experience, but are quite different in what they get out of it. My 10-year old just loves being there. He doesn\’t care if we are playing Chelsea or Cardiff. He just wants to see goals and an Arsenal win.
My 8-year old is more of a fanatic. He gets rivalries, and wants to see the big games. By chance, this was his second North London derby this season. Twice during the game, I had to tell my boy to sit down as he stood up in response to the favourite chant about our lack of love for Spurs. I had to remind him that we want to beat Tottenham, as we do all teams, but we don\’t ‘hate\’ them.
Many of my friends are Spurs fans. Lots follow Chelsea or Liverpool. My brother-in-law is an avid United fan. There is plenty of banter, but no hate.
Sometimes supporters disappoint me, even Arsenal fans.
Don\’t get me wrong. I get the passion and animosity of football partisanism. I am a veteran of The City Ground\’s Trent End and Highbury\’s North Bank. But maybe being a dad and a little bit older helps you to put things into perspective.
Beating your local rivals should be sweet, but the reaction to the Walcott injury, and subsequent ‘gesture\’, by some sections of the Spurs supporters left a sour taste in my mouth.
Did Walcott provoke the away fans? Yes. He and Arsenal may have to suck up any ensuing punishment. But as for the shower of coins and projectiles targeted at the injured player being carried off (and which seemed to have started before his cheeky taunt): is that acceptable?
Will the FA take action against Tottenham and their fans? Probably not.
I\’ve been watching a lot of cricket the past few weeks. I cannot think of a more culturally entrenched sporting rivalry than The Ashes, and where sledging is a tolerated part of the game. I don\’t expect Mitchell Johnson to get a ban for his relentless abuse and winding-up of English batsmen and supporters alike. But then the Barmy Army doesn\’t throw coins.
My kids are half-Australian. Maybe I should get them more excited about cricket. I\’m certainly not looking forward to taking either of them to the next Arsenal-Spurs derby.
I think Spurs let themselves down today. In more ways than one.
From Rohan Trivedi : thoughts on Spurs
Credit where credit is due. Well done to the Arsenal.
Love to see us embarrass our metropolitan rivals. I understand that Spurs are in a difficult situation with injuries that have taken a toll on the roster.
But some of their players looked so passive, so anaemic, so devoid of feeling. Very surprising, given the gravity of the situation – the FA Cup – and in light of their win over United, appointment of an inspired manager, etc.
Notably, Dembele looked as though it was his first match playing against a Premier League side. He seemed to receive a number of passes with his back to the goal, and then was clumsy and maladroit on the turn.
Bentaleb was clumsy, violent, and ineffective. Don’t know much about him, except to say that he appears to be a hatchet man without much else to his name. Sort of like Sandro in his first season. Eriksen showed some creativity and a desire to get forward, taking confidence from his performance against United.
They have size in there, but they were out-finessed to an extent that was surprising, given how obvious Arsenal’s style must be to their Premier League compatriots. Like you wisely said, Arsenal’s midfield isn’t to be underestimated.
No top team in Europe would make the same mistake as Tim Sherwood today.
But Tottenham failed to do what the top teams have done, in their pressing (“attacking without the ball”, is I believe, your description), in their constant harrying of the opposition.
Keep up the good work!