The Situation
Arsenal left White Hart Lane on Sunday with all three points & the subsequent bragging rights that will leave Arsenal fans with an abundance of flack they can take aim at their closest (Geographical) & fiercest rivals, until the time comes where both sides do battle once more in the next North London Derby.
Tomas Rosicky’s laser-guided missile of a strike gave Arsenal the lead after just over a minute of the game having kicked off & it conspired that for all of Tottenham’s huff & puff, they could not grab themselves an equaliser.
Spurs manager Tim Sherwood had quite an affirmative stance & subsequent opinion when questioned on the game post-match;
“I think we were better than them. The result for Arsenal will paper over a lot of cracks. They were outplayed. Credit to them but we out-played them and they’re title contenders.”
The Decision
Well not so much a decision, more so the musings of rival manager making a very ‘matter of fact’ style sweeping statement. Were Tottenham far and away superior to Arsenal over the 90 minutes as Sherwood had not so much suggested, but emphatically rammed down the throats of anyone listening to the interview? Had Arsenal simply had lady luck smile on them in the North London sunshine on Sunday afternoon? Or, alternatively, had Arsenal ‘played a blinder’, to coin an old football phrase, in a defensive sense and grabbed themselves an invaluable three points?
The Verdict
Whilst Sherwood had every right to elude to praise for his team’s efforts on the day, to brush aside Arsenal’s win at The Lane as a side issue seems churlish. Sherwood shook things up in terms of his team selection and it looked as though he got his reaction from his players, many of whom he’d called out very publicly after their timid capitulation to London rivals Chelsea the previous week. But whilst Spurs certainly made a real fist of the contest, winning the lions-share of possession, football is a results based business & for all kinds of reasons, aside from the blatantly obvious, 3 points for Arsenal yesterday was imperative if they were to have any realistic hope of maintaining momentum in their pursuit of the Premier League title. A loss would not only have cut adrift the trio of title rivals in Liverpool, Man City & Chelsea, but it would have left the door ajar for Tottenham to find their way back into the top four place they crave. Whoever won the spoils yesterday would have wind in their sails going into an absolutely crucial run-in!
It would take even the most myopic Gooner to say that Arsenal were at their best yesterday, or anywhere near to their best for that matter. But something Arsenal have got themselves an unhealthy reputation for over the last few seasons, is that when the pressure’s on, they’re often seen as a ‘soft touch’. This campaign, perhaps more than in recent seasons has seen Arsenal buck that trend. Unfortunately, two absolutely horrific away-day outings at Eastlands & Anfield respectively, where the team seemingly conspired to condense a seasons worth of mistakes & unholy clangers into 180 minutes of football, meant that Arsenal’s reputation as ‘bottlers’ reared it’s head above the parapet once more. Yesterday at White Hart Lane, the mental and physical rigours of a midweek away game against arguably the best side in Europe (if not the World) right now, Bayern Munich, were apparent. But rather than capitulate in the face of a dogged opponent intent on getting themselves back into the promised-land of the top-4 and putting a nail in the coffin of their old rivals Championship challenge, Arsenal stood firm! Wenger’s men have often been charged with (at times justifiably) not being able to roll up their sleeves, grind out a result and ‘win ugly’. Yesterday Arsenal gave a picture-book reference of how to do exactly that. Whilst offensively, Rosicky’s once in a lifetime wonder-strike aside, the team was certainly not at its sharpest, defensively however, they played as though it was their lives that depended on it and not 3 precious Premier League points. The dependable duo of Mertesacker & Koscielny were an immovable object & only furthered their reputation as one of the best defensive centreback pairings in the Premier League this season.
Cracks papered over? Well, there’s scope for debate on that. But you could justifiably argue that the aforementioned “cracks” were tended to by some incredibly committed defending. Sherwood may well feel it necessary to endear himself to the Spurs faithful, what with the fact that he & his family are all apparently ‘lifelong Gooners’. But drawing a veil over his teams inability to capitalise on superior possession and create more clear-cut chances, by using DIY euphemism‘s about his opponents supposed shortcomings isn’t going to hold any real sway when his team look at the Premier League table and it’s the red half on North London that went to work on a Monday morning with a hangover and a Devil-may-care spring in their step!
Your Verdict
We regularly pose the same question to our @AFCModiOperandi followers and include some replies in our articles – if you are interested in having your comments in our articles, follow our account and reply to our questions marked with #AFCMO. We asked what you thought about Tim Sherwood’s provocative comments after Arsenal left White Hart Lane with 3 points & kept themselves in the mix for a shot at the Premier League title?
@OldBaldGooner “Cracks that didn’t get any bigger obviously. In fact after that display yesterday I’d say they closed a bit wouldn’t you?”
@djkellyfrosses “it is pure bitterness he also said hes the biggest spurs fan #severeamnesia #AFC werent at their best .. #mindthegap spurs”
@jagunnerdoc “Tim needs to be looking at himself, with his stupid high line.”
@ScarletFallon1 “we ground out a hard fought result – that’s what title challenging sides do.”
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