Spurs 2 Arsenal 1 - North London's heart still bleeds blue and white.

Good Morning All and what a great morning it is. Walking into the office the Tottenham boys are buoyant and the negligible Woolwich contingent in my office are surprisingly magnanimous in defeat, perhaps realising how inept the bland, drab and boring excuse of a football club they support actually is at the moment, certainly more than the rent-a-mouth cretins who we had to encounter in the immediate aftermath of the game yesterday. Typical Woolwich really, can mouth off when they are hiding behind a line of police horses.

It’s time to be brutally honest. We really didn’t play very well, the Scum were up for it, its those pathetic weasels’ cup final after all and they did well at times denying us possession. Having said that, that Chesney bloke in goal for the Woolwich was the only thing standing between the South London Parasites and an absolute mauling. And that’s probably what makes yesterday’s victory even more satisfying, the clarity bought about by a glorious sunny morning in the capital highlights the fact that we didn’t actually have to play very well to beat them quite convincingly and with a degree of comfort that the scoreline doesn’t suggest and certainly wasn’t what my nerves were telling me as Charlie put the ball needlessly out for a corner in front of the Park Lane faithful in the 94th minute.

Its been a bizarre weekend, with the heat giving the impression that it was more like being on Barbados but without the sea rather than London at the onset of autumn. Lets be honest weekends like this can either be made or ruined by Spurs and this time round the boys did us proud. At the pre match beers down at Liverpool Street, I made the point that my fear was that as Arsenal had now turned into one of those plucky mid-table hopefuls that often ruin a day out at the Lane by stifling our play and nicking a goal on the break. The key to our season is that we have to get points in the bag against the mediocrity that populates the Premiership nowadays and the Woolwich now fall into that category. The fear was that if we treated the game lightly we would come unstuck because it was a certainty that the Woolwich would be up for it.

Key to it, was how we would line up. I was in favour of reverting back to a 4-4-2 with Parker and Modric in the middle, VdV (assuming Lennon wasn’t fit) on the right, with Defoe and Ade up front. Others seemed to think that having Sandro and Parker in the centre with Vdv in behind Ade as the lone front man would do the trick, though that would put Modric in on the right, a position where he’s not best suited. It seemed Harry decided to agree with me as we selected an attacking line up, that almost quickly paid dividends with Ade profiting from a slip from a Woolwich defender to feed Parker who should have done better when one on one with that Chesney bloke, but credit where credit is due to the no mark in the Woolwich goal as he made himself big and forced Parker to shoot tamely straight at him. To be honest after that the Woolwich had the better of the first half , keeping possession well and probably should have gone ahead when Van Persie squared to the bloke with the massive forehead and the pineapple on his head( apologies to any Woolwich reading this, I don’t actually care enough about most of your players to bother knowing their names)who really should have done much better than steer his shot wide. That scare seemed to bring us back to life, and we took the lead when Ade chipped a delightful ball through to Rafa who placed it beyond that Chesney person into the far left corner of the net. Putting partisan loyalties aside, there was a definite whiff of handball about it, but no more than a whiff and the benefit of the doubt needs to be given to the attacker. I have to say Rafa was lucky to stay on the pitch, rules dictate that a yellow should be awarded if you go to the crowd and whilst its not one I agree with, by the letter of the law it should have been a yellow and Rafa who had already been carded would have been off. Its a stupid rule and I suspect the referee may have used his discretion but we definitely got off there. I thought Bale had made it two but his swerving thirty yarder just went wide of that Chesney geezer’s left post.

So we went in at half time a goal to the good, perhaps slightly undeserved on the balance of play but hey ho, we’ve been on the receiving end of those situations on far too many occasions for my liking. The second half got underway with a great drive from Bale again, before the Woolwich stepped up a gear and alarmingly Rafa fell asleep on the right flank, meaning two Woolwich players were doubling up on Kyle Walker, it was a shocking period of defending and when Kaboul’s clearance fell to Alex Song, he was allowed to surge in unchallenged to cross the ball for the largely anonymous Ramsey to put into the net. It was a wake up call for us and luckily we responded, for the rest of the match the Woolwich didn’t have the quality, nous or commitment to get the better of us when we decided to play our game. We should have gone ahead straight away but that Chesney bloke yet again pulled of a great save when Ade was clean through , perhaps the occasion and the chanting about “how it should have been him killed on the Togo bus” from the unwashed Scum had got to him, but he lacked the composure he has shown in his previous games. I’d hope Rafa was carrying an injury because he was slightly hapless in the opening exchanges of the second half, and it was a relief when Harry identified that and bought on Sandro to allow us to get a grip back in midfield and the platform to propel us to victory. Indeed it was Sandro’s quick thinking to burst into the box from Benny’s quick through ball in that led to the winner, he squared to Modric who’s shot was blocked by a defender before breaking free to Walker, our right back sent in a sizzling 30 yard swerver that whilst Chesney got his hands too, was unable to stop nestling in the back of the Woolwich net. We should have gone further ahead, a misjudgement by Metersacker sent Bale in and his shot went wide, with only the keeper to beat and that Chesney bloke made another good save from a great effort by Defoe.

I was a trifle worried by Harry’s subs, whilst Ade was tired he was holding the ball up well and I thought taking him off for a defending midfielder in Livermore might hand the impetus back to the Woolwich, likewise I felt the Corluka sub for Parker on 90 was needless with five minutes of injury time due to Sagna’s injury. It almost proved fateful when Charlie headed a ball that was drifting out anyway for a corner however I overestimated the quality within the Woolwich to muster a response and they did very little. So victory was ours, the gripes would be that we yet again failed to kill the opposition off and there were some slight concerns defensively but in the end its a measure of the side that we didn’t really have to be at our best to get a result. And as for the Woolwich

NORTH LONDON IS OURSNORTH LONDON IS OURSF**K OFF BACK TO WOOLWICHCOS NORTH LONDON IS OURS

UP THE SPURS

Player Ratings

Friedel – 7 – Although I’ll always love Gomes and believe he has been treated abysmally, Friedel is a safe bland pair of hands in goal. Probably what we need at the moment but if we aren’t looking at rehabilitating Gomes we need to find a long term solution in the summerWalker – 7- There are still question marks defensively however what an asset going forward and is now a hero for his scorching winner.Kaboul – 8 Immense yesterday, looks so much better alongside Ledley than Dawson. He can be a real beast for us in central defenceKing- 8- Peerless yet again, so graceful, so elegant, so LedleyEkotto- 8- Good attacking threat and was far to skilful for Theo “Shit Aaron Lennon” WalcottVan Der Vaart – 6 – Superbly taken goal but his tendency to drift left Walker exposed and led to the Woolwich’s equaliser. Someone as experienced as him, should have realised with a booking that he risked a sending off as well when he celebrated.Parker – 9 – Man of the match, dominated the midfield and provided the grit which we needed to add to our guile for the win. Have to admit I was wrong about him.Modric – 7 – Not as influential as he’d have liked but complemented Parker well in the midfield.Bale – 8 – Great game, some good crosses, terrorised both Sagna and then the bloke who replaced him and was unlucky not to be on the score sheet.Defoe – 7 – Always a threat, although probably sporadically, unlucky to be denied by Chesney.Adebayor – 8 – Did very well holding up play, created our first goal but also missed a sitter, perhaps unnerved by the taunts from the scum fans

Subs

Sandro – 8 – Another legend in the making, provided the stability we needed to help us go on and push for the win just when it seemed the Woolwich might have burst our bubble.Livermore n/aCorluka n/a

Please find the original article in my Spurs blog The Glory Game