Tag Archives: Spurs

Lies, Trophies, Top 4 & Diving

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Lies

So during the early hours of Sunday morning, a Blue Tick Twitter account Tweeted what he had seen on the London Underground the evening before:

He was called out as a liar, so to justify his lie, he gave out further details of the incident:

So at 18:20 on Saturday after, a group of Arsenal fans got on the train at London Waterloo, proceeded to abuse some “well-to-do Italian tourists” and then got off at Leicester Sq.

Can anyone see the hole in his lie?

18:20 was half time of Arsenal v Everton.

So he is claiming that a group of Arsenal fans were on a train from London Waterloo to Leicester Square whilst the game was on?

Now some people do change pub at half-time, but for fans to be drinking in Waterloo, and then decide to go to Leicester Sq at half-time, I just do not believe. Neither area is exactly the type of place a group of Arsenal fans would go to seek out a pub to watch the game.

Odd that someone would lie over such a thing.

Also is it just me or do Twitter now give out blue ticks like Jimmy Saville giving out sweets at a children’s hospital. It seems like anyone can now get one, regardless on if you are a “personality” or not.

I imagine for some people, like Alex above, being verified on Twitter is the best thing to happen in their lives.

Trophies

I actually read an article yesterday saying “you can not judge Liverpool and Spurs on trophies”. It claimed that they were “2nd tier” clubs financially and therefore it was unfair to compare them with “1st tier” clubs.

It is interesting that the press spent years saying Arsenal should be judged on trophies, not Top 4 finishes despite us being financially inferior to Manchester United (through commercial activities) and Manchester City and Chelsea (sugar daddies). And the press were right to dig out Arsenal’s philosophy of seeing Top 4 as a success.

So why are things so different for Liverpool and Spurs?

At the weekend they played the Trophyless Derby. Just 2 League Cups in about 10 years for the two clubs. 57 and 27 years without a league title for the pair respectively.

The article was basically saying that the likes of Liverpool and Spurs should not be judged on the trophies that they win. It was basically defending both clubs for having won sweet FA between them in recent years.

Odd concept that in the media’s eyes, winning trophies is no longer a barometer of success, but finishing Top 4 is.

How the goal posts have been moved to fulfil their anti-Arsenal; pro-Liverpool and Spurs agenda.

Top 4 still on?

As above, Top 4 is not an achievement. I would much rather win trophies – and we are still in with a chance of 2 – then finish in the Top 4.And it is interesting to see how the press perception has changed on the Top 4 since Arsenal fell out.

Looking at the league table this morning, Arsenal are in lowly 6th. We are 3 points off Spurs in 5th, and just 6 points off Liverpool in 3rd.

Wouldn’t it be enjoyable if this season we won trophies AND finished in the Top 4.

Wonder what narrative the media would then write against Arsenal for their hits and advertising revenue…

Diving

When an individual dives, he is a cheat. He has taken a choice to attempt to gain an advantage through cheating.

When during a game, 3 team mates all dive, then you have to bring into question the philosophy of the club and integrity of the coaching staff.

During yesterdays 2-2 draw in the Trophyless Derby between Tottenham and Liverpool, Spurs players dived (or simulated) on 3 occasions.

The first was the well known cheat Dele Alli – who got booked for the second time this season for diving. Secondly you had England’s Golden Boy, Harry Kane. Finally it was Erik Lamela in the final seconds.

The later two were successful in winning penalties.

Will the FA have the testicles to follow their own rules and ban Lamela and Kane for 2 games? My bet if it was just Lamela, they would, but as we have seen with many an England player in the past, the likes of Harry Kane are above the rules.

 

Every team has divers. Robert Pires, Ashley Young, and more. But when a team is cheating en masse, it is clear and obvious that they have been instructed to do so by the manager.

Keenos

It could be worse, you could be a Spurs fan

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Yesterday I wrote a blog about how I was struggling to find any positives with Arsenal at the minute. It was hard work and the only big positive I could find was at least we are not Spurs fans.

And it is true, it is a positive that I do not support Spurs.

Spurs might be “on the away up” and showing “progression”. They might have finished above Arsenal last season. But that was the first time in 22 years. 22 YEARS.

Arsenal are awful at the moment, but the fact that Arsenal are so poor, and Spurs so (allegedly, according to the media) brilliant, and only one of the clubs is winning trophies sums up the whole situation.

Whilst Arsenal fans are celebrating FA Cup wins, 3 in the last 4 years (soon to be 3 in 5), Spurs are reduced to celebrating made up success. Like “most Premier League goals in a calendar year” (Harry Kane) and “most Premier League MOTM awards” (Harry Kane) and “most Premier League goals for Tottenham” (Harry Kane) and most points over the last two seasons.

The reality is:

  • Spurs have not won the league for 57 years
  • Not won the FA Cup for 26 years
  • Won 1 trophy (League Cup) in the last 18 years
  • Won 2 trophies (2x League Cups) in the last 26 years
  • Not won a trophy in 9 years

Arsenal have been awful, but you look at the last 5 years, we have finished above Spurs 4 out of 5 times, and won 3 FA Cups (to Spurs 0 trophies).

On the right hand side on Sky Sports, they put up as part of their rolling news clubs recent successes. Arsenal’s is trophies. Spurs is Harry Kane.

Spurs may well make it 2 years in a row finishing above Arsenal. That will be two years in the last 23 years. If they finish trophyless again, that takes it to a decade without a trophy.

Their fans might be excited about moving to their new stadium, but lets see how excited they are when they realise it is a soulless bowl designed for the NFL that has cost £1bn to build – sending the club into a crippling debt much worse than Arsenal suffered in the mid 00’s.

The truth is, no matter how bad you might think things are for Arsenal, Spurs fans have been much longer suffering, and have had such little success to cling to over the last 30 years that they are having to make up success.

So Arsenal fans, it could be worse, you could be a Spurs fan.

Keenos

Burnley caps off brilliant week for Arsenal

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If Carlsberg did great weeks and all that…

It started the Saturday before last. An early kick off against that lot up the road. It was supposed to be a game where Spurs cement themselves as the premiere club in North London. Show that the power shift is real. That despite the lack of trophies, they are top dogs.

Arsenal played them off the park. Destroyed Spurs. And showed that North London is red. And the drink up in the afternoon and evening was incredible.

Roll on to Sunday, and whilst we were all nursing hangovers and what-not, the world of Arsenal Twitter was exploding with #TeaGate as journalists up and down the country who make a living by winding up fans for hits got wound up themselves. How did this happen? Arsenal posted a GIF of Mesut Ozil drinking a cup of tea.

The fall out was hilarious as journalists who make a career winding up Arsenal fans then denied that they had ever written an article intended to wind up.

It ended with a lot of journalists realising that they were not as popular as they thought.

On Wednesday morning, we all set off to cologne for what ended up an epic trip.

Despite Arsenal’s defeat, a great time was had by all. 3 days on the beer in cold, wet Germany. It was one of those where you only understand how great it was if you were there.

To prove that the result was secondary, despite Arsenal losing, we still managed to secure top spot in the group with a game to go.

In the Europa League, it is all about qualifying using as little energy as possible. Arsenal got through with two games to go and secured top place with a game to go, all whilst barely using a single first team player.

Over the years, the Europa League has proved a thorn in the side of many teams as they historically struggle at the weekend fixtures. Arsenal have won 3 of the 5 weekend fixtures, and drawn away to Chelsea. The sole defeat being against Manchester City.

I am still recovering now…

And then we move on to Saturday. Spurs drop points. Liverpool drop points. Chelsea drop points. Arsenal set to play Sunday with a chance to get above Liverpool and Spurs and a single point behind Chelsea.

A dull, turgid game up North. Cold and wet. We struggled. The game petering out to a draw, Aaron Ramsey gets pushed over in the penalty area. Penalty. Goal. 92nd minute.

Is there anything better in football than an injury time winner? What a great way to beat the horrible lot from up North.

It was the 3rd time in a row that we had beaten thuggish Burnley with a last minute winner.

October 2016, it was a 92nd minute Laurent Koscielny winner to break the hearts of Burnley fans. 3 months on, Alexis Sanchez hit a 98th minute penalty, having seen Burnley score their own debatable penalty to equalise in the 93rd minute.

And then we come to yesterday, another penalty from Sanchez, this time in the 92nd minute. How Burnley must hat injury time against The Arsenal.

Maybe if their players, big tough guys like Ashley Barnes, did not spend the game throwing themselves to the floor at every opportunity, feigning injury, then there would not be as much injury time?

To top it off, #twitterclarets on Twitter made it an entertaining end to a great week.

Seeing those Burnley fans cry their salty tears over losing to Arsenal once more in injury time was the cherry on the cake.

And to top it all off, we end the weekend above Spurs.

Keenos