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I am usually pretty familiar with the Tottenham players but today they were hard to recognise. Brown was fairly obvious because he was the one kicking anything that moved. Defoe was obvious because he was their only quality forward. Keane was easy to spot because he’d be the one mouthing off at the ref and of course Robinson was the short tubby one in goal. Some of the others would have gone unnoticed in a police line up.
We didn’t start well, due mainly to the fact that Steve ‘Are you Riley in disguise’ Bennett was quite happy to allow any number of free kicks to occur without recourse to a yellow card. Strange how that encouraged even more white shirts to pull, shove and trip. Is there a new F A directive that allows as many fouls as you fancy in the first twenty minutes? That said we started poorly, we had little on no rhythm and couldn’t put too many passes together in a very congested midfield. Defoe late on Dennis, Mendes with a shot stopped by Jens. Ziegler turned Lauren but Kolo was there to sort things out. After ten minutes we got into the game and the rest of the half was mainly about Arsenal imposing themselves on the game but without creating too much. Pamarot took out Reyes, Edman hung onto to Pat, but it was Brown who was perpetually late into the tackle or clinging on to a shirt.
One move saw two foul hacks at Pat who strode on having been given the advantage. Reyes and Cole were building the pressure on the left while Freddie was coming into his own on the right. Brown late on Vieira again. Dennis found Fabregas with a fine ball but the youngster wasn’t quite at his silky best today, he was merely good. Fabregas, Henry, Vieira put it together and Dennis nearly got there to complete a fine move. Defoe skinned Cygan, who dived in, on our left and crossed for Keane but Jens and Lauren, I think, got it away in a near post scramble. Henry was just offside and Carrick was nowhere with a crap shot.
Spurs broke from an Arsenal corner but Dennis and Thierry were back to stop Defoe’s break. Martin Jol spent almost the entire match standing by the touchline appealing for throw ins. On the half-hour Brown jumped in late, studs first against Vieira, but still didn’t get a card. Henry to Cole but his super cross had no one in the box to finish it off. Brilliant stuff from Cesc to Reyes set up a chance but the cross only won a corner. From the clearance Dennis sliced a shot wide. Henry to Freddie for a fine cross. Arsenal were beginning to carve their way through on a regular basis now. Bennett evened the game up by giving a couple of nothing free kicks wide left for Tottenham, the first seriously pissing off Kolo. From the second Carrick played a good ball in, and Arsenal watched it, it arrived at the feet of Naybet at the far post who had time to spare to slot home. 1-0 to the Tiny Totts and in my eyes Cole was the main culprit. So a set piece goal against The Arsenal, no change there then.
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The goal just before the break relieved a lot of tension both on and off the park. After the break it was a different match. Arsenal kicked off towards the Gooners and the first Tottenham player to finally touch the ball was Robinson. A great cross from Freddie was somehow missed by Thierry but it fell to Jose in tons of space but he couldn’t get any power on his shot, a great chance had gone begging. Pat started to power now and Arsenal started to put some moves together as with the one that ended with Lauren at the far post. Tottenham were in trouble again and scrambling from Bergkamp’s cross. From the ensuing corner Reyes hit a beaut that was shot over by Cygan, another chance gone.
Arsenal continued to press and Freddie who was outstanding today worked into the box from the left and Pamarot upended the Swede to concede a cast iron penalty. Lauren stepped up for the spot kick; he seemingly specialises in penalties against Tottenham but this one was better hit than his last successful scuffed-down-the-middle effort. A bit of a soft-shoe shuffle and dummy preceded the ball being firmly planted low into the corner. 1-2 and Arsenal celebrated big time in front of the Gooners. Spurs nearly pulled one back when Lehmann saved a deflected shot almost straight from the kick off. For fecks sake concentrate Arsenal was a considered and unanimous opinion around me! Henry and Defoe were both caught offside.
It was round about this time that Brown got carded at long last for his umpteenth foul. Pat decided to up the tempo and stormed forward after making a winning tackle round about the half way line and stormed forward with a solo charge that ended with a fine controlled shot and a 1-3 lead. Pat made it pretty clear that this one was for the fans. Celebrations were excessive but our concentration wasn’t. In the good old days when we scored a goal Adams would be shouting at his team mates to never mind the celebrations but get on and concentrate on what’s coming next. No one does that these days and someone bloody well should, ideally our captain.
Within a minute Defoe picked up the ball wide left and went on a run which Arsenal invited by standing off and backing off. The run ended with a great goal powered into the top corner inside Lehmann’s near post. We were 2-3 ahead still but that is not the way to win the League. Carrick axed Reyes for another free kick. Naybet had a silly foul on Freddie and Brown hauled down Reyes. Bennett seemed to go for his pocket but relented when he realised he’d already booked Brown. A bottle job, Brown could have been off by now just on his foul count alone. Spurs had a bit of a spell, Ljungberg and Brown were at it and Carrick should have been booked for upending Cole.
Pires replaced Reyes at the same time Davies replaced Mendes. Like for like for both teams in the substitution stakes but Arsenal were ahead in the quality of play now. Fabregas and Pires were both involved in a spell where Arsenal fought harder for the ball, this particular attack saw Freddie slip it past Robinson for a goal that put us 2-4 ahead, I think it might have been Cesc with the final pass. ‘Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio’ ‘You’re not rivals anymore’ But we failed to concentrate again and within five minutes after Lauren fouled Defoe Spurs had pulled one back through King, from surprise, surprise another set piece. 3-4 and it was game on again.
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Pat was down injured again as the Gooners sang ‘Five-three in your cup final’ but this was fatal as almost immediately Henry played a lazy pass that allowed Spurs to pull one back via Kanoute to make it 4-5. I’ve no idea what Pires was doing with a strange header back in our box but it ended with a chance fired past the far post that saw a deep intake of breath in our corner of the ground. I suppose a nine-goal derby game that you win has to be great result but I thought we deserved six. That said our concentration at times was so poor that we very nearly needed six.
So just to recap in case you got a bit dizzy from all the goals. It went 1-0 Naybet after 37 minutes from a set piece. 1-1 from Thierry just before halftime with some classy footwork and a neatly taken goal. 1-2 Lauren (from the spot) after Freddie was taken down in the 55th minute. 1-3 from Pat on the hour mark with a storming run and cool finish. 2-3 Defoe after 61 minutes with the goal of the game. 2-4 thanks to man of the match Ljungberg after 69 minutes. 3-4 King on 74 minutes from a set piece. 3-5 Pires after fine play ended a great move on 81 minutes. 4-5 Kanoute after 88 minutes with a late consolation. Nine goals, and although our defending was crap against set plays five away from home is no mean feat and five goals against Tottenham always leaves a smile on the face for the rest of the week.