Kid to kid. Teammate to teammate. Academy graduate to academy graduate. Arsenal’s future to Arsenal’s future. Bukayo Saka to Emile Smith-Rowe. An Arsenal goal that came double-dipped in Mikel Arteta’s “Trust the process” sauce and incited a thrashing mass of supporters who are suddenly happier to believe it than ever before. These are the days you cling to during the lost years. Those two are the players.
It is rare that any supporter enjoys the actual experience of derby day. It comes laced with fear and thoughts of worst-case scenarios. If you offered any reasonable match-going fan the opportunity to simulate through to the end result and avoid the gut-wrenching sickness, they would eagerly agree. But the nerves and the doubt only make it ten times more enjoyable when you can enjoy a precious hour of comfort when you have won and they have lost.
The olés started on 65 minutes, impossibly early given football’s propensity to make us look foolish and supporters’ tendency to fear the worst. But what was there to fear, when Arsenal’s eleven players were far superior to Tottenham‘s, their manager had a more obvious – and more coherent – plan and the opposition’s star striker has assisted one of your goals. Next came the waves to those Tottenham supporters who had seen enough. They deserve credit for staying as long as they did.
The pre-match assumption was that there was more that united these two rivals than divided them: star centre forwards who had barely had a chance between them; two club transfer record-breaking imports from Ligue 1 who were still struggling to do more than flatter to deceive; two transfer windows that intended to set their clubs up for the summer but left supporters wondering about the present. It raised questions about whether this would be the lowest quality north London derby in a generation. Only Tottenham got that memo.
The first half was sent to the Emirates like manna from heaven. Smith-Rowe and Saka were the dominant pair, each providing a goal and assist. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang started and ended a move of sumptuous quality for the second. Martin Odegaard ducked and dived and dominated, Thomas Partey seemed to be within five yards of the ball at any given time. The raucous celebration of the first goal had turned into glorious disbelief by the third. Forty-five minutes with nothing to do but crow and mock and tease and proclaim your supremacy? That is why derby days are worth it.
We had not expected this from Arsenal. They scored as many times in the first 35 minutes as during their first five league games of the season and looked twice as dangerous. Ben White and Gabriel controlled Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min with embarrassing ease; Granit Xhaka even stayed out of trouble. Aaron Ramsdale appears to have assumed the mantle of crowd hype man, the sort of person who would fist pump a bus turning up on time. But that stuff works; the North Bank chanted his name after each diving save.
But for Tottenham, crisis abounds. Three weeks ago, Nuno Espirito Santo was named as the Premier League Manager of the Month after three successive 1-0 wins and an entire fanbase wondered whether they were witnessing the sun rise on a new era or a false dawn. Since then, an emphatic answer. Nuno was the fourth or fifth choice for this position and we could surely name four or five more who would be a better fit for it on current evidence.
Last weekend, Spurs’ players were praised for taking the game to Chelsea before eventual submission. On Sunday at the Emirates, a total abdication of the responsibility to put up a fight. Midfielders in white may as well have ripped pieces off the shirts and waved them in the air, such was their resilience to any attempt at unsettling them. The defence fared little better, leaving Arsenal players creeping into open space and delighted to produce first-touch finishes.
More than unites two teams than divides them? How about total opposites. Tottenham won their first three league games of the season without conceding and have since lost three on the spin. Arsenal lost their first three league games of the season without scoring and have since won three on the spin. On this evidence they will not be coupled together on nine points for long; that is an early-season mirage. For now, north London is red. Tottenham should be red with embarrassment at how quickly this has gone south.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3EUXmnR
Post a Comment