Tottenham Hammered.

Knocked Off His Perch!

Tuesday September 21st, 2010

Tottenham Hotspur: 1 vs. Arsenal: 4

Lansbury 15

Keane 49

Nasri 91(p)

Nasri 96(p)

Arshavin 106






After the debacle at Sunderland at the weekend, Arsenal had the rather unsavory task of playing Tottenham in the Carling Cup. Last time we faced them in this competition we were soundly beaten in semi's at the Lane and pre-match I was a bit nervous to be honest. The Carling Cup represents a perfectly winnable trophy to the the likes of Spurs while to Arsenal it means very little. I was thus somewhat surprised to see that Nasri, Rosicky, Koscielny all started with Chamakh and Arshavin on the bench. People have commented that perhaps Wenger is taking the competition a bit more seriously. I just think that he takes this Tottenham side with a healthy dose of realism and maintaining local supremacy was deemed too important to lose.


The game started brightly for Arsenal with Jack Wilshere running the entire midfield. His transformation in the early part of the season has been nothing short of extraordinary. He's got almost everything. He has an already superb range of passing that will only get better. His physicality in tackling is something that this Arsenal side needs, all the more amazing considering that he's so young. Perhaps the best part of his game though is his movement through the deeper lying positions of midfield. He picks his runs out exactly when the opponents defense is stretched. He ascension to the starting eleven has given us even greater depth in an already crowded midfield. Long may it continue.

It wasn't much of a surprise that we took the lead at the quarter hour mark. Gibbs feeding Wilshere down the left who in turn grounded a cross to the onrushing Henri Lansbury. A perfect start with a Ljungberg like run and finish, it felt like 2004 all over again. However after the goal we failed to make our possession count and the second goal never materialized. Tottenham wasted a few half chances, the most notable being David Bentley heading wide at the back post. We did have one excellent opportunity chalked off for offsides as Gibbs was clean through. The decision was terrible, Gibbs was more than a yard to the good.

Our inability to double our lead was exposed four minutes into the second half. Keane and Lennon were both brought on at half time to reduce the arrears, sadly it worked to perfection. Keane was allowed to drift off the shoulder of Djourou and into marginally offside position. The same linesman who had halted Gibbs let the Irishman run on. Fabianski managed to get both hands to it but somehow let it trickle in. I can only hope that Wenger who was sitting in the stands saw how utterly shit our Polish goalkeeper is. I'll gouge my eye out if he starts another game this season.

After the equalizer we started to show some nerves as Tottenham had the better of the chances to win it in normal time. Koscielny made an excellent sliding tackle on Lennon as he was clear in the box and Robbie Keane hit the post from two yards out. On came Chamakh and Arshavin but their impact in regulation time was minimal. Extra time beckoned.

All the hard work Spurs put in was destroyed in the space of 5 minutes of the first period of extra time. Both of the Tottenham center backs gave up penalties, the first on Nasri and the second on Chamakh ( he's won us 4 this season). Nasri converted both and the lilywhites filed out of the Lane in due fashion. Arshavin added gloss to the win in the 105th as a quickly taken free kick set him in behind Naughton and he powered one in across the keeper. Ultimately our dominance was reflected in the scoreline despite the extra 30 minutes. It was our largest win at White Hart Lane in 32 years.

No real complaints other than the standard of the refereeing. The assistant on the near side of the pitch was simply dreadful and had two major cock ups. Lee Probert the referee should have cautionedSandro for his tackles on Wilshere but for some reason let him play on. Probert should have also sent off Naughton for his foul on Chamakh as he was the last man. The only relief is that we won despite the horrendous match officials.

The stand out players were both Wilshere and Gibbs during normal time. In the end it was Chamakh and Arshavin that won the tie for us. Gibbs I thought did very well to keep Lennon subdued after the break. He's quite unlucky to have picked up an injury, if he keeps up the form Clichy may find himself on the bench.

In the end it was a lot of excitement for a match that will quickly fade as the season progresses. It is always nice to put one over your rivals but in the grand scheme of things its just the league cup. When we get to the latter stages and push comes to shove this competition will be sacrificed for larger trophies. Still it was nice to return to winning after the fiasco at the Stadium of Light. It also showed the glaring gulf in class between the respective squads, for all that money spent Tottenham have no real depth. That my friends is very comforting thought.