Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
Extraordinary. Just when you think that you've got the measure of this ridiculous sport, along comes a game so remarkable, so unexpected and so astonishing that you need to sit down and take a deep breath before you can even start to make sense of it all. Tottenham Hotspur's impetuous comeback on a freezing night at The Emirates was without rhyme or reason and can be used only as another example of why we all expend so much time and emotional energy on watching an assortment of men kicking a bag of air.
Tottenham were dead and buried, consigned to their doom by four Arsenal goals, all of them avoidable, all of them so shockingly poor that the only positive that looked set to emerge from it all was that Redknapp would at least know exactly where to concentrate his efforts in training. Traditionally, Tottenham have always been something of a generous team at the back, but this was philantrophy on an unprecedented scale. Two goals from routine set-pieces, one from a simple ball over the top and the last, gift-wrapped and delivered with a risible backpass from Alan Hutton, will give Redknapp sleepless nights in the build-up to Saturday's clash with Liverpool, regardless of this result. As for the increasingly erratic Gomes, there simply isn't enough room on this page to even begin to cover his failings.
With just a minute of normal time remaining, trailing by four goals to two, Spurs had given up. Arsene Wenger had withdrawn his key players in preparation for the weekend and fans of both teams were pouring out of the exits. Then, an unexpected lifeline. Gael Clichy, so often Arsenal's most consistently excellent performer, slipped and Jermaine Jenas stole in, ran to the edge of the box and curled home a third. The remaining Arsenal fans fell horribly silent. Roared on by what can only have been a thousand hardy souls, Tottenham pushed forward again and again, finally knocking the ball on to Luka Modric who unleashed a swirling long shot that crashed off the post and fell straight to Aaron Lennon's feet. Then all hell broke loose. Like a sonic boom, we saw the explosion of Tottenham fans before we heard the noise rolling around the stadium. One journalist's loud exclamation of delight almost cost him dearly as Arsenal fans turned their fury on the press box, with the Asian writers who had unwisely laughed, receiving the most attention.
Quite how Arsenal managed to throw this game away is a question that their fans will be asking as they repeatedly bang their heads off the wall in frustration. Tottenham had offered little in the second half, showed no sign of breaking down the defence and, Bent's 68th minute strike aside, had hit just one long shot in retaliation to Arsenal's marked superiority. But then this is football in England. Ludicrous, inexplicable and illogical. Would you have it any other way?
MATCH STATS
Arsenal
Manuel Almunia 5, Bakary Sagna 6, Cesc Fabregas 6, Samir Nasri 7 (Alexandre Song 6), William Gallas 7, Robin van Persie 7 (Abou Diaby 6), Theo Walcott 6 (Emmanuel Eboue 6), Denilson 7, Mikael Silvestre 6, Gael Clichy 5, Emmanuel Adebayor 6
Tottenham
Gomes 5, Alan Hutton 4 (Chris Gunter 6), Gareth Bale 5 (Aaron Lennon 6), David Bentley 7, Tom Huddlestone 7, Jermaine Jenas 7, Roman Pavlyuchenko 6, Luka Modric 7, Vedran Corluka 7, Benoit Assout-Ekotto 6, Jonathan Woodgate 7
Yellow Cards - Diaby (Arsenal), Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Huddlestone, Jenas (Spurs)
Red Cards - None
Attendance - 60,043
Tottenham were dead and buried, consigned to their doom by four Arsenal goals, all of them avoidable, all of them so shockingly poor that the only positive that looked set to emerge from it all was that Redknapp would at least know exactly where to concentrate his efforts in training. Traditionally, Tottenham have always been something of a generous team at the back, but this was philantrophy on an unprecedented scale. Two goals from routine set-pieces, one from a simple ball over the top and the last, gift-wrapped and delivered with a risible backpass from Alan Hutton, will give Redknapp sleepless nights in the build-up to Saturday's clash with Liverpool, regardless of this result. As for the increasingly erratic Gomes, there simply isn't enough room on this page to even begin to cover his failings.
With just a minute of normal time remaining, trailing by four goals to two, Spurs had given up. Arsene Wenger had withdrawn his key players in preparation for the weekend and fans of both teams were pouring out of the exits. Then, an unexpected lifeline. Gael Clichy, so often Arsenal's most consistently excellent performer, slipped and Jermaine Jenas stole in, ran to the edge of the box and curled home a third. The remaining Arsenal fans fell horribly silent. Roared on by what can only have been a thousand hardy souls, Tottenham pushed forward again and again, finally knocking the ball on to Luka Modric who unleashed a swirling long shot that crashed off the post and fell straight to Aaron Lennon's feet. Then all hell broke loose. Like a sonic boom, we saw the explosion of Tottenham fans before we heard the noise rolling around the stadium. One journalist's loud exclamation of delight almost cost him dearly as Arsenal fans turned their fury on the press box, with the Asian writers who had unwisely laughed, receiving the most attention.
Quite how Arsenal managed to throw this game away is a question that their fans will be asking as they repeatedly bang their heads off the wall in frustration. Tottenham had offered little in the second half, showed no sign of breaking down the defence and, Bent's 68th minute strike aside, had hit just one long shot in retaliation to Arsenal's marked superiority. But then this is football in England. Ludicrous, inexplicable and illogical. Would you have it any other way?
MATCH STATS
Arsenal
Manuel Almunia 5, Bakary Sagna 6, Cesc Fabregas 6, Samir Nasri 7 (Alexandre Song 6), William Gallas 7, Robin van Persie 7 (Abou Diaby 6), Theo Walcott 6 (Emmanuel Eboue 6), Denilson 7, Mikael Silvestre 6, Gael Clichy 5, Emmanuel Adebayor 6
Tottenham
Gomes 5, Alan Hutton 4 (Chris Gunter 6), Gareth Bale 5 (Aaron Lennon 6), David Bentley 7, Tom Huddlestone 7, Jermaine Jenas 7, Roman Pavlyuchenko 6, Luka Modric 7, Vedran Corluka 7, Benoit Assout-Ekotto 6, Jonathan Woodgate 7
Yellow Cards - Diaby (Arsenal), Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Huddlestone, Jenas (Spurs)
Red Cards - None
Attendance - 60,043
