A sad day in the hills of Barnet

Regular contributor on Saturday’s defeat



A sad day in the hills of Barnet

No longer a fortress


I always feared that this day would come - I even had it played out in my mind. Spurs would come to the Emirates and win - it would be a lucky win, a last minute dodgy penalty perhaps, after Arsenal batter them for 90 minutes. At least then we could leave with our heads held high.

But this was disgraceful. A worst nightmare come true.

Sitting in the Clock End on early Saturday afternoon I saw five goals scored underneath me, only two were Arsenal's. That a team can be two nil up against their nearest rivals and not turn up in the second half is nothing short of incredible. The mood outside the stadium post match was as grim as the grey sky hovering above the Emirates. Nice stadium, shame it isn't a fortress anymore. A few fans shared their grumbles with me, they chuckled when I said that the players probably saw the league table at half time and put their feet up.

I arrived five minutes into the game, many thanks to London Transport for that. However the first half was one of the most satisfying of this season so far. We gave them a hiding, first to every ball, sharper, quicker, stronger and simply better. The Spuds new found high esteem was made a mockery of, they just couldn't live with us.

What happened at half time will be a mystery but I sensed something was very wrong in the first five minutes of the second half. The Arsenal players had turned off. I have said many times in previous blogs that Arsenal FC have been bi-polar this season. This game summed that up perfectly. We can't blame any individual player such as the goalie who didn't do too much wrong, it was the entire team and the manager/playing staff should apologise for that so called performance. Over 90 minutes Spurs wanted it more that our players which is a little depressing to admit.

The Chelsea loss at Birmingham did little to cheer my mood. That is twice they have slipped up and twice we have blown a chance to take advantage.

The only positive is that we are still in the title race as are a number of teams in an open season. The team that can be the most consistent will pull away from the pack, but so unpredictable is this Arsenal side at the moment it is impossible to tell where we go from here.


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