Arsenal Keep Pace But Early Leavers Are An Embarrassment

Match Review: Arsenal 1 Sp*rs 1 - Premier League 09.11.15

For once, I’m very glad that there is an international break. Arsenal looked exhausted and depleted as they laboured to a 1-1 draw in the North London Derby. Although a draw against Sp*rs shouldn’t really be a good result for us, in the context of our injury crisis, some difficult recent games and how poorly we played on the day, I’m happy we came away with a point. We kept pace with City too, after they drew at Villa and the break should allow some of our many injured players to return.

There was a poignant remembrance day tribute as the last post rang out around the Emirates following a reading by members of the Royal Artillery. Let me take a moment to put aside football rivalries and just say a heartfelt thank you to every man and woman who has served our country and to pay respect to all those who have fallen in the line of duty.

Koscielny for Gabriel was the only change from our mauling in the Allianz Arena. Worryingly, we didn’t look any better and after a cagey opening, Sp*rs were the dominant force. We couldn’t keep hold of the ball and eventually we were stung by the man whose mouth doesn’t close. Kane ran on to a ball in behind, Koscielny played him onside and the striker tucked the ball past Cech. That’s twice in two games that we’ve blown the offside trap and ended up conceding.

At half time, Cazorla was substituted apparently with dizziness and I don’t think anyone was surprised. The Spaniard was all over the place in the first half, giving the ball away and losing out in tackles he doesn’t usually lose. Unfortunately the only option off the bench was Flamini, leaving us light on creativity in the middle.

Sp*rs sat back and played on the counter in the second half and both sides wasted a number of good chances. Cech had to make good saves from Eriksen and Alderweireld, while at the other end, Giroud squandered two absolutely golden chances to head in the equaliser. It was looking more and more like a painful derby defeat was on the cards, with Alexis looking miles of the pace and Giroud unable to find the scoring touch he’s had for the last few weeks. Fortunately we have one of the best creative midfielders in the world and he continued his majestic form to bail us out.

I can’t really overstate the brilliance of the assist from Özil. He’d already put the ball perfectly on Giroud’s head for what should have been an equaliser and this time his target was Gibbs. Way out on the right, Özil saw Gibbs running towards the back post and put the ball on a plate for the left back turned winger. Gibbs’ finish was a little unorthodox, but he did enough to get the ball to squirm past Lloris and spare our blushes.

The Emirates erupted and got behind the team for a few minutes before droves of people started leaving. Frankly it was embarrassing to see and for the second time at the Emirates my friend and I were left holding off a man trying to attack us for daring to speak out about it. Clearly it hits a nerve calling these people out, as this guy, who regularly leaves early at both half time and full time, first made a threat to smash my mate’s head in if he saw him again and then tried to make good on it when we told him where to go.

I want to do two very simple things when I go to watch the Arsenal. I want to watch the game and I want to support the team. I’m fed up of people ruining my view and my match day experience because they want to save a few minutes on their journey home, or they have a desperate need for some overpriced, lukewarm, tasteless lager. We all pay a huge amount for our season tickets and it’s not a huge amount to ask to be able to watch the game without having to get up and down constantly for people and without having your view blocked by muppets who want to leave the North London Derby early. It’s no wonder the Arsenal home support has the terrible reputation it does, it’s deserved. If you don’t want to watch the whole game, or the journey home is so taxing that you feel you have to leave at 1-1 with ten minutes left against our hated rivals, then why bother coming? Stay at home; you can get as much beer as you want, evacuate your weak bladder when you please and you won’t have to travel anywhere. There are tons of fans who’d do anything to be at a game in your place.

Unfortunately we couldn’t capitalise on the momentum and find a winner, but to be honest we were fortunate to get a point given the way we played at times. I’m disappointed as we should have the ability to beat Sp*rs every time we play them, but we dug deep in a game we were poor in and we didn’t lose any ground on City. Now we have to pray that we don’t suffer any more injury set backs and then hope that we start getting players back too.

Teams

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Cech, Debuchy (Arteta 77’), Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla (Flamini 45’), Alexis, Özil, Campbell (Gibbs 74’), Giroud
Subs
Ospina, Chambers, Gabriel, Gibbs, Iwobi, Flamini, Arteta

Tottenham (4-2-3-1)
Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Rose, Dembele, Dier, Alli (Mason 82’), Eriksen (Onomah 91’), Lamela (Y) (Son 75’), Kane
Subs
Vorm, Son, Mason, Trippier, Onomah, Carroll, Davies

Player Ratings

Cech - 8/10 - Made some very important saves that kept us in the game
Debuchy - 6/10 - An improvement on recent performances
Mertesacker - 6/10 - Not bad, but not as assured as normal
Koscielny - 5/10 - Made a bad mistake for their goal
Monreal - 7/10 - Boundless energy and another solid showing
Coquelin - 7/10 - Did a really good job with Cazorla pretty much absent for the first half
Cazorla - 2/10 - Awful, but explained by the fact he was suffering from dizziness
Alexis - 5/10 - Poor, really needs a rest and reset because he’s struggling badly
Özil - 8/10 - Created seven chances and saved our bacon with a glorious assist
Campbell - 6/10 - Worked hard, but largely ineffective
Giroud - 5/10 - I’m a big fan of him, but his misses were inexcusable and costly
Subs
Flamini - 7/10 - I was very worried when he came on but he was very good, credit to him
Gibbs - 7/10 - Not a thing of beauty, but he got the all important equaliser
Arteta - N/A

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