Long shadow

Written by Paul Williams on Monday, November 2, 2009

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
31 Oct	12:45 PM	P	Tottenham Hotspur (H)	3	0	Win

How absolutely lovely to be able to bring you post number 300 of Gillespie Road still basking in the afterglow of the smackdown handed out to our local "rivals" on Saturday afternoon.

I belatedly watched MotD last night and was surprised, or was I, to see no mention of David Bentley's lucky escape either in commentary, or what passed for analysis afterwards. I thought Hansen's assertion that Arsenal are superior to Tottenham only 1-11 is not even close to the truth. And that showed on Saturday afternoon. Though to be fair, given Liverpool's ongoing travails, perhaps his mind is on other things at present. To sum up, don't give it the big one about the strength of your squad and then cite injuries when you get bitch slapped- that's what the squad is for.

Harry Redknapp has made an even bigger arse of himself than Robbie Keane did by complaining about one Arsenal fan and his language on Saturday afternoon. Did you read that right? Yes, you did. One Arsenal fan upset him, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. When you consider the abuse that Arsène Wenger takes as a matter of routine at the Lane, then perhaps Harry, like Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United are doing, should attempt to address the problems they have whenever we go there before sounding off about our supporters and their conduct.

Okay a few of us Arsenal fans had to nudge Manchester United in the right direction, but at least they now seem to be promising some action against supporters who continue their vile abuse, rather than just saying they've tried to do something.

At this point, I guess I should say - just in case you're wondering, and you might not be, but I need to get it off my chest anyway - this post would have been with you at lunchtime, or just afterwards - were it not for a return to work today that included a noon meeting with my capo di tutti capo - no, not Randall the very quiet Spurs season ticket holder and a 2pm team meeting. I nearly managed to squeeze the blog in between them, in fact, I did. But as I went to hit "Publish", for some reason the mouse found "Search" instead and I lost half of the blog. Shall I blame 4 ours sleep or a dodgy mouse? Anyway, rather than try and salvage it at work, I decided to come home early and finish undisturbed. At least, until la Ryan gets in.

Where was I?

Oh yes, Tottenham Hotspur and the utter tosh coming out of Harry Redknapp's mouth. It's a shame that the Online Gooner hasn't yet updated to the new print issue, all I'll say is, "This guy can lie".

Now that the talking has been done on the pitch, Robin van Persie has chosen to do some off the pitch. After Saturday's win, he came out with a line that may go down as one of the all time classic Arsenal quotes,

"It always feels good to beat Spurs. It even feels good when we don't play them and they get beaten, so it's especially good when we've played them."

Robin, until recently has been a source of frustration to this writer, but it's in lines like that you see how much this club means to him. In lines like that you can see the how DNA of the club (loathe as I am to bring such an issue up) has been passed down from the likes of Bergkamp and Henry to him. It doesn't take much to imagine these words coming out of either Dennis or Thierry's mouths in years gone past. In fact, it doesn't take much to imagine either of them saying it now, which is why they are still revered as Arsenal legends. Well, that, and the not insignificant contributions made to this club's recent past. According to the boss, that's not all RvP shares with the two either.

When he talks like that about a player, it shows you why he is a football manager and the rest are just writers. The obvious, logical thing to do was to play Bendtner through the centre and Robin right, right? Wrong. RvP's technique and intelligence has allowed him to flourish as the central striker in a way I never thought possible. And full credit to him for that, he's been inspirational of late and long may it continue.

One place it seems certain not to continue, despite the player's wishes expressed on Saturday night, is the Carling Cup quarter final at Middle Eastlands. I don't think you have to be a mind reader to work out what's on Robin's radar when he says he would "love to play" in that game. I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to surmise that, as the club's top scorer this season, he's unlikely to get his wish.

Another person wishing is Emmanuel Eboue- he's wishing on a star. No, not really, but he is apparently hoping to play for PSG one day. I'm not too sure what's prompted this none too subtle "come and get me" plea. Is it the fact that it is they and they alone who have room in their line up for a winger with no end product? Are they promising to make him first choice right back? Or is it just that he fancies the idea of Paris? I imagine that, for a French speaker, it would be ideal. I think, in all seriousness, he's never going to be more than Bac up to Sagna (sorry) and that he knows, with the talent in the first team, and coming through the ranks, his days as part of the attacking triumvirate are numbered. Would it be hypocritical of me to admit I'd be sorry to see him go? Sorry, that is, unless we got offered like ten million euros. Then, I'd get over it pretty quickly.

I mentioned Robin's similarities to Thierry Henry- without the searing pace, obviously- earlier and I'd like to close by making the observation that another player invoked memories of TH14 on Saturday. Cesc Fabregas' run through what passed for the Tottenham defence might not win the goal of the season award, but I bet when Thierry sees it, if he hasn't already, will be having flashbacks to that memorable day in 2003. It's so good to see that where we once had Robert and Thierry, we now have Robin and Cesc to torture the ones who shall be forever in our, long, shadow.

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