van der Vaart slotted wide and high past Fabianski for 2-2. With twenty minutes to go, my half time nerves were incorrect, we could most certainly lose this unless we grow some balls and impose ourselves on a game that we had grasped in both hands in the first 45 minutes

Match Review – Arsenal 2 Tottenham Hotspur 3 – Premier League

I absolutely do not want to write this, I would much rather continue to sit, hand on head in the darkest corner of my house, especially given the fact that I am writing this the night before you will probably be reading this.

I feel like a pregnant woman at the moment, raging mad one minute then weepy the next. I say that partly tongue in cheek but what was certainly no laughing matter was my feeling at full time. I was so frothing mad that I could feel myself welling up, being the brave man that I am, I managed to hold back but surely that kind of emotion is just not healthy for you.

Before I get into the nitty gritty of it all, I would just like to give and then take back credit to and from our north London rivals. Credit to them for coming to the Emirates with such a positive attitude and credit to them for not wilting when being utterly stuffed at half time.

Now being a Gooner and I cannot just hand over free praise to those lot for free. They can pat themselves on the back as much as they want but the truth is once again we have beaten ourselves and beaten ourselves pretty badly.

As low as the low’s were, the first half was fantastic and it would be easy for us forget all the good work that was on show in the first 45 minutes.

Tottenham came out with the intention to push us back and take the game to us, win the ball high up and create chances. They were picked off, passed around as if they were not even there.

Cesc was playing like a matador, chest puffed out, cutting through the Tottenham defence like a knife through butter.

Samir Nasri opened the scoring after Cesc sent him through, Gomes should have come out quicker but he stalled and fumbled the ball back to Nasri who scored from the tightest of angles. Nine minutes on the clock and deservedly 1-0 up.

We had a spring in our step, we were full of confidence and used the ball superbly. The second goal came just before half an hour, Arshavin’s left foot cross found the outside of the boot of Chamakh to guide in our second of the game.

Tottenham were chasing shadows, we were in total control and surely it was a matter of time before we struck again. That was my thinking at the half time whistle, how many can we get? I am sure I was not the only one to have thought that. I was about to post that very question on twitter until something snapped in my head. I mood had just changed out of the blue to fear, so I lowered my phone.

I thought to myself that the next goal would be crucial. In fact I wrote that on twitter during the first minute or so of the second half. If we score the next goal then we are home and dry, if Spurs get it then we could be in trouble. I remember thinking to myself that Spurs cannot win the game but they certainly can draw if they scored the first goal.

Five minutes into the second half my worst nightmares began. Defoe beat Clichy in the air following a long thump down field. van der Vaart poked the ball on to Bale who out paced our defence and slotted wide of Fabianski. A well taken goal.

That in my eyes is where the game crumbled. We lost our purpose and our belief. We pulled up that mental handbrake and stopped attacking. We passed for the sake of passing and lost all our first half penetration.

Twenty minutes later, Alex Song was penalised for a foul on Modric that simply did not exist, he won the ball clearly but nevertheless the free kick was given. van der Vaart curled a shot towards Fabianski’s goal and Cesc in the wall inexplicably raised his arm across Chamakh’s face and deflected the ball. I would have much rather fancied my chances of a Fabianski save than have the chance of a penalty given. It was silly and suicidal.

van der Vaart slotted wide and high past Fabianski for 2-2. With twenty minutes to go, my half time nerves were incorrect, we could most certainly lose this unless we grow some balls and impose ourselves on a game that we had grasped in both hands in the first 45 minutes.

It was the same old story unfortunately. Van Persie immediately replaced Chamakh who had some fantastic chances to shoot at goal but instead came back inside to look for the pass. Both bad decisions but what can we do about that? He has many strengths, he gives so much to the team but what he is not and I don’t think it will ever come naturally, is the type of player to hit the ball past the defender, run on and smash a shot past the keeper. He looks like a forward who simply cannot shoot.

With Chamakh it looks like we have to take the rough with the smooth. If you want a bit of individual brilliance to win a game then look away from Chamakh but if you want a grafter who will improve others then he is your man.

Robin Van Persie did not have the same impact as he had at White Hart lane last season, he looked short of games, lacking that spark and that is why Wenger threw him on, hoping that his wand of a left foot could produce something special. Well it almost contributed as Arsenal had the ball in the back of the net a few minutes later. Van Persie’s floated free kick was flicked on by Cesc who was in an offside position, his header across goal was tapped in by Squillaci at the back post but the flag interrupted my half celebrations. Don’t you just hate when that happens?

Cesc volleyed over the bar and then had a curling effort saved by Gomes, from the resulting corner we really should have taken the lead but Koscielny criminally missed a header from point blank range after Van Persie jinked and crossed to the far post. Koscielny is a defender that I rate very highly, I expect him to become our best central defender, that is how highly I rate him but his headers against both Chelsea and now Tottenham were just not good enough. On both occasions he needed to keep the ball down but instead headed over from close range. Those are the margins and when you don’t take your chances then you lose games in which you shouldn’t.

Four minutes from time the unthinkable happened, Koscielny brought down Defoe in a wide position and van der Vaart’s curling free kick was flicked into the net by Kaboul.

We huffed and puffed after that, our two wide substitutes missed half chances, Walcott blazing over and Rosicky hitting a drive into the hands of Gomes. And that was that.

Conclusion

Where to start? we all have our views and opinions as to why we let such a strong position slip, I tend to believe that the players lost the edge that they had in the first half and due to Tottenham’s early second goal, we mentally pulled up the handbrake, almost unsure of how to play out the rest of the game. We didn’t want to let them back into the game yet we still needed to score so we were in limbo. A football limbo where we do not have a game plan.

We are a team and squad built to attack and play football. We are not built to sit off at 2-0 and close out the game. Chelsea are capable of doing that, making themselves difficult to score against and then up the gears again late on and kill off the game. We were not able to do that.

So if we are not built like that, we needed to continue to dominate the game and score the first goal of the second half, if we had done that then the score line could have been 5-1.

We bottled it, we didn’t want to drive on and kill off the game, we thought we had it won and we suffered the worst possible consequences.

This result has sickened me as I am sure it has with 99% of Gooners around the world but let us have a little perspective. Whilst many are coming out in their droves, demanding Wenger to be sacked let us not forget that had Koscielny followed the unwritten rule when going for a header and kept it down we could well be sitting top of the league this afternoon. We are two points off the top in November, hardly time to start committing suicide.

We are not competing with the invincibles, we are competing with a Chelsea team who have lost back to back against Sunderland and Birmingham. We are competing with a Manchester United side who are dropping points they would have normally won with their eyes closed.

This result hurts and the fact that it is against them lot who apparently are going to win the league now makes it all worse but we are in November, no time for feeling sorry for ourselves. The players owe it to the fans and the manager to put it right against Aston Villa and in Braga.

We have dropped stupid points at the Emirates, the players have to make this up by beating Manchester United at Old Trafford and then when we go to White Hart lane later in the season.

We are down but certainly not out.

SORT IT OUT ARSENAL!

Fabianski (7)
Sagna (7)
Koscielny (5)
Squillaci (6)
Clichy (7)
Song (6)
Denilson (6.5)
Cesc (7.5)
Nasri (7)
Chamakh (6)
Arshavin (7)