Face it folks, the smug mug is here to stay
SO, the smug byline picture stays. I offered to change it if Top Four Tottenham won the derby but as usual they folded.
There is nothing quite like being at White Hart Lane to watch Arsenal win there. I will never forget the unspeakable pleasure of forgetting my place in the press box and dancing on their cheap turf after the championship in triumph in 2004. (Dan Carrier, you will never get near the Emirates pitch)
This time, sadly, I couldn’t make it and had to make do with Match of the Day. But then sometimes, nobody does it better than John Motson. There was the moment when Motty
insisted that TFT fans ‘wouldn’t forget in a long time’ the goal that Gareth Bale scored. Feel free to keep it in the memory folks, it was the one in a quite brilliant three-one defeat.
Motson reached fever pitch when Arsenal started the inevitable comeback and knocking in goals from all over the place. He struggled for words to describe the goal of season contenders for Fabregas and Adebayor.
But for me and the rest of you that have watched the highlights solidly on repeat for the last few days, the best bit of his commentary was when he wasn’t saying anything at all, just stunned silence. As Darren Bent went one on one to get TFT a draw, you could hear him draw breath only to go completely quiet for a few moment before just about managing: ‘… the 16 million pound maaaaann. No. He’s missed it.’ There was no need to rub it in John. We know how much Bent cost and how much he is really worth. That’s why he wasn’t playing in the Champions League last night and will be part of the Channel 5 also-ran, nobody cares Wafer Cup nonsense instead.
Altogether now: ‘Say we are top of the league.’
FOOTBALL is a wonderful game. I love it. How I have enjoyed the past week.
I mean, how could you not, with nightly servings of the Women’s World Cup on BBC Two to help wile away the dark hours?
If you haven’t stayed up to catch the action, let me tell you this: the World Cup in China has seen flowing football, one touch stuff, some brilliant Bobby Charlton-style, shoot-on-sight efforts and the goals have rattled in.
Terrific team work has been accentuated by some poor defending and shocking goalkeeping. It has made for high scoring and adventurous games.
The only downer is to support the England team you find yourself egging on Gooners.
Which leads me to bite the bullet and get round to passing comment on Saturday’s game.
Apparently we were outplayed, Arsenal were clinical, yawn, yawn, yawn... Not how I saw it: the bottom line is this. Spurs players are under pressure after an unfortunate start to the season – the only game we have deserved to lose was the Everton defeat. And with that came jitters – we bungled our lines when we had chances. Keane, Berbatov, Bent and Huddlestone all should have scored – while the Gooners nailed theirs.
Despite the result, it was actually not a bad derby. My esteemed colleague whose column sits to the left of this one may pass a different judgment, but he wasn’t there. And the Gooner I sat next to in the press box was worried right up to the last minute. It wasn’t the stroll people made out and we’ll be back.
