Destroy
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 10:31PM Nerves kicked in? Or perhaps not? Are you bouncing off the walls, giddy and excited? Primed to sing your heart out for the shirt?
For the second time in a season we go into the North London Derby as favourites. A far cry from the past dark days of mediocrity where a dominating Arsenal side had very little trouble picking off an average Spurs team, plucky and insecure and at times calamitous. Even when we punched above our weight adding blood and thunder to the dramatics, we still had little to show for it. Always managing to choke up and reflect with head in hands. I have to be honest. I prefer being the underdog but if you're not very good as the underdog then its not exactly the most fulfilling existence. Unlike say an Everton that always managed to dig in and beat Liverpool on occasions. We on the other hand could never quite get past that psychological barrier and crawl under the skin of our opponents. Not just against Arsenal but also Chelsea and others.
We've got past that now. Look at us, all grown up. No debate about it. Didn't quite happen in a blink of an eye either but gradually over the past few seasons, building on belief and taking advantage of circumstance. During the monopoly fuelled by Sky Sports the 'Top Four' were simply a class apart. We were not alone in our solitude. But at no point did we ever stop aspiring and reaching out for that impossible dream. Never looked like anything would change and yet it did. It has. It's not quite a level playing field thanks to the injection City have sucked into their veins, but the generation of kings that ruled before are having to shuffle about in this game of thrones where one or two are about to lose their heads. Little old Tottenham in the thick of it, wielding its sword, looking to conquer. This time with eyes on the crown and no sympathy if rivals end up on a stake.
Stature rebuild aside, more importantly we are finally playing the type of football that tradition would beckon upon us, the type that comes with backbone, something that we've lacked for so long. We've watched our spine strengthen in the past three years. It's not out of luck we find ourselves challenging.
Our form has been solid this season so much so that even if we lost (this Sunday) that tide that's turning will go on turning regardless. It's not up to us to chase any particular club as a benchmark. It's up to them to keep up with us. The only benchmark we should be concentrating on is the one we set ourselves. But you wouldn't wish to sacrifice Sunday as part of any learning curve or blip or reminder. We are all aware, white or red, what this game means. It's of the ilk that makes it the most unbearable to watch because defeat is always the most gruelling punishment to endure. Perhaps the confidence going into the game adds to the discomfort because we've been so conditioned to praying and hoping for so long.
Everyone knows that form aside (it goes out of the window) there's pride which pushes everything else left over. Everything goes out of the window other than the desire to get one over your rivals. It doesn't define us or the club, but there's no ignoring the hatred. Gloating rights might be a fragmented subject to quantify at any given time but neither set of fans are going to want to give them up.
Win and it consolidates the wind of change. Draw and you're happy you've not lost. Lose and you feel sick and empty and rush through the stages of grief telling yourself the defeat is one in isolation and doesn't quite tell the story of the season that's played out (although in the past it was just another defeat to add to the collection). But then in isolation, a win is a win regardless of all the other story arcs ongoing. A win is more important even though pragmatically if you win and then lose the following week it doesn't quite have the impact it should. But then when does pragmatism play a part in such a game?
Times are changing/have changed. No matter the rhetoric spat in our direction you have to be fairly numb and in denial to tag Tottenham with the forgetful version of the past when the past no longer haunts us. Ironically, the past is haunting them. In memory and set in stone outside their ground.
Teams have sustained success and during that period its relevant for them to be bullish and self-righteous. When a side begins to lose its spark it has to attempt to either claw its way back to the hedonistic heights or regroup and reinvent. Arsenal are in flux, a prolonged transition where Wenger has remained true to his ethos and philosophy. We joke he's deluded. Some of our fickle neighbours flirt with bin bags in protest. But the crux remains, he has to manage his side true to his ethos because his hands our tied up by the board and the club is run in terms of finances and transfers. Surviving is finishing in the top four. They know nobody else could retain their lofty placing in the league with such constraints.
But they expect more. But then expectancy is a commodity not everyone has a privilege of bestowing themselves with. I'm not one of them (obviously not, I'm from North London) so I can only comment from afar and the reality is that although there is delusion in terms of the words spoken and the false sense of entitlement he reverberates (echoed in the mind set of some of their fans) he has no choice but to carry on doing what he's doing. Perhaps blindly, as the reason they have fallen from grace is that he persists with a Plan A when a Plan B is required because they simply don't possess the players for Plan A. And yet, they're in 4th spot. Crisis? What crisis? A crisis born from a fractured reality, one that doesn't need to exist. But it's how they wish to exist. Caring more about ego and believing you can only ever sing when you're winning.
The counter argument is that for a club of their stature they should be in the title hunt every season and they should be winning silverware every season. The contradiction must be heavily disguised because they don't appear to see it. Ambitions aside, they might be more comfortable turning up for games and supporting their club if they released the shackles of expectancy and got back to basics. But I guess they're made up of different DNA to the rest of us. Genetically altered by their custodian who moulded the club in his image.
We have been mismanaged for more than a decade but with stubborn perseverance and at times learning from embarrassing mistakes made, we've pulled ourselves out of the shallow grave we slept in. We've always been ambitious but in practice we failed to achieve. Thanks mainly to style over substance and media hype and that key ingredient of expectancy that has so much influence over how the football is perceived.
But we've gradually, progressively shifted towards consistency. At home and then away from home. Which has seen us reshape the clubs mentality. Whilst we worked hard at it, others faltered. We can't change the past. The 1990s (post 91) were diabolical. Early 2000s equally grim. It's hardly a shock to Tottenham fans, we know we never competed. But we're competing now. I'd rather concentrate on how alive I feel for supporting my team throughout those mid-table seasons making the past few a joy to behold as we grip the top tier and refuse to let go. We are building something great. We're playing the best football in the league. Don't pretend you haven't noticed. You can't ignore or stop the cycle of football as it churns out its new chapter.
We still have a fair distance to travel before we complete the transformation. Although I've spent the best part of this article fleetingly comparing the changes between us and them, it's important to note that above all things I want to aspire to what Tottenham Hotspur should be all about when Tottenham Hotspur is striving for greatness. I'm not even asking for sustained success. I just want my club to be glorious in effort, be it in one cup final or the league.
We've not been beaten by them for a several games now (in the league). Form does go out the window as cited already. They are hurting and they will want to prove a point and make a statement and what better way to do that than to strike at us head on. I want us to dodge the strike, grab their hand and twist it around until it cracks and they bend their knees in agony falling to the ground as we stand over them, smacking the back of their head until they burst into tears and plead for mercy.
Looking at their form across the season, they are most likely to lose a few more between now and the end of it and without wishing to be patronising a win for them will be a moral one rather than season defining. That's just my own opinion, you might not agree. It will however be the latter for us, no doubt, the media will tell us in the aftermath (if that's how it plays out). Our form across the season suggests we'll finish in the top four. It's all hypothetical based on what's happened already. So let's not take it for granted.
Perhaps it's impossible to strip all the musings and comparisons aside when discussing this match in its build up. Regardless of predicament, you want us to smash them to pieces for all those seasons of misery we had to accept grudgingly in contests that were hardly fair when comparing the two sides man for man. They never showed remorse, always displaying arrogance. Regardless, you still want to smash them to pieces because of what they are. There is no need for reason, no need to validate. It's the way it is.
They will remain in decline if their support forever worship an over-played 2004 DVD. But that doesn't mean they can't be dangerous like a wounded animal. It doesn't mean they can't find something from deep within. These games are never ordinary. But then some wounded animals are better off taken out back and put out of their misery.
If it's going to come full circle we'll have to wait patiently to find out so either way denying or stating it hasn't/has happened doesn't matter. Their expectancies and ours, not relevant. The only thing that matters is the next game. The next game is against Arsenal. A franchised entity with cracks in the marble. Fans that are only visible when it's safe to be out in the open (not seen a single post from an Arsenal fan on this blog for over a year when in the past they celebrated every Spurs defeat like it was a victory for them by trolling the comments section). A club with no true defining birth, aborted time and time again. A canvas with a French artist staring back at it, sombre in thought, with no paint left to aid the restoration of his degraded masterpiece that now has the scribbles of a mad man scratched into it.
I'm not asking for much. Just their destruction.
Reader Comments (55)
gist?
Its not just about winning, I hope we come out and really play to traumatise them with glorious fluid, football, the type that destroys their once concieted fans and players alike and sends them into such a lull of confidence that by the end of the season the manager has gone and no cl football.
Oh yes, I want their destruction. If we beat them and they finish outside the top four then RVP will be off, ie their one saving grace. And then that's it.
My team for the game, injuries permitting:
Friedel
Walker Kaboul King BAE
Sandro Parker
VDV Modric Bale
Adebayor
So well said Spooky! Becoming a fan in the mid 90's as a 10 year old kid (don't ask why), for what i've endured, i hold only the utmost hatred for that club. The sheer arrogance, the gloating of that lot, i want only one thing for them... Que the Alien in independence day - DIE. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rw5MosKRm4
In this particular game form has nothing to do with it. It depends on which team makes less errors on the day and the vagaries of the officiating. At the end of the day even if we lose we will make it up in other games. Lets just play great ball and hope the chips fall our way..
"Its not just about winning, I hope we come out and really play to traumatise them with glorious fluid, football"
Yes thank you please.
Great stuff, brilliantly written. The last couple of paragraphs sum it up perfectly. COYS.
Nice article Spooky. All season long Harry has stated he is not looking at Man U & Man C, he is looking over his shoulder at Arsenal & Chelsea. Now its time to deliver, how sweet it could be, away at the Emptycrates Stadium to smash home the final nail in their 2011/2012 season.
Just to also add, wow, a near on full strength squad. Ive said on here before. Our time is now. They have got to be literally quaking in their boots.
COME ON YOU SPURS
I hope we smash them!
Adebayor hatrick really rub their noses in it, a nice repeat of arsene's water bottle tantrum and i'll have a great sunday.
COYS
"They are hurting and they will want to prove a point and make a statement and what better way to do that than to strike at us head on. I want Scott Parker to dodge the strike, grab their hand and twist it around until it cracks and they bend their knees in agony falling to the ground as we stand over them, smacking the back of their head until they burst into tears and plead for mercy."
Superb stuff. I was compelled to change one thing though. BOTS and COYS
Acceptable change.
I can't even bear to watch this match. I'm afraid to say it, but I think might give them a hammering. I feel we have taken so much shit from those supporters that they deserve lewd things to happen.
When the food poisioning happened and we failed to qualify for the CL, my boss (a gooner) gave me hell. I want to shove that right up his arsenal.
thank-you. a very good piece, maybe I would not of used quite the number of war/ battle / military images ,however I do empathise with the ideal that, at long last, we are the ascending club and whose already in ascendency.
WIN!!!!
That young Basel goalkeeper Yann Sommer might be one we should look at, he was stellar v bayern today
I hope they get a sense of hope by us conceding first. Then as their heart swells with hope, we reach into their chest and pull it out and show it to them while it's still beating as VDV runs to the corner in celebration and the last thing they see as their collective brain starts to shut down is Adebayor doing a knee slide of joy.
Sorry zenspurs, I can't help it. Schadenfreude is hard to resist.
The game is about glory. The game is about winning, not whining or even whinging. Football will travail, lets just hope lady luck decisions (and the refs) go our way.
Truly magnificent article.... just read this morning, what a way to wake up, has put a massive smile on face... dodge the punch, twist their arm till it cracks until they are on their knees and begging for mercy, YES YES YES please let it happen, we owe them big time for all the hurt over the years when they were always so much better than us.... not any more, now its our turn to punish them, they are a wounded animal, lets pile on the misery. COYS !!
At the risk of being accused of faintheartedness or just being boring, I would be glad to accept a scrappy 1-0 win right now, which would pretty well guarantee that they couldnt catch us.
I'll eave the rest till we confirm 3rd place.
If we do it with style/comfort that'd be a bonus - def not gonna crow before the event.
Well said!
Winning is normally enough however due to the decade or so of torture they have put us through, their complete destruction on Sunday or at least the next ten years, will be enough. Love listening to all of the whining gooners, thinking because they have a new and improved 60,000 capacity 'library', they automatically think they should be challenging for the title. Hilarious!! In Wenger we so definately trust, seems he will be going down with the sinking ship, sad.
COYS!!!
Yes, the game is importantant but this, fellow yids, is "IT".... the below quote is what beats in the heart and soul of every Tottenham Hotspur supporter.
"A club with no true defining birth, aborted time and time again. A canvas with a French artist staring back at it, sombre in thought, with no paint left to aid the restoration of his degraded masterpiece that now has the scribbles of a mad man scratched into it."
Spooky, I'm on my knees weeping tears of joy.
Fantastic piece, spooky. Great work as always.
Wow! I never knew that u guys were so much in depression when Arsenal waz spanking u! Well if u feel the era is over then u are more deluded than i thought. Just because u are having a one-off 'good season at the moment and u think u have overtaken arsenal? Please spare me dat rubbish! A club has qualified for d UCL for d past fifteen years and you only qualified once in d past 30years and yet u compare d two clubs? What an article, full bias and sentiment. Let bring u back to reality, if u think u have secured champions season already, then u are very foolish and ignorant. Pride comes before d fall of a man.
It is all about the win on sunday, doesn't matter how we win as long as we do that should rule le arse out ofnthe running for third. Yes it does mean a little more because it is arsenal but we should really be playing the team in 4th that we can skip 13 points clear of, same for the upcoming chelsea game. A win in both will secure 3rd in my opinion, we can then set about trying to catch the top 2
Spooky, only one sentence I disagree:
'Our form has been solid this season so much so that even if we lost (this Sunday)'
We can NOT loose, even IF (which will not happen) they score MAYBE (but not) more than we do.
Focus on the title: DESTROY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLBpLz5ELPI
LETS KILL EM!!!
I hate the filth so much that im literally counting down the hours to the game. I want us to score early and then go on to take the absolute piss out of them both on & off the pitch. Sunday will see the final nail in their cofin and if we really smash them up hard then it could even be paedos last derby. Beuatiful COYS xx
Brilliant, inspiring stuff. They will be hurting from their last two results and will desperately want to put things right - that may work against them as we punish any loss of self-control. Barely any score line would surprise me though.
Tempted to write a tactical preview if I can drag myself out of my sick bed.
Hahahahahaaa...
They really are delusional, aren't they?
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/-spurs-have-done-well-but-we-are-stronger-?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arsenal-news+%28News+Feed%29
I want to hammer them. But not to show the arrogance that they showed to us in previous games. I want to humble them and be able to stand tall in victory. We aren't like them. I want to smash them but I want to smash them with class.
This post was legendary, I think it should be read to the team in the dressing room with "Ride of the Valkerie" playing in the background, to rouse the squad into a frenzy before going out and filling their dreams with beautiful nightmares of the lillywhite destruction at the emptycrates stadium!
@Ano dat mus be da way you talk round your ways innit do! Dumb GOON!
I want to smash them. I want to smash them so hard that whatever remains of their morale will evaporate like our oceans will when our sun goes supernova.
I want to smash them so hard that RVP finally thinks "fuck this" and publicly states his intention to leave so he can "win trophies".
But most of all I want to smash them for each year I've had an arrogant gooner in my face gloating and laughing about "st totteringham's day".
Let loose Bale and Lennon on their weak full backs and give them hell. COYS
A great article but too much admiration for the Arsenal of the past and too much criticism of oursleves. Let's reflect - only 7 clubs have been ever present in the PL and we are one of them (despite probably 10 years of poor management at all levels). Thats a pretty solid base to start with. In the same period Arsenal overperformed, with an astute manager who repeatedly found young players from across the world before anyone else, initially to play in front of an established top defence. All that has gone now. Spurs have kicked on, not just for one season as Arsenal fans like to pretend, but we're now into season 7 since Martin Jol's first fifth place finish. The dip in league places durng Ramos' time was misleading because the club continued to sign better and better players (Modric and Bale for two came duing this period). This is why Harry, always lucky with his timing, was able to make such a speedy improvement to results. So now it's seven years of being the 4/5th best team in the league, mostly without the subsidy of CL money that our rivals get and we are moving up again to the next level. Arsenal on the other hand have been rumbled. Everyone competes for these great young players now, and all of them have astute agents who are on the phone to Man C and Chelsea before Arsenal or anyone else get a look in. They cannot repeat the formula anymore, and with the new ground to pay for, they cannot compete as they would like in the main transfer market either. Whatever the result on Sunday, it would take a major implosion at Spurs for us not to finish above Arsenal this year. After this weekend, we still have to play Man U at home and Chelsea away, but Arsenal have Liverpool away, as well as Newcastle, Man C and Chelsea at home. The odds are heavily with us, and it will be nice to know that even if Arsenal do win most of these key games, every time they win they are helping cement our CL place!
If wishes were horses st.totterinham would have wished to win d league lol! Waz born some thirty odd years ago but since my time cant remember when spuds, sorry i mean spurs has won d league or finish above arsenal. What a pathetic club with a pathetic and myopic set of fans! You can only wish to achieve what arsenal has achieved over d years. And lest i forget, spuds has spent more money in the transfer market in d past 10years and yet they cant finish above arsenal. What a disgrace of club!
If we can destroy them half as much as Ano destroys the English language, Sunday will be a day to cherish for years to come.
Come on lad, let's leave the playground dramatics aside now. We're not the only guilty ones that have splashed out money but at least we finance ourselves so its our money to spunk, right? And arguably looking at our current side its money well spent. Also, care to perhaps compare wage bills?
As for the the rest of the trolling, we don't want to achieve what Arsenal have achieved. Well done on the titles and FA Cup's but you've hardly knocked Man Utd for six, have you? And the past 7 years has been nothing more than tippy tappy football that results in nothing more than your fans treating the League Cup as a Mickey Mouse competition to being a fully fledged piece of silverware then crying about it when getting dicked by the Brummies. Ho hum.
Ano, history goes back a lot further than 30 years.
So does grammar.
You might want to look into both.
Here's the reason I'm pessimistic going into the game this weekend. If/when we beat the scum, all we will hear about is how many of their first team players are out injured, and how much they miss the likes of Wilshere. They will be full of claims of "we would have beat you if we had full squad". Then there's the flip-side where we could lose to them, and then we get the "we beat you with our reserves".
Then there's the second concern - if we lose and Chelsea also win, the gap suddenly becomes just 7 points. Should we then lose to United & Chelsea then we can very easily find ourselves with a 1 point gap TO FIFTH PLACE!!!
For me, this is possibly the most important game this season for us. If we win, we can be confident in taking 3rd place. If we lose, there's the possiblity that fear of failure will creep in and we could get sucked into a 3 way battle.
Oh and Ano - if you take wages into consideration, I think you'll find that you've spent FAR more in the last 10 years than we have. You have reserve players taking home 60K per week for God's sake!
Interesting thought Walkerboy. In fach the bookies still have Arsenal favourite to win - 7/5 v 9/5 on Wiliam Hill, similar on Sportingbet, although they all like the draw. When considering league places though, both Arsenal and Chelsea would have to go on good runs to make us 5th, and they still have play each other as well as more games against the top six than we do.
Hahaha some nitwits spuds fans here think their grammar is more polished than mine, well if u are judging my english and spelling here then u are more stupid than your lot that went to santiago bernebeu chanting obscene chants towards Adebawhore and how his mother is a whore and have now shamelessly accept him as your favourite player! What a shame, where is your class? Well if it's seven seasons dat we hav not won any title, i will always prefer to be in our position than to be a little nasty jealous neighbour who always wish and has attempted to copy from my model with catastrophic outcome. SMH!
Arsenal's wage bill is 30m more than spurs per annum. That means we'd have to sign a Berbatov every summer just to be level with them on player expenditure.
I also wouldn't be too proud to gloat about net gains from transfer fees if I was a gooner. It's not getting them any success on the field, therefore, all it demonstrates is a distinct lack of ambition.
As much as Wenger would like there to be one, there is NO TROPHY handed out for the size of a club's bank balance. Arsenal wouldn't win that one either!
How about this, we'll take the three points on Sunday and their owners can continue to cream off the interest from their 160m cash reserves? Everyone's happy then, no?
Meh don't feed the troll guys. Just smile sweetly and think "Mind the gap"
Even old boys Dixon and Petit are talking about power shifts over on Auntie Beeb. For me, having been smacked in the face many times in the past, our position is still precarious. The gap isn't wide enough until the end of March. And as for power shifts, we have to be very *very* careful about how we manage the transition post-Redknapp. For now, though, I will enjoy it while it lasts, and I seriously hope we stuff them. Make a statement, something akin to the FA Semi '91 would do nicely.
Ano...
Yes, 15 years of CL qualification. Yet qualification has bought you what?
Spurs have still won more European trophies than Arsenal and yet we've spent years in the European wilderness
Jog on fella and try to sleep these next few nights knowing Spurs are out to punish your nomad team this weekend
COYS!
We must extend their misery. Delivering them pain and humiliation. I want to read after the match, that we properly trounced them.
Long time no post spooky. Great read, as always.
If we've a full team we should spank them. I don't go in for death cos once you're dead that's it. However, a good smack on the arse leaves a nice big reminder for them.
Just like the plonker up thread, if his arse was smacked more as a child he'd know not to go around embarrassing himself like he does. Over 30. Really? And you talk like that.
Coooome ooooooon yooooou Spuuuuuuurs!
Fuck me! An actual Arsenal fan! Not only that, but one of the hilarious, stereotypically illiterate, blinkered and unknowledgable ones. I might screengrab this page because, should we win on Sunday, we're unlikely to hear from one again for a very long time.
Think it will be tighter than a lot of people think this weekend but I'm still confident we'll win.
I was thinking today how, if Wenger had pulled his head out of his arse(nal) then they could have easily bought some of the players that have glavanised our squad - like Scott Parker, Brad Friedel, hell they probably could have even kept Adebayor a few years ago.
ah well. Fuck 'em
COYS!!!
Any win will do. Where's Brook when he's needed? COYS
Nice piece sir. However, lets not get carried away. We dont go into the game as favourites at all. Far from it. Not a single bookie has us as favourites. They have us as 3rd favourites, after an arsenal win and the draw. Third in a 3 horse race. Theres a reason for that - very, very few teams win at the Emirates.
I recall about 3 years ago, the Goons had some injuries and had Utd coming to town. The internet was full of bragging from Utd fans, and fear from the Goons. The consensus was that Arsenal would do well to keep it to a 3-0 defeat. Result? Goons 2 - Utd 0. Utd didnt have a kick all match. Similar thing happened last season when they played Utd at home. Fact is, while in decline for years, this Arsenal team is capable of beating anyone at home. If you need any further evidence, can I remind you that they won their last home game 7-1? We're not playing some laughable amateurs here - we're playing the 4th best team in the country, at their place.
So...lets not go expectation crazy. Pride comes before a fall, and if we go and get beat 2 or 3 nill, over-optimism will come back and bite you hard. We've been gash on the road since, what - Norwich? Outplayed by Swansea, Liverpool and Watford, dull against Stevenage. I would take a draw on Sunday in a heartbeat. Keep the gap at 10, move on, win our home games. As Mr Punch would say, "thats the way to do it".
I am a Spurs man through and through, but I am also a betting man, and a half decent one at that. I have no problem betting against Spurs if the odds suggest a mispricing. I would still rather Spurs win, regardless of my bets (I bet multiple matches, some you win some you lose). But sports betting is a hard headed business - bet with your heart and you are easy meat. One of the easiest ways of winning money is laying against over-optimistic fans of away teams on betfair. I have to say, reading some of the comments above, there will be some easy meat on Sunday. Hope I am wrong, but I think the goons will win this one quite comfortably
To Ano: Really nice of you to fly the flag and fight the good fight here...unfortunately you're throwing cream puffs at the town hall. You would be better off trying to calm down your French poodle, he's whimpering at the moment. Might not have a job after Sunday.
You say you would always " prefer to be in our position". Sorry to break it to you son, but this Sunday your position will be doggy style. Unfortunately your side of this position will be rather painful. And may you and the rest of the scum enjoy your multiple bitch slaps as an added bonus. We will be only to glad to provide them.
And by Christ, I hope it's Ade who gives you the mother of all bitch slaps by three.
COYS! to the destruction of the Scum!!