[Source](Image made in Canva)
It is named the best derby in football with the exception of Celtic and Rangers. Spurs and Arsenal hate each other so the game on Sunday last was going to be box office. Arsenal were missing 2 player but had another one back, Timber. They couldn't call off the fixture this time however. Ange is slowly building a team that can compete at the top. My worry going into this fixture was we were playing well but we were not converting. Newcastle did a good job on defending deep and then picking us off. The new world where possession based football does not matter if the other team are defensively solid. It was clear from the outset that Arsenals play was to defend narrow and deep and leave Spurs have the possession. They did not care whether the ball went to the wings and they also did not care that Spurs had 69% of the possession. The most of any team against the gunners over the last season. Even Man City could not manage that.
Ange went for it by naming an attacking line up as per usual. This is what Ange does. He goes out and tries to get the win. We spent too long playing within ourselves to hope for a draw under Mourinho and Conte so I am happy we are going for games like this. Spurs were the better team starting out and early on Kulusevski got in behind but did not convert. Shortly after Solanke did not act fast enough with his shot after taking a bad first touch. It is the story of our season so far. For all the possession we are not killing the game and taking our chances. But why aren't our attack converting?
Well first of all Solanke is just back from injury. He has now played 2 games for Spurs including this one. Injury has hammered his start and therefore he is still not sharp enough. The next 3 games will sort this. I reckon Ange will start him on Wednesday in the cup against Coventry to get him game time. Brennan Johnson is not fully confident yet to attack. He is second guessing and I feel the weight of his job is getting to him. Once he scores he will be fine. You saw him the other day second guessing whether to take on Timber, a player who is just back from injury , on his bad side. He should be leaving him for dead but he decided to pass it back which is not what he should be doing. Sonny on the left is a funny one. Son is 32 now. Getting on. No longer has the speed of yesterday, having a bad season last year. Some are saying they should sell this year as he is still worth big money. I do actually think that. If we are to continue in this Ange project I am doubting whether Sonny is our man on the left. He has a one year extension after this season. Spurs have not triggered that yet but they will. The thing about Sonny is he is Spurs's cash cow. Ever home game there are 3000 shirts sold with Son on the back. That is £300,000 if we say every Spurs top is £100. This is massive money but I am feeling that if Ange wants to play the way he wants to play then Son may not be his answer. I would say Son gets a rest this Wednesday night and we will see Werner or Odobert get his chance to impress.
James Maddison is another player disappointing. I find Madders is all mouth. Going on before the game how he knows what a derby is really about only to give Arteta a man hug during the game. That made me angry. I am old school Keane and Vieira. You are going to war. I also thought Porro and Raya were going to start making love in the tunnel before the game. Such was their love for each other. The optics of this are not great. He also did not play well. I reckon our kid Bergvall is waiting in the wings and will get a start against Coventry with Archie Gray. If he impresses I would think Maddison is out of the team. Madders got taken off against Arsenal which would have not been a thought last season when he was having his purple patch. A patch long since past. He has not seen purple now since November 2023 and this cannot continue. It is the reason why the big clubs did not come in for him when Leicester were relegated. He is wishy washy, a sunshine player. Good in patches. He needs to do better.
@amirtheawesome1 and @belemo did not like my comment that Arsenal were essentially playing like Sean Dykes Burnley or Tony Pulis's Stoke. Sitting back soaking up the pressure. Not many chances. Martinella got in behind once or twice but he did a Martinelli. In fairness to Arsenal they did their job but they did the same mode against City last year and it cost them the league because if they attacked , they could have won it. Anyway they will be using the same tactic this Sunday against better players so they may get used to that way of playing.
Spurs fans had their usual reaction after the game. Ange is naïve . Set piece coach blah dee blah dee blah. The same thing that was thrown at him when he began at Celtic, at Yokohama F. Marinos and at Melbourne. We have seen this all before. But when the goals start coming they start coming in a big way. I don't value the criticism how these other leagues are weaker. Ange has now better players so they can apply his style in a better way. The next 3 games are Coventry , Brentford at home and then FC Qarabag. 3 games for Solanke and Johnson to bag a couple of goals to grow in confidence. Then we have United after them. I am optimistic. United are still terrible. They can't patch over the cracks with Casemiro & Rashford.
Coventry is an interesting one because we had a horror show against Fulham last season and we were knocked out early from the cup. This year and after the last run of results we need to win. So does Ange play a strong team against Coventry or field the kids? Surely Archie Gray will get a run out in midfield. It will be interesting to see what happens.