Tales from the Derby

The North London Derby (NLD). Arsenal versus Tottenham.

Being a Gooner, I learned from a very early age that you simply had to hate Spurs. This was not up for debate. If you loved Arsenal you hated that lot. That's it.

Not coming from North London myself (an Essex boy, born and bred) I perhaps did not really understand the hatred and the history behind it all but none of that mattered. You did not have a choice.

Of course I now understand why they hate us so much. The fact we moved from Woolwich into their territory and then took their place in the old First Division when the league was increased in size after WW1.

The fact that we then went on to become the biggest and most successful side in the country in the 1930's must have hurt them. Over the years we have become everything they have always dreamed of being but never managed to achieve.

Trophies. League titles. We have even won the title on their own pitch, not once but twice. Yes, it is no wonder they hate us so much.

What I never quite understood was why we hated them just as much. I always saw them as an irritation that can simply be brushed aside with the minimum of fuss. A source of amusement, something to be ridiculed and laughed at, not hated.

But the first NLD I attended, at Highbury in April 1982, changed all that. At that time Spurs were on their way to retaining the FA Cup with a great side that included the likes of Hoddle, Ardiles and Hazard.

We, on the other hand, were in transition after the break up of the team that had reached three consecutive FA Cup finals at the turn of the decade. We had John Hawley up front for God's sake!!

I was only 12 at the time and this was my first season attending matches. I had been to every home game since Christmas, and an away game at West Ham, but nothing had prepared me for what I was about to witness. Football violence was at it's peak and to see all this hatred spewing from every pore was not something that sat well with me.

I don't remember too much about the game as I spent the whole time fearing for my safety. In short it kicked off big time. I do know it ended in a 3-1 defeat (Hawley scored our goal amazingly enough) but I had long since stopped caring and just wanted to go home.

But that experience changed me. After that day I never wanted to see us lose to them again. But it wasn't the club I hated so much as the fans.

Later that year I attended a Spurs against West Ham match. As I explained in an early blog my sister was a Hammers fan and her new boyfriend, for his sins, was Spurs. He made the mistake of taking us both to this particular match.

Before the game we were in a chippy on Tottenham High Road when a few Spurs fans started giving my sister some stick as she had a West Ham scarf on. Not the wisest move, granted, but she was with her Spurs supporting boyfriend and he was a hard bastard so we felt safe.

But the next thing we know one of the lads had punched my sister square in the face and it all kicked off. Her boyfriend was there in his Spurs shirt, fighting fellow Spurs fans in the street. And this sadly, sums them up.

On the bus on the way home a group of about six Spurs fans, all big guys, dragged a lone West Ham fan, who looked about 16, off the street onto the bus and proceeded to kick ten barrels out of him before dumping him at the next stop.

A few years later, after we had beaten them 2-0 at Highbury (Wrighty and Campbell), I was rabbit punched in the back of the head by a Spurs fan behind the Clock End. Of course he soon regretted it as he under estimated the sanity of the mate I was with who soon had him running off up the street with his (badly bruised) tail between his legs.

But I digress. After that inauspicious start, the following season we beat them 2-0 at Highbury over Christmas (Sunderland and Woodcock) which was very satisfying. No hint of trouble that day and a lovely three points. And by the time of the away game the following Easter we were preparing for an FA Cup semi final meeting with Manchester United the following week. This will be great, I thought, as I made my first walk up Tottenham High Road from Seven Sisters Road Station to the ground. Little did I know...

Walking up the stairs onto the away terrace for the first time, the thing that struck me was the towering Shelf Stand to my right. Intimidating. The atmosphere was electric of course but also very hostile.

Fast forward a few years and I would find myself on that very terrace with around 200 other Arsenal fans watching Seaman continually deny Lineker in a 0-0 draw. A goal for either side that day would have led to murders, quite literally, so thanks Dave as your heroics in that match probably saved my life.

But back to that first visit and it proved to be one of my worst days following The Arsenal. For those of a younger generation who can only recall us lording it over them or a succession of closely fought matches will not believe what unfolded that day. The final score: Spurs 5 Arsenal 0. And we lost the semi final a week later as well...

Thankfully that proved to be a rare bad day for us against them. But despite all that this is still a game I don't really enjoy. I want to win every time of course and losing to them is just not an option, especially at home. But the pressure involved takes away the enjoyment and even a win is often not enough. Unless we win 5-0 I will never completely get over from that day in 1983.

All this has taken on even more significance in recent years as they have had the audacity to become a decent team. It has been a real drag watching them finish above us but the laughs as they fall at the final hurdle again and again has kept our sanity in what has been difficult times.

But the power shift they have been banging on about, a power shift that has seen them win absolutely nothing and us three FA Cups, is about to come to an end. They are about to discover as we did in 2006, that losing a Champions League final and moving into a new stadium is the beginning of the end.

They have peaked and are about to start the inevitable decline while we are slowly finding our mojo again. A meeting at Emirates this weekend, where they have only won once in 14 visits, is almost to be relished. Almost.

As poor as they were last week against Newcastle, as good as our home record is against them, we can never take anything for granted when it comes to the NLD. There is no point even trying to predict the score as form goes out of the window. I just hope that come 6.30pm on Sunday we are the ones celebrating...

Another pointless trip to Liverpool

Liverpool away.

A fixture full of great memories and history. Remember Arshavin's four goal haul in 2009? van Persie's wonder goal in 2012? And most famously of all, Thomas bursting through the midfield. It's up for grabs now...

Unfortunately in recent years this is has not been a happy hunting ground for us. In fact we hadn't won here since September 2012 and had conceded 22 goals on our last five visits.

But this time it felt different somehow. A positive transfer window and a solid start to the season, one of only two clubs to win both our opening matches alongside Liverpool, had taken away the usual feeling of dread this particular trip to the North-West brings. After all a win here would take us to the top.

Now Anfield itself is one of the last truly great stadiums left in this country. The place reeks of history from every pore. Yes it has changed over the years with the impressive new Main Stand for example, but you are immediately aware of all the great moments that have been witnessed in this footballing cathedral down the years.

Unfortunately as an away fan it is not so great. As well as the low roof which obscures the view, especially from the back few rows, they have rammed in far too many seats for the space available so it constantly feels like it is over crowded. Oh the irony...

The concourse area is also far too small for the number of people the stand accommodates inside and the facilities are terrible for a stadium that is so impressive everywhere else. But enough of all that.

They have had a lot of bad press over the years have the Liverpool fans, but I have generally found them to be a very fair and passionate bunch. Certainly the few we spoke to on the walk from the car to the stadium supported this theory and the feeling was they were genuinely worried about the threat we would pose.

Having lost just one of their last 42 matches in all competitions, and that to City, this was always going to be the first real test for Emery's new look side.

The team selection was generally positive; a first start for record signing Pepe in attack, although no Lacazette, a shame as his new song had been sung with great gusto in the concourse before the kick off.

Despite wearing our lovely new blue kit for the first time, the bad vibes started when the teams switched ends for the kick off, meaning we were attacking our end in the first half. For a TV audience this probably means very little, but trust me, not much in life can beat the feeling of an important away goal scored at your end of the ground. And most important goals tend to come in the second half of a match.

As expected Liverpool came at us from the off. We looked very narrow, affording their full backs plenty of time and space to fire crosses into our box. But not to worry, we were defending well and the only chance they had was of our own making; Ceballos passing straight to Mane who's shot was well saved by Leno.

Speaking of the Spaniard, after his impressive first start last week he was brought back down to earth with a bang. Bullied off the ball far too easily by Henderson and Wijnaldum, this was a real lesson for the Real Madrid loanee.

But we should already have been ahead. With Pepe looking dangerous if rather unconventional, and blowing away that ridiculous stat that no one had dribbled past the God-like figure of van Djik, we had the better chances.

Aubamayeng, scorer in our opening two matches, was a whisker away with a 20 yard lob after Adrian's poor clearance, while Pepe then curled an effort narrowly wide. This was promising stuff.

The turning point however, arrived after half an hour. A Liverpool corner was held up for a VAR check about a possible red card for an offence that no one saw, and when we cleared our lines, suddenly Pepe was one-on-one with Adrian.

With the £72m Ivorian baring down on goal, the away section was up ready to celebrate the crucial breakthrough. But at the vital moment Pepe's bottle went and his finish would not have looked out of place on a Sunday League pitch.

Any hope of a positive result ended at that moment. A few minutes later another Liverpool corner saw Matip rise above everyone to power a header past Leno. 1-0. Bugger. And it had all been going so well.

Half time gave us the chance to watch Pepe's miss again on the big screen in the concourse and the more you saw it the worse it got. These are the chances you have to take if you are going to get results in these big games. But at 1-0 we were still in it so I was confident we could still get something.

All that disappeared with in three minutes of the restart. Salah burst into the area and the next thing we know referee Anthony Taylor is pointing to the spot. No VAR, just a penalty. Now usually when a foul is committed in the area there are appeals from the players and the crowd. But not this time. Just a stunned silence.

Social media images of a shirt pull by David Luiz were soon circulating and while that was not in doubt it did not impeded the Egyptians progress. As he has a habit of falling over at the merest of touches, it did seem a very harsh decision, especially when you look at some of the penalties not given this weekend, the ones in the Man. City and Spurs matches in particular.

There was no doubt that Salah would score from the spot and at 2-0 we had a mountain to climb. Of course the best way to do this was to perhaps bring on your best striker and get the ball forward quickly. Maybe try to get Pepe and Aubamayeng back into the match?

But no. Emery sat on his hands, resigned, it appeared, to our fete. We continued to pass it out from the back, inviting pressure and leaving our front men as virtual spectators.

We did manage to create one more chance to get back into it and it showed the value of getting the front two involved. On a rare foray forward Pepe sent Auba clear but our top scorer took an age to decide and Matip was able to get across and block.

As in the first half a big chance missed by us led to Liverpool scoring at the other end. Luiz got turned far too easily by Salah on halfway and the result was inevitable; another neat finish into the far corner. 3-0, game over.

For a while it was looking bad for us. A repeat of the recent spankings was on the cards as we were on the ropes but thankfully Liverpool decided to go easy and retreated a little.

Eventually with ten minutes to go we saw Lacazette preparing to come on, but not before he had been given instructions from the famous tablet. Look, it's quiet simple. You're a striker, we're 3-0 down, try to put yourself about a bit and get a goal. Not sure what more information the tablet could add??

Immediately Laca was pressing high up the pitch and within four minutes we'd scored. The much maligned Xhaka started the move with a ball into the left channel for Auba and it was another sub, Torreira, who finished at the second attempt. Cue a rather muted celebration in the away end but still far more intense than the scenes when Spurs equalised at City the previous week.

It couldn't happen could it? A comeback?? With at least four minutes of stoppage time we basically had 10 minutes to score two more. But instead of showing the urgency of a team who actually felt they could still get something, we continued to play it out from the back and sideways in our own half. It was almost as though 3-1 was a good result...

The final whistle saw a nice moment with Oxlade-Chamberlain, who after a consoling word with Maitland-Niles, came over to applaud the travelling fans, who responded by applauding him back. The Arsenal family.

Maitland-Niles himself, despite having a difficult game, stood in front of the away end long after his teammates had disappeared down the tunnel in a display of defiance sadly lacking from the team for much of the second half.

So another trip to Liverpool ended in disappointment, and with it our hopes of another unbeaten season. If nothing else it showed once again how far away we are from the top sides and that our mentality away from home needs to change.

Emery, whose away record at his previous clubs was not great either, seems to lack the tactical flexibility to change when things are not going to plan, and he seems to put far too much emphasis on the system, the process, instead of the players and the opponents.

For someone who studies the opposition so closely you would image he would have a plan to compete in games like this. But sadly that does not appear to be the case.

Okay so the positives. Firstly the increasing maturity of Joe Willock who was outstanding once again. Also, despite that awful miss, Pepe will be fun to watch. Pace to burn and a bag of tricks, once he gets his confidence in front of goal we will have one hell of a player. Remember it took Henry four months to find his scoring boots.

The trip home was spent in a reflective mood. The reality is we are no more than a side challenging for the top 4. With players to come back from injury we can still improve of course but something nagging away at me keeps saying that we are set for more of the same old, same old.

Hopefully, like my earlier prediction about David Luiz being new new van Djik, I will be proved wrong...

Liverpool away - Match preview

Tomorrow sees us travel to Anfield in what will be one of the matches of the season. Here is how I see it panning out.

I believe both teams will play a variation of the 4-3-3 formation. Defensively you have to say Liverpool are much stronger although their full backs, while great going forward, do have a tendency to get caught too high up the pitch. Alexander-Arnold is the worst for this and he is definitely their weak link at the back so we need to exploit this, possibly using Aubameyang on the left to run into the space behind.

Obviously they have problems in goal with Adrian filling in for the injured Allison so we need to get plenty of shots away and be ready to follow them in as he will parry most of them.

At the other end of the pitch our full backs will have their work cut out dealing with Salah and, in particular, Mane, who is the best in the league at the moment. Firmino will drop deeper into the hole so I expect David Luiz to go tight on him leaving Sokratis spare to help out the full backs. Firmino of course scored a hat-trick in this fixture last season and has 8 goals in 8 appearances against us so keeping him quiet will be crucial.

In midfield we probably have the edge. With Xhaka back in the squad I'd expect him to start alongside Willock, with Ceballos further forward. They'll be coming up against Henderson and Wijnaldum, with either Fabinho or The Ox the more advanced of their three.

Liverpool tend to by-pass the midfield looking for long diagonals to the advancing full backs or the wide forwards so if we can play through the middle we can really hurt them. Get Ceballos on the ball and we can get them turning back towards their own goal.

As long as we deal with their high press it could leave spaces in behind for us to exploit. Van Djik tends to sit off as he always fancies himself in a one on one but then again he won't have met our front three before. Lacazette can match him physically so we need to get Aubameyang and Pepe in and around him when he has the ball at his feet.

Of course getting a result will be no easy task for us. Liverpool have not lost at Anfield in the Premier League since April 2017, a run of 41 matches. Of those they have won 31 and kept 26 clean sheets. They have also lost just one of their last 42 matches in all competitions, winning 33 of them. 

History is not on our side either. Liverpool are unbeaten in our last eight meetings, since April 2014, and we have conceded 22 goals in our last six visits to Anfield.

But they have looked vulnerable in the opening two matches, especially in their last home match against Norwich, who created several good chances against a rather flat Liverpool defence. The key will be to make sure we take ours when they come along.

So in conclusion I think there will certainly be goals. We can't keep a clean sheet against their attack but can they keep us out? If we are fully concentrated for 90 minutes I believe we can get something from this match. A win? That would be great of course but I'm more inclined to go for a high scoring draw. Either way it should be the match of the season so far.

Predicted line ups - 

Liverpool - Adrian - Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Djik, Robertson - Wijnaldum, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain - Salah, Firmino, Mane.

Arsenal - Leno - Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, David Luiz, Monreal - Xhaka, Willock, Ceballos - Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang.

Referee - Anthony Taylor

A VARy bad start to the season

So two weeks into the new season and already we are talking about VAR. Who knew??

Anyone who has witnessed its trial over the last couple of years will not be in the least bit surprised about the impact VAR has had on the opening weeks of the Premier League season.

Not content with four useless referees in the ground to get things wrong, they now have a few more hidden away in a studio somewhere in a parallel universe to make even more mistakes.

The first weekend saw its first controversy when Wolves had what would have been a vital three points at Leicester taken away thanks to the merest of handballs by Boly in the build up to Dendoncker's goal.

That was not a VAR issue, was the cry from its supporters. No, it is the new handball rule to blame. Actually it isn't. Without VAR, which is supposed to be for clear and obvious errors, that 'handball' would not have been spotted.

As if that decision was not bad enough it could have far reaching consequences for both clubs as they battle for a potential place in the top six. How crucial could those two extra points prove to be for Wolves come May?

This was hot on the heels of the goals at the West Ham vs Manchester City match. Jesus had one ruled out for a marginal offside VAR call while Sterling had one given from almost exactly same position. So much for clear and obvious errors.

To the naked eye both were goals or neither were, yet in this virtual reality that is VAR, one was given and one not.

Thankfully so far my club has not been on the wrong end of such controversy but I appreciate it is only a matter of time. The goal young Reiss Nelson had ruled out against Burnley was for a clear offside against Monreal in the build up. So no drama there.

But that lot up the road, I refuse to call them by their actual name, benefited from more VAR madness at The Etihad. This was a tough one to take as normally a last minute City winner being disallowed is a moment to savour. But when it is 'them' who are gifted a point it gives you mixed feelings.

This was an even less obvious handball by Laporte just before Jesus curled the ball past Lloris but VAR of course spotted it and it finished in a Desmond (2-2). Again it is a result which could have an impact for several clubs later down the line.

Last season for example, 'they' finished one point above us for the final Champions League place. Imagine if that happens again? It could be traced back to this point they were given by VAR. I'd prefer to look at the prospect of the two points dropped by City handing us the title, but then I am forever the optimist!!

So the early evidence is not good. We could be in for a strange season decided not by decisions on the pitch, not by great skill, but by some faceless entities in Stockley Park. And this is meant to be sport.

One of the main joys of attending a match live is that moment when you see your team score a goal. One of your players hits the ball into the net and for a few seconds nothing else matters. All is right in the world. The unbridled joy, the random hugs with strangers, the high fives, the sheer elation.

This is a feeling you experience only rarely. If you're lucky over the course of a season you might get to experience it on average twice a game. If you support Brighton or Sheffield United it will be a lot less.

But we now face the prospect of losing these moments altogether. No more goal celebrations but instead silence when the ball hits the net and a ripple of applause 10 minutes later when the decision appears on the screen. Great for the TV audience perhaps but not for the paying fans in the stadium.

Football is not a reality TV show where the producers can manipulate the result but that is exactly where we are heading. The Premier League could become the new Big Brother. A future where the phone lines will open after a goal is scored. So in your best Geordie accent, 'Is it a goal, YOU decide...'

An Introduction

Hello,

My name is Richard and I am a miserable twat.

There I've said it.

Now nothing makes me more miserable than that wonderful sport we all know as football. 

In common society I am known as a football 'fan' but I use that term very loosely as it is almost impossible to be a fan of football and not constantly find something to moan about. 

What makes my predicament even worse is that for my sins I am an Arsenal fan. Yes I know...

It all began for me back in the late 1970s. My mother, born in Burma but living to the UK since the late 40s, was brought up in Green Lanes, London N5, just a stones throw away from Highbury. 

I can still vividly recall that summers day back in 1978 when she took me from our suburban Essex home to see where her old house used to be. Of course it was now flats but none of that mattered to me anyway because as soon as I saw the magnificent main entrance to The Arsenal Stadium that was it. I was hooked.

When I got home I spent the rest of the summer holidays researching the history of the club. No Google back then so it was the library for me. I soon discovered that they were actually one of the biggest and most successful clubs in the history of English football. Bonus.

Back then of course the 10 year old me was quite happy with my choice of team. The new season, which kicked off just a few weeks later, would end with Arsenal winning the FA Cup, beating Manchester United 3-2 in the final, a 5th success for us in that particular competition according to my book.

I only watched that dramatic match on TV as I was not from a football family. Although living so close to Highbury my mother was not an Arsenal fan, although she had gone to one match in the late 1950s. My father, on the other hand, was from South of the river, Beckenham in fact, and while not being a fan as such, Crystal Palace was his team of choice.

With no brothers or any other family members living local, and an older sister who decided to support West Ham, probably out of spite after they beat us 1-0 in the 1980 FA Cup final, I was very much on my own.

So after two years of constant nagging I was finally able to get my parents to agree to let me go to a match. Clearly they were not up to date with the hooliganism issue which was blighting English football at the time or I doubt they'd ever have let me go.

Saturday 17th October 1981 was the big day. Arsenal v Manchester City. Not the big game it is today but for me it was more important that the European Cup final. I stood on the North Bank, slightly to the right of the goal about halfway up, with my silk Arsenal scarf tied abound my wrist, and went absolutely ballistic when Raphael Meade, on his debut, scored the only goal of the game midway through the second half. 

It was not a great season for the club, we finished 5th and suffered early exits in the cups, but for me it was start of what would become my life and, alas, my downfall.

Since that day nearly 39 years ago, I have been to over 800 matches home and away and been lucky enough to see my club win many trophies. 5 league titles, 8 FA Cups, 2 League Cups and a European Cup Winners Cup. I know I have been fortunate. But if you think that means I have nothing to moan about then think again.

This new blog is an opportunity for me to share with you all the things that annoy me about modern football. I will covering everything from modern fans, modern players, ticket prices, transfer fees, transfer windows, TV coverage, referees, VAR, parking at away games, missing a goal because the queue at the loo was too long, and anything else to happens to annoy me at the time.

Come on, you can't wait can you...