After a somewhat forgettable North London Derby on Wednesday night, which saw our beloved Tottenham succumb to what can only be described as some sort of sign of the apocalypse, after Flamini scored twice, it’s left a lot of us with questions.
Now personally when I originally saw the draw, it didn’t bring the usual excitement a North London Derby has to offer. More so it seemed to be a distraction of what the club may achieve this season. It was never going to offer a game in which both teams pitched their best elevens against one another, but rather instead a host of changes, which took the magic out of the affair.
But what did we learn?
There were a few things I would take from this tie, but I think the one that categorically tops the rest is that Fazio should never put on a Spurs shirt ever again. A player who barely made an impression last season, put the final nail in his self built coffin after another horrendous performance which saw him assist the second goal.
When he arrived at the club, many thought we had sorted out the lack of leadership we so sought after, especially with the pedigree he boosted in Spain. But enough is enough and this Argentinian disaster has to go.
However though I could blame Fazio all day long for that performance, I think another shout out needs to go to the man who thinks he can dethrone our current captain. Michel Vorm made an absolute clanger for the first goal and should have been able to parry the shot to safety or at least away from rushing Flamini (still cannot believe he scored).
I also believe the second was not much better, though a wonder strike, I feel Lloris would have saved it. All in all his game is nowhere near as consistent or to the standard of Hugo and though it’s nice to have an experienced keeper in the wings, he will never be the number one at this club.
Many may not agree with me here, but I think we have also learnt Chadli is bloody useless. In recent weeks he just doesn’t seem interested, which makes me doubt the mental state of Jamie Carragher after he stated in an interview he “highly rates” the player. Wednesday night he spent most of the game following Eriksen around, offering the team very little width or option on the ball.
I’ve always had an issue with Chadli, he would do nothing for most of the game until one minute he would score and it would be like all was forgotten. But as the goals are now drying up, his true attributes are shining through, a lazy player, who seems scared to use the physical presence at his disposal. He ain’t no Gareth Bale and never will be.
The last negative, well if you can call it a negative, comes in the form of our current player of the season, Erik Dier. He looked as tired as Gemma Collins walking up stairs in Wednesday’s fixture, basically he looked bloody shattered. Though I don’t think he had that bad of a game, there were a few times where Arteta and Flamini where too often winning the midfielder battles, as well as the lackluster effort into stopping Chamberlain for the first goal.
Personally I would have rested him, but with no one in line to replace him, there will always be a need for him to start which may have an affect in his overall season.
Now it’s not all doom and gloom even with the scoreline in mind. There were some positives to learn, mainly coming from fan favorite, Danny Rose and his need to play. Rose who was playing for his place Wednesday night, put in a Man of the Match performance, which saw him cause all sorts of havoc to a fragile Arsenal backline.
His constant desire to keep driving forward, as well as back, made him a real handful, which saw him pick up one assist, as well as hand out two yellow cards to Arsenal men Debuchy and Flamini. I firmly believe he has done enough to topple Davies from the starting left back spot and take back what has always been his.
I would like to end this with a massive shout out to the fans at the game Wednesday night. Now I may have only been watching from the comfort of my own home, but even I could tell atmosphere was electric, especially in the half which spurred the team onto an equaliser and almost win. It was clear the visiting immigrants didn’t stand a chance.
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