The way I see it – Tottenham v Arsenal

Last updated : 28 October 2005 By Jason Hogan
In fact, given the way I felt on Saturday I would have personally volunteered my services as executioner and it wouldn't have bothered me whether I had to use a guillotine to chop both of their heads off or a noose to string them up with.

Some will argue that the ability to innovate and invent are the qualities that make Pires, and certainly Henry, the players that they are. But in the context of the situation we found ourselves in against City last Saturday, the botched penalty routine was nothing short of an embarrassing farce which could have cost us dear.

I couldn't give a rat's arse if outsiders considered the actions of Pires and of Henry to be arrogant or disrespectful. All I know is that in the context of the match we were in and the way we were struggling to see off stubborn opposition, the plan they had cooked up was not only poorly executed but poorly thought out.

As two of the most experienced players in the Arsenal side they should know damn well that when you are in a match where chances have been few and far between, you simply do not piss around when you are then given a golden opportunity to put the game firmly out the opposition's reach. What they did not only turned out to be seriously embarrassing but it was downright irresponsible and unprofessional. And even though we won, I would, if I was manager, still have hauled their backsides in the office, torn strips off the pair of them and fined them a week's wages each.

At least Henry and Pires won't have to look too far away from home to find an example of someone that appears to know how to take a penalty. Step forward Robin Van Persie.

Van Persie was the star of the show up at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday as the young guns saw off Sunderland in front of a whopping 47,000 plus crowd and secured the Arsenal's first away win on the domestic scene this season.

It almost sounds strange saying that. Here we are, at the back end of October and yet we have only we have only just managed to chalk up our first win anywhere on these shores – strange, very strange.

Still, it's great to see that the youngsters are proving that last year's exploits were no flash in the pan. The likes of Lupoli, Owusu-Abeiye and Seb Larsson introduced themselves to one or two seasoned pros at Everton and Manchester City. Now, they have helped us see off more Premiership opposition in their own back yard. When you see young players at Arsenal doing such things, how on earth can anyone say that the future isn't bright?

This brings me nicely round to Saturday's game at the Shithole or as some people know it, White Hart Lane.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people's minds work. Time and time again people fall into the trap of making idle boasts without having anything tangible to back their arguments with. It seems like the average Spurs fan isn't any different.

In their tiny little minds, they believe that you don't need to do things like win the Premiership a few times, the FA Cup four times, win the League and FA Cup Double twice, go an entire league season unbeaten and finish in the top two in the league eight times in a row over the course of, say ten years to underline your supremacy in North London. Oh no.

According to the average Spurs fan, what you have to do is forget about all that has been achieved on the other side of North London whilst they won or achieved virtually nothing (sorry, that's not right, in the last 15 years they have managed to win that holiest of grails, the Peace Cup as well as the Worthless Cup under George Graham bless ‘em. And they DID finish as high as SEVENTH in the league once upon a time, so credit where credit is due), do not mention the fact that the Arsenal won the league AGAIN in their own back yard not so long ago, render it all as being in the past and claim supremacy in North London on the back of having picked up three more points from ten league games than their more illustrious neighbours who have only played nine.

I tell you what, my fellow Gooners, if the thought process of the average Spurs fan wasn't so funny, it would be tragic. We have graced them with our superior presence in North London for 93 years and they still do not get it, do they? We came from South London, saw, took over and Spurs have been living in our shadows ever since.

And if anyone doesn't want to take my word for it, maybe someone should have a word with Jimmy Greaves, arguably the greatest player ever to pull on a Tottenham shirt. I remember doing an article in the Sun about 18 months ago where he was talking about the "Glory, Glory Days" of the early Sixties. Now any football fan with any knowledge of the game will know that Greaves was a major part of what was and still is Bill Nicholson's famous push and run side.

For all his reminiscing, there was one point he made in that article which stood out. Greaves said in spite of all the things Spurs achieved at that time, a time which was just about the most successful they had ever had in their history, he knew that his beloved Spurs were already living in Arsenal's shadow even way back then. Considering what both clubs have gone on to achieve since can anyone really argue that anything has changed?

Don't get me wrong; there ARE signs of improvement at Spurs, there ARE signs that the club are making strides right now. But then, let's be honest about it, we have been here before once or twice in the past.

Ah yes, the past, the thing that the average Tottenham fan is not too keen on talking about. Well, you see, there are things that happen in everyone's past that are best left there but it is also a fact that the past often sets the benchmarks and the precedents for today. Spurs have had the odd period where they have done better than the Arsenal in the past but if they are going to do it again in the foreseeable future then they will have to do it over a slightly longer period than ten games. If they manage to finish above us say four times in the next five years, begin to win trophies when we are not, are playing in Europe regularly in that time when we are not then maybe, just maybe, I will concede that we have fallen behind them having been so far in front.

But I'm not holding my breath on seeing that scenario being played out. Everybody knows that we are in a transitional stage, knows who we have lost and knows who we have failed to bring in. But it's hard to believe that the powers that be at Arsenal will stand idly by indefinitely and watch Spurs overtake us as well as the Phoney Russian Franchise. Sorry, no chance.

There is one entity that shares the blossoming optimism that exists at Spurs and that's the bookies who have installed them as favourites to win on Saturday. Maybe the fact that Henry is highly doubtful to figure has something to with that.

But for me, whether we have the services of Henry or not, the incentives are huge for us on Saturday afternoon. Outside of Old Trafford, I cannot think of a better place to be going in search of your first league away win of the season. What's more, we could kill two other birds with one stone. If I remember rightly, we did beat them at Highbury without Henry as recently as last April. If we managed to do it at the Shithole then not only would we have endorsed the fact that there is just a little more to us than Henry, we will also of course go some way to banishing the myth that we are in decline.

A lot has been made of the fact that they have a sizeable English contingent in their ranks. That's all very noble and correct but none of them have won a domestic honour between them. We will have the players on the park that have been there, done it and seen it. We need to make that count on Saturday.