Tottenham Hotspur 0 – 0 Arsenal
Barclays Premier League, White Hart Lane
Sunday, February 08, 2009, 13:30
It was a 0 -0 scoreline yesterday, but not your usual 0-0. We were, of course, down to 10 men for about an hour, thanks totally and wholehearted to one player. One player who in a world of his own, a player who’s mind is not focused. A player who acts like a kid, who disrespects his manager and his team mates. A player whose petulance costs us points after points after points. A player to whom has lost all respect from the fans – to the point where his own fans boo him. A player who I can longer accept in or around our team. The “beautiful” Arsenal has a sore thumb the size of an apple. Thanks Emmanuel Eboue for throwing away two points.
You can understand if a player gets sent off because of a bad challenge or a series of bad challenges. You can understand if he’s the last man and the opposition player is through on goal. You can understand these things. But to talk yourself into a yellow card by sheer chatback and then kick out at a player when you’re on the floor is not excusable. When you think you’ve got away with it scott free – to go up to another player and “pat him on the back” is just plain embarrassing.
Eboue – you are the worst player I can remember to grace the Emirates and I wish you would just leave. Just leave and take your bags, take your diving, sarcastic clapping and patting on the back with you. Take it all. Please. The Ivorian will now be suspended for the Cardiff game – and with Arshavin illegible, it leaves us dearly short on options.
The worst thing of all of this, is that Eboue looked like the most penetrating player on the pitch prior to his dismissal.
And again, the other stupid thing is that the little idiot has tried to defend himself. Just admit you were wrong.
“The referee sent me off. For the first yellow card I did not say anything bad. I was in front of the ball and I was talking with Almunia [following a foul]. After that I said [to the referee] you have to whistle before and he said OK. I came back to take my place and then he called me and gave me a yellow card. I don’t really understand why. For the second one, I touched him. I put my leg up because [Modric] had touched me before in front of the referee and he did not say anything. He kicked me when I tried to go forward and I put my leg up. The second card is normal, I accept it. But for me the referee was not good today. It was a goal [in the first half]. I don’t know why he did not give it. The referee said I touched Woodgate but I did not. I know have to control myself [on the pitch] but I did not want to let Tottenham win. I just wanted to give my best.”
Pack of lies of course. A PR stunt no doubt. Eboue, Modric wasn’t on a yellow – by reacting you were both going to get carded. Yes, you were on a card. A yellow + a yellow = a red. And you deserved it.
Yes, who thinks he didn’t deserve it?
Onto another controversial point yesterday and we had a goal disallowed – however, the ref blew before we scored, so in reality, we don’t have anything to shout about. We scored after play had stopped. Yes, play shouldn’t have been stopped, but the following statement by Arsene just baffles me!
“The goal we scored is completely normal, how can you cancel a goal like that? It’s just not acceptable, this kind of decision. He must have seen a clear-cut foul to cancel a goal like that. I would like our opponents to have goals cancelled like that when they play at the Emirates.”
The pressure is mounting, no doubt, we’re 5 points behind Chelsea and 7 behind Villa. Painful times and for the first time in a long time, you can suddenly see the possibility of us not finishing in the top four becoming a reality.
Just to top it all off, Adebayor is out for a while with a hamstring:
“Adebayor is out for three weeks with a hamstring. ”We have Carlos Vela, we have Nicklas Bendtner, we have Eduardo we have Andrey Arshavin and we have Robin van Persie. We have plenty of strikers.”
And I for one wasn’t too disappointed. With Eduardo and Vela around, we have two exciting players who can really make a difference. Their time is now and if they play well, will Adebayor get back into the team? Interesting stuff…
Okay, over to you guys – point gained or two dropped?
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Tottenham: Cudicini, Corluka (Chimbonda 74), Dawson, Woodgate, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon (Taarabt 87), Jenas, Palacios, Modric, Pavlyuchenko (Bent 64), Keane.
Subs Not Used: Gomes, Bale, Zokora, Huddlestone.
Booked: Modric.
Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy (Gibbs 87), Eboue, Song Billong, Denilson, Nasri, Adebayor (Bendtner 38), Van Persie.
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Eduardo, Ramsey, Djourou, Arshavin.
Sent Off: Eboue (37).
Booked: Eboue, Clichy.
Att: 36,021
Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).]]>
