MANSION

Friday, December 01, 2006

Arse Wars Episode 06/07: A New Hope?

The Rebel Alliance (Spurs) will tomorrow fly into the Deathstar (Emirates Stadium) to tackle Darth Wenger and Emperor Dein’s red and white Stormtroopers, hoping for a victory that will bring down the evil empire. It’s been a while since the last battle won by the good guys, the White Knights of North London, but they are always victorious in the end and we have to keep faith. With little Aaron Lennon who has the speed of the Millennium Falcon, and our very own Hans Solo (Berbatov), we have the guile and cunning as well to defeat the bad guys.

Enough of the Star Wars references and onto the football, it is a difficult game to call tomorrow, with so many factors influencing the result. In terms of form, it has to go with Spurs who have lost one in fourteen, as opposed to the Gooners who have lost two on the spin. Then again our away record is poor, and they haven’t lost in the new place yet. But they haven’t played that well there either, and Henry might be out, and so will Gallas and Senderos, leaving them weakened at the front and back. Spurs have almost everyone fit and raring to go, and have new hope and conviction after dispensing with Chelsea, finally ridding the team of the label about not being able to beat the top four. We have had all week to prepare and they have had two days, but when do they lose three on the trot? It’s such a tough one to call, yet the bookies have us as 3/1 or 4/1 shots and when are they wrong?

Even the most lilywhite-tinted spectacle wearing Spurs fan, the guy that starts the “stand up if you hate...” chants in the Park Lane each week, even he would admit that Wenger has brought some quality players to the club over the years. In Henry and Fabregas they have a couple of players that historically would have been more suited to the cavalier and flair of Spurs rather than the dour effectiveness of them lot. There are things to admire there, even van Persie looks like a good player, but it’s the way they go about their business that makes them so dislikeable, they are bad winners and losers, and Wenger shoots his mouth off all the time and somehow gets away with it. After they lost to Fulham in mid-week he was already getting his excuses in about tomorrow, complaining how we had more time to prepare, but that they would still win. BMJ should stick those comments on the wall of the away dressing room tomorrow and fire the players up some more. Lets hope he uses some nasty tape that pulls the paint off the wall when he does it. Lets also hope that if Wenger squares up to him again Jol puts him away properly this time.

Spurs don’t tend to like a rough and tumble sort of match but if there is one team that likes it even less then it is Wenger’s Nancy Boys, who were out-muscled by Bolton and Fulham in their last two games, and as Corporal Jones used to say “they don’t like it up ‘em”! Hopefully Spurs would have worked this out through our detailed scouting, so BMJ will go with as combative a line-up as possible tomorrow. In reality, with Mido injured and Davids rubbish these days, this probably involves someone like Tainio playing centrally – he likes to get stuck in and tackle people. A partnership of he and Zokora should do the business and with Chimbonda also around to ruffle some feathers we may have the edge in that side of things. Whether that will be enough we won’t know until tomorrow, but so long as we get a fair rub of the green from the referee, and Berbatov gets some space to work in and Lennon destroys whatever left back they field again we should be OK.

Its never a good game to watch, and there tends to be little upside, but Spurs should enjoy that nice big Emirates pitch rather than the narrow confines of Highbury and with our excellent away support no doubt making all of the noise, it really, really could happen.

Come On You Spurs! May the force be with you.

The Waddler.