I’ve needed some time away from all things Tottenham. Unfortunately for me, I had to watch the match sitting in between all the Arse fans which made the loss even harder to cope with. Before erupting with anger all through the blogoshpere, I decided to wait before posting so I could digest what happened to us at the Emirates.
Through the first 40 minutes or so, we held our ground well. But from the beginning of play, it was apparent that we were lacking creativity in our attack. I think I counted 5 or 6 times at the most when Spurs came into Arsenal’s half. But I could tell you that even Arse fans thought we were going into the half tied at nil. Then came the amateur mistakes. 2 goals within 11 seconds. Who lets something like that happen? I was shocked and had the wind knocked out of me while the Arse fans celebrated. They deserved to because we handed both goals to them. In 11 seconds!
But the title of this post has a lot to do with what I and many Spurs supporters believe: the long ball kills our attack. It decreases the efficiency of our attack. It degrades our attack.
I can count a few times where we needed to utilize the long ball to open up play, but it was ridiculously overused during the derby. It almost seemed as if every other pass was in the air. I even saw Bentley and Corluka have a frustrating argument where Bentley – who was open – wanted the ball played to his feet, but instead, Charlie sent it high in the air to a helpless Peter Crouch. WHY???? Redundancy victimized my thoughts. “Why are they playing the long ball? Why are they playing the long ball? Why are they playing the long ball?”
I told you I was victimized.
Tags: Arsenal, Emirates, long ball, loss, North London Derby, passing, Tottenham Hotspur
November 7, 2009 at 11:13 am |
Answer: a – who knows? b – they are stupid.
It still rankles, even this morning as I prepare for the trip to the Lane. I feel your pain!