This was a good game of football - with, from an Arsenal fan's view, an utterly shameful result. No team - I don't care who they are and I don't care who they are playing - should draw a game after being 2 goals up in the 89th minute. They certainly shouldn't do it if they aspire to win the League, and they most definitely should not do it against their local rivals, the team at the bottom of the League. Arsene Wenger admitted he was angry afterwards, and most Arsenal fans were even angrier - with him and his team. First Fulham, then Hull, now Tottenham - this Arsenal side have such a soft centre at times, it is ridiculous. We have now dropped 10 league points without even playing a decent side yet. On our day we can beat the best in the world, but we don't have enough of those "days" at the moment; and our off days are very worrying indeed.From a neutral's perspective, this was a great game - reminiscent of the 5-4 game at White Hart Lane in 2004. Neither team's defence really covered themselves in glory - Spurs' defence and keeper seemed to crap themselves every time Arsenal brought the ball near them; and Arsenal's keeper in particular (not helped by his defence), let in practically every shot that Spurs managed to get on target. In terms of the play, how Spurs managed to get a draw still confuses me, because Arsenal played them off the pitch at times. But, we have only ourselves to blame for what happened in the end.
The first goal, and the first sign that this might not be as easy as we'd all hoped, came after about 15 minutes. Bentley picked up the ball about 40 yards out, and booted it over Almunia's head and into the net. The goal reminded me of the "Nayim from the half way line" effort that Spurs are so fond of - a bit of a freak goal really. Bentley saw Almunia off his line, and it was a good strike - but not one you see every day. By just after half time though, Arsenal had got themselves back to 2-1, with two very similar goals. A corner which Silvestre headed in, and a free kick which Gallas headed in. Not often that you see 2 Arsenal goals from set pieces in a game, but nobody near me was complaining.It even got better before it got worse, 2 more goals from Adebayor and Van Persie, and all seemed to be well with the world. Then it all went wrong. Gael Clichy fell over for no apparent reason, the defence failed to close Jenas down, and he curled a shot past Almunia for 4-3. Then, right into stoppage time, another long range shot bounced off the post, the Arsenal defenders were nowhere to be seen, and Lennon got there first to score the equaliser. Spurs players and fans celebrated like they had just won the Champions League (a reminder: it was only a draw, and you are still bottom of the League), and there was silence pretty much everywhere else in the ground. If you lose a game you deserved to lose, there are no complaints, but to throw away a win like that is just ridiculous. Fair play to Spurs, in keeping going until the end, and playing for each other when they got their chances, they did what we used to do quite well.
Afterwards, Arsene Wenger trotted out the usual crap about the team being young, and about this being a learning experience. How many more learning experiences must we watch this team go through, after Fulham, Hull and now Spurs? Surely they don't need to learn how to not concede 2 goals in injury time? Something seems to be wrong with the Arsenal team at the moment, and we can only hope that it gets fixed soon. I suspect that the root of the problem might begin with a "G" and end with "allas", but we will just have to trust (again) that Arsene knows best. But more than a few Arsenal fans are finding their faith in Arsene distinctly tested just lately.
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