$hit Spurs Fans Say

Wow, suddenly Wenger has everyone eating out the palm of his hand. I couldn't have seen that coming a month ago, but is it really deserved?

Look, there's no doubt the Scum have gotten their act together in recent weeks and put a decent League run together, but I'm not sure it is entirely as impressive as it first appears.

Before I get to the meat of the issue, I'd also like to point out Arsenal's sudden desperation in finishing above Spurs. For such an apparently big club with such allegedly "small-time" rivals, exactly what does it say about them that the current extent of their ambition is to simply finish higher than us? I mean, surely such a focus would be more understandable were it the other way around, with Spurs players saying how "vital" it is to finish above Arsenal, given their dominance over us in the Premier League years. However, whilst we all want that, and whilst we all revelled in our League superiority this season, I don't think finishing above Arsenal was ever our 1 main ambition. Finishing 3rd, for me as a Spurs fan, is more about our best ever Premier League position and immediate UCL qualification, with coming above Arsenal being a kind of bonus prize.

However, what I think is perhaps particularly embarrassing for them is just what they've sacrificed in order to realise their aim of finishing ahead of us, which brings me nicely onto my main point

For a supposed Premier League super-club (as they so like to portray themselves) is their recent run really so impressive when they've effectively had to throw the towel in in every other competition? They were blown away in the UCL by Milan and it was pretty clear that Arsenal's focus was no longer on European glory but solely on domestic competition.

When they were then wiped out in pretty abject fashion in the FA Cup, despite QF places up for grabs, by Sunderland, it was pretty obvious that Arsenal's only ambition was in the Premier League. When you think that Liverpool & Chelsea, the 2 clubs the Scum have since left in their wake, have stayed true to other cup competitions and consequently have actually already won silverware or stand a good chance of winning more, it's pretty lame of Arsenal to simply drop out.

Here's the thing, it would be perhaps more understandable were they sitting in 2nd and saw a real shot at the title as being on the cards, but no - the title was never, ever on. In fact, they were pretty much in the pack, if not leading the pack for 4th place anyway, so Arsenal throwing in the towel in the UCL & FA Cup was purely about getting ahead of us!! Oh dear.

You know, having said all that, as a Spurs fan I do kind of appreciate that. It's nice to think they actually see us as such a genuine threat these days and we have a rivalry which means enough to provoke such a reaction . . . but it's still pretty lame.

And yes, they have closed the gap as a result but, Spurs have had some extremely tough games and not a single thread of luck in what seems like ages. Arsenal, on the other hand, have had a mixture of hard games to very winnable ones and have had spades of luck. They've had a good run, but could easily drawn or perhaps even lost at Everton where they were pegged back and had 2 VERY generous offsides given in their favour.

Arsenal are only 3 points ahead of us now, but we've had our tough period and have a good run coming up. We are well within touching distance and they have some tough games coming up too, particularly against City & Chelsea. Arsenal could easily have the wind knocked out their sails again at any point, they still don't really look like a successful unit to me, and should we get just a sniff, we'll be in there like a shot now. What's more, we ain't 'arf due some f-ing luck.

We are sitting in 4th place despite, quite possibly, 1 of the unluckiest of seasons I've ever seen. You have to give 'Arry some credit there as it would've been VERY easy for him to come up with Dalglish/Wenger-esque excuses but he rarely does, often choosing instead to honour our opponents when we lose. I can think of many other managers who would've lowered themselves in blaming referees, the media and England manager distractions or the difficulty of playing so soon after last week's awful scenes involving Muamba - but Harry point-blank refused to.

What's more, we've still got a shot at some silverware and 1 thing's for certain:

If Bolton should beat us tomorrow to a place in the SF then it won't be because our focus is simply on getting above Arsenal again. Right now, I couldn't give a monkey's about that, I want Wembley!




So, tell me, exactly who is "small-time"?

Just had "finishing above Spurs would be like winning a trophy for Arsenal" thrown at me . . . really?

My god they are pathetic. Even at our lowest ebb, when the chance of finishing above the Scum was the farthest from our dreams, it would never have been like "winning a trophy". This is why Arsenal have won nothing in years and are on a steady decline, something their little recent run is only highlighting now with comments like this

They've had luck on their side lately as well. Since they got the Bale pen against them, everything's gone for them. We imploded, and deservedly lost that game. But injury time winners against Liverpool, a game they had no right to still be in, and another against Newcastle (Danny Simpson was injured in a clash up the other end of the field at this point, Vermaelen scores in a position Simpson would be defending. Not only lucky as it's so late in the game, but the oppositions player is injured, sense of sportsmanship shouldn't be ignored because you're desperate for a goal) as well as the Drenthe 'offside' goal.

Either way you look at it, Arsenal, "MIND THE GAP"

GoonerJay29 wrote:Slate me all you want about this but that first post makes a pretty good point. Every season we look down on Spurs and we don't consider them a major threat but every time we beat them and finish above them we take great pride in doing so, as if it's an accomplishment. Case in point, the one thing Arsenal fans desire the most right now is finishing above Tottenham.

That is called a contradiction. If you're happy that you are finsihing above Spurs even though few fans seem to take them seriously then, whether people would like to admit or not, you considered them a threat.

This very thread even confirms it. For a supposedly small institution that will "always be in our shadow", people really seem to care what Spurs fans are saying, and picking out certain extracts and making a mockery of them is actually quite obsessive for a bunch of fans who supposedly don't take Tottenham seriously.