NORTH LONDON IS RED! | Spurs 2-3 Arsenal Match Reaction

Was you nervous? Never in doubt. Shameless setters. Arsenal 3, Tottenham Hotshite, sorry, Hotspur 2. Arsenal get three points. Five goal thriller. Now, I'm sure on a serious note, everyone's emotions have kind of died down. On another day, the performance wasn't potentially good enough, wasn't particularly good enough, but it's just about winning, getting three points, and we found a way to do it. Now, on another day, you know, we'll get into everything again with the connotations of us chasing City or trying to help City, you know, slip up and getting three points. We've done what we've needed to do. We've got three goals. The bragging rights are ours. It's a massive week where we played Chelsea and Spurs. I wouldn't quite say Spurs were our rivals, but they don't like us, and Chelsea more historically rivals. We beat both of them teams. Now, we need to go back to the drawing board and focus on Bournemouth, Everton, and Manchester United. Now, it's a bit of a weird game where I think all five goals for both teams could have been avoided. No doubt David Ryer is going to catch a lot of heat, and he kind of ruined a good performance because I think he played some very good passes, long passes to Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka, and for the large part, he was decent. Nine times out of ten, he makes those passes, but the one time it couldn't happen was today, and it happened, and it made a nervous game. Now, on another day, when I remove emotions and whatnot, I do think, you know, the fact of we did look a bit leggy. I don't think initially, you know, the passing was necessarily the best, really, from a number of our players, and whatever way we say it, we were winning 3-0 at half-time. It's gone to 3-2. We know there was a penalty, you know, dumb stuff from Ryer. He has to hold his hands up. I think all five goals were terrible, really, and truly, and I think, you know, say what you want about Spurs, they've got some quality players, as do we. None of those goals were one where either manager could sit there and say, fair enough, Son did a madness, this guy did something crazy, or we did, really and truly. I think, naturally, Spurs were going to start off well. They were going to, you know, we're at their place. They could ruin our title challenge and things like that, and it sounds mad, but I do think, on one hand, if you can see three goals, you deserve to be three goals down, but on another hand, definitely the first two, it's like Spurs didn't necessarily deserve to be in that position. I think they started well. There was moments in the game where, you know, every Spurs player, apart from Vicaria, obviously, was in our half, and we knew there were going to be times we were going to have to defend deep and things like that, but again, I don't think, I can't really say either team weren't good enough in the final third, because it was a very entertaining North London derby. We even had a penalty that was written in the stars, but it weren't really and truly, you know. Again, it took us a while to wake up, in my opinion. I would say the first two goals we scored, the only goal I'd be happy about is Saka's, because it was against a run of play. Madison spent the whole game on the floor. He's trying to appeal for a penalty. Declan Rice has picked his pocket. It's a fantastic pass from Kai Havertz. If Partey, Odegaard, Jorginho, had you do that, fans would be waxing lyrical. Yeah, so when he found Saka, great composure from Bakayo to put the ball in the back of the net. The first goal, the own goal from Hoiberg, I actually think Vicario, and I can't remember the centre-back, but they actually did Davies dirty, and we pressed them into that mistake. Obviously, Spurs are terrible at set-pieces. We're quite good at it, so it's nice to see we exploited that, and I did think, actually, Spurs had a good reaction to the first two goals that they conceded. You know, for a large period, they had more possession than us, the shots, all of that kind of stuff, but as an Arsenal fan, nine times out of ten previous to, you know, these last two years, we've seen us dominate all those statistics apart from what matters, which is putting the ball in the back of the net and winning, and I would say it's another game kind of like Aston Villa to a degree, Bayern Munich away, kind of like Chelsea in the first half, where we've gone into half-time, and I don't think Mikel Arteta is happy. I feel Tomi Assi did well against Kulishevsky, and Kulishevsky was good. He even sent Kai Havertz shot, but I think the passing from Tomi Assi, I don't think Trosser had his best of games. Sometimes he was Dilly-Dallying in possession. I think Partey was good. I think Saka was okay to a point. I think Havertz would be the man of the match for me from an Arsenal perspective. You know, again, we could have avoided the dramatics, and we were 3-0 up to let it be 3-2, regardless of how it's happened. On one hand, it's lovely to get over the line, because in previous years, Spurs maybe get an equaliser or get another, but on the other hand, we need to be a little bit boring and, you know, Declan Rice has conceded a pen. Rye has made a mistake. You know, it happens. You hold your lips for that, but collectively, we've got over the line. Would have loved a clean sheet, but it wasn't that, really, and as I said, I feel both teams could take some encouraging things from this, but both teams probably need to do a lot better in other games. When you look at half-time, people, they had seven shots, none on target, 72% of the ball in three corners. We had four shots, two on target, which was obviously the goals, 28% of the ball in two corners, so we've taken advantage of the little openings we've been provided with, and I actually feel for both teams, I think, as I said, I think Spurs' reaction to going a goal or two down was good, but for large parts of it, really, they weren't, neither team was cutting each other open. You know, for a large part, Romero, and it was probably a sign of things to come with him scoring, and it's a belated birthday present for him. He had a couple of headers, not really anything in that regards for us. You just want to see us ask some questions, really and truly. I feel our passing was really off in the first 10 minutes. As I said, Spurs started well. They had the majority of the ball in the opening exchange, and they, you know, we did look a tiny bit lethargic. We weren't as intense with our passing. I think we gave it away a lot, and that did need us to settle and wake up, and we did show that on occasion. As I said, Spurs gave away a cheap corner. We made them pay with Saka delivering for Heuberg to put in the back of his own net. Saka has obviously been set up by Kai Havertz, who had a great game, and large up Kai Havertz for scoring from a corner as well. I mean, for those of you like myself that were watching it on TV, you probably would have seen when Declan Rice was going to take that corner, some fan, you know, some BTEC Puyo is giving Declan Rice some heckling, and we've obviously set up a goal really, and for Spurs, that's a well-known weak spot of theirs. I do think, you know, if their initial game plan was to come out and match us and give a good account of themselves to a degree, they kind of did that, but possession doesn't mean anything if you're not going to get over the line. So, we went into half-time. I would have to see it again, but I don't know if Odegaard was offside first time around, but I thought we should have a goal. I thought we caught a life where, you know, Van de Veen, you had a very good game. Van de Veen, very good game, really. Even a couple of times, he was breaking and hoping to get a full, very good centre-back. We're probably fortunate that VAR disallowed his goal. I felt, in many ways, a bit harsh on Spurs to find a way that they're in the position they are, but at the same time, for us, I guess it talks how good we've become in that it was nowhere near our best. It definitely weren't pretty, but we've been able to exploit and take advantage of small openings provided, really and truly. I just want us at half-time to look after the ball a bit better, create some chances that we've got the quality to do that, and be a bit street smart. We're winning 3-0. Obviously, it was nice to get the third goal. 2-0 is dangerous. Spurs have to come out and be aggressive. They have to commit to trying to get back in the game, which they kind of did via our opening, or, you know, they have to say what sounds better, 3-0 or 4-1. I think Kai Havertz did very well working in the channels, winning the first and second. I think him and Saka were really the outlet, really and truly. Big up Thomas Partey. Second half, though, I must admit, though, it felt like both teams were kind of resigned to it ending 3-0. You know, Spurs had the possession. We started well, but it wasn't really anything. Obviously, when Reyes made a mistake like he has, that's going to give a bit of optimism for Spurs, and that's something we need to learn and do a lot better in. Obviously, Declan Rice has conceded the pen. It wouldn't be a North London derby if Tottenham in that regard. Son does what son does, put the ball in the back of the net. And then it's a nervy end, really, but we remained firm. We got over the line. And as I said, when the game's done, we can dissect the performance and do all of those sort of things there, but it's just about the three points. But I'll be kidding if I didn't expect an equaliser. So we remained firm. Maybe in previous years, we crumbled in that regard. I think both teams could have done a lot better. We had nine shots free on target. On another day, we need to defend better. There needs to be less individual mistakes. We need to look after the ball a lot better. I would say both teams need to create to the quality that they have as well. So there's plenty of things we could have done a bit better, but it's just about getting the job done. And that's exactly what we've done. We've got a good record against the top six. We enjoyed today. We enjoyed this week. We now focus on Bournemouth, Everton and Manchester United. And you obviously hope that City slip up and drop points, which I can't really see happening. So, you know, the winners win and the losers explain. I think, you know, there was good, bad and the ugly from both teams. I feel if it was a draw, both teams really couldn't complain. I think both teams shot themselves in the foot. I think there's a lot for both managers to go back to the drawing board because five goals, you know, when you think of Son, Maddison, Saka, Trosser, Odegaard, you know, Kulishevsky, all of these great footballers, there weren't really five goals where you sit up and go, yeah, but I suppose it was a great game for the neutrals. End of the day, we've got three points. We just need to keep going, man. Let me know your thoughts, people. I will give Kai Havertz's man of the match. Let me know your thoughts on the game, on individual performances, on any talking points that have eluded me. And come on, you Gunners, man. London is red, let alone North London. You know, West Ham, to be fair, they've beaten us, but we've beaten West Ham last time we played them. Dealt with Chelsea, dealt with Spurs. It's been confirmed that it's St Tottenham's Day as well. Not that we're looking at that. You know, they've got to look at Aston Villa and indirectly, you know, Aston Villa are but we've shot down the small chances Spurs had. So I think there's a lot for both teams to go to the drawing board. And I think, you know, Spurs kind of stopped us playing. Maybe a lot of external factors that have nothing to do with Spurs, but, you know, they kind of crippled the way we was playing. We weren't at our sparkling best in the final third. Evidently, we didn't defend as good as we can. We got the three points. We can talk about that, but I do think we need to dissect the performance internally at Arsenal, get back to the drawing board and be a lot better in what remains of the season, people. So that's my thoughts. Let me know your thoughts. Hit the like button, comment, subscribe. Appreciative to you lot. Enjoy your Sunday, Arsenal fans, Spurs fans unlucky. Peace.