Liverpool vs Spurs – the aftermath and all other things Spurs
Posted on May 19th, 2011 | by rajhotspur in Arsenal,Chelsea,Europa League,Football,Liverpool,North London,Rafael Van Der Vaart,Soccer,Spurs,tottenham,Tottenham Hotspur,West Ham UnitedRoll up, roll up…as Spurs come out for the last time this season this coming Sunday. It was a match I expected to be a bit of a dead rubber , with Birmingham most likely safe, whilst our season had nosedived with the Red Half of Self Pity City putting the final nail in our coffin for the season and Birmingham comfortably beating a Fulham side in End of Season mode to be safe with one game to spare. Amazingly it didn’t work out like that…Fulham took all three points and we got our first league win at Anfield since 1993, although there have been at least two cup victories up there that I have attended. But still a pretty pathetic record against the team whose fans bleat on about how they hate to be alone or some such gash.
I was out in the Netherlands for work for most of last week and this but managed to catch the match in an Irish pub in Eindhoven whilst stupendously hung over and to an extent disinterested initially. Luckily there was a large Spurs contingent present there, isn’t amazing that wherever you go in the world somehow somewhere there’s always Spurs around doing the club proud….and with the Scum losing to Villa and to top it all off West Ham getting relegated in quite hilarious circumstances coupled with a relatively easy victory for ourselves, there was much banter to be had, especially with the fact that I had an Arsenal supporting mate with me and there were a few West Ham lads around as well, who took their relegation in remarkably decent if distraught spirits…fair play to them. We still hate those bastards in Claret and Blue though 
.
.The performance surprised me, not because of the quality of the opposition, who despite the hype over their Messiah returning are a remarkably average side who we should look to beat comfortably if we take the field with them, but because for the first time in a while our attitude was spot on from start to finish. We controlled the match with relative ease, and for that we can take comfort from the return of one man, Ledley King. I’ve run out of compliments for our club captain, he is a true modern day legend for Spurs , in an era where we haven’t really had legends comparable to those who graced the club in yesteryear. Without doubt the most naturally gifted English defender of his generation, he even pulled Dawson up a notch who looked far more comfortable alongside Ledley and made that the snidey cheat Suarez and the overrated chav Carroll look like the ordinary players they are. Suarez could well go onto great things but if he does, it won’t be at the Self Pity City Reds and he’ll no doubt move onto a Spanish club but I think he’s a player who once defenders have worked him out would be quite easy to defend against. A superb strike from Van Der Vaart and a dubious looking penalty dispatched with aplomb from Modric rounded off a comfortable victory, where Liverpool huffed and puffed a lot, as they always do, but our technically superior footballers simply stamped their authority. particular plaudits must be given to Ledley, Sandro and Modric who cruised above Liverpool’s starting XI on a different plane. I saw little from the red half of Self Pity City apart from cheating and diving from Suarez and Rodriguez and then what can only be termed of as assault on Sandro from some nobody called JonJo Shelvey, seriously who????, it culminated with Sandro ending up in the stands, it was lucky given the average demographic of Liverpool’s support that he managed to get out without his boots stolen.
A quick word about Liverpool’s support, I have been up to Anfield on over 15 separate occasions over the years to see Spurs play as well as having do three separate client entertaining gigs up there which included a Merseyside derby against Everton and a champions league tie against Marseille I believe(that they lost) and I have never seen the atmosphere up there to be anything other than utter rubbish. They are quite possibly one of the worst home fans in the land, yet they style themselves alongside those other deluded Northerners, Newcastle, as “The Best Fans in the World”. Why exactly because you wave a few scarves around and sing that “Walking together when you’re not walking alone” song or whatever its called? I’ve noticed this myth is something that Liverpool fans who have never been anywhere near Anfield love to promote. Well its proper hairy bollocks (if you pardon my French), Liverpool fans aren’t anything special, they raise themselves for the big games and are quiet for the vast majority of games. On Sunday you could only hear the away fans and even given the huge size of fans Spurs take away up and down the country, its more than just a regular occurrence. I’ve even heard the Arsenal out sing them. I’m sure the the Self Pity City reds will start a Protest but its the truth.
On a final note on that match, whilst Liverpool may have a point about the penalty, how on earth did Suarez stay on the pitch after his petulant lunge at Dawson. The fact is Liverpool are a limited side and went back to their basic level of trying to kick their way to victory. Whilst the victory was certainly welcome, its simply something that we should expect when it comes to these sort of clogger sides that propagate the Premiership and the questions that we had pre-match about Redknapp are still relevant now. Our opponents on Sunday Birmingham are a similar sort of side to Liverpool, cloggers with a hint of quality around the edges and it will be interesting to see how we cope but more on that when I do a preview tomorrow. Anyway Fifth place and the Europa League is back on, whilst others deride it, I embrace any European competition,that’s what we are built on. UEFA has devalued what was once European football’s toughest competition in favour of the gravy train of the Champions League but its still a trophy, its still spells glory and it means a few more European jollies. Participating in the Europa League didn’t do City much harm, despite our manager’s declarations to the contrary.
A quick word about Mr. Redknapp. Here is a quote from him regarding the fans who are questioning him over our recent dire run
“The reaction doesn’t hurt me. The reason I don’t listen to phone-ins is because you’re talking about idiots,” he said.
“Who rings up a radio station? My dad lived for football, went every Saturday, but he wouldn’t pick up the phone to a radio station. It’s absolute nonsense.
“They’re idiots who don’t even watch football. They say, ‘We were rubbish today’.
“The guys on the radio ask them if they were at the game, and they say, ‘No, I heard it on the radio’.
“When I start worrying about what they think, I’ll be in trouble.
“99.9 per cent of people who go to Tottenham have loved everything they’ve seen. That’s all that matters.”
Spurs made their Champions League debut this season, reaching the quarter-finals where they were knocked out by Real Madrid.
“I can’t believe what’s been said. I don’t know where they’ve been the last few years. Not watching Tottenham obviously,
We’ve seen some great football this year, some great games.
Maybe expectations have been raised, but they don’t have any brains, they don’t understand.”
Whilst I’ve never phoned up a radio station, its nice to know Harry thinks so highly of anyone who dares criticise him. So I’m in the 0.1 % of fans who go to Spurs and apparently don’t like what we are seeing. Somehow I doubt it…his feeble mantra about how we should all be grateful for what he has done, is wearing a bit thin. In fact Harry I think you should be the one grateful to be able to manage a club with the size, tradition and history of Tottenham Hotspur.
If you can’t satisfy our demands kindly do the offski and go back to hyping yourself up to the media because quite frankly every time you open your mouth all you get is hot air.
One final word about West Ham. First things first I’m no fan of our East End neighbours. In fact I can’t stand them….especially having been at the Boleyn on that fateful May day in 2006 forever to be dubbed as “Lasagne gate”, to hear West Ham fans pathetically chanting “Arsenal Arsenal”. The rivalry between the fans is intense but I’ll miss it, as the gentrification of football gathers pace, this is possibly the last proper London derby around. Arsenal fans are so pitiful and harmless they offer nothing apart from squeaking and whining, quite frankly they are a pathetic bunch who’d rather be at the theatre than at the football. Whilst the home games with Chelsea still have an edge, Stamford Bridge with their abundance of day-trippers and tourists with no affiliation to the club has an atmosphere that rivals the Emirates on its worst days. Both these clubs may be located in London but in general their fanbases lack the London swagger that is a pre-requisite for football in the world’s greatest city. Therfore it leaves us in terms of London derbies with a trip to the Boleyn as the only one where there is a real edge to proceedings and where one can get pumped up, especially with that walk through the estates to get to the away section. Not to mention outside of Spurs fans, the next biggest section of support I have amongst friends and acquaintances are West Ham fans, so I’ll miss the banter.
I fear for the club, they seem to be from the outside looking in, in a state of financial turmoil. Whilst I would not welcome a move away from North London to the Olympic Stadium, I can’t see how West Ham can manage it either given their financial situation aligned to their relegation. Plus surely with the addition of the running track, the stadium would be a Ghost Town. However with the likes of the Dildo brothers and Karen Brady ( the only person in the world who likes the sound of their own voice more than Redknapp) in charge you do fear for their long term future. I’m torn, whilst one part of me laughs at West Ham’s demise, another secretly wishes they come straight back up, if purely for entertainment value, given the shenanigans at the Hilton Hotel on Monday night.
