Given Arsenal's relentless run of victories, our hopes of winning the Premiership were becoming increasingly distant, so this loss shouldn't have hurt that much. So why am I feeling so gutted as I write this on the way back from White Hart Lane? It's not as if I thought we were going to win the league, but I did think that we'd at least make Arsenal work for it.
Instead we meakly surrendered to a Spurs side with nothing to play for, in what was one of our most disappointing performances of the season. It all started so promisingly too, which makes the pitiful second half display all the more gut wrenching. Our entire season was resting on that 45 minutes of football, but Jamie Carragher seemed to be the only one who realised it.
The lack of drive and fight was almost unforgiveable. All season our players have done us proud and I'm not about to turn on them after one bad performance, but it was so disheartening to see the lacklustre second half display. We can now officially kiss goodbye to the title for another year. It's been a good effort, but ultimately we came up short when it mattered most.
Had one of the many chances we created in the first half gone in, it would no doubt have been a different story, but once again the old failing of not being able to come back from going behind proved to be our undoing. We never even looked like getting an equaliser to be honest, and that's the most worrying thing. We'd have been fine had Riise's effort gone in rather than striking the post, or had Michael done better with the one glorious chance he had. Unfortunately, if we don't score first then we often encounter problems, and so it proved once again.
We should have been bombarding the Spurs goal in that second half, but other than catching the odd cross, Kasey Keller din't have much to do. The drive and determination of Gerrard in midfield was sorely missed, as his ability to snap into tackles and spread the play quickly could have made all the difference. (update: on my return home I discovered that Stevie G had been left out as a precaution in case he picked up an injury and missed the World Cup. Words fail me.)
Instead we plodded about with no inspiration, and in fairness we were outplayed by what I would describe as a 'nice' Tottenham side. I don't rate Spurs, they're a team of fancy dan cockneys who we really should be beating comfortably, but on the day they were the better side and I can't take that away from them. That hurts, particularly considering the stakes we were playing for.
I mentioned Jamie Carragher, and I thought he was an example to everyone. He's never going to be producing killer passes or beating three players and scoring wonder goals, and he didn't even have an outstanding game today, but he cares, and he showed it. Carra ran his bollocks off, and did everything he could to drive his team-mates on. He was the only one who showed any real urgency or sense of what was actually at stake.
At one time in the second half, Spurs were taking the piss just knocking the ball about and we couldn't get it off them. Their fans were giving it the 'ole's' and for us in the stands it was incredibly frustrating to see. Most of the players just stood off and waited for Spurs to slip up, except Carra who was chasing the ball around like a dog in the park, before he eventually got close enough to clatter someone. As I said, he seemed to be the only one who understood what was at stake. The one moment which typified his commitment was when he took the ball full in the face, and then carried on charging upfield after it. Carra's got his critics, but he's one of us and he cares. His reaction at the final whistle said it all.
As for the others, Sami & Steph were their usual selves, and Riise worked hard too, but everyone else was either average or worse. Vladi did some very good things in the 1st half when it was goalless, but in the second half when we really needed some inspiration, where was he? Paddy came on and looked like someone who knows he isn't going to be here next season, as did Anelka. And Jari? Well he got the grand total of nine minutes to make a difference. Frankly that was a disgrace. He may be a genius, but he has to be ON the field to make a difference.
We're a couple of players short, but we knew that already. This game just re-affirmed it. We need another striker (it's looking less likely to be Anelka with each passing week), and two attack minded midfielders. The defence is fine, although I'd like someone to tell me how come Xavier is deemed a better full back than Stephen Wright. The word 'average' springs to mind. He's not bad, but is no more than a squad player, and I feel really sorry for young Wrighty who was in fantastic form before he was dumped in favour of Santa Claus.
We're now in an awkward situation, whereby we still have to fight for second place and are therefore unable to blood any youngsters. Ideally, with the title gone I would have liked to have seen players like Partridge, Mellor and Welsh given a chance, but let's be realistic, that's not going to happen. We may actually miss out on that 2nd place, which would be a sickener given all we've had to contend with this season, and I feel far worse right now than I did after losing to Leverkusen. At least then we could say that we were simply beaten by a very good side. Today we lost to Spurs for fuck's sake. Spurs! They're basically just a cockney equivalent of Villa, and a side we should have no trouble dealing with.
The highlight of a miserable day was when Chris Eubank came onto the pitch at half time to a chorus of boos and chants of "Nigel Benn" from the travelling reds. Personally I've always liked Eubank, as he's an entertainer. Yes, he's a pretentious wanker, but he makes me laugh, and today was no different, as he sprinted onto the pitch looking as resplendant as ever, and chastisingly wagged his cane at his critics in the away end. Pure comedy it was. About the only thing that brought a smile to my face all day in fact. That and the news that the u19's had beaten Forest 2-0 to reach the national final where they'll play.... Arsenal! Maybe they can succeed where the seniors failed.
TEAM: Jerzy Dudek; Abel Xavier (Patrik Berger), Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher; Dietmar Hamann, Danny Murphy (Jari Litmanen), John Arne Riise, Vladimir Smicer; Michael Owen, Emile Heskey (Nicolas Anelka):
