STRANGER THINGS?
Whether it was the eerie silence occasionally punctuated by half-hearted chants of disparagement at the expense of Arsenal, Rodrigo Bentancur’s violent and protracted shoeing of a vacant dugout seat next to that occupied by a visibly frightened Bryan Gil, or Ange Postecoglou’s none-too-matey touchline exchange with a loud fan urging the Spurs boss to instruct his team to tank a contest they were probably going to lose anyway, Tuesday night’s match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a decidedly weird affair. But then it was always going to be strange when a very sizeable percentage of Spurs fans were desperately hoping their team would lose against Manchester City, all the better to deal Arsenal’s chances of winning the title a potentially fatal hammer blow.
Indulge Football Daily as we go all biblical with an analogy. No matter what some sniffy commentators would have you believe, there is absolutely nothing wrong with not caring if your own very mediocre, flea-bitten ox dies of some terrible bovine plague, just so long as you know for certain that he’s infected the stronger, heavier, prettier, prize-winning pedigree ox belonging to that ambitious neighbour you don’t like before he dies. Yes, as world views go it’s petty and it’s vindictive and it’s small time, but the important thing to remember is that it’s also perfectly reasonable. In an ideal world, Tottenham fans would follow a club that is so successful that anything Arsenal do wouldn’t cost them a thought, but they don’t and this is where they find themselves, whooping euphorically in celebration of their own club’s small role in any setbacks suffered by their most bitter rivals. And that’s OK.
Needless to say, there has been a certain amount of pearl-clutching and sanctimonious clucking from certain quarters about assorted Tottenham fans making the best of their evening by “doing the Poznan” to celebrate City’s second goal, much of it seems to have come from commentators, pundits or journalists who almost certainly haven’t had to pay for a match-day ticket, pie or pint for 25 or 30 years and have perhaps lost touch with the petty, harmless tribalism that often makes being a fan so enjoyable. It’s important to remember that this is just football and nothing particularly dreadful will actually happen to anybody if Arsenal don’t win the title. Though it is to be hoped that the podium for Manchester City’s fourth consecutive Premier League trophy lift does not collapse under the weight of the 115 big elephants trumpeting loudly throughout the ceremony because they’re so upset at being ignored.
While plenty of Spurs fans were happy enough to see their side get beaten, their manager made little or no effort to contain his irritation after the match. In a presser that was spikier than an Australian Gympie-Gympie tree, Big Ange railed against what he perceived to be the treachery of Tottenham’s turncoats in a tirade about unfair dinkum that was more than a little ambiguous and hinted that people inside, as well as outside, the club might have wanted his players to fail. “I think the last 48 hours have revealed the foundations are fairly fragile – outside the club, inside the club ... everywhere,” he said. “I already knew what I wanted to do, I just have to make some adjustments to how I do it.” Asked to clarify his remarks, he refused to do so and invited journalists to draw their own conclusions, mate. For as long as he fails to elaborate, the only cast-iron one to arrive at is that recent history has taught us that Tottenham managers who criticise the club or its fanbase while repeatedly losing football matches don’t tend to last long.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
All eyes on Tottenham again this evening, with Sarah Rendell on hand at 7.15pm with her live blog on Spurs 0-1 Chelsea in the WSL, while Michael Butler will hopefully have updates on any leaks in the Old Trafford roof during his coverage of Manchester United 1-2 Newcastle at 8pm.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It was our dream when we started the season to be here. To play [in the Big Cup] is, after the Premier League, the best” – Unai Emery gives the Best League In The World™ an unnecessary boost as he revels in ending Aston Villa’s 40-year wait to return to Europe’s top table.
WIN A DAVID SQUIRES PRINT!
Thanks to our friends at the Guardian Print Shop, we are giving away four David Squires cartoons over the next four weeks. To enter, just write us a letter for publication below. We will choose the best of our letter o’ the day winners at the end of each of the next four weeks and that worthy winner will be given a voucher for one of our top, top cartoonists’ prints. And if you’re not successful, you can scan the full archive of David’s cartoons here and then buy your own. Terms and conditions for the competition can be viewed here.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Parenting can be tough, with kids exposed to social media and drugs and terrible music … but that said, the toughest conversation I’ve ever had with my son happened today, when I had to explain that sometimes good people have to do bad things and support Tottenham. He hasn’t been so disappointed since the day I told him the player he kept calling Santa Cannoli was actually named Santi Cazorla” – Christopher Jersan.
Sadly I can’t take credit for this, that goes to wonderfully monikered Marc O’Reachtaire on Twixer, but for those of you not on social media disgrace ‘Man City winning the league four times in a row is a serious achievement to be fair, it’s up there with Lance Armstrong winning seven tours on the bounce’” – Noble Francis.
Along with a few million others, I’m beginning to find this single team dominance of the Premier League decidedly tiresome. Surely it’s time to start talking about a handicap system to make things more competitively interesting? I’ll start the ball rolling by suggesting a 12-point deduction next season for the winners, a six-point deduction for the runners-up, and a three-point deduction for the third-placed team. If anyone can still win it with a handicap, their deduction should increase by a further three points the following season. Eventually, perhaps, someone else will get a look-in” – Rick Gaehl.
Manchester City’s inevitable penultimate gear-click toward the title at Tottenham was a sober reminder of what happens when you give generative Alf-Inge (AI) free rein to reproduce in ever-stronger form” – Peter Oh.
The continuing water leaks and flooding at Old Trafford all stem of course from Alex Ferguson’s departure in 2013 – a succession of eight mostly out of their depth managers since then have all confirmed the inevitable outcome of ‘Après Moyes, le déluge’” – Adrian Irving.
I think I should win the David Squires cartoon because … I think I should win the David Squires cartoon because … This is not a recording” – Dr Peter Storch.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Christopher Jersan, who now has the chance to win a David Squires cartoon from our print shop at the end of the week. Terms and conditions for all this can be viewed here.
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