Close but no cigar.

I thought the Spurs players did us proud today. Obviously the result wasn't to our liking but the team fought from start to finish and it could of ended 5-5! What an amazing derby game.

Spurs started ever so well and played Arsenal off the pitch for the first 45 minutes. We had them under pressure for the whole half. We hassled them off the ball, Brown stopped Viera from playing in what I thought was one of his best performances for Spurs. We scored a good goal from a well worked set piece (how often do we say that)and had them on the ropes. Then disaster struck. The linesman fell asleep and let Henry sneak through when he was offside and snuck in the equaliser on the stroke of half time. This was the total turning point of the whole game. Arsenal came back out of the blocks in the 2nd half and for the first 15 minutes played us off the park. We couldn't get back into the game and a awful mix up led to us squandering possession and Pamarot with an awful challenge gave away a Penalty. 1-0 to 1-2 in 20 minutes against the scum. It was 3-1 a bit later and I as worried we were going to collapse. However full credit to the boys as we pushed on and made a real game of it. Defoe's goal was top draw, the header from King well worked and it was pleasing to see Kanoute get back to scoring ways in the Premiership.

However the defending was appalling and led to our downfall. We gifted the scum at least 3 goals, 1 was definitely offside and there is a suspicion about another which I will have to look at to be sure.

Players wise, Brown impressed especially in the first half, but King and Naybet weren't great at the back. Robinson made a mistake that led to the penalty and could of made a better go at saving Pires goal but you can't criticise these players on one game as they have been magnificent this season. Mendes was quiet but stopped the attacking play on the scum left. Ziegler looked good and remember he is only 18. Keane and Defoe played well. It was good to see Edman back but I'm not sure Pamarot is the answer at left back. He was caught out a few times and what he was thinking of when he fouled Lunjeberg I don't know. A weak area where Spurs need to work on.

Overall, I hate losing against the scum. They cheated as usual diving left right and centre, especially Reyes, Viera moaning all the time, Bergkamp playing dirty, even Van Persie seems to have settled in knocking the ball out for a Spurs throw but diving theatrically and winning the goons a foul! But the lads fought to the death, played them off the pitch first half and can be proud of the way they took the game to them. Less defensive mistakes and poor decisions by linesmen would of led to a far different result.