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Arsenal Expose Underachieving Spurs
This seasons North London derby at White Hart Lane only served to highlight the enormous gulf which still exists between Tottenham Hotspur and their much envied and bitter rivals and this in a season which as early as March has left the Gunners without a single trophy to play for.
The truth is that only Arsenals weak finishing and a 95th minute Jenas wonder strike born of desperation saved Spurs blushes. For most of the game, and certainly all of the second half, they were comprehensively outplayed, totally outclassed, brilliantly outpassed and run almost to a standstill by a team that scored twice and created no fewer than 10 further good chances, including a goal inexplicably ruled offside and three strikes that hit the woodwork. By contrast the home side rarely looked like scoring and must consider themselves immensely flattered by the fact that somehow they registered two goals and secured a point in such a one-sided encounter.
In the light of all that, many Spurs fans will question what manager Martin Jol has achieved this season apart from the acquisition of Dimitar Berbatov, a wonderful player who is clearly growing more frustrated by the minute. Even with a fully fit squad, he lacks a decent left back, his right back is a far better attacker than a defender (as Kolo Toures equaliser eloquently demonstrates), the England goalkeeper is floundering and there is a distinct shortage of class in a midfield inhabited by the creaking Zokora, the destructive Tainio, the erratic Jenas, the unpredictable Malbranque, the lumbering Huddlestone and young Lennon, who though immensely promising remains exasperatingly inconsistent.
What it all amounts to is this. Having last season run Arsenal close for the final Champions League spot, Spurs invested heavily in team strengthening and ironically the outcome appears to have been a weaker challenge than before. And to make matters worse, Berbatov a player clearly much in demand is sending out powerful signals that his patience is all but exhausted, and Defoe, who when Robbie Keane is fit is unlikely to make the starting line-up, is perfectly entitled to believe that at many Premiership clubs he would be playing, and scoring, regularly. As for Jol himself, there are times when he seems to be more suited to a career doing Godfather voice-overs.
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