Camden Sports - Choose: Beating Arsenal or winning the FA Cup?
Pubished: 15 April, 2010
The Crow
by RICHARD OSLEY
ONE win against Arsenal in 10 years – please, please be fair and let Spurs fans enjoy their moment this week.
After all, the last time this happened it was 1999 and I still had need of a comb, could drink more than two pints without feeling dizzy, wore 30” waist jeans, oh yes, and knew all about the young people’s noisy music. Time was.
But let them celebrate not only because it’s a genuine once in a generation moment for some of them. Let their celebrations be therapy for their absolutely astonishing incompetence of Sunday.
Even by Tottenham’s extraordinary capacity for botching the big moments, they made an outrageous hash of the FA Cup semi-final against crummy Portsmouth.
The glory was all there for Spurs. Blame the turf, blame the ref, but Tottenham know what they really should have been celebrating this week is not beating an Arsenal team depleted by six major injuries. They should be celebrating a place in the showpiece finale to the domestic season. In a one off game, who knows? They might have gone and beaten Chelsea. They might have actually won something important for the first time since... well, now, we have to go back to a time of Panini sticker swaps, Panda Pops and Elton Welsby for that.
THE Wroe
by PHILLIP WROE
WHEN Michael Dawson fell to his knees on the abysmal turf of Wembley on Sunday, it was a moment of failure rather than expected triumph.
When Peter Crouch finally hit the back of the net, it was again a moment that left a bitter taste in the mouth rather than a moment to throw drinks with uncontrollable joy.
When the final whistle blew and that monstrosity of a Pompey fan filled the screen in his tattooed and drunken glory, it was time to switch off the TV and face reality. Portsmouth beat Spurs. The soon to be postmen and butchers of the south coast stoutly repelled our infuriating brand of competent, procrastinating football.
As Ricardo Rocha rounded off a man-of-the-match display and Kevin-Prince Boateng showed off his new neck-bulging celebration I wondered how far we’d come since the days of Damien Comolli. As Harry Redknapp perfected his Churchill-bulldog impression in his heated Formula 1 chair, I wondered how he could make Vedran Corluka run faster or Crouch head better. I’m pretty sure nodding and saying “Ooohh yes” isn’t going to do it.
Now back to our annual task of deciding the league winner and trying our damnedest not to wind up in the Europa League. Fingers crossed for a Man City meltdown.