Nothing to Crow About

If anyone was wondering how badly Tottenham wanted to win the last ever North London derby at Highbury, the answer became clear in the second half – they wanted it so much they were prepared to cheat for it and according to reports, to compound that cheating by lying about it afterwards.

What makes this particularly shameful and regrettable is that at half time they deserved to be ahead, having been the better side without resorting to anything more underhand than Defoe’s habit of compensating for his inability to win balls in the air by always playing the man in the hope of disturbing his balance. It was a dominance which Arsenal contributed to hugely by uncharacteristically giving the ball away and declining on many occasions to pressurise Spurs when they had possession. The outcome was a succession of chances and the away side’s failure to lead at half-time may be attributed to a combination of Jens Lehmann’s brilliance and poor finishing, the most glaring example of which occurred when Michael Carrick ghosted past the Arsenal rearguard, only to fail with the goalkeeper to beat.

Arsenal came more into the game after the interval, and on 60 minutes Robin Van Persie should have put them ahead when clean through. Six minutes later, a collision between two Arsenal players which left Eboue down injured was ignored, first by Carrick and then by Davids, who crossed for Keane to run the ball in from close range.

The most charitable description is that this was a cowardly act, born of desperation and the knowledge that the game was beginning to slip away – though many will despise it as cheating.

In the end, Spurs were deprived of a spurious victory by the genius of Thierry Henry, who came off the bench to score a magical goal from Adebayor’s pass in the 84th minute. It was the signal for a sustained period of Arsenal pressure which the visitors were fortunate to survive, particularly after Davids was dismissed, though undoubtedly their cause was aided by a combination of their own unsubtle time wasting and fourth official Rob Styles’ ungenerous and inaccurate award of a niggardly 3 minutes extra time.

Martin Jol has done a good job at Tottenham, but he did nothing to enhance his reputation during his post-match interview, in which he claimed that he did not see the incident which preceded Spurs goal – a curious statement in the light of the extremely heated touchline exchange he felt able to conduct with Arsene Wenger in the immediate aftermath.

In the end, Spurs have won a precious point away from home against their bitter rivals, a team with better players and a better manager. That point may yet prove crucial in their quest for Champions League football next season, whether they are worthy of it or not.