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In the portal "EuroFootball.com" - a section "Supporters' thoughts"! Before the most important, interesting, and highly publicized matches, we speak to fans who are passionately supporting the teams entering the battle.
A forum member supporting the team, Cartoon, reviewed the upcoming postponed English "Premier" League match of the 28th round in detail, where the 'Lilywhites' will face off against the team in the North London derby.
"Tottenham" - "Arsenal". The North London derby. Who, how, and why?
The rivalry between these teams is one of the biggest in England. The first match between them was played in 1887. "Tottenham" led with a score of 2-1, when the match was interrupted in the 75th minute due to poor lighting.
The great rivalry began in 1913 when "Arsenal" moved to the "Highbury" stadium. The distance from there to the "White Hart Lane" stadium is only 4 miles. Thus, the teams became the closest neighbors and since then the animosity between the fans of "Spurs" and "Arsenal" has only grown. These matches will be the 239th in history. So far, out of 238 meetings, "Spurs" won 86, "Arsenal" 96, and 56 ended in a draw.
Of course, the rivalry and animosity still exist. Recently, luck smiled on me to visit the "White Hart Lane" stadium. It was the first home match of the season we played against the "Man City" team. There, one could hear songs and chants insulting the "Arsenal" team. Some people walked around with shirts mocking "Arsenal". Once again, I witnessed the hatred that exists among the fans of these two clubs.
This is not the only example I could provide. Very recently, after the draw with "Milan", songs were heard in the stadium declaring that this season in the Champions League "Tottenham" has advanced further than "Arsenal".
Of course, fans do not like players who have switched from one team to another. S. Campbell, who played for "Tottenham" and moved to "Arsenal," is still disliked to this day. Currently, there is another player in the team who previously played in the ranks of "Arsenal" - W. Gallas. However, he has already earned the support and respect of the fans with his fighting spirit on the field.
I started supporting the "Tottenham" club about three years ago, but I never liked "Arsenal" before. Since I am loyal to the English national team, I supported clubs with many English players. In addition, the French national team was and still is my favorite national team. As many of you probably know, the 'Gunners' are a true French colony - currently they have six French players in their squad.
Of course, my attitude towards "Arsenal" is negative. Like many "Tottenham" fans, I rejoice in their defeats. It was especially enjoyable when they lost to the "Birmingham" team in the Carling Cup final.
The match this Wednesday will be very important. Our victory would finally bury "Arsenal's" hopes of fighting for the title of the English Premier League champions, and for that reason, we are even more eager to secure three points.
Searching for successful tactics
This season, we mostly use two tactical formations. These are 4-4-2 and 4-5-1. The defensive line is clear enough, but this season it is not very stable due to injuries - Corluka, Dawson, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto.
Of course, the strongest position of the team is the midfielders. Here we have a wide selection, and even with injuries to several players, we can still field a strong midfield.
The biggest problems arise in the attack. I remember the beginning of the season when the 4-5-1 formation worked perfectly. Van der Vaart scored one goal after another and provided excellent passes to Crouch. As the season progressed, this disappeared, and Van der Vaart began to suffer more injuries. After the New Year, his form worsened even more. For several months now, Rafa has not played as he did at the start of the season. For this reason, "Spurs" fans are increasingly talking about the possibility of playing 4-4-2 with Crouch and Defoe / Pavlyuchenko up front. This tactic worked particularly well last season.
Currently, the "Spurs" offense is stuck. Before the match with "Stoke," we had not scored a goal for over 400 minutes, but then Redknapp changed the formation to 4-4-2 and we won 3-2. However, last week, at home against "Real," we once again failed to score. Of course, we cannot rely solely on Van der Vaart's form to end our goal drought. We have a clear shortage of strikers. For example, Defoe has scored only 2 goals in the Premier League this season. Crouch plays very inconsistently. Pavlyuchenko is slightly more productive, but his decisions are often rushed and selfish. Moreover, he likes to slack off on the field. Therefore, the lack of strikers is a clear weakness in our squad, as we do not have such an attacking leader who could single-handedly create dangerous opportunities or score goals. One who could play in the attack successfully and consistently.
For this reason, my sympathies lean towards the 4-4-2 tactic. In my opinion, we should play with two strikers more often, especially against weaker teams. With two strikers, the game becomes more diverse. This is another disadvantage of 4-5-1 (when Crouch plays forward). Playing with this formation makes the game very predictable - almost every attack sends high balls to Crouch, which can be frustrating after some time.
However, I do not think that Redknapp will be inclined to make such tactical changes at this stage of the season. I guess that in the match against "Arsenal," Van der Vaart will start in the first eleven and we will play with one striker. Everyone expects Rafa to start playing like he did at the beginning of the season. Keeping such a player on the bench would be a luxury. Finally, we have a full squad, all key players are healthy, so maybe goals will start pouring in again?
We want more Champions League, more!
When I started supporting "Tottenham," I certainly did not expect that I would be able to see my supported team playing in the Champions League after a few years. I think most "Tottenham" fans did not expect that either. Indeed, this season in the most prestigious European tournament was impressive. Not only because it was our debut in the Champions League, not only because we defeated such clubs as Milan's "Inter" or "Milan" and reached the quarterfinals of the strongest European teams. What impresses me the most now is how our journey in the Champions League began - after trailing 3-0 to the "Young Boys" team in Bern, we managed to come back and advance to the group stage.
Of course, it can be said that defeating "Real" with a significant margin of 5-0 put us in place, but I believe that such a result does not reflect the true strength of the team. We just had bad luck in Madrid, and we played really well at home.
I would rate the season in Europe with a strong nine. It missed perfection due to our mentioned failure in Madrid. The team and coaches also acknowledge that our journey in the Champions League was amazing.
The appetite grows as we eat. Having tasted a Champions League team, we want to return there. And to do that, we need to start showing excellent form. In the past months, we have lost many points in the Premier League. The team is in a deep pit, but I believe that now, concentrating solely on the English championship, we will start collecting victories.
The standings in the tournament table resemble the end of last season. We are only 3 points behind "Man City" and have a match in hand. We must beat "Arsenal" and catch up with the Arab toy in the tournament table!
Preserving the squad for the next season
There are rumors that after the season, players like Bale, Modric, and several others will leave the team. Bale was recently awarded the PFA Player of the Year award, which further fuels speculation about his possible departure. There are players who want to leave the club. Kranjcar and Pavlyuchenko talk about it.
I think Kranjcar and Pavlyuchenko are the most realistic candidates to leave the team in the summer. They want to play and, in my opinion, deserve more playing time, but opportunities to start in the first eleven of "Tottenham" are rare for them.
Meanwhile, the players who are talked about the most have expressed their solidarity with the club. Both Bale and Modric have said that they like being in the "Tottenham" team and want to stay here. Both have long-term contracts. I believe that these midfielders should stay in the club even if we do not qualify for the Champions League.
The situation with Hutton and Van der Vaart is also unclear. The season is already over for the former due to injury. He had a conflict with the coach, and the Dutchman likes to talk about how he enjoyed playing in Spain and how he would like to return there.
In my opinion, the "Tottenham" team lacks only a high-level striker and another left-back, so I hope we will keep the main players, add new ones in these positions, and aim for higher goals next season.
"Tottenham" - "Arsenal": supporters' thoughts (Part II)
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