SPURS DID NOT TAKE THE PRIZE

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

Spurs vs City wasn’t the game we expected it to be - nor was it the 48 hrs Daniel Levy would have wanted to see from his manager Ange Postecoglu.

They put up a pretty decent fight over 90 minutes - losing out 2-0, but in a far narrower game than the scoreline suggested. The Big Ange tactics were spot on and most of the Spurs players put in a shift. The only two that lacked were Romero, who bottled a 50/50 with Foden, and Son, who looked dreadful with his off-ball movement and shocking in front of goal.

But outside that, Spurs put 4 big chances on City and scored zero. Another day, it’s a different story. You can’t slag off the effort from the players and the manager, and that’s all we wanted.

The interesting part about the whole build-up and post-game was how utterly distressed their manager was. He popped of at a fan in the stands who presumably cheered the City goal. He said pre-game that fans who wanted to lose needed their heads testing. After the game, he said there were big problems with mentality on and off the pitch - and that the game was a good test for what needs to happen next.

You might have had one Youtuber demanding we lose if the game was reversed, but overall, I don’t think Arteta would have been battling attendance if Spurs were in with a shout for the title and we were chasing top 4. Wanting your own team to lose is a bit grim - especially if the prize is progress in the biggest competition in world football. Actively cheering an away goal in your home ground is pure embarrassment for the reputation of the club. There’s a short video of 2 Spurs fans getting booed and jeered at by the home fans for cheering a City goal… it looked like they were actually removed for being losers.

JCPenney is a famous retail store in America. It’s biggest gimmick was a coupon book. The sort your grandma had in the house when you were young. They hired a fancy Apple exec to fix their business. He upgraded the stores, put fancier things in stock, and killed the coupon book.

He was utterly rejected by consumers. Foot traffic tanked. Sales dropped. He was fired.

He said: "We did not realize how deep some of the customers were into [coupons],"

"Coupons were a drug,"

"They really drove traffic."

This is a marketing story. You can’t change entrenched consumer behavior, even if what you are offering is better for them. Spurs is a case study for what happens when you never win things.

Having your manager savage the mindset of the club after the game is a very worrying thing to hear. All this carry-on has been seen around the world - Spurs are one of the few clubs that has fans actively rooting against their own team. Conte called Spurs a disgrace, Mourinho said the same, now Big Ange is gearing up to unload on a situation that seems hapless.

It almost sounded like Ange was issuing a come and get me plea to other clubs - notably, it sounded like it could be a call to United. Who he’s been linked to many times over the past 3 months.

Either way, this greatly reduces our chances of winning the league on Sunday. The only hope we have for West Ham is that they can pull off a miracle draw. David Moyes is more than capable of getting a dirty low block organized for 90 minutes. But let’s be real, can you imagine there’s any focus at the West Ham training ground this week? The manager is off. The players are thinking about futures elsewhere. No one wants to go up to Manchester City for a gross 90 minutes of pain.

But, we’re in the business of hope. There’s no point in fearing what hasn’t happened. We have had a magnificent season, there’s still a job to do for Arsenal, so let’s just enjoy an afternoon with very little edge on it.

Sunday is a celebration of what’s to come. We’re at the start of our journey. Liverpool is at the end of their one. Manchester City is very likely to feel the full force of Premier League law next season. If the shoe drops, it’ll look like a very juicy bug going under a scaffolder metal toe-capped boot.

We have one of the best attacks in the league, it’ll get better this summer.

We have the best defences in the world, it’ll get better this summer.

This experience of just missing out will have a reaction - and I expect it to be ruthless.

We’re playing in an era with the best Premier League side ever assembled, by the best minds, with the best coaches executing the most innovative plans… and they’ve had 11 years layering on new ideas at the very highest level. Beating them this season was always a longshot, but if we win against Everton, our points total would be equal to, or better than 18 Premier Leagues since the competition existed. Sure, it’s not a 99 point season, but for that to happen, the competition has to be much weaker elsewhere. The context of this season is the team that is 7th spent £1b. The team that is 6th is owned by a Royal Family with a trillion in assets. The biggest brand in the world is sitting in 8th after spending £500m over the past 3 seasons.

Arsenal have been properly attempting to get back to the top for 3.5 years (Arteta was not doing proper things in year 1 under the watchful eye of Don Raul).

This Arsenal team is brilliant. Every person at the club seems focused on taking us to the next level. Even our kits are 10/10.

Whatever happens this Sunday. I’m proud to be an Arsenal fan. I get to hang out with my favorite people, drink some beer, reminisce on a great season, and stand in the stadium for 90 minutes dreaming that Big Daddy David Moyes might come good for his footballing first son. What more can you ask for?

Ok, that’s me done. We’ll be dropping some podcasts over the next few days. See you in the comments! x

P.S. Thanks to all those that have subscribed to the paid version of the site before it has even gone live. I’ll be giving more info on what that looks like after the season. Big love x