Sweet start as Spurs’ cockerel not crowing so loud now

OUR season couldn’t have got off to a better start, as we savoured watching another Lilywhite false dawn being flushed down the Stadium of Light plughole on Saturday.

Naturally, in our house we were pleased to see Sund-Ireland bank all three points. But with Martin Jol’s extravagant summer spending and with all the press speculation about the imminent disintegration of the Wenger dynasty, my Spurs pals had grown so incredibly cocksure of their imminent return to the big-time that the bursting of this illusory bubble, on day one, was an absolute delight.

I should know better than to have tempted fate, with a barrage of mickey taking text messages before our own turn at bat, but I couldn’t resist.

Time was when league tables weren’t produced until at least three games in, but I wasn’t complaining about it’s premature appearance on Match of the Day later that night, as this afforded me the opportunity to remind my misguided mates that rather than the rarefied air they’d been expecting to breathe at the top, for at least a couple of hours earlier in the day, they were slumming it amongst the relegation fodder.

As a result, I was about to turn my own mobile phone off, with only a few minutes left on the clock against Fulham the following day, rather than face the imminent threat of reprisals. That was until Kolo Touré saved our bacon, by demonstrating such drive and determination, in the dying throes of a frustrating encounter, with an absolutely barnstorming run that was rewarded with a penalty.

The most positive aspects to Sunday’s performance (as has been the case in pre-season) was the evidence from our squad as a whole of a renewed determination, in a post Henry era, to prove that the Arsenal are anything but a one-man team and the suggestion of their resolve to cast off this ‘soft touch’ reputation that they’ve acquired in recent times.

Even our phlegmatic manager was a little more anxious than usual, to avoid allowing crucial points to slip through our fingers. In the past we’ve been able to set our clocks by Arsène’s substitutions, coming as they invariably do 15, or at the most 20 minutes before the final whistle. Whereas on Sunday Wenger’s patience ran out just after the hour mark, when he began to ring the changes with Theo Walcott. In fact it was Bendtner’s introduction with 18 minutes to play, which ended up having the biggest impact on the eventual outcome, by adding a long-awaited different dimension to our front line.

Up until then Fulham’s big centre-backs had looked far too comfortable and to be honest I was very disappointed when I first arrived at the ground to discover we were playing our first home game, against inferior opposition, with only one recognised striker on the park. Moreover I don’t really think Van Persie is an out and out front man, as to my mind his talents are far more suited to Bergkamp’s mantle than the Shearer type role.

Hleb did his best to link the play, but all too often either Van Persie was left isolated, or they both dropped off to fetch the ball and our wide men were the most advanced players on the pitch, preventing us from pulling Fulham apart with pace, as they were forced to wait for support.

However I’m focusing on the positives. Last season we were out of the race after only three games and I doubt we’d have converted this calamitous defeat into a win. Thus Loony Lehmann probably did us a favour, as a prosaic win against Fulham certainly wouldn’t have consolidated the sense of squad solidarity seen in the impromptu group hug after the final whistle. In this respect Wenger is correct in suggesting that it could be a significant result, as a winning momentum is all-important, whereas a fall at the first might have had a more significant impact on us than any other team in the league

Whether or not we can maintain it, is another question. It appears that a levelling out between the league’s lesser lights is likely to make for one of the most interesting competitions in many a moon, and if the promoted clubs can maintain their intensity, they’ll be inviting several sides to join them in the relegation dogfight.

The return to Highbury at the start of a new season always felt like a family reunion and so I was relieved to reach my seat on Sunday to find a few familiar faces. For me and many like me, the new gaff is never going to equal our beloved Highbury high, but I’m happy to report that it’s beginning to feel a lot more like home.

* Read more from Bernard Azulay on goonersdiary.blogspot.com