FA Cup brings welcome relief

“HE’S gonna quit in a minute” was the somewhat predictable chant which echoed around our stadium on Saturday, as we begun to relax and enjoy our second-half domination of a relatively toothless Toon Army.

There were moments during the first 45 when Newcastle threatened and if Gael Clichy hadn’t been perfectly placed to head clear Alan Smith’s goal-bound effort, perhaps it would’ve been an entirely different story.

However much to every Gooners’ great relief, by and large this match ran true to form, as apparently Arsène Wenger appreciated the need to send out a team that was capable of demonstrating that the midweek debacle at White Hart Lane was nothing more than an aberration.

All week long, I had to endure the taunts of my many Tottenham pals, as they tried their utmost to get a rise out of me. According to their somewhat deluded perspective, Tuesday’s defeat represented a significant turning point, as far as the North London status quo was concerned. I suppose such a cocky reaction to their progress in the Carling Cup was to be expected, as they’ve had so little to crow about these past nine years. But by the end of the week I was beginning to regret the fact that I’ve tended to go lightly on them in recent times, as they’d become so downtrodden that there was little satisfaction gained from rubbing their faces in the Arsenal’s complete and utter domination.

Following the barrage I’ve suffered these past few days, I very much doubt my Spurs mates can expect such a sympathetic silence in the future.

In all honesty, the most distressing consequence of our failure to progress to the Carling Cup final, is that come the end of February, it’s bound to bug the hell out of me that Spurs fans will have an opportunity to see their team play at the new Wembley before us. Our not-so-neighbourly enemies might harp on about the big guns who were on the pitch come the final whistle, but over the course of the two legs, to all intents and purposes, they were competing against our second XI.

As I said to one of my Spurs pals, his seven-year-old lad will probably end up banging on to his own grandkids in his dotage, about the time he saw Spurs put five past the Arsenal (and doubtless the kids will view the old codger’s extravagant ramblings as evidence of his advancing senility). By contrast, if our season should continue on its current successful course, in any of the other three more significant competitions, any memory of last week’s nightmare will have been erased long before May.

Perhaps Arsène might’ve been more gracious in defeat, but this doesn’t make for good copy in the red tops and so we only got to read the quotes that portrayed le Prof as a bitter, bad loser. However he was correct in some respects, as it wasn’t a particularly poor performance, but on the night Spurs peaked. While with an utterly feckless display from such a senior authority figure as our (some would say “has been”) Brazilian midfielder Gilberto, Diaby’s dodgy decision making and Walcott’s inability to influence the game (to the point of being totally anonymous), the Gunners were simply carrying too many passengers for them not to be undone.

Personally, I felt it was a mistake by Wenger to send Adebayor and Eduardo into the fray at 4-0 down. Send them on at half-time perhaps, when there was a chance of them turning the game around at only 2-0 down. But a four-goal deficit was too big an ask and not only did it defeat the object of resting them, but as events proved, such is Adebayor’s pride, that he was in serious danger of a red card and a resultant costly suspension, as he ran around like a headless chicken, so determined was he to rectify matters.

My reading of the Bendtner situation was that there was no malice intended and it was just our over-hyped Togolese striker’s attempt to galvanise the young gun and to ensure his head had not dropped.

Thus a defeat to Newcastle would’ve felt like a disastrous déjà vu and would’ve actually given Spurs fans a good reason to gloat. Mind you, it’s all gone quiet again, after it was business as usual with our respective FA Cup results. They might try heeding Kipling’s call to treat the two impostors of triumph and disaster just the same. For our part, I don’t think there can be many Gooners who could’ve imagined Flamini and Clichy might be the main difference between the two. Mercifully these unsung heroes ensured we made it into the hat for the fifth round and with Monday’s draw pitting us against Man U, it couldn’t possibly be more poetic. We have to pray Le Prof assigns sufficient psychological importance to our trip to Old Trafford, that he won’t risk losing an altogether more significant hand of poker by playing the kids’ card again.