By Walter Broeckx
If we would follow the logic of some supporters who came on this site in the last days we had no chance whatsoever to win against Chelsea. Their logic was if a team with the 4th highest wage bill cannot win against a team with a lower wage bill there is something wrong and the managers knows nothing, the players are rubbish and overpaid and the board is filling their pockets.
Well we sure cannot say that of the owner of Chelsea. He has put billions on the Chelsea and their wage bill. Their wage bill is around £60-£70m higher than Arsenal. In fact the last numbers I have seen is that the wage difference between Chelsea and Arsenal is as big as the difference between Arsenal and Wigan.
So following that logic we didn’t have much of a chance of winning this game. And yet before the game Arsenal was in third place and Chelsea in 6th place. 7 points behind Arsenal. Now you may wish to point out that this is the fault of Villas-Boas and that since Di Matteo is their manager things have improved. Well in the first 8 games in charge in the EPL Villas-Boas got 18 points and Di Matteo only managed 12 points. On the day Villas-Boas was sacked Chelsea was in 5th place in the league. Now they are in 6th place. So sacking the manager was not that really successful if you look at the numbers in the EPL.
The game itself turned out to be a tight game. I cannot understand the way Chelsea is playing. Men behind the ball and defending. A bit Wiganesque one could say. Without the goals. Arsenal was the team that knew that even a draw would keep them 6 points ahead of Tottenham and Newcastle who only if they win all their games in hand can come on the same height as Arsenal. And you can only be sure of the points after the game. Tottenham found out against Norwich, we against Wigan. So as it stands we are 6 points in front and it is their job to come at our level.
So Chelsea came to defend and Arsenal would not allow Chelsea to punish them on the counter. Leading to a lot of midfield play and Arsenal attacking but not over committing themselves.
To win a game of football you must have a bit of luck. Lady Luck was not on our side today. Van Persie saw a close effort coming off the post only to go outside. Koscielny directed a header to the top corner with Cech beaten but the bar once again prevented an Arsenal goal. Another Arsenal chance for Van Persie went straight at Cech.
There were moments when Chelsea had their “noses sticking against the window” [I guess that is a Dutch saying – Tony] but I cannot remember a lot of scary moments in front of Sczesny – although it is always possible that I have forgotten something.
The second half followed the same pattern. Arsenal trying to attack but not much coming in the form of goal chances. Chelsea just did the same trying to catch us on the break. In fact it became a bit of a boring game of football. Something that I have noticed before when I was watching Chelsea.
Meanwhile Dean was his usual self. Running around on the pitch with an air something in between: “I haven’t seen anything” or “I’m in control” while not being in control. Now I’m not blaming any loss of points in this game on Dean (that is something for our ref reviewer in charge of this game) but the way he signals advantage at times when there is nothing to give at all and the way he gives an imaginary foul and then suddenly points that he came back for another imaginary foul somewhere before would be hilarious… if it would be in other games. But at first sight he didn’t make any casualties this time so a point with Dean in charge is a golden point. Actually it is a bit like winning since with him in charge we normally start two goals down.
The injury to Theo was a bit of a blow. He is one of our main assist providers so you never know what he will produce in a game. By the look of it I think it is season over for Theo. I’m afraid I will only see him in civi clothes when I come over in a fortnight for our final home game.
We tried, Chelsea tried to defend. And to give credit they defended rather well. But having said that defending is the easiest thing to do on a football pitch so I’m not that impressed about it. Van Persie had a good chance but I think he cut back one time too much. Should have finished like you did against Man City (which was disallowed for offside) with the right foot. Winning a game depends on such details.
At the end of the game we played with two left backs on the field (Santos and Gibbs), the returned from the death Diaby, and the shadow returned from the African Nations Cup: Gervinho. We threatened a few times but not enough to make it to a goal.
So it leaves us with a 6 points gap between Arsenal and Tottenham and Newcastle and a 7 point gap between ourselves and Chelsea. If, and this is a big if they win their 2 games in hand we are up to a very close finish for 3rd place. And with a loss of one player in each game for the moment we are feeling the pressure even more.
But next week we will see Benayoun back in contention and this could be a useful player at this time of the season. So it will be another 3 weeks of nail biting before the season ends. But just imagine if those fans who said we couldn’t dream of being third, were right. According to them we ought to be fighting against Wigan, Bolton, QPR to stay up. So if we could finish in third it would be a great performance after what happened last summer.
So one home game to go and I will be there. Now boys wouldn’t that be a nice moment if we could celebrate St. Totteringhamsday on that occasion?
Oh and Chelsea next week, watch out for the Busacca-moment. Before you know it, it will hit you.
Tony’s PS: Following Walter’s writing of this piece, Newcastle won 3-0, and Tottenham had a rather interesting affair at QPR in which Bale ran into the crowd. Now I think that was an offence – but the ref chose to do nothing. I wonder if there will be an enquiry.
Oh, no, I forgot it was Tottenham. They lost 1-0, and have something of a problem – but that is for another occasion.
paragraph 3, quite enlightning
There was a moment about five minutes before the end when Arsenal had a throw a little way along from the dug outs. The Arsenal player (I can’t remember who) took it quickly – with his feet about a meter on the pitch – and the linesman who was nearby didn’t even notice.
Hilarious.
There was however a lot of booing of Ramsey. I really can’t see the benefit of doing this. Did it encourage the team to play better? Did it encourage Ramsey to play better? No. so what was the point.
Donno who lead the booing on Ramsey but they are awful, they are disgrace for any fan base of any sport club. Again showing how bad supporters we have, spoiled ****, i’m disgusted. But Ramsey was really bad at first half, one of if not worst performance this season.
the point is ramsey is not fit to wear the shirt. so bin him.
not the most thought out point as it ignores many facts but what do you expect from spuds who wear arsenal shirts to games?
has roman finally stumped up enough cash to win the cl? do the powers at be want farca to write more history? read an article a while back(wish i could remember now) that suggested that bayern would win it as it has something to do with the german economy? then they beat real mad. didnt watch the game but did they deserve to win?
Arsenal has to watch Newcastle making a sprint for the finish line. Our squad is to busy making headlines – to much “we are going to do this or the other”, and then we cannot deliver when it counts. We do not know how to go into the arena and give a knockout blow. We are just not fearless, but more fearful.
The nature of this game is winning and not “one off” slick performances. Does Arsene still know how to produce winners instead of individual good players?
Wenger just got to bring in an assistant with clout and not someone to fill the space. He has to cut and add to the squad quality and not just cheap players who may or may not make it in the future. Arsenal cannot be allowed to remain a giant waiting to awake.
The time is NOW!
Ramsey is playing as the third back up to the role he played in (arteta and wilshere)-fact.
He would have competition in this role if coquelin was not injured-fact.
At ramsey’s stage in development wenger has every right to use him there as he was the best alternative remaining (due to injuries)-fact.
Wenger does not have a crystal ball to know that wilshere would be ruled out the whole season (was only confirmed a few days ago).
Ramsey is still developing and although I am not sure what his best position is, he’s a young lad in his first full season (with relentless determination) and therefore he should be given some slack- boo boys should just leave is they want to be negative-last fact.
hope all have a good night
St. Totteringham’s Day next weekend. You heard it here first.
@jackobite
is that your excuse? arsenal have players better than ramsey languishing in reserves. the transfer window is far why can wenger try them ramsey is young as you said, same age as ozyakup who in my opinion is better but victim of arsene wenger’s dictatorship.
i am now convinced we will never win anything with arsene as long as he’s still using arsenal fc as his personal lab to experiment deadwoods and turn them into super players. booing should be directed to arsene wenger not ramsey or any other player. ramsey is good but not that good therefore he should go to a small premiership club or scottish league.
in fact he’s cheaper to spend big money on readymade star than training walcott for 5 years, ramsey for 3 years, djourou for 6 years, etc….. all this time we are waiting for them to come good we are paying them too.
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/s320x320/540506_3493578811698_1038368000_33326100_1709116684_n.jpg
I don’t get why Ramsey is such an issue among so many people. No one will say his performances have been fantastic, but he hasn’t cost us the game either. Not once. How do you expect a player to regain form if he never plays? Bench him/sell him/he’s shit seem like such great opinions don’t they? For Ramsey’s performance today, look at this article right here.
http://news.arseblog.com/2012/04/arsenal-0-0-chelsea-by-the-numberzzzzz/
The relevant bits are
63 – Passes completed by Aaron Ramsey v. Chelsea (of 65 attempted)*
30 – Passes forward by Aaron Ramsey (of 32 attempted)
20 – Passes backward by Aaron Ramsey
13 – Passes square by Aaron Ramsey
97 – Percent passes completed by Aaron Ramsey v. Chelsea
4 – Number of times Aaron Ramsey was dispossessed
Why won’t the media report on crisis at Sp@rs?! Clearly, there’s only been one direction for them in 2012: DOWN! Lovely, isn’t it?!
What Arsenal is in desperate need of right now is Dennis Bergkamp as assistant coach n Tony Adam as the defensive coach.
Wenger needs help!
Something is just not working!
@sam:
“in fact he’s cheaper to spend big money on readymade star than training walcott for 5 years, ramsey for 3 years, djourou for 6 years, etc”
where is your quantifiable evidence to support your claim?
oh, not got any, surprise, surprise…
(oh also, think to why arsene has had to develop players over the last 7 years)
btw, we can still make third. i am not too disappointed with the result.
spurs and chelsea won’t catch us and newcastle still have to play chelsea and man city, they will drop points so 2 wins out 3 remaining games should be enough. coz i am not sure we will win all our 3 games. anyway, just 2 wins will be enough unless newcastle beat stoke, chelsea and man city….. impossible!
so relax gooners we are safe. its arsene wenger that needs to start building a winning team not more stupid experiments.
@WalterBroeckx
gr8 photo
Barcelona lost to Real Madrid today. 2-1 final score. Remember when we lost to them after the Busacca moment, and Guardiola and the rest of the barca squad claimed that only one team played football because we didn’t have a shot on target? Barcelona’s first shots on target (2 or 3-depending how you count them) came in the 70th minute, in the same sequence of events that they scored (a little luckily). I don’t think they had any after that either. Now I wonder if they had Messi sent off in the 56th minute, if they would have indeed managed any shot on target.
Why is everyone on Ramsey’s case?
Well he has always wanted to wear the Fabergas shoe, but he lacks the know how? What I would suggest is that he get all the former captain’s videos and study his movements.
@jacobite
walcott fee salaries over the past 5 years of his dev could have been spent on a proven goalscorer. why is he still on the wing? because arsene wenger still want to prove he has not failed but he has. i would like to see walcott starting the season as a central striker and banging goals and stop taking over the wing because he’s not a winger and arsenal fc has better winger than walcott. wenger insist on him out of arrogance.
yes its cheaper to buy an established star than filling the club with youth that might not even make it.
arsenal have 20 players out on loan and that should be in the guiness book of record coz no other team can afford to keep that many players.
thanks to wenger’s mismanagement.
Sam
get a clue..that’s all
Sam, buying a proven goalscorer would cost how much? 25M? 30M? Why not 80M (Ronaldo…) I don’t think Walcott will have earned even that much in those years.
And then you have to pay the wages of that proven goal scorer. How much? 100.000 a week? Or do you mean a Tevez kind of proven goal scorer. We then speak of 250.000 a week.
I really cannot see how a proven goal scorer can be cheaper
the way some of our fans getting hysterical after our draw you would think we lost the match..tbh they piss me off a lot with their negativity and it seems nothing can please em..have these people had a look at newcastle run in? Chelsea,wigan and everton away and city at home but for some reason these people think theyll win all of them and pip us to 3rd..anything to satisfy their agenda i guess
@sam go back to your AAA sewer..so double figures for assists and goals is useless?
I laughed http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/apr/21/qpr-tottenham-hotspur-mbm-report
@Sam: I see you now direct your venom on Wolcot. It wasn’t too long ago you were eloquently pointing out how ‘useless’ and ‘not fit to wear the Arsenal shirt’ Song was. Funny that! I see you are not even talking about that anymore. Why don’t you write a well researched, fact based article, presenting how arrogant Arsene Wenger is? I am sure that Tony as well as everyone here would love to read it if it is not overlaid with venom and monosyllables.
All in all, a good weekend for us as only Newcastle gained more points than us in the race for the CL spots. I think that this Ramsey thing has been hyped by media and some idiots who want to go back to their Wenger Out tactics. I recently read an article in which the writer points out that Ramsey has been getting the Arshavin treatment and he included Ramsey in his man to watch section for Arsenal in the preview for this game.
@9jagunnerdoc, if totts win on Sunday,we can’t have st totteringham’s day next weekend as then we can be maximum 9 points clear but having played a game more than totts. Considering their form, it looks unlikely that they will be able to beat a battling blackburn side. There were a lot of reports regarding st totteringham’s day before the NLD but I am yet to see one since.
I thought we played quite well today especially considering we had some changes in the team. Chelsea defended well and in numbers and tried to catch us on the break, a little like the Chelsea of old. However, we were the better team and with a little luck, or a straight ref we would have won.
The icing on the cake today was zero points for the Spuds – great!!
@Sam from the AAA – your cowardly attack on Walcott while typical of present AAA tactics, is totally without justification – get back under whatever stone you crawled out from underneath.
i am not against any player at all, i am against inspector clussot with his arrogance and lies. how many of you believed him when he said miyaichi was not ready for premiership football? how many of you AKBs still believe park chu young should be behind walcott, arshavin and chamakh?
ryo miyaichi, arsenal best winger went to play longball at bolton just to allow walcott and the rest of the lame ducks place in the starting line-up.
well, our captain is worn out maybe its time to start the game with shisha shmakh. no he can’t, why is he even taking a place on the bench if he can’t give van persie a day off.
wenger also killed off english reserves football, he totally disregard reserves players, he’d rather take money from crawley town to waste sanchez watt than give him some minutes on the pitch. reserves best players should be given chance to fight for first team football. nope! at arsenal they are sold for 6 months to yoyo teams. and arsenal supporters are so blind they think this loan systems benefit players, it only benefit wenger and the board. training with van persie, song, arteta is far better than playing long balls with kevin davis. arsenal fans need to wake up.
i’d rather we have sanchez watt on the bench than chamakh coz he can put shoot. crawley town came in with an offer wenger cannot turn down and of he . yup, arsene knows!
off he went***
Well apparently Sam knows… 😉
Maybe you should write a letter to Hill-Wood or Kroenke to ask them to put you in charge.
Sam and other AAA aficionados………where do you get your biased and jaundiced misinformation from…the Mirror, Caughtoffside, LeGrove? Your constant critiquing of Wenger as a ¨dictator¨, Ramsey as ¨useless¨ or anyone else who you feel isn’t up to your vaunted ¨standards¨ is proof positive that you don’t know s**t about managing a professional team, assessing player quality or even fair-minded and objective tolerance for others. This isn’t a site for you….it is meant for true supporters and Gooners who know that AFc is always a work in progress! Try LeGrove as they have a collection of morons and cretins who think they are actually legends in their own minds.
Oh Sam, poor fool…Since we all watch Arsenal games and see first hand the royalty Wenger has for our team, how emotional he gets when things are not going our way, and how joyfull he gets when the boys get it right, I think you should shut that foul AAA mouth of yours. Ooh, I have an idea start a football club, better still, join spuds.
sam knows ahahahaha
Sam and oo. call Wenger arrogant because he doesn’t do what ‘they’ think he should. I guess they have Talksport and a few other fan blogs also providing him with free consultancy on who to buy and how to pick the side but for some reason he doesn’t listen to them. I wonder why ?
the above was purile and immature but it had to be done
I do not like this Sam I Am.
@GoingGoingGooner
I was not impressed by Sam, but when I read your reply (Sam I am), what immediately sprang to mind was Dr. Suess.
But, in another thread, I did talk to the pastor, and asked him about instructing children. I don’t know if you ever seen my reply.
Intended to try to enlighten Sam a bit but now I just give up. Some fools just can’t be taught, even by good teachers. And I am not that good 😉
One point in this game is not too bad, especially when Chelski parked the bus, and of course we were a bit unlucky. If we should have any regret, it should be the Wigan game. But we are still 3 points clear and we will be just fine when we win the 3 last games. We must do that.
Damn, we lost to Frankfurt! 🙁
Oh, I forgot one thing: At the half time, figures showed that Ramsey was the player who ran the most distance in the first half, so maybe he did not play well but he surely tried his best, and those who booed him, whether they are AAAs or Chelski fans in disguises, could do me a real favor and go kill themselves. This miserable life will be a little bit better without them.
We’ve been struggling against the “big” side for a couple of seasons now. Remember Wenger said that we NEEDED to beat them in order for us to start challenging for the title again. We have managed to take points against city, tots, chelsea and even newcastle and liverpool! I mean we took 4 out of possible 6 from chelsea. I personally think this is a major improvement for us. Manure were lucky at the emirates in January, considering we played them off the park last May at home. I think this should be a talking point.
Ramsey kept losing the ball again and again like 6 times in the first half. He is crap, but boosing was a bit too much. I don’t think we will win all 3 of the remaining games without Arteta Theo etc, maybe we can get 2 wins out of the 3, that should be enough for a top 4 finish.
I think with Chelsea we are seeing the usual cyclical pattern since the oil money poured in where the manager starts off well and the team spirit is good. One can only assume the manager starts off with as much freedom as they want and then the team slowly deteriorates as the owner starts sticking his nose into team management. It wont take long for this manager to be put under ridiculous pressure (probably when they don’t win their first batch of games next season) and have their authority taken away, then Chelsea will be under performing again.
Oh and on the subject of this Sam character who has just popped up, it’s the teams like Chelsea & United (the bigger teams) where a draw is fine, the game last weekend was a disappointment as we should be winning games like that but it’s football and that happens. SUPPORT your team.
A Proven Goal scorer???
Whats the score with Lukas Podolski, do we have him?
Lukas Podolski could become a legend.
gooonerrrrr
“Ramsey kept losing the ball again and again like 6 times in the first half.”
Look at his stats. He was dispossessed 4 times in the entire match. and of his 65 passes, only 2 didn’t connect (both were forward passes, one of which was in the final third)
So he ‘lost’ the ball only 6 times in the entire match. At least one dispossessed against him was Santos’ fault I thought, where he passed to Ramsey when Ramsey was marked. But oh well. I’m sure the stats don’t prove anything argument will come out at some point.
Why aren’t we talking about the fact that shi!t has hit the fan at Sp#rs?!
-> I thought Dean had a fine game. I mean i have seen his biased nature when it comes to arsenal but yesterday he was fine. He wasn’t trying to help Chelsea(which is shocking considering that he hates arsenal to such an extent that he celebrates when ever they go down!). Even though it’s the ref review that will throw the real light on everything.
-> I have always hated Chelsea. Always. But AVB was someone whom i think was taking Chelsea on the right track. Yes they were not performing under him but he had a vision and unlike the arsenal board who trusted AW when he first came to Arsenal in ’96, Roman kicked him out. He’s a joke. He loves firing them. All of them. He’s like a small kid who want perfect toys and throw tantrums when he’s disappointed. Every manager require some time. AVB was was bringing an Evolution, not a Revolution. In couple of years they could have become the super power. Even though Walter i think that the stats in this case can be misleading. You talked about the first 8 games thing…well yes RDM have earned less but he pulled them back on the right track. The blues were going down at such a speed that had AVB been still in charge of Chelsea they might be sitting 8th or 9th in the table. But Chelsea is having a great time under RDM. And well it’s because of him that Chelsea are in final of the FA CUP and there;s a possible chance of playing In Munich next month. Though i badly want them to finish 5th or 6th and lose both the finals. It be will proved once again that Money can NEVER buy class!
-> I have always adored Ramsey. That guy is a genius and if there are some arsenal fans out there who are still talking shit about them despite knowing what happened to him in the past, then they need to get a life!. Give him some time. He will rise. Just like TR came back in form after that spurs game at the emts. I mean even the most loyal arsenal fans were talking utter shit about him but he proved the wrong. That’s true spirit.
Personally i think that United, City, Arsenal and Newcastle(even though they have very tough games coming up) will be the top 4 teams in England. I’m not an Arsenal “fan” but i’m a big admirer of your club. I think it’s because of people like Wenger that football is still a beautiful game. And personally i think that Your blog is brilliant. You guys do some really good work. Keep it up. 🙂
Have a glance at the Spurs squad: http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/spurs/Team/first-team-profiles.page?
They have EIGHT centrebacks. Utterly barmy, players like Gallas, King and Nelsen should never have been signed/resigned by Redknapp due to their fitness/age. He’s just poor in the transfer market.
When you look over the rest of the team, there is very little depth. Who covers at fullback? Who is there in midfield after the likes of Modric, Parker (who is woeful) and Krancjar? Spurs have big problems brewing.
Nicely said @Neutral
Ramsey was among the best performers in our team during this season.Those cunts that boo’ed him should take a long hard look at themselves.Rambo is a hardcore gunner and no amount of booing is going to bring him down.
“I dissaprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” ….except in the case of Sam and the rest of the toolbox with the short term memory (and considered opinions) of goldfish. We just came off the back of 9 wins in a row – where were you then? And whilst you’re on here who’s filling in for you back at the village?
From that last two games, we have only 1 points out of 6! This is relegation form. Mr. Wenger out! If we play like this, we will get ‘relegated’ this season! 😉 What is going on? Sack the board! Sack the manager! Bring down the stadium!! We have gone backwards! I will not stand it! 😛
On a side note, I have a hunch (may not be true), but the best team in the EPL is PGMOL. Considering the points that they’ve ‘won’ (turned towards the team they wanted to), it must be many more than what ManUre or any other team could even dream of! It could even be much more than 114 (maximum possible for a team!).
@Mahesh
I had seen that the ladies lost. Not a great aggregate score. They are still a good team. (I’m a Canadian, and our women’s team is the only one to support. What’s your excuse? 🙂 )
I see the Arsenal U-18 came in third, with a possibility of slipping to forth.
Who was expecting ManU to drop points to Everton today (4-4)? Go West Brom!
Just like to remind some of the woodworm “fans” (the ones that crop up every now and then just to complain) that Arsenal never lost to Chelsea this season in the league. Plenty other teams would be happy to have gotten 1 point from playing them, yet our players and manager were disappointed to not get the 3. That shows a different class.
Also like to remind everyone that we’ve come back from a difficult start to the season (17th in the league at one point) to pretty much almost securing a Champions League place, at a time where there are more teams (Man City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Spurs) than previous years contesting for top 4 spots.
As for Ramsey, don’t forget the player he was before his injury – fantastic (see goal scored against Portsmouth as a reminder). He also won us the same against United last season, and has almost completed his first full season for Arsenal. All this after suffering a horrific injury.
As for Wenger and Di Matteo, I know who I’d rather have managing my team (clue – he speaks French).
@Gord
Yes, I did see your comment about talking to your Paster/Rugby coach. With regards to my comments, in all honesty there are many other reasons why someone might choose to quit, though.
Ramsey hasn’t played fantastically, most notably getting dispossesed rather easily on a number of occasions but I can’t get my knickers in knot over that. He is young and is learning to be come a more all-round player…this will take time. Our club gained a acceptable result yesterday and the loss of points was not all due to him.
I wasn’t at the Chelsea game, but watched it on Sky. I admit at not hearing any boo-ing directed at Ramsey but if so it makes me feel somehow ashamed to be a Gooner. What must Wolves supporters, for example, think of us ? By the same measure they could have 11 players to boo every game, but I’m not aware of it happening.
These morons are probably the same ones who boo-ed Song at Fulham in his early days or Eboue at the Emirates, then went on to chant their names later on when it got through to their dim brains how wrong they were.
I am very ambivalent about the race for first; I would never want a team built with petro-dollars win it, but Man United is apparently “entitled” to the title with the help of the refs.
Would do I go as far as accepting fourth place and seeing the title go to Newcastle ahead of the two Manchester teams? No, and that could have only been possible if Newcastle had amazing luck and the support of the refs. Still, I wonder what others would think if, in a paralell world, Newcastle won this years’ EPL title with us fourth behind the two Manchester teams…
As to our last two games, Wigan was very lucky, especially with the second goal, and Chelsea can thank the woodwork twice.
Ray from Norfolk.
Yes I also hate these Anti Ramsey people, they are just as bad as the fool that got jailed for the Muamba tweets, pay them no attention and they will go away, like Freddie Kruger!
Anyway, when Ramsey lost the ball he RAN BACK and got it almost every time, no one seems to remember that. Also when I played we had a saying called ‘Man On’ which means hurry up do something, he is on you in a sec, didn’t seem like anyone said it at all. I could even read poor Rambo’s lips when he got dispossessed, it was something like, WTF, YOU GOT TO TELL ME IF SOMEONE COMING’… or something like that!
Anyway 3 games to go, Newcastle should be the buffer to the other 2 hopefuls and yes why is the media not banging on about Spurs drop in form and Engerland manager etc?
Because us being above them is the norm and things are back to normal now?
I hope thats the reason.