On the overground once it had picked up the Tottingham contingent, a group of their fans enjoyed 'rioutsly' singing their mainly borrowed songs. However one of their 'originals' was interesting in that they were singing how much they hate Man City, Liverpool AND West Ham!
The backhanded compliment they were inadvertently paying wasn't lost on Hammers fans travelling on the same carriage, many smiled on as if they were looking at young children who were playing naughtily. The fact seemed to elude the Totters that they were confirming what the status quo of the Barclays Premier League is by including West Ham in their particular hate list.
Those 'fans' were soon silenced once inside the Stadium, NOT by a blistering display from the home team, who were a shadow of the team that blew away Genk, but by the HOME crowd! It has taken a long long time, but finally The Bowl has begun to feel like home, albeit one that wasn't welcomed initially. It is still not properly fit for purpose, but the atmosphere certainly is, no longer is it a sombre place to be where the away fans are the noisiest, every time the Tottingham supporters tried to impose themselves in the stadium, they were swiftly drowned out by the home fans all around again and again.
What was even more surprising was how loud and supportive the crowd were despite how poorly their team were playing, and they were poor. But it is the mark of a 'top' team to play badly, yet still manage to grind out a result, the situation was helped by the fact that Tottingham were equally as poor and seemed to be playing for a draw from the off!
The visitors were time wasting throughout the game and their outlet of Son and Kane was completely nullified by Ogbonna and a truly awesome Kurt Zouma. At the end of the day the game could best be summed up, ironically by an honest by an opposition supporter on the way back who said when politely prompted "Both teams were shit, but you wanted it more than us!" He went on to say that Nuno would be gone at the end of the season and that their entire squad needed looking at, he also couldn't understand why, with ten minutes remaining, Tottingham were passing sideways and backwards.
At the end of the day Michail Antonio did what Kurt Zouma had predicted and Zouma kept Kane in his pocket, as he said he would! He wasn't being billy big bollocks, he is now a part of a team that means business, even if it means to win ugly! - Ed
Comments
Home is where the heart is...
Nostalgia is great, but the very term is the past and NOT the present. We're meant to provide the twelfth man every time our team plays and that is what we're providing because wherever our team plays......that's OUR home!
Tottingham wanted to teach us a lesson, which is why they rested as many players as they did on Thursday... and they still fell flat on their faces. Our football wasn't as good as it normally is, but there was a BIG Reason why and we still came through. That has to say something about the unity, common cause and desire amongst our squad. Harry Kane wants to be somewhere else and Levy must be getting worried about Kane's market value right now.
I have watched the Gunners star fade over recent years, I have also watched the spuds make the strangest decisions led by that lunatic Levy... and I'm loving it. A few more years of Moyes and our transformation will be complete, as the turnaround that we have seen from the Moyes Revolution is nothing short of amazing.
WE the supporters will make the LS our Home, be the Twelfth man and intimidate All who Come to Our Home COYI
Nicely put...
It was never gonna be easy an easy transition, but I'm guessing most supporters are getting used to the game day rituals, the watering holes, the noises, the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers, (or ribs) the regulars sitting close by....
Out singing the opposition when they pipe up is a must; winning, losing or drawing.......one day I'll come back and it will feel like home, a weird feeling as you have all found out by now, but hopefully after the 30 years of watching games at stupid o'clock in Hong Kong and now Sydney, I'd take to it like a visiting relative to Nan and Grandad's new bungalow in Clacton...IYKWIM
Roll on Thursday night, (friday morning for us down here) lets see how far we've really come....I reckon we'll give as good as we get, we're really that good these days