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A View From The Opposition

Submitted by Ryan Curtis on Fri, 16/10/2020 - 10:05

In the last couple of seasons we have featured a 'view from the other side' exchange with Andy and his pals at www.spursforlife.com, as one of their contributors Ryan Curtis most eloquently writes below, the fiercly contested rivalry both on and off the pitch between Tottenham and West Ham will be sadly missing without the crowds in attendance.

'We’ve just come off the back of a 6-1 win at Old Trafford and you have just won 3-0 at Leicester and pumped Wolves 4-0… since when have both of us been playing well coming into the derby?! I wrote a bit on another West Ham site in preview to our game at the end of last season and my overarching feeling was how frustrating it was we couldn’t be at that game with the atmosphere and feeling that comes when we play each other, that feeling still remains.

Even watching on tele the crowd noise is different for this game and it gets into the players. Noble crunching someone for you, Dier flying back in for us, we all love to see the beautiful game but the desire to win the ball in a derby is something to behold. Coming into this game as a Spurs fan I’m excited. Kane and Son are flying, Ndombele is starting to find some form and we have a strong squad but the main reason is Gareth Bale.

I’m sorry (not sorry) to say he’s one of my favourite players we’ve ever had for the heights he reached in the couple of seasons before he left, and one of the biggest memories is the last minute worldy at Upton Park, you all know the one! (ouch) I’m not confident he’ll be back at those levels, or ever reach them but just having him back in our shirt playing a London derby is huge.

The game at the end of last season West Ham were poor and really didn’t offer much going forward. Then you watch them this season and you think they might be onto something. From the game last season Bowen looked a bit raw, now you look and he looks like a real player. You definitely look like you’ve found a position for Antonio who has always had a class attitude and is learning the position and adding goals, Fornals looks technically tidy and you look like you’re somewhat better drilled at the back.

I’m not one of those Spurs fans who want to see West Ham at the bottom of the league, I want to see them playing well so the games between us are properly competitive as the derby should be and hopefully this season we have that. Not too sure how it will play out with the international break and as both Spurs and West Ham fans know our form has always been ‘streaky’ shall we say.

If there were fans there for Bale’s return I’d say that would carry us through, but without them, and with the unpredictability of lockdown football any result is possible. My main hope though is that come the return fixture we can be in the Olympic Stadium with all the banter, abuse and unrivalled atmosphere this historic fixture is famous for with all of us.'

Well there you have it, thanks to Ryan for what we thought was a rather unbiased article. - Ed

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Comments

boogerscaravan's picture

Yes Nev, very fair I'd say.

As an aside I've just watched the Spurs doc on Amazon Prime. It's a good watch for those that haven't seen it. A great insight I think. But for me the resounding memory will be Dele Alli making Joey Essex look like Albert Einstein. Crikey what a thicko.............

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andycarrollstyle's picture

Very fair assessment I'd say. If Noble isn't playing this game, who will be the General to rally the troops in this derby? We need Spurs in the league as much as they need us and games like these - even though the grounds will be empty, all eyes will be fixed on the match Sunday afternoon

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