Wednesday 4 September 2013

Arsenal's Ozil move doesn't put Spurs in a Mes

SMILES. Smug smiles. That's about all you'll get from Arsenal fans this week. 

But it's not just because they've signed Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid and finally spent some money, it's also because they think they've got Spurs fans rattled.

What's worse is that some of us are proving them right.

Until Ozil's deadline-day Goons switch, our chairman Daniel Levy owned the transfer window but it seems sharing the limelight with our old foes is just too much to bear.

And the irony that it would never have happened without Gareth Bale's Real move makes it all the more cruel.

Well, sorry, that doesn't wash with us. 

On Sunday morning, we were like a boy racer revving his new car at the lights. We were nailed on for fourth place and it was sure to be at Arsenal's expense. 

By Monday evening (yes, that's a long time to be at the lights but just go with it) they rolled up with a Lamborghini and our balls wilted.

What did everyone expect? Arsene Wenger would just sit by and let us speed off into the distance? Hardly.

We've heard it all from Spurs fans this week. "We still need a left-back, why didn't we get Ozil?" and most deluded of all "that was a poor deadline day for us."

All of it is ridiculous.

There's no denying that Ozil is one of the best players in Europe. In the past five seasons, he has created more chances and made more assists than any other elite player in the continent.

But it helps when the man you are passing the ball to is Cristiano Ronaldo.

The simple matter is the German playmaker would never have come to Spurs. He has to perform against the best and we cannot offer Champions League football.

Arsenal's need in the transfer window was much different to ours, they know they already have a squad capable of regularly finishing in the top four, so it only needed a respray. 

But one signing won't win them the title and it does not take away from what we did in the market.

In Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen we have two of Europe's most renowned young talents. Add to that a reinforced midfield of Paulinho and Etienne Capoue. 

It's a lot of players to gel in very little time but the previous squad had proven three years in a row that it could not keep pace for the whole season and enough was enough.

True, none of the new guys are proven in English football but it shows major ambition and if even four of our seven signings live up to their massive potential then it gives us a fighting chance of withstanding another late-season collapse.

If it's Premier League experience you're after then look no further than Danny Rose, one of last season's key left-backs on loan at Sunderland.

What's more he's English, he's prepared to fight for his place and refusing to sell him on could yet prove to be one of our best moves of the summer. 

The other option was Fabio Coentrao, and even Manchester United failed to prise him from Real.

The view that we are typically shrewd on transfer deadline day is a myth as well.

In the last seven of them, the only real coups have been Hugo Lloris and Rafa Van Der Vaart. And Rafa only because we were in the Champions League.

Other than Clint Dempsey - who replaced Rafa with limited success last summer - our ONLY other deadline-day signing since 2010 has been Louis Saha.

The real crux of the matter, which has jilted folks' perspective, is that we lost the North London derby at the Emirates. 

We didn't create much but it's a game that we've lost 5-2 for the past two seasons, so it's an improvement.

We have never been this consistently close to Arsenal since the Premier League began.

Yes they are still in front but it's not Spurs who have 17 straight top-four finishes to protect.

It's not us who are crying over not winning a trophy for eight years.

And it's not us who had to sing "spend some f**king money" on the opening day just to get some transfer activity.

Frankly, it's not us who should be rattled, it's them.

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