Euro Zone in Crisis

There are a few things in life I know something about, one is Jewish Sunday league football. I whittle it down to be that specific because suggesting I know about football opens me up to all sorts of criticism when I get things drastically wrong, although I did say before the season that Spurs wouldn't qualify for the Champions League.

There are also some things in life that I know a little bit about and can fill in the rest with pretence, subterfuge and doublespeak- ask me about politics and I'll be happy to show you.

Finally there are things that I understand so little that I've gone way past the idea of pretending, I won't even nod and smile along to conversations about these topics I'll just shut up. On a personal note the first of these topics is women! Having spent about a decade trying I finally gave up a couple of years ago because it's impossible to actually work them out.

Women have nothing to do with this blog post!

On the other hand a topic I've never attempted to get my head round is money. I realise that is a shocking statement for a Jew to make but you have to appreciate that I've just never cared. With the recent economic crisis hitting the world over the last few years I should have potentially cared, instead I turned my cheek...until now.

England, of course, have always been steadily near the top if unspectacular. Mixing it with the world power houses we'll always have a say but the man in charge is unlikely to ever have the cahunas to take on his opposite numbers in the bigger nations. We may not have invented it but we defined the rules and we should be better at using it.

The French on the other hand will come in talking of revolution. There will be a new leader at almost every turn waiting to show those who are known to be more powerful that they hold the trump cards. There will though be an attached arrogance that will often see them return home after heated discussion with their tail between their legs.

Portugal will be bit part players in this world, there for entertainment purposes and holidays. Having said that there's always the chance that they'll be the first people to collapse.

Greece have never built their reputation on being spectacular, in fact not even on being solid, they've never had that much of a reputation other than for smashing plates. Back in 2004 they shocked everyone with a short burst of excellence in the field, as we all know that never lasted and despite having the ability to make headlines it's likely to be for all the wrong reasons.

The Italians are well known for their corruption. One could never trust anything run by Silvio Berlusconi or indeed involving the man known for his 'Bunga Bunga parties' and yet the country shaped like a boot has surprised the world, never mind just the continent, from a position of disaster and corruption before. It is a sad state of affairs that history is repeating itself with new people in charge and new people involved and one can't help but think this time they may pay the penalty instead of ending up rewarded.

The Swiss of course don't figure. Neutrality is not the only thing they do well, there's money. With their own currency and efficient ways Switzerland haven't been invited to the party this time round, but then they're hardly the most exciting of guests.

One definite party invite are the Spanish. So aesthetically pleasing with everything they do. They may not be well known for their business acumen but they've come far since the days of the Pesos held them back and whenever they looked like they could be world beaters they would fall quite early on. They would never be left to help look after the rest of the Euro zone though as they might destroy it all.

Finally the big boys, Germany. Never the underdogs, never ruled out and always strong. The Germans are led well, never like to be pushed around and can almost always be relied on to react well under pressure. They welcome all challengers and especially love a good fight with the Dutch, French and English. Only a handful of times since the 70's have the Germans not been one of the two top dogs in the European yard. Such is their power and strength they are often seen as big players on the world stage too.

I may not know much about money but I sure can speak with a lot of pretence, subterfuge and doublespeak!

Harry and Me; 2 Peas in a Pod

I've always had a suspicion that I have more in common with Harry Redknapp than I've ever cared to admit, and that's without the obvious jokes to do with his alleged tax fraud and management of Tottenham Hotspur to compare with my religion of 'choice'.

The mad scramble for Mata's goal

I mean despite the fact I think Harry is an overrated manager or at least he was, not sure if anyone is currently rating him that highly, he clearly loves his football, is passionate about it and tries to play attacking football. According to that font of all knowledge, Wikipedia, we're both 5"11 and whilst both at Wembley for Spurs F.A Cup semi final vs Chelsea neither thought that Juan Mata's goal had crossed over the line. Okay so I've been kind of clutching at straws since the opening 'joke', although my first game in charge of Sporting JLGB did end in a 5-3 loss so we are both clearly happy to give up defensive solidity for goals, but there does seem to genuinely be one thing 'Arry and I have in common, apparently we both love Football Manager.

Now I can't deny my love for the game franchise. Football Manager and, before the split in 2005, Championship Manager have ruined big portions of my life. There was my GCSE's and the arrival of my new laptop the day before the English Literature exam. Whilst I should have been going over the notes in my Anthology and re-reading 'Half Caste' by John Agard I was too busy leading Millwall into the European Champions League using Championship Manager's 03/04 edition. It wasn't really my fault Josh Taylor, a good friend of mine, had challenged me to do better with 'The Lions' than he'd managed plus Freddy Adu was on fire! Then in 2006 my A-levels were interrupted by a mixture of the World Cup in Germany and Football Manager, but who would choose learning about local government over an afternoon of watching a small dot that represented Daniel Sturridge score a hat-trick for Bury against Portsmouth in the opening game of the Premier League season 2011/12?

To be honest with you the current version, Football Manager 2012, is currently open on the very laptop I'm typing this blog post on and the very same Daniel Sturridge, now represented by a 2D humanish shaped shape, is now scoring a brace in the Spanish Super Cup vs Barcelona for Athletico Madrid.

So what's all this got to do with Harry? Does the Sidler have some extraordinary inside information that he can confirm the Spurs boss is a big FM fan?

Well.... No but, back in January, Redknapp did some incredible transfer business that left most of us asking some questions we couldn't answer. At the time I couldn't quite put my finger on it but after reading an exclusive by Matt Law in the Express today I suddenly realised what he'd done. Law's piece in today's paper centred on the signing's that Spurs had made in January in the form of Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen and the fact they had not added to the teams quality, in fact they'd done the opposite, and this is where the game comes into it. Those who have ever played Sports Interactive's highly addictive games will know that it is almost impossible, no matter how good your side might be, to at least attempt to make signings in every transfer window- a great example of this was when, as Manchester United boss, I sold an out of form Steven Gerrard back to Liverpool and replaced him with an over the hill Emerson essentially just for the sake of it. In January Harry sold Roman Pavlyuchenko (yeah I used Google for the spelling) a perfectly capable but generally unfancied centre forward and replaced him with haplessly out of form, injury prone, Louis Saha. He also sent useful but unfancied central defender Sebastien Bassong out on loan to QPR and bought in massively injury prone Ryan Nelsen from Blackburn into a side who already had central defenders well known for spending mass amounts of time in the physio's room. No one is doubting that Harry needed to invest in his squad, behind the first 11 it was always going to be a side lacking in real quality, but he had to invest for the sake of improving the squad and not invest just for the sake of spending money- ending up with like for like replacements.

Penny for your thoughts?

Harry has also struggled with another 'in game' issue with his tactics. Every now and again on Football Manager one will simply find his tactics not working any more, or perhaps get bored of them, and will end up changing them to regain some sort of positive form but this is clearly foolish. Teams, and players individually, will obviously go through both good and bad form in a season and a change of formation just because things aren't going well for a while are far too reactionary and will not help get players back to form considering they were in form in the original formation early on. Spurs have suffered from having a decent, not great, group of players in very good form early on in the season, that group is now not in form and without being great players this means they will obviously suffer as they are generally better than the sum of all their parts.

Without winning their last four games of the season Harry and Tottenham may miss out on Champions League football, unfortunately for Redknapp there is no option to quit and start from his last saved game... not that I've ever done that!

And now for the English

Just the other week the Sidler returned from a long hiatus in the world of football blogging. Oh, you hadn’t noticed I’d gone, well okay- trust me I hadn’t written for a while and I felt down right rotten about it, clearly my public were demanding a return.

After months out you’d assume that I would come back with a new blog post to do with something I knew loads about in a screaming, all passionate, all brilliant piece of writing that brought the readers back. As they read on with excitement, coming away with a sense of something learnt, and thinking “yeah, this guy knows his stuff”. As you know though I don’t do things in an ordinary fashion, I wrote about Scottish football. Roughly 20 minutes after announcing my return my opinions had been blown out of the water.

So, with all that in mind, it’s time to return to everyone (well my) favourite subject, ENGLAND!! *groans from everyone else*

Robben caused England problems all night

There’s been so much for discussion from an England point of view recently that it’s so hard to know where to start from. We could dissect the end of John Terry as captain, the end of Capello’s reign, Harry’s credentials and potential new job, Stuart Pearce’s performance as manager for the one game or even his choice of Scott Parker as captain.

Well I think that’s those topics discussed and by that I mean they’ve been discussed to death already why do I need to bother. Okay, so you want my opinions? Quickly then; the F.A were right to get rid of Terry as captain and to take the decision away from Fabio, the Italian felt he needed to go and so went- good on him, no tears from me but actually I didn’t totally dislike him and might have been interesting to see if he’d learnt any lessons from 2010 in 2012, I’m not Harry’s biggest fan and wouldn’t pick him personally but there isn’t loads of options out there and he’d bring with him public and probably player support, Pearce is potentially a future England manager but not right now, didn’t do badly with what he had against Holland, not a massive fan of Parker as captain but nor I am a massive fan of making such a big deal of the captaincy and he is Mr. Dependable if nothing else.

Quick enough? Well it’s a good job speed impresses you.

Of all the what if moment’s I always wonder how the game would have panned out if Lampard’s free kick had gone over the bar, goal kick and probably no counter attack goal but that’s by the by.

Compare the Germany game to last night’s versus Holland and one thing is remarkable- only 2 players who started that summer’s evening in 2010 did so last night. One was the seemingly irreplaceable Steven Gerrard- passionate, driving force, constant vice-captain fantastic, Stevie G! Last night Gerrard was obviously still feeling the effects of Sunday’s epic league cup final between his Liverpool and Cardiff City which went all the way to penalties and was replaced after an abject half an hour, sighting a tight hamstring for the reason of his removal.

England's game against Germany was hardly Barry's shining moment

The only other player to start both matches was Gerrard’s central midfield partner on both occasions, Gareth Barry. In 2010 Barry had returned from injury mid-competition and arguably should not have been taken to the tournament at all but was fortunate enough to be one of Capello’s favourites. Ironically Barry went to the 2010 World Cup when Scott Parker could have gone instead. Against Germany Barry’s lack of fitness and pace were clear to see, especially as he struggled to get back into position during the blissful counter attack move that was the German’s third goal.

Fast forward to 2012 and England no longer play 4-4-2, they have advanced to a 4-3-2-1, Scott Parker has finally been given the long run in central midfield that he has deserved, there is no longer a question of forcing Lampard and Gerrard into a team together and with a third central midfielder there is now more chance of playing a patient, position keeping game that is required at international level in this day and age and yet Barry remains at the core of England’s side, despite his obvious failings. I can hear the Manchester City fans championing Barry’s cause and shouting about how great he’s been this season but hold on! Think about the month of January, as City started falter slightly, and the loss of Yaya Toure. , did Barry look so brilliant in this period? No? I thought not. Now obviously the loss of a World class player like Toure would affect most, especially with no replacement anywhere near as good but this also is a worry as it suggests Barry struggles to perform without a world class player by his side. Now look at the England central midfield and, although the player’s to choose from are talented, there is a seriously lack of World class. With all players fit and firing Barry is surely not good enough to start in this central midfield with Parker and Gerrard likely to be joined by Jack Wilshere. So does Gareth then make the bench? Well in my eyes there are at least 3 players who should be on the plane in front of him, all being well, in the shape of Tom Cleverly, Lampard and the forgotten man of English football Michael Carrick whose performances for Manchester United this season have been brilliant without any world class players alongside him and his ability to move the ball at pace is exactly the type of penetration the England side were missing on Wednesday.

Whilst there is no doubt during this massive changing of the guard England have done so much right, and there is still obviously a long way to go- there is a new manager to find, a choice over a permanent captain, there is still a long way to go with there hardest, and most important decision to come- finding the right time to get rid of those who remain from 2010, Gerrard should for the Euro’s, Barry must not.

Dinner and a Show but Without the Show

So apparently there's something special about today. Champions League re starting? A day without a handshake being in the news?

No? Okay I'm at a loss, seems like a normal Tuesday to me.

Any how in the footballing world it's been a rather busy day, and that's before Europe's aforementioned premier club competition restarts with the knock-out stages, but then when was the last time there was a quiet day?

Today's stories, as with most of the recent controversial football stories, were shrouded with lots of mystery and confrontation. In the North West of England we've been reintroduced to an old 'friend' of the region in the form of Carlos Tevez.

Meanwhile in Glasgow and Portsmouth, two cities separated by roughly 440 miles but never closer in footballing terms than today, issues of a far more serious nature were unravelling. Both Glasgow Rangers and Portsmouth F.C owe millions of pounds to HMRC  and have been forced to go into, or apply for, administration. Football clubs building up so much debt is not a new thing nor is football clubs having to go into administration, Portsmouth themselves have already had to take this measure as recently as 2009, but it is striking the regularity that football clubs, which now fully accept need to run as much as businesses as any other  business, find themselves in trouble.

Ibrox

The case of Rangers is the story attracting the most headlines, and rightly so, because of the size of the club involved and because of the massive effect the 10 point reduction, as a consequence of going into administration, will have on their season. What?! Really?! They've lost points and they're still in second place? Right well the first point still stands. Rangers are a massive club, they're in Europe every season and have won the domestic league 54 times. Of course the reason Rangers have managed to hold onto second place, despite the 10 point loss, is that the Scottish league is essentially a two horse race, every year- like The Boat Race with members of other Universities throwing stones to slow down the Oxford and Cambridge boats- with Rangers contending with their city rivals Celtic.

Celtic fans will not shed a tear for their rivals downfall, and many will be hoping that Rangers fall from grace continues with insolvency the next punishment for them, and they will no doubt point to the Gers spending beyond their means to win trophy after trophy for the previous few years as well as their already built in hatred for the team from Ibrox as reason for their glee. And who can really blame them? Those of us who are United fans may have been crossing our fingers for the same to happen to Liverpool when previous owners Hicks and Gillett  attempted to run the club into the ground. But the truth is that we need each other, much as Celtic need Rangers. Of course, there are Celtic fans who will refute my last statement, again, they will find reasons- they will point to a time, in the 80's when Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts and Motherwell regularly competed for top honours, they will point to continued yearly profit being made by their club and at an average attendance that is the 12th best in Europe but these would all be fickle arguments.

The very fact Rangers will still be in 2nd place in the league automatically throws out the argument that there is other competition to Celtic's thrown, perhaps in the 80's this was not the case but only once since 1996 have one of Celtic or Rangers finished outside the top two, and that was in 2006 when Hearts finished 2nd, a team on the brink of administration themselves. Celtic may well hold onto their fantastic support in the absence of Rangers but it is in their profits where they will surely be hit hardest. With no Rangers there is clearly no competition and with no competition there is less appetite for an already floundering league and by consequence television companies, like Sky and ESPN, will refuse to pay as much for T.V rights, if they indeed want them at all. The Hoops may think that joining the English leagues would act as a reprieve from this but there is currently not much call for them to join and there would be less so without Rangers.

Overall my argument would be that football fans need to stop being so partisan sometimes, be it in cases of racial abuse, seeing a magical player return to the Premier League or seeing a team go into administration but actually there is one more argument that allows for partisanship;

Who won't miss moments like this

Let's suggest I am completely wrong, as usual, and Celtic can 'survive' without their rivals. They can win competitions whilst being pushed all the way by another Scottish football team and continue to make profit whilst bringing in near 50,000 supporters every week, wouldn't there still be something missing? Even as someone who shows little interest in Scottish football there are always 4 dates that excite me- Old Firm matches! Without Rangers Celtic Park will not pulse and vibrate with the sort of passion and vitriol that those occasions create.

Now back to today what in the world is it? Oh wait it's not Valentines Day is it? Fortunately I've no girlfriend so I won't get in trouble for forgetting. And with no one to take out I'm like Celtic- surviving is fine but what's dinner without the show!

@Sidler28 thinks the season should twit off already!

I have to admit it, and they say admitting it is the first step, I have an addiction. I definitely don't have an addiction to sex, or drugs or alcohol for that matter, nor is it gambling so you can stop worrying for my well being, not that you were. I'm not about to make some sad announcement that I'm addicted to football, though I probably am. No, my addiction is social media based.

Yes that's right people my addiction is a current trend in the world especially, it seems, in the footballing world. Of course I am talking about twitter. It really is the last thing I check at last night on my phone, the first thing I check, not only in the morning but also, as soon as I finish work or go on my break at work. I check it when I'm out with friends, sat with family just whenever. In recent times it has been the medium on which I have found out about the finding and killing of Osoma bin Laden, the recent tragedy in Norway and the brilliance of Stuart Broad's hat-trick.

(At this point the Sidler picks up his phone and checks Twitter- not that much has changed as it's only been 5 minutes since I last checked so what was I really expecting? (Added note that I made sure I checked twitter at this point both when I wrote the blog post and then when I typed it up)

Twitter has become big business in football and mainly for controversy. It all started when Darren Bent moaned, whilst still at Spurs, that his team had rejected a transfer offer from Sunderland even though he wanted to go. Now of course the man under the spotlight is @Joey7Barton or just Joey Barton for some of you. Some have criticised Barton's rantings against his employers as stupidity I see his use of twitter as a personal monologue and press conference brilliant. And not forgetting his own personal list of 'My favourite quotes'.

So in tribute to the likes of @Joey7Barton, @rioferdy5, @JackWilshere, @DiegoForlan7, @GNev2, @RobbieSavage8 and @WayneRooney I have decided to write my season preview in just 140 characters per team;

@AFC will face real struggle for 4th if Cesc no replaced well. Combative CB + CM also a must. Arsene must prove himself again with trophies

@AVFC have lost last seasons top 2 players but bought in quality in NZogbia + Given. Big Eck must hit the ground running. Top 8 at very best

@BRFC the Venky boys must continue to be patient with Steve Keane. They want top 10 + Goodwillie could fire them there. Hoilett is important

@BWFC if they get over last seasons end of year dip Bolton will be up there again. Will need another striker, hopefully Sturridge. Keep Cahill

@CFC how do you solve a problem like Torres? Aged squad and Essiens legs also issues but AVB will have Chelsea in the hunt. Need a CM and RB

@EFC keep Jagielka, get Saha fit, make sure Cahill is scoring, start well and find a new investort- otherwise all could go wrong at Goodison

@FFC welcome back Jol, you've been gone too long. Hodgson + Sparky did good things.Gera and Foster good signings but Europa could distract

@LFC lots of money spent but is it good money?Downing for 20 mil is over the odds but Suarez is world class. Should come 4th ahead of AFC

@MCFC callengers ready? Hell yeah they are- Aguero maybe the X factor they've missed. Will go well and finish at least 2nd even if Tev goes

@MUFC champions ready? of course, does SAF do it any other way? Young, de Gea and Jones good additions. Sneijder still to come? Would be great

@NUFC Nolan out, Jose + Joey to follow?Still not replaced Carroll though Ba is a good player.Tiote must be kept but lucky to get to 10th

@NCFC if Hoult cuts the Colman's Mustard then Norwich may stay up. Laberts side master of the late goal shows fantastic fitness. 15th?

@QPRFC oh fuck- Warnock's back in the Prem, can't stand him. Bernie won't give him any money though. Taarabt is excellent but should go down :D

@SCFC Tony Pulis is a genius and his team get results. Juggling Europa will be a big difficulty. Need another striker, could be C Cole

@SAFC plenty of experience signed and plenty of money spent. Bruce must start well or be under pressure. Either sacked or top 10 finish

@SWFC glad to have the Welsh side in the Prem and fans will be incredible but enjoy it while it lasts relegation beckons. Very talented manager

@THFC remember the Bernabeu and San Siro? Good you'll need the memory. Back into the pack despite Bale. Need a world class striker, LB + CB

@WBFC a great end to last season and need Odemwingie to keep firing.Chris Brunt is an excellent talent.Could still struggle but stay up

@WAFC I tipped them to stay up last season but can't rule it out this year. Need goals now NZogbia's gone but who from? Need more consistency

@WWFC up,down,up- what a last day it was. Doyle and Fletcher get goals and new signing Johnson will steady the defence. Will stay up again

@PL top 4 MUFC, MCFC, CFC, LFC. WAFC, SWFC. QPRFC bottom 3. Aguero, Hernandez, Suarez top scorers.

The Premier League is nearly here ladies and gents, and I for one can't bloody wait. If nothing else, it means they'll be something interesting on Twitter!

A Golf in Class

I don't know about you but I bloody love summer. Okay it's not quite like my younger days when you could savour that moment the final school bell of the year went and you rushed out of the hellish building as quickly as was humanly possible- on a side note the hellish building I attended no longer exists- and the weather might not always be the greatest but there's a certain feeling in the air when it's the summer, everyone's more relaxed and smiles more.

One man who's smile will certainly be beaming across his face from now until the end of the summer, and no doubt longer, is Darren Clarke. The Northern Irishman became the first British winner of The Open since 1999- yes I am talking about Golf, look at the title of the post!

As Clarke finished his final round with a bogey on the 18th there could not have been a sports fan who didn't smile, sigh and nearly cry all at once (I did and I was sat on a train from Leicester with limited signal on my radio). This wasn't just because of the relief of a Brit finally winning the only golfing major not in America for the first time in 12 years but also because DC has gone through what no man should and we have all shared into his emotion and lived his pain with him. In 2006 Darren lost his wife Heather after her long fight with breast cancer, it left Darren and his two sons without a wife and mother, without a rock to support him. You could never blame a man for crumbling in those circumstances, in wanting to hide away from the world for a while and yet Clarke was not that kind of man. Instead he made himself available for the Ryder Cup just six weeks after his wife's death and got picked as a wild card. He didn't just make up the numbers though, oh no, the former World Golf Championship winner went and won 3 points from his 3 appearances and helped Europe beat U.S.A whilst adding to his already impressive following.

On top of all this the man known as 'The Prince'  won the title at the age of 42, a quite remarkable feat- especially when the likes of Colin Montgomerie have started righting world number 2, Lee Westwood, out of winning a major due to his age and the amount of previous chances he's already had. Clarke has made himself the people's sporting champion of this quite remarkable summer by being so likeable, by having such a fantastic story and by asking the R & A if he could drink Guinness out of the infamous Claret Jug. 

And what of the contenders to his people's champion crown? Well after an enjoyable Wimbledon Andy Murray eventually succumbed to Rafael Nadal in the semi final. Should this rule Murray out of our affection? Surely a Wimbledon losing semi finalist is endearing to us all, after all a man named Tim did this over and over again and we loved him for it, heck we remember those should be lazy summer evenings with the sun starting to set over the horizon as Tim finally lost a battling 4 setter vs Pete Sampras so well that we still shout out COME ON TIM when Andy is playing. Then there was the big fight, David Haye vs Wladimir Klitschko. The tough talking, fast moving, Londoner against the robotic, boring, never been tested Ukrainian. Of course the Ukrainian won, not only won he destroyed Haye in a way the Englishman had suggested he would do to the Eastern European with Haye barely throwing, never mind landing, a punch in the first 11 rounds. Afterwards 'The Hayemaker' blamed his ickle toe which was broken 3 weeks earlier. Now us Brits love a loser but we love a plucky one and not an excuse making one who dies on his arse during his biggest test, the moment that could make him. 

I tell you what, that golf though, it's a real sport..... What's that?!? It's only 25 days till the Premier League season starts, 18 days till the Community Shield and 16 days till Paul Scholes' testimonial (which I'll be at)... Finally! I can stop pretending this other rubbish matters. Don't get me wrong I do really like other sport, especially when it allows me to be patriotic but it's not the football season. It's time we kick started the greatest 9 months of any 12 month period!

After all anything else is just a Sunday walk ruined.

North London- It's only 930 miles long!

Rivalries in football always make life much more interesting. Who doesn't look for their team's derbies when the fixture list first comes up?

For certain those members of the Glasgow fraternity will always look for the Old Firm matches. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately if you happen to be a policeman in Glasgow or a member of the SPL's disciplinary committee, Old Firm matches are a regular occurrence with 4 league games every season and the possibility of a cup game- or three- to look forward to.

Local derbies are always exciting in build up but not always so on the pitch, a la the first Manchester derby of this season, as the two teams nervously circle each other determined no to lose. It's amazing how quickly a teams usual attacking instincts go out of the window when it comes to derby days. This week we saw, quite frankly, the oddest ever North London derby played over two nights, during two matches, in cities roughly 930 miles away.

On Tuesday night Arsenal, away from home, were forced to abandon their usual glorious marauding style of play as they spent most of the first half of this Champions League derby inside their own half. So much were they on the back foot that, for the first time since 2002, a team managed no shots in a Champions League match. A ridiculous stat from a side that, despite the absence of Theo Walcott, included the likes of Robin Van Persie, Jack Wilshere, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas, and that's before we get to the subs of Andrey Arshavin and Nicklas Bendtner. To simply read such a stat would probably lead you to believe that for once in his life Arsene Wenger had dropped his usual stubbornness and inability to change game plan and had realised that his best chance of progressing on Tuesday was to sit back and defend and see out the game, possibly hitting the opposition on the break. The truth is completely different, the truth is that Arsenal were forced to play only in their own half and because of their love of playing pretty football, no matter where on the pitch, Arsenal gifted the home side their opening goal, and the goal that changed the tie.

In the second half of this derby Spurs played the part of the team that have to forget the way they usually play in favour of defending for their lives as the away side came back at them. Spurs have no doubt been a sigh of relief in the often mundane world of football since Harry Redknapp took over and with the likes of Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart, Aaron Lennon, Luka Modric at his disposal it is no surprise that Spurs prefer the 'we'll score more than you' approach to football. Mid week though Tottenham hung on to their lead as if it was their lives at steak. Whilst they were on the back foot for most of the game the team from White Hart Lane still managed a few shots, two even actually on goal, unlike their North London rivals- this probably had something to do with keeping 10 men on the pitch (a decision that was clearly ridiculous but did not cost Arsenal the match). Spurs of course were not trying to play on the back foot, they would have love to have been attacking the oppositions goal at every possibly moment but the sheer pressure exerted on their midfield and defence did not allow them out of their own half often enough.

As with all derbies there was some real controversy and both sides had chances at the end to clinch the tie or throw it away. Arsenal really should have given away a penalty before they eventually did in the second half, when Laurent Koscielny should have received his second yellow card for two actual yellow card offences. On the other hand Robin Van Persie clearly should not have been sent off. Van Persie's initial yellow card was his own fault but his second was harsh to the nth degree, though I don't buy his claims he couldn't hear the whistle or suggestion he didn't know he was offside, but we'd all had taken that shot- ironically Arsenal's only one. Spurs had little of the controversy but still could have thrown it all away were it not for a William Gallas clearance off the line and Heurelho Gomes' save right at the end following a brilliant move. It could have also been so different if it hadn't been for Bendtner's awful first touch.

Despite all this it is quite ironic that on the nights it was Arsenal who scored and not Spurs but that is the beauty of games played over two legs, it creates compelling 2nd legs. Fortunately for all of us none of the Champions League ties this week were anywhere near finished when it came to the 2nd legs and excitement could be found everywhere and even the most drab of games, including ones that featured sides from North London abandoning exciting football, were exciting because we did not know which way they would go.

If you didn't know I have of course been referring to two completely separate matches. One between Arsenal and Barcelona played in the Camp Nou which featured Barcelona prove why they really are the best football team on the planet as they penned the Gunners into their own half for most of the match and Arsenal couldn't cope, the immense pressure they were under really being shown as Fabregas gifted his boyhood team their first goal and Koscielny giving away a penalty when extra time was still a possibility. The second match was at White Hart Lane and features Spurs and, Serie A leaders, A.C Milan. Milan, 1-0 down from the first leg, did most of the attacking in the game and forced Spurs to play on the counter attack, arguably their favoured way of playing, for much of the match but failed to find away past the resolute defending of Michael Dawson and William Gallas. Yes the difference in class between Barcelona and Milan is hugely recognisable but the difference between going out of the Champions League, like Arsenal, and going through to the quarter finals, like Spurs, was simply being resolute and not losing.

Two matches, two cities 930 miles away, 2 different results, no winners but only one North London derby!