Well that was going to be the case anyway, regardless of any match prior to it. All the time HR is in charge when we play them you can throw the form book away. Its a bit like yourselves, playing us is the only time you're up for it.
NSS - Not to take anything away from Baines, it was a great strike and did swerve, but Vim is right - the wall just fell apart and the ball went straight through. How many long range free kicks do you see every week where it goes straight into the wall and just looks like a poor effort. That could so easily have just been one of those. (We seem to have a lot of those by the way.... )
"I've not signed here to play for a couple of years and then move on." - Daniel Sturridge, January 2nd 2013. He said similar on 3rd July 2009 and 3rd June 2006...
No, what I mean is that on top of you, the goons and west ham, we now have qpr treating playing us like a cup final. Qpr playing spam or the goons for example, doesn't have the same snap too it.
That's not true. We are the 2nd biggest if not biggest game for you, Arsenal, Fulham, West Ham and QPR. There simply isn't the same buzz around Stamford Bridge for Spurs or even West Ham as there is for Arsenal or Man Utd. Why? I will never know considering both are rivals. 08/09 is a classic example, Spurs lose to almost everybody but somehow galvanise themselves to get draws at both the Emirates and Stamford Bridge. IMO Arsenal and Chelsea are/were a bigger game for you than you for us but that is changing due to Chelsea and Arsenal's decline and Spurs rise to prominence and being more of a threat. I've always said for years that London teams have under-performed due to too many London teams being in the top flight at once, problems northern clubs don't have.
...yeah , ok! Also you are in no position to tell me whats true, as you are not a Spurs fan and do not watch the games at WHL in the same way I do, and I can assure you these games have no reflection on your prior form over the years, this years game v you being a prime example as your best performance to that point. Your wummy opinion that we see the NLD as more of a game for us than them is truly laughable. There again we can expect little else from someone who thinks its a weaker league! Btw, if playing us is as appealing as playing QPR for you chavs....why didn't you put that **** side out against us then?
When Arsenal were competing for titles I don't know of any Gooner that didn't consider Man U their biggest game. Since Sky got involved traditional rivalries have waned. I wasn't Wumming Spurs at all, the NLD is a big game for both sides and always has been but let's be honest it had always been just that little bit bigger for Spurs than it has for Arsenal. As for team selection I can't answer that as a different manager was in charge for the QPR game, all I can say is we aren't good enough to beat teams like Arsenal or Spurs away from home without our best (or close to our best) XI available. I just think your "cup final" jibe isn't an excuse when you consider how seriously Spurs take the Arsenal, Chelsea and to a lesser extent West Ham games. It's tough for all 4 of Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham (Chelsea moreso) because of the number of teams that surround us.
I'm sorry DL but your view on this subject is just wildly inaccurate. The first sentence of your last comment probably explains why, though. Well obviously it was, because it was highly influential in the title race. The same would've been true if you'd have replaced Utd with Accrington Stanley. Chelsea's biggest domestic game last season was against Liverpool in the FA Cup final, but that doesn't mean that the Scousers are your biggest rival, does it? Your claims about derbies and rivalries always fall extremely flat with me. They just don't ring anything close to true when compared to my experience of the fans of a wide variety of teams.
Yes, lets be honest indeed...you check out RVPs pre game comments before the last NLD he was involved with! Also, st no point have I said the games v Spurs are 'the' most important on the calender. All I have said is that the games v Spurs raise your appetite for the game more than say v Everton. I don't care for your opinion on this, because that has quite visibly been the case for a few seasons. Now HR is at QPR, those games will have that extra bite rather than just another PL game.
Utd have lost to Arsenal or Chelsea and you've had to cope privately with the disappointment of a possible title setback for a while. Hopefully the points can be made up. Lose to City and people can't face going to work on Monday and for the next six months. Lose to Liverpool and the shame and embarrassment is just unbearable.
For those who haven't seen the pics... [video=youtube_share;883b2NaDLR4]http://youtu.be/883b2NaDLR4[/video]
Fair enough PNP and you make a good point but I've long held the view that fanbase of Arsenal, United, Chelsea and Liverpool (The Old Sky 4) is more distorted due to the fact they have the highest number of armchair fans or fans that have never been nor will they ever go to a game. Chelsea are not as bad as the other 3 but still bad. I believe Sky try to create rivalries, a classic case in point is their current advertisement for the next Super Sunday by branding Arsenal and Man City "rivals" Anyway Sky definitely affect the purity of the aforementioned fanbases. My family are all Arsenal fans (some go to games occasionally but most don't) and all of my cousins claimed they had no problem with Spurs and quite liked their team but hated Chelsea. This is something synonymous with Gooners that aren't from North London in my experience. This is not just an Arsenal thing though its all of the Sky 4. How many United fans were even aware of the City rivalry 10 years ago or Leeds now? Same with Chelsea fans re: Leeds, Millwall etc. You can be sure that most Sunderland/Newcastle/Villa/Birmingham fans and to a slightly lesser extent Spurs and City fans have all been to games and are aware of the clubs history and passionate rivalry with their bitter rivals. I wouldn't disagree with you Notso but all I'm saying is that it's the same for Arsenal, West Ham and Chelsea. There's no doubt about the fact that WHL will have a different buzz or feel about it when those teams are in town especially Arsenal. London Derbies (the main ones) are fixtures of huge significance to the fans whether we like to admit that or not. I don't get the same buzz for any game as I do when we play Arsenal at home or Spurs/West Ham away and nothing will change that. Anyway we will have to agree to disagree but I've enjoyed this debate anyway, no hard feelings.
You're not talking about fans though, DL. You're talking about people that have a vague knowledge of football and probably have a family connection to a club, but never watch it.
That's where it becomes difficult, if your talking about genuine fans of the club like yourself, Notso and Piskie/SJW then the NLD means equally as much to both, but if your talking about Sky Season Ticket Holders and those that are more exposed to their club through media rather than attending games then Man Utd are their big game because that's the rivalry Sky wanted to market at the time.
The comedy of the crackdown on diving really is profound. "We'll tell the refs to card divers, that'll learn 'em!" Meanwhile, giving PL refs three choices instead of two when a player goes down merely decreases their chances of getting it right from 50 to 33%.
That rivalry between manU and arsenal was intensified by the players, as they basically hated each other, particularly viera and keane. Even Roy keane said the arsenal game was the biggest of the season for him.
