Are we too obsessed with Arsenal?

[George94]

Not sure if this makes me a bad fan, but for me, supporting / loving Tottenham Hotspur is just as much about hating Arsenal.

Going to school in the early 00s definitely played a part in this - they were brilliant and we were painful to watch up until about 2006…had to put up with so many gooners in school

 

[SandroClegane]

It may have a little to do with Arsenal, however there really are no differences between now and with Nuno last year (when crowd were wanting Levy out then), in fact the football under Nuno was probably better and more cohesive than it has been for long period this season.
at the time it was felt that this was last chance saloon for Levy, his appointment of Conte really has been disastrous and final straw.
All that is happening with Arsenal is what should/could have happened with us if we didn’t appoint 3 anti-football managers in a row, and that is what grates most, we have had to put up with dreadful football now for too long. Levy is at fault however Conte has compounded the issue

This is an absolutely preposterous statement. We weren't creating ANY chances that season.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

maybe but then football is about winning and if we're not doing that then the next best outcome is that arsenal don't either.

if you offered me these two scenarios:

a) arsenal 1st spurs 4th
b) arsenal 2nd spurs 14th

i'm taking option b.

This.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Not sure if this makes me a bad fan, but for me, supporting / loving Tottenham Hotspur is just as much about hating Arsenal.

Going to school in the early 00s definitely played a part in this - they were brilliant and we were painful to watch up until about 2006…had to put up with so many gooners in school

Yep that was a painful time.

Rivalry is what makes sport spicy ?️ I fucking hate those gooner bastards, certainly not ‘obsessed’ with them but absolutely want them to lose every single game and hate seeing them do well especially when we are not.

 

[Houdini]

They are far more obsessed with us then we are with them I would wager.

 

[Houdini]

The filthy goading shit heads!

 

[barry]

maybe but then football is about winning and if we're not doing that then the next best outcome is that arsenal don't either.

if you offered me these two scenarios:

a) arsenal 1st spurs 4th
b) arsenal 2nd spurs 14th

i'm taking option b.

I love this

 

[worcestersauce]

Too many of us are.
We are still very much in the race for top four and in the CL & the Cup with players coming back from injury so hope for the rest of the season but because Arsenal are top people think it's all turned to shit.

 

[jurgen]

maybe but then football is about winning and if we're not doing that then the next best outcome is that arsenal don't either.

if you offered me these two scenarios:

a) arsenal 1st spurs 4th
b) arsenal 2nd spurs 14th

i'm taking option b.

Knowing our luck it’ll be

c) arsenal 1st spurs 14th

 

[jay2040]

Imagine this:

It's January and Spurs are 5th in the table, 6 points off second place. We are also in the last 16 of the Champions League. Arsenal, meanwhile, are somewhere in midtable, about 8 or 9 points behind and Arteta's future is in turmoil. City meanwhile are top, running away with the League playing their easy on the eye style of football.

Do we think that under those circumstances, serious questions would be asked of the manager? Do we think that chants for the owners and/or Levy to pack up and leave would be heard during matches?

Personally, I think it would be a lot milder than it currently is and we would not be so panicky.

My point is, all the hypotheticals above are actually all factually correct today as we stand, with the exception of course being that Arsenal are top and seemingly pissing their way to a league title. And it's clearly that meteoric rise that has us rattled even more than our own fortunes.

I hasten to add at this stage that I too am actively calling for ENIC to depart. I think their time is at an end.

But my question is, are we too obsessed with those ****s up the road? Do we, as a Club and a fanbase, measure our happiness based, to an alarmingly high level, on comparisons between Spurs and Arsenal? That meaning we'd be more content being 6th right now if they were 7th?

I think we are and I am guilty of it too. I hate Arsenal almost as much as I love Tottenham. But is that right and should we perhaps try and self-evaluate those feelings? I say this to end on this note: Yes things are bad, but are they as bad as our mood would suggest? A couple of wins on the bounce and we are in the CL race, which, let's face it, is some overachievement given our squad.

Food for thought that I thought might need its own thread.

The fact that you raised the thread and question sort of answers itself!

 

[Japhet]

Too many of us are.
We are still very much in the race for top four and in the CL & the Cup with players coming back from injury so hope for the rest of the season but because Arsenal are top people think it's all turned to shit.

We may be in those competitions but I bet most clubs are praying they get us in the next round.

 

[IfiHadTheWings]

Absolutely we are, i fucking hate them with the burning passion of a thousand suns, and the Gooners i know here in North London feel the same about us... when people say they don't care about them i am really not sure what to make of it (either lying to themselves or something else i don't know)

I am happy to not try and take the moral high ground on the issue, i unashamedly hate the fuckers, like actually despise them.

Some of my best pals are Gooners and i'd throttle the fuckers around the NLD if i could (love them otherwise)

 

[worcestersauce]

We may be in those competitions but I bet most clubs are praying they get us in the next round.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.
We have our problems, much of which can be put down to our injuries, and I know there's now talk about Conte plus the Paratici situation but people are losing the will to live because Arsenal are top.
Truth is its taken Arteta 3 years to get there missing CL and even European football altogether one season but people think it's instant.

 

[Nerine]

I understand giving them stick at games because it's potentially a competitive advantage, but beyond that most of it I see as troglodyte behaviour tbh

 

[C1w8]

Imagine this:

It's January and Spurs are 5th in the table, 6 points off second place. We are also in the last 16 of the Champions League. Arsenal, meanwhile, are somewhere in midtable, about 8 or 9 points behind and Arteta's future is in turmoil. City meanwhile are top, running away with the League playing their easy on the eye style of football.

Do we think that under those circumstances, serious questions would be asked of the manager? Do we think that chants for the owners and/or Levy to pack up and leave would be heard during matches?

Personally, I think it would be a lot milder than it currently is and we would not be so panicky.

My point is, all the hypotheticals above are actually all factually correct today as we stand, with the exception of course being that Arsenal are top and seemingly pissing their way to a league title. And it's clearly that meteoric rise that has us rattled even more than our own fortunes.

I hasten to add at this stage that I too am actively calling for ENIC to depart. I think their time is at an end.

But my question is, are we too obsessed with those ****s up the road? Do we, as a Club and a fanbase, measure our happiness based, to an alarmingly high level, on comparisons between Spurs and Arsenal? That meaning we'd be more content being 6th right now if they were 7th?

I think we are and I am guilty of it too. I hate Arsenal almost as much as I love Tottenham. But is that right and should we perhaps try and self-evaluate those feelings? I say this to end on this note: Yes things are bad, but are they as bad as our mood would suggest? A couple of wins on the bounce and we are in the CL race, which, let's face it, is some overachievement given our squad.

Food for thought that I thought might need its own thread.

Personally i dont think so, definitely not for me at least. I want them to lose as much as the next person but this does not underpin the frustration of the fanbase at the moment, it's the cherry on top (or final straw is probably the better metaphor).

The two primary reasons for the current mood are 1) the football we play and 2) the seeming lack of transfer activity in key areas, that's my personal order of frustration 1-2, i'm sure others might have it the other way around.

If we were playing good football the arsenal thing would be annoying but the mood would not be as it is now with the same points return/league positions of both clubs.

 

[StockSpur]

we were not untill they started winning again

 

[BuryMeInEngland]

It's not like Arsenal have never won the Prem before. We've all lived through the exciting late 90's and early 00's when we suffered the wonderful

Spoiler

St. Totteringham's day

and the embarrassing but quickly forgotten

Spoiler

mind the gap bullshit

and we laughed heartily when we finished above them and the hysterics seen on AFCTV.

Like everyone I want to come out on top in the NLD, but I hate (with a passion) ChelScum and the Spammers much more than I do Arsenal. Let them have their day, it's all swings and roundabouts inn'it? And eventually positions will reverse. Again.

 

[EastLondonYid]

It's not like Arsenal have never won the Prem before. We've all lived through the exciting late 90's and early 00's when we suffered the wonderful

Spoiler

St. Totteringham's day

and the embarrassing but quickly forgotten

Spoiler

mind the gap bullshit

and we laughed heartily when we finished above them and the hysterics seen on AFCTV.

Like everyone I want to come out on top in the NLD, but I hate (with a passion) ChelScum and the Spammers much more than I do Arsenal. Let them have their day, it's all swings and roundabouts inn'it? And eventually positions will reverse. Again.

Moved to east London/Essex really
But grew up in Edmonton,stones throw from the ground

When you grow up in north London, no other club do you hate more than Arsenal..

I don't expect everyone to understand, it's just how it is.

 

[Joe Bjorn Hotspur]

Moved to east London/Essex really
But grew up in Edmonton,stones throw from the ground

When you grow up in north London, no other club do you hate more than Arsenal..

I don't expect everyone to understand, it's just how it is.

It’s most definitely all to do with with the area you grew up in. I was raised in North East London, Hackney, near the Haringey border in the 1990s / 2000s.

Didn’t know a Chelsea fan until the age of 14 (a boy from Albania who liked the glory under Jose). I knew more Orient fans than Spam. I was surrounded by Arsenal and Man Utd fans at school.

My hate for Arsenal runs through my veins and cannot be shaken off. In the 2000s the amount I had to put up with as a kid: their arrogance, reminders of us being rubbish, Sol Campbell, Henry (particularly with my Irish roots, his handball vs Ireland), even when we won the league cups in 1999 & 2008 they still goaded us.

My hate for them is number one. Going into the modern day with Arsenal Fan TV (at least you have a choice to avoid this), odious celebrity fans such as Pier Morgan, Sadiq Khan, Corbyn and Starmer: what a dream team. No other club comes close I cannot stand Woolwich ???

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Yep, brought up in Tottenham and when I was younger, my hate was strong. Now that i'm an old man and stink of piss, i'm a bit more mellow about it , I mean, I still hate them but not like before when i'd happily throw hands at them because I was a beered up idiot who knew no better, I calmed down when I turned seven though.

Also, I think social media dilutes it a bit. It seems to me that if you're on Twitter, you hate everyone and the other factor is the 'banter', people can't take it when it's dished out so it ramps up the hate for other clubs even more because people are desperate to be the giver and not the taker. Ask @freeeki