We have finally done it. It’s taken 28 long years but we have finally broken the last hoodoo hanging over us. Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely delighted with the result, but I’m left wondering why I’m not buying every newspaper to soak in every picture and report of yesterday’s game? Why 28 years of hurt didn’t give as much elation as I thought it would?
After having time to think about it, I think I know why.
Now, during this decade we have broken all the other various hoodoos the so called ‘big clubs’ have held over us. In 2010 we beat Arsenal away for the first time in 17 years, in 2011 we beat Liverpool away for the first time in 18 years and in 2014 we beat Manchester United away for the first time in 23 years.
But Chelsea, no matter how hard we tried, it felt at times like we would NEVER beat them again at Stamford Bridge.
To put it into context, before yesterday’s match, the last time we beat Chelsea away Nelson Mandela had been released from prison the day before, Margaret Thatcher resided at Number 10 and Sinead O’Connor was top of the charts with Nothing Compares 2 U.
It was THAT long ago.
I believed we were the better team going in to yesterday’s game but the hoodoo meant I had very little confidence that we were going to win. Believing we were the better team wasn’t just supporter bias. You only had to look at our previous League encounter at Wembley. Yes we lost 2-1 but we had 18 shots on goal to their 9 (6-2 on target), 14 corners to their 3 and 68% possession to their 32%. We were the better team, and yesterday’s game proved again that were the better team. More possession, more passes and more shots on target. We deserved to win yesterday, just like we deserved to win back in August at Wembley.
And this is where my question gets answered.
Imagine Pochettino as an army general for a small, relatively unknown army. His goal is to one day take over the world but he knows he has to defeat one army at a time to reach his goal. When he took over his army he knew they had some unexpected recent victories but he wanted them to rule the world. He had made his army very fit, very disciplined and instilled in them the desire to fight for their badge. They had plenty of battles with a particular blue army in their patch over the past 28 years but lost, or come back very bruised. Now in 2018 he knew that the blue army would be defeated. And I guess we all did.
It really was only a matter of time. This result wasn’t a fluke, it was on the cards.
When we play the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United I don’t fear we are going to lose and I don’t think the players do now either, I genuinely don’t, and that is a testament to just HOW far we have come under the command of General Pochettino.
This is why I wasn’t running around hugging everybody in sight at the final whistle. We are no longer a team who hope to beat a big side, we are a team who expect to.
And that’s no April Fool’s joke.
