The backdrop when the game eventually kicked off was stranger still: the booming thuds of the ball echoing around the empty arena replacing the booming voices from the stands, and the low-level, relentless chuntering of elite players — “Man on”; “Time”; “Left shoulder”; “Away”; “Not too deep” — filling the gaps as the soundtrack of soccer’s new normal.
Without its usual support to close out a victory, Spurs, leading for much of
the game through a goalkeeping error, wilted and settled for a 1-1 tie after conceding a penalty with 10 minutes to go. It only avoided what would have been a punishing defeat when the video replay system came to its rescue and overturned a second United penalty.
Tottenham, the team, had entered the stadium last year with high hopes. A squad assembled at a fraction of the costs of its richer rivals, it was on its way to the Champions League final last April and emerging as a contender for trophies both at home and in Europe, a team poised to usurp traditional heavyweights like United. Club revenues soon surged to record levels.
0 "“They’d usually be four deep there now,” he said, shaking his head."