@DBTheTruth The beachball would have scored
Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 5:01PM Irony and football. It's majestic at times, more so when your team is the one blessed with it's touch.
Darren Bent
Most were concerned and playfully joked about how he would return to haunt us. You could see it happening. Bent, sways past King to thrash the ball past a despairing Gomes as he sprints towards the Sunderland fans, Blackberry in hand, tweeting 'Sandra would never have scored that one'. Except football sometimes doesn't go according to the obvious script. It prefers instead to take care of the ones that are meant to be the bad guys. Us. Almost like poetry, Gomes saved a flaky penalty from Darren. I'm still undecided about the first penalty appeal in the first half, but the one that was given in the second was the type that no blame could be pinned on the ref for giving it. He doesn't have the luxury of action-replays. Bent allowed gravity to pull him down before Gomes went for the ball. It was a con. And such is life. That not only did Benty do a naughty thing but that he then proceeded to shag it all up. That's why we sold you indeed.
Sunderland
I thought were superb. And if there was any evidence that Tottenham's transfer policy is at times an embarrassment, look no further then Steed Malbranque. Class act that gives it 100%. I still can not fathom why we sold him. Andy Reid, who I can live without, was also impressive (lovely shot that had the woodwork saving us). Without sounding condescending, I don't think Sunderland can improve much more. They're a tidy outfit who will do well enough. What the game illustrated was that we can't afford to grind out results all the time - which is something we've done for a number of games since beating Hull 5-1 away. More on that in a second. First, Steve Bruce. Shut up with your complaining. All this 'Gomes would not have saved the penalty if he had been red-carded' ranting is just plain silly had Bent not forgotten to put on his anti-gravity boots. Fact is, penalty aside, they failed to get one past our enigma between the sticks. We on the other hand, as poor as we were, did. Twice.
4-3-3
Scrap it Harry. It simple doesn't work. And with Wilson Palacios still struggling with form, we can't keep on restricting ourselves in this manner because you persist in playing Robbie Keane. Four in midfield, two upfront. Let's get the basic foundation right for the 90 minutes ahead of us and changed it if we happen to be chasing a goal late on. We got over-run on Saturday. The change to a more traditional 442 and a late surge of confident play, saved us IMO.
Robbie Keane
Rumour going around is that he earned himself a cool £1M for Spurs not getting relegated (allegedly). If true, it's not his fault the club offered him the contract they did. If not, then it's further proof that people continue to be critical of him since his return by always bringing up his contract at every given moment. He's got a clause has Robbie. He can't be dropped if fit. You have to wonder whether we are missing something in his performance if he is selected based on form. In the past, I've stood up for him. He does get important goals and he does do a lot of work for the team that us common folk might not appreciate. But I'm hard pressed for examples at the moment.
Grinding our results
Someone over at a Spurs message board discussed how we are 'grinding out results' and that we are reliant on a flash of brilliance of a slice of good luck and that this is not the basis of a Top 4 challenge. I can't disagree in that we lack options when Modric and Lennon do not start and that Harry makes curious decisions at times with formation. There's no doubting that our bench is not as strong as we would have the likes of Keane make us believe. And if we continue to grind out the points our luck will eventually run out of steam. But then Modric is almost back. And this will galvanise the players and the fans. What Harry has to do is make sure we have not just cover (was Niko not meant for that?) but also the courage to play the best team for the occasion, even if it means sacrificing the unsacrificable. What's the point of Bentley exactly? Don't answer that.
Special Mentions
Special mentions to Hudd, Woody and Jenas - who along with Gomes all looked decent and held us together when it mattered. Tommy's goal was a corker, layed off wonderfully well by the returning Defoe who was a little on the quiet side - although Gordon would beg to differ. Corluka remains his sleep self. And General Wilson is more army cadet at the moment. Which is a massive concern considering the season is due to get tasty in the coming months when the top 4 or 5 start to pull away from the chasing pack. Harry needs to turn on the man-management charm and fix this problem. Quickly.
Ledley King
Not been offered a contract yet. You wonder if there's a reason behind that. I think that it's easy to start banging on about the decline of the great man because he has been rusty in the last few games he's played, but let's remember - top players who do not have dodgy knees lose form now and again. King is obviously suffering at the moment. Might be his knee is finally bringing him down, or he's just not on top of his game - not so much because of the injury but simply just because. For some of our fans to start doubting him is just the type of typical knee-jerking that grates me (sorry about the pun there, purely coincidently).
Still, we do need to start thinking about a long term plan. King, Woodgate...we need to know who will come in as replacements. If King's form continues to go south then perhaps it's time for me to re-evaluate my opinion on the subject. A changing back four can't be helping matters with regards to consistency.
Gomes
Won us all three points. Outstanding. Just outstanding. I love him. He can cock up once every 5 games if it means he plays like that for the rest (although I'd prefer if he didn't cock up at all).
The Media
Stoke survive an onslaught and nick all three points and are called magnificent. I don't expect us to be tagged with such superlatives, but let's look at the facts. We played poorly. We scored twice. We won. If that type of thing happens once it's luck - but if it happens more often then its a sign of a decent team. It's when it happens all the time that we can start to scratch our heads.
I'd say that sitting in 4th spot after 12 games on 22 points is pretty damn good considering. Harry has had us on the up since he joined. We've stuttered a few games recently but rather than just cave in and free-fall, we've dug in again. I guess I'm happy for everyone to continue to down play our chances and write us off. Now if only our players would stop talking us up off the pitch and start doing their talking on it - we might climb out of the small ditch we've found ourselves in and start running up that hill again.
The Games Ahead
We need to find that intent and purpose about our game again. We have to thanks to the fixture list. Wigan at home should not be a game taken for granted. Three points is imperative there but more so is a good performance. Because we then go into games against Villa (A), Man Utd (A) (CC) and Everton (A). Then we're back at home again entertaining Wolves and then Man City. Blackburn and Fulham away is then followed by West Ham at home. Some tricky games in there. We need to reclaim that early season buzz and see ourselves through to the new year still hanging around in the upper regions of the table.
Hate to place all the responsibility on the little shoulders of Modric, but it looks like he remains the key for us to reclaim that rampant balance we lost when he broke his bone.
Keep on grinding out the results when necessary, but I prefer to have a firm grip on our own destiny by being the ones asking all the questions.
Reader Comments (34)
Nice piece, agree totally about 4-3-3 and Steeeed. You don't know what you've got til it's gone
These keane contract rumours - surely they aren't true...surely Levy would not have accepted that...would he?
I want to know why Kranjcar is not starting. He should be a regular on the left until Modric comes back and then one of them should be moved to the centre next to Wilson.
Good Read, Completely disagree with the whole tom huddlestone looked decent part, i thought he was shocking even if he did get a goal, he's a liability in the centre of midfield.
everyone who watches can see 4-3-3 does not work for us - why harry keeps trying it i dont know - keane looks bad because he keeps having to play an attacking midfield role which clearly he is not suited to. You wouldnt ask Defoe or Crouch to do it so why take a guy who has scored a hatful of goals in the last 3 seasons to? We end up with a diluted striker/midfielder which is why we always look like we have less players on the pitch than the oppo.
On Hudd yet again against a mobile midfield (and Sunderlands movement was brilliant) he gets blitzed. jenas and Wilson spend their time trying to make up for Hudd's immobility and end up looking bad themselves.
4-4-2 sorts all of the this which i'm afraid doesnt include the flat track bully Hudd
Another tour de force Spooks.
We might find the same with Jenas when he goes, if he goes. 'You don't know what you've got till its gone'
And the same with Huddlestone.
What's the point of building a footballing team, and then leaving Krasjcar out and lumping the ball up to Crouch. Its not supposed to happen I know but it does. He's not that good in the air anyway and its time Pavlyuchenko and Defoe got a run of games.
While we are top four Harry will be protected but its mainly because other results, especially Man.City have gone our way.
Harry is a very obstinate man persisting with formations and personel that just don't work. We can't rely on Gomes saving us more than occasionally.
We desperately need Modric and Lennon to give us some width and inspiration. Crouch should be an impact sub and Keane should be dropped instead of starting every game and then being subbed.
Good article, but like others, have to disagree about Huddlestone; he's getting worse (great strike though).
JimmyG2 -"We might find the same with Jenas when he goes, if he goes. 'You don't know what you've got till its gone"
Nearly as funny as some of Spooky's articles.
I want some of what you're on.
Every player with the exception of Pav has a role to play. And I'm not saying Pav is shit, far from it. He's just not working for us. Jenas IS important, he runs around and supports both the attack and defence, he's not world class, but he adds something. Hudd IS important. The lad can pass. I'm fucking sick of the Keane bashing. At one point of time Keane was our best player. I agree with islingtonyid that he's being played out of position. He can be deadly when used as a deep striker (see Burnley). Crouch is good as an impact sub but also as a starter. I believe we need to rotate all three. Defoe + Crouch is proven, Defoe + Keane can be deadly. Crouch + Keane is a bit problametic though as we end up with that lump forward game. What needs to be done is have KEANE be the main force in attack when playing with Crouch. He will supply Crouch AND score. Sell Pav, give dos Santos more games as a 4th striker. When everyone is fit:
Gomes
Croluka
BAE
King
Woody
Lennon
Kranjcar
Wilson
Modric (behind Strikers)
Keane/Defoe/Crouch
Keane/Defoe/Crouch
Bale needs more games under his belt. Let's not ruin another good young lad.
Yep, you've ticked all boxes there Spooky, but, naturally, I'll join the chorus of disapproval on Jenas and Hudd. First half in particular they couldn't string three passes together. Admittedly the formation (width? anyone?) didn't help, but the midfield was off-the-boil for an hour.
Read/heard Arry afterwards wondering why the players didn't pass in the game like they do in training, which elicited a rueful chuckle from AANP Towers. I'll bet Jenas and Hudd are amazing in the comfy surroundings of the Spurs training pitches.
And genuinely wondering whether Keane really does have an "Undroppable" clause in his contract. Used to treat this as a joke, but with each passing game I do wonder.
I thought Hudd was ok. Not has bad as being suggested. But not exactly top of his game.
I wish managers & players alike, would look at the video evidence before they open their big mouths & look like total half wits. The first claim for a penalty, was a penalty, the second one was a blatent dive & it should have been Bent that was booked. Bruce, your not a bad bloke, but stop whining, you're starting to get on my nerves.
Good summary I thought most of what you said was right but Wilson is struggling partly because he is expected to play out of position. Put him back in position in the centre of midfield in front of defence and he'll settle back into form. Also why do we constantly keep banging on about relacements for Woodie and King. Dawson and Bassong looked pretty good as a pairing and I'd settle for them as first choice any day though Woody is up there as an alternative. Leave King in reserve he was the best centre half in the country but he isn't much more than average now and can only get worse not better.
I don't believe we should get rid of players till we have better ones to replace them however I can see that with further acquisitions both Hudd and Jenas will be on their way . I go to every home match and just can't see how you can even think how those two can possibley hold a midfield together. Face the facts Sunderland overan us for long periods in the match in midfield. Yes the formation was wrong to start but and I'd agree with the general concensus that we need to settle back to 442 however we lack players that can dictate the game. We have Bale and Kranjcar plus hopefully Modric now coming back on the left so it's not as if we don't have options.
It is worrying that we are unable to assert ourselves at home even though we are not exactly playing top rate opposition. We lose our way and just drift into mediocrity. It happens too often and it seems that there is nothng much that can be done to change things around. At least that is the signal Harryis sending out.
how close exactly are modric and lennon to returning? maybe it's just me and i'm missing something. I had a feeling that the modric injury would take longer than they originally said. a broken bone is no joke, especially when it's your leg and you run miles around the pitch all game. either way, at least we have an international break next weekend to give them extra time to recoup.
@AANP with each 'passing' game, indeed ... Ay, there's the rub ...
Good points but Harry could have made this game a lot easier by playing a more mobile team Corluka and Palacios have not played well lately .You have to watch players in a world cup year because you don't no whether they hold back in case they get hurt in Corlukas case he must have been weak from is virus. This would have been my team. GOMES HUTTON OR NAUGHTON WOODGATE DAWSON BALE KEANE HUDDLESTONE KRANJCAR JENAS. .Why did we buy Naughton and not even play him and our bench is strong on paper and weak on the feild because of injuries lack of games and players upset by getting no playing time all arsenal players get playing time in the champions league or the prem. that's our problem.
Love the new sub-titles Spooky, but WTF is the badger about?
Huddlestone. England squad.
I rest my case.
My case of cheeseburgers, which young Tommy consumes in seconds...
we r a boat without a rudder...blown along with the wind...we r a rolling stone with no direction home...we got lucky...and pinched a win...dare i say it ..spurs r becoming boring to watch...we r not even a hardworking side playing with a high tempo...spurs remind me of a factory where i worked and every friday afternoon no bugger did anything except turn up after lunch and pass the time away until home time..our players r getting complacent and redknapp needs to smarten things up ...there is no longer any pressure on the first team players to perform...even worse is there is no one to inspire the team on the pitch or off the pitch(gaffer)..
Jenas is in the England squad too. Fabio has lost it.
Couldn't agree more on the 4-3-3 formation, we do not have the required personnel to pull it off right now. Keane was a non-entity. It's either upfront or the bench, I'm sorry but placing him in the midfield is a liability. The impact Krancjar had once he entered was immense. So right now it is a challenge between Crouch and Keane to partner Defoe and against Dunderland it was Crouch. Other matches will favour Keane. It's the way it goes.
Gomes was great which is always great to see; especially him yelling at his teammates. As for the penalty, in my opinion it was a dive. The saddest part is if he had stay up there would’ve been enough contact which would’ve forced the ref to have no choice but send Gomes off. The argument is that Ledley was the last player, but that is questionable. Bent did an Eduardo, he knew the contact was coming and started his descent before the contact.
As for Ledley, I think the partnership for the next match should be Dawson and Woodgate. Let Ledley have a rest and let Woody and Daws get back in rhythm with Premiership football. And until Lennon returns Jenas should play out wide. I've always thought he plays well out wide and as a backup for Lennon he is ideal.
King needs a rest, there's no point in over playing him and I understand the irony in my statement, but let him sit on the side lines and give Dawson a chance to shine, and then use King when needed. He's taken a number of additional knocks this season and Daws needs to the run outs.
Good article and agree with most of it. Our shape allowed Sunderland To play better than they wpuld normally have at the lane and only when we went 442 did we take control. IMO Keane was effective...did he not score the goal that gave us the lead?? That for me is a job done...Defoe doesn't take half as much flack from fans yet he cocked up getting sent off fot a silly stomp costing us a crucial striking option for 3 games and then yesterday was offside more than Pipo Inzaghi! I love JD but he is no better or no less a player than Keane...all our strikers (pav aside) have contibuted this season and we should be behind all of them. Next game modders and lennon should be back, 442 will be back, and more importantly our free flowing spurs of Aug/Sept will be back! COYS!
Spooks, great as ever matet. Personally I thought the Hudd and JJ had not bad games and Keane was finding space first half but still doesn't paper over the cracks of the 4-3-3 or 4-diamond-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 or whatever we played. For me though I think Crouch was woeful. Ok he is a handful cos of his height, but apart from his flick on for the first (ok, yes i know that was a pretty vital contribution) what did he lend to us. With him in the side, we tend to aim for him far far far too often which the opposition seem to enjoy defending against. And also it doesn't help when he doesn't jump at all (you watch, his feet never leave the ground on most occasions) Yes a Plan B to change the game but for me too imobile and too predictable.
Anyway, I hate being over-critical. We are fourth and nearly a third of the way through. It can't all be bad can it!!!
Excellent Spooky!
Hudd was playing well (a bit shaky at times), Jenas was better on defense than on attack (those 2 missed goal scoring opportunities - AAARGH) and Palacios was killing me with the heel back-pass. But I guess this is what good teams do. They capitalize on the few moments they have and pull through with a clean sheet even when they're not playing so well.
As far as Steed, what a guy! Class act is right! I know all the fans miss him at the Lane. Why couldn't we have brought him back instead of Chimblunda???!!!
COYS!!!
good article spooky...
and selling malbranque is a mystery to me to this day considering his midfield strengths and his last season at spurs
which proved the wrong decision as shown by the following bad start with ramos etc
.....the current style of play n movement is demanding modric and lennon.....tha fact is without these players we move the ball around diifferently... crouch is dangerous but we have to get back our passing game and dominance.....
the media is a joke all round regarding EPL for all managers and supporters of clubs.....
listening to the comments one game makes you champoins or relegated or losing the plot??
at the moment with a strong squad we arent getting into any higher gear.......? modric...
redknapp has to be careful playing all three main forwards was a gamble to keep keane in the first selection?
for me too many changes affect certain players more than others......
there is an opprtunity with the two week break to balance the first eleven for the wigan game
if you do the stats on the players whith injuries and its effect on returning players confidence......
it doesnt read well.......
consider the confidence in our opening games compared to the current period.....
its great we can get the points on a low performance.....but it will not keep us in contention.....
so what if there are tough games away......we turn up and do a good professional job...
it must piss of some ex spurs players watching some of our display from a mental attitude point of view
graham roberts fa cup run?
stick all the players in a cold bath i say !!! shave their heads ! like mohicans! (Benoir)
sort the men out from the boys......
stop talking crap to the media.....roll the socks down and play!
using spooks analogy: Huddlestone is tottenham (can do better and imporve, we have seen it in hte start to the season). But to reward mediocre perfomances recently (as much as it pains me, as a few there know I am a big fan) with an england call up, wrong message for me!
Jenas is sunderland, has played moderately well recently, but does he look good simply because Palacious looks poorer (even when compared to his own high standards)? chance of him actually improving to 'next level' - not great (IMO).
As for the 'modric effect' the stats say: first 4 games won 4, 12 points, next 8 games (without Mod) won 3, drawn 1, lost 4.
Now admittedly it's not that simple as we have also been missing lennon and defoe in parts, and the second 8 games we've played 3 or the 'top4'. But what it does show is that Robbie is a plum who should keep his trap shut, because we don't have ready made replacements for three key players and our understudy's (bentley most notably) really aren't of the same calibre.
Top 6 will still be a tall order, in our favour we have points on the board and others have flatered along the way, but it would appear that if we take out 'the diddymen' and we look less of what we can be, a slightly jarring to watch! A bit like Ken Dodd realy (one for the target audience there).
hehe tricky always doubting JJ and always a firm believer of the hudd ...
I m glad to see JJ improving and a bit worried about hudd's recent form and lack of effort , he should scare the living hell out off the opposing midfield being that tall and eeeeuh big.
Ah well three points in the pocket, frustrating night for Darren en City is handing out presents as if it were christmas already
JJ must be mid 20's by now, so he's probably close ot his peak, that's all. If the best thing about him is 'his engine' then a few more miles and another year or two and the services will start coming at more regular intervals!
And yes, Hudd has not been great recently (since his start to the season). Which is a shame as he has a couple of years until he's supposed to follow JJ into decline, and if he doesn't push on now, he never will it would seem.
Anyway, I think you'll find that Hudd is not that big, in UK terms, as he's about 'average'. Not sure what they feed you on the continent, or maybe it's the water?
Nice piece Spooky.
I know we were desperate last year with a lack strike options while dwelling at the bottom of the table, but why would any manager allow a "must play if fit" clause? I suppose Harry could argue that fitness is more than physical and take Keane off for not putting his mind in to it. Keane's attitude when he was subbed was poor. Krancjar changed the game when he came on...and Keane came off. I wish we'd never brought him back from Liverpool.
I know this is probably somewhat ridiculous but perhaps it's part of my DNA as a Spurs supporter: What if Modders comes back as half or even three quarters the man he was before? It seems we're all putting a lot of stock in him resurrecting the team and returning to opening weeks' form. That's a lot of weight to put on his shoulders as you say Spooky. I think we need to do something in January is all I can say ...
Okay end of neurotic self-doubting post
COYS!
good site, better than stupid harry hotshits
if levy want top 4,then he have several thing to do:
new central defender instead of King,maybee he is finished.
must have wolrldclass attacking midfielder and keft wing.
also a woldcclass striker are needed.
sell deadmeat jenas, david ? and Pav,maybee a few more.
if Levy want top 4 this have to be done, january
problem:difficult for us to attarct worldclass palyesr,sorry guys, theirs a long way
worry:dont hope chelski snap up lennon
Spurs may be your soul, but English is definitely not your thing.
ha!
I think he mis-spelt Seoul by the looks of things.
But all are wlecome to the Spurs suppoting bretheren, it is not a matter of geography or linguistic ability it is simply a question of good taste.
Or in Paul Barber's terms, 'how much cosumer number 00256742 is willing to pay to support the team'.