The season starts here...
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 9:11AM Ok, shake off the hangover of two successive defeats. Losing to the elite clubs is not relevant as we are not part of the Top 4 Sky Sports Grand Slam Super League. And as long as we impress and win in our other games we'll be in with a solid chance of challenging for the second tier Premier Title. 5th spot has never looked so appetising.
Ok, so we're missing Modric. Boo-hoo. We're not a one man team. Ok, so King is out injured again. And arguably we're a two-man team but even with these two monster players on the sidelines and Woodgate lost in the abyss of confusion with his mystery injury - we still have plenty to drag ourselves upwards and through the next month and a bit. No excuses. No typical knee-jerk confidence drainers. Forget Webb and his incompetency. Forget the injuries. Dig deep. Battle hard. We need to start taking responsibility and taking it out of the hands of the officials and reclaim residency of our own destiny.
One of my readers nailed it with this rather simplistic statement:
"No siege mentality, no determination to right the wrongs..."
Nail on the head. Harry has some work to do. The players need to find the next level of play. The aim should be that by the time Modric is back and ready for action, we're flying, and his return to the side is effortless, lifting us up further as the Spurs faithful struggle with their nosebleeds.
Ooh, I do like a bit of romanticisation.
This time last season some of you guys and girls will remember a certain series of games that carried significant importance. Yep, I'm referring to the epic 'The Dirty Dozen - Challenge Spurs™'. Harry's first 12 Prem games in our quest for survival. Emotional days. Click here to re-live all those scary moments that had you shivering under the covers, knowing that the creature under the bed would attack if it could smell your fear.
But the challenge this time round is altogether different. Take last seasons prem table and turn it upside down. Failure would still be deemed as depressive. When isn't it? But unlike last term when we were God awful and playing our way into the Championship, this time round we are looking at a far more appeasing target. This isn't an official launch of the new Challenge Spurs series as I've yet to carefully craft a snazzy campaign poster. Think of this as a pre-launch party.
So, what's the actual challenge at hand? Five games.
(H) Burnley
(A) Bolton
(A) Pompey
(H) Stoke
(A) Arsenal
Five massive performances required. We've got 12 points as of right now. Am I being greedy asking for 12 more points before we play the scum away? Burnley will no doubt be plucky. Bolton away is a match where we hardly ever get anything out of. Pompey away sees Harry return to his old stomping ground. And Stoke at home is one of those 'we'll win this Shirley' games.
If we plan to look towards 6th/5th with any true intent and claim a deserved open bus parade, then we should be aspiring for another professional and clinical four game run. The Arsenal away game we can discuss at a later date. Because I'm hoping we go into that match on the back of another run of victories. Would make the game fairly significant.
So it's up to Harry to just take a moment to relax and not over think things tactically, obsessing how best to deal with the Luka conundrum. Against Burnley I'd simply play our original formation, swapping Niko for the absent Moddle. Left-wing sorted.
Stability aiding consistency and confidence.
CB positions obviously the main bugbear at the moment thanks to the decimation of our backline. Huddlestone to slot in at the back? Fingers crossed Dawson isn't too far off. It's also time for Gomes to return between the sticks. Crouch is deserving of a start up front with JD. Harry has to place the club in ahead of any individual, even one wearing a captains armband. Drop Keane for a game. It's ok. The universe won't collapse in on itself.
We have a decent tally of points. And the end-game of this brand spanking new Challenge is this:
13 points. Minimum.
No pressure.
Reader Comments (23)
8 points from that for me.
The mental side of our is still as shaky as ever, clean sheets will be hard to come by against battling teams.
I'd take 3 wins and two draws. Reckon Bolton/Arsenal will be the shared pointers. Its a good looking fixture list and so far Harry hasn't really been on the ropes. Would be screwing if he was after this run of games.
Challenge Spurs from last season was grim. Should be fun this time round.
(H) Burnley - W - 3 points
(A) Bolton - D - 1 point
(A) Pompey - W - 3 points
(H) Stoke - W - 3 points
(A) Arsenal - D - 1 point
11 Points.
Happy days. No relegation tears for fears to be shed this time round. I'm with the boy Oops on predictions. Bolton and Arsenal are the two games where the potential for unstuckness can occur.
We are sort of fragile at the moment as Laudski points out. Huge test for us is how we cope with sides that will kick us and play rough. Burnley will play football so I see no big problem there other than we might shit bricks with Hudd and Corluka at the back. Bolton are arseholes who always have the better of us up at the Reebok. Pompey might still be on a losing run or they may well be on a high having picked up points. O'Hara can't play against us, so step up the Prince for a possible 'look what you're missing' performance. Kaboul another one who might haunt us. Stoke should be fine. Arsenal away could be a messy.
If we drop points to Burnley we deserve to finish 10th.
Burnley @ Home – just go toe-toe, should have too much class = 3 points
Bolton away – they are dire at the moment, I’d want 3 points after winning away @ Hull and the Reserves = 3 points
Pompey away – Shambolic, surely 3 points
Stoke @ home – do they travel? We should have some CB’s by then to cope with the aerial threat = am I being greedy asking for 3 points?
Looking at the other fixtures over that period, 12points from those 4 games would see us sitting 3rd in the table. I’d take a draw @ the Library.
we are are a talented side its just we need to get steely as much as poss due to injuries overlapping
season is still young........the squad are good enough for fifth etc but we have to sort these bloody injuries
Dawson ?....woodgate is out ....
hutton is not for me
corluka looked like he needs to sort some pace out in training
hope bassong recovers well confidence wise
well done to carlo for good keeping whilst the defenders sort
a win with burnley is the only option.........
we are a skillful side but the hudds n jenas,s etc have to pick up their game
to dominate etc their game etc
Spurs have left themselves short again. When will they ever learn?
We knew about King and Woodgate's injury record yet we didn't buy another central defender. Woodgate and Dawson have been out all summer so it was glaringly obvious the signing of Bassong wasn't enough cover. Then transfer deadline day arrives, we panic and try and sign Upson! King has to go on a play as you play contract. We had all summer to sort this out! And Letting O'hara leave on loan is the icing on the cake! What a crazy bit of business.
Arsenal away on Halloween...? Mmmm might have to switch off the phone for that one. We will either play out of our skin and get robbed somehow or just fold again.
Have to say we should have looked at another CB. Turner who went to Sunderland or that Sheff Wed kid. Anything to make sure we have plenty at the back. Spooky, you said it yourself along with several thousand others = we can not cite ready made excuses about squad depth. All fit - we are fine. 2/3 key players out and we are fucked which means = squad death was never truly great in the first place. I know its all tongue in cheek but the next four games are important. We'll be top 4 if we win them and the Arsenal game will be like a cup match if we do.
I'm sticking with positivity. C O Y S.
I hate to say it but our record against the top four away is shocking so how is it going to get any better against Arsenal? They are so strong at home. Maybe the luck will go our way for once. The four games before that are key and if we get anything their at all it's a bonus.
But of course we all hope we do.
We'll draw with them there. I'm hoping Luka will be back in the side too.
I dont do predictions but an average of 2 points a game throughout the season gets us 4th/5th so 10 from those 5 would be a nice addition to the 12 from 6 already acheived!!
In terms of squad balance/depth - we have two England Under 21's out on loan at the moment - a CB in Walker and a L/CM in O'Hara that would probably be geting some serious game time in the next 4-5 weeks but it does look like we can call them back. IMO this is a result of not having a reserve side this year whereby we have to loan the players out so they get some sort of game time but then we can't call upon them when we need them.
We look horribly short at CB now but surely you can only have 4 on books at anyone time anyway as when they are all fit (cough) one of them will not even make the bench so how would we accomidate 5 prem standard CB at anyone time?
What odds on a Chimbonda return in Jan?
Give the kid Dervitte a game in the carling cup and if he does OK I would rather him and Charlie than Thudd for the league. Everton only played Rodwell and Gosling because of injuries and they are considered 1st teamers 12 months on - lets give the kids a chance rather than play players out of position.
4 wins on the trot?
5 wins would send Sky back into a frenzy about us.
apart from the arse all are games we need to win or get a point..i think the lads are up for it and me thinks we are going to give several teams a pasting in the next few weeks...coys
We can easily win the first four of those games, the fixture list actually being kind to us considering the injuries at the back. Losing a couple of games to by far the league's best two teams is hardly cause for concern and again, we now have a nice run of fixtures to get back on track.
I just hope we stick to the original, successful game plan rather than the Ramos style chopping and changing for every game depending on who we're playing. Put the best team out and give the opposition something to worry about.
Spooks: what do you think about starting Gio?
(H) Burnley - Draw
(A) Bolton - Win
(A) Pompey - Win
(H) Stoke - Win
(A) Arsenal - Loss
I'd bring him on as a sub. Bentley too.
not as importants as chas and dave splitting up.............gutted!
Spooky, if we get 12-13 points out of the next 5 games my guess is we will be sitting 2nd or 3rd on the table.
2nd or 3rd after 11 games, nearly a 3rd of the season? You have been eating too many mushrooms ;)
Personally, I reckon we are looking 9-10 points which should have us 4th or 5th - much more realistic.
So we have King and Moddle out, if we go and lose to Bolton away then it's obviously a mental thing because our players surely out class theirs.
Play with some balls and we should see 4 wins and a draw. Pompy game will all be about Harry and the presence of Wilson should see us "impose" ourselves more than last year.
On a side note, How many Yellows is Wilson on and what's the limit before a ban? (whilst looking nervously at the Scum game)
I think Corluka has looked AWFUL at CD. That said, we did buy Bassong so it is inaccurate to say we didn't buy anyone. If there was a mistake it was thinking Corluka could play there but how good do you think your 5th choice CD needs to be when would have thought Woodgate and Dawson would be back by now?
Where the hell is Bale?
We're all looking at the weekend, I'm a bit nervous about tonight. I'd start Hutton, Dawson, Corluka, BAE....Bentley, Jenas, Huddlestone, Gio Dos Santos........Keane, Crouch up front. You'll have to take Dawson off at some point so you'll bring on Palacios and drop Huddlestone back.
Surprised we let O'Hara go without someone else coming in. I guess Bostock might see some action. Also Dean Parrett if he isn't on loan.
Unfortuantely I can see us losing against burnley (not to be underestimated as they were probably the better team over two legs in our last encounter and the man who made the difference - eventually, was Jamie O, who is sunning himself currently on the english riviera), battling a draw against bolton (typical unwatchable nothern cloggers game probably a bore draw) and having a scrap at fratton park for a point there (and hel knows they need every single point they are going to get - expect a KPB last minute equaliser). A win against Stoke will provide some solace, but only for us to lose to a 'sky top 4 ref's decision' at goon central at the end of October.
We have lost the momentum, and our 'plan b' doesn't look anywhere near as good as our 'plan a'. so plan c needs to be pretty damned good, and I just can't see it, until robbie is either back up top with ANOther striker and the midfield has more balance to it.
8 points? we'll be lucky to get 5 from the next 5 as I see it. And I hope I'm bloody wrong on this one, but wouldn't be surpirsed if I'm not.
- Sceptic Pegg, 23rd Sept 2009