Another derby, another win, another DVD
Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 10:35PM The month of April. Legend has it that it was birthed in the very depths of hell. A fixture list carved out into the back of a damned soul with the blood of virgins inked into the finger nails of Satan.
Arsenal.
Chelsea.
Man Utd.
Two played. Six points. We never beat the big teams. We always bottle it. Stick it up your bollix. Again.
To dare is to f*cking do and we're f*cking doing it. Did I expect it to be this convincing? Or course not. My pre-match concerns bottled into a single assumption which was thinking today would be a little like last Wednesday. Back to the walls, pressure and pressing and counter attacking the ingredients for survival. We'll run out of steam, we all said. No Wilson again? We'll be ruined in midfield. Er. Not quite.
Instead today was altogether a completely different ilk of game. One of swaggering style, sexy and slick, covered in a glossing of grit. A performance of supreme confidence and belief. Absolutely magnificent.
Chelsea have hiccuped away from home a few times this season, and perhaps the pressure got to them today. That's up for debate, no doubt something their fans can talk about. What is beyond debate is that Tottenham got to them.
I f*cking love this club for keeping me eternally entertained.
Wednesday, we beat the pretenders, dicking Arsenal and ending their season. Saturday we beat the real deal, continuing our resurgence against Chelsea by damaging theirs. Three point Lane? Bogey team no more. It's so quiet, it's so quiet, it's so quiet over there.
City lose to a 93rd minute Utd winner and 4th spot twists back into our favour.
Injury and selection issues? Lack of true depth in squad? Fallacies. Heart and desire, intent and control. Tempo made in N17. We've had it all season long, disappointed at times, but in the past two games - when it mattered the most we brought it to the table. Just hope we can do the same against the likes of Bolton and Burnley.
Bale was awesome. Just awesome. What. A. Player. Brilliant goal. Dawson immense. In front of Fabio. Modric in the middle. He can't play there, can he? Hehe.
Terry red-carded, a delight. Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke. 2-1 was - and I'm pinching myself - not a justifiable scoreline. Should have scored more. Would have been done and dusted long before Lampard’s consolation. Roman guilty of a sitter. Bale and Defoe had efforts. Bentley's brilliant lob sublime.
Talking of JD. Glad he's got it (penalty) out of his system.
Spurs. Title contenders? Of course not. Title influencers? Aye. Champions League front runners? This week. Yes. Makes you wonder. Had we won through into the Cup final, would the hunger and focus in the league have been this great? Whatever Harry is doing I applaud. The players also deserve the utmost credit for the way we've gone from slipping all over the Wembley pitch to flying amongst the clouds.
We were fantastic. On and off the pitch. Top class. Can't wait to listen to Hansen on MotD tonight. Spurs will always let you down, won't they Alan?
/gloat
Only one team in London. Four days. Two DVDs.
More later when I've stopped dancing on the rooftops.
Reader Comments (111)
I can't imagine the lads are feeling smug and overconfident heading to OT against United Quietly Confident. Especially given our record there.
I don't think anyone expected us to win these last two games. Any points we could get against United would be fantastic but I certainly am not counting on them.
Nevertheless, audere est bleedin facere!!!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/18/arsenal-arsene-wenger-premier-league
what a cock. so much for his comments "deflecting criticism from the players." the best i his "I don't care who wins it" hissy fit. Is this man 4 years old?
glad to see West Ham getting a good spanking tonight. Augers well for Citeh's visit there on the last day of the season. Hopefully West Ham will still have something to play for...
I'm afraid we need to become Arse and WHU supporters soon!!!
Arse loss could not have come at a better time, or coud it?? Were we better off them beating Wigan and having something to play for against City??
Belgian Spur, you're gonna leave me out here on my own, huh?
Sorry, guys, not a knee-jerker and still not convinced Harry is the one. The last two matches have been fabulous, not just for the results but for the beautiful confident sexy classic Spurs style. It's why we truly madly deeply love Spurs.
But we've seen it before. Spooky, how far back do your archives go? 2006-07 season? Can we see the comments after the UEFA cup matches? Remember when we were the great entertainers (sky sports trademark)? Really, it wasn't that long ago, it just seems like it's been forever (thanks a lot, Messrs. Ramos, Comelli, Levy.)
Last week, someone (not a spurs fan) posted on a Guardian blog that with Tottenham's squad, Alan Pardew could have saved us from relegation, so why were people saying Harry is such a genius. There's some truth to that. It could also be that the old dog can learn new tricks, but with a really really shallow learning curve. Harry's not going to have a whole lot of time to learn in the qualifying stages of the champions league (if you read his interview with the Guardian this morning, he's already getting his excuses for an early exit ready.) And have you forgotten he's out on bail? What happens if he is found guilty? Even if he isn't clinked (and I've heard that inland revenue is looking to make a high profile example here a la Martha Stewart), can Levy keep him then? Mid season replacement, that'll be fun. Maybe Pleaty can caretake again.
This week has been great and I really don't want to bring anyone down. I love this team. I love the way they can play. I just want a manager who can live up to the team's potential and who doesn't, to be blunt about, constantly have his eye on the main chance.
hehe sorry Ziege but at this point i had to admit that i must have seen things wrong , he does win against the bigger teams , he has put his pride aside by playing pav and we are having the best season since i started supporting spurs a long time ago
So even if my gut says otherwise , Harry must be the real deal.
And if not Harry then who? You raise some interesting debatable points worth considering but to take the long view, we need consistency and we need to build. Harry hasn't even finished one complete season yet. I happen to think he is doing a fine job and he is the best man for the job right now. Sacking him--which ain't gonna happen in the real world at this point but we can entertain it for the sake of argument--would make no sense whatsoever.
"Arry" was brought in to do a job (for a price). He did it (and got paid). Mission accomplished. Now he should either (a) go back to the club he really loves and do a job for them (haul Portsmouth out of the shit) or (b) move "Upstairs".
"And if not Harry then who"..... (a) Any one of the top 8/10 European coaches who have more than a working grasp of the English language (b) one of the recent band of ex-Premier players with a coaching badge (e.g. Christian Zeige, Marcus Babble) or Zola or Martinez!!!
Belgianspur, s'okay, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. But chickens, hatching, etc, it aint over till you've expelled that dodgy lasagna from one end or the other...I'd also point out this is probably the most talented assembly of players you've seen in Spurs shirts since you started supporting the club.
Tonyblue, obviously I've got a soft spot for Christian Zeige, but my choice would be Slaven Bilić. Clearly, we don't have issues with taking on ex-spammers and I've always felt there was a natural sympathy between the Croat and Spurs style of play (even before we acquired our Croats.)
Ziege , it is probably the most talented squad since i started supporting Spurs in the Ginola days, the only squad that came close was during the short lived Berbatov era ... mainly due to him being a world class striker when it comes to skills at least
"Slaven Bilic".... good shout!