Bucking the trend, the Tottenham way
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 12:03PM Another game live on television, another game against a 'top 4' side, another potential club DVD release in the making.
Spurs away to Manchester United. The Theatre of Illusions. Illusions usually comprising of us looking like we might do something positive and complete and then capitulating, mostly in cartoon fashion thanks to a decision that was forged in the Imaginarium of Doctor Webb. It's a conspiracy they cry. What about the Mendes goal, as tears are wiped from face. It's tiresome now. Much like losing to Chelsea was once upon a time a bore. And much like going 20 odd league games without a win against Woolwich.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (turn and face the strain).
We got brushed aside by Utd earlier this season, and ignoring last seasons OTT OT experience, we either tend to do well against them but never win at home (Tevez last second anyone?) and flatter to deceive away. It's the last remaining curse that needs ending. Less said about the Carling Cup game up there the better. That type of performance has to be avoided at all costs because it will leave most of us tragically empty.
No matter how you look at this fixture, pound-for-pound, it's a test on so many levels. We've beaten Arsenal and Chelsea, so all eyes on Tottenham because some are expecting to see us continue our good form and upset the Champions. Some (Chelsea) need us to. Others see United as the ones under pressure because they simply cannot afford to lose, which means an early Spurs goal could make it cagey for them (although if it stays at 1-0 deep into the second half we'll still have to score another three goals to be certain of a point once we enter Fergie-Time at the end of the 90 minutes). Harry is also under the spotlight. Tactically, he has been on the money in the past two games and the side have been galvanised with renewed belief and confidence. He wasn't meant to be good enough to out-wit the 'Big boys'. Fergie will no doubt attempt to stop us from playing. How they handle Modric and Bale will be of much interest and how Harry plans to counter any Fergie counters will be equally interesting. One thing about United is they work hard. We'll have to match that. And there's the Berbatov equation to consider. He tends to do alright against us. But arguably both sides have match-winners.
My panties are soaked in anticipation.
I understand the mathematics. With City the main threat, Villa should also not be discounted either. And as mentioned in prior weeks, defeat will not be a disaster (just remember everyone's predictions before we played the red and blue scum). But a point or more would/could demoralise our competition. And if Arsenal and Wenger, hurting badly, look to reclaim some of their lost self-respect against Adebayor and friends - the calculator will be hot with the pushing of buttons. But to be honest, I'd rather City thrash Arsenal and we beat United and then City when we play them and take 4th that way. The closer we get to the red scum the better. As long as we believe in ourselves and not the hype.
I'm not going to attempt to second guess Harry with tactics or selection. Palacios is back, he might play. He probably should but that could see Bale return to left-back and Modric to left-wing blah blah blah. Regardless of the who's and where's (Lennon super-sub back on the bench?) one thing we have proven this season is that we can mix-it up. The players have a decent (more then decent) comprehension of what it means to push for it. 'It' being progress and success. Success at the moment, measured in the way of proving to ones self that we are worthy of our position and worthy of more.
The players have a taste for it. A winning mentality. Only the brave can dare to push on further and continue the feast.
So, this club, this Lilywhite majesty of swagger and grit. Stand up, stand tall, be proud. And just go for it. Go for their jugular and use any obstacle or injustice as inspiration to punish them back. No textbook white flag of surrender. No apologetic here we go again looks. No turning of heads back towards yesterday.
What's happened has happened and can't be changed. The future is crafted by the hands (well, the feet in this case) of the ones who dare to control their own destiny. United are masters of it. This won't be easy. And most would agree, historically, out of the three 'horror' fixtures in April - this was the one we sort of expected to get nothing out of. Most of us didn’t think we'd get more than two points from the previous two. We're six up.
Don't worry or concern yourselves with the negatives when the positives are so much easier to embrace.
Buck. The. Trend.
To dare is to do. COYS.
spooky
The excellent 'The Republik of Mancunia' has an interview up with little old me talking Spurs v Utd. Check it out. Click here to read it.
For a Reds match preview, read this.
Reader Comments (133)
Arsenal were fucking dire, just dire against City. Why don't you just fuck off back to wherever it is you frequent and discuss how shit your team is. Very shit, for the record.
Brook it just keeps getting more pathetic and all the more so cause you clearly don't even know why.
Did watch the Arse-City match. That's two hours of my life I'm never getting back. God. What a turgid boring contest. Found myself wondering what the hell happened to Arsenal? They're at home and they're dire, even the much vaunted VanP. I think we broke them--nothing left to play for.
Bendtner is utter crap. That twat would be dropped from Tottenham in a heartbeat.
So much for the depth of their squad.
The only thing I enjoyed about the match was hoping (for multiple reasons) that Bellamy was going to take a swing Song.
Other than that it was rubbish.
Hotspur - Ekotto LB, Bale ahead of him, Modric CM with Hudd/Wilson, Kaboul RB, something akin to what we had previous two games. Bassong for King, who should be rested for the Citeh Cup Final. Lennon for Bentley, who was running in cement today incidentally. We need to murder Bolton, go for the throat, try and get some + for the GDiff. I think Villa may battle for a draw against Citeh next week, we gotta make sure we dont slip up and take advantage. Hopefully we go to Eastlands 3pts ahead of Citeh with slightly better goal diff. We win, we there. We draw, then its a shoot out, goal diff decider. Cant see Spammers doing us any favours tbh & surely we wont fuck it against Burnley with all that would be at stake. Strange one today. Lads seemed a little flat / busy keepin it tight, but when we got 1-1 I really fancied us for the win. Should have known better. Hudd seemed lacklustre/off the pace, tiredness? Ledders was great, but I do think he has slowed when turning, the 2nd goal a good example. Bale was wasted at LB, until switched. Luka not at his best, nor Dawson. Defoe may aswell have been away in some car being seen to by some silly tart. Wilson had a mare tbh. All in all, too many players performing below the standards set against Arse & Chelski. Disapoointing. Have a really bad feeling that a week Wednesday, floodlight game, voiciferous crowd etc we have one of those games where we capitulate. Hate to say it. We gotta go there and go for it. No tinkering Harry. No containing, no keeping it tight. Go there, take the game to them and show, pound for pound, player for player, we are the better side. Fuckin smash em. COYS. Irrelevant of course if we dont do a job next Sat. Oh, god to be Spurs. Gonna be a last day, nail biting, palpitations & loose bowel kind of Sunday isnt it.
re Arsenal. They are spent. Theres been a recent realisation by management, players & fans alike, that they really arent as good as they think they are. FFS, they're last 7 games they have won once (1-0, at home, to WOLVES). The mental strength Wenger so frequently praises just really isnt there. Who the hell chucks a 2-0 lead against WIGAN, in the LAST 10 MINS?!!
Wenger is becoming something akin to a very confused old man & at present looks broken & out of ideas. For all the usual bleatings, we play great football, pass all day blah blah blah, it counts for shit, when its another trophyless season. It's about time he started takin the Carling Cup seriously. Lets hope the 10's of miilions of £ he has at his disposal really does exist (as Gooners keep tellin me), cos he needs a GK, CB, LB, CM, LM & CF. RM also, cos Walcott is AN IMPACT PLAYER. That is major surgery. And look at the subs : Mannone ?, Eboue (they boo him), Traore ?, Eastmond ?, Eduardo (clearly damaged mentally by his awful injury), Vela (was gonna be a star, apparently), Bendtner (they hate him). All the Arsenal muppets coming on here heckling when we lose are just tryin to shout over the glaring issues they have with their own club, and, quite frankly are in denial of some major prob eating away at the Arse & the failure of Mr Wengers great experiment. It must be galling to know that if they had beaten us, Wigan & Citeh (which I am sure they are took for granted they would), they would be top by a point. Instead, they fucked it and got 1pt from 9. It is just fuckin hilarious.
Don't forget TrentSpur
They BARELY beat Wolves at home. Lucky that wasn't a grinder.
hahahaha - tis true. But didnt want to harp on too much about that one, considering our efforts against Wolves this season........
True that. let's not talk about Wolves ... yikes.
An opportunity to put Villa out of the race slips through our fingers, at draw would have done it. It's back to a 3 horse race for 4th. Bolton at home for a last tune up before we go up to Man City for the battle for 4th. Must not slip. Will be nice to watch the Villa v Man City game next week. A win over Bolton will put us on 67pts. Than we look at Man City versus Villa. If Villa win, they are on 64pts and 5th but our massive goal differential puts us in the driver seat for 4th in that a win at the relegated Burnley on last day of season puts us at 70pts and out of reach of Villa. A loss for Man City, they stay at 63pts and would need to beat us and see us LOSE to Burnley to finish above us. Either a draw or a win for Man City, leaves Villa out contention and either result means the same thing for us. We would need a draw at minimum at Man City. Basically, if Villa win at Man City next week, we only need 70pts to finish 4th. If there is a draw or Man City wins, we will need 71pts to be sure we can finish 4th.
I sincerely hope that Harry and the team don't look past Bolton, or it could be yet another "one of those days" when the opponent parks the bus and wins 1-0. Let's see if this Spurs side is really all that different and can actually finish strong instead of bottling it and falling at the final hurdle.
your manager, what a twitching twat he is! i read his comments about the title race...how Stock wouldn't lie down for anyone...how he would be surprised if manur drop points in the remaining games .... and how the pressure is on Chelsea etc etc
he is looking beyond the stepping stone he is already at, which is you spuddies, and aiming at replacing Fergi. he is trying to get attention of manur fans by doing them very cheap favor.
The Master Debater.
I think with Given out for Man C and them playing their 3rd choice reserve keeper who looked shit yesterday Villa are the main threat. The nutless goonsl couldn't even put a shot on target to test him whilst he was on. Villa will do City and so should we.
In regards to the game yesterday well 3 very cheap goals to conceed but apart from the 3 defensive lapses from the fullbacks I think we had them under control until the last ten minutesso Harrys tatics worked up till then. Then a certain player came on. Shame we don't have a striker for a 4 3 3-4 5 1 formation or even a striker that can last 90 minutes. Defoe is crocked no doubt about it that and Pav is completely knackered trying to chase possesion after an hour. We were good enough for a 1-1 or 2-2 even against the Champions with Nani in top form. Giggs with 2 expertly taken penaltys which I think with the form Gomez is in he would have saved them from anyone else.
Anyway onwards to Bolton and Owen Coyle where we should get more possession, more chances and won't be settling for nothing less than 3 points.
COYS
We need to put 5 past Bol;ton. We had the chance to put 5,6 past Portsmouth but we ended up having a training session in the 2nd half. Harry even admitted it. You see, in my book, thats the deifference between top 4 and 5,6, and 7th. Thats the difference!! 2-0 up against Portsmouth so we decide to walk in the park instaed of hammering them. Yes it may now go down to goal diffrence.
I was only looking for a point on saturday, nothing more than that!! Now its all changed, Villa will win today and its open again!!! We have had chances to kill this race on a number of occasions , but we have not managed to do it!!
We can say its progress for the club, a great improvment on last year, yes it is but what will we be saying this time next year?
THATS IT BROKE COME TO THE LIGHT, FIGHT THE DARKSIDE, ARSENAL BLOGS
ARE FULL OF SPOTTY, PRE-PUBESCENT TARD FARTS, STAY IN THE LIGHT WHERE YOUR
FREE TO UNLOAD YOUR PENT UP SPURS JUICE.
ONE OF US
ONE OF US
ONE OF US
ONE OF US
HORRIBLE CALL in Brummy Derby.
Should have been 0-0 but thaaaaaat's football as they say.
Just watched the post match interview with Martin O'Neill.
What an ungracious, upitty little twat!
True enough David and I imagine it must be pretty painful to be a Brummy fan (just getting through every day knowing you're a Brummy fan would be hard enough) but I really did love when he tore into Arsene earlier this year and tore into him about the Route 1 comment. Even uppity little twats do sometimes serve a purpose :)
Fair play NYCYID, I don't remember him slagging Wenger but anyone who does cannot be all bad.
And we are still on for fourth place!
Here it is
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/30/martin-oneill-arsene-wenger
On a similar note, as heretical as it is to say, I've developed a new attitude about Michael Ballack:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/08/arensal-chelsea-michael-ballack
Enemy of my enemy, etc.
Money quote from me by Fritz:
"But football is not possession on the ball or playing nice passes. Good football is winning games and that's what we do when we play against them"
i can't beleive you guys got this mad because arsenal didn't win yesterday!!!! didn't know deep down you were all goooooooners!!!!!!!!
Brook, improve the quality of your bullshit, otherwise I'm going to start removing your posts on the grounds of quality assurance.
please remove it!
thanks
Honestly, we are in pretty good spot. Yesterday I thought we will have to win our 3 meaning 3 matches to gain CL football but actually all we need is 2 wins and a draw. With such outcome we will finish with 71 points. The best AV can finish is 70. The best MC can finish regardless of how we obtain 2 wins and a draw, will be 70 points as well. Liverpool can only get 68 points at best.
To set the tone, we have to first get that almighty win on Saturday against Bolton. The pressure will be high and nerves will be jiggling until the first goal comes. But just like Liverpool were patient today to bang in all their 4 goals in the 2nd half, we have to exercise patience and let the game come to us.
Brook u r such a total cock. Fuck off no one here gives a shit what u think so laters prick
It's not an easy task ahead for us, but certainly it's a managable one. Realistically, we've done well to take the points that we have from the last three games; that we all feel so disappointed not to have taken more from Old Trafford speaks volumes in terms of how far we've come this season.
That said the pressure, and indeed the emphasis, is now firmly with us. Arsenal couldn't do us a favour over Man City, so we have to take charge of the situation once more by beating Bolton on Saturday, and beating them well. A good win there would set us up well going to Eastlands.
City, having played Villa the same wknd we play Bolton, will know what they need to do by the time we get to their place. If they've beaten Villa, they'll believe they can do us too. If they've drawn, They'll be shaken; in their last two games against Man U and Arsenal, they've lacked power up front and creativity in midfield. Anything less than a win against Villa could mean it's all over for them, especially if we've beaten Bolton. A draw would be the best result for us there, because if City lose then of course the challenge comes from Villa instead.
I think the significance of that City/Villa game is huge; potentially pivotal to the rest of our season. It's so close there, all we can do is believe.
COYS!
Matty K, we don't have to win big against Bolton as there is no way Villa can overhaul our 10 goal difference advantage. All we need is 3 points on Saturday, a point the following Wednesday, then a simple 3 points again Sunday and the job is done.
IaG - you make it sound so easy ;-)
The good thing is that it's all still in our hands.
Has to be a straight 4-4-2 against Bolton, with either Hudd or Wilson sitting on the bench while the other partners Modric in the middle.
I don't care if we win by 1 goal or 4, the imporant thing is that we take 3 points at the weekend.
The ideal result would then be for Villa to beat City, but I think a draw is more likely.
Villa have been quietly staying in contention and will have a huge say in the outcome.
For the City game I think Hudd & Wilson HAVE to play, meaning that Modric should play in a role supporting Defoe.
A draw in that game would end City's CL hopes (if they lost to Villa) while we then just need 3 points against Burnley.
The fact is simple - Bale at LB, Modric at LM is going to destroy our CL hopes.
Oh and I understand why Harry played BAE at RB against United. Corluka injured, Kaboul not quick enough, Walker too inexperienced. Unfortunately BAE had a bit of a 'mare!
I guess three very important questions now are:
Do we play ledley in both the bolton and burnley games OR save him for Man City?
And (I'm not a massive fan of his, generally due to his lack of pace, but...) when does Charlie return?
Do we risk starting lennon vs Bolton or bring him on for 30 mins or a half (Saving him for Man City)?
Physioroom has Charlie down for 1st of May fwiw.
At this stage I will say we should play to our strength at all times. If that means playing Ledley twice then go for it. Against Bolton we can start him and if we lead by 3 goals up at the end of the first half, then withdraw him and save him for Man City, if not then play him then and again on the last day of the season.
As for Lennon, we can't rush him back too soon. He has being out of the team so long that it will take time to re-tune his game to jell with the rest of the squad. As was done against Man U, he should just get 30 mins against Bolton. If he progresses enough to get into his racing strides, then he can start against Man City.
For RB, I will like us to give Kyle Walker a shot. It was a good decision, IMHO, he wasn't played last weekend as that could have damaged his confidence and progress if his position gets exploited continuously.