It's time for another DVD. Make it a special edition please.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 12:53PM Let's start this off with a quote from our chairman.
Daniel Levy: “The disappointment we shall all feel if we do not make the fourth qualifying spot for Champions League will be a measure of exactly how far we have come.”
I agree with the sentiments. I'll be so gutted I will have to eat a dodgy lasagne for the purpose of distracting me from the emotional pain that would no doubt cause cataclysmic damage to my soul. 2006 was just so daft, it felt like the ending to a black comedy directed by Chris Morris. Food poisoning, final day of the season...it was all ominous and oh so obvious. You just knew it wasn't meant to be. I remember before setting off for the game watching Sky Sports and listening to them break the story about our sick players. Ridiculous. Surely not? Ho hum. If you looked up into the sky you'd have seen red scarf waving by the bearded ones.
There were various points of dejection throughout that season, long before the final day. Many looking back would cite the amount of points dropped in the final minutes of games. 4th spot was lost long before our players spent the afternoon puking up all over the Upton Park pitch. But it was still in our hands to lose. Which we did. But you can't argue against some of the players on the day giving it their all. It just wasn't enough.
What compounded things further (personally) was that night, around midnight, I woke up and proceeded to spend the rest of the early morning vomiting (amongst other things) thanks to...yep, food poisoning. I knew at that point the footballing Gods not only mocked me, they (the bastards) had unzipped and proceeded to piss all over me too. Worst. Day. Ever.
Rather than look back apologetically on similar days of dejection from this season (say for example the score-draw at Goodison) along with one or two other OMG moments, we should just forget and look forward. It's all rather simple.
Win at Eastlands (previous meetings, click here) and it's done and dusted. Draw and we go to Burnley on the final day (yes, they play in Claret and Blue...don't even think about it, right?). Lose that one and we can hardly expect any favours from the other team who play in similar colours.
I'm not loving the parallels if I'm perfectly honest with you. I'd go us far as saying, the footballing Gods (Chris Morris ghost writing for them) are scheming once more to dick us over. The hand of fate aside, choking and bottle jobs are two things that we seem to have overcome fairly well under Harry's guidance. We sometimes stumble and make things difficult for ourselves, but you can't question the team and their unity. It's all in the huddle.
Resolve. Heart. Spirit. Making of our own luck. Belief. It's been a season of growth, progression and consolidation for many of the qualities we aspire to have, that inspire us to push forwards with ambition. And intent to actually climb those steps upwards.
So, to be direct about things, I do not want to lose this game on Wednesday evening. I don't want us coming anywhere near losing it. I don't want to see us buckle under the pressure or give away stupid goals or lose because of a refereeing error. I don't want us to concede an early goal.
Harry has to be smart with his tactics. We all know City have inconsistent form at home in recent games. But this should be ignored. Advantage of being at Eastlands will no doubt see them take responsibility to appease their fans (and manager) by bringing the game to us from the off.
Keep it simple Harry. If King can play, great. If Lennon can start, equally great. Retain Bale on the left wing and Modric and Huddlestone in the middle. But if you believe 5 in midfield will work with counter-attacking football the weapon - then that's fine too. Draft in Palacios. Then consider who (one man) plays upfront. I still say keep it simple, 4-4-2 with all players working their bollocks off, what be a far better attempt of stamping our authority on the game.
Then there's Gomes and his groin. Ooh.
Players just need to be focused regardless who lines-up, as long as players are not asked to play out of position. If we draw, then off we go again into the final day.
City can be got at. I'm sure they feel the same way about us. They have enough ****'s in their team, enough arrogance and self-assurance to give it a right old ding-dong of a go. We have to be strong, and equally so in mind. We need to be clinical ****'s with cutting edge. No remorse. In for the kill.
We need to want this more than anything else.
And I want us to score first. Make them have to come at us for the equaliser. Make them and the home crowd nervous, uneasy. Let the disapproving moans and groans play havoc in the City players psyche, allowing the potential for a second goal.
It's easy when it plays out in your mind. The reality is, nobody knows how exactly this game will pan out. What tempo it will be played at. We might and might not turn up. Tempo wise, we can only hope it's one that suits us. Open and fast, Azza and Bale tormenting the wings. You'd think this will look and feel like a Cup final once the ref blows his whistle. You think, at the very least.
I've said it several times in the past year, we will finish in 4th spot. So it's now time to find out if my belief is shared by our players. And whether my heart is just governing my head. Not sure I really believed it back in 2006. 2010 is altogether a different kind of animal. We're not favourites for a start. We're away.
I have absolutely no doubt that we have turned 'that corner' of mediocrity and transitional seasons and have closed the gap on the failing giants just up ahead of us. Still plenty of work to be done. No matter who gets 4th place, let's not kid ourselves - next season will be even more difficult either way. The likes of Villa and Liverpool and Everton will make sure of that. City will splash money no matter what their fate is. The Prem is opening up wide at the top, faster than Jenna Jameson in her heyday. The monopoly has cracked.
Can we smash it to bits?
I can't wait to find out. I just know CL football means we can attract a world class player, perhaps two. Imagine our side with a player of Torres ilk upfront.
After 2006, to get this close again, our players should just go out there and die (metaphorically obviously) for the shirt. Don't look back at history, lunge forward and grasp what's before you with all your might and make it your own, so that next week, next month, next year...we can look back and say 'that's where the buck was trended'.
It's time for another DVD, lads. Make it a special edition please.
COME ON YOU SPURS.
To dare is to f*cking do.
Reader Comments (47)
COYS. That's all I've got to say. I'm so nervous I genuinely think it'd be easier to be hit by a bus and die before tomorrow's game and just die in the knowledge that we "might" get 4th.
Let's be having you Spurs.
That brought up goose-bumps! We're so close. So, so close. W'ere better than City. We need to believe that. It's in our hands. COYFS
COYS FFS!! Where's my valium....
This is going to be mental. My heart is racing so fast I doubt I'll make it for kick off.
Or even "do"!
Otherwise agree with every word.
COYS!!!!!
100& in agreement. Great article, please please turn up Spurs, you owe it to yourselves & us. WE ARE TOTTENHAM WE ARE TOTTENHAM SUPER TOTTENHAM FROM THE LANE.
Our time is now, lets make that damn cockrel crow COYS
Looks like i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue
Hope Harry print this blog and distribute it to the players, perhaps playing your soundtrack in the background!! I want us to win this game so much that I actually experience genuine physical pain..
Good luck lads!
COYS!
I couldn't agree more on the sentiment, Spooks, but let's be honest... the Torres comment? Even if we might theoretically be attractive to players of that calibre, are we likely to shell out 30 or 40 big ones on a player like that? And will we just rip up our salary structure to make it happen? I think not.
Still, we dare to dream, and to dare (as you rightly say) is to f*cking do...
COYS!
I knew using Torres would be a bad idea. I should have said a player of the ilk of Berbatov from 2 or so seasons back, without the concern he would up and leave again.
Although, it was an oh so subtle dig at City and their alleged ambitions to sign players of that particular standard.
I worry alot at following scenario that will 100% happen because I am a Spurs Fan.
It will be or 1-1 tomorrow at Eastlands with us scoring first and City equalising in the 75th minute. There will then be wave after wave of City pressure that will cause us all more coronary's than Big mac Kebab pizza.
We will ride out the inevitable 6 to 8 minutes of injury time. (De-Fibrilators on standby)
We will then go to the final day of the season where Gooners Law will kick us in the balls again.
The Spammers WILL Roll over without a doubt. They will make the right noises but they will ask for their tummies to be tickled Royally.
Burnley- Nothing more to play for? dont you believe it. Anyone forgotten the way we undesrvedly progressed in the cup last season after being completely outplayed by the , then, Championship team? The deserved to beat us and progress but somehow we fluked it.
Do we think Burnley have forgotten ?
I have a bad bad feeling about all of this. We NEED to wrap this up tomorrow night.
COYS! and pass the blood thinenrs!
City think they've got this won, players and fans.
A load of us yids and yidettes will be watching this round my place on TV and getting very very noisy.
Is it too much fate-tempting to have this lined up on the ipod if we happen to win?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amZaoONrDO8
You know that if we win the press still wont have any of it.
They will bang on about the fact we have only reached the qualifying round of the Champions League....
The Spurs thing to do would be to draw tomorrow and stuff it up against Burnley....
Let's show some balls for once.
omg like totally COYS
PLN, I see the Star has already attempted to cause pre match grief.
Ive followed spurs since i came to the uk.. mesimerised by Hoddle then Waddle (including the mullets), Cried when we sold Gazza wishing what coludve been had he stayed.. Comforted by the presence of King following the Judas C***s departure.. Carricks silky triangles, Berbas magical touch.. This is our time, now.. Were ready.. Weve slowly built a nucleus that has something that is still maturing but is good enough (whether intended or not with the changes at the top)..
Ive followed the blogs over the season ever since I found out about New now.. Ive read some cracking posts from you boys.. congrats on hitting the right note.. Spooky youre call to arms has forced me to join these comments.. Im sitting my Medical degree finals in three weeks and I cant stop thinking about every game.. My success this year depends on Spurs making it.. F**k the degree.. f**k the Dr title..
I repeat.. this is our time now.. Thud, Azza, Bale, Mod step forward and claim whats yours under the Legend that is the King. COYS
Drop Defoe (out of form), let Pav lead the line on his own with Modric in the hole behind, and that way we can add Palacios to the midfield without shuffling Bale etc as Harry did against United. It's slightly more defensive yes, but at least we'll be spared Defoe running offside all the time. Defoe to come off the bench and run at their defence if we need it.
Agree 100%
One thing I'd like to add, let's have some shots from distance. Fulop was very very dodgy on Saturday and the defence was not at all confident in him. Let's try some long range efforts early on to disconcert him, with Defoe racing in to pick up any spills.
Come on you Spurs. All I ask, for once, is for us to have something to smile about.
Great post. Tears welling up, shivers running down my spine.
We, the fans, know we are better than Citeh, lets hope the players believe it too. Because this is our time (Goonies)
P.M.A. guys
COYS!!!
Nuff said.
COYS!
please gods of fate, the same cruel bastards who poisoned us the last time, let us have this day, or will we be made to pay for a cup final victory over chelsea for the rest of our lives?!!!
I've never been this nervous in my whole life!!! C'mon you f**king SPURS, let's kill of the talk of being an almost-team tomorrow (and from there on) and hammer the shit team with new money from manchester! The keys to success at eastlands tomorrow are quite obvious: 1) let the monkey-faced beast roam freely up and down the flank from the wide position in midfield. If Azza plays, why not try switching it up, changing flanks and takin it to them every chance we get. I'm so keen to see the two pacey men wreak havoc on the somewhat fragile schity defense!
2) Regardless of a 4 or 5 man midfield, we need all of the central players in the midfield to assist in the pressure and double up on bellamy, tevez, Vieira/Barry (maybe both in they choose a five-man set up), and force city to utilize de jong as their creative outlet (not a word often associated with that player...). If we choose a five-man midfield, then I would go with Pav, I think he fits the bill of a lonely striker more than Crouchy. But he needs to put pressure on their bulid-up play from the back. Preferably with the help of the two wide men, force city to use ohuaha (at leat their weakest link in the back four if he does not play) for hurling it up to the big ex-scum.
3) More runs in to the area from the midfield. I think one part that has been lacking recently, is what Niko did so well for us earlier in the season (remember i.e. stoke?). Our strikers have been to isolated when the delivery comes from the sides. We need Thud and Moddle charge in, especially as Thud is a far too good header to be parked 30-40 metres out when the ball is swung in!
Pref line-up (4-5-1):
Gomes (hopefully all is well!!)
Kaboul, Daws, King/Bassong, BAE
Palacios
Thud,
Azza Modric, Bale
Pav
COYS tomorrow, COYS allways!!
Kaboul, Daws, King/Bassong, BAE
-------------------Palacios
----------Thud,
Azza -------------Modric ---------Bale
---------------Pav
(the way it was supposed to look..)
"our players should just go out there and die (metaphorically obviously) for the shirt"
That counts BAE out then, he only goes as far up as "total professional".
Great post spooky. I'm sat out in sunny Cyprus at the moment, but to be honest I've been here since Saturday but I don't feel relaxed at all, just waiting for tomorrow night to happen. The mrs keeps asking who we're playing, I need to remind her it's a long way down from the balcony! genuinly though, the article and subsequent comments allows me to still feel that pre match buzz and tension that we say we hate, but we know we love. Ive been dropping hints to potential closet spurs fans by wearing my 84 uefa cup final holsten spurs shirt to the pool every day but so far no takers. I've got a feeling that my bar of choice on the night will be crawling with spurs fans proudly sporting the famous shirt that had been tucked up in the suitcase. My old mans got tickets to the game, I could have gone but brought my holiday a week forward so I could go to the cup final (should have known better than to assume). So here's to a raised pint of keo at midnight Cyprus time, to those of you lucky enough to be going, give them a cheer for me. THFC - can't smile without you.
Thing is, with BAE being the professional he is, if Harry says 'go out there and give it 500% or else' he'll probably do it because that's his job.
For the money, not the shirt. Sort of thing.
It's already a stomach churner isn't it....
It's worse than the eve of a cup final. With a cup final it hurts if you lose, but there's always next year.
Tomorrow night I don't believe there's an option of "there's always next season".
To quote The Goonies - THIS IS OUR TIME!
The press are hating the fact that we may be the team that breaks the Sky 4.
At every opportunity they're looking for a way to dig in and uproot our spirits. We have the Star printing a dubious photo of Eidur just as a starter. God only knows what the Gooner hacks will come up with tomorrow morning.
Yes, they will say we are only in the qualifiers for the CL, but, if we pick up 6 points and Fulham win at the Emirates on Sunday, we finish THIRD, meaning no qualifier. Imagine the panic that will bring about!!
I think we should go 4-5-1 with Wilson, Hudd & Modric in the centre, although Modric will play a free supporting role. I'd also go with Pav up front, meaning that Bale & Lennon have a target to hit.
Unfortunately I think Harry will go 4-4-2 with Crouch & Defoe up front......
Sod my Goonies quote - it's time for some New Order circa 1990.
"Express yourself, create the space;
You know you can win;
Don't give up the chase.
Beat the man, take him on;
You never give up;
it's one one one."
plus
"Now is the time;
Let everyone see;
You never give up;
That's how it should be.
Don't get caught;
Make your own play;
Express yourself, don't give it away".
Hotspurhaig - whereabouts in Cyprus?
Eidur is taking legal action agains the Star!!!
Paphos mate, i checked out the harbour yesterday to find potential bars/ pubs to watch. Have you been yourself?
Let's be positive. Win our last two games and hope for a stunning performance on Sunday from Fulham and we end up .... er.... 3rd!
COYS
Paphos, lovely.
I have family all over the island.
It's a lovely place yea, as I said earlier though, I'll only be chillaxed once that 4th spot is in the bag! If any of your family are as spurs mad, tell them I'll buy them a pint in the robin hood pub on bar street in the old town, they should be able to spot me, I'll have my yellow away shirt on!
Nothing more to say than if we don't do it tomorrow night, we never will.
Believe.
COYS.
Mine eyes have seen the glory........
C.O.Y.F.S.
Have City ever got this close only to fall at the last hurdle thanks to a cruel twist of fate? No
Have they finished just outside the top 4 in 5th place twice in the last 4 seasons? No
Have they EVER finished in the top 5 in the Premier League? No
Have City slowly built a side only using resources EARNED from the club's own performance on and off the pitch? No
Did City put a champions league chasing team together in one season by spending untold amounts of money? Yes
Is Gary Cook a massive chopper who everyone would love to see fall flat on his face? Yes
Do they realy NEED the Champions League to be able to mount a title challenge next seaon? No
Were City completed outclassed and outgunned in the reverse fixture at WHL? Yes
For these reasons and more, we absolutely deserve to finish above them in 4th this year. We may not be everyone's cup of tea. People may detest our constant attempts at unfounded self-agrandising. They may think Redknapp is a bent crook ot that Levy is an avarous, whinging tw@t. But by god we play some sexy footbal, have an English manager and core of English players who would really benefit from top tier football, never spend above our means and have been dicked over so many times it's untrue.
Nothing against City fans or the club itself (the entity of Manchester City that exists away form it's current owners and players) They know too well what it's like to support the team that DOESN'T always win everything. This is their chance to finally challenge United and good luck to them. I hate United too.
But SURELY this has to be our time. 15 years of supporting Spurs boils down to one Spring night in Manchester. It's about as big a crossroads as you could possibly imagine. Last time round we jumped the lights a little and got mown over by a large truck carrying a large shipment of egg that we splashed grudgingly on our faces.
This time it can be different. A lot of the players currently in the squad were there that day. That speaks volumes. Dawson, King, Defoe, Lennon, Huddlestone, Jenas. Use it as inspiration lads. Send these oil-rich squillionaires packing back to Abu Dabi. Destroy Patrick Veira. Embarass Kolo Toure. Nullify Adebayor.
WE. CAN. DO IT!!!!
WHL forever, you stopped sniffing glue, good for you.The pressure was too much for me I started shooting heroin after 12 years being sober. Spurs fucking do that to you
Buck was trended??????? Trend was bucked, anyone?????????
Brilliant post as always spooky.
To say i'm all day thinking of what might happen tomorrow is an understatement.Every action,at work or at home is clouded with the big day tomorrow.My heart says the lads can overcome this,they have endured obstacle after obstacle,with injuries to key players like no other team,yet stayed there.
We have had our blips as well like the semi final against pompey but the real final for our boys is tomorrow.Play without fear and with authority,don't lose the damn ball,and don't concede.
And may Gomes recover fully.We're gonna need him Spooky!!!
Irish. I meant what I said. That's just how much the trend has to be bucked. So far, it gets reversed. To understand this, you need to understand the mechanics of Lost.
haha
'Paphos, lovely.
I have family all over the island.'
Been putting it about a bit over there, eh?
Sshh !
This time tomorrow, we'll either be celebrating like it is 1999 or we look forward to Sunday. Either way I am at peace. The lads have done a fantastic job this season.