The Spurs way is the hard way is the only way
Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 8:03PM Everyone feeling a little better now that deadline day is only accessible by time travel? I'm sure the ones that choose to watch Sky Sports News in the aftermath have braved a pure red assault on their senses, what with one hell of a Liverpool love-in consuming all that dare to leave the remote out of reach. Green-eyed, I've decided to avoid it altogether. I'm still gutted that Jim White's head failed to explode. The window was disappointing in more ways than one.
Quite a bit has been said, in recent guest blogs and in the comments section, so I'm going to avoid another epic waving of arms in the hair, spitting blood and growling at the moon in protest of what looked on the surface (which is what matters because it's the only thing we get to see) to be a massive error of judgement/poor negotiating/ non-existent scouting or perhaps nothing less than a schooling dished out to us for the purpose of deflection/propaganda.
Firstly, Levy. Ignoring all the N17/Stratford agendas and also side-stepping the suggestions that some of our more fanciful bids were superfluous - we did try to sign players. The question marks remain in the manner we want about our business and the almost desperate approach to capture some of La Liga's finest. With the added bonus of Neville and Adam - that still make no sense to me in relation to the time left in window and the fact they appeared to be attempted 'bonus' signings to appease the disappointment of no forward.
All a bit messy, no? Hardly a clear and concise strategic plan. On the surface.
I'm also wondering how much truth sits in with some of those La Liga bids, as there's a suggestion in Spain that Atlético Madrid's president was building up hype to show strength to their supporters that they would not accept bids from anyone. Unless I'm thinking of one of the other clubs subjected to one of our bids. Perhaps off the back of that claim, we went from denying making a bid for Sergio Agüero to 'playing the game' and pretending we actually did. But that's just me reading way too much into it.
The point is, we all know/knew a forward was required because our forwards simply don't score enough and our system requires something a bit special to lead it up top. We tried, not very well, and failed.
But what's done is done. And as if by (dark) magic, we find ourselves now without our talismanic Croatian crafter for a few games thanks to an almost ridiculously timed 'op' that has nothing to do with football (injuries). Kaboul is out. King has been out since forever. Dawson serving a suspension. Huddlestone breaking down. (edit...and Bale...and Pienaar).
Bare bones, backs to wall, two points eight games.
You know, we can all sit here - at home, in the stands, wherever - and complain and bite our nails and generally puff out cloudy negativity like a depressive locomotive smoking sixty cigarettes a day.
Or we can cite last season. Injuries aplenty. Hardly ever starting our 'best eleven'. Disappointing pockets of results that inflicted pain and sorrow and statements as deceive as 'that's it, we wont finish fourth now'.
And yet, we dug deep. We overcome what many though impossible on-paper fixtures. And players, including those that are much maligned, out fought opponents in one superb battle of tenacity after another. Strength as a team, as a unit.
Now last year, we were chasing something we've never got before. So the hunger, the determination - it was specially moulded by each test presented and passed week in week out. This year, this season...the Premier landscape has changed a little and with it, so must we.
Time to forget the past and just look forward with one thing in mind. Belief. Even if we are disgusing that perhaps we don't have the tools in key areas. We've done it before, we can do it again. Even with our limp attack.
I'd take every word Harry shares with this bestest mates in the media with pinch of salt in terms of his complaining about lack of this type of player and lack of that type of player. I'd also just forget about the whole 'we need a forward' thing because as much as a forward would have given us renewed impetus - the fact is, we never signed one.
It's a great testament, for me anyway, that I can look at our team and find myself preferring that the more difficult the task looks, the more comfortable I am with the belief that we can finish in a top four slot. Gone past the half way stage and we've still not quite hit that form. I'm placing a lot on faith, but that's the building block that made last season so epic.
Still wholly dependent on the players recapturing that guile and spirit that saw us victorious last time round. The message is therefore rather simple.
Wakey wakey, cock-a-doodle-doo.
COYS.
Reader Comments (38)
Well put, Spooky. Especially like your highlighting of the fact that we sit in striking distance of the top 4 and have never really seen a solid run of form like we saw to open and close last season. We have it all to do, but we also have a squad of players that have done it all before. COYS
Frustrating thing is Spooks, if we lose a striker to injury - we are doomed.
You know what's funny? Man city is dropping a lot of points too. We might have to fight thme for 4th again. Hopefully, Chelski and that other team in red can continue to drop points here and there.. We need to rest soem of our players and focus on teh EPl then then the CL. We play better when we are just playing with that carefree spurs spirit
Positivity. I like it. Doesn't mask the shambloic efforts in trying to sign a striker made worse by loaning both Keane and Gio.
People seem to think that just because City have spunked more money and shown ambition that it's guaranteed for them to finish fourth. Liverpool too. Pressure is on them not us. Will be tight. Can't be doing with any more injuries as discussed but Gio and Keane? Give over. Both hardly played and when they did they were rubbish.
in all seriousness if crouch and defoe and pav all somehow got injured i take it as its loan we could always bring back robbie .....??? just worried as these things happen (to spurs only)...
February is a massive, massive month.
Challenge spurs - 12 from 12 (we already have 3 from last night) If we win on sat, a pivotal day happens on 12th when we are away to Sunderland and Citeh are away to UTD. Pivotal games. Citeh have 3 cup games in 9 days in February which might, just might affect their league form and so long as we plug away we can capitilise.
Fulham aside, we are in good form basically the exact same as last year and our strikers have not even started their seasons yet. I am optimistic about this month.
COYS
Don't think we have the ability to recall Keane.
Challenge Spurs?
I might bring that back.
I'm pretty sure the loan deal for keane has an option to buy attached so I doubt we'd be able to recall him. Not sure whether we could with Gio either, not quite sure what rules are in place with overseas loans, but I wouldn't really class him as a striker anyway. To be honest we'd have a problem if 2 strikers got injured, if those 2 were pav and crouch since even an in-form defoe would struggle to play in the 4-4-1-1 harry has been using.
The question is that what it matters is what the players believe since they are going to play on the field. We can only offer our support and our suggestions on how our team should play, be organized, buy the proper players.
Thanks Spooky, it's all been too negative online lately. It's a shame you miss the Blackburn game. It was exactly what you're talking about, we just about had the belief to get us over the line. I can't think of supporters of any other club who have it like us, never really knowing which players are going to do the business, injuries aplenty (its gotta be status-quo by now, right?), A madman of a manager sound-biting every hour, a chairman who is one day a huge fan the next a heartless business man. Gareth Bale. Two keepers on the bench, classy. Tottenham.
4-4-2 =3PTS NUFF SAID
COYS
Guts last night for sure. And Gomes - how about that for some inspiration. And oh joy no Hutton, but given the slimline bench he had to be injured, anyone heard any rumours on that? Perhaps a gang of bloggers took inspiration from Bongani's novel way of ensuring a place on the bench?
picture this... Torres finds his skipper playing deep inside his wife / carroll drunk driving on way home from rooneys scouse knocking shop / suarez caught enjoying some hilary briss sausage.... Modders, Tom, Bale, Daws & Woody back. defoe remembers the onside rule and starts scoring.... crouch knocks a few down for VdV in the CL....all in Feb/March.... 3rd is ours...stranger shit has happened no (lasagne anyone)? BELIEVE - COYMFS!
Like I said on the previous bit, now the smoke from the transfer window has closed, we can actually look at where we sit.
We're 5 points behind moneybags City, but with a game in hand - against Blackpool.
If we win that we can be 2 points behind.
Match their results week on week and then win at Eastlands again and we finish top 4.
If we can pick up wins with a threadbare team, then we can pick them up when back to full strength.
Should Harry decide to stick with 4-4-2 and Defoe find his scoring boots, then things can only get better.
Note: You forget to mention Pienaar getting classily getting knocked out by Khumalo in training on Tuesday.....
You forgot to mention Bale, another casualty.
Actually I'd be sure we coundnt recall keane but if all 3 got injured would we be allowed to make an emergency loan signing remember shitteh last season taking fulop?
Emergency loans are for keepers - Gomes used to be a striker....
Dropping like flies
While I've been starting to question Harry and Levy and even some of our players I did look at the table and upcoming fixtures this morning with a Man City mate of mine and we both agreed: we can definitely catch them. In fact, he's bricking it more than us. He thinks two injuries (Tevez and Silva) and they're stuffed.
So... we got hammered by Fulham in an inept display - we play against AC Milan in the CL last 16 soon
So... we've got a striker who runs at a walking pace - he scored last night.
So... we've got a midfielder who we struggle to find a position for - he played right mid and set the goal up
So... we've only got one left back and our right backs seem to be 2nd rate - Benny's still going and there are definitely many worse RBs in the league
So... we're riddled with injuries and have let a load of players go on loan - our XI last night eclipses most other Prem 1st XIs
Personally I can't wait for Bolton at WHL this weekend!
Have to say it..
Oh , Oh , we did'nt sign a forward oh no we're doomed and now we need a director of football I just can't look I'm appalled and frightened and have to vent on my PC.......................................
remember Rasiak and just support your team
mugs
and good article Spooks
I feel better now
Win at home this weekend and we'll be crowing again.
Off subject. In light of all the allegations , I want to say a few words in support of Cesc Fabregas...
... Mr Moyes, considering the guy's proven himself time and time again to be a total cunt, what do you expect?
lol
Good article Spooky. Levy has proven to me that there's a very thin line between a 'hard nosed businessman' and a 'wheeler dealer'. I think he's proved in most of his dealings in the transfer market and in the stadium development that he's a wheeler dealer and therefore I have no faith in him.
Harry on the other hand got that team playing last year and it looks as though he's about to do it again. So maybe I was a bit unfair on him recently, he can get a performance or 2 out of the lads.
Come on the Spurs.
I might be stating the obvious but you mention losing Modric to a "ridiculously timed op". You realise that appendicitis is a surgical emergency and whilst routine, is a potentially life-saving operation? Not one that can be planned for the summer unfortunately.
"Daniel Levy argued that the Spurs bid should be selected because it offered a stronger financial case than West Ham, and was the only bid that could deliver economic viability to the Olympic Park. He added that by contrast West Ham’s bid was doomed to fail.
“It is no different to a shopping centre,” he said. “If you don’t get the right anchor tenant to start with, it is destined to fail. If you get the right business model, the legacy can thrive.
“I guarantee you that if you have a stadium which is athletics and soccer together and, as a consequence it will not be full, it will affect economic viability and end up being a white elephant. It is only a matter of time.
“You only have to look at experience across Europe. It does not work. Why do people go and watch a live football match?
“You go because of atmosphere. The minute you lose that people don’t come.”
Soccer? Shopping centres? Atmosphere?
I think it's time to get back on the Stratford debate, spooky
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/03/tottenham-olympic-stadium-daniel-levy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/8302292/London-Olympics-2012-Tottenham-chairman-Daniel-Levy-prepared-to-sue-if-club-lose-Olympic-Stadium-bid.html
@Jimbo
I'm pretty sure he meant the timing being crazy that it happened now when Spurs yet again dealing with tons of injuries and not the fact that Modric choose surgery over death.
Since our strikers are incapable of scoring on their own, use the 4-4-2 to double our chances. Oh wait... that would still be zero chance then, right?
Oh man , Soccer ? Really , sorry for our Yankee friends on this blog but it's called football and referring to this game as soccer is a bloody shame , commercial intrests FTW ?
On another , also negative, note : I do not share the optimism Spooks , i admire it but i am sure we will not finish fourth. Based on the quality in our squad and the injury prone main men (VDV, Modric etc) i am counting on place 6. And it would be a reasonably good season considering the lack of new striker (i know , i know we have to move on). CL campaing was already good and can get better , The domestic cups were a bit of a dissapointment and top 6 in the League is just reasonably good.
I ll go and grab me some prozac and a cappucino , maybe i'll see things in another light then.
Jimbo - what I meant was, the timing of it. i.e., it happens before the Meelan game and happens in the midst of an injury plagued part of the season. Just bad luck, not suggesting he can't have it done.
We have a point more than we did this time last season. We are 5 points behind Citeh but have a game in hand and still have to play them away. We are in almost exactly the same position with regards to 4th place as we were last season.
Enough with all the doom and gloom merchants. There is a lot of football still to be played.
Citeh still have to play:
Away to ManU
Away to Chelski
Away to Liverpool
Away to Everton
Home to Us
As well as at least 2 FA Cup games and 4 EL games to fit in.
We have:
Away to them
Away to Chelski
Away to Liverpool
Home to the Goons
We are as likely to win those games as they are to lose them.
@nayim
Citeh still have to play:
Away to ManU - Draw
Away to Chelski - Loss
Away to Liverpool - Draw
Away to Everton - Win
Home to Us - Draw
As well as at least 2 FA Cup games and 4 EL games to fit in.
We have:
Away to them - Draw
Away to Chelski - Loss
Away to Liverpool - Draw
Home to the Goons - Draw
I'm not too happy about that..makes all our other games even more important...obviously need 3 points when available but for christ sake's lads beat the shit teams its the bread and butter of the league...
Spooky, do it do it - bring back Challenge spurs. It has to be for these next 4 games.
COYS.
Challenge Spurs was great fun, more associated with relegation and mid-table than anything else. Could do with freshing up. Bigger challenge this.
Hmmm...interesting reading. I do wonder though if Spooky, like may of the comment writers, realises the dichotomy of his position when mentioning disappointment (disgust in some other cases) at not signing a striker, with the opposition to moving to Stratford. I dont want to move stadium - I dont even support the Northumberland Pk move as I like the Lane the way it is - but I do see the financial case behind a move. Without it, we wont be signing big name strikers, or at least ones that arent aging or flawed (eg Rebrov, Ferdinand, Klinsmann). As I dont want to move, I am also not moaning about lack of transfer activity. I accept it as the price of staying put, where I am happy with a team capable of challenging for top 4 and cups every now and then. Face it, based at WHL we will NEVER be a 'super-club' routinely paying £35m for srikers. We get the same crowds as Everton - who have they signed recently? The only way we will be a super club at WHL is if we get a sugar-daddy buying the club - something else I would oppose frankly. I consider it pitiful watching the City die-hards wanking off over their shady Middle Eastern owners while their club is stolen away from them and turned into something completely different. Likewise Chelsea (to think, their core fan base, long defined by their racism and anti-semitism, now find their club owned by a Russian Jew!)
The general doom and disappointment at not signing a stiker is frankly bizaare. A lot of you need to grow up and realise what we already have at the club. We finished 4th last season, and have since added VDV and Gallas. Hardly a team in decline. Want some evidence about the quality of our strikers? Just look at the excitement among WHam and Brum fans at the prospect of signing Robbie Keane. He was our 4th choice stiker, but when you are used to Carlton Cole and Cameron Jerome, Robbie Keane is a massive upgrade. Crouch and Defoe are damn fine players, tried and tested, and they work together well. We were gutted when they were taking the league by storm at Pompey, but now we have them in tandem, suddenly they arent good enough. Well, guess what: they were good enough to finish 4th last season and they're good enough to go on a run this. And Crouch is good enough to be one of the top scorers in the CL this season.
Harry needs to show faith - as do some of the fans. Settled team, settled system - rotate only on a like for like basis, but stop this square pegs / round holes experimental rubbish. We CAN finish 4th with a settled, balanced team. We have fantastic players - easily as good as City. What would they give for the holy trinity of Bale, Modric and VDV? Silva and Johnson may be decent, but sorry - they're not in the same class. We are guilty of not realising what we have sometimes.
I tell you now - if we had put Defoe on the market in the summer he would have fetched a price similar to Dzeko and Suarez. Yes he has had a bad season, not helped by a bad injury, but he will come good. If he doesnt finish the season in double figures for the league, I invite anyone to call me an idiot. But he will, and that will mean we are winning matches.
Tomorrow is tricky, make no mistake. Bolton are a good side and in Davies they have a player we struggle with game in, game out. Really and truly, a draw would not be a disaster. We have to be strong, positive and proactive. And that includes the crowd. No nervousness, no frustration after 30 mins: Get behind the lads, show them we KNOW they can do it. Pull together and its 3 more points in the bag. Because as good a side as Bolton are, we are BETTER. And I have the facts the prove it (its called the league tables for the Premier League and the Champions League).
Onwards and upwards. Aiming for the stars is in our DNA. This negativity has to stop. COYS