Game of your life Tottenham, game of your life
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 11:54AM The inside of my head currently has more glittery explosions than any given November 5th. I didn't walk out of my home this morning as I began the first leg of my staggeringly labourious trek from the depths of Epping Forest to the badlands of Croydon (office relocation, long story). I floated. Feet not touching the ground, gliding in the air like a ghost, akin to a Spike Lee movie just without all the rage and anger. Raining and cold? I hardly cared. Knowing there were one or two N17 representatives in Madrid singing a song the night before and more to follow today was more than enough to warm me up.
It's surreal. Not in a giddy Beatlesque screeching and fainting kind of way. More so in terms of remembrance. Looking back to when we chased the dream we are now living with pomp. I'm placing aside all the discussions about the importance of progress and sustaining the current crop of Spurs players to secure a new generation of Lilywhite history rather than just a pocket of glory nights before we return to the uncertainty of the chase. Because just is more than enough when you're living that very specific moment. One that finds us visiting the Santiago Bernabeu. In it's purist form football is about moments. We've had so many of them this season, we've been enriched with the unforgettable. There's room for more. Not that I'm being greedy.
If it's our destiny to fizzle out of qualification for next seasons competition then at least we can look back at our maiden voyage into the continental elite with pride. Tottenham swashbuckling our style with refreshing zest and desire. I'm sure we wouldn't be such a massive surprise and shock if we made it back for 2012. But we've set out and proven we are more than capable to compete with the top sides in Europe. Which has irked many and had others scratching their heads in wonderment.
It's not about the taking part to feed the various guises of structure and standing. It has to be about the moments. I'll let reality consume me once more in the aftermath.
Sure, logic will tap us on the back and whisper solemnly that at some point we'll be up against a team who will shut shop effectively and punish every single mistake we make. I'd rather that exit happened in the semi-final, if it is to happen at all.
I had a dream last night. Watching the game on TV. We had two penalties. van der Vaart with the first. Crouch with the second. The home ground despondent.
Gotta dream, right?
I've followed La Liga for years, adore the Morbo in what is a wonderfully fragmented country. And like most have followed Madrid and their soap opera. They're like a Spanish Tottenham. I don't mean in silverware and domestic and European success. I'm referring to some basic fundamentally building blocks. The necessity to play attacking free-flowing football and always having a shady defence. That and the amount of managers that tend to come and go. And although in many other ways we are worlds apart, we both have rich histories. Glamour clubs. Sometimes more style than substance, but both of us on the road to progression rather than a road tinged with puddles of perdition.
And in Jose they have a manager shrewd and tactically astute enough to stifle the life out of both games and have us dumped out in inglorious fashion. The party pooper. And we have a man-manager at the helm of the first big club he's coached who has done what so many other have failed to achieve. Fulfil some of that pent up potential.
Jose knows his side won't be able to steam-roll us like the various assortments of Spanish fodder they dismantle week in week out. But he does know his English Premier League. There's a suggestion (not that I tend to believe him as he's the master of the underplay) that he believes 0-0 tonight would be a good result. The thinking that not conceding at home will be enough to win the game across the two legs. As far as Madrid and Jose are considered, we must not score tonight.
Can't see anyone parking the bus. In fact, there's a part of me that worries that Madrid might just attempt to steam-roll.
Madrid also have a number of key players on yellow cards. So hoping Sandro can bring some of that physicality and incite some hot-tempered tempo to proceedings. We do however need to retain our cool. Remain composed. And not over extend beyond our means. Stand tall at the back and aim for a knock-down or two from the tall at the front.
We are not expected to win. We're not expected to beat them over the two games. So the pressure is on them. Leaving us to play without fear. Because to do otherwise would be regretful.
I hope our defence retain unity.
I hope Bale has 'a game'.
I hope vdV galvanises his team mates on his return to his former club.
I hope Modric dictates.
I hope our players show resounding mental strength.
I hope Harry gets one over Jose.
Win the midfield battle. Play with pace. Play with width. We have nothing to lose, right? We're not meant to be in the quarter-finals, right? I'm having flashbacks, 3-0 down to Young Boys.
Our spine has to be strong. It's not beyond the realms of impossibility to get a draw there. I'll be shocked to the bone if we collapsed Inter first leg style, all choked up and star struck. We're all grown up now. It's quintessentially Tottenham when you feel slightly more confident your team will perform against the might of Real than playing away to Wigan.
Come on you Spurs. Weather the White Storm. Let's be having the Madridistas waving their white handkerchiefs.
Game of your life Tottenham, game of your life.
Reader Comments (83)
Spooky, can you dream of Ronaldo getting a hat trick and Adebayor getting another brace next Wednesday morning please? Ta.
Just like to say thank you to the management and the players for the wonderful adventure we've just been on, with a special mention for Peter Crouch who, without him this may never have happened at all.
In order to win a football match you have to try and win and we did not - end of story. We never believed we could win tonight. It was damage limitation from the get go - crouch did not make much difference. Regardless of pressure etc. these playes have done nothing but play football since they were kids - what is so difficult in passing a ball. Three times only Jenas got possesion in the second half and each time he passed to a white shirt - enough said. If you were a neutral fan tonight you would not want spurs to progress - and that is sad. One day we will have the right set of players with a winning mentality and the right manager to encourage the players to go out and play without fear not get sick in the tunnel from fright. A great adventure this season and we can only regroup now and learn from our mistakes but please let us play football and go down with all guns blazing not like bunnies in the headlights.
Play 4-4-2 at home next Tuesday without VDV if Lennon is fit with Pav and Defoe. VDV is a great footballer and excellent galvanising influence when over 80% fit, but we played better football without him last season, or could it be that we have really missed Tommy Huddlestone?
I would hope we just go and attack from the off rather than try to keep the aggregate score down. Rash from Crouch, but I have to agree with Lemonade money to a degree.
4th can still be done. Can't see how anyone can really blame Jenas for tonight - if he was detailed to mark Adebayor for the first goal, something is wrong with the organisiation - surely Lennon wasn't down to pick him up at corners?
AFL match at the Lane this weekend. When is Kaboul fit?
It's just starting to sink in. We are out!
I think i'm going to cry.
Gutting to lose 4-0 and it felt harsh, but don't be too despondant! we've had a great season and we're more or less in the same boat as we were in this time last season with regard to CL qualification. It's all still to play for, we just need to start with a win at home on Saturday.
inter milan scored the first 4 goals and we had a man sent off , then we scored the next 5 goals(over 2 legs)i know i'm clutching at straws but it makes me feel better
In other Spanish news Dos Santos has scored gamewinners for Racing Santander in each of the last 2 weeks, hauling them out of the La Liga relegation zone. Maybe time to recall Walker from Villa?
Big Fish, loved your post. It made me laugh, which I needed badly, so you are forgiven for your role in tonight's events.
Spooky: "I think we got found out in terms of inexperience and lack of unity under pressure on the biggest stage."
Erm, this isn't the first time we were down to 10 men in the Champions League. We managed to get it together for the second half when we were already 4 goals down against inter milan, not just 1 goal. Admittedly, it was Gareth Bale taking the game by the scruff, but we had managed it before. I still had hope at the end of the first half (which fled with the Defoe sub) but it didn't look like the team did when they came out for the second. Why?
LemonadeMoney, good on you, well said.
Hotspurs, agree and feeling the same pain.
Yidal: "Even if Bale did leave we are quids in which can be spent on new players."
That's what people said about Carrick. And Berbatov. And back then we had a DoF so active scouting program and some theoretical basis for believing we could find replacements. Which we clearly do not have now.
Masochistically watching the rebroadcast now, 75th minute and commentator's just said "Dawson, you have to feel sorry for him. He's defended manfully."
Truer words. I do feel sorry for just about every player out there. They really did not deserve to lose that badly. Hope they can get the self belief back.
Football is all about priorities
For fans it's winning stuff in an entertaining way. Entertaining the master.
For the board and management it's about winning stuff in a profitable way. Profitable the master.
These worlds collide because they rarely reconcile with each other. It's all a balancing act with myriad stakeholders with myriad epxectations none of which are agreed, published or consistent. It's not a criticism, just an observation. We all want different things. Even us here on this blog. I want Crouch sold on eBay with Jenas and Defoe as makeweights. Others won't agree, and that's fine. We all want different things and to different degrees.
Anyway...
The club have, in my opinion, somehow got the priorities wrong. Had we finished second in the group perhaps we wouldn't have got so giddy. I have felt all along we need to consolidate the league ahead of everything else, CL included. And especially once we made the group stages. Instead I feel we've looked to AC and RM to early and it has cost us in the league. Bale and Gallas were not 100% last night and now they're a risk for Stoke. To me that is utterly wrong.
We should be pushing for 2nd or 3rd with the squad we have, and the groundwork laid last year. Instead we're increasingly looking over our shoulders to Liverpool. Liverpool! If ever there was a better season to break the hegemony this was it, and through what I see as mismangement of priorities, it's been cocked up. Maybe we can pull 4th out of the fire. I really, really hope so but I can't see it. Our fowards fired us there last season, this season maybe they're just plain old burned out?
For me the whole priority thing with CL/League is like this: It would be like if one of your mates left his wife to try and score with Jessica Alba. Surely you'd pull him aside and say 'Mate, have the dream, but when the sun comes up you have to remember where your bread is buttered.'
The saddest and most frustrasting thing with we finish 5th or 6th won't be the result, really, I still think we can learn from this, make some decent additions and have a good tilt next season. It will be the endless speculation all summer over Modric and Bale and possibly VdV as well. And it will drive me fucking crazy!
The Afro poof again?! Benoit, what the fuck are you doing to me? At Wigan you rocked that insane coif and then you bring it to the Bernebooboo or whatever the fuck it's called? Dammit man, get a grip! That shit is just bad, bad, juju. We need your A-game hair. AT ALL TIMES. That hair is a black cat walking under a ladder while carrying a broken mirror and stepping on a sidewalk crack all at the same time.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!
Witchcraft is real I tell you. The Bogie man lives and breathes and walks amongst us. I have spotted him in Benoit's cephalic filaments. He must be constrained, choked and asphyxiated with corn rows. The Poof gives him oxygen and energy. His adenosine triphosphate levels climb. His magic becomes powerful. He's pulling out the voodoo and analyzing the blood of freshly decapitated chickens. It's bone dice and sacrifice. Bogie man must be stopped.
My god, am I the only one that sees?
I am right shit faced now, btw. Taking it all in. Before I pass out, I say full bore on Stoke, ram it down their throats, then when the diaper boys of Madrid show up at The Lane we give them a throttling they've never seen. Foolishly naive? Don't think so. We can still salvage this. Anything is possible.
Audere est Facere.
It was sad to watch indeed. They totally didnt deserve it. But what can we do now? When they come out to face Stoke, we should be in full voice applauding them every second for trying their best and giving us such a memorable run. Lets do it with our heads held high up, with pride! COYS!
ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! little little spuds out of champions league for atleast another 10 - 15 yrs ,cant believesome of them even thought they can go all the way ha ha ha including crouch , its a real possibility he may even not play a champions league again in his life ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!! adebayor put tiny totts to their rightful place ...
The look on Bale's face worried me when he came off the pitch last night, he looked frustrated at having to run around like a cunt on the losing team.
2nd leg will be good though. Who gives a fuck if we lose again, we go out and attack - all night long. Score line irrelevant.
Just remember Young Boys, this tie was but a dream and an experience.
Bless you Gooner. You're the first one to frequent the blog since the Carling Cup final.
Brave.
"out of champions league for atleast another 10 - 15 yrs"
lololol
Yeah, cause it's still the year 2000, dick head.
Too much for us in the end compounded by the red card and sick Lennon. Always felt Madrid had three or four goals in them and they proved me right.
Arsenal fan - must be great for you to be in the CL every season, dumped out every season and never admitting your lot are pretenders rather than challengers. But speaking to Arsenal fans and listening to Wenger, every season you're meant to 'win it'. I suggest you concentrate on your bottle job of a club before you worry about us.
Love and kisses.
"Deleted" - learn to write cohesively, say when you turn 12 years of age, then come back.
well done spooky , considering my first lang is not english i did very well and very brave of u deleting my comment as all i said was true FACT and u couldnt face it , just another TYPICAL spuddy...
Do you know that Arsenal fans are the only online supporters who troll in and troll out and never discuss, only gloat? On top of that, you only appear ONLY when it's safe to do so rather than perhaps spend time on your own blogs and forums discussing your inability to challenge for anything without choking.
We are here, 247. You spend most of your time under a rock.
I apologise, but it's tiresome to always read the same templated nonsense. The fact you refuse to even entertain that Spurs are vastly improved and have done brilliantly in the CL more or less sum you up along with your ilk.
Fact? Hardly. Delusional more like.
Soz and stuff. Take care.
who do arsenal have in the quarter final? And no-one gives a fuck what language you speak so fuck off you cunt
@ SPOOKY
"I apologise, but it's tiresome to always read the same templated nonsense. The fact you refuse to even entertain that Spurs are vastly improved and have done brilliantly in the CL more or less sum you up along with your ilk."
HEY ! i was the first here to congratulate spuddies when u kicked italian asses in their homeland and send them packing in return leg..
bloody hell , what a miserable game , bloody Crouch. Two fouls and two yellows might seem harsh but both fouls were very obvious and not smart at all (especially the second one).
If you look at their squad (Kaka, Higain as mere replacements) , the defeat is logical , players like Di Maria (nice goal) Marcelo and Ronaldo made the difference whereas our players just weren't at their level , should have scored at least once but nothing to be done now ...
Hopefully everybody realises that a new strikeforce is of the utmost importance for us to keep our progress running.
I'm guessing Crouch was told to harrass the Real defence and took things way beyond sensible. Any idiot knows these Spanish types go down quicker than Jordan's knickers. I also deplore the fact that we were robbed of a potentially classic 11 vs 11 best-team-wins due to a refereeing decision. Ruined what could have been a great match-up and I'm still convinced we could have come away with enough to give it arseholes at the home leg and maybe squeak through. You have to say there is no shame in what we did see - just imagine being able to throw Kaka and Higuain on in the latter stages. That's a bit special. Maybe last eight is the best any team can do whilst not being able to pay 150K a week in wages?
I truly hope we dig deep enough to shit on Stoke this weekend otherwise the season is pretty much over and we have away trips to Dukla Prague to look forward to next year.
Overall - disappointed, but not ashamed. 5-0 at the Lane next week. What a ride. COYS.
To be honest, with the exception of Dawson the rest of the players truly bottled it.
Started with Lennon (lost his arse), went on to Crouch(lost his head), and carried on from there ending in Gomes letting a shot beat him near post.(lost his glasses)
Defensively we werent actually that bad, but the distribution from Corluka and Ekotto was woeful.
Ball retention within the midfield was zero, most noticeably with Modric (not sure if thats just because he is usually so good a retaining possession)
As for the strikers, well, as we know we have the evils of Crouch's clumsiness, Defoe's offside malaise, and Pav's lack of playing time/first touch/aerial ability. (can we please have a striker with a brain?)
If Crouch stays on the pitch, we have a chance of getting out of our own third with the long ball and causing them problems from set pieces... as it is, Van Der Vaart plods around and takes shots from 40 yard freekicks.....
Can you blame the defeat on Crouch? Probably not, but with him on the pitch, we'd probably be looking at 3-1 and tie still alive, rather than 4-0 and no chance of redemption.
As they say, you can't win a 2 legged tie in the first leg, but you sure can lose it. Spurs have proved that.
Gooner, fair enough.
What do spurs and heather mills have in common?
The second leg is just for show…
LOL
Two games more than you had cunto.
PAT RICE - HOW'S THE QUADRUPLE LOOKING ?
Next season for Arsenal David, next season. They're only kids don't ya know. Growing into men. Ooh.
ok, i've had a quick chat with god and here's how next weds will pan out
game starts,
get a quick goal...
fans: hmm, no, still a mountain
second goal just before half time...
fans: hold on, do we dare
cheeky third on 74 mins...
fans: game on!! lane rocking
4th in injury time!!!!!
don't care what happens after that, i've already passed out from delerium
Anyone wondering if next Wednesday could be Harry's last game?
Would Levy consider removing him if we fall 8 points behind at the weekend?
Harry will leave when Capello leaves, we can't sack him, we have underachieved in the league but so has every other top 6 club.
An interesting summer awaits. Trying to avoid the ITK bullshit and hoping our transfer policy stops being so last minute.