Is this another one of those 'must win' games?
Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 8:27AM All games are must win. Although our lot appear to have forgotten how to go about winning. For starters, we're not going to pick up three points unless we score.
This match preview wont be winning any awards, I'm completely snowed under today and for all the analytical, tactical and selectional discussions that can be had - well, they've all been had already. Countless times throughout the course of the season in fact, as we await for our team to swagger and find it's elusive groove. Handful of games left now. Leaving it a tad late. Again.
We've kept in touch. Everyone's kept in touch at the top, writing polite letters of apology to each other with nobody wanting to use the pen for a Dear John and cut them off completley and run away leaving them dejected and alone. But we're at that point now where all relationships are strained and rather than pretend it's all just dandy, rather than perhaps behind closed doors wipe tears away and shake heads - this is the point where we either stand up or just shut up. Once and for all.
So Spurs, Harry and the players. Get a grip of yourselves and breath life back into this comatose motionless body. I want to see some booty shaking.
We want our Tottenham back. For 90 minutes. So don't be shy. Show us what you're made of. Otherwise, night night. And go back to dreaming.
Reader Comments (39)
we have had 'MUST' win games for the last 5 games including Champions league thrashing in Madrid and we have blown every last one of them. All this Rednapp this and Rednapp that is cheesing me off...he has had a great squad of players, possibly the best we have had ever and we have managed a pathetic 3 points from the last 12 available...no champoins league next year means we are one step forward and 10 back next season ur whole season was for nothing...we've blown it the final run in because we have a forward line who have the worst percentage success rate in the Premier league and Rednapp keeps screwing up our tactics. He dosent seem bothered at all..look at him in interviews. He knows he's a step in for the england job and has lost focus on Spurs who are now drifting into mediocre-dom once again.
Anything other than 3 points today, and the next blog article will be a wake.
Paul the sounds of doom and gloom. Listen its like this early goal today to ease the nerves then play our game how we can with plenty of swagger amd style turn it on for 90 mins and win 4.0, strikers get a few goals confidence restored.Then Monday night let liverpool do what they used to do and thats win at home and all of a sudden everything is back on track.... SIMPLES ! COYS !
"We want our Tottenham back"
Hear, Hear!!!
COYS!
Paul & Spooks.... team has definitely lost focus due to our strikers performance this year although I do think our guys (aside from Crouch) need to be in a 4-4-2 and VdV does fit as well in thatso squad construction is a bit 'off'. At some point we need to look at the Spurs recent seasons in a more inclusive way than just comparing Harry's results to Ramos..... BMJ finished within a few points of Arsenal in back to back seasons in 5th before being ushered out in favor of that disaster Ramos (whom anyone would compare favorably to). So Harry can go about self hugging himself but I bet he knows as well as anyone, the REVIVAL was well in place before his ARRIVAL, If BMJ had the squad that Harry did, I wonder if he would have gotten us across the divide. It's neither here nor there tho, the thing that shits me is that Harry has the nerve to say we should be satisfied with our 'almost but never there' lot when he's got 3 players he says are World Class. VdV, Modric, and Bale. Quite frankly, I'm not interested in hearing him put our club down due the last 20yrs, I get enough of that from the fcking gooner scum. I want him to "fix" it, not tell me to be happy with 3rd place in London. Anyhow, thats not saying he's done bad job but if he's satisfied losing 4-0 away in our biggest game in two decades and finishing with 15pts less than last year than perhaps a chat with Levy is in order. I wasn't expecting us to compete for the league title this year, Harry was and told anyone who'd listen. I have no idea how or when his sights changed from EPL title winners to Europa league is 'good result for us'. I don't think its because his opinion of the squad has changed, its the results that have. I've seen us get it together several times in the last year when it looked unlikely, tonight is another opportunity and I am optimistic and expect us to get a result. I'd like it if Harry believed that as well instead of mocking me for being disappointed when we can't score against the bottom two sides in the EPL. I'm happy to have Harry, the last few seasons have been wonderful, but I'd prefer if he was a bit more 'one of us' in expecting more than taking the tone of 'les majestie' when we dare ask if we should be doing better. COYS!!
Momentum is a game away... always... COYS!
Get a grip FFS everyone on here and GG. We CAN get 4th, we will beat Madrid and regain some pride next week. Then we'll look back on another great season, the best couple we've had in our last 20 (largely miserable) years. We've got a great squad, and are one WC CF away from challenging for the title. We've come a long way, have some belief and patience. I went to Madrid this week and our fans (around 8-10k there) were amazing, singing and supporting the team even at 4-0 down. The lads were magnificent in the 1st half to hold it at 1-0, any team even Barca would have struggled with 10 men at the Bernabeu. Anyone going today, sing your hearts out and get behind the team, esp Crouch who will need it if he plays. If we win and Liverpool get a result then it's on. COYS!!!! Keep the faith.
Well said SC.the seasons not over let's back the team. I was one of those proud spur in Madrid.... I am so proud to be a spur so COME ON YOU SPURS!!!!!! The team / club needs our loudest ever vocal support from today till the season ends..... COYS
Tim, completely agree about being pissed of with the snide comments about the fans coming from Redknapp. If he comes out in the interview today with that smarmy little grin with anything other than 3 points, I will not be happy.
As someone who admits to having given-up on 4th several weeks ago due to the abject nature of our perfromances I still can't help hoping against hope that we can rediscover our ability to play football and still sneak 4th place.
I'll hopefully be watching the lads this afternoon, half expecting the worst but hoping for the best.....as always!
COYS!!
Yes.
As was Man City, Wigan, West Ham, Chelsea, Everton, Blackpool, Wolves, West Ham, Wigan. Do the maths.
A no-brainer.
One last thought on the Bernabeu Buggery: I cringed with humiliation to hear Harry say in his post-match press conference that "They're quality players". Like he'd just seen his Gateshead lose 9-0 at Old Trafford after a "Triffic day out for the lads, the fans". Shit!!! What message does that send to our players, our fans? It sounded like "We've got rumbled at last. Great run while it lasted, but let's face it, the likes of us almost have no right being on the same pitch as all them quality players" .
My first-ever crit of 'Arry. Did you HAVE to play the fucking loser?
And the reason Pavs doesn't play more often is????
Very happy with the effort on all fronts at this early stage. Exactly what we all wanted to see and what the lads needed to show.
COYS!
Oooh, it's like Christmas! Goals! Pinging the ball around! Two strikers and VDV! Even conceding from careless defending. Yep, we've got our Tottenham back. Not complaining, it's exciting. Haven't enjoyed a league match this much in ages.
So, how many second half goals do we need to win this game? Two, three?
Four?
Seven?
Double digits would be pleasing but as long as it's at least one more than Stoke, I'll be happy!
Can't find that 4th at the minute. Next ten minutes It should (hopefully) come.
THE TITLE PUSH IS BACK ON
I will gladly take that but yeeesh, the lads don't make it easy
Ah, c'mon, NYCYid. You know you love that last ten minutes with your heart in your throat feeling.
ha! I admit ... I do :)
3points.
Now three points off city. C'mon L'pool!
I still believe though that hoofs aimed at the tallest striker are what equate us to the likes of Stoke. No disrespect to them but Stoke should not torment us like that at the lane.
Pav was really good.Guess that means its back to the bench. Love his interlink with the midfield. It makes us tick.
Crouch? Doubled his season tally. Long ball inducer that he is. He brings equality to the match. We should be head and shoulders above the likes of Stoke but due to our hoofs to Crouch we dismantle our passing and end up giving them the ball making us equals. Imagine Crouch as a Stoke player...? He was born to play for them.
VDV is showing his early season grit again. Love it.
Hudd & Kaboul back. We just might make this top 4.
Luka? Our game should be built around him. Great Tottenham-esque goal. No desparate hoofs.
Etherington for Gareths sub next season? Its him or Jenas guys. Speaking of Jenas, I was so scared that he would show up as a sub and cause a loss. Its imperative that we get rid of him.
F""k me, the last 10 minutes I thought I was going to have a stroke, I am getting to old for this. My beloved spurs will be the death of me, imagining St Johns ambulance racing up to the east upper, and stretchering me out to the nackers yard. COYS I still love you.
it will be so nice to be able to watch match of the day
Let's continue this positivity.... got confirmation for the Chelski and Scouser game - we will make it!!!!
COYS
I'll quite happily take the points against a team who have lost their last 7 away games, but what a fucking hoo ha about it. Hanging on against a poor Stoke side isn't going to change my belief that we're far from good enough to finish top 4. Redknapp can fuck off now for all I care.
TMWNN:
"Hooha" remarkably apt word, sounds like the massive exhalation of relief most of us have given at seeing something like the old Tottenham resurrected from the zombie like shamblings of the last month.
You're right, as a stand alone, hanging on to beat Stoke isn't that impressive, but within the context of recent results, it's a huge improvement. After the soul destroying Madrid experience, I'm happy to just be able to enjoy watching Spurs play for 90 (okay, let's make that 80) minutes.
I still want Redknapp gone yesterday. I wanted him gone last year.
An Afro poof win. Immense. Good bye Bogie man.
What a difference with Hudd out there. You would have never guessed he'd been out for months. Harry made me a bit nervous by not making any changes until late and we were looking tired near the end. But damn do we look like we have our swagger back or what?
Seems to me that our 4th place hopes (and our ambitions to be the side we should be) rest on whether we can beat Arsenal at home. We can't consistently take the points from the bottom of the table, we need to prove that's WELL behind us if we're going to salvage this season, and start taking points from the top.
Was I the only one who thought playing VDV off the right left us way too open down there? Eth's solo effort was practically unmarked. Harry needs to find a way to play VDV that uses him to be best of his ability; at the moment, he's looking more like a totem we just can't bare to leave out than the game changer he was in the first half of the season. Better yesterday but still.
BTW, Big Sky Spur, loved your earlier post on the Madrid match. A masterwork!
I have my moments, especially when I'm drunk ;)
Drunk + posting = teh win
To go off at a tangent,if I may...
Is anybody else puzzled at yesterdays supposed attendance of 32,702 ?
There was an obvious cock up with the away allocation,which left the lower
corner of the Park Lane virtually empty but even so we're only looking at a few
hundred missing bodies there.From the back of the Shelf everywhere else looked
full and the game was of course sold out.Are we to believe that several thousand
people who had paid for tickets didn't turn up ?!
Did someone just type the wrong figure and send it out to the press and it should
actually be 35,702 ? The THFC website gives the lower figure but am I the only one
who thinks it's wrong ?
The optimist in me has us missing out on 4th on goal difference - that's using the BBC predictor.....
I have us down with the following:
Arsenal - 2-1 win
WBA - 3-1 win
Chelsea - 2-2 draw
Blackpool - 4-2 win
City - 2-2 draw
Liverpool - 1-1 draw
Birmingham - 2-0 win
That suggests no more defeats..... VERY optimistic!
I still want Redknapp gone yesterday. I wanted him gone last year.
Apr 10, 2011 at 2:04 AM | ziegemonster
ziegemonster, I wanted him gone before he even started.... the geezer was, is, and always will be..... in the words of a cockney bard.... two bob !!
For those not au fait with cockney slang, it should read two-bob (as in one word i.e. two shillings)
@CC
I said that about vdV ages ago too. The only way I can see us accommodating him is to play him at the top of the diamond in a 3-5-2 we have the ability to play this system but will have to drop.
As a member of the BAE appreciation society I'm not comfortable with this.
Walker , what are you on ? And where can i get some ?
Belgian - that's the optimist in me.... The realist in me says we maybe win 2 of the remaining 7 games (Blackpool & Birmingham).