Promised land...it's up ahead

Consistency. It's the most important, vital factor of our journey to the promised land. And by promised land, I am not referring to the Champions League Group Stages. For that will hopefully be our quite frequent seasoned holiday from our domestic plights and challenges. The promised land I'm referring to is the level that the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United bask in. I'm talking elite here. I'm talking certified bona fide Sky Sports Top 4. I do not believe that the EPL is about to structurally alter itself into a far more open league. This, what we have at this present moment regarding Premier League hierarchy, is nothing more than a transitional period. Over the next two/three seasons a new elite will be birthed from the ashes of the old one.

Quite frankly this is the promised land, because once the doors shut, 5th spot and below will return to the dark days watching four clubs dominating and the rest of the chasing pack so far behind that they'll have to squint using binoculars to see them.

The Champions League adventure we wish to have this season is, make no mistake about it, important to our stature and will force others to take note and pay respect. But it has to be earnt, and we have but 90 minutes to do so. If we do, which I believe we will, then even more focus and consistency will be required to guide us through our domestic season to claim another place in amongst the elite next season.

And as for the domestic season, Chelsea and Utd will not fall out of their thrones in the heavens. Arsenal are a curious creature. Proud they don't spend extravagantly on players (apart from untold millions upon millions on player wages). Although many of their fans would point out that if the money was available for them to buy big, they'd be able to perhaps fix one or two positional headaches. But alas, their debt is a far more important objective. It's something to behold, their philosophy, to be one or two steps ahead of everyone else in the league, apart from the top two sides without the necessity of splashing the cash. But it's not going to be enough unless they do something drastic and do it soon. The fallacy? Their youth policy. And empty trophy cabinet. Wenger's commitment to his beliefs should be admired, but in these modern times, it's not enough. Which suits me just fine.

Liverpool, Manchester City. The other two contenders. I will discount both Everton and Villa, and let you work out the reasons, such is their obviousity. I wouldn't say anyone else has the foundations to throw down the gauntlet.

We do. But it's not quite the full package. The right parts are there and the desire and belief components still require a touch of fine tuning. The question is, we discovered a new level last season, can we find a new one this season? Can we take that extra step because the risk of achieving the same performance overall this season, as last, might not be enough if the likes of City or Liverpool perform better than they did. Which they might well do. But they, in my opinion, should not be the ones to concern ourselves with. We need to aim for something, someone of genuine consistency.

I am a keen admirer of Levy and completely back him for not wanting to go down the road of offering players ridiculous wages. Speculate to accumulate you might say. We'd done plenty of that investing in players like Modric and now Sandro. Redknapp made a mockery of previous Spurs landlords, quickly resolving the issues and moulding the team into one that could damage the aspirations of others. We have the players, the balance and the teams above us historically are very much now in our sights, without the need of binoculars.

Consistency. This team has to grow, learn from mistakes and continue to blossom. But has to do so quickly and therefore take risks. So perhaps on this occasion, Levy should look to sign whomever Harry requires as long as the investment is one of quantifiable merits. Gallas? You might think its wrong for a number of rather obvious reasons. But this will be master-stroke. Not of the same quality he was say 4 or so years ago but still enough about him to provide ample experience when required. As for his tears and tantrums, playing in red and white is enough to break anyone.

A tweak here, a tweak there. No need to unbalance the Facere.

City will buy their way into the Top 4. Which means Arsenal are the favourites for the other position. They are the ones of genuine consistency. They are the team we aim for. They might not win silverware, but they finish top 4 each and every season and never truly look like losing out, even when they supposedly struggle. Meaning this:

Finish above Arsenal, and our job will be done. Finish above Arsenal twice and so forth, you do the math. One cycle ends, another begins. There is no guarantee finishing above Liverpool would result in the same thing.

The attitude can only be do or die. It's us or them.

by guest-blogger schrodinger's cat 

Let's all blame the pitch

Saw this posted by Wriggly over at GG, which I found quite interesting. Only because its now blatantly obvious that the Young Boys cheated. THROW THEM OUT OF EUROPE ! How dare they trick Dawson into playing poorly. Hopefully Blatter was watching.

If anyone can verify these as facts, please go ahead and do so. I have not a clue.

The artificial surface is 5th Generation. This generation of surface has the ability to adjust the height of the 'grass' by millimeters lower or higher, so in winter when the surface is frosty/snowy they can raise it a few mm to help when playing. The surface has a self watering mechanism which leaves tiny beads of moisture on the surface, this helps to prevent injuries when sliding, studs being caught in the surface when its dry, and most commonly things like burns when sliding across the pitch. This Generation fo surface does not move, it used to be layed down in blocks, but this is in one big 'sheet' of turf.

The surface is designed in a way that you should be less susceptible to injuries like groin strains (we got 2 last night) - Although the surface is actually fairly thin, its layed down on shock absorption rubber mats which have been laid down on top of concrete to help with this. So essentially, this surface is better for you when playing football on that side of things. When I asked about our two injuries, he simply replied with 'they probably bottled it, its all in the mind' I bet your players are fit for next game.

Might be useless info for some, but thats some info about the surface.

When i asked about them watering the pitch on top of the self moisture feature, they said that's to benefit only the team that's used to playing on it. He is unsure if that is illegal as its gaining an advantage, but it is not very good sportsmanship.

How very Tottenhaming of us

I was in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere (might as well have been on the edge of the universe), with absolutely no type of mobile phone signal at all. 3G, Edge, cellular data of any type - Zilch. No texting, calling, no nothing. Couldn't possibly ask anyone else on the table (98% women) if I could borrow their non-o2 network phones just to er...check the...er...weather, as my cover as devoted partner to Mrs Spooky would have be blown (her birthday today). I gave up in the end, deciding the anticipation of tonight's result would drive me to much excitement when I browse into the BBC's footie page on arrival back home.

Ooh the disappointment. Akin to dressing up in a tuxedo for the prom only to find out at the end of the night that your sexy prom queen date has a penis tucked away Buffalo Bill style.

3-2 away night defeat to a supposedly mediocre (based on current domestic form I was told) side. I've not actually read the Beebs report - or any report, or browsed to any forum or spoken to a soul. The headline was all I had time for. Nervous Spurs, right? FFS. Not this shit again.

I'll hazard a guess and then you lot can write up your opinions below in the comments section for me to read over my morning bowl of cereal, as I have a crying baby daughter that is apparently far far far far more important than some tin-pot qualifying game (not my words, the missus).

"Spurs lost? Get the fuck out of here!"

So, my guesses:

1) We failed to turn up, getting all trembley in the knees by the significance of the occasion, failing to simply embrace and take hold of our own destiny, and instead preferring to hide in the corner, wetting ourselves. Young boys in Lilywhite.

2) Keystone Cops. Any episode.

3) Textbook Spurs, getting all the haters hating, do it the hard way because its the only way we know. Will end up stuffing them back in a glory glory night at the Lane.

I have a feeling it's an element of all of the above? I don't know, you tell me. And all this after looking every bit the CL team against Man City.

RIP, the dream is over, razor blades etc etc

What's that you say? Two away goals? Hmm...

Forward Thinking

by Chrisman

A '20 goals a season man' is a bit of a red herring. These days 15 league goals are more than enough. We get goals from all over the pitch. We do however need another striker. Crouch should be 3rd choice. Harry doesn't seem to fully trust Pav....or, reading between the lines, maybe he views Pav as essential, and was saving him for the arguably bigger game on Tuesday.

Crouch's problem - he can't beat a man. He is not a threat at all receiving it with his back to goal and beating his man on the turn. Like Pav, Defoe, or any number of top strikers can. The problem this creates is that defenders know they can get ultra tight on him, because they know he's not going to go past them. Other top strikers will automatically have 2 yards of space because defenders know they have to drop off, or risk getting put on their asses with a sharp turn and sprint. This means they can receive the ball in a bit of space, and turn and go towards goal. It opens the pitch up. Crouch always has a man hanging off him, and he can only go one way - away from goal. This makes life difficult for him and us.

He often has to receive the ball to his head, because he can't properly run the channels and be in enough space to receive it to feet. Pav is so much better at this, and adds a different angle of attack when he does it, an angle Crouch rarely provides. We end up playing the long ball to Crouch far too much. You could say that this isn’t his fault, but you could also be a bit more astute. You could see that the reason we play this ball so much is because Crouch doesn’t have the speed of movement to offer any other option.

Yes Crouchie has a good touch, and when he has chances he can take them. But he is just too slow and immobile. Even the likes of Berbatov, Saha, Anelka etc can all hold the ball up, and also offer that ability to turn and go. Crouch is one dimensional. Admittedly, that one dimension is a dimension he is pretty good at. But it’s not quite enough.

I also believe that Crouch knows he is a bit out of his depth. His confidence is suffering slightly as a result. I think if he was used as a 'plan B' 3rd striker, he would be much more comfortable. He'd know that's the role that suits him best, and it's a role in which he can really offer something. It’s just I don’t feel he offers anything that Pav doesn’t, and Pav has a lot more in his locker than Crouch. I’m not saying Pav is the second coming of Klinsmann, but right now Crouch is making him look really good. At the very least Pav deserves a good run of 6-8 games where he is a guaranteed starter. It’s no more than Crouch has had after all.

Having 5 good forwards on our books might be a good thing if they were all emotionless automatons. But they ain’t, and there are only so many games in a season, and not nearly enough to keep all 5 happy. So we end up getting some silly situations like Saturday when you have to bring on 2 strikers at once. What about letting Defoe have 10 minutes with Pav? Did anyone really expect Keane to do anything positive? Why not bring on Dos Santos up front for the last 10 minutes? It’s easy to look at things in hindsight from my armchair, but logic seems to go out of the window when so many different parties have to be appeased. Having so many good strikers will do us more harm than good.

Strikers play on confidence. They have to know their role, and know the hierarchy. What kind of situation is it when 2 strikers start, and they know that if they don’t produce anything after an hour there are 2 replacements the manager is dying to throw on? It’s not a good look. I’m pretty certain Harry knows this, and it wouldn’t greatly surprise anyone to see 2 of the 5 leave in the next week. I’d be delighted to see Keane leave, and if Crouch left I certainly wouldn’t be too worried. As long as one comes in. That still leaves us with 4.

Any number of players would do. Forlan is obviously the dream choice. Fabiano is interesting, but I think he’s too much of a finisher. In the PL you need to be able to do a lot more than just finish to be a good striker. Berbatov is an interesting proposition. I would definitely like to see what him and Pav up front could do. The move is probably there for him if he really wants it. Loic Remy looks extremely raw. Gyan looked good in the World Cup. Milevsky of Kiev looks to be a good prospect. There are plenty of options, all offering great potential but also a fair degree of risk.

I don’t think any other area of the team needs major improvements. We saw last season that it was only a pretty small improvement needed to change us from a best of the rest team into a really serious contender. We have the cake. It just needs to be iced. Give me some sweet, creamy frosting please Mr Levy.

0-0, how exactly?

I have to say I was left requiring a cold shower to cool myself off, having got slightly hot and bothered. I'd hate to think of the mess I would have made had we actually scored a goal or three. Blistering. Pulsating. This is Tottenham. It's basically more of the same from last season. And whether our forwards (all four of them) sharpen up or we manage to bag a genuine canny trickster striker before deadline day - I'm more than confident we're going to push onwards yet again.

Let's face, we had the players before Redknapp arrived. What we lacked was direction, structure, belief...you are more than familiar with the list. He got the basics right and yadda yadda yadda. We finally achieved what we've been flirting with for so long. Sustained progression resulting in 4th spot.

Obviously, pre-season had many of us asking if we had the mentality to continue to play at the standard of last season - with improvements in areas that needed improving. We'll find that out in due course, I'd say ask the question again after 15 EPL games. And although I'm not about to positive knee-jerk after the opening 90 minutes of our season, I'd say I saw enough to have that shower running cold for many weekends to come.

We battered City in the first half. Joe Hart's day and his team will be happier with the point than we were. Outstanding Harry called it. Can't really add anything more to that. We just looked a proper fully fledged team.  No residue of those nasty depressive tears from displays of yesteryear, pre-HR. You know how it is, us fans, you expect a signing or two because new blood can add to squad depth and galvanise a side further. And I'm not saying that we should completely discount an additional player or two - but this game reminded us that we have a pretty tidy set of players as it is (we still need a player or two, but can we at least lay to rest the fallacy of importance of pre-season games now, please?)

One or two will regain their high standard in the coming weeks (Lennon still seems a little bit off-key, perhaps one too many summer Cubans?) What I (we) witnessed was a Spurs side that simply works. And did so with the tradition we lust.

Modric, tenacious rather than magical but adapted very well against City's five man midfield, running around the pitch biting at their ankles, tackling and nicking the ball. Think, white short version of Palacios with a mullet. Huddlestone controlling and dominant. Why bother to even be surprised with this? Dare I suggest this might be our most effective midfield partnership (as seen v Arsenal, Chelsea, City last season)?

Okay, so perhaps Moddle wasn't so much effective (magical) going forward as he can be, but as a unit - it worked. It all worked.

Back four - solid. BAE played alright, didn't he? Yeah, no? I'll let you lot argue that one out. Special mention re: his tackle on SWP, start of second half.

Bale is just ridiculously good, much like Daniel Day-Lewis in 'My Left Foot'. There's a reason why My Right Foot went straight to dvd, and it's the same reason why the ball went wide from Gareth's not-his-left-foot foot. Agonising and disappointing. He's still a beast though. And one of our WMD's. Keep him fit, for the love of all things beautiful on God's Lilywhite planet.

The Crouch-Defoe-Keane-Pavlyuchenko quad rotation lacked cutting edge. Heard that before, haven't we? But there's goals in them, I'm certain of it. We still need that ooze of class to push us upwards which we've all been waiting for since the end of the World Cup. At the expense of what unlucky player, I'd say it will be between Keane and Pav. If...if we managed to actually sign someone. Group stage CL football would demand that, IMO. Although the EPL has to remain the priority (and all of the above can comfortable repeat last seasons feat, but that might not be enough for 4th - we might need something extra to push us that little bit further). And how is Harry expected to keep them all happy? (look out for the next blog post).

Gio (why the persistence with agent talk over his future?) didn't have enough time to truly impact the game. But I liked the cut of his jib.

Gomes? Did he have a shot to save?

First half then, Crouch; Defoe, Huddlestone, BAE (deflected), Bale (post) then Lennon, Defoe again - all with decent efforts. Hart annoying in his defence of the goal. Second half, SWP should have scored (BAE innit), King deflected header could have also given them a goal. Pav had a couple of shots, and Bale and his right foot (arguably the easiest chance of the game) and Pav late on.

Okay, so second half City retained the ball better and had us chasing them down quite a bit, but they never threatened to the point where I was watching through my hands. Yes they have stupendous depth, but Mancini's obsession with all things defensive will probably be detrimental to them in the long run. They also had three debutants out there so I guess we should revisit this particular question (will they gel?) in around 15 games time also. And it serves to keep our feet firmly on the ground for a few games longer also.

I guess you could say we exhausted ourselves some what, but still carved out chances to win it. Toure and Kompany key players for them. Should have won it, deserved to win it. But heads up, it was a corker of a 0-0.

Clinical. That's the word for the weeks ahead. Make possession count, and try to avoid making the opposition goalkeeper man of the match, by ya know, sort of placing the ball out of his reach.

Laters.

It Begins

After 3 months of purgatory, we are back. Strap yourselves in. We're about to plunge down the other side of the rollercoaster.

Any discussion of our chances this season seems to be based around how well Man City are going to do. Personally, I think their transfer activity this season is some kind of cruel joke. Has their ever been a more colossal waste of £150 mil? Who exactly has made these transfer decisions? Because you can pretty much guarantee Mancini wouldn't have spent £5 mil on Ray Houghton, let alone £30 mil on James Milner.

I can hardly think this without guffawing out loud, like some nutcase, but is it actually Brian Marwood buying these players? Really? Brian Marwood? Sky Sports League 1 co-commentator extraordinaire? That explains a few things then. Yaya Toure is a poor man's Seydou Keita. James Milner is Steve Guppy on shedloads of creatine. David Silva was only ever any use as David Villa's lickspittle. Jerome Boateng - what are you actually buying here? A right back? A centre back? Helloooo!! Anyone at home??? Balotelli is going to be the black, attacking version of Marco Matterazzi. The PL will be too much for him, and he will be reduced to a foaming bucket of tears with alarming regularity.

Liverpool will be more of a threat. And that's not saying much. Jovanovic is a decent player, but really nowhere near the standard required for what Liverpool want to achieve. He will be like a slightly less clumsy Dirk Kuyt. Everton will be useful, but will ultimately be crippled by their manager’s simplistic, conservative playing style.

This just leaves Super Spurs. Transfer activity has been quiet, but I can't help but feel that's a good thing. The prospect of Micah Richards and Scott Parker left me cold inside. I've seen enough from the Kyles to suggest that both will be pretty decent players for us this season. Naughton looks ridiculously comfortable on the ball, and is a proper defender to boot. Walker looks like a truly awesome product, someone who will probably end up playing CB or CM. With some of Jordsy and Bondsy's magic coaching juice, I can see these players both making great strides this season, and not ending up drifting, aimlessly....like Micah Richards.

Sandro will soon be arriving, and interestingly enough O'Hara remains on the scene. I can't believe there have been no loan offers for him yet, but I also can't believe that Harry plans to actually play him. Maybe he is waiting to use the lad as a makeweight in a future transfer deal.

I like to think that Levy is playing an influential role in transfer dealings. I like to think he has told Harry he's not wasting 10-15 mil on mid-level domestic players. Ultimately, our best players (Gomes, Bale, Modric, Hudd) have not been established, PL players. They have been foreign imports or Championship wunderkids. I like to think Levy has realised this. Having said all that, the more the summer has gone on, the more I've warmed to the idea of getting Bellamy in. But to do so, Keane would have to leave. Levy's business mind probably won't allow him to let Keane leave for less that his value, but I have a feeling he will be off before the window closes. 

Harry knows something is missing up top. We heard his slightly uncharacteristic dressing down of Defoe on more than one occasion last season. It's almost fate that Dos Santos played his way back into the reckoning in Africa. I for one, and Harry for two, must be excited about the prospect of pairing him with Big Pav. Expect Defoe to start, but don't be surprised to see him yanked for Dos Santos at the first sign of stagnation. Playing Dos Santos in an inevitably more withdrawn role will also probably necessitate playing Bale on the left, as his penetration up front will be much needed.

But it seems Harry is set on playing young Gareth at left back. Probably they key to all this will be how well Sandro plays in the centre of midfield. If he turns out to be the player we all hope and dream of, then Modric will play on the left, and Bale at left back. If he doesn't, then it's Modric in CM and everyone favourite hairstyle, Benoit, at LB. I have implored Harry to buy another left back, but I suppose if you intend Sandro to be a first team regular, you don't need another left back. But we'll see. One of our strongest aspects last season was our ability to adapt and change and think on our feet, so if Harry has to make some tough choices, he'll make them.

I think a vast majority of our transfer activity will take place after Tuesday night. If we win, expect Crouch, Keane, or even both to leave, and some heavenly being to ride into town to lead us to the Promised Land. I haven't given up hope on Forlan yet. I'm half suspicious that some kind of deal has already been struck. We can dream can't we? Didn't do us any harm last season did it.....

Harry has already laid down his marker for the season, much in the same way as he did last season. We all recoiled in horror when he boldly proclaimed 4th was well within our grasp. I suspect that due to the success of his wild talk last season, we were all slightly less horrified than we might have been to hear him talk up our title chances. But bear in mind, this boast is also a veiled threat to the squad. He's saying 'you lot are good enough to mix it with the best, and if you don't, I'll ruthlessly root out those who are holding us back'. Some players will take it as a threat. Some will use it as motivation. Some will feel the proverbial ten feet tall. This is who it's really aimed at. The likes of Gomes, Bale, Modric, Hudd and King. They know what is expected of them, and to be honest it's no less than they expect of themselves.

Game on.

by guest-blogger Chrisman.

Fantastical Football

On the eve of the big kick-off, one last call out to the wild.

Code to join is 4859-2558.

For those not in the know it's on this website: www.premierleague.com

Also - use the following code 68100-22332 to sign up for the Triffic v Dear Mr Levy head-to-head.

Pick a goon in your side at your own peril, judas.

Anthony Lozano

Morning.

Quick post, couple of things. Firstly, Kenwyne Jones. £8M to Stoke City. Absolutely no dis-respect meant to the Potters but lolololol at this. Sunderland's Drogba on the cheap. You have to really look back and facepalm when we allegedly bid for him and they wanted £20M+. Players of the moment are just that. In the moment, form of their life, until they level out and settle at their true playing standard. In this case, decent at times but mostly inconsistent. £15M burnt on Bentley stops me from going any further with this.

Second thing is this:

Anthony Lozano. Honduran. 17 years old. On a 10 day trial in N17. The Promise of new Honduran soccer, apparently. Obviously our recent track record with kids hasn't exactly been great. What with dos Santos and his attitude, Adel and his delusions etc. Let's say he impresses and we sign him. Any ideas if he's 'one for the future' thus, we wont see him in the first team for untold years if ever? Or does he play a part early on? Bostock is out on loan to Hull. So this kid has to be special special special for it to mean anything for the immediate future.

We live in hope.

How many times did you give up last season?

How many times did you give up last season? I know some of the knee-jerkers amongst us probably gave up after we got trounced by three of the top four early season. After that, there was possibly a further five or six times that fourth was deemed 'out of reach'. Yet, we persevered and dug deeper than ever. Sure, I had some minor moments of doubt. Who wouldn't with our history of choking? But I sang on this here blog many times about the virtues of belief. The impossible dream became a reality and now, as we fast approach EPL 2011, there appears to be something eerie about the start of this brand new season.

It's almost like Neo from the Matrix has slowed things down, so much so that he's fallen asleep on the sofa, cup of tea on table, slippers falling off his feet.

Is it the despairing World Cup England had or the fact that the transfer marker remains in a comatose state? I'm not feeling the pressure. Perhaps I've yet to be bitten by the bug. I'm not nervous. More pragmatic. But heart ready to be placed on sleeve. I'll explain...

Purely from a THFC standpoint, it's in our nature to be at times (LOL) pessimistic. It's a defensive stance. In fact, for many people regardless of club colours, discussing and then assuming the worst allows them to prepare for it. Just in case. It's not exactly wearing your heart on your sleeve because you are in essence protecting yourself from the big fail. And some of our fickle faithful are guilty as charged. Although that 1-0 up at Eastland's had me biting my hands off such was the intensity of the occasion. But I'm not talking about one off games. I'm talking about our ambitions for the season ahead. Our mentality. As individuals and a collective (a rather famous thread over at one Spurs forum at the start of last season spoke about relegation fears. No joke).

Ostrich with head in sand is so yesteryear. Where's the peacock showing off its plumage?

We have more or less the same squad of players that got us into 4th with some slight improvements, yet you'd think we are somehow weaker for it. Not saying everyone is thinking this way, but I guess there is concern over why we've not strengthened massively considering that after years of trying we've cracked the big time. Consolidate, right? Buy big. Draft in a superstar. Make a statement to everyone. Close the gap further.

Well, that would be good if there was actually some viable affordable players out there. We need some tinkering in some areas, one or two players to make sure the squad is beefed up for our two main priorities, but no major surgical work is required. Botox rather than a nose job - Although liposuction might be an unavoidable treatment (out with the excess). Anyways, the priorities:

1) Finish in the top 4
2) Get into the CL group stages and enjoy it

All eyes will be on City again because of money spent. Man Utd and Chelsea will be the title favourites, although neither are exactly worlds apart from the chasing pack. Arsenal are becoming more and more like us. Pretty football, no end product, and no silverware (well, not completely like us then). Liverpool - who knows? They might find the resolve to fight it through till the end much like we did. Back to basics for them, might just work. Villa you can probably discount what with the goings on there at the moment. Everton could be the dark horses as they seem to duck and duck in and out of challenging the top tier. They are due one.

So, not much has really changed. This season is going to be last season with a couple of extra bells on it. There has been no mammoth game-changing factors introduced. If you're going to say City, they've had another influx of players - need to let some go and will probably need to re-shuffle and find their feet...again. Their chances concerning 4th might well be dependent on the form of the teams around them...again. If they do power themselves into the top four places early doors, then we might find ourselves with genuine fragmentation. Well, depending on the club they replace. I'll let you decide what's better for football. City in the top 4 or Liverpool. I'd say I'd be happy with both as long as Arsenal finish 5th and we finish above them.

Back to our challenge of finishing top 4 - we've made it there the once. We know what it takes. We've learnt some valuable lessons in defeat. We found new levels of performance and grit. We have experience and application we've not seen before. We finished 4th, we didn't win a medal for it, but there comes a maturity from the achievement that will serve us well this season. This season is not a transitional season. We simply seek consistency. Continued structure. We know where we need to improve and we know our strengths and how to use them. The trick is to look forwards not back.

Belief.

All we need to do is believe.

The doubt, I think, sits with the concern that if we lose one or two key players we might struggle with competing in both the league and the CL. Last season, we - at any given moment - missed key player(s). It's mouth-watering if we avoid injuries, to have the likes of Modric, Lennon etc all season long with others (Bale anyone?) firing on all cylinders too. That's probably my only concern. I'd welcome a talisman of a forward - but I'd say a couple of new squad players just to make sure we are never left short is a vital to our plans.

The progression of Harry Redknapp's Tottenham goes on. So, perhaps my particular eerie feeling has to do with being confident, more so than pessimistic. I'm not fazed. Neither should our players be.

One thing I'd like to see is for us to win a Prem game away to one of the 'Sky Top 4'. It's not the moon on a stick. It's three points.

COYS.

Spurs v Man City: Class Wars

Another week, another video with teddy bears with distorted Stephen Hawkingesque American sounding accents. Because it's the type of thing we associate best with.

Third in the series this. It's a bit like Return of the Jedi. I guess this one lacks the dark side of the ITK video (Empire) and the charm of the Jenas video (New Hope). The protagonists might look like Ewoks in drag, but just count yourself lucky there's no Jar Jar Binks. 

The discussion this time round? Football, obviously, sort of. Spurs and Man City. Indirectly. It's subtle. Bull in china shop subtle. It's either going to be genius or it's going to f*cking suck. I'd say 'enjoy', but you'll probably boo and hiss at the end of it, leaving me feeling like Billy Walsh at Cannes when Medellín premièred.

I promise the next batch of vids will be 'non-directors cut length' which should appease the masses with short attention spans who wish to waste their bandwidth elsewhere. I'd say three minutes at best. That's a minute longer than most of you would last with that 800 Euro hooker Crouchie bagged. Boom boom etc etc. Honestly, no need to get my coat, I'm wearing it.

Wear your heart on your sleeve

So, here I am. Having returned from a weekend no-internet sabbatical. I have seen nothing at all of our 3-2 home friendly win against Fiorentina. Dare I ask...is Robbie Keane showing signs of redemption in form? It's pre-season though, right? So I guess we can't read too much into it. Although dos Santos continues to pull out the tricks apparently. No sign of any new signings. Harry now spouting sound-bites that we are not in a position to challenge the upper tier unless he brings in 3 players. Everyone awaits to see what Citeh plan to do, considering their untold targets and little squad room. They buy, they need to sell. And it's open season for the rest of us.

Had some colourful conversations this weekend. One concerned our redevelopment project. The listed building that have caused such a fuss, you know the ones? The ones that have been derelict for so many years. Apparently, if they do remain they'll be knocked down eventually. It's called progress. All this fuss, apparently - will be for nothing. I'm not I..T..K..(I promise).

Also had a fellow Spurs fan say that Bellamy would be a great signing. You get the feeling nothing is going to happen until perhaps this week or next - with incomings and outgoings. Like I said, everyone is waiting for City to kick-start it. One signing will cause a knock-on effect. I don't like Bellamy. Spends too time injured, or at least that's the perception I get from him. Yes, he was stupendous at times last season for City. You get the feeling he's the type of player who would kill off the 'ickle' teams we sometimes make hard work out of. But is he a next-level player? I guess 'superstar' signings are hard to find in this day and age.

Only other news I've picked up on since browsing back on-line is Crouchie paying £800 to some hooker for sex. Honestly Peter, shop about mate, you probably only have to endure two hours of West End shopping with the missus to get it for free.

Apparently Liverpool want him back. I don't see how that would work out. Although someone is going to have to leave if we're going to boost our front line with a new addition. My money is still on Keane.

Also, the England squad. Bit of a mish-mash. Several players dropped. Perhaps because they under-performed? Or maybe Fabio wants to take a look at some new blood and has simply excluded one or two for that perhaps. Although quite how a few of them (guess) have made it back in there considering their World Cup experience...meh, who cares? Either way, it's good news for us. Last thing we need are injury concerns before the season has even started thanks to a nothing international game.

Less than a week to go now until the EPL is back. Epiphany time. Many people are sort of half knee-jerking about the new season. I'm not so sure much has changed from last season to this. If we show the same tenacity, we'll do just fine. City might be collecting players for fun, but they might find themselves in a similar position to last year. Fragmented, and thus 5th. Doesn't mean we should be dismissive of them or others. When is it ever easy? But considering what we achieved in that final month or so, I'd say we should trust more. Wear your heart on your sleeve, and just enjoy it.

Are we there yet?

Had you asked most THFC fanatics yesterday, what would be their ideal draw for the qualifying game required to pass through in order to gain access to the Champions League proper, they (much like Jermain Defoe) would have chosen Arsenal. Unfortunately thanks to them ducking out of the challenge (a technicality apparently) they were not a viable and realistic option. Pesky UEFA rules, it's a conspiracy I tells ya.

Instead, we faced the potential for some fairly tricky opposition. And got the supposed weakest of the lot. Not to say we should be dismissing the Young Boys Bern. But I can't help feeling content we are not travelling to Kiev or facing Sampdoria. Although I'm not going to jig until we bring back our Swiss opposition to WHL with a couple of away goals in tow (do they still play on astroturf?). It's the choice draw. Tottenham pull Young Boys apart. And so forth.

So, what do I know about them? Not a lot, other than the fact their stadium is in Wankdorf. Oh the hilarity that will no doubt be had with that one also. They finished second in the Swiss Super League last season and they caused a ickle upset by defeating Fenerbache in the 3rd qualifying round (winning 1-0 in Turkey). At the time of writing they have two points from three games in their domestic league. Not quite Ramosesque there. No doubt being tagged the underdogs will inspire them. Whether that's actually going to be enough for them, is more to our advantage.

Honestly, quality wise, I don’t know if they are capable of finding a different level and causing us grief. I know I don't know that much about them but I know enough to know that they are clearly not on the level of one or two other clubs who might have had us nervously biting our nails.

The way I see it is, if we freeze and go out to this lot, then I'll be standing outside the West Stand entrance with a basket of rotten fruit. All season long. A good, solid professional performance, and we'll be looking forward to some majestic travelling across Europe with some dream ties (hopefully). Barca away anyone?

Anyways, thanks to UEFA and the warm balls for the decent draw. Over to you Harry and co.

Additional:

Memo to Spurs players. Be confident, be proud of your confidence. But talk on the pitch, not off it. Ta.