In Defence of Robbo

On Sunday, The Observer run a story that would not have gone amiss on the back pages of The Sun or Daily Mirror. Not a single quote or any type of evidence other than the assumptions and opinions of the journalists (it took two people to write it). They told us that Paul Robinson's was told by Spurs in a meeting with the chairman that he could leave the club. Then we are told that Defoe will sign a contract but leave in the summer.

The article then bounces back to Robinson and how Levy wants him gone due to Robbo publicly backing Martin Jol back in October prior to the arrival of Ramos. What we are meant to believe is that Levy was furious with Robbo to the point of wanting him kicked out of the club. But this isn’t the most ridiculous part of the article. That’s saved for the part that explains Damien Comolli (also anti-Robinson) went to the ‘extraordinary’ length of advising the then England manager (Mr McClaren) to drop Robinson some months BEFORE the Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia.

Just try to picture that. Comolli telling McClaren to drop Robinson when at the time. Are the Writers Guild of America moonlighting fro the British media? There’s also nothing surprising about Robinson reacting badly to being dropped. Badly can be interrupted into ‘angrily’. Unless the journalists were present and witnessed Robinson being dropped how the fuck do they know anything about how he reacted? Oh yeah, ‘our sources’ tell us. I keep forgetting the press have insiders all over the shop.

I can handle the press printing bullshit. It’s a commodity they rely on. Robinson, bless him, hasn’t gone beyond losing form. He has lost the part of him that made him the best English keeper. He’s gone from very good to very average. But that doesn’t mean he won’t make a recovery. That recovery will happen if he admits to himself he has a problem, something he doesn’t appear to have done at any stage this season and since the air-kick in Croatia.

The recovery is also dependent on how the Spurs fans take to him when he returns to starting line-up. You can’t deny him the fact that at the end of his first year at Spurs he was probably the most popular player at the Lane. 7 year contract, superb all round form. England’s number 1.

Since then, things have progressively got worse for him. From Mr Dependable to Mr Calamity. Signs first appeared in the 07 season. This season has been an unmitigated disaster, with over 10 goals or so being down to his bad decision making and judgement. But any suggestions of him being hounded out of the club, by the board or the players is disgraceful.

Let’s kick him out. Yeah. Great idea. Much like when we thought Pat Jennings wasn’t good enough anymore and sold him to Arsenal. What a brilliant piece of business that turned out to be. Robinson’s form should have been dealt with a long time ago. It wasn’t. We still have no keeping coach since Segers left. He’s confidence will never improve if he is playing with the back four he’s had in front of him most of the season. Maybe with King back, things will begin to take shape.

Sometimes the lack of loyalty and the way we turn on our own is shocking. So, I will hope the media are making up stories and the fickle Spurs fans are just a minority. Otherwise, its shameful.

Mind the gap

How things stand:

50 Goons
49
48 M Utd
47
46
45
44 Russians
43
42
41
40
39 City
38 Scousers
37
36 Toffees / Villa
35
34 Pompey
33 Rovers
32
31
30
29 Spammers
28
27
26 Barcodes
25
24 Spurs
23
22 Royals
21
20 Trotters / Boro
19 Brum
18
17 Latics / Black Cats
16
15 Cottagers
14
13
12
11
10
9
8

7 Rams

15 points adrift of respectability. It's one thing hoping that our form will balance out resulting in less goals conceded and more points collected, but another thing altogether waiting for the clubs above us to hit 'bad patches'. Its all a bit desperate. West Ham and Newcastle are catchable, especially the Toon who are free-falling. Rovers and Pompey will probably drop a few points. So 8th will be good enough without actually being good enough. 5th, 5th, 8th doesn't look sexy but considering how shit we are I'll take that and a Cup final. Don't ask for much, do I?

Looking at the teams below us, they are probably thinking the same thing. That 15 points adrift of respectability probably has more to do with being safe than it does chasing a UEFA Cup spot.

Levy mythology?

Original post by Solaar from GG.net:

Levy and the myth of the signing youth for resale-value

I see that a lot of people have agreed upon Levy being a man who likes to buy young because of resale-value. I don't understand this and would like to say that it is probably just a myth, please prove me wrong. Show me a direct quote of him saying this, or else I just refuse to believe it.

If not, show me evidence of the case being him buying a youth player and then selling them for a lot more than what we bought them for. Oh, and please have in mind these conditions:

1. The player must not have expressed an obvious desire to leave.
2. The player must have been an integral part of our first-team (i.e played more than 15-20 games a season), otherwise you can't exactly say that selling the player is a big problem for us.

I actually believe that Levy does not do this. We have made progress on all levels since he came into the club. We have also had set-backs, but are they in the end his faults? The biggest set-backs imo have been Arnesen and Carrick leaving, together with signing Bent for £16 M. Bent probably is a good buy, but that amount was bad business - but whose fault is that? Levy or Comolli? The rest has brought us forward (maybe with the exception of signing Comolli, that is yet to be proved).

I believe Levy prefers buying youth because he wants to build a team for the future, not because he wants to increase our financial earnings. It is just a myth because making us a consistent top-6 team would bring a hell of a lot more money into the club than buying and reselling youth players, at least when we're talking about 18-21 year old players.

Spooky, I await your response.

Thread has (at the time of writing) hit 4 pages. I'm going to keep it simple as I think you and the other GG'ers have covered just about every angle imaginable on this subject.

Regardless of whether the policy exists or not, Spurs/Levy do not spend money on 'ready made super-stars'. The closest we have come to doing so is signing Berbatov, who was far from being world-famous when he signed for us. Its more than obvious he aims for players that potentially can turn into great players, therefore giving us a win-win situation. We keep them, the team improves. We sell them, we're in the money. The crux is, we don't sell players unless they want to leave (or at least that's the illusion). So far, it rings true. Carrick wanted out, we sold him. Berbs will probably follow because of the same reasons.

The thing is, this system isn't working as effectively as Levy would have himself believe it is. Sometimes, you have to bite the bullet. You have to invest in a ready-made finished article player, even if it means paying a little more into his wage packet. Surely if you are willing to spend £16.5M on a striker, you can allow for the wage structure to cater for world-class signings. Petrov, apparently, was too much of a risk. Not risky enough for City to gamble on. And on current form, I would have loved to see him in a Spurs shirt. How is he any less of a risk than someone like Bent or Zokora? Or even Jenas?

The young players we do bring in, who could potentially be sold for more money doesn't actually improve the team in the present, does it? You can't have a team of potentially good players and no backbone of experience. Seems the mixture isn't quite right. Yes, it takes time to mould and once more we are at the start of a new regime. But if you look back over the last few years, you can't say any one of our young players has turned into a potential superstar. Some of them have flirted with the possibility, but delusions turned back into reality from where I stand in the Park Lane.

We've bought the likes of Kaboul and KPB - and their current lack of quality is telling. Lennon has turned to shit. Huddlestone still has plenty of work to do in order to improve his game....and so on. Could we get £8M for Jenas? Actually, we probably could considering the way money is thrown about nowadays. But when you turn around and pay £8M for Zokora, or possibly £8M for Hutton - the whole ethos of buying players that adhere to a certain set of criteria loses its reasoning.

Its typical Tottenham. Over complicating matters, trying to be far too clever.

It's simple. Buy the players that will improve the team and create stability and balance and help progress us forwards, fixing the issues that currently blight us. Maybe that's what Levy is aiming to do, and this 'myth' is simple creating arguments over what his masterplan is all about.

If Hutton is the answer to the RB position, then fair enough. £8M or £9M, probably isn't relevant to whether we could sell him for more 3 years from now. The more pressing matter would be to hold onto him long enough for the team to achieve success - because at this rate we appear to be buying players that Man Utd will pluck from us in the coming seasons.

So Levy does have sell-on value in mind - but not as the priority. And he is picky with the 'older' more expensive and experienced players. We obviously have money, so if they rate a player and believe the player will become 'great' then whether they steal him for 500K or buy him for £8M probably isn't too relevant in their eyes. Obviously, in 5 years time, if we haven't moved forward then Levy and his DoF system isn't working because the players they are purchasing are simply not fulfilling the potential they were initially bought for. And like I said, if the mixture isn't right, then he isn't bringing in the right players at the right time.

I don't think the masterplan is to simply buy for the sake of being able to sell the players on for profit. But he has shown weaknesses for improving the squad when it was necessary to do so (i.e. the season we sat in 4th for 4 months comes to mind.....where were the Jan Window transfers to consolidate 4th place beyond any doubt?) We could have done with some real world-beaters at that point in time.

As noted in the Solaar post, "...making us a consistent top-6 team would bring a hell of a lot more money into the club than buying and reselling youth players".

And yet we buy Gunter and (looking like) Hutton. An 18 year old and 23 year old. Sure, both are meant to be top drawer. But if he doesn't follow up with an experienced 'class' centre-back, then you have to start questioning the logic.

I'm beginning to repeat myself now.

In the past, Spurs have gone out and bought what they believed to be top players, for key positions. And they turned out to be miserable signings. I think trusting Ramos will help us in abundance.

It just seems that all we buy are 'kids' and sometimes we strike lucky (Berbatov). It's not enough.

EDIT:

Hutton has apparently rejected a move to Spurs. So, was this Tottenham's 'number one target' for the right-back position (considering we have already bought Gunter)? Who will they now move for? Another younger, less promising target? Rather than a quality experienced 26 year old?

And if we go on to sign a few players in this window, and not bring in another RB, way make out we needed one in the first place?

It just doesn't seem to make sense.

Big bloated blog entry

2008 is upon us. Another twelve months of having to taste my own vomit watching Spurs kamikaze their way through countless matches and another self-induced transitional period. Did we really finish fifth two years running? Whether it was over achievement or circumstance, we had a swagger and self-belief along with a pretty decent home record, which all appears to have disintegrated into nothingness over the summer. We’ve been here before, and I’m not about to revisit the same tiresome theories and excuses. What’s happened has happened, more than anything because it always happens to Spurs. Due to the fact that we have this uncanny ability to create problems internally that hinder the team.

We choke. On and off the pitch.

Along with the over-excitement and therefore exaggerated hope the fans are guilty of, it’s all elevated to a misleading level of expectation. Simply put, we were never as good as we thought we were. We got lucky once or twice. We rode the crest of a rather good wave.

Without ever having that ‘midfield general’ or ‘leadership’ or the ability to finish off one of the ‘Big Four’ clubs in crunch matches, we continued onwards without looking to resolve these issues. Along with other popular and well documented frustrations (i.e. Poor set-pieces, defending set-pieces).

Whatever genuinely happened over the summer that resulted with Jol going and Ramos joining, is down to the chairman. He’s accountable for everything that happens at the club. That includes the rumour concerning Berbatov almost signing for Utd, but deciding to stay and then regretting his decision. And from whispers to reality, he is also accountable for spending £16.5M on a striker when defenders and midfielder's were needed. Though, it’s obvious Bent was bought as a direct replacement for the outgoing Bulgarian. But having a decent consistent experienced Premiership player (that cost more) as future cover for a world-class player is still ludicrous business. But that’s Spurs isn’t it. We’ll get to that later.

At the moment, it’s difficult to assess fairly Ramos and Poyet’s influence and impact, though several positives are evident. There appears to be problems with ridding the club of the rot, though now the Transfer Window is open, we may see the necessary changes that are required. The current issues with the team are not new.

We cannot defend set-pieces.

Actually, we can’t defend full stop. No organisation. Complete lack of responsibility and accountability. No one takes the game by the scruff of the neck.

How many times are we going to watch Robinson fail to command and organise his area? And then clumsily punch the ball to an opposing players feet, to then watch it hit the back of the net followed by Robinson berating the defenders and everyone else within a ten-mile radius? Only to have idiots singing ‘England’s Number One’ at the next game.

Robinson isn’t always guilty. Look towards the likes of Huddlestone and Chimbonda for consistently losing their man. Wouldn’t complain if it happened in forward positions, but tragically it’s a common occurrence in our own penalty area. If Robinson doesn’t fuck up, then be sure that someone else will wonder off leaving opposition players to score directly from a corner. Happened twice at Villa Park, where Dawson decided to mark zonal rather than player, let everyone know about it by pointing his finger, and we all know what happened next.

On top of the individual walkabouts, we also have professional players who haven’t got a sodding clue about being professional. Surely one of our donkeys can see the mis-match of having O’Hara man-mark Laursen? You’d think it right? If I can see it, then someone on £30K per week should be able to clock on that it’s only going to end in tears. 6 minutes to go, that’s surely ripe for yet another conceded goal. Yep. Sure was.

What’s the stat now? 20 or so lost points from fuck-ups late on? It’s obviously not as simple as ‘change the defence and we’ll be ok’ but having a decent defence and a confident keeper is the difference between us sitting in 12th and aspiring to another 5th spot finish.

Most telling moment for me, was actually Dawson’s yellow card at Villa Park. He made a clumsy stupid tackle when it wasn’t necessary, right on the touchline. You could see Ramos going mental over at the technical area.

Poyet’s Sky Sports Interview post-match was fantastic. Something Jol would never have done.

“We have to change”, he said (rather obviously, but at least you believed he was angry about it). Along with a comment that may suggest one or two players are set to either go out on loan or be sold. But what was certain was the fact that we have individuals that appear to be incapable of following instructions and reacting to circumstance and situations in-game.

Was Dawson ever any good? Is this one of those other Tottenham mirages? Average players, high on confidence and playing alongside true class (King), allowing their determination to shine through as ‘quality’. Dawson appears to have had a lobotomy, on what was a rather small brain in the first place. He's Keystone cop dressed up as Bambi, with accompanying ice.

Poyet’s comments are about 1000 times more effective than past excuses dished out by previous likeable (Jol) and legendary (Hoddle) chiefs. Having a defence that is incapable of defending doesn’t help out the rest of the team. Even the sulky Berbatov. You can understand his frustration if all his work (nearly) goes to waste because of goal-leakage (i.e. Spurs 6 Reading 4).

'Essential purchases' apparently is all we will get from the chairman. So that’s about 4 new players. Gunter is on his way. Another kid. Another ‘Gareth Bale’. That’s fine, but we need finished article players. So I don’t count this as one of Levy’s essential signings. King is back, but we need someone of equal pegging to partner him. Or even replace him, as another long term injury will surely be the end to his career.

Please no more Kabouls. I might be wrong on this, but I’m certain I read a quote stating that Kaboul was one for the future and was not going to partake in first team duties this season. Injury problems meant he was thrown knee deep in the shit from the start. And his complete lack of inexperience and confidence has more or less shattered the illusion of him having any kind of potential. I feel sorry for him. It’s not his fault that we have skipped development and given him a responsibility that’s far too big for him to handle. The failure here is with Comolli.

Whilst others spend about £500,000 on ‘young players’, who all look fantastic when they do play, us spunking around £8M on Kaboul is laughable. Much like spending the same amount on Zokora is. You spend £8M on a player that is either already experienced or superb not on someone who is far from it and might be good 'in the future'. What’s scary is if Comolli actually believed he was decent enough for first team football from the off.

Kaboul’s heart is in the right place. He wants to do well. I can’t help but cringe when he runs over to the crowd and throws his shirt into the stand (copying that dancing idiot Zokora). It’s all a little bit mis-placed and more or less sums up Spurs. Celebrating bog-standard victories with shirt-throwing masks the fact that he should concentrate more on his inability to clear the ball. Or at times pass it. Then again, we haven’t had that much to get happy about this year, so having these open-bus parade moments helps us sleep better at night.

Zokora was decent at the heart of the defence, but that’s not a position he will remain in and he’s not very good in the position he normally twats about in. Chimbonda is a liability. Classic example of a player who is pretty decent, but thinks he’s world class, so doesn’t bother playing, and thus just looks plain shit. His dribbling runs in front of our own penalty area are testament to this man’s idiocy.

Jamie O’Hara on the other hand, is looking quite neat and tidy. Hopefully won’t go the way of Marney and Jackson. Bit too earlier to compare him to the likes of Paul Scholes, but it would be nice for Spurs to have a player come from the youth team that can save us £10M - £15M in the transfer market and be as effective as Scholes was at United. Oh hold up, O'Hara is a former Arsenal youth reject. Damn it. Rohan Ricketts all over again. To be fair, I think he’ll be better than the failures that have come before him, but his progression may be hindered by future signings. Because when have Spurs not splashed out £10M - £15M? O'Hara has to be part of the first team squad and has to play games, otherwise, how do we know he'll ever be good enough? If the likes of Jenas get prolonged runs in the team, then this kid should do to.

Back to King. What a pleasure to see him return. In an age where rumours and bullshit take precedence over the truth, they (the press) would have you believe he was on the verge of quitting the game. Spurs, for once, are doing the right thing and look to be easing him back into the team. Resting him for the Villa game (though it proved to be the difference between points and nothing) was proof that Spurs have King’s fitness as the number one priority. But having him back in the team won’t be enough. He needs quality playing alongside him.

Something tells me that quality will still be missing come February, with regards to the goalkeeping position. Yes, Robbo has shed a load of weight. One of the positives of the Ramos/Poyet partnership is the fitness and diet regime appears to be working. Take Huddlestone. He looks leaner, and has improved his form. And Robinson has pulled off some world-class saves.

The thing is, Huddlestone still lacks mobility, so he isn’t the answer to our midfield problems. Robinsons ‘world class saves’ were his normal weekend peformances 2 seasons ago. At the present time, he still fails to command his area and the defenders around him. He still can’t punch and still looks clumsy. Waiting for him to reclaim his past form is a huge risk and it won’t happen when he has the current shambolic unit defending his goal. If the right players are brought in, and Robinson still doesn’t improve, then his dream will be over at the Lane.

Talking of which. Defoe and Bent.

Bent has been missing for a couple of games, apparently injured. West Ham are linked to him, in a cut-price deal. Levy claims we are not a selling club, and that there will be no major changes this January and that we will not be off-loading players on long-term contracts.

Bent was bought as Berbatov’s replacement. I see no other logical reason to splash out so much money on a striker when we have three already. If this is true, then that means anything Levy says can be ignored. And the case to sack the incompetent Comolli strengthens further.

If you believe the press speculation - Defoe, Bent and Berbatov are all off. That’s obviously not going to happen. Levy’s clue about long-term contracts would suggest that Defoe’s days are potentially numbered. He is currently changing agents (goodbye Sky Andrews) and is using this as an excuse for not speaking to the club about extending his contract. Thing is, should we even entertain keeping him? He obviously won’t develop further as a player due to his lack of Sheringhameque brain skills. Which means, a life on the Spurs bench awaits. Take the Man City away game as an example. He was sacrificed when we had Zokora sent off. Could he have done the quite brilliant job Berbatov produced, holding the ball up and generally playing his guts out supporting the midfield? Of course not. There’s not much more than instinctive finishing to his game, but he blows hot and cold so much that maybe we should bite Pompey’s hands off (I’m ignoring the silly rumours of Utd being interested in him).

Bent won’t be sold. If he is, then I want Comolli to resign.

As for Berbatov. Who knows? His agent is saying he may leave. Ramos said he may leave. Then the chairman says nobody is leaving. Poyet slags off Berbatov’s agent, suggesting he is bullshitting and looking out for his own wallet, while the papers inform us that a £26M deal is on the cards that will make him a Chelsea player.

Sell Berbatov, and we will be ordinary. On par with the teams below us, and chances of us being pulled back into the relegation dogfight go up. Obviously, if he is sold for over £20M, then I’d expect a similar ‘world class’ player to replace him. Though said player will probably wake up a year from now, and demand to be sold onto a bigger club. And the cycle continues.

It’s a tricky one to work out. Ian Wrights ‘feeder club’ comments seem to be a tad sensationalised. Carrick WANTED to leave. In fact, Spurs don’t sell players for the sake of it. It’s more a case of players wanting to leave when they realise nobody can break the current Top 4 stronghold so why bother staying?

Someone remarked to me that Berbatov can not play Champions League football this season because he has played in the UEFA Cup. If he plays in Saturdays Cup game, then he’ll be cup-tied too. So, considering the loyalty/faith the club have shown in him, he may as well wait until the summer.

From an unbias point of view, a modern day player simply wants success. So if you are world class playing for an average team, why carry them on your shoulder when you could be playing at the top level? Berbatov is always cited as not being this type of player. We will know for certain come the 1st February.

One player not leaving will be Zokora, who apparently wants to stay at Spurs forever. The only way I’ll be able to get through this one is if I start cutting my arms Richey James stylie.

No matter what happens this January, it’s what happens over the next 5 months and the summer – because once more we have to look towards next season as being the fresh start that’s required to kick-start our ambitions. Ramos and Poyet have done fine thus far. Difficult to really impose anything drastic over the current set of players, especially as Ramos has to assess what he has and what needs replacing. The new fitness regime and extra training sessions was obvious and simple to implement, and shame on Jol really. The diet too. Most ‘top clubs’ have all this in place as standard. In fact, most clubs do as default. Shame on Spurs.

Our defeats under Ramos have not been disastrous. They’ve just helped highlight the consistent issues that can only be fixed with (more) new players. If we want to climb the table as quickly as possible. The guilty can be developed properly and can redeem themselves at a later date.

The 3-2 home defeat against Birmingham was a quintessential collapse we have come to know too well. 2-1 up, player sent off and then at 2-2 we see another long-range effort beat Robinson. In the last seconds. We can’t defend a lead and we appear to be easy pickings for anyone who wants to have a go in the dying moments of a game. It happens so often that teams know they are in with a chance. Still, this was our first defeat under the new management.

Anderlecht away was boring. Remembered more for the lead pipe thrown onto the pitch and the pathetic fine for the Belgium club and their misbehaving fans. Gatafe won the group, which means we play Slavia Prague (who dropped out of the Champs League) in our next UEFA Cup game. Not that bad of a draw. PSV await (probably) if we get through.

2-1 at home to City. They are very ordinary away from home, but it was good to see us re-take the lead after City equalised and take all three points.

Pompey away was surprising. Yes, they’ve endured five 0-0 draws on the trot since the 7-4 Reading game, but for us to keep a clean sheet and take all three points was bloody great. Especially bossing the second half. Signs of something far better than Jol’s final days.

This was followed by another routine win at Man City, this time in the League Cup. First team to win there this season. And with just 10 men for about 70 minutes. Berbatov was excellent after Defoe was subbed to bring on another midfielder, following Zokora’s sending off. Was never a red. Steeds tackle was, so thanks to the ref and his inconsistency we were allowed to play our way through to the semi-final. Robinson made one of his ‘world class’ saves in this game. Pretty much well deserved again. Two clean sheets on the trot, away from home.

Then the NLD followed. Nice to see Sky Sports continue their ridiculous pro-top 4 commentary bias with Tyler's over-excited commentary for everything Arsenal related. See, Arsenal were not very good on the day because the magician Cesc was having a good day. Nothing to do with Spurs pushing up and pressuring their players and generally making it all a bit difficult for the bestest team ever to settle into any kind of rhythm. Fabregas and his hug for O’Hara at the end of the game summed it up.

Spurs did everything right, except when it mattered. No one expected us to win, so when gifted with a penalty to make it 2-1, Robbie Keane misses (it was actually a good save). This was then followed by another gift (not missed) when Bendtner eased away from Huddlestone to score with his first touch. From a set-piece. It’s that old choke thing rearing its ugly head. Again. Spurs beat themselves in this one.

Another semi-final with them lot is on its way. Even if they play a weakened side (their reserves/kids tend to be almost as difficult to play against then their first team proper) I still don’t see a passage through to the final. At least not without blood, thunder and following up on opportunities with merciless cutthroat decisiveness. In other words, if we are 2-0 up this time, we make it 3-0. And don’t let them back into it. Choking again isn’t really acceptable. But then, with the current set of players, I don’t think we can compete if they play to their very best. Cup final would be nice though. I’m sure they think the same, considering Wenger’s uber-team haven’t won much in the past three seasons, by their very high standards.

The 5-1 drubbing of Fulham at home wasn’t unexpected. Comfortable without ever dominating or bossing the game. Helps the woeful goal difference.

The next game was one of those rather silly moments in football when you can’t make up your mind whether you should laugh out loud or scream abuse. Berbatov scored 4 and was sublime. Our defence gave Reading 4, mostly from set-pieces and Robinson's lack of keeping ability. Every time we went behind we equalised. It was a classic football match, without having classic examples of how to play the game. We scored some great goals, but let in some terrible ones. Never thought we would lose though because we always got ourselves back into it. The six goals made us the Prem’s top goal scorers. Sure, a big chunk of them have come against Reading, Fulham, Wigan and Derby. But it helps to prove the point that if the defence was decent and we had a strong creative midfielder....well, you know. 5th spot.

Nice to be first in Match of the Day’s running order for once. Talking of which, Hansen still thinks we are the only team with the right amount of whatever it is that’s needed to break into the Top 4. City, Everton and Villa are doing well, but if there’s one thing that remains constant it’s the fact that the top 4 never change but the chasing pack always do.

Villa away wasn’t very good in the first half. Second half, we deserved the point, but again, as spoken about already, individual errors cost us dearly.

And here we are. January. Reading at home in the FA Cup on Saturday (cue 1-0). And Arsenal away in the Carling Cup next week. Got to be in it, to win it.

Happy New Year. Enjoy it.

Can't laugh at Chelsea anymore

We are advertising tickets for our next UEFA Cup game on Talksport. Novelty factor of the UEFA Cup almost gone then lads?

In defence of SI

Football Manager 2008. If you believe the disgruntled gamers it has Syphilis. Or a common cold. Or a bug or something. Currently, the SI Forum is like that final hellmouth engulfing Sunnydale, which means that Miles Jacobson will have to stick on a blonde wig and change his name to Buffy. The 'big evil' has thrown its toys out of the pram and demanding a patch 'or else'. Time to stake that motherf*cker in the heart.

Dear Disgruntled FM gamer,

Football Manager 2008 is a game. SI will fix everything. The fact is, 10 years or so of this footballing uber-spreadsheet has resulted in some of the most undeserving impatient ungrateful gamers (a minority thankfully) of any game I know of. Football Manager is not Theme Park. It’s a football game and therefore is based on a massive database of stats and processing and formulas. It will never be a 99.99% nailed on replica of real football – and some of you have quite obviously forgotten this (or choose to think it is actually possible to get 99.99% and how dare SI fail to do so). Its a simulation at best. And it tries it's damned hardest to be that. Be grateful they still make it. In a world where the emphasis is on big colourful box office style games, it's a testament to SI that the game still shifts the amount of units it does.

You know why SI don’t have any competition? Because there simply isn't a development team out there good enough or determined enough to put out what is quite obviously a monster of a genre to develop and manage and update.

I'm not saying that the game doesn't have bugs. It quite obviously does and I'm not dismissing the fact that just because I don't experience any problems playing as a Prem club, that others in the lower leagues have their playability affected by issues that need to be fixed.

Yes. It’s frustrating. But the anal obsessive detail some people complain at is just plain silly and at times almost deranged. It’s almost like there’s a group who actively go searching for problems with the games engine and can’t play it because of minor issues that do not have a detrimental effect on the game. Others do however have a right to be frustrated because the issues they find through gameplay DOES have a detrimental effect. But the manner some of you people express your complaints is pretty immature.

If SI had not released the game when they did and waited to complete further testing, you would not have had it when you got it - so waiting another week or three for a patch to make it 'playable' (the very definition of that is altogether another subject) makes no difference. That’s just my opinion and I know others will claim ‘we wouldn’t be upset if we paid £30 for the game and didn’t need a patch’. But let’s not be naïve about it. This happens all the time. Even with operating systems like Windows. Other games have massive flaws in them or simply don’t give the hours of gameplay FM can – so putting up with these type of industry quirks isn’t really a big deal. It's a fact of life. And one that most have to sadly deal with.

The irony here is that some people have choosen to forget this happened with FM2007 too but the hardcore who complained prefer to look back and suggest that it was less 'buggy', probably because they were appeased with SI's patches that followed.

Call of Duty. 5 hours gameplay. Probably didn’t need a patch on release. But that’s a shooter. FM is a completely different type of creature. As for FM gameplay? 100 hours? 1000 hours? Which is probably the reason there is such a low threshold of tolerance for ‘bugs’. But every incarnation has struggled with them – so doesn’t that tell you something? Even with such an experienced and hard working team, it’s sill a brutal experience for them to build this game. And the very nature of tweaking and adjusting means one of the consequences is that it always needs to be tweaked. FM is like a demanding girlfriend and finding her g-spot takes a little time.

It’s a joke? It’s unacceptable? You want your money back? You want to try the competition? Feel free to do just that. You'll be back soon enough and you know it.

Few developers care about their product as much as SI do - and if you look at the competition and the fact that their games are fundamentally shallow and lack depth and are just cosmetic or full of gimmicks - how on earth can you sit there and slag them off like they don’t give a shit? Have they stolen candy from a baby? Defecated through your letter-box?

Look at Championship Manager. Unbalanced game which is let down by the very fact it falls several leagues behind FM's gameplay and depth. That's the competition.

So grow the fuck up and lose the fundamentalist attitude you have towards the game.

It's a privilege not a right.

Yours 'top of the league with Spurs',

Spooky

Round-up

Lacking the time to be all satirical and ‘in character’ so you’ll have to make do with a rather bland overview of the last 5 days or so until I’m back in front of a pc, drenched in inspiration and high on drugs.

Ramos has introduced an appraisal system for players and staff in order to gage their ambitions. I can see it now.

RAMOS: So, what are you ambitions?
JENAS: To learn to control the ball with my first touch.
RAMOS: That’s never going to happen.
JENAS: I scored twice against Wigan.
RAMOS: Of course you did, you’re our very own Zizou. Here’s a lollypop.
JENAS: Yeah! A lollypop! I can do it too with Kandoo!

In addition, a new diet regime is also being implemented, so expect a pouty size zero Robinson sporting a rather lush looking goalkeeper jersey soon, drinking champers and snorting coke between goal-kicks. Also, let’s take a moment to laugh out loud at the Spanish press who appear to have out-done their English counterparts. For some rather deranged reason they seem to think that Spurs have turned into Chelsea and have ‘300 Million Euros’ to spunk on players.

The following have all been recently linked:

Casillas - £25m
Villa - £30m
Xavi - £15m
Alves - £20m
Kanoute - £15m
Baptista - £10m

Add Diego Capel (Sevilla winger) to the long list of targets and endless money pit that Levy apparently has. Love the fact that all players mentioned are attackers/forwards. Even Alves is better known for his attacking prowess than his defensive duties. All very likely, no? It’s tiresome. But then this is modern day journalism. And with the Jan transfer window not too far off, its only natural the agents and tabloids go into overdrive.

And if that’s not enough, Comolli is allegedly looking at Arsenal reserve players as potential targets. It’s Christ-maaaaaaaaaaas! Let’s balance the team out with rejects from the pikey side of town. That should elevate morale with the fans. And yes, the irony that their reserves are better than our first team isn’t lost on me. It's a cruel and bitter life.

Another tale from the terraces suggests that Taarabt (depending on who tells you) wants to join Arsenal/Wenger wants to sign him. Hands up if you think he’d be in the first team squad all the time if he was a gooner or at Old Trafford? Hopefully he will impress the Ramos in training and finally get a shot at the first team proper rather than a cameo every few months. The kid has genuine world class potential. And no, I’m not talking about the Huddlestonesque kind (though if the Hudd lost some weight he just might make it). Taarabt has to be developed, something I’m much more confident will happen with the new regime than any of the past efforts. And part of that development is playing in the first team from a young age. Ask Fergie and Wenger about the success rate with taking this particular type of plunge.

Elsewhere, Spurs finally get planning permission for their new training ground, which will apparently attract world class players. Why? Will there be a poker room and pole-dancing stage with accompanying escort girls? We still await on the big talking point as to whether we are planning on re-developing WHL or moving (potentially) to a site in Enfield. As discussed before, one possible outcome is to ground share at West Ham United. Ground sharing with them lot is like asking Frank if it’s okay to share Pat Butcher in a ménage a trios. What on God’s green earth would possess you to do something so vile and disgusting?

And talking of them lot, WHU away on Sunday. A repeat of last year, thank you very much.

Elsewhere, various rumours about Ledley King doing the rounds again. One suggesting he had a setback weeks back and won’t be seen for another month or two. The other rumour, suggests he has simply been rested for 3 months as precaution (in addition to the summer months) and will be back soon. Both forum efforts these ones. Pinch of salt as per usual. Don’t cry just yet, wait for the official site to update you with the bad news.

England are back in the hunt for qualification when it seemed the dream was over. I don’t usually speak about the National side. One under-achieving team is enough to be depressed about. If we win by a few goals we finish top of the group. Knighthood back on for McClaren then. Love his thank-you speech highlighting Israel’s pride that helped ensure a shock 2-1 win. If our players had some pride we wouldn’t be relying on Russia to fuck up. Still, plenty of time for us to do just that with Croatia on Wednesday. Dear Mr McClaren, now there’s a thought…

Train of thought

"For the first time since I've been at the club, the prima donnas are actually being made to have a double session of training today (morning and afternoon)! Viva la revolution! " – Spurs Lodge Insider.

Not so much an exclusive because everyone is covering the ‘story’. Ramos has told the players (straight after the Rovers defeat) that they have to play not for 60 or 70 minutes but for 90 minutes. More or less tells you that he will iron out every niggling pain in the arse problem that Jol preferred to ignore. Can’t wait to see the response on Wednesday. Confidence boosting thrashing of Blackpool is much needed. As for it being a ‘double session’, here’s hoping that what the Spurs players experienced was actually a normal training session under Ramos.

In addition, we also know he will rotate the team – something that Jol did out of the necessity to keep certain players happy rather than what’s best for the club. Ramos also only gives out the line-up just before kick-off and never changes this particular rule. Nobody is certain to be in the team, though I’m guessing one or two of our players will be first choice every time (if fit) much like Sevilla.

Still can’t see us finishing higher than 10th at the moment. Some tough home games (Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea) yet to play along with plenty of potential away day headaches to overcome.

Hola Ramos

Mr Ramos, welcome to the badlands of Tottenham Hotspur. I hope you enjoy your stay. Fingers crossed it’s longer than the standard 2-3 year visit most of our recent managers have enjoyed.

I know you are a proven winner. Regardless of some people suggesting your success at Sevilla is down to the youth structure and other parties and what went on before you arrived there, but the fact is you took a side that were not to great or pretty to the very heights of La Liga managing to beat the likes of Madrid and Barcelona along the way. In addition, two successive UEFA Cup wins playing with a wonderful passing style is nothing to frown upon, regardless of it being a second tier European competition. And one or two other trophies for larks and larfs along with a Champions League spot. Sevilla are renowned for their high tempo short passing style. They are a joy to watch. And that’s down to you.

You know how to motivate. Being a strict disciplinarian (is there any other kind?) your teams work hard and your players work hard for each other.

Now, I know that the next two months will involve you sussing out who is up for the fight and who has the necessary quality to survive as a team member from January and the summer onwards. Fitness levels will need to improve. Players will need to become accustomed to your way of doing things. Like any new managerial appointment there’s a period where you stamp your authority down, allowing the players to see how things will change. But this is one with a difference.

See, you have actually won something. You are considered world-class. We don't usually find such quality in our appointments. Players will respect you. Those that do not, those who fail to lift their game in training and out on the pitch may as well be the first to go. It’s obvious you demand to see pride and spirit in the players under your management.

But this is not relevant. I’m not here to question your abilities or the fact that you will soon see for yourself the mess the first team are in. You will see we can’t defend set-pieces or make the most out of offensive ones. You will note that we are easily bullied in midfield. Our defense is far from being a unit. We have no true balance from the back to the front. No confidence or self belief. No true distinctive style or tactic. Other than giving up a winning position and conceding last gasp goals. Sorry, there I go again. Stating the obvious.

All I want to say is good luck. Levy is a pussycat compared to José Maria del Nido. And Tottenham’s problems on the field are so obvious and blatant that you wont have too much of a problem sorting it out. I doubt you will take much notice of the media or disgruntled fans if it takes a few months to get your ethos working at the club. And my advice would be to do just that. Get on with what you do best, ignore the media and the impatient supporters and in due course I’m certain the results will do all the talking for you. Not to say you shouldn’t brush up on your English in the mean time.

End of day rant

We over-achieved. We looked better than we actually were. The Jol / Levy (and the rest of those mugs) relationship was deep and brooding away, behind the scenes, disguised by those two top 5 finishes. Nobody on the outside had a clue, while inside the club it was going to shit. Hence the collapse. Jol was a massive improvement on the past attempts to get this club moving forwards, but football is fickle and you can see how the whole mood at the club (in the stands) has shifted back to despondency this year just because of a 10 game poor run.

To be honest, its time we fucking banned all this 1960's shit and 'We have to make top 4' and all the other bullshit we churn out that drags us down all the time. Yes, we were really good 50 years ago, so fucking what. You can’t expect to be that again simply because you were like that once upon time. There’s not right to expect that. Yes, be ambitious but be realistic too. And the fact WE believe we should have it is something that rubs off on the players who seem to join Spurs for the simple reason that there is little pressure or stress and its a comfort zone (or stepping stone even). Seems the ‘We deserve 4th’ mentality has engulfed the board, hence the impatience and ego-wars and the PR disasters.

I honestly hope Ramos doesn’t give a shit or even mention The Past™ when he takes the helm and simply aims to achieve success for his own personal ego and gain. I wouldn’t mind seeing us finish Top 4 because of his own personal goals. This is no disrespect to Nicholson or the players from yesteryear. By definition, a club is defined by its history. But when you’re history is firmly lodged in black and white its time to create a new one. Remove the anchor and fucking sail upstream.

Jol was too much of a fan. And yes, it was endearing and yes, I fucking loved the big fat bear and wish he was my dad, but our club, our little club lives on nothing but promises and ‘what ifs’ and ‘we deserve to be there’ instead of shutting the fuck up and achieving it on the only place where it matters - the pitch.

Notice our bench last night towards the end of the game? The players enjoyed a joke. Personally think that was disgusting. For £20,000 a week I wouldn’t unzip myself and piss over the fans but they appear to have no problem doing so.

If Ramos comes in, I hope he plays players who want to play for this team, his team. That story about him taking off a player and leaving 10 on the pitch to force them to work harder for each other when they were coasting 2-0 makes me quite confident that Spurs have found the man to finally sort out this mess.

If he fails, then let it be down to footballing matters and not conspiracy theories from the board room.

3 points from 12th

I sat myself in front of the box, fired up Sky+ and watched an episode of 'Brotherhood'. FX is showing season one. It's pretty good and kinda fills the hole left by the departure of The Sopranos. Talking of which, I wonder how long Jol has?

Apparently (not seen or heard anything of tonight's 3-1 defeat up at the Toon, just read some forum comments after the final whistle) we were inept again. No spirit, spark or style. All lost at sea, a pale shadow of the previous two years that had as playing with grit and determination and never say die attitude.

Newcastle found it all too easy in the first half and our comeback was as limp-wristed as the vast array of poor tackles Jenas attempts. I'm near certain he suffers from ballphobia. Tottenham apparently showed the world once more that the same old problems are still there. So glad I opted for my Sky Planner and not a Internet stream of the game.

Cerny in goal, not at fault for any of them apparently. Dawson helping the black and white cause with roller-skate defending. Shows we don't need Robbo's help in goal to concede with relative ease.

3rd from bottom, its all a bit farcical and once more its time to say what we say every week when Spurs lose.......Martin Jol's position at the club is untenable.

But who's available to come into the job? At the moment, it would seem nobody is. So Levy looks set to see out the season with Jol at the helm. Why would someone take a shit on a wedding cake and then still demand everyone takes a bite?

You might ask what right I have to bitch without having seen the game, but lets face, you've seen one Spurs performance......you've seen them all.

Then again, a text message from a mate who was at the game states we were marginally better in tonights 3-1 defeat than we usually are up there. So that's an improvement from the norm. But that doesn't help quantify the current state of affairs.

Back with a whimper

I would dearly love to say that I’ve been on various information gathering blackops missions to the Levy Mansion and the Spurs training ground. That's simply not been the case. And apart from being handcuffed to the bed posts and spanked there's not much to report on. And no you can't see the pictures of me and the £300 per hour escort girls who are dressed up as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Willow. If you're wondering, I was Giles.

With regards to football (and football only) International break has left me drained and bored. Zero inspiration or drive to achieve anything in the crusade. Regardless, I was actually feeling quite good when I got up this morning until I was reminded that Spurs are on the box tonight. This means I’ll be losing out on 2 hours of playing Football Manager 2008 – the only place where Tottenham ever win anything (I’m currently 2nd with 20 games gone).

Talking about the International break, what about The England, hey? Just like watching Spurs play except Spurs are more entertaining in defeat. And although I don’t want to slate Robinson too much (the defending prior to the shot and after his ‘save’ was pathetic) it has to be stated – why on earth is he still playing first team football?

My head isn't photoshopped

At no point has he shown any improvement. No matter what he says in interviews to help boost his own confidence and no matter the support from McClaren and Jol – it’s not working in his favour. It’s like both managers expect his form to change abruptly for the better. But on current form he is simply not good enough to start games for club and country, and yet there he is. Between the posts. But apparently he has a calf injury so will miss tonight's game at Newcastle. That’s one way to drop him from the team. Invent an injury. Unless he really did hurt himself, more than likely his jaw, eating a calf.

Elsewhere Kemsley has left the building. Apparently he won’t be attempting a takeover bid of the club and has fucked off to America. That’s one down, one to go. We live in hope, right?

Chimbonda continues to act like a typical mercenary. This time (in an interview) discussing a failed transfer to Chelsea when an agreement wasn’t found between us and the scum. Fantastic opportunity he called it. Personally, anything that will make Chelsea even weaker is good in my books. This season, he can’t defend to save his life and his forward play is piss poor. But we are stuck with him for a little bit longer. How long till January?

Something else that made me laugh is the textbook preview for tonight’s clash up at St James Park in The Sun, displaying a photo of Berbatov with a Newcastle shirt and various other pictures from his younger teenage days telling us how he worshipped Alan Shearer and apparently slept with his Toon army shirt. Though Shearer didn’t join Newcastle till 1996, so bit late in the day for him to go to bed wearing a black and white striped football jersey. Maybe there was a shortage of pyjamas in Bulgaria that year. Regardless, nice to see a rehash of a story that was printed several months back. Running out of newsworthy stories are we chaps? Time to get a new group of monkeys and typewriters.

Anyway. I’m sure my inspiration will return after this evenings defeat. Oh the glory of supporting the lilywhites. Never a dull moment. Very few good ones.