Oh my days, we won a game at Bolton.

Bolton 1 Spurs 4

An away win, the first since December and our first at Bolton since Sky Sports invented modern football. Okay, so sure, Bolton are awful compared to the bullish physical side that has always made sure we get nothing up there but having comfortably beaten Blackburn at the Lane without having to dig too deep it was good to see us do the same here. Our hosts displayed fight, unlike Rovers. We had a wobble early doors second half, but came through it. A flurry of punches from them failing to do any damage. Three quick uppercuts our response. Floored. I hope they pick themselves up and avoid survive the count.

Emotional stuff before the kick-off with Fabrice walking out onto the pitch. The Spurs Drum was apparently smuggled into the ground, then confiscated after 30 minutes. Spurs won't be too impressed after their explicit instructions that no drum is allowed (home and away). That and the fact the 'Y' rhythm was played. Tut tut. Got next to no chance of ever seeing it return to the Lane.

Our defending is still not that great but going forward we appear to have rediscovered the simple things that can be so effective. Spacial awareness, wingers on the flanks crossing the ball for players attacking the box. Quick precise counters. Smart and tidy one touch from midfield to attack that sees the players instinctively run into space to pass the ball onwards with intent.

A similar confident display (excluding the opening six or so minutes in the second half) away to Villa and it's all smiles with a hearty farewell to that almighty blip that almost killed our season. It still hangs in the balance, but this is a far better position to be in than a month back.

The goal from Luka (from a corner no less) was sublime. Is there a way to fit him into a system so that he isn't anchored too deep? He doesn't score many but when he does he leaves you thinking how many he could score if he played more offensively. Then again, he wouldn't dictate the tempo as much if he found himself lurking outside the box. Perhaps when Spurs are bossing he can sacrifice himself to the giddy heights of the area around the penalty box.

He did make one mistake in the game, leaving Reo-Coker free early in the second half for the equaliser but he made up for it with a brilliant assist releasing Lennon on the opposite flank to cross for Adebayor (3-1). In amongst the goals, a van der Vaart textbook pass into the net (2-1) and another Adebayor close finish from a Bale cross (4-1). Bang, bang bang. All over in the space of nine minutes. Clinical Spurs of the Fall, how I've missed you.

Sandro was again a beast this time without vomit. Adebayor, the paradox, scores and assists across the season (in patches) and has a first touch that has me pulling the hair out of other people (because I have no hair left on my head to pull). But still more effective than anything we've had since the last time we went out and signed a quality forward.

Lennon got better as the game progressed. Bale roamed and swapped but showed how important staying out left can be when the players around him are equally hungry but disciplined positionally. There might not be enough time left in the season to truly capture the rapturous solid full pelt flow of pre-blip, but this might just do. One journalist made a joke on Twitter when Spurs were 1-1 and on the ropes that it was because Harry was being linked to the England job, before the joke cut away with irony (what with Harry no longer linked as the job is gone). Further irony then that Spurs finally woke up which means it must be because there is no possibility of Three Lions, just the one cockerel dusting its self off. No follow up joke from the journo to balance out the comedy digs.

One point is now the monumental gap between us and third although only 4th spot is up for grabs. Woolwich won't drop points (hex). Chelsea look out of it (in terms of a league placing) after two ridiculous Cisse goals (apparently their announcer proclaimed pre-match that Chelsea would move into 4th spot when Spurs lose to Bolton...bless 'em). Pardew's men have the tricky remaining fixtures. I guess the shock would be them beating City on the weekend. Three points at Villa is now imperative. Let's just win the next two games because what happens elsewhere is beyond our control.

So where does this leave us, generally speaking?

Our away record across the past three seasons has been better than anything in the past 20 or so. As good as we've ever had it? Let's bury this fallacy once and for all. It's not as good as we've ever had it. Not when the 1990s and early 2000s were so abject. It's hardly difficult to call this Spurs side the best we've had in a long time when you look back to the ones we've had to endure sitting in mid-table going nowhere fast. We are simply playing to the standard that we've wanted to see since the 1980s left us forever. As good for some fans in their life time, perhaps, but that doesn't mean we gleefully accept and not want to push for more. Why should we be so defeatist ? This should never be about one man's ego but always about Tottenham and what we strive to be and play for. Glory.

It was as good as we've had in the past 20 years when pushing for 4th back in 2010. It's now better than it was that season but there is so much room for improvement, achievable improvement. Seems fairly obvious to me. Aim higher. Get better. Achieve more. Look how far off the top we are and yet we hardly took Europe and the League Cup seriously. Remove uncertainty and bulk the squad up rather than playing a game of cat and mouse nobody can decipher. That's a call to chairman and manager to take responsibility.

Harry is now focused on us having given up on England. Shocker. Although depending on the media, Hodgson and the England players there is no way you can discount another twist in a year or so. So if we are stuck with him, then it's back to accepting his strengths and his failings. Although he is not the most tactically astute or consistent with strategy (which means he might never have it in him to better 4th spot) we still compete. But you can't proclaim a title push one day and then admit we're lucky to be 4th the next. Harry will continue to be a short term custodian of team affairs, from one season to the next, reactive to whatever is happening at any given time. There might be no other manager out there that could do any better, but there might be one that could perhaps plan for the long term and allow this team to make that further step up.

If Levy believes in the gaffer and backs him, then so be it. I'll follow and support. We won't have a choice. Would be the more most prudent fiscal decision to make even if there are many that would prefer someone brand new to take the helm.

For now, I'll happily accept a smug Harry sound-bite on Champions League qualification, telling us all 'told you so'.

For now, all that matters is the next game.

I'm away until Tuesday, might log onto Twitter if I'm sober. Might log onto Twitter if I'm drunk.

Paradox

Is there anyway to hope success for Roy Hodgson without England achieving it? No? Of course not. Everyone is doomed then. I hate the clique that is the tabloid media, with their pro-Redknapp obsession, already sharpening their knives as displayed with the usual bitter and stupid questions at Roy's first press conference. The nations favourite have rolled out a speech impediment joke so we can't be that far off from vegetable photo-shops.

Let's stop pretending to be surprised. We're all actually guilty of similar charges. They are meant to report the news. They are hardly unbiased and they will always push whatever agenda that's close to them. It's no different to any football forum or set of fans with a unified belief they relentlessly perpetuate. Well it is different in one way, tabloids have a far greater reach than any blog or message board or twitter time-line.

During the press conference, you could hear them squirm in their seats, unsatisfied and rejected for not having their chosen one to bestow safe questions to and catch the responding sound-bite like two lovers blowing kisses to each other. This summer will be a barrel of laughs.

Also worth noting the nations favourite hardly reports 'the news'.

Regardless of the FA only approaching the one man and also the fact that they are saying there was more than two people on the short list, it did feel rather ominous. When the new England boss cited Redknapp it was to say that Harry had left him an answer phone message to congratulate him. It almost appeared to be apologetic, like Roy was a little embrassed to find out Harry was being passed by. The FA wouldn't pay the compensation for Redknapp, a likely scenario.

What's done is done. Shame the ambiguity and the flirting has given us an excuse (and masked the real issue at hand) to surrender so many points but we've struggled since the start of the year and with just three games remaining, all that's left is for us to win them all to give ourselves the chance of redemption. Even if it still hangs in the balance, dependent on results in others games and a certain cup final.

We've not won away since December. We've got two away games up next. The final game of the season is at home against a former manager. Hardly inspiring when our recent win was against a side that had no desire. Tonight against Bolton we face a team fighting to stay up and they'll be more than up for it with Fabrice present. We haven't won there in the Premier League either.

If you had a spare ten quid, you'd keep it in your pocket.

Still, believe. It's a boring existence if you don't.

Today is the 5th anniversary of Dear Mr Levy.com.

How to lose points and ailenate fourth spot

Bolton 4 Spurs 2

My initial gut reaction to Saturdays could not be arsed performance in the majesty of the cathedral of football (the Reebok Stadium) was simply this: Harry Redknapp…why?

I appreciate that we shall never defeat the conspiracy (oh look another early Saturday kick-off straight after a Champions League game) but that was no excuse to just shrug at the prospect of perhaps claiming something tangible up at Bolton, were historically we get as much action as Cliff Richard. So no shocker, cometh the final whistle. No celebrations either, just footballing celibacy. Our players displaying the type of effort you'd expect from a walk on a beach mid summer holiday.

Should my knees begin to jerk ever so slightly? Or should I continue to whistle a gleeful tune and dance nervously holding up a sign that reads 'The End is not Nigh, So Stop Fretting'. Am I  ignoring the evidence of domestic degradation of consistent form and backbone? Do I rely too much on the varied weaknesses that are displayed by opposing (rival) sides with each passing week as a reason to remain optimistic? Do we - as a supporting collective - add more weight to our results than when we look across at other teams where perhaps we rationalise and exaggerate and gloss over the importance of their results in comparison? Is our squad depth not at depthy as it would suggest? Regardless of the dizzying questions, there are only two that matter at this still early juncture of the season.

What's broken and how do we fix it?

Or perhaps it's better worded as; how have we broken it and why isn't it getting fixed?

Perhaps things are not quite broken, they're just not in full working order.

We are erratic. The side is hardly ever settled in terms of juggling between league and Europe. Injuries confirm that as sublime as our first team can be, when we lose certain key players we lack cohesiveness and this has a knock-on effect with other commonly required footballing essentials (intensity, desire, focus etc). But even with a storming first team (on paper) we've disappointed in the league still. 451 works in Europe. Doesn't quite sex up at home.

Parts of the team - when the team is not at full strength (or as full strength as selection can allow) are at  times found out and thus has a detrimental effect on the rest of the side. Our defence guilty as charged. Against Bolton (who were not that good) we gifted them goals (regardless of the first being offside) because we managed to be even worse than them.

I said my initial gut reaction was to blame the gaffer, and I still do, but the players have quite a bit to answer for in terms of ye olde mental strength. But then it all goes back to the erratic selection which births lack of rhythm and style from one game to the next. We play our best football and best players in Europe. It's time we shared the wealth with the mundane task of finishing fourth. Before that ship sails and we're left drowning in shark infested waters. Or something equally grim.

So what went wrong at the Reebok? Easy peasy:

- 451 when there is no van der Vaart to accommodate. So why bother with 451?
- Crouch up top on his own. Why didn't Pav start? We are struggling with goals from our strikers in the league, so you do the math - two is better than one. There is no dynamic movement when pushing forwards and although Crouch and Pav is less Batman and Robin and more Rodney and Del Boy, it's the better and more obvious option to go with the two of them. Pav - for the record - has notched seven goals in all comps this season. That's from six starts and nine substitutions. His league record overall is rubbish (53 apps, 13 goals). So can we just tell him it's a cup game (21 apps, 18 goals) every time we play?'
- No flow and support structure in key areas (i.e. Hutton and Niko hardly a passable execution of 'how to support a team-mate')
- Sandro and Wilson in the starting line-up? Really? One newbie finding his feet and one oldie who has managed to lose his.
- Huddlestone on the bench. Stamps his authority on the game when he eventually comes on. Fails to wrap his boots around a decent pass.
- Kranjcar given a start which he does nothing with. Bentley on the other hand displays 'glimpses' of decency which is a little bit like saying, 'Look ma, he's star-jumping AND winking at the same time'.
- Wait to go three down before showing urgency.
- Complete lack of character, which is either the last dying remnants of the culture of comfort that almost destroyed this club or something isn't quite working in terms of prioritising the importance of climbing the table.
- Play badly to make opponents look good and yet almost  get back into it late on. Botheredness, the Spurs way.
- Keep dropping/losing points when it's even more obvious that this season is going to be less of a challenge to finish 4th than last season IF…IF IF IF…we attain the same standard of football we played at last season.
- No insight or astute pre-game analysis or tactical master planning of the opposing side. It's all very 'I'll select eleven players and hope they gel for ninety minutes'.
- Lack of in-game insight/astuteness and tactical re-shaping of the opposing side. It's okay to be reactive. That's 'reactive' to the game and opposition BEFORE we go three down.

Not frigging rocket science is it? And yet the same mistake(s) are made every few weeks.

We are up for the European adventure, and not so up for concentrating on league form. There might be a subconscious shared thought in the club that has everyone thinking we might not get a chance in the CL again for another two or three years so let's enjoy it and let's make our mark. Daniel Levy appreciates this as he's well aware that long term planning is vital and he won't go loopy for the sake of the short term. But considering how obvious our problems are, speculating in early 2011 would make the double challenge of home and away far more achievable than it stands at the minute.

The short term win can make the long term far more comfortable and we can stop looking around and concerning ourselves with the form of others and leave them to concern themselves with our form.

So panic? Don't bother. Not yet. Honestly, we still have some sand left in the hour glass.

We are not playing well but we are in there in terms of points and position. Sure, we are closer to the bottom than the top and the next three games are vital because if we win our home games (Sunderland/Rovers) and get something off the scum then we'll have gone from weeds to blossoming Lily's. If we don't then panic. PANIC PANIC PAAAAAANIC.

There is a point in the season where we (I) can't keep saying - we are still within touching distance. We have to move on and get in amongst the top five and pull away with them and then deal with the fight it will take to remain there and aim for 4th rather than 5th. I think we are at that point now. If we miss it, then we're going to get dragged down further with loss of focus and belief and distraction in the shape of the CL. And the point becomes one of no return.

I don't particularly want to share CL football with the likes of City or Liverpool (yes, Liverpool because they're back baby, they're back!!! Did you not see the game on Sunday?). We might find we don't have a choice and that every other season we challenge and reclaim entry to the elite competition because of the openness of the Prem. On the other hand,  we lose out this season and the Prem goes all monopoly again - and it's back to mediocrity as our players get plucked. The latter is less likely, but I'd rather not entertain that risk.

I lost count of the amount of times we got written off during the 2010 journey. I've said it many times this term - we might appear to be going sideways but we are not far off at all from getting this fixed. Just a couple of variables to be added to the formula. Just need to stand tall and proud before the money shot. Our CL hangover record is actually better than Arsenals. Not that it makes it acceptable to lose to Bolton and it's frustrating that we never get anything there - but with two home games and then the scum away (before CL and Liverpool) - this is when we discover if this fantastical learning curve - for the manager as well as players - has sunk in and we are better for it.

Get to Jan even with the same type of difference we have at the moment between us and say 3rd spot - and then it's over to the chairman and the transfer window to consolidate the work and progress achieved last season and eradicate this blip we are experiencing in the Prem. I don't need to tell you what we need. If we get what we need then we'll gonna get a whole heap of what we want.

I'll end with some positives from the game.

Ridiculously great technique and finish for the goal from Roman. Superb effort from Hutton also. That's it.

Also, can I point out that Gareth Bale didn't make his debut at the San Siro. And this fallacy of him being non-existent in the league is exactly that. Although my point would be more poignant if made on another day, rather than after a quiet performance and defeat.

Conclusion?

Last time I'm going to say this now. We are not playing well, we dissect every loss because of the standards we have set ourselves and we are showing frailties that are probably not half as bad as some other clubs have in comparison but probably more susceptible to repair. We've got it in us. It's time to prove it.

That's it.

Can we not play Inter at home every week?

Morning.

Sorry for the lack of a serious match preview. I'm balls deep into Football Manager 2011 at the minute. The other half and the baby are away, so home alone which means plenty of walking around in boxer shorts eating yesterdays left over kebab for breakfast and catching up on HBO's latest masterpiece, Boardwalk Empire. Committed, that's me.

To be honest, I'm still having flashbacks to last Tuesday's epic. As much as I'm looking forward to this afternoon, I'm around 15% worried that we'll suffer a hangover. No neat and tidy slick incomparable passing from Bolton ala Inter. It's altogether a different task at hand. We don't get much up there so getting three points today would be a near perfect follow-on from our European adventures. So it's about bettering the opposition in one department more than them and making sure the points have Lilywhite ribbons at full time. Bettering them, but battering them would be so much sweeter.

Comfortable, emphatic 3-0 win the perfect tonic. A bruising 1-0 scrape, just as worthy.

No vdV or Lennon. Potential for a bit of tinkering from Harry. Will Bale be rested? 451? Questions. The one I'm asking myself is surely we'll get a result, what with Liverpool winning there? Yes? Okay, let's not go there.

The defining point for me is that today, it's not the type of game we can afford to lose or drop two points at. Not with the way things are beginning to shape top end. Can't be devaluing it or thinking back to the last game. Move forwards Tottenham please.

So, enjoy the game. I promise my match report will be far more astute and professional.

Will be curating tweets from my own feed and other Spurs fans during the game, they'll appear below (if it doesn't auto-refresh, then do so manually).

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Swagger, let's be 'aving you...

Away to Bolton in the Cup. And a couple of main ingredients I'm looking for today is fluidity and some self-respect. Shocking display at Wolves. It's in the past, nothing we can do about it now. Other than use it as a springboard for improvement. Modric and Wilson to start thank you very much. As a unit we need to be a 1000 times more focused and apply the right tempo to the game rather than just ghost through 90 minutes with no direction or intent.

4th is the priority we keep hearing. That's fine, but if you're still in the FA Cup, then on the day the tie being played is the priority. Wembley is within sight, if not quite within touching distance. It's only 90 minutes of football and in those 90 minutes the opportunity to boost confidence and form is one that can not be pushed aside because of other aspirations. Especially aspirations that are currently clogged in the great drain of hope, clinging on for dear life, avoiding the finality of being washed away.

So on the subject of ingredients, there is a third that remains missing in action. One that we are desperate for and one that has been synonymous with Tottenham and the FA Cup in years gone past.

Swagger.

Shirts pulled out, socks rolled down Lilywhite swagger and pomp. And with swagger comes cutting edge. Christ, we have the players to do it. We've seen them do it. But there's been a lack of evidence in recent games and rather shirts pulled out and socks rolled down, too many of our players have just skipped the casual look and gone straight for the pyjamas, sleeping through games. Wolves away the sum of all the parts we've witnessed recently as we continue to fall off the pace.

Time to wake up. No better place to display rejuvenation and redemption than live on tv in the 5th round of the FA Cup.

Step, step up...

Bolton v Spurs: Never say never

Stat attack.

Tottenham have NEVER won at the Reebok Stadium in nine visits, losing six, and Bolton have taken more points (29) and scored more goals (27) against them than any other side.

Further, Bolton have won eight of the last 13 PL meetings and always seem to score against Spurs at home in the League - they have scored in the last 32 games and last failed to do so 86 years ago.

Biggest game in our history this. Defoe may or may not be available after his finger dislocation. Keane won't be dropped, so Crouch will probably start. Which isn't too shabby. Hudd possibly still slotting in at the back although Awesome Daws is due for a return to the side. Gareth 'the destroyer of hoodoos' Bale will also be hungry for more first team action. I basically haven't got a clue what Harry will do. Then again, it depends if he's still our manager by the time the game kicks-off, you know, cause he's gonna leave/be cautioned/sacked/arrested any time soon. Any minute now. Keep your eye on the Interweb. In 3..2..1..

We've got a woeful woeful record against this mob. A win here with a two week international break ahead of us would be rather welcoming as it will keep us up at the 'top' with Luka now only weeks away from a return. A defeat, well, it all depends on how we lose if that's to be our destiny. Lose it in a gutless way and those age old questions about frailty will return. Then again there's nothing strange about having a bogey team. But its more than tiresome losing to the anti-football that is the Bolton.

A win won't mean we are about to crack the Top 4. But bucking the trend and winning when we're expected to lose is a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Bolton are not exactly the Big Sam version these days. But they will still get in and push us about at the back, so we need to be as big and bad as them with the rough stuff and then just look to brush them aside with a bit of that swanky Total football stuff we can play every now and again.

1 win so far in the Challenge Spurs™ series. Two out of two thank you please.