That wasn't meant to happen

Spurs 0 Stoke 1

Ironic that my previous blog article spoke about how we need to be beating the lesser teams and how defeat should cause a reaction of hatred, forcing a positive reaction. Didn’t quite expect us to be tested on the latter quite so soon.

Expectation and the added pressure that comes with wanting more than just the norm makes this type of defeat a painful one. I expected us to tear Stoke a new one. We’re not the ones meant to be dropping the points.

“And this season, we've shown we've got steel. We are not a soft touch”

Famous last words.

I’m going to spare you the torture of a comprehensive match report. You’ll know the story by now. And to be honest I’m currently lacking the motivation to re-live a blow by blow account of what turned out to be a very poor afternoon in N17. I must not be the only Spurs fan who decided not to watch Match of the Day.

I’ll summarise instead.

We had chances. One of which was miraculously cleared off the line. Woodgate left the field of play early thanks to a heroic clearance of his own, and late on Lennon ‘substituted’ himself leaving us with 10 men (all of our subs had been made prior to Aaron’s injury). Disjointed day at the office. We started slowly, found a rhythm that was more Jo Wood than Ricky Whittle. We then applied some pressure but nothing stamped with our trademark free-flowing confident play and soon it went completley off the boil and we lost fluidity and eventually got mugged by a plucky Stoke side (Fuller getting past BAE with ease, setting up Whelan who finished confidently). Lady Luck was not evident at WHL today. Had she blown a kiss our way then Crouch would have had a brace to his name. Niko hit the post. Might have been a penalty in there for us too.

Instead, we lost at home. No grand performance in memory of Sir Bill Nicholson (the 5^th anniversary of his passing was on the 23^rd of this month). It’s disappointing. It’s unnerving. It’s not meant to happen right? Well wrong. It happens. It’s gutting because three points would have kept us right up there. But today will not be the only upset of the season I’m sure. The Prem has already been full of surprises, so expect more. Hopefully not at our expense.

Some Spurs fans will say the 0-1 loss serves as a reminder we should take nothing for granted. Others will cite it as evidence that we are not good enough to mount a serious challenge for a Top 4 place. You’ll have some claims that it’s been a gradual yet ever so subtle devolution since Modric’s injury that is now beginning to have a clear detrimental effect on the team aided when other key players (Defoe) are also missing.

Yet this time last week I heard a dozen people say that the win at Pompey was proof how strong we are in comparison to the softer and better known versions we’ve come to bemoan in past seasons. Don’t get me wrong, this defeat grates me more than losing to Chelsea or Utd. Possibly because it’s so unexpected. But more so because it serves nothing in the way of justifiable evidence as to whether this was just a fluke loss or a clue to something deeper. Had we played brilliantly and still lost the post-match analysis would have been the same. Had we won it you would have probably found yourself saying something like ‘that’s the sign of a top club’. To win and claim all three points having played poorly.

Stoke were hardly ever in it, apart from the odd chance and shot wide and that early effort that could have stuck'em ahead. Credit to them. But we were not out played. We were just below par. And that’s something for Harry to fix because it’s a complete waste of an afternoon. We defeated ourselves. How's that for another cliché?

I’m not going to dissect the performance and criticise anyone individually. If we lose the next 2/3 games then we can have an inquisition. For the moment, I’m going to tag this with a ‘one of those days’ label and hope that the defeat stings some urgency back into the players and we don’t have to revisit this for a long time.

Everton on Tuesday. Pride restoration the priority.

Arsenal up next in the Prem.

Hold onto your...

Challenge Spurs™ - Bolton 2 Spurs 2

Worst ever start to a home campaign by Bolton. We’ve never won at the Reebok. Granted most of those miserable days were thanks to Big Sam’s anti-football. However, three minutes into this game I felt that unnerving sense of déjà vu that has left me empty at the final whistle so many times in the past. How bad was that first half? Very bad. There was nothing in the way of anything from us which resulted with Bolton playing delightful pressing football, knocking it around with confidence and style. You’d think it was Spurs playing in white. Neat build up play with one-touch football. Welcome to Bizarro World.

So, 1-0 after three minutes. Gardner unmarked in the box. Easy peasy. Wilson Palacios (the apparent iron fist in Tottenham’s velvet glove) was more like a motionless King Kong at the foot of the Empire State Building. Balls hoofed up field by Huddlestone in desperation, very little creativity and practically no chemistry in defence, with the back four a light year away from being cohesive.

Opening twenty minutes, we were non-existent. One passage of play (Palacios to Keane, Keane’s first touch disappointing) the only moment of offensive fortitude. Five minutes later, Niko turns and shoots, deflected for a corner. First effort on goal. Down at the other end Gardner decides to place a shot which hits JJ. He could have done better had he hit it with power. Thankfully he didn’t, but Bolton pressed. Helped on by us, giving away free-kicks in dangerous positions (dangerous being any position tbh).

Face in palm when we countered, Keane losing a tussle in the middle of the field to Gardner (him again) who had initially lost the ball but showed commitment in running back to make up for his mistake. It's depressing when we know we (in the present day) have players who can match their level of grit/spirit and tempo. But yet somehow manage not to. Wakey wakey.

Still no inventiveness in midfield. It was all very reactive play from JJ and Wilson who seemed comfortable with sitting back and dealing with Bolton pushing forward. No pro-active play, like running forwards into space. Keane struggled with his first touch and the defence remained shaky.

Can’t say I expected the equaliser, but hardly complained about it. Niko with his first from a Crouch nod down to the Croat who smacked his shot into the ground. Back of the net. Obviously my outlook on the reminder of the match changed dramatically at this point. We’ve done nothing for 34 mins and with only our second effort we score. So, going on simple mathematics, endeavour to do more and we might just score again. Aided by the basics, like some Boltonesque pressing on Bolton's midfield with the added bonus of some silky skillz from our vastly superior footballers.

What we got was more home pressure. And very little pressing or skills from our lot. The git Davies chesting down the ball and losing balance at the key moment. Phew. Cohen with a half chance. Phew.

Cometh half time and it’s all a bit of a mess of a performance. Slow reactions at the back. Constant invitations for them to bomb us with aerial attacks and getting out played with the stuff on the ground too.

Second half started better. But still the same errors reoccurred. Fouls outside the box, Wilson guilty of some clumsy tackles. We survived. Lennon cut had a decent shot and Hudd managed to hit a free kick at the goal without hitting the wall in front of him. Sadly went over the bar. Crouch also got in on the act. Shot rising over the bar. Better from us. In fact the opening 15 mins of the second half was infinitely better than the whole of the first 45.

Game was now more balanced, more end to end. So cue a second Bolton goal. Davies sneaking in at the far post to head the ball in. CC well beaten and BAE asleep. It was a decent goal which included some showboating from Chung-Yong Lee who back heeled the ball to Cohen who chipped the ball to the far post. Seriously, are Spurs the team in the white or the navy blue?

Defoe (on for Keane) has a shot which Jasskelainen didn't hold and Crouch shot through this legs. It bounced up and onto the underside of the bar and out. Out. Out! I contemplated another facepalm moment but found myself punching the air instead. Charlie with a headed goal. 2-2. All from a set-piece. Role reversal. It will have to do.

That goal meant that every outfield player for Spurs has now scored this season. Total football innit.

Next goal wins it. Except there was no next goal. Taylor effort for the home side (CC pushing it around the post). Crouch who took one touch too many. First touch then shot could have won it for us.

Not a great day. Awful first 45. Better second 45. One point is better than no points and one point at the Reebok almost feels like a victory, which sums up our recent history and the general frustration I feel about this fixture.

No King, Woodgate or Modric. Makes a massive difference to our balance. We are struggling a little bit at the moment because if things aren’t quite right at the back it makes no difference how we line-up elsewhere. Although it would help the side if Palacios reclaimed some of his Panther Powers as he appears to have dropped a level in recent weeks. Also would like to see Gomes return to the number 1 spot.

International break time. So we might be welcoming back Modric in two weeks time. Dawson should also slot in at the back for the Pompey game (I hope he does and allows Hudd to go back to central mid). We might start to look more structured again from back to front.

3^rd in table (at time of writing). 16 fat points. Not a single complaint. We know our weakness. We know we have key players out. If it means playing shit and still earning an away point, I’ll take that for now. But the quality was still there for us to assert ourselves more on the game and take it to a side that lacked any sort of form at home so far this season. All in all, disappointing but not disastrous. We are not the first to struggle up there and we've always struggled up there. Harry's new look Spurs had shades of old look Spurs, but only shades. Old look Spurs would have comfortably lost this game. I guess the disappointment is, this Bolton team had more qualities associated with us than they do with Big Sam's anti-footballing side of recent years. Still, like I said. We played shit and we still got a point.

Oh. And...

16 points. 8 games.

This time last year you'd have been blocking messages from West Ham fans on Facebook. Talking of which...

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.

Challenge Spurs™ - Spurs 5 Burnley 0

Challenge Spurs™...and so it begins. The 5 star quest for 15 points saw us claim the first three with a five goal haul at the Lane against the tidy-playing-but-limp Burnley. Five goals, four of which came from the boot of a certain much-maligned Robbie Keane, back up front rather than out on the left flank. The question of the day is: How do you define a good performance? I always find that whether you're at the game or at home watching it, as a fan, you'll always going to be a touch more critical. Its natural for us to think certain players perhaps under-performed and probably even more likely to exaggerate the performance of others.

Personally, I thought today was the type of result that does this wee little club a world of good. Professional without the need for absolute dominance. We didn't exactly boss the game. In fact Burnley can be proud of the amount of possession they had, but aside from Carlo in goal doing his best Robinsonisms, they never quite stressed out our make-shift central defence pairing of Huddlestone and Bassong. Tommy hardly put a foot wrong. Sure there were some wayward passes from other players (including Tom) and one or two guilt-edged chances (a Keane one-on-one and Defoe placing the ball the wrong side of the post). But all in all, you can't complain (you just can't) when your team has 13 shots on goal, 6 on target and scores 5 of them. Happy days.

So, main positives to take from the game? Niko - still probably not 100% match-fit - slotted in very well on the left-flank. Obviously doesn't have the touch and vision of Moddle, but the boy does have a bit of that Tottenhamesque class about him and thus allowed us to resort back to a more traditional balanced structure. Jenas was great today. Ok, so it's the type of opposition that he tends to turn up for but it's clean-slate for JJ as he seemed to rise to the occasion at the back end of last season alongside Palacios (although it must be pretty easy to play alongside the Monster from Honduras). Wilson did his usual patrolling around the centre of the pitch scaring anyting in claret and blue and Jenas was therefore free to roam forward and play one or two delicious passes.

Defoe was off key a little bit. Broke/dislocated a finger (or was it fingers?) and went off to be replaced by Crouch. We seem to be spoilt at the moment with forwards who are hungry to impress. Peter almost scoring himself late on. Also good to see we didn't resort to aiming for his head every single time. He can play with his feet too damn it! He can!

As for Keane. How many of you thought 'textbook' when he missed that first one-on-one? Made amends with the second (from the spot) thanks to a clumsy tackle by Bikey on JD. And that was our cue to relax a little bit. Although we were obviously comfortable in first gear and one or two passes were still going astray, when we did decide to play - the difference in class was massive. We played some rather wonderful stuff in that first half. Burnley, bless 'em, are not too shabby with their play either but they simply never took any of their half chances (even with CC lending a helpful hand). We took ours every time.

After Fletcher had a goal disallowed and Defoe and his sitter, we made it 2-0. JJ, shot, deflection, deserved. More tasty moments from us, including a lovely run from Aaron who could have hit it himself but opted to play it across the six yard box. Signs we would score more. Doubt anyone was worried about surrendering our lead (well apart from one or two moaning gits).

Second half wasn't as fluid as the first, but the quality in spurts was more than evident.

3-0. JJ threads a delightful (delightful - worth mentioning twice) ball inside the fullback to Lennon who cut back to Keane who smashed it into the roof of the net.

4-0. Keane, defeating JD's nemesis The Offside Trap, notched up a hat-trick thanks to a lofted pass from that versatile-thank-the-lord-we-never-sold-him-to-Fulham Huddlestone.

Then the moment we've all been waiting for. 24 games in the making. Gareth Bale on. The hoodoo shudders. It knows its time is over. Ok, so as someone on GG so eloquently put it, if you were a virgin you'd rather work hard at getting the girl you fancy to sleep with you rather than have your mates pay a blindfolded prostitute to do the anti-climatic deed. Thank you DHSF for the miserable analogy. Regardless, Bale is now part of a squad of 'winners'. A team with no apologetic deficiencies, as I'll always argue that Spurs would have failed to win those 24 games even if Bale didn't make an appearance in any given one of them. He was simply a victim of our medrocrity.

Also - welcome back Daws. I love you man. That big goofy smile. How can anyone not love him?

In the mean time, The Jig scored his fourth and Spurs goal number 5, sneaking the ball through the keepers legs and in off the post. A resounding two-finger salute to all the critics. This Keane is on fire.

Ok, so reality check, its Burnley and we should be winning these games regardless. But we've been here before many times and we've slipped up here many times. A more stern test up next away to Bolton - and one that will tell us far more than today's rout. But damn it, I'm going to celebrate the fact that we're moving onwards and upwards. 5 wins from 7 games. That's got my balls tingling and I ain't gonna scratch 'em.

So how do you define a good performance?

This was a good performance. We punished a side that played too much football and had very little bite. And we punished them good.

And a clean sheet.

Add to it Chelsea getting dicked 3-1 at Wigan. Pretty decent day.

The season starts here...

Ok, shake off the hangover of two successive defeats. Losing to the elite clubs is not relevant as we are not part of the Top 4 Sky Sports Grand Slam Super League. And as long as we impress and win in our other games we'll be in with a solid chance of challenging for the second tier Premier Title. 5th spot has never looked so appetising.

Ok, so we're missing Modric. Boo-hoo. We're not a one man team. Ok, so King is out injured again. And arguably we're a two-man team but even with these two monster players on the sidelines and Woodgate lost in the abyss of confusion with his mystery injury - we still have plenty to drag ourselves upwards and through the next month and a bit. No excuses. No typical knee-jerk confidence drainers. Forget Webb and his incompetency. Forget the injuries. Dig deep. Battle hard. We need to start taking responsibility and taking it out of the hands of the officials and reclaim residency of our own destiny.

One of my readers nailed it with this rather simplistic statement:

"No siege mentality, no determination to right the wrongs..."

Nail on the head. Harry has some work to do. The players need to find the next level of play. The aim should be that by the time Modric is back and ready for action, we're flying, and his return to the side is effortless, lifting us up further as the Spurs faithful struggle with their nosebleeds.

Ooh, I do like a bit of romanticisation.

This time last season some of you guys and girls will remember a certain series of games that carried significant importance. Yep, I'm referring to the epic 'The Dirty Dozen - Challenge Spurs™'. Harry's first 12 Prem games in our quest for survival. Emotional days. Click here to re-live all those scary moments that had you shivering under the covers, knowing that the creature under the bed would attack if it could smell your fear.

Last season's zany antics

But the challenge this time round is altogether different. Take last seasons prem table and turn it upside down. Failure would still be deemed as depressive. When isn't it? But unlike last term when we were God awful and playing our way into the Championship, this time round we are looking at a far more appeasing target. This isn't an official launch of the new Challenge Spurs series as I've yet to carefully craft a snazzy campaign poster. Think of this as a pre-launch party.

So, what's the actual challenge at hand? Five games.

(H) Burnley
(A) Bolton
(A) Pompey
(H) Stoke
(A) Arsenal

Five massive performances required. We've got 12 points as of right now. Am I being greedy asking for 12 more points before we play the scum away? Burnley will no doubt be plucky. Bolton away is a match where we hardly ever get anything out of. Pompey away sees Harry return to his old stomping ground. And Stoke at home is one of those 'we'll win this Shirley' games.

If we plan to look towards 6th/5th with any true intent and claim a deserved open bus parade, then we should be aspiring for another professional and clinical four game run. The Arsenal away game we can discuss at a later date. Because I'm hoping we go into that match on the back of another run of victories. Would make the game fairly significant.

So it's up to Harry to just take a moment to relax and not over think things tactically, obsessing how best to deal with the Luka conundrum. Against Burnley I'd simply play our original formation, swapping Niko for the absent Moddle. Left-wing sorted.

Stability aiding consistency and confidence.

CB positions obviously the main bugbear at the moment thanks to the decimation of our backline. Huddlestone to slot in at the back? Fingers crossed Dawson isn't too far off. It's also time for Gomes to return between the sticks. Crouch is deserving of a start up front with JD. Harry has to place the club in ahead of any individual, even one wearing a captains armband. Drop Keane for a game. It's ok. The universe won't collapse in on itself.

We have a decent tally of points. And the end-game of this brand spanking new Challenge is this:

13 points. Minimum.

No pressure.