Twente quid on Spurs to win

Hola.

You'll have to excuse me today. Had no pre-written blog posts from the night before scheduled to go live this afternoon, due to other commitments. Mostly sleep. So no mentalist battle cry or in-depth over the top unnecessary formation chit chat, mainly because it's all been done to death already. And let's be fair, if our players fail to turn up tonight, may God have mercy on all the knees within White Hart Lane. And not forgetting the broadband pipes that will explode with bandwidth misery as fans across the country and the world punch-type their keyboards with despairing post-match anger.

But they won't, will they, not with Huddlestone rallying the troops post-game.

SHudder.

It's a mid-week game. It's an evening kick-off. It's Europe. It's got all the necessary ingredients for a Glory Glory night with that added spice of being the first ever Champions League group game in N17.

As long as that other all important ingredient gets added to flavour it all up nicely, we should be a-ok.

So, over to the 11 Lilywhites and the chef. Stir it up. I want to feast and feel bloated with happiness. And not left starved, ending the night with a migraine.

It's in your hands, THFC.

P.S. Got something lined-up for future match-days and events. Embedded updates. Sexy. Something for all you peeps that like to interact when watching dodgy internet streams and read my minute-by-minute match updates. Slicker than just updating blog articles like I did here. There's about a 5% chance of testing it during tonight's game. Depends if I get a spare second before going out.

Tottenham win 2-2

Champions League virginity lost. How was it for you? I've still got that warm and buzzy feeling.

Cracking game, plenty of positives and plenty of lessons learnt. First half was sensational. Superior in possession, first to second ball, hassled their players, generally bossed the game and carved out chances. Silenced the home crowd and transcended the Tottingham style of play across from domestic arenas to the premier European competition.

Then came the cheap goal. A struggle to adapt tactically after vdV was subbed and Schaaf's clever reorganisation which nullified us. They scored again. And could have scored more. But then we could have nicked it ourselves. We didn't buckle though, did we?

It was a baptism that showed us we can compete. But to compete and win, you have to retain 100% concentration and focus and know when to batten down the hatches or even sacrifice some of the fancy stuff to take the pace out of the game and frustrate the opposition.

I'd have taken a 2-2 before the game. Disappointed we didn't take the three points after it. But that in itself is a positive. I guess, if you look at this season as a whole thus far (and this season is still in its infancy), then I guess the main thing for me is for us to re-tune the killer instinct…and kill.

That and the defensive quirks that need ironed out. And one or two other bits.


The First Half

Superb. Authoritative in possession, biting at their ankles and chasing down their players when we didn't have the ball. Our confidence was such that the Germans actually struggled to retain composure. We threatened to over-run them. The movement, especially of vdV, was class. Bale was beastly and tormented Fritz. 1-0 was deserved. Be it an own goal. But Crouch would have had it for himself. Which he did for the second. A majestic volley from Jenas (yeah, you heard me right) to vdV who crossed beautifully for Crouch to head it in. For 43 minutes we bossed it.

Almeida Goal

Seems BAE is getting flack for this. I'd blame the general lack of command of the situation between all three of them as a collective (King, CC and BAE) more so than any one individual. You can't dither like that. It's suicidal. It was a cheap goal and the very definition of a life-line. 2-0 at half-time would have meant a completely different second half.

Marin Goal

A goal at the start of the second half. Equally as cheap. No denying the quality of Marin and his finish. But if you're going to be invited to shoot, then you're going to do just that. It's rude not to. Far too many players backing off and ball watching. Kaboul a bit norty with that. Tasty player that Marin. How much you reckon?

Rafael van der Vaart

Top drawer. Made us tick in the first forty five. His movement, touch and vision allows for that extra dimension to our play. The type we’ve became accustomed to when Modric is on form. Went off very early in the second half due to a calf strain. Precautionary.

Schaaf and Redknapp

Schaaf made the tactical change that saw Hunt replace Bargfrede and Marin hold the left flank which was the start of a far more fragmented approach from us what with the hosts working out that their narrow midfield was easy pickings. I'm not suggesting in reply we should have looked to put men behind the ball, but (as I mentioned at the start of this article) we should have attempted to regain control and not give them time to build attack after attack. Replacing the injured vdV with Keane rather than perhaps another midfield, meant our midfield was over-run for most of the second half. We lost that studs on the ball composure and work ethic that saw us control the tempo for practically the entirety of the first half.

Overall, re: Harry, good job with our initial impact. What with our missing players and the reshuffle and another attempt at 451 (4411). Time for the gaffer to decide on formation and positional roles/responsibilities and allow the team to re-gel and retain the standard set from last term. If it's one line up for home and one for away, with variations for Europe and the EPL, so be it.

Crouch

Excellent. Up front on his, forced the first goal, scored the second. And could have got on the end of another in the second half as well as almost, almost, but not quite finding the winner.  Some are still critical of our lank, but he continues to prove - at the top level - he does the job. Will it work in the EPL? It sort of does and doesn't, as teams know how to contain Crouchie more so in England than abroad. And he's not prolific domestically, compared to a Defoe. Should be given a chance with JD out and see if it takes us anywhere.

The bad stuff

BAE lapse in concentration, King also partly responsible and Cudicini too. The first goal conceded was avoidable. Corluka and Lennon appear to be devoid of form at the minute. Not sure why Charlie is struggling so much. He's gone from looking lethargic but in control to now just being lethargic. Azza is a mixed bag. Has had his moments this season (Stoke away) but seems to be struggling, what with all the tasty service finding its way to the opposite wing. He does okay, but nothing more. Get Gio or Bentley on just to remind Lennon he has to step it up to keep his place.

Keane. Made some runs, but perhaps its because he hardly ever starts and he replaced the uber-solid vdV, he just seemed to do very little and at times looked a pale shadow of the Keane of 3/4 seasons ago. It's summed up perfectly when he failed/refused to play Bale in early and just held onto the ball. Doesn't look like he can jig past players either. He did apply effort, but he just seems to me to be on the outside looking in.

The good stuff

Everyone, including the ones guilty of the odd (costly) lapse, should be applauded. It was a decent, more then decent, debut for us. Well done.

vdV, Bale and Kaboul the stand-outs. The latter, a raw sometimes erratic player quite obviously equipped physically (ooh) to be more than decent but can sometimes scare me what with his naivety and day dreams. But to perform like that. Well done. To him and the faith/man management of Harry.

Jenas was also good. No, this article has not been hacked. He worked hard. Was far more effective in the first half when we had so much of the ball, not so effective off it in parts during the second 45. But it's easy to be critical of a player when you're always critical of him, by nit-picking even when he does well. And he did, but then, he always does now and again. Which is the problem with Jenas. It's only ever now and again.

Played some lovely stuff first half. Even though we were under pressure second half, survived a few scary moments, but we could have won it. It was a respectable away point.

Midfield structure/balance

The formation worked. For a time. As discussed, we didn't adapt accordingly when the opposition changed their approach. We have to be far more reactive in these games. Harry did well to drop Palacios and line-up the midfield in the way he did to work the flanks and pressure the Germans with Bale rampaging. But the moment we lost vdV and Bremen got a stranglehold of the centre, we should have changed it far quicker than we did.

Harry has to step it up tactically during the game (I'm repeating myself now) and retain players in their best positions. Bale does what he's asked to do, but I'd much rather see him remain in the left-wing position. I can't quite figure out Huddlestone's role. There are subtle changes to his positional and attacking/defensive duties from one game to the next depending on whether it's Modric, Palacios of (now) Jenas starting alongside him. He was solid. So no complaints. I guess the fact he can just do the job he's asked to do, is a good thing. But he can sometimes lose his grip on his positional sense which leaves us open to pressure.

Domestic hang-over avoidance

Will post this bit as a separate blog post, later on.

Conclusion

We were not thrashed or humiliated. In fact we can feel slight despondency with the fact we didn't win.

We can compete in this competition, no doubt. I fancy us to win our home games so it’s a case of more of the same when we next play away, but tighten it up at the back and defuse any tactical resurgence from the opposing side in midfield by standing up, soaking it up and throwing it back in the faces.

Cracking stuff Spurs. Hold your nerve next time out.

COYS.

Believe

Interesting article over at the Guardian that's worth a couple of minutes of your time regarding Daniel Levy and the Champions League. Click here to read it and then browse your way back to this blog.

Okay, so on the one hand you can say well done Levy for being pragmatic. There will never be any potential for us to do a Leeds United. We need to be less speculative based on the ground redevelopment (no more £15M Bentleys parked up in the garage), but still improve our squad depth with each passing season.

On the other hand, you wonder whether bigger risks should be taken/should have been taken. Because sometimes they just work (Cantona anyone?). But then this is an ambiguous and multi-layered discussion. What is classed as a risk - calculated or otherwise? I'd say appointing Harry - and look at how that worked out for us. van der Vaart? Risk? I'd say so. But one that you wouldn't shrug at because of his quality.

In relative terms to immediate ambitions, yes it would have been grand for us to sign a world class striker in the last transfer window, but if the players are neither available or affordable - there is no a lot we can do. Harry did try for Bellamy (love him or hate him). It's not like we blanked out the area that is so desperate for that next level addition. Cautious is the word of the moment.

I do however find what he's (Levy) saying tinged with apologetic undertones. Now don't get on my case, I'm not being critical. He's the chairman, thinks of the football, but runs the club like a well oiled business machine. I've said it already. He's being pragmatic. Look over the road to the swamp, with their controlled debt, and note how they are managing the fact they don't have a lot of disposal cash available to them (although Wenger hardly ever spends on the same level as many other clubs). The point is, they have one eye on the present and the other on the future, and are not looking to sacrifice either (Wenger's are permanently shut, but that's neither here or there).

It's a balancing act. It's what we need to do - it's what Levy is doing. But because we sit looking upwards, there is just as much pressure for a team wanting to get there as there is for a team that's already there holding on for dear life. It might not work out for them. Mainly because of clubs like ourselves and City and others who have something tangible to aim for which is not beyond the realms of impossibility. But it's up to us to make that effort.

I do get it, finishing top 4 is no easy task and there is no shame with losing out and we might find that the next 2-4 years consists of some clubs (hopefully us) sharing CL football. As long as we are competitive and go into the season challenging and looking to improve and keep up and obviously over-take (that has to be the next step once we find the right level of upper tier consistency).

Then again...

The EPL might never have another monopoly. The new order might be 6-8 clubs going for 4 positions, year in year out. It would make it a far more even playing field. But this is just theory. No one can be certain of progression or implosion. It's also a risk in itself to just be content with steady progress, without that special in-house ethic of giving it something extra and unexpected. Because if you don't, you'll never know.

We can just accept the EPL is going to yo-yo for the foreseeable future, or we can give ourselves lofty ambitions, dream, and then make those dreams a reality. Again.

Champions League is not the be all or end all. For a start, it's not the bread and butter. But the more you get of it, the more likely you get to consolidate your position up there in the domestic heavens. Which means you can start dreaming of that one thing that is currently beyond the reach of almost all but two.

The crux of it is simple. If you strip all this away, you, me, us, expectancy, past, present, future, the dynamics of football, hierarchy, money...we should be left with this and only this:

"It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory."

- Bill Nicholson

There is no point sitting in the corner, legs pulled up to stomach, rocking backwards and forwards staring into space, scared and worried about the what ifs. What if we lose? What if we get thrashed? What if we're not good enough? Dry them.

Stand up, stand tall, sing your heart out till your gums bleed and then sing some more.

It's only a group game, right? It's not a Cup final, yeah? Let's not giddy, k? Keep those feet firmly on the ground. Yeah, well, no. Hearts on our sleeves. It's the only way.

Players, fans, everyone associated with the club from newborn babies dressed up in colours who don't yet have a clue about the emotional upheaval their fathers suffer to the OAP's who remember push and run and the original glory nights...embrace history, embrace expectancy. Give it a warm hug, say your hellos...then clothesline the sonofab*tch.

To dare is to f***ing do. Let's get this show on the road.

Believe. COYS.

Irony

Not having an operation on one existing injury. Declaring yourself fit to give it your all for country, only to get injured and need a different operation which results in a three month lay-off meaning no group stage Champions League football which is that thing you dreamt about for so many long years. But it's okay. Hat-trick against Bulgaria.

Three lions on a shirt.

Are we there yet?

When we lost to West Ham United 2-1 and Arsenal danced on the Highbury pitch in celebration its no exaggeration to describe the day as one of extreme dejection and pain. It wasn't to be. It was all very Tottenhaming, what with the vomiting on the pitch and the illness and conspiracy stories (It was Dein!) and the fact we gave that particular part of east London a proper knees up and another folk tale to sit alongside stories about the Kray Twins and Phil Mitchell's latest breakdown.

We couldn't just go there and lose, we had to do it with a sprinkle of drama and quite frankly ridiculousness. I mean seriously, did we somehow bring it upon ourselves? Subconscious manipulation of fate and destiny birthed from fear of failure, allowing for self-destruction? It was ours to lose and we lost it. That night, just to top it all off, I suffered from chronic food poisoning and was basically sick for 3 days (well, it took me that long to recover). Talk about a sympathetic reaction. Pathetic.

How people scoffed (not at me, I didn't share the details of my personal hell because after my recovery I spent months locked inside my home writing depressive poetry and staring at a canvas with a brush and black paint). They scoffed at Spurs for the blatant choke. And Arsenal in the mean time told everyone who'd listen that their 4th spot finish was never in doubt. Back in your box you go, you silly Lilywhites, dreaming of such things that are beyond your reach. How very dare you. The one chance we had, was apparently gone and that was that. None of the Top 4 would slip up again. Fluke, luck, punching above our weight. All labels tagged onto our backs as we fell back in amongst the pretenders.

What we didn't know at the time was that the EPL elite would begin to slowly falter. No need to wait for further slip ups. The rest were going to catch up because the teams at the top were going to stagnate a little bit. Not in any drastic way, but we've covered this before. The gap between the pretenders and the challengers shifted and shortened. There are probably still only 3 clubs who can genuinely challenge for the title, but its no longer an impossibility to work towards challenging for it. The first step is to be good enough to get yourself into the exclusive private party for four in the penthouse apartment.

We thought we'd push on from that 5th spot finish, and did sort of but not really, finishing 5th again without really challenging for 4th. And then internal politics meant it was goodbye to Jol and hello Ramos. And then one dizzy headache later, Ramos is gone and Harry arrives.

Another hefty sprinkle of drama. And then enter the re-birth. See whilst all the haters sat around pouring scorn on our continued ambition, regardless of what soap opera engulfed our every day existence, we never lost sight of what we wanted.

Okay, so we all wanted 4th spot and CL and people would purposely translate this as a statement that we believed we were good enough each and every season, but again whilst the haters continued to laugh, we started to believe. Not exactly a delusion if you get there in the end. Granted, we spent a lot of money (within our means) but the right balance was never there. The all important ingredients were missing. But if you're not going to aim for something, you'll never going to make the steps in the right direction.

We all know the story after Harry arrived, turning it around from two points from eight games, to one of complete ecstasy up at Eastland's at the back end of last season. All the anguish of the past couple of fragmented decades and we finally kick-start what might be, just might be, a new cycle. As others look like ending or stalling of just petering out, we need to avoid giddiness and continue to push on.

Years of completely shambolic non-progression (see the 1990's) and plenty of stop start transitional seasons (the 2000's) has finally been wiped away with a fairly superb achievement, guided by Harry Redknapp and his hug-and-kick-the-ball-about man management.

We over complicated things for so long. Too desperate for success, without pragmatism, and far too many romantic notions what with our obsessions with the past. The culture of comfort is now gone, replaced by a hunger to want more, to better ourselves. A winning mentality at White Hart Lane. The eternal dreamers have finally woken up to find a lucid reality.

And this is just the start of it. We've got a lot of improvement to be had and experience to earn. And even some of the haters through gritted teeth are now grudgingly accepting that this Spurs side is not quite cut from the same cloth as the ones from our recent past. We're a good side. More than decent.

Not that I want to stand starry-eyed, mesmerised by the CL anthem and our inclusion in the draw for the group stages, but damn, you sort of have to still pinch yourself because the memories of past struggles and misguided hopes (let's face it, at times we wasted faith in teams and players who simply didn't have it in them) are still quite fresh in my mind.

And this isn't a positive knee-jerk based on the comfortable spanking we dished out to the bewildered Young Boys in what was a very wet evenings entertainment.

This is just another statement of intent.

So, let the ones who prefer to continue to pour scorn on us, continue to do so. They said we'd never get out of mid-table, they said we'd never finish high enough to get into Europe, they said we'd not get anywhere near 5th spot, they said we'd never finish 4th, they said we'd bottle it, they said we'd never qualify for the group stages.

Well, stick it up ya. All we have ever been guilty of is wanting more for ourselves, and for once, our team has reciprocated our ambitions.

Lap it up people. There's no shame in smiling.

We have arrived.