63.02%, triffic

What with real life getting in the way, I've not quite done a match report on the Young Boys game and our safe passage through to the CL proper. So, here's some belated bits and pieces and some post-match commentary.

The performance (4-0)

Wasn't vintage Spurs by a long shot but there was no necessity for anything more than what was given. We did enough, and enough was more than enough. We all know that deep down we have a deficiency as fans to think of the worst case scenario. It's a defensive mechanism to aid in appeasing any potential disaster, but it's also something that has engulfed our match-day psyche. Plenty of people thought they might nick an away goal. I thought we might be in for a tough night. In the end, the true difference in class was more than evident. They were hardly the plastic fantastics of the first game.

We might not have been 100mph or swash-buckled our way through them in the pouring rain, but we were professional. Rode our luck (Defoe goal) and just got it done. There were pockets of tension thanks to the sheer importance of getting through, for the first time ever, which meant it was all a bit tense until the fourth goal went in.

Good solid performance. Happy days. Soz to all the trolls. You can now move onto your 'you're gonna get smashed in the group stages' one-liner.

Huddlestone

Anyone still got doubts on this one? He was superb. Is superb. We all know he can pass and now we are seeing him take control and dictate. For all his lack of mobility, his intelligent moving (off the ball) makes up for the lack of pace. And he's only a youngster. We have ourselves a giant, one that can sit in the middle of midfield and ping balls out to the wings without even having to look up, retaining possession when required (although he has to be careful with spending too much time caressing the ball). His technique is sublime and there is evidence that although his weakness with defensive duties has been a bugbear in the past, he's displaying far more composure and positional awareness. Which can only help the team when under pressure. European football will suit him just dandy.

Defoe

I love this guy. He's not perfect. The way he flirts with the offside trap does my head in, but he's a pure finisher. What he has to add to his game (which is going to be difficult considering how instinctive he is) can be illustrated by what should have been the 3rd goal. He missed the target when it was easier to lay the ball off to Crouch or Palacios. Against top drawer opposition, we might not get an abundance of chances. So cool head please Jermain.

Bale

I heart you Gareth. You, your barnet, your marauding runs down the wing. Your confidence and belief that you can beat a man. Your class technique and touch, the way you smash past the opposition. And the fact that you can have a fairly average quiet game in terms of lacking beastly front-line destruction, but still get four assists. Bale v Maicon? I'm positively drooling.

Crouch

Our current much maligned forward, because he's not prolific. Not sure why there's persistent stories linking him with moves to Stoke and Everton when Peter appears to be that awkward styled option that will cause one or two defensive problems for our CL opposition. He's going to score a few for us in Europe. Harry loves him. I can't see him leaving.

BAE

A&E. Not actually heard anyone call him this at Tottenham or anywhere else other than in the comments section of this blog and on one or two other blogs. He's meant to be reckless. A bit maverick with his positioning. And yet, all I see is continued improvement. He's got a bite about his play. We don't need to fret about this position.

Palacios

Hasn't regained his form, has games where he's on top of it and then several games where there is a distinct lack of concentration. Not sure what the answer is here. Sandro will gradually be introduced and there are whispers (as ever) of potentially signing another midfield for further depth for the games ahead. Wilson might end up being marginalised because of the competition, and his confidence continue to degrade. Harry needs to hug him harder. To me, he still looks like he's hurting, and to be honest, I don't blame him. But if he's detrimental to the side, then we've got to make the sacrifice and get him fixed up. On form, he's a revelation for us. At the moment, he's a risk.

Gomes

Nutter. I know he was probably genuinely injured the other night (pulled out of the Brazil squad), but f**king 'ell, how soft is he? I was actually pleasantly surprised he didn't start crying when Harry waved him to stay on the pitch. Looked like Harry was more annoyed than anything.

The Champions League Draw

Group A
Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Tottenham, FC Twente.

Happy? Can't say there's an easy group at this stage. I mean come on, this is the premier competition in world club football. And what's the point in wanting to avoid certain teams? Arguably, its not a sexy group we could have got. It's not quite as glamorous as facing the White Storm or Barca and you could also argue that as a spectacle, playing Inter might be a touch overly defensive (on their part) but, who cares. This is what it's all about. We've got a chance. Can't wait to see how we get on and how Harry intends to compete against Rafa and his inherited champions of Europe.

So, can we now play the kids in the Carling Cup?

Transfer 'targets' and Redknappology

I don't think Harry is about to come out and say who we might be after or how close we are. It's all a bit messy what with him telling us we need 3 players to challenge (a few weeks back) to now saying we don't need to improve the squad. It's all part of the game, but its one of many contradictions. But what does it matter, as the stories that get printed never seem to refer back to any original statements any ways, so with every day, it's something new when in fact its something old and re-churned.

Of course we want to improve the squad. Consolidation is now imperative. Just no need for any massive massive changes. Two new arrivals is more than likely. I've got my fingers crossed for a major signing 'upfront' which will also involve the departure of Robbie Keane. Quite an obvious prediction there, but its one that sits well with me at the moment.

Harry Redknapp

The 4-0 win was Harry's 50th with Spurs, 96 matches into his THFC tenure.

P96 W50 - D21 - L25 - F163 - A103

Winning Percentage: 52% Overall Record: 63.02%

Triffic.

How very Tottenhaming of us

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

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

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

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

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

So, my guesses:

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

2) Keystone Cops. Any episode.

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

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

RIP, the dream is over, razor blades etc etc

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

How many times did you give up last season?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Belief.

All we need to do is believe.

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

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

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

COYS.

Are we there yet?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Additional:

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

Expectations for 2011

Pre-season has officially began, and I'd hazard a guess chairman and manager are looking at one or two targets, presumably not the ones that are publicly stating they do not want to join us. Hype might be something Man City are tagged with because of the money they continue to spend (on quality players) but let's not pretend that we - THFC - are not just a little bit under pressure for the season ahead. Harry might do his best to deflect attention but there is no doubt that having finished 4th, we'll have to aim for more of the same once again, so to not end up a footnote in the history of the Prem as that team that finished 4th then didn't do much after that.

So, what of expectations?

Work Ethic

We finished 4th. We've got to the next stage, and we got there through sheer hard graft and belief. Qualities that we have lacked in the past, but now have in abundance. We need to not just continue this ethic but must better it, simply because the teams around us will no doubt believe they are not far off from where we sat at the close of last season. City, Villa, probably Everton too and quite obviously Liverpool - all of them will be looking to improve. Can't be resting on the past - which is exactly what last season is (be it a lovely warm glowing past). No cigars please.

Champions League

Simply this: Get into the group stages. Would be gut wrenching to miss out. I'm not suggesting once there we have any specific set of expectations, rather just get into the group stages and enjoy the experience - without fear. We'll be up against seasoned clubs with plenty of CL experience. Let's lose our cherry in style, under the floodlights, pushing the ball around the park with a bit of swagger. It's important, mainly because if our players get a taste of it - the proper stuff - they'll want it again the following season. If we get into the groups, I'd be made up to get out of them but I'm not exactly getting all delusions of grandeur about things. One step at a time.

4th Spot

We might be about to witness a new dawn in the Prem where teams 'share' 4th spot and possibly even 3rd. A gangbang with only one or two achieving the fabled moneyshot. We need to be looking at 4th as the priority. The longer you spend within the top 4 the easier it should get with each passing season, mainly because guaranteed CL football increases stature and thus increases the likelihood of players NOT rejecting you because you're not part of the elite.

Players

It's simple. Our best players need to stay and can't be sold off and to do this they have to perform well - the whole team does - because if they do then there's not that much of a reason for them to want to bugger off, not if we are progressing well. Selling key players only leads to more transitions and more reconstruction work. It's best avoided, but the irony is, its the very same players who need to work their magic for it all to come together. Also, yoof players, it's about time some of these youngsters make an impact. i.e. Bostock. Far too often, we fail to see any of the potential materialise leaving us frustrated. Possible reasons? We over-rate the kids we have. Not that Bostock is one of ours (signed from Palace, not academy). As for the academy players, probably asking too much to see them this season. But there's promise there. We need a new home bred hero.

The FA Cup

No reason why we can't have another cup run. Our squad is big and bad (good) enough to deal with the fixture list. Not so much the Carling Cup though (ooh, look at us getting all big billy bollocks, you've changed man, you've changed).

That will do for now. Oh, and the moon on a stick. If available.

More on individual players later in the week.

An explosion of glory

It's all gone a bit quiet. What with the World Cup, Germany on Sunday and the stupendously hot weather across England. Remembering last year, the blogsphere was a busy place, what with the continuous drip drip of ITK rumours that seemed to persist across the summer months and pre-season. I guess it's the calm before the storm. But having kept an eye on the transfer stories, other than Joe Cole, there's been very little to cite and chat about. And posting for the sake of posting? I guess that's what I'm doing now. So, rather than bang on about nothing much, here's another look back to the most pivotal moment of last season. It's a bit special around the eight minute mark.

Enjoy.

And click here if you want to see Fabio bully Stuart Pearce.

Champions League Fixture Build-Up

by Fox Mulder

NOTE: After drafting this entry, Spooky enlightened me on a quite ridiculous rule that basically states that he isn't allowed to publish a premier league fixture list without paying a substantial fee. It goes something like this:

Fixtures from the four Leagues (Premier League, Football League, Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League) are copyrighted to the Leagues and again cannot be reproduced without the relevant agreement in place. The license fee for showing the Premier League fixtures on your website within a club by  club order is £5,320 + VAT per season. Further fees can be identified on our website, www.football-dataco.com.

What delightful people.

So with that in mind, I hope the following makes sense to most of you.....

The other day I was flicking through the Mirror's fixtures pull-out and performing the annual ritual of working out where our good runs might happen, checking when we've got the goons and Chelsea, seeing which away games I could make it to, how many points I expect us to have by Xmas etc. You know the drill.

But this year I found myself doing something totally alien yet pleasantly exciting (matron!)

A glance across the page showed the schedule of Champions League fixtures for 2010/11.

Apologies if this is massively tempting fate and jumping the gun a little. But by christ this world cup has been pretty depressing so far. Not least because I'm living in Ibiza with my girlfriend at the moment and she won't let me watch all the games. "This is supposed to be my break from football" she decries, happily drowned out by the monotonous drones of 60,000 vuvuzelas.

Anyway, SUPPOSING we make it through the qualifiers, here's our fixture list intertwined with the Champions League group stage fixtures (i've stopped short of the knock-out rounds - if we get that far you won't need me to spell out the fixtures for you):

August

14 The team from Manchester that aren't as good as the other ones (H)

17/18 CL play-off 1st leg

21 Long-throw merchants that play in red and white (A)

24/25 CL play-off 2nd leg

28 We beat them 9-1 (H)

September

11 Not East Bromwich (A)

14/15 Group matchday 1

18 West Midlands dog-like creatures (H)

25 Dirty East End Pikeys (A)

28/29 Group matchday 2

October

2 Claret and Blue Brummies (H)

16 Formely Harrods FC (A)

19/20 Group matchday 3

23 Scousers that play in Blue (H)

30 The team from Manchester that are better than the other ones (A)

November

 2/3 Group matchday 4

6 Notlob (A)

9 Darren Bent and his new mates (H)

13 Dull Northern team managed by a fat bloke with delusions of grandeur, initials S.A. (H)

20 Trophyless foreign team based off Holloway Road (A)

23/24 Group matchday 5

27 Scousers that play in red (H)

December

4 Brummies that play in Blue (A)

07/08 Group matchday 6

11 Double-winning scum (H)

You often hear Fergie/Rafa/Arsene moaning about how they have a tricky away game after a champions league match blah blah blah so how does it pan out for us?

First the play-offs:

Stoke away after the first play-off leg having played man city only a week before - very tricky baptism of fire stuff.

Wigan at home after the second leg - a bit easier but will be the 5th game in 14 days, although you'd hope a few of the league games will get shunted back a day or so to accomodate.

Then (hopefully) onto the group stages:

Game 1 - followed by Wolves Home - about as kind as it could get provided we take them a little more seriously this time!

Game 2 - Villa Home - thankfully another homer but villa will be hard. hopefully they'll have also played in europe that week

Game 3 - Everton Home -  Another home game? The gods are smiling. Although Everton are another very tough and physical side to play after midweek european exploits

Game 4 - Bolton Away - well we never win there anyway and won't be fun if the lads have just flown back from somewhere like Russia

Game 5 - Liverpool Home - hopefully we'll turn them over again but the fact we have Arsenal away 7 days previous may take it's toll on the players. I guess it depends on if they decide to revel in the succession of massive games or shrink like Frank Lampard in an international tournament.

Game 6 - Chelsea Home - another massive test but a lot will depend on whether we've long been knocked out/qualified from our group or if it goes down to the final game.

So presumption aplenty then.

5 home games following midweek Euro exploits and an away trip to an average side. Sounds good on paper. It's enough to get Ol' Red Nose's cheeks a burning. But then consider that 4 of those teams are all rivals to the top 4 places this season.

But what is plainly obvious is that dining at European football's top table may leave us with a little bit of indigestion when it comes to the bread and butter of league football and trying to equal/better that fourth spot. Obviously we can't truly judge the fixtures until we know who we might play and where, but it doesn't take a genius to see that we are going to need to add a lot more real strength in depth to the squad in key areas. 

Exciting times.

RIP the Carling Cup...

Super Spurs

Fixture list for 2011 is out. As you've probably already seen it and read it a dozen times and worked out our potential points tally for the opening five or six games. Doesn't look too daunting this season as there appears to be no 'month from hell' (ala April of season past). Although that particular month of hell in the end turned out to be nothing more than a skip down the yellow brick road.

Obviously the most telling sign of the list is our inclusion in a couple of Sky Sports Super Sundays.

Feels a bit dirty, doesn't it?

Although I don't believe for a second that we will be embraced into the elite or have Howard Webb award as penalties. And I'm sure to compensate our arrival and aid Keyes and Gray, the Big Four will be refereed to us the Big Three (with an additional special mention to Liverpool and their divine right), and we'll continue to sit amongst the chasing pack again. Plucky Spurs, can they do it again? Quite happy for us to be underdogs/written off once more.

Having been scorned for so long as a team deluding ourselves that we could ever possibly finish 4th, having done so, the hype and pressure will now concern the retention of said position - as anything more would be considered a title challenge, and we're not quite up to that standard yet. Although continued stagnation for the likes of Arsenal (and if Liverpool fail to swim above water once more) we might find ourselves flirting with 'it'. Until Chelsea and Utd pull away once more. One step at a time. But if you look at how fragmented the goons were and yet how close they actually came - it's a very thin line between success and failure. And the line is almost as thin, separating us/others and 3rd spot.

Anything less than a sustained challenge to equal or better ourselves (i.e. failure to get into the CL group stages or/and finishing 5th or below) would be a bit gut wrenching. But it's a risk, the latter more so, because of the sheer openness of the Prem these days.

All depends on about a thousand things. I'm sure City will have their own ideas, if they don't muck up their cohesion with another major influx of players. Villa and Everton should never be discounted. And obviously our rivals, West Ham.

For THFC, there are two areas for improvement:

- Not losing to the newly promoted sides at home (or away for that matter). It's a trend we've seen in the past, but even amongst all the glory last season - we still suffered, especially at the Lane

- Winning a game away against a seasoned 'Top 4' side (Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool)

We've invaded Top 4 space. One of the seasoned members dislodged themselves. Others also harbour ambitions to knock on the door. There's no guest list, it's open invitation. You just have to get there before the lock in.

Fact is, if we do progress and do so with focus and intent and consolidate CL football season in season out, then our standing will change. And that dirty feeling will be near impossible to wash off.

Potential qualifiers for the CL

Thought I'd share this for clairty. Although tbh, there's still a chance of remaining a tad confused for a while longer until all leagues are done and dusted.

Thanks to Goonbasher (GG.co.uk) for bringing all this to our attention.

As you know we are seeded for the 4th round of the non-Champions qualifying round. Seeded and unseeded teams mentioned below relate directly to who we might be playing (remember these are 4th round seeded and unseeded sides - if you click on the link at the bottom of this blog post, then you can see the seeded/unseeded sides for round 1/2 including both non-champions and champions).

Seeded teams                   coef.              Unseeded teams                 coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------     ------------------------ --- ----------------
Sevilla                  Esp 108.951              Fenerbahçe *3            Tur  54.890
Werder Bremen            Ger >94.841              Dinamo Kiev *3           Ukr  42.910
Zenit St. Petersburg *3  Rus  61.258              CL-QR3 *3                     39.659 - 47.898
Tottenham Hotspur        Eng  56.371              Sampdoria                Ita >30.810

 Ajax *3                  Ned  55.309              AJ Auxerre               Fra  19.748

As you can see above, some clubs still need to get past round three (*3) which means if those qualifying from round 3 survive, then we potentially face either:

Fenerbahce

Dinamo Kiev

Sampdoria

Auxerre (possibly)

or 'another side'

(sides that might get through the second round, i.e. Celtic, Braga, PAOK, AA Gent and a few others).

And if (/prays) we get through that round, then (just to get you wet in anticipation) the below gives you an idea of what the four pots the clubs are drawn from will look like, allowing you to fantasise about some of the possible away trips and visits to the Lane we could be in for. Although just to reiterate - the below at this current time is just a prediction thanks to the sides (including us) that still have some work to do.

Group Stage (32 teams)

Pot 1                          coef.              Pot 2                          coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------     ------------------------ --- ----------------
FC Barcelona             Esp 136.951              Olympique Lyon           Fra  96.748
Manchester United        Eng 125.371              Werder Bremen *4         Ger >94.841
Chelsea                  Eng 118.371              Real Madrid              Esp  84.951
Arsenal                  Eng 115.371              AS Roma                  Ita >83.810
Bayern München           Ger>110.841              Shakhtar Donetsk         Ukr  73.910
Sevilla *4               Esp 108.951              Benfica                  Por  72.659
AC Milan                 Ita >99.810              Valencia                 Esp  66.951
Internazionale           Ita >98.810              Olympique Marseille      Fra  62.748


Pot 3                          coef.              Pot 4                          coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------     ------------------------ --- ----------------
Zenit St. Petersburg *3  Rus  61.258              FC København *3          Den  34.470
Panathinaikos            Gre  56.979              Spartak Moscow           Rus  33.758         
Tottenham Hotspur *4     Eng  56.371              Hapoel Tel-Aviv **       Isr  27.775         
Glasgow Rangers          Sco  56.158              Sparta Praha **          Cze  27.395         
Ajax *3                  Ned  55.309              FC Twente Enschede       Ned  25.309
Schalke 04               Ger >54.841              Rubin Kazan              Rus  21.758
FC Basel *3              Sui  48.675              CFR Cluj                 Rom  15.898
Anderlecht *3            Bel  42.580              Bursapor                 Tur   6.890

For all the gory details please visit this website of oracle quality - http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/seedcl2010.html and keep an eye on the confirmation of the final qualifying teams for the pre-group stage.

No knee-jerking permitted

Same old Tottenham eh? Does 4th spot get taken away from us now? Harry out and all that jazz.

FA Cup or 4th - Revisited

Remember this?

FA Cup or 4th?

FA Cup = immediate silverware, club shop dvd, another chapter written into the history books

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4th = CL

CL = more money, better players

More money, better players = possible title challenge

Title challenge = top 4 placement every season

Top 4 placement every season = CL every season

CL every season = even more money, even better players

Even more money, even better players = sustained title challenges

Sustained title challenges = potentially lots of silverware

Simplified, I know. Qualifying one season for the CL doesn't mean there's a guarantee you'll be in it the following. But that's a defeatist attitude. Anyways, to answer my own question:

Both.

A Cup final didn't quite work out for us, but the intensity of the Prem game at Eastland's felt like one. And tbh, as much as tangible silverware means the world to me (it goes down in history as history and the game is meant to be about glory, right?), in order to push on we need CL football. It's just the way the modern game is built. Otherwise all you're left with is the odd cup final win now and again, leaving you somewhat empty because you're missing out on the next level of play (read the quoted text above again).

We need it season in season out. Now that might not be possible if Villa, Everton and of course City (and go on then) Arsenal continue to have aspirations to crack the top 4 or stay there. And let's not forget the red-faced Anfield club. Hence the importance that as much as we all like to remind ourselves that we sat at the bottom with 2 points from 8 games and CL football was never the true target this season - failure would have been / could have been devastating. Morale would have been impacted and potential of key players looking elsewhere for their top tier Euro fix a possibility much like previous summers. We now have the players anchored and can look to sign new ones who in the past politely declined because of our league standing.

The monopoly is dead, for the moment. And the new dawn might comprise of 5-6 clubs fighting for 4th and 3rd meaning that CL entry is shared from one season to the next. That might have a detrimental effect on Chelsea and United and the top of the Prem might end up being wide wide open. Which, for the love of football, would be amazing. But with feet on the ground, it could still yet prove to be a hardship. And that's how we should approach it. Take nothing for granted.

I've heard a few people say it, 4th is the new FA Cup. I don't doubt our ability to actually get our hands on that old and beautiful trophy. I'm sure we'll have our day again at Wembley. One step at a time, and the club should simply look ahead and prepare themselves for the qualifier and then (fingers crossed) the group stages.

Where Harry needs to earn his money all over again is making sure we don't get carried away with our travels into the promised land and continue to concentrate on the Prem - because until we are actually good enough to win the CL (dream the impossible dream - I don't actually expect us to win it by the way, but it would be stupid to make it THE only objective next season) the league has to remain the priority.

But honestly, all this is just hypothetical musings, way to early and too serious to be thought about in any great detail at this point, at the end of a fine season. 2010 has been a blast. Our club likes to take us through the mire, punish us for daring to support them, taking us to the edge and back so finally achieving this means a lot. Considering how dismissive other fans and the media have been in the past, it's a significant milestone in our recent history and the EPL.

In the mean time, get sodding drunk, enjoy Sunday at Burnley when there is no pressure on the players at all and sing up, sing up, with those arms out-stretched and fingers waving to the tune of...that song we sing, the marching one. I'm sure you've heard it a few times.

We'll let Levy and Harry worry about the '5 year plan'. As long Spurs continue to play with flair and entertain the f*ck out of us, whilst pulling our hearts from our chest down to our toes, I will continue to love my life as a supporter of THFC.

To dare is to do do do.

p.s. I'm wetting myself in anticipation for MoTD and Lineker v Hansen/Lawro.

Buzzing, just buzzing...

Not sure where to begin. There is so much to take in, I can hardly concentrate on matters concerning in-depth analysis. I know I sound like a broken record, but I always knew we'd do it. I've banged on about it for ages now. I think most of us could see it but could hardly even consider embracing the idea, because in our heads, that would be as close to jinxing it as we could possibly come. This quote from AANP sums it up:

"As a long-time Spurs-supporting chum put it to me yesterday, we’re not built for this sort of thing. Let-downs and heartbreaks we can deal with, but this business of every single blasted game coming loaded with significance is just too much to take"

And when the stakes are high, the faster the heart beats and the more intense and unbearable things are. Which is why a defeat here or there had some of the faithful, knee-jerking. It's a defensive inbuilt psychological mechanism that aids us, protects us from the disappointments. Same old Tottenham we say. And when disaster strikes, we shrug knowingly and then look forward to next season.

The semi-final and the 3-1 up at Sunderland have proved to be in some ways inspirational to the team.

9 wins out of 11 games to secure glory. That's just fantastic. Unquestionably fantastic.

What we've gone and done has made every single miserable moment worth it because this win, this historic moment, is all the better for the pain suffered in the past. Next season? I can't wait for it. Is it small time to celebrate this achievement? Of course not. Considering how bastard hard it's been in the past decade to get anywhere near the Top 4.

So, I'm now going to attempt a match review. This is gonna be messy.

I can't say I enjoyed the match. The experience made me sick. Even with my continued confidence since Christmas, it all appeared to desert me just before kick-off. I found myself shifting uncomfortably, almost not wanting to watch, preferring if possible to lose myself in a trance for 90 minutes and awake to find we've won. No such luck. I had to endure it, and for the first time this season I was actually incapable of retaining any form of composure. I found myself dismantling every nano-second of the game, micro-analysing it to the nth degree. It all played out in slow-mo.

21 wins in 28 games for City at home. But we hardly ever lose up there. The stats being churned out just made me dizzy. This was the £30M/£40M/£50M match they said. Cash Wednesday (seriously, only Sky could call it that). The play-off.

Bricking it big time.

First half, was okay. Not amazing. Something lacked, at least that's how I was seeing it. Lennon and Bale not so much in the game thanks to the constant hoofing of the ball up to Crouch. Our play seemed rushed at times. All a bit too much too soon too little. No retention of the ball. City were having a go. We were just a tad too passive. But with hindsight I guess we were measuring up the opposition. Slowly slowly getting a grip of the game. Patiently waiting for the tempo to change in our favour. Which it did in the second half.

However, the nerves obviously blinded me because a neutral would have pointed out that the game could have been 2-0 either way. 0-0 was good, for us. Just needed to test Fulop more. Crouch unlucky with his effort off the woodwork. King scored. Should have counted. Tevez a menace for City.

I found myself thinking 'this is f*cking bollocks Spurs. Get stuck in, and smash these over-rated ****'s out of their own ground'. Wanted to see a bit of that dare to do dance from the boys in Lilywhite.

Second half. Lennon on a run across the middle, doesn't pass to Bale, shoots, wasted. 55 minutes in, first shot on target that Fulop was made to save. Decent effort from JD. Hudd stamps. Lucky with the yellow. Still need to be brave. Modric showing great spirit and fight in the middle of the park. More action. Moddle getting crowded out in the box. Lennon cross, defended well. Then a cross and Defoe and Crouch stretching…almost, almost. Agonising.

Then the word ominous appeared in front of me in the form of a footballing God, all smug and arrogant, asking me how things were going, before disappearing with a cheeky wink. The git.

I was emotionally dead at this point. And although I could not see it at the time, we were bossing it. Creating chances. And City's flirtatious first half of attacks was becoming a distant memory.

Lennon off, Bentley on. Heart stopped for a brief moment when Gomes allowed the ball to go under his foot. Then we had a mazy mazy Crouchie run. My heart. My poor poor heart.

In the midst of all this, when City did have a moment, we had Ledley King. You know him right? He's the one that isn't human. Phenomenal player. The block from Tevez, just amazing. You shall not pass indeed.

Just before that, Fulop pulls off a stupendous save. Or just saves a weak Crouch header. Depends how badly you knee-jerked at the time. I held my head in my hands.

Then it happened.

Before kick-off, around 6pm or so, Chas (from Chas and Dave, obviously) was interviewed on a London news programme. He cited Crouch and said he felt he would be instrumental in the game. I sort of scoffed. This was before the sides were announced. Amazing In the Know knowledge from Chas. Even though he looked a bit dazed on the piano, he was on the money with his prediction.

Fulop, having palmed the ball instinctively away from a Kaboul cross, deflected off Bridge, finding Crouch and his beautiful beautiful head. Crouch making amends.

Absolute insanity.

Kaboul dancing past Bellamy with ease thanks to a pathetic attempt by the Welshman to stop the pulsating Frenchman. Crouch getting the goal he deserved for his second half performance and the travelling Spurs fans along with every Spurs fan the world over going mental, just mental.

82 minutes. And the dream, the dream was not just alive and kicking but stripping off and about to run around naked, big willy flapping around all over the place. This was it. You could taste it now. Er…not the big willy, Champions League. Obviously.

The ominous feeling was gone, the footballing God appearing before me, no longer looking on smugly, but instead whistling the theme music to the Champions League.

This. Can't be. Happening. What are these emotions returning to my wrecked body?

Wilson on for the excellent Modric. Four minutes of injury time.

Then the final whistle. And years of hurt vanquished in the midst of celebrations. Bottle jobs? That fallacy has been buried 6 feet under. This Spurs squad has time and time again dug deep in the face of adversity and come through it. No dodgy lasagne in sight.

It wasn't just at Eastland's. This CL position was won against Arsenal and Chelsea at WHL. But obviously won across the 37 games played. Even with the hiccups. We have been consistent. Spurs. Consistent. Amazing.

King, so deserving of this. Kaboul was a monster. Dawson, Huddlestone - all of them, every single one of them have played a part. I even thought Jenas movement for the drenching of Harry in his post-match interview was superb. All the players deserve credit. Not just for this game, but through-out the season. And to think at any given moment we had a key player out injured. That's actually scary that. Sign a couple of top top drawer players in the summer and I can see us sustaining a Top 4 challenge again. Which is key to progress, because the next step would be to challenge for bigger things. But yeah, one step at a time...

This (CL qualification) might not be an FA Cup final. This might not be silverware. And history will only remember a 4th spot (3rd still a possibility, but let's not get too greedy), but the significance of this is far more important in the here and now.

We stopped City from getting CL football and possibly consolidating their position in the Top 4 for years to come. The pressure is back on them to go for it again, whilst we can prepare for retaining this position next season. Which I have no doubt we will do. The elite, the Sky Sports Top Four has been cracked. This is massively important, mainly for the purposes of belief and mental strength. A winning mentality. The players now have a benchmark to aim to better in 2011. This isn't a fluke or an upset. We deserve this. And can only build on it.

Qualifier obviously standing in the way of the group stages, but I'm sure we'll be just fine. We're edging ever closer to them lot across the road too.

I'll cut this short now (I know, it's been anything but short), as I could go on and on, but will instead blog more later in shorter parts. Like I said at the start, so much to cover.

I have plenty to say about Harry Redknapp (spot on selection and tactics) and of course Daniel Levy, the man who scrapped the DoF system and went back to basics. From bottom 4 to top 4. And yes, that includes a letter to the chairman. But will leave those thoughts for later on in the week. I'm also looking forward to seeing how the press and pundits react to our achievement. Yes, I'm referring to Hansen and Lawro and the mongs on Gillette Soccer Saturday.

Remember last season. 2 points, 8 games. Gillette Soccer Saturday playing a comedy video of a clown, ripping the piss out of Spurs with various stand-up jokes whilst the panel laughed away. Remember this season, after winning 4 straight games then coming unstuck against Chelsea and Arsenal and United. Back in our box, they said.

You might feel dirty for it, but gloat. Gloat to your hearts content.

What a f*cking season. We've actually gone and done that thing that everyone wanted and everyone else expected us not to do. We did it. And the club shop dvd of 2010 will no doubt be a best-seller.

I choked up at the end. Cried for the first time since Italia 90.

We dared. Congratulations.

I f*cking love football and I love this club. Bask in it. It's richly deserved. New chapter, new adventure.

I've gone all giddy.