Spurs 2 Championship Blackpool 0

Looks like Ramos will have his work cut out initially, with having to wait for the return of certain players along with the Jan transfer window before he can truly begin to shape the team to his liking.

Positives

• We won
• We didn’t concede (thanks to the woodwork)
• Robinson made two world class saves
• Lennon looks lively again
• A little bit of ye olde confidence restored

Negatives

• Robbo slipped when attempting a kick
• Kaboul had a nightmare (and managed a yellow card too)
• Defence easily beaten (remember this was against a Championship side)
• Not the performance I would have expected (where was the ‘fire in the belly’?)
• An average Premiership side would have beaten us

Ramos Watch

• Ramos wears a suit (it’s better than those silly Spurs baseball caps and tracksuits)
• Ramos is vocal and quite passionate during the course of the game. Its good to see a manager kick every ball rather than be a spectator
• Ramos appears the type to sub off any player that is not pulling his weight no matter what name is printed on the back of his shirt
• Made early substitutions (57th, 60th, 72nd) – took Kaboul off who was woeful, Keane having seen enough of him to warrant a start on Saturday (obvious one) and Bent on for Berbatov to give him a chance to impress

His comments:

"On the positive side the players showed great willingness to play and fought hard for the victory, it was physically very hard especially as it was only three days since the last game.

"I suppose the negative side is that Blackpool had three or four chances to score and we shouldn't allow those chances.

"The game was how we expected, Blackpool are from a lower league but they tried as hard as they could and gave everything.

"It was very important to get a victory to give us more security, to calm the players down a bit and give us confidence. The last results have been quite negative and we needed to stop that run of results, so to get this result was vital."

Makes me a little happy, ignoring the average performance he manages to place a little perspective to the evenings result. Realist. Pragmatic. Won’t really see the difference until after Christmas when fitness levels have improved vastly and Ramos training methods begin to show their true results on the pitch.

Spurs are bottom three because they have been toilet. Lose against Boro and its going to be a long cold winter. Draw or even a win, then confidence might result in a far quicker transition from the depths of the Prem to the dizzy heights of 15th.

The current squad, minus one or two players got us to 5th last year so the goal is to get these underachieving millionaires to fight their way back to respectability.

Good luck to the man in the suit.

Another bloody Sunday

Ever wondered what happened to white dog shit? Look no further than Tottenham. There’s more white dog shit there than the 1980’s. I shouldn’t be too harsh with Sundays defeat at home to Blackburn. It was a better performance than recent displays (not by much). Decent keeping stopping us from going 2-0 up but it was still without any true confidence or belief we could actually win. And as for the 93rd minute winner from Samba, well, it was pretty unstoppable and more to do with having no luck at all but then Spurs have a habit of carving out opportunities for the opposition to take advantage of. Our bad luck is self-inflicted. Yes, dry them I hear you cry. Today, Monday, we find ourselves at Day Zero. Ramos has arrived and another new era/transitional period/mistake is upon us. Poyet has also been joined as one of two first team coaches.

As for Jol, he was apparently telling viewers (via a phone-in) on the Dutch version of Match of the Day that the purchases made this summer were not his own (shock horror exclusive right there). He remarked that Bale was a £10M 18 year old, Kaboul an under-21 player and Bent a £17M bench-warmer, unnecessary with Berbatov at the club. And all signings basically failing to resolve positions that needed attention with proven experienced quality. Whether something was lost in translation or Jol was stirring, he also suggested he wanted Distin, Petrov and Elano during the summer transfer window.

And talking of Match of the Day, on BBC2 last night we heard about how Spurs were pretty much crap (no defence etc) yet no talk about the fact we could have quite easily won it if it wasn’t for some brilliant work by the Friedel. Spurs are shit, yet it was a ‘fantastic win’ by Blackburn. So beating a shit team is fantastic? Yes, yes….dry them. Being kicked when you're down isn't the most comfortable of things.

Its a wonderful life

I wont dwell on the 1-1 draw out in Cyprus and the confusion over who the pub team was. And to quote Martin Jol:

“I still consider this game a clean sheet, if you see the goal there was a handball. They had two goalkeepers on the pitch.”

Yes, that’s correct. We actually won the game and Robinson didn’t concede. Turning everything into a joke is the best form of defence. The Spurs back four don’t have to fret too much about that. They’re all stand-up comedians in their own right.

And as for the forwards, whether its first on the team sheet, Robbie Keane or always on the bench Jermain Defoe – they all back the manager. Can’t remember which of the two stated the following gem:

“Everyone is behind the manager. Everyone,” he said. “People realise what the manager has done for this football club. It has been amazing. Since he came to the club he has done a great job, so why would anyone want to change this?"

Yes. Why would they? Levy? Any return trips to Spain? Unconfirmed reports suggesting Ramos has been sacked (though they remain unsubstantiated at this current time, even with Seville’s 5 games defeated on the spin). From the looks of it, Ramos is very much suited for taking the hot seat from Jol – who may well look towards Ajax for an escape route.

And in the mean time, Spurs sit 4th from bottom, though just 3 points from 11th place. And 8 points from 5th. It’s not exactly a mountain to climb on paper. But placing stats to one side, on form, it’s not something that equally looks possible. Though you can always shine the sun on it. 6 games unbeaten. A point at Anfield. But when the same old textbook fuck-ups occur (come on, I knew at the 70th minute mark that Liverpool would score in injury time – everyone did) you have to ask when will they learn? When will lady luck squat down over our face and give us a golden shower instead of the same old scat every given Saturday or Sunday?

"Get down from there! We need to save the cheerleader"

Nothing has really changed. Jol still looks like a man who knows he is on his way out. Spurs still lack any kind of true swagger or arrogance. Yes, spirit we have, but that’s not enough. You want to believe the players respect Martin – and they do appear to have some (if little) self-respect but it doesn’t appear to be enough on both counts. And some of our tactics have been just a tad desperate at times. Pinball football and, yes, Wimbledon tactics. Let the quote do the talking:

"It was mentioned to me that our goals on Sunday were out of the old Wimbledon manual and, I have to admit, it is something I literally called for at half-time. The important thing at the time was for us to win our battles and get behind the back four so I said ‘let’s use the Wimbledon style occasionally!

I like to have a build up, but on Sunday we were overplaying around our back four and in the middle of the park and we needed to get the ball to the strikers for them to use their quality. I think it is fair to say they did just that"

Tactical genius? Why not. When the players are incapable of playing neat and tidy and concise balls, then desperate times call for desperate measures. And lets not pretend we haven’t played the hoof ball for an age. It’s the only think Robinson is good at. But still, lets please look to play it on the deck. Its nauseating all this up in the air stuff.

And a little more concentration and some basic schoolboy level knowledge of defending would have had us holding out for all three points against Liverpool. And that simple basic achievement of victory would have taken us to 13th. Unlucky for some, but a sure-fire catapult to that wonderful world of self-belief.

We could go rock bottom when we play Newcastle. I’m sure that will jerk Levy into doing something rather obvious. No matter. 5th is out of reach unless Spurs turn back the clock to 2 years ago and begin to dominate games or have a little of that tenacious lucky streak that saw us turn games around countless of times.

Until then, we can wonder if Robinson will ever be dropped or if Berbatov will regain that lost Henryesque ego that allowed others to feed off him resulting in larfs and larks on the terraces, rather than the abject distaste of misery.

There's only one Graham Roberts

Review: Spurs 4 Villa 4

Where do I begin? Let’s start with the pint I was enjoying in Bootlaces.

ME: What way are you going home after the game?
MATE: Seven Sisters
ME: I’ll meet you then, outside the ground opposite the Park Lane lower entrance after the game.
MATE: Ok.
ME: If we;re two goals down I’m leaving at 80 minutes
MATE: What if we got one back?
ME: I’d give it an extra 5 minutes
MATE: Ok.

My mate left at 4-2. I stuck it out with the intention of burning my season ticket. Footballs a funny old game.

It was a given that we would get dicked. 125 years of constant heart palpitations has made it clear to me that Spurs never turn up for these type of occasions. Yes, the flag waving was rather pretty, but when the game kicked off there was yet another subdued atmosphere in the ground. Spurs fans have lost their verbal swagger. And when you take a look at the table, it’s obvious why. We have been shit this season and its Daniel Levy and his minions who are at fault. Caught with their proverbial pants down, there is no way of rectifying the shattering loss of confidence that Jol has suffered and as a consequence infected the players - who seem to be playing at around 45% at the moment.

The celebrations before the game included several legends (no Graham Roberts) and stood as a testament to the fact that we are firmly lodged in the past. Yes, a glorious past, but Spurs have anchored themselves to comparisons that seem to cause us more harm than good. The Bill Nicholson tributes were very touching. The man will forever be Mr Tottenham Hotspur. He has given us an almost impossible task of revisiting those achievements. Fan expectation is damaging.

With all the hype and colour and noise, the only positive was that the game wasn’t on Sky Sports. The twenty or so people watching Setanta would have then seen an almost comical game of football that only Spurs (and at a push, WHU) are capable of producing. The recent survey that placed Spurs at the top of the ‘most stressful team to support’ table was duly justified. We’ve suffered more heart-stopping moments that any other group of fans in the Prem League thanks to a relatively high number of narrow margin victories and defeats. I lost about 10 years off my life watching this game and by my calculations I’m due to die in the middle of next week having accumulated one too many of these horrid joyful experiences.

Aston Villa lost the three points at around the 3-1 mark. Martin O’Neil fucked up in a big way having his team sit back and allowing our midfield space and time on the ball. Before that Robinson did his upmost to continue his implosion with two tragic mistakes – a fumble and the other through his legs. And in fact the free-kick was also arguably his fault as he did his trademark jump to the left before attempting to dive to the right. All his talk about winning and confidence in the match day programme, once more ironically cruel. Time to ‘rest’ Robbo.

Berbatov’s goal was easy but he’s another player I’m concerned about. He looks unfit, lethargic. No sharpness and worryingly absolutely no arrogance at all. His problems look more personal and are probably not football related - but that's just an opinion. I hope he recovers from the lack of form in time to drag us out of the bottom three. The 1-0 was short lived and by 3-1 the Villa fans were the ones celebrating with a cheeky rendition of Happy Birthday (applauded by us, because, lets face it…it was funny).

At 4-1 fans started to leave. And who would blame them? Yeah sure, statistically we had more possession and shots on goal but that means little when you defend like drunk Keystone Cop on rollerskates. We are a team of individuals cello-taped together rather than one unit playing for each other. And players can only play to the managers instructions.

Four goals at home is unacceptable and when you dominate (half-arsed) the opening 20 minutes only to see players react so negatively to an equaliser, it's further proof that even though the players state their respect and loyalty to Jol – there appears to be a lack of true belief. They all looked as disillusioned as the fans were. Until Chimbonda scored Tottenham were as shit as the days under Gross and Francis. But that loyalty to Jol - displayed by team spirit - came to fruition.

With Villa sitting back and the crowd sensing something just might happen we notched up two more goals (3 goals in 20 minutes), surely saving Jol from the sack this morning – though arguably he knows he’s going and I doubt he will be at the helm by the time we visit Newcastle. A Spurs fan summed it up perfectly with describing our comeback as ‘crash bang wallop’ tactics. Yes – they showed determination and spirit (finally) but there was nothing sublime about it.

I won’t deny that the 4th goal made me celebrate like a husband who returns home from work to find his wife has organised a 'coke and hookers' surprise party for him. From beyond the brink of defeat to saving one point and saving me from one week of supporting Arsenal – you can only cry with laughter at how typical Spurs this was.

Happy Birthday indeed. Still 3rd from bottom and no doubt a UEFA Cup spot is looking highly unlikely (relegation still highly improbable) – making this season nothing more than a disaster. If Levy had left Jol alone, then on confidence alone Spurs would be mid-table or higher and within touching distance of 5th. Instead, no confidence on the pitch and in the terraces leaves us facing a season that will get worse before it gets better.

Graham Roberts wasn’t just missing from the Legends Parade last night. His spirit wasn’t anywhere to be seen on the pitch either.

It’s time for us to give this era a big hug and stick it in a cab out of Tottenham.

Spurs 2 Boro 0

The Crowd: BOO BOO, What you subbing Defoe for? FFS, you don’t know what you’re doing!

Moments later…

1-0 Bale

Moments later again…

2-0 Hudd

The Crowd: WE LOVE MARTIN JOOOOOL, MARTING JOL LOVES US…..

Tactical masterstroke or sheer luck, regardless, nearly scoring goals is not good enough for Jermain or the team and Jol can be happy with himself for bringing on the Orish Ronaldinho and watching us finally break the deadlock against a Boro team full of superstars.

There is still no swagger or extreme determination. We still watch the game with the usual 'oh God, we're gonna lose this any minute' mentality. It wasn’t a bad performance though, but compare it to the past 2 seasons, there is something lacking – though again, we can put that down to all the theatrics off the pitch taking a substantial bite out of our progress. Or if you sit in the other school of thought - Jol is finally being shown up for someone who cant resolve problems that are now very much digging away at the teams moral and performance.

Defending (organisation) is still a mess. Jol is still being over-quoted by the press who seem to have Jol fighting out of a corner every day. Once more, if everything Levy and Jol are saying is true (harmony at the Lane) then why does Jol constantly say things that he knows the media will write up and exaggerate?

Anyways, 4th round for us in the Milk Cup. And a win is a win. For the moment at least, we can be proud of having Gareth Bale in our team - a young lad who is looking quite superb with 3 goals to his name.

Now if someone can find Kevin Prince-Boateng (last spotted in Sainsburys, Loughton) then please return to Martin Jol.

Another point

Reports are now suggesting that Martin Jol ‘has’ agreed to a £4M pay-out and will leave the club once they have found a replacement. This follows on from newspaper reports that he was on his way out yesterday, which were then proceeded with denials from Martin stating the stories were ‘rubbish’.

All this after a rather unimaginative 1-1 draw against Bolton which saw the return of Zokora and TT and the exclusion of Bale (rested? why?) and Defoe. Another goal conceded from a set-piece, Jol looks less likely with each passing game to resolve the long-standing problems we have. And Levy’s Ramos-chasing and the never-ending back pages has resulted in Jol managing the team with an almost scared approach.

We’ve got Boro coming up, followed by Villa at home. Our 125th Anniversary year is one tainted by internal politics and mis-management. The only good thing I've read this past week is Berbatov committing himself to the club.

Five years into Levy’s reign, all we have is opportunism in the transfer market, buying players that look good on paper rather than buying players we actually need to improve team balance.

We may still be (near the) bottom a month from now. It’s not exactly a dream start and a third successive 5th spot is looking less likely with each week that passes. But then again, there’s over 90 points to play for.

Never say die.

The Spurcial One

Anorthosis Famagusta were a soft touch. Nice little confidence builder, nothing more. A couple of superb goals from Defoe (who seems genuine when he says he wants to stay) and also good to see Berbatov smiling on the bench and mucking around with the other players. Not seen him that animated all season. Not good to see that we cant keep a clean sheet against a pub team.

Extra special note to the away end last night. Surely White Hart Lane hasn't seen this much hair since the 1970's. Lively bunch, even though they look like they've been burrowed from an episode of Fraggle Rock. Disappoint of the night was not seeing the idiot with the Turkey flag wrapped around him (idiot Spurs fan) getting his arse kicked. Little bit of politics there.

This was always going to end in victory and makes the second leg nothing more than a nice sunny trip to Cyprus for fans and players.

Elsewhere, Spurs fans are jetting out to the land of make believe pleading that Levy makes a phone call to Jose. That phone call will probably happen, but with the Special One stating 'goodbyes' to his kids school teachers you get the feeling he is about to fly out of the UK to pastures new.

Jose to Spurs? Not in this dimension. Would be far too much of a challenge. Though how refreshing would it be for a manager to emulate Cloughie by leaving (Derby) Chelsea and going to (Forest) Spurs - and turning them from not-even-pretenders to champions. But we don't usually see 'world class' managers go down a peg or two to work themselves back up again. They want the foundations built before they get there. Not always (Fergie built an Empire at OT all on his own), but the likes of Fabio and Lippi usually have a set of extraordinary talent at the clubs to start of with. We have Berbatov. The rest aren't world class, though one or two might be in a few years.

Onto Sunday. Lose that and we could be bottom of the Prem. And the tabloids will then start rumourwhoring about Jol's future and 2+2= Jose.

Its never a dull moment supporting this lot. Though today, no matter where Jose's future is, I'm happy to see Chelsea fans cry their lickle eyes out with losing the best thing they've ever had. Though arguably, Roman is the best thing they've ever had. Without his money, they probably wouldn't even exist. God, I hate him. Could he have not just bought a few islands or something instead? That's what I would have done. Whores on one island, self-catering drug factory on the other and my own personal strip-club somewhere in the middle. These billionaires don't have a fucking clue how to live their lives.

NLD (posted on absinthe)

Martin Jol has to go.

This is not an endorsement of Levy’s management of the club. Because arguably, what’s happening behind the scenes has to some degree affected moral within the club. But placing to one side the politics of the situation, the fact of the matter is that perception means everything in the modern game.

Last season, when Jol gave his rapturous speech at the final home game of the season everyone was in love with him and everyone just knew, just knew it, that he wasn’t just the right man – he was THE man to take us to the next stage. But why? Yes, we limped into 5th spot again – but we were never in the running for 4th. Yes, we had some great cup runs. But how great were they? Hardly played giants of football in the UEFA Cup, and when we finally did – we choked. In the League Cup we lost out to a bunch of kids. In the FA Cup we squandered a 3-1 lead. Throughout the whole of the season we still failed to improve on all the schoolboy errors of previous seasons (defending and taking set pieces). Jol still struggled with tactical substitutions. There was still no evidence of true balance in midfield. And some players remained undroppable, no matter what their form.

Into the 2008 season, we find ourselves playing the likes of Kaizer Chiefs and the Pirates – just like we did the previous year, which also resulted in a poor start (much like this season). Other clubs were busy playing big European teams. Preparation is everything, and when have a lazy git like Ghaly suggesting Spurs don’t do much running in training, you have to question who exactly takes place in training sessions at The Lodge.

Enough of this ‘Fergie took 5 years to get things going at Utd’ nonsense. That was a different generation. The game is a monster now. And the fact is, our mentality of ‘lets be patient’ is costing us. Yes, we don’t deserve success we have to earn it. Well, at Spurs the money has been spent. We have the players. We just don’t have the manager. He has taken us to a level which we appreciate, but you have to be a certain type of cunt to proceed further (i.e. Fergie, Wenger, Jose). Even Rafa and his constant complaining and bitching constitute him as a cunt. Jol, the big cuddly bear with dagger eyes, appears to wear his tracksuit way too often. Not that wearing a suit will result with wins on the park. But one wonders what kind of respect he earns in the dressing room. But the fear of God into the players, for fucks sake. You’ve got the looks for it.

Results this season have seen us lose two goal leads. Concede last minute goals. We were plucky against Utd. Unlucky. But how many times are we gonna settle for ‘almost’ winning? Why should we settle for it in the first place? How long does it take to get things right, simple things right?

Jol still shoots himself in the foot with irreverent substitutions in the final 20 minutes of games. Players appear to back off and defend deep allowing the opposition to attack and take the initiative. And as all this is going on, our players begin to show signs of fatigue and loss of concentration. It’s happened way too often and way too consistently. And far too often in BIG games.

The NLD derby. How many times are we going to take the lead against them, on occasions matching and outplaying them (bar the 3-0 at AG last season)? Spurs have made a vast improvement in catching up with Arsenal (only because they have stagnated a little). But if you lack a team of players who have not experienced a NLD win (more the fault of previous generations of managers and average players) then it’s down to the manager to instil that belief.

Can’t beat Arsenal. Can’t beat Man Utd. Liverpool. And probably Chelsea. Defeating them last season was the kind of performance that Everton achieve over Liverpool now and again. But if we need to take that next step we have to do it more often. Other clubs – nowhere near the top 4 – have better records against the top 4 clubs than we do. Even with their lesser players, then find the spirit to overcome the odds. We flatter to deceive. It’s not acceptable.

We have to evolve. We have to make a sacrifice and remove the manager and bring in someone who is the genuine finished article. A world-class manager. One will drop Robinson and Jenas. One who will look at the team and introduce a system that works from the back to the front. Have players playing for each other and the team as a whole. Completely revamp training and preparation. Get each player understanding the very basics of the game, like closing down and bossing the midfield.

Spurs fans get slagged off for being ambitious. For wanting success. We get accused for dreaming. For aiming higher than we can jump. Well, if I didn’t do any of that I’d be a West Ham fan. We have a rich array of talent at the club. But still lack a true midfield general. Man Utd have the likes of Carrick and Hargreaves. Liverpool have Gerrard and Alonso and Mascherano. Chelsea have an abundance of grit and skill. Arsenal have Fabregas.

Spurs, with a full fit squad will still make the same mistakes because no evidence has been forthcoming that the mistakes will be ironed out.

Fully fit, we will do exactly what we did last year. Finish 5th. Get to a Q-F or S-F in a couple of Cups. And then the same will follow the next year with more players joining the club and giving Jol a selection headache.

New, fresh approach is needed. We are – on paper – the 5th best side in the country. With Levy’s pathetic display of boardroom antics he has possibly cost us that 5th place. Jol is not at fault. He’s just not good enough.

Bringing in a new manager wont be a case of ‘another transitional season’. It will be the case of damage limitation and immediate progression and improvement. An injection of adrenaline that will settle to consistent and a true 4th place challenge.

There is simply no room for mistakes with the next appointment.

NLD (posted on prozac)

Things aren’t quite right. Yeah, sure, we have the same amount of points we had this time last year and this time last year when the UEFA Cup kicked off, we managed to finally kick start our season. And ended up 5th and did pretty well in Europe. See what fans expected was a continuation and improvement from the end of last season into the 2008 season. Except what we got was a dejected 1-0 loss at Sunderland then (would on the face of it) appeared to be a knee-jerk from Levy and co in searching out Ramos as a potential replacement. Though the rumours would suggest that problems with Jol (and politics at the club) have been ongoing for a while. Even Mido hinted at it.

Yesterdays NLD was a little subdued. Not the game itself, which had a good tempo to it. But just that it struck me as a game that wasn’t on the same level of expectation that last years tussles were.

The game itself was a peculiar one. Arsenal wasteful in front of goal. Berbatov and Bent clumsy, missing incredible chances to score (why did Berbs attempt to trick the defender having beaten the keeper?) and Bent just scuffed it embarrassingly wide. No idea if the ball crossed the line in an earlier attack (or was handled), my eyes are not that good even with the aid of glasses and watching MotD highlights isn't going to be on the list of priorities for today.

Berbatov’s body language is one of major concern. This time last year, he had still not taken the Prem by storm, but this season he appears to be dis-interested/depressed/lacking confidence. Keane doesn’t appear to be doing that much this year, for all his running around. And Defoe may as well be sold as wont get his chance. Jol obviously can’t handle keeping 4 main men happy. Though I stand by my statement that Bent was bought as a direct replacement for Berbatov.

Thought for every chance we missed, Arsenal had two they should have scored and in the end the better team won. Yes. The better team. Their death has been greatly exaggerated. They are still not half the team they were a few season back, but their future is a good one. The misconception that we are reaching their level is what gives people the delusion that ‘we might just beat them this time’. Fact is, they’ve got 10 years Champions League experience and play to a system that is the end product of Wenger’s development. We can’t say we have a similar system and tactics. It’s laughable to suggest we do, so logical – how can we beat them?

City and Everton now and again do just that (in defeating Utd and Liverpool). They are never – on paper or in recent years – on par with their rivals. But belief and determination wins through now and again, and although it’s nothing more than a consequence of those 90 minutes (rather than a sign the teams have reached their rivals ‘level’) its still a fucking win.

Spurs haven’t beaten Arsenal for 9 years. We haven’t beaten any top 4 club for as long (except for dicking Chelsea last year). Again, for the millionth time, mental strength and belief lacks in desperation. And of course it does when we don’t have any players who have tasted victory in these circumstances.

Manager Jol doesn’t have the skills?

What’s even more laughable is the chants of ‘England, England’ as Arsenal play without a single Englishman in their side. Yet their players know what it means to win a NLD with pride, passion and never-say-die attitudes. Yes, their a bunch of cheating cunts. But they walk away with the three points. We end up with nothing. Its frustrating to see us, with our English boys not giving the same level of commitment.

In the past decade, we’ve tended to lost against them for the simple fact we were shit/just not good enough. In the past couple of seasons – with the players and potential we have – we have been in a position to suggest we could. You know you’re doing something right if Arsenal fans are talking about you again.

So, has this season thus far – and yesterday – been nothing more than a glitch? Or are we seeing the same old tired problems rise their ugly heads.

Sunderland (A) L 1-0 – Poor display, last minute goal
Everton (H) L 3-1 – All went a bit pear-shaped, one of those games
Derby (H) W 4-0 – That’s more like it
Man Utd (A) L 1-0 – Never deserved to lose this. Could have won it
Fulham (A) D 3-3 – Should have won this easily, slack defending
Arsenal (H) L 3-1 – More slack defending

In the afternoon’s entertainment, Robbo was at fault again (time for him to be dropped/rested) for the first Arsenal goal though you could argue the same for Dawson, so best to just say 'the defence' and its lack of communication was the reason why the ball nestled in the back of the net. I didn't actually see the incident as I looked away as the free-kick was taken, knowingly knowing that they would score from it, which they did. Some things are easy to predict. Second goal was just majestic, brilliant stuff from the arrogant prick (world-class prick) that set them on their way to all three points. Though if Robbo weighed a little less, he might have got his fingertips to it. Third goal, I was half way up Tottenham High Rd.

In the past few seasons, we've had 45 minutes of football were Spurs have been immense and pushed back Arsenal. We’ve looked 100% in all positions all over the pitch. So, we know we are capable of it.

But then we choke in the second half. Today looked and felt a lot different. Arsenal by far played better, more fluid and crisp football. Lets not dispute it for a second, the way they create space for each other, run with the ball super-glued to their feet and find passes with telepathic precision has to be applauded. But that’s been them for 10 years.

Fabregas (why he wasn't man marked from the start, I don't know) run the show, and I even before we went 1-0 up, I said that Arsenal will most definitely score goals today. You could see us being carved up eventually. And carved up we were.

Yes we shaded possession (I think, well according to the Beeb we did) and had 16 goals on goal (same as them) but football wise, they were more of a team, never looking under major threat or slack in defence, midfield or attack. If both teams play at their 'best' (not that either did today) then Arsenal would win.

Something about the rather subdued atmosphere pre-kick off suggested that many Spurs fans felt the same way.

I really don't want to spend time asking 'Why didn't Berbs/Bent score?' Because Arsenal were guilty of some sitters too. Do feel for Jol a little. Cant blame him for slack guilt-ridden one-on-ones - but I could argue that once more the teams mental strength (there it is again) lacked any true edge that is required to achieve some kind of win over this lot and any other top 4 club.

Decent game though, good tempo. But not anywhere near what was needed from us - for example - the performance against Chelsea last season, which was drenched with intensity and desire and belief.

Spurs defeated themselves once more. Arsenal can be beaten. But not with whatever preperation we appear to be settling for at the moment.

What Levy has done to the club and with what’s happened behind the scenes, Spurs are pretty much doomed at the moment. No matter what players say in interviews and no matter how many times Jol echoes his battle cry, he is still a dead man walking.

The crux of the problem is Levy should have waited until the end of the season to review and possibly sack him rather than create an impossible situation for him to dig his way out of (Jol that is).

But then we all know ‘doomed’ is just an over-reaction. West Ham Utd were doomed. One game. One game will change it all. With Lennon back, King not too far off (hopefully) – Jol will need to prove he can handle it all. Certain players seem to be passengers at the moment. Certain players need to pull up their fucking socks, leave the hair gel alone and wear the shirt with some pride.

The manager is the one with the responsibility and the same old problems are still there. Still can't take our chances or defend set pieces. Long shots remain the bane of Robinson. Defeating top 4 clubs is almost a mission impossible (City and Everton are able to achieve this over their deadly rivals every now and again). And the other long-standing issues are still present. Corner kicks are woeful. Midfield still unbalanced. Having Berbatov, Bent, Keane and Defoe is obviously too much of a burden for Jol to handle. Key positions still remain 'weak'. Lee (bless him) is the best we have in that position, but he has limited abilities going forward. Jenas remains the enigma. Or shit, depending on your perspective.

I didn’t preview this game. I probably should have bothered with this review, because it’s akin to a broken record.

Same old Tottenham.

So what now? Where is the moral boosting win going to come from? And will it ignite our season?

Famagusta at home, Bolton away, Boro at home then Villa at home. Those four games for starters would be nice.

Football is no longer the game it was 20 years ago. Managers, with the transfer money involved, no longer have 4/5 seasons to ‘get things right’. Apparently Jol has been quoted as saying, ‘the season starts now’. Well no. It started back on the 11th August.

The Most Important Game in the History of Tottenham Hotspur

I will not be present at today's game. I know, I know, its pains me to miss a potential early season 'burning of the season ticket' festival, but personal reasons have me anchored to my humble abode and thus I will have to make do with football forums, the BBC website and the anti-Spurs presenters on Gillette Soccer Saturday. It's a nightmare, I know.

So, to keep my mind occupied I will return to this blog at 3pm and update it through-out the afternoon up until the final whistle, to chronicle the days events in full technicolor detail.

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13:57 - Team News:

Team:

Robbo
Chimbonda
Lee
Rocha
Gardner
Huddlestone
Malbranque
Jenas
Routledge
Keane
Bent

Subs:

Cerny
Stalteri
Defoe
Taarabt
Zokora

Routledge starts to give us width. Sound in principle, but the jury is out with what he can do in practise. Jenas keeps his place, obviously. Out goes Zokora and Stalteri. The Constant Gardner once more starts as our ever-present lynch-pin in central defence. Lee is back from injury, which means the left-hand side might have some positive action for once. And, oh my God, Taarabt is on the bench.

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14:06

Downloaded Sopcast which will have the Spurs game live. Looks like I will be saved from Jeff Stelling and his screaming banshees. Quality of streaming is very good. Maybe Levy could consider giving Spurs fans streaming on the official site, for a tidy monthly fee of course. Wouldn't want him out of pocket.

The game is being streamed, apparently with no commentary, and just crowd noises. Should be able to hear the booing clearly.

--

14:56

Not long to go now. Changed streaming to another site. Better quality. No commentary, so have BBC Five Live on audio, with the esteemed David Pleat co-commentating. Wonderful! Caught a glimpse of Daniel Levy, with a half nervous smirk on his face. Under pressure, Daniel?

--

15:03

1-0 up! Jenas with a mis-hit freekick which finds Steed who mis-kicks it past the Derby keeper. The boo-boys go quiet!!! Good play by Shambonba, according to Pleat.

--

15:07

2-0. Steed again. Always knew Jol was a tactical genius. Midfield at their creative best today. Surely 4th spot is ours to have now?

--

14:14

Pele'esque type goal from the Tottenham home crowds starlet, Jenas. Running through the Derby midfield and defence like a hot knife through watery butter. 3-0. Levy should offer that 5 year contract to Jol as quickly as possible.

--

14:24

Huddlestone running the show at the moment against his former side. Will be disappointed if we don't carve out another 2 or 3 goals before half-time.

--

15:33

Routledge has the ball in the back of the net, but ruled off for offside. Another sweeping move forward. Spurs are monopolising the midfield. No really, stop laughing. They are.

--

15:38

Another opportunity to make it 4-0 wasted. Not happy with this, not happy at all.

--

HALF-TIME

Three goals. One disallowed. A penalty shout ignored. Huddlestone dominating the midfield and allowing Jenas to play free and without stress. Spurs playing with width. Jeans lively and sharp. Gardner still looking shit.

Vital we score another 2/3 goals in second half for the sake of goal difference and also retain a clean sheet.

Jury still out.

--

SECOND HALF

16:11

Eight minutes into the second half. No chances created yet. Foot off the gas already. We should be going for more goals. Perfect for the goal difference tally.

--

16:21

Not much going on. Mido scores for Boro on his debut. That will probably be his lot right there. Seems Jol's textbook half-time talk has defused the relentless play of the first half. All a bit non-effective at the moment. Derby with a lot more of the ball.

Why do we have to have to slow down the tempo and sit back?

Time for the Taarabt?

--

16:30

Taarabt on. Already having shots on goal and running with the ball. Oh my God. We have an exciting energetic midfield who can actually play. More please.

--

16:36

All come from a freekick won by Taarabt. This kid is magic. Scrappy goal, Bent helps the ball over the line from about 1cm out. 4-0.

Acceptable.

--

FINAL WHISTLE

16:52

Game over. 4-0. Jenas finding his level, first half. Can we play Derby every week? Clean sheet the main bonus. That and four goals. Still lacking just that one extra special ingredient upfront. He's in Germany at the moment - get well soon Berbs. Still, Spurs had width and spirit which lacked on the previous two games. Jol's head is safe. Levy will celebrate with the usual £1000 bottle of champagne I'm sure.

More of Taarabt please. Yes, he plays like a kid in the playground, hugging the ball and shooting as often as possible. More composure will come with time. But he needs to be involved in the first team as often as possible.

Defence handled it will too. Big test will be against Manchester United.

Levy survives another day.

The morning after the crap before

Elano, Petrov...City. They looked impressive. Industrious. Creative. Big Sam, 90 minutes after his Prem League debut as manager of Newcastle, comes away with all three points at his old fortress, having already managed to impose and instill his style and tactics to his new team. Blackburn and Liverpool, two teams who hardly ever win on the opening day of the season do just that.

And yet we fail once more to buck the trend.

Martin Jol looked angry and upset, interviewed on Match of the Day. And that's fine for him to stated the bleeding obvious and be disappointed about how things worked out - but he will only be redeemed if we give the complete opposite type of performance in the next game.

I'm going to do something......well, unique. I'm going to write off the 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light. I'm going to categorise is under 'blip'. First day blues. The season now starts on Tuesday evening at 8pm at White Hart Lane.

One game is not enough for me to be critical of selection and transfers. One game is not enough to proof that everything we need to improve on from last season has been fixed. Obviously, on that performance, it hasn't. And things appear to be exactly as they were. And yes, I stated this as my belief yesterday - but like I said, I'm going to do something unique.

I will discount the shambles of losing in the 93rd minutes.

Today is day zero part deux. No pressure. Just asking for 3 points on Tuesday, with a display with little or no negatives. Fluid play, creativity and swagger. Strength and belief. In fact, let me list what I want:

Organisation.
Balance.
Width.
Creativity from midfield.
Alert and slick forward play.
Strength of character in all areas.
Belief and self confidence.

Seven. Seven little things.

Its no like I'm asking for Jessica Alba, drugged and tied down to a bed in my basement. Even I have my limits.

NEWSFLASH! Nothing has changed

Missing in Action: Creativity, Drive and Fluidness
Sunderland 1 Spurs 0

Hardly any shots on goal. No creativity. No dominating possession play. Two shots on goal. Gutless last 5 minutes. 93rd minute home goal.

The whole summer spent waiting for this day, and it feels like having your head pushed down the toilet and flushed.

Elsewhere, Newcastle destroyed Bolton in the first half. City started life under Sven with a bang, and that Petrov bloke doesn't look half bad. Its a depressing way to start the season. Take note of the fact that Newcastle were 3-0 up inside 29 minutes. Where was the urgency from the us today? Stuck on the fucking motorway, obviously.

5th spot is not guaranteed. Other clubs have done enough to warrant competition and have displayed that hope in the form of an opening day win. Unlike us. These are the games and points that are the final difference at the end of the season. Eight points adrift of Arsenal last term because of displays like this.

Right, and onwards to today's performance review.

This game had 0-0 written all over it, and yet we some how dug deep enough to allow Sunderland to nick it at its very death. To be quite frank, we deserved nothing more. Would Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool leave the Stadium of Light with zero points? I doubt it very fucking much.

Sunderland were ineffective, yet that's obviously not enough for us to take some kind of advantage. How many times are we going to persist in giving away points in the final seconds?

I don't accept any excuse for this performance, and how tragic for our fans to travel all the way up there to witness a bland average display of football. But then that's what happens when you spend £40M on reserve players.

Midfield was pedestrian. Zokora running into people with the ball. Jenas, utterly embarrassing. No defence splitting passes no slick counter-attacks.

The midfield starved the forward line-up. The defence only had Kaboul as the positive, and in fact, was our best player. Even looked superb going forward. Gardner has me sitting with my heart in my mouth, chewing it like a fruit pastel.

Jenas. Got to come back to him again. What was any different to his performance today as the one given by Ghaly in the infamous 'subbed sub shirt throwing' game of last season? JJ was wasteful, sideways and played akin to a porn star in a gang-bang flick who's lost his penis to leprosy and instead had a feather strapped to his groin. Jermaine Feathercock: Impossible to penetrate, tickling tackle and a touch that makes everyone laugh.

Zokora was even worse than Jenas.

Four central midfielders lining up in midfield. I'm gonna state this a few times in this blog entry, but how many times are we going to question Jol's selection....again?And if someone cries out 'injuries' - then why not bring in (buy) players that give us depth in positions rather than depth in one position.

Berbatov. Keane. Bent. Defoe. All on the pitch at one time. All doing nothing to appease me or the travelling fans. But maybe that's more to do with the lack of spark from the middle four. Berbatov looked furious when he was replaced. And so he should be. With himself and his team mates. But he should have been left on regardless. Jol, obviously not knowing what to do with four big-name strikers, wanting to try all of them out. Bit naive that. As shit as Berbs was, he can still muster something up. More so than the four stuck in the middle of the park.

Am I knee-jerking? Of course I fucking am. There's nothing else to do.

Spurs hardly ever win their opening game of the season, but as I stated in my preview, its no time to spend dwelling on the past under-achievements as the standard benchmark of excuses. It should be about living up to the hype. And yet we give the world, live on TV, a quintessential flop of a display.

Jol called the performance 'disappointing' and 'boring'. No shit sherlock. What are you gonna do about it for next time? I await to see how the players and manager react at home against Everton on Tuesday. And I have suddenly got déjà vu. Last season started in similar fashion, utterly underwhelming.

And what would I have done? Played Taarabt. Maybe he wasn't fit, but the game was crying out for a player with his type of quality. Unlike the quality of Huddlestone, who should not have been subbed on by Jol. He can't settle into a game with 4 minutes left, and that was proved in those four minutes with some poor touches and giving away freekicks. And this shows how bad things are in practice. Wishing we had an 18 year old available to select. Where is the imagination? Why have we failed to purchase width and a true world class central midfielder?

Tuesday, against Everton. Second game in. Must win.

I could rant about this forever. Where's my medication?

Kick up the backside we deserved, I'm sure is what people will comfort themselves with. I'm going to comfort myself with some Absinthe and a £200-per-hour hooker. I'll fucking show those over-paid gits how to stick it in.