Swaggering, swashbuckling, super Spurs - 2012 edition

With the season a week away (if the police and local authorities deem the Tottenham safe post riots), might as well get my thang on with a little big adventure of a squad preview/review based on the THFC player profile page on the official site.

I’m omitting Adebayor, Samba and Diarra until they’ve been announced to the stock market.

Cough.

Onwards.

Goalkeepers

Brad Friedel – Sixty two years of age, Brad is kept in stasis inbetween games. If he’s not thawed out properly he is prone to the odd rare mistake but otherwise he’s a good back-up to have. We’re actually quite competitive between the sticks if not spectacular. Brad is consistent enough to keep the pressure on Gomes and you wouldn’t complain too much to see him cover the Brazilian.

Heurelho Gomes – Fruit cake cry baby genius shot-stopper who can be game-saving when he doesn’t rub his brain cells together, but give him a thinking man’s second and he could quite easily rip a hole in the space time continuum and draw the ball forwards towards the goal and suck in any chance of holding onto it as it reaches its destination beyond the goal-line. This is not about lack of confidence or self belief. This is how Gomes is built. He is prone to switching off. Not sure you can really change that in a person. He still needs to start the season as our number one. If he does a number two on the field of play, he’ll get flushed out for sure.

Carlo Cudicini – Third choice. No complaints. He probably doesn’t have any either. Professional enough to sit on the bench and has had some decent spells in goal for us when called upon.

Ben Alnwick – Six loan spells. Has a massive c**k.

Defenders

Alan Hutton – Villa bound? Hopefully. Okay, sure he looks great when he’s running down the flank overlapping but he only looks good because he’s got a shaved head and is a bit scary looking. His crossing can impress but his positional sense is about as erratic as Nikola Tesla’s teleportation machine. Prestige? Hardly.

Gareth Bale – Not sure why he’s still in amongst the defenders on the official site, but I guess technically he’s a left-back that is best played left-midfield. Doesn’t really matter, we all know where he is best suited to cause ample damage. What matters more is the season ahead of him. Other clubs have backed off (more so than they have with Luka). Both have long term contracts but perhaps Bale understands he still has another transitional stage to develop through. Essential for his own progression (and ours) and his valuation. No Champions League football to show off in this time, so hopefully he’ll shut a few gobby mouths and display that rampant majestic power-punch-with-feet skills and spills in the Prem. He was doubled up on more times than an East European porn star last year. His ‘opta stats’ used against him also, but we all know that if you go by opta stats, then Modric and Xavi are rubbish.

Bale; player of the season due to impact of stand-out performances if not consistently brilliant.

Younes Kaboul – Beast and a jack of all trades. Right back, centre back, can even play in midfield (distant memory?). At the moment he’s a utility saviour for us, able to slot in and do a job. I wonder if he sees his future elsewhere so that he can play consistently in the one position. Whatever that one position he believes to be his best. I like Kaboul. I don’t want to see him go (buzz off PSG).

William Gallas – Experience we can’t do without due to Ledley King and his almost certain absence in most games. No melt-downs yet from Willy. I'm more concerned about injuries and old age. Will be important but perhaps not as much as last season when he was vital in our CL adventure.

Kyle Naughton – on loan at Norwich City after a cracking season in the Championship with Leicester City. Very keen to see how he copes with Premier league opposition and whether he has time to ‘go forward’ and conquer.

Sebastien Bassong – Is he any good? Don’t feel we’ve seen enough of him and when he’s played recently he hasn’t had decent reviews. But then a player will suffer if a player spends it on the bench. If another centre-back is arriving, then Bassong will be sacrificed. Stating the obvious. Doesn't appear to be fancied much and is not high up in the pecking order either.

Michael Dawson – I love big Daws. Proper footballer, gives it his all and plays for the shirt. You could actually imagine standing next to him in the stands. Sure, he has moments of clumsy dizzy spells and turns slooooooowly but he’s a 100% get-stuck-in-there defender. Is brilliant alongside King. It’s time he stepped out of Ledley’s shadow and claimed the CB position as a leader with no safety crutch required (in terms of player standing alongside him). Otherwise, cardboard cut out of Ledley stuck on either side of Gallas will do the trick.

Vedran Corluka – tehTrunk recently called him the Berbatov of the right-backs. Looks slow, is slow but is the type of player that isn’t as detrimental to the teams play as some believe him to be. Because his mannerisms are of a player that lacks speed (he does lack speed) people are quick to slate him when he has an off day because he's a slow b*stard that doesn't move quick enough. King doesn’t have a high percentage of tackles made (in ratio to his appearances – don’t get smart) because he reads the game so well. Corluka is intelligent. I’d rather his ilk than a Hutton. I expect him and Walker to share the position, but if I’m honest, Kyle will win in the end because of his dynamism (if we don’t ruin him first).

Ledley King – If he had two working knees he’d have been sold years back for £35M and now be playing for Madrid or Barca. Adds an extra dimension to our side when he plays. It's like playing with five men at the back instead of four. One knee, and yet he's still better than most. Cameos against the 'top four', we hope.

Kyle Walker – Exciting times. We really do have some talent at Spurs. Superb for Villa on loan. A side with Bale, Lennon and Rose and Walker in it will be wonderful to watch (we’ll lost 4-3 though what with all players goal-hanging and not bothering with the boring defending stuff). Big season for him. Selected for England. Hope that’s not a curse.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto – Too cool for school. Best left-back in the country? Who cares about the country? He’s a Spurs player so other left-back players are hardly of any consequence. BAE probably couldn’t even name any of the other clubs let alone opposition players. He turns up, he doesn’t huddle, he does a job and he does it extremely well. Took us so long to fix this position. Boy, what a fix.

Bongani Khumalo – On loan at Reading after a loan spell at Preston last season. Really trying hard to not believe he is nothing more than a strategic signing with our apparent obsession with ‘cracking’ South Africa and the merchandise market out there. He’s twenty four. Is he seriously not good enough for our squad? Then again, he would probably be 4^th or even 5^th choice centre-back if he remained with us, so loan spell again it is then.

Midfielders

David Bentley – Haircut. Star jumps. Epic goal. Kicking a ball into a skip. Car crash. Foot on fire jumping into an indoor swimming pool. Drenching Redknapp. Lesson learnt? Never sign another ‘player of the moment’ again.

Tom Huddlestone – From Anakin to Vader. A reference to his somewhat evil streak what with the stamping and dirty play. Not something I like to see from him or any of our players. Not in our nature. Much prefer his disguised passing, cross-field balls and sumptuous volleys. Okay, so his mobility yadda yadda yadda. What you see is what you get. He’s a special player, I actually think he’s under-rated by some who prefer to cite bulk and slowness. He gives us something extra and I would hate, absolutely hate for him to ever play for another Prem side. Doesn't boss games enough. More than capable of doing so.

Aaron Lennon – Big things expected from the small man. Again. When he’s on the ball, running at the opposition it terrifies me what he might do terrorising them. We need him at full pelt. Always liked his work ethic too, running back to help out, nicking the ball off players. Don’t like the diving lark. We could do with another right-winger though. Or a midfielder who can slot in there and give Azza some competition. Could Bryan Ruiz play there?

Jermaine Jenas – The quintessential Levy poster-boy is still with us. My opinion on Jenas is this. It’s not about confidence, it’s not about ‘if he had some, plenty of it, bordering on the arrogant’. It still would not turn him into a world class act. The argument (debate, opinion) has always been about whether JJ would be as productive for us like a Lampard or Gerrard were at their prime. The reality is, Jenas can excel at times. That isn’t him displaying what he could potentially do week in week out, it’s just him excelling beyond his standard level. It’s not a criticism. Jenas does not have that extra confidence therefore it’s not relevant wasting time on visiting the ‘what if’ alternate universe. He’s a good athlete, great lungs but that’s what you expect from a player. He’s just not consistent enough at that upper level of performance he can sometimes display. But I’d keep him. He wants to stay from what I can tell and he’s a good squad player. It’s easier to accommodate and accept JJ if you don’t expect him to be the player everyone else once expected him to be.

Rafael van der Vaart – Injury aside, hope to see him at around the 90% mark this season when last was spent at around 70%. Never truly fit, mostly subbed and looked like he was carrying a couple of extra pounds. Leaner, meaner – considering what he produced at 70%, 90%+ will be somewhat sexual. The world 'galvanise' was synonymous with him last term. With a world class striker (or near enough) in the team, we’ll be buzzing watching him buzz around the pitch.

Wilson Palacios – The destroyer in his first season. Never been the same since the death of his brother. Lost that edge. Lovely bloke. The story where he waited up in the hotel lobby until the morning for Redknapp to awake (rather than disturb him hours earlier) to inform him he would be leaving for home after news of his brother’s murder just about sums up his class. Stoke City his alleged destination (might have signed by the time this article is pushed live). I hope he can rejuvenate lost form.

Luka Modric – I’m not going to cover old ground relating to the transfer saga. As a player he was outstanding last season. A box of brilliance. The Lilywhite Xavi. Recycles possession, akin to turning coal into diamonds in a blink of an eye. Doesn’t assist? Doesn’t score? If it wasn’t for him we probably wouldn’t get into positions as a team to assist or score. Deep lying playmakers are in fashion again. At least with us. We need him to conduct. If he ticks, the rest tock.

Consistently the best player of last season, should have walked the awards.

Niko Kranjcar – Looked miserable in the recent pre-season friendly at the Lane. Won’t play regularly. He’s a true Tottenham player. Grace and skill. Eye for goal. Just won’t play regularly and is deserving of it. He'll only get it elsewhere. Not sure he will remain focused enough to keep as a squad player.

Danny Rose – So his best position is left-back? I’m good with that. Harry seems pretty certain of it. About time we had a kid break into the first team. Might be some way off from doing that. But as cover and for games against lesser opposition in early cup rounds? Stick him in. Let him grow (ooh). With gentle care.

Jake Livermore – Plenty of loan spells. Hand on heart, haven’t seen much of him. Seems to have been around for ages. Another one for the cup games and possibly Europa League.

Andros Townsend – One I hope we retain and don’t loan out. Blood them in the cups, get them playing for Spurs and get them involved in the set-up. If we get into the group games, and it’s a ‘killer’ then we need depth to cover ourselves.

Sandro – Get well soon. Such character and tenacity. Was off the pace of the EPL initially, took time to adapt and is now a beast of a player. Doesn’t look the type to be fazed. No doubt someone from La Liga will come knocking if he progress further in the next year. Really fancy our midfield with him in it. Robust.

Steven Pienaar – Was superb for Everton. Not sure we’ve seen the best of him. In fact, we haven’t. Not even sure how he fits into our first team plans other than being a utility player and good for the SA ‘relationship’. Oh, that again. He’s a hard working player and hope his injury isn’t a serious one. Do think he can offer us something as part of a squad. Just hasn’t quite set our world alight just yet and might not be the type of player to do so.

Strikers

Roman Pavlyuchenko – Not the player we hoped he would be after he signed and took a season to settle into English life and learn the language. He can talk the language, right? Scores great goals, exceptional technical ability at times, especially when he rifles one in. But his touch and movement can be frustrating and without oomph. Shows glimpses of star quality but is more Darren Bent than Dimi Berbatov in terms of connecting with his team-mates on the pitch. Perhaps if he played week in week out? For £14M I expect him to be too good to be left on the bench. Harry favouring others or simply knowing Pav can’t do it week in week out? Regardless, not quite got ‘it’. Far too apologetic. Would retain as supersub. But that was never the point of signing him.

Robbie Keane – This current Keane is not the Keane I adored. This current Keane is going through the motions. I hope he’s sold. Prefer to remember and honour the first incarnation.

Peter Crouch – Will probably be sold when we sign a forward. Which we will. Crouch, nice enough bloke, does a job but seems to be handled far better now in the Prem by opposition defenders and gives away far too many free-kicks because he is discriminated against for being tall.

Giovani dos Santos – On his way. Was he ever with us?

Jermain Defoe – Will never be consistent I feel across a season. Plays well in bursts. Suffered last season due to injury, never found a rhythm to his play. Could still do a job but should not lead the line. He'll score goals but JD, is still JD...forever failing to grasp the workings of offside.

Manager

Harry Redknapp – Back to basics, ‘arry. Get the team working with one working formation and get them playing at their very best because we have a superb set of players at our disposal. It’s not half as dire as he would want us to believe but then Harry likes to work a miracle. He knows we underachieved last season. Pressure is on him even though he has attempted to detach himself from the pressures, writing our chances off and claiming Europe might ‘kill’ us. If Levy adds to the squad, expectations will be high regardless of money spent by City. We’ll be judged on how we compete against the smaller clubs we struggled against last season – and lost points that proved to be deceive.

Nowhere to hide, nobody to blame. Everyone, gaffer and players have to stand up and show that same desire and belief that got us forth back in 2010.

COYS.

-

The Fighting Cock is a brand new THFC podcast. You can stream it or download it here on DML (make sure you have a Quicktime plug-in installed).

Love the Shirt.

Flav, tehTrunk, Spooky, Ricky, Chicago Dan.

The FC Podcast group on Facebook.

Also listen to The Fighting Cock via:

iTunes
rss feed
soundcloud

e-mail: thefightingcock at gmail dot com - we want your feedback, suggestions and e-mails.

---

ISSUES WITH POSTING COMMENTS

If anyone experiences any issues with posting a comment here or on any other article (you might see some red text saying you can't post) please clear your internet browser cache and re-start your browser.

If you still can't comment - can you email me what browser/OS you are using and what article(s) you've attempted to post in by using the contact submission form found here:

http://www.dearmrlevy.com/contact/

IT Support have advised the following in attempting to figure out what's going on:

In order to test this accurately, can you please find out what browser and version they are using so we can troubleshoot the issue? Also, please provide the URL of the entry where they are trying to comment. If also you can provide the IP address of someone who is not able to comment, that will help as well.

They can find their IP address using this URL:

http://www.whatismyip.com

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.

The magic of the FA Cup

Wishlist for the 2009/2010 Season

Continuing my preview of the season, here's the second entry in the wishlist for the year ahead. It's the FA Cup.

First in the series was about our wonderful enigma, Jermaine Jenas. Read it here.

The Magic of the FA Cup

I'm not asking for the moon on a stick. Just a 9th FA Cup final win. It's been a while. Too long, since we graced the final of this great competition that is no longer as great as it once was thanks to the post-Champions League era dominating football priorities. I remember the days when you could look back and re-call every Cup final. The scores, the scorers, the drama…everything. Whether it was Man Utd pulling out of the competition or the move to Cardiff or perhaps (grudgingly) the amount of finals the scum got to, the aura was not quite the same. Still isn't today. Has football changed that much or is it simply the way I'm perceiving things? Arguably, clubs (and fans) obsess over the dream of CL qualification rather than picking up silverware. Shouldn't the latter be the priority? Winning the league would be the ultimate, but that's hardly realistic for most clubs, other than possibly three (at a stretch four) clubs in the Prem.

You know how you sit down to play the latest 3rd person shooters on your PS3 or Xbox and sit in awe of the stunning HD graphics and 5.1 surround sound, but feel a little empty as the game-play is somehow lacking. For all it's photo-realism, the playability bores you after a while. Far too much style, not enough substance. You then think back to when you were a kid, playing Jet Pac on your Spectrum 48k and how much fun that was, with its basic as it gets graphics and sound effects of blips and fragmented notes that vaguely resemble music. Next thing you know, you're installing an emulator and downloading a rom. Then 30 seconds later you're bored shitless. It's actually crap. It was addictive and playable back in the early 80's but it's basically fundamentally shit beyond comparison to anything in today's super-advanced world. Games on your mobile phone are vastly superior and more playable.

The memory of something old is best kept in the past. Time have changed, everything has moved on. Well, this maybe the case for computer games, but it's not the case with the FA Cup.

Cup finals were better back in the day. They will stand the test of time. Most cup finals in the 70's and 80's were and still are classics. Meant something to win it. Meant something big. You can't honestly say it means as much nowadays. But then I couldn't tell you because we haven't paraded the cup since '91. Such is the intensity of the Top 4 and their lust for the title and for cementing their positions in the CL, that the FA Cup (and even more so the League Cup) are deemed as nice add-ons. Which they've also pretty much managed to dominate too. Mostly with second-string teams making their way to the finals.

The odd giant killing here and there might have commentators spewing out the ever so popular sound-bite referencing how the romance of the Cup is alive and kicking, but it's just not the same. I might have this all wrong. Maybe I'm just bitter. Jealous. I just want us to reclaim our top spot in FA Cup most-wins table. History and silverware says more than how many times you've managed to finish 4th (something else we can't lay claim to in the Premiership years).

It's time we had our white and blue colours back on the Cup.

This was once upon a time our cup. Ossie's Dream. That goal by Villa. The comeback against Forest. Even the games leading up to the final were superb. Hoddle's chip against Watford. The free kick from Gascoigne that left David Seaman very disappointed. Even that agonising defeat to Coventry in what was a brilliant game summed up just how great a competition this is (was). There was a buzz about it.

I want us to reclaim that buzz. A winning one.

Our Carling Cup adventures have been very welcomed, but it's the FA Cup where our true pedigree is, laying dormant, waiting for the return of it's kings to reclaim their throne.

With no European football to distract us from the league, the FA Cup should be as much of a priority as finishing in the Top 6. Open bus parade…is that too much to ask for?

More to come:

The next Lilywhite prodigy
Fortress Lane
Defoe the Prolific
5-0 wins please
Relentless and Ruthless
Top 6 challenge (no bottom half of the table antics)
Huddlestone - The Immovable Object
Love-in for Wilson and Luka

Jenas - he's got bags of potential

Wishlist for the 2009/2010 Season

Inspired by this here article located over at the All Action No Plot towers, I've decided to churn out a wish-list for the season ahead. Topics I'll be covering (in no particular order) include:

The Magic of the FA Cup
The next Lilywhite prodigy
Jenas - he's got bags of potential
Fortress Lane
Defoe the Prolific
5-0 wins please
Relentless and Ruthless
Top 6 challenge (no bottom half of the table antics)
Huddlestone - The Immovable Object
Love-in for Wilson and Luka

Will try and blog the majority of them between now and Sunday.

And first up, it's JJ.

Jenas - he's got bags of potential

There's only one Jermaine Jenas,
Only one Jermaine Jenas,
He's got bags of potential,
But he's rarely influential,
JJ's so bloody inconsequential.

He's the player who splits Spurs fans in two like a mad man with a leather face and a rusty chainsaw going to work on a screaming kid who had the audacity to wonder into an eerie isolated farm house. What does Jermaine Jenas do exactly? It’s the infamous question we are ask ourselves every season. And we're never quite sure how to answer it. You'll have heard all the following sound-bites before, from me or from the person who sits next to you at the Lane or perhaps you've said them yourself:

• He's a good player who works hard that's why managers rate him so highly
• We just don't notice the work he does
• He has no confidence
• If he had confidence he'd be a great player
• He scores important goals
• He can't tackle and gets by-passed in central midfield
• He doesn't do box-to-box running often enough
• On form he destroys teams
• On form he destroys the little teams
• Doesn't dominate against the big teams
• Goes missing too often
• He doesn't go missing, he just does the work for the team you don't instantly appreciate
• He's an aplogetic mess of a player

And so on.

The simple fact is that Jenas isn't an arrogant piece of work who believes himself to be better than everyone else. A shame really, because if he was he'd be twice the player he is. He has a decent engine and has proven he does posses the decision making and composure and footballing brain but his roller-coaster confidence results in draining inconsistency. His decision making and composure deteriorate to non-existent levels and suddenly we have a player who looks lost and isolated almost trying to hide in the shadows of other players to protect himself from the moans and groans and the bad bad men in the stands saying bad bad words.

It's almost a catch 22. You get the feeling that a boo here and a hiss does have a detrimental effect on JJ. He starts a game buzzing, nicks a goal, the crowd love him and he loves it and suddenly he's all over the pitch like a man possessed, with intent and purpose. If he struggles to get into a game, the crowd turn on him and it becomes eternal (well, for the 90 minutes).

But if he's more inconsistent than consistent, does that mean he's nothing more than an average player who now and again manages to excel?

The fact is, JJ won't ever defeat his confidence demons. At least not based on what we've seen since his days at Newcastle. And with whispers that he might not be starting that often this season (I don't actually believe this) he might ask for a transfer if by January he's warming the bench. But it's doubtful. He will play. It's whether he takes full advantage of all the protection and tidy-up work our Honduran panther does in the middle of the park that will prove his worth. To us and to him as an individual. Because there's a full season ahead with a geninue midfield enforcer bossing the area between the defence and midfield, so to not take advantage of this new founded freedom would be criminal. We got a preview of this in parts last season, and JJ looked good. Not fantastic but a glimpse of something here and there.

Then again, I'd look good alongside Palacios. Knowing you have a monster smashing the opposition to pieces should give you the confidence to pull your pants down and play naked, as free and pure as the day you were born. Instead you'll more likely to find Jenas shielding himself with a blanket, clutching onto his teddy bear and whispering gently for help.

It's true. Alan Partridge ghost-writes my analogies.

There is no doubting it. This is the season he has to shine. If he doesn't, and he frustrates and infuriates then it will also prove to be his last in a Lilywhite shirt. A footballer cannot survive on 'he'll be a great player if he finds that little bit more confidence'. It's like saying Joey Barton would be an excellent addition to our squad if he wasn't a mental case. He is and will never change. It's in him. It's part of his genetic footballing make-up. It's tragic that JJ doesn't have that self-confidence the likes of Lampard and Gerrard ooze.

Can he flourish and grow in stature by being consistent and forceful? Strong mentally as well as physically? Never bullied, always biting? If you're 21 or 22 years of age it's understandable if you've yet to find a balance and tempo to your game. But at JJ's age? Perhaps what we see is the only thing we will ever get.

There are not too many Lampard's and Gerrard's about and what we have in Jenas might be the best on offer outside the Top 4, at least from an 'English' perspective. He's a likeable bloke so I hope rather than split us down the middle he unites us like a newly married couple stuck together after a mishap concerning lube and superglue.

I wish he would step it up a level and never look back.

The Wishlist will continue soonish...

To dare is to buck the trend

Another season is upon us. And it doesn't bode well. At least not if you take Twitter-gate as an omen. But I wouldn't fret. We usually attract publicity, whether it's sacking and hiring managers or prolonged transfer sagas. You just know with Spurs there's a story waiting to happen just around the corner, and usually it involves plenty of egg on face. Last season was an absolute melting pot of circus activity. We had a manager who could hardly speak a word of English and put as much effort into learning the lingo as he did with team selection (zero) and then blessed us further when he started appearing in post-match interviews to apologise for yet another woeful display. West Ham fans danced in the street showering themselves with mash and eels as they moved 15 points ahead and e-mails and Facebook groups taunted us with jokes about certain relegation. 50 page threads on Spurs message boards cursed us with grim mathematical evidence that proved we couldn't possibly survive. Knee-jerking had turned us all into nervous blithering wrecks. Suddenly every game would be a cup final. A must win. A do or die.

How did we fall to such lowly depths when in the not so distant past we were meant to be on the up? Or have we aimed too high when we should just accept that we've spent the majority of our Prem years mid-table.

The irony was not lost on any of us. Two 5th spot finishes under Martin Jol were meant to signal THE revoultion of hope and progression. The one we've longed for. But Carrick was never properly replaced and then we suddenly found ourselves slumping. Which was no surprise when we later found out the trouble the disruptive squirrel loving Berbatov was causing behind the scenes and that our esteemed Director of Football, Mr Comolli had decided that our big bear of a Dutchman didn't have the skills in his locker to take us to the next level. The devolution had began and one dizzying offer later Jol found out he was about to get sacked mid-match during a UEFA Cup tie. Yet more drama, the Spurs way. And then in came the new messiah who deflected the obvious problems with our league form with a rather wonderful League Cup run and win against Chelsea in the final, masking the decline towards the bottom three.

Blips and transitions is what we are famous for. Chopping and changing on and off the pitch in desperation, hoping to force success. Because, with hearts on sleeves, it's what we crave - to be successful. But impatience strikes us down each time. We're happy to watch our team play entertaining swashbuckling football, pushing the ball around the pitch with shirts tucked out swaggering like kings of yesteryear. We are traditionalists with romantic notions of how football should be played, refusing to see the ball spend more time up in the air than on the ground or bully and stomp are way through the opposition. But alas it's been our downfall too many times. It's a failure that we haven't been able to take elements of steel and blend it in with the flair. We are happy to watch our team play entertaining swashbuckling football, but we are not truly content to always see us nearly be good enough for more. Especially with the money spent. We speculate but rarely accumulate.

We continue to win silverware with every passing decade, flirting now and again with the top end of the table, but never building and progressing. We've lacked the mental strength in recent years along with metal strength in the backbone of our sides. The balance is never right and the weakness always obvious but never worked on. But still we are entertained and still we do our utmost to play great football.

So how did we get to the present in such good nick when we looked so doomed? You couldn’t blame most for our depressive outlook back at the start of last season, because we were so bad it was almost believable we'd perish. Too good to go down? We were so bad we deserved to go down.

When the Ramos chapter concluded with two points from eight games it was time for yet another appointment. It was bleak, considering that the Spaniard was meant to be the man to move us forward. A 'world class' manager who simply didn't settle with the English game.

If we were a TV show, we'd be a dark comedy on HBO. Gratuitous scenes and loads of swearing. A hit with some for the wrong reasons, and a miserable mess for it's targeted audience. With cancellation looking imminent, the producers had to take drastic action. In a surprising scene, the main character (Daniel) got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom, he was surprised and confused to find that it wasn't his Spanish lover in the shower but instead a saggy faced East Londoner, who turned and smiled seductively at him and gently spoke one word:

"Triffic"

The ratings went through the roof.

Harry Redknapp turned it around.

• Logical selection based on effectiveness, form and tactics. Play our best players in their best positions.
• The re-discovery of pride in the shirt. Too often we accomadte players who casually stroll around in a comfort zone. No more.
• Belief. Even when you're dead and buried, it's not quite done and dusted. Ask Arsenal.
• Grit and determination. Working for each other and working for the team.

It wasn't always pretty and sometimes there was a massive degree of luck but we went from a hapless embarrassing mess to something that suspiciously looked like a football team. And from bottom we climbed out of the mire and back up to claim a little respectability.

In addtion, when the window opened, there was no longer any room for superfluous signings. In came Wilson Palacios - the type of player we have been crying out for several years. Defoe returned home. Less said about Pascal the better and Keane did have a postive influence when he returned (even though he has struggled since). But it all came together and the stat geeks salivated over the points accumulated under Harry. Our home record had returned to something good enough to crow about. And away, we began to dig deep when it mattered most. We almost nicked a European spot. All this after looking down into the depths of decimation.

And the summer months have brought us a distinct lack of the usual over-exuberant spending where we usually find ourselves throwing money at anything tagged with 'Player of the Moment'. We've plugged the holes that needed plugging. In came a couple of young lads from Sheffield United, for future-proofing. In came a striker for the one that tweeted his way up North to Sunderland. In came a centre-back to help support the walking wounded. Out went the reserves and academy teams inclusion in their respective leagues. Loan deals for the young ones who aren't quite ready for first team action. Others have gained a second chance to impress. Pre-season has been without the usual over-hyped delusional cries of intent (Roma were not available for a friendly kick-about). It's been understated. Twitter-gate aside. Sure, we've had a couple of 'we are good enough for Top 4' comments, but unlike the past the media have settled for us to challenge for 6th which is a far more realistic goal. The players have no reason to believe they are deserving of anything more and after last season they should all understand that you can't turn up and accept to win just because you all look good on paper.

Plenty of ITK rumours and players linked throughout, and as we approach the big kick off, there's still time to find the final piece to the jigsaw. Someone to add to the Kings, Modrics, Wilsons and Lennons. While others hog the headlines, we are quietly sitting in the shade allowing them to bask in the sunshine while we keep to the cool shadows. And when it's time to swagger, we won't be the ones sunburnt to a crisp. Patience. We'll have our moment in the sun.

We must not fear. We have to be as one, a unit, home and away. Working for each other. No excuses. Relentless, ruthless. With confidence. And with belief. As much as Harry loves a sound-bite, we need to do our talking ON the pitch. It's regarded as nigh impossible to break up the monopoly on a more permenant basis and nobody expects us or anyone else for that matter, to do so. But it's more probable than it was 3-5 years ago. A certain team in red and white the apparent weak link. Everton have proved it can be done. Us and Villa were not far of it.

But there's no point in worrying about others and their ambitions - we just need to concentrate on a continuation of improvement. No European games, so the league is an automatic priority. Compete and aim to defeat the Top 4 sides. Our record against them last season wasn't too shabby. And brush aside the promoted teams. No disrespect to them, but we have always been a soft touch when playing them away from home. Turn WHL into a fortress and look to play offensive football on our travels, taking the game to the home side.

Too often in the past we've failed to do any of the fundamentals (would be nice for us to finally look good with set-pieces). We've tried various structures off the pitch and had far too many managerial appointments. Harry himself admitted he isn’t a long term answer to our ambitions. He's come in to steady the ship and before he moves on his aim is to leave us in a strong position and not another transition.

Someone once said that it's better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we have set our sights very high, as a club with both the board and the fans. But claiming an echo of glory even in failure has become the bane of our lives. Aim high, don't ever change that, but get there through hard work deserving of a reward.

Stand up, stand tall and play like your life depends on it. Leave the soap opera and comedy for the other pretenders. I'm not naïve enough to dismiss how the modern game works. If we fail, and failure would be to finish anywhere below a European spot or perhaps to not taste a cup final, we wil stand nervously this time next year possibly without Luka and Aaron and perhaps even Wilson. There are one or two amongst us who would cite that we have to push for 4th. Otherwise Utd will once more pluck our very best, feeding off us with assured confidence we'll always be supplying them with delicious snacks leaving us once more starving with hunger. The perputal rebuilding exercise that haunts the chasing pack.

Pragmatically, if we play to our best and do so consistently throughout this season - we will take the position in the league that we deserve. Might be 6th. Might be 4th. The aim should be neither, but simply to excel as much as possible.

It's all in the attitude of the players and manager. We simply want the best they can give.

To dare is to believe.
To dare is to buck the trend.

To dare is to do.

4th place, nailed on, right?

My season ticket has arrived. Less than 50 days before yet another anti-climatic season of football kicks off. One or two Spurs fans are excited by the prospect of the 2009 season, believing that after the dip from two 5th spot places to 11th, we are all set to challenge again for the little mini-league outside of the top 4. Why do we always wish to mug ourselves off in this manner? It's tradition I suppose. It's what you expect from the Spurs fans. Always offering a good larf to the opposing fans. Considering we have never achieved anything in the Premiership, we still commit ourselves to such unrealistic/impossible goals. Typical Spurs fans and their hearts on their sleeves mentality. Saying Spurs will ‘challenge’ is a bit like offering Amy Winehouse a 5 album deal and paying her upfront. It’s absolute fucking loopy madness. But there's no fun in stating 'I think we will finish mid-table this year'. That won't exactly make for a cracking atmosphere will it? If Carlsberg did delusions of grandeur, Spurs would become the first club side ever to win the World Cup.

Yes, we’ve signed a world class midfielder in Modric. We don’t use that word often down at the Lane. Apart from it being Berbatov’s middle name. And of course, Taarabt is potentially world class. And Robbie Keane is just below world-class. But Modric – as talented as he is – will need something a little bit more than Zokora lending him a hand in the middle of the part. Maybe a Rhinoceros in a pair of Puma V1.08 football boots will do the trick. At least we'll get better movement from the Rhino. And first touch. And he'd scrub up well with the tackles and lawful shoulder-charges. The markerting department would lap up all the merchandising. Rhinho face masks will go down a storm. Just sign the fucking Rhino for £12M and be done with it already.

Dos Santos claims he is a ‘number 10’, a player suited to pushing forward from behind the front two – rather than being lost out on the wing. Easy there tiger. One step at a time. A hat-trick against a crap La Liga team means you'll probably achieve the same thing against West Ham, but one game here and there is what we get from Lennon. So unless you plan to shave one of your eyebrows and buy yourself a Ferrari, I'd take some time to climatise before asking for the number on your shirt.

'Lost' by the way, is the best way to describe his past season at Barcelona. I just don’t think young kids like this are the right type of players to be placing our hopes on. Yes, he has sensational close control. But to expect something of him in his first season is asking too much. Just look at that boy Lennon for all the proof you need. The development of Dos Santos is far more important than the gimmick of seeing him play for the sake of it. Same goes for Taarabt, who should go out on loan because that's the best way for everyone to see just how good (average) he is. Gomes isn’t too shabby a signing. But anyone would be a vast improvement on Robinson so best to wait and see how this one pans out. Robbo, bless him, is more or less testament to our hiccups of progression and backwards steps. When he was good, he was good – but not brilliant, as incorrectly suggested by the Park Lane end and those endless cringe-worthy renditions of 'Englands Number One'. When he hit a deep dark hole of bad form he failed to crawl his way out of it. Probably because there were loads and loads of cup-cakes and donuts down there. Management are partly to blame. Should have been dropped immediately and not 5 months later. No doubt, he'll reclaim genius form and his place in Fabio's first eleven 10 months from now as Villa's number one.

Spurs still require a bit more than just a midfielder and a young kid who hasn't been used often enough in his rightful position. There’s still no true ballsy DM – but summer isn’t over yet. Still time for the Rhino to be spotted at Heathrow with Comolli, tucking into a burger whilst signing a pre-contract in full view of a fan capturing the momentous exclusive on his mobile. Only to then produce a blurry image when posting it in a thread on a Spurs forum, where he's then shouted down in a caps lock frenzy, with various suggestions that there's more chance of us signing Dean Whitehead.

Let's not forget about the centre-back issue also. Another essential signing if this wet dream of competing at the top is going to leave us in ecstasy. The Berbatov situation has the potential to ruin everything. No doubt he is itching to leave, but if the transfer happens towards the start of the season and no replacement is lined-up in time then let’s all give a warm welcome to our wonderful and trustworthy friend; panic. Rasiak available on a cheeky loan?

Talk of wingers too. Although doubt we would ever purchase a true left-winger, based on the fact Spurs message boards are bandwidth dependent on discussing possible targets for this much maligned position. Wouldn’t have much to talk about during the off-season, would we? Bentley however is a rumour that won’t go away. Please please go away. Although that's for the right hand side. Althogether a different kettle of fish. Bentley, an ex-goon. How delightful it will be to see Spurs fans putting pen to paper, creating clever little chants and songs in praise for him (if) he signs.

And then we have the dead wood. YPL is gone (I think). Chimbonda to follow soon. Rocha has also left. Although I'm not really sure he was ever here. Along with a number of other players who just don’t cut it. Not even as squad players. You can take a guess at the guilty ones. You've got a 75% chance of scoring with the first name that comes out of your mouth.

Having Bale back in the squad will be like a new signing. Maybe he’ll get to play on the left-wing? Gunter will hopefully be more involved too. And that CB signing we need will play a massive part if King fails to retain fitness. Might need another CB to cover Woodgate. Just going on past history with that one. All dependent on how many hairdresser appointments he books when he's meant to be training.

Stepping away from all the ‘we need X type of player’ discussions, the most important aspect is whether Mr Ramos gels the team together mentality and tactically. Granted, it doesn’t really take that much of an effort to finish 5th. About 5 teams or so can give it a go for the best part of the season. It's about claiming 5th spot and then pushing away from 6th - not for one season but for the next three, successfully. And then waiting for one of the top 4 to falter. That's the sad tragic honest truth of the matter. Everyone is lagging behind and lagging badly.

But gloriously failing to finish 4th is what we are all about, so anything less than that will be deemed a failure by the WHL masses.

Going on last season, we played two or three great games and won a Cup. We were gush in the league.

So all eyes on Ramos. No pressure.

Season 2008 Preview

So here we are again. The summer almost over, the football season once more providing us the only sunshine we can enjoy. Last season was one that wilted at the wrong times, on three occasions. It brought just four points from a possible twenty-four against the ‘big four’.

It brought disappointing away form that killed any chance of another prolonged stay in 4th spot. But whereas the season before last we could blame a hotel and its under-cooked meal, last year we could only look as far as ourselves. The manager and the players got us into 5th spot, almost apologetically on the final game of the season. The cup games ended in not so much in brave glory but more self-inflicted agony.

And now its 2008. Bent, Kaboul, Bale, Taraabt, Boateng, Rose, Berchiche all signed. No left-winger. King and Lennon both out injured and missing pre-season. Players already there, such as Dawson and Zokora will (hopefully) continue to improve.

The much maligned Jeans (Mr 16km per game) blocks, chases and harrys like no other – but with one weakness. He’s Steven Gerrard with a fear of round leather balls. Seems controlling the football is a task too difficult for him to handle.

Lennon, when he does return will need to place aside his bling to allow for better balance when crossing the ball. King, god bless him, we can only hope that when he returns he remains injury free. Without King, we are sometimes just about average. Though Kaboul may allow the next few months to be less painful as many would imagine.

Bent, even for the money spent, is looking like money well spent. Keane will always be in the thick of things, and Berbatov is the talisman that will hold the key to a sustained challenge.
As for the young lads.

Bale will be special, and finally we have someone who knows how to get a free-kick on target.

Taraabt – according to Jol – is potentially the most talented player we have at the club. Somehow I don’t think this is another Blondel waiting to happen. But his progression and development will be imperative to his success, and looking across to Defoe you wonder how the young lad will blossom. Defoe has done nothing more than stagnate. But maybe that’s not a coaching problem. Maybe that’s down to the player and his own mentality. I say keep him raw. Don’t try to Sven him by asking him to think. Just let him do what he does best. Instinctive, brutal finishing.

Kevin-Prince Boateng is like a suped-up version of Ghaly, with the addition of actually being a decent footballer. Half of Germany will tell you he’s brilliant, the other half will tell you he’s hot headed and not half as good as he can be. Not productive enough apparently, and fancy footwork wont hide that fact in the Prem. I’m looking forward to seeing the progress of this player more than anyone.

Seems that pre-season, more than ever, the media continue to praise us and politely inform their readers and listeners that we are a team with a bright future and one that is no longer categorised as laughable when suggestions are made on our credentials.

Although part of me firmly believes it’s a way for them to hack us down if things don’t go well, I’ve made the executive decision to remain positive in time for the kick-off to the 2008 season.

Even Jose and Fergie are talking about us. Times have changed.

Yes, yes. Hypocrite this hypocrite that. He’s up and down like a yo-yo that Spooky. Yes, well, I did say a month or two back that I would be more open-minded and less critical unless there is substantial reason to be so.

Today is day zero. I will not sit in the past, but instead look to the present. The canvas is untouched, and Martin Jol, with brush in hand is free to paint our future. If he cuts his ear off then we’re in the shit but at least he wont be able to hear half of the abuse.

It’s well known that I have hang-ups about the simple things we can’t get right (set pieces, defending corners etc) and the horrid choking we suffer each time we think we might win when it matters, but don’t.

I’ll assume that this won’t be a problem this season. We have Sunderland away. Opening day. Live on Sky Sports. Traditionally, this would mean we lose. Its against a promoted side, so that choking we do so well would be the main talking point at the final whistle. Well, I say. It’s simply not acceptable. And I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way to Sunderland and their fans.

Most people – not just Spurs fans – except Spurs to finish in the top 5. I demand that we are not out of the top 6 from the first game of the season. None of this shit we had to endure last year. For the money spent over the past 2/3 years it’s now time to step up. Already, people are saying such things like ‘Oh, if we lose, it wont matter. Pressure will be off’. Yes, fantastic insight there.

How is losing against a promoted side when you are expected to finish in the high end of the table, progress?

Spurs have the players. Many, for the future, but enough for the present to be capable of dismantling the likes of Sunderland.

If we lose by getting beat in a great game of football, then that’s fine. If we lose for being shambolic or gutless – then shame. We need to be professional. Ruthless. And who spirit and belief. It’s that fucking simple. That’s it. I cant be arsed to write anything more now. This Diazepam stuff the doctor gave me is making me dizzy.