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Highlights: The One Trick Pony Edition

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Good afternoon.

Good being comparative of course to the unmitigated migraine that was not only this morning but indeed also the bulk of yesterday. Imagine being trapped in a confined space with Ainsley Harriot for an indeterminate length of time. That’s my joy trying to apply reason to why this blog won’t work like what it oughtta.

So a win against a bunch of Premier League bottom feeders. Just as well. I don’t know if I could have coped with another backlash quite so soon. The terrain of the online football junkie is littered with characters from a 1970’s sicom. “Everybody out!”

Well brothers and sisters the boy done good. And that is my thought for the day. All good evangelists have one I am told.

Van der Vaart is a one trick pony. You field him and he plays to win. He plays to score. The man is a delight. Sometimes the old legs are weaker than the heart, but by Jiggins his heart was forged to not just to fight but flourish in the face of his foe.

The tactical talents of Mr Redschnapps have been called into question and maybe it’s an over simplistic solution to this is for VdV and Modders to be played in their favoured positions and build all else around them.

I warmly recall lengthy chats with an old pal of mine, Dave [a security guard] and I [a man permanently on his way somewhere else] in the cultural experience that is the Stillorgan Shopping Centre .

Dave is one the best. A Manchester United fan, bless him, but one blessed with a phenominal footballing knowledge and more vitally a  understanding of football. Frequently we’d chew the fat over one game or another. The memory that makes me smile as I type is he and I almost taking it in turns to routinely deliver the punchline, ‘its a simple game – for example – you and I  understand it, perfectly.’

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133 comments

  • NYSpurs says:

    For those who watched the game on MOTD2 it was nothing like what actually occurred. From BBC stats Blackburn had 67% possession, more shots on target, more shots off target and more corners than us. So, either Blackburn are in a false position or we were not so good against this bottom of the table team.
    3pts away from home is always welcome and thanks VDV for celebrating the 2nd goal right in front of me and my daughter.

  • I’m happy to link to other sites, just don’t spam me you courtesy free zone bitch.

    Thank you…

  • Astromesmo says:

    When I came here we had 16 points from 8 games.

  • SpurredoninDublin says:

    Before the curmudgeons start, just thought I would mention that a Wet Sham site is celebrating because their ladies team beat ours 5-2.

    What is the point I hear you ask? The point is that it wasn’t the prettiest game you will ever see against Rovers, but we are 5th in the PL. Or would you rather be crowing because we are in the second div, and our ladies are beating the Arsenal ladies?

    • Harry Hotspur says:

      Curmudgeon is an under used word, nice work old man :daumen:

    • eastanglianspur says:

      And now for the first curmudgeonly comment for this thread. :-D

      “The point is that it wasn’t the prettiest game you will ever see against Rovers, but we are 5th in the PL.”

      No, the point is it was not the only non-pretty game this season there have been others notably the Gooners and Newcastle games. Had we won at Newcastle we would have been fifth last week. I won’t go into the catastrophic first two games where we dropped more points.

      If we were in the Championship the same rules would apply.

      • Astromesmo says:

        Are you really, really saying you’re miserable because we ‘dropped points’ against Yanited & £500m Citeh?

        It seems like we aren’t the only side to concede a few at home to Citeh. Some rubbish mob from up North shipped a few against them at the weekend. I don’t think results against Citeh are going to be any yardstick to measure performance this season.

        Newcastle will be a tough nut for anyone to crack this season & a point could turn out to be a great result come May. Gooners, see note on last thread. When others win ugly we say that it’s the stuff of champions, when we win ugly we say it’s lucky & sack the manager. Go figure. Truth about the Arsenal game is that even playing badly, we should have had 4 or 5. As it stands, it was the same result as when we played them off the park two seasons back and only won because of Gomes’s heroics at the end. In the history books though they both say 2-1, home win.

        • eastanglianspur says:

          Maestro, you really are mustard when it comes to making irrelevant emotional comments i.e. miserable. It really is a cheap trick that I would expect of Dr Spin not of you.

          I am happy most the time except when I see us under performing and no matter how we cut it, unless we press for better, which means not being satisfied with things as they are, even if they’re better than they have been for a long while, mediocrity will return, leaving these heady days of 5th and 6th a distant memory.

          With regard to the first two matches, we showed too much respect to an untried Manure side and didn’t turn up for the Citeh game – four points dropped IMO and I blame Levy and the players and not Trout Chops. Now there’s a surprise. :shifty:

        • Phil McAvity says:

          Fakinel, ‘Trout Chops’ doesn’t get the blame for something for once!! :shocked2:

        • Astromesmo says:

          I am happy most the time except when I see us under performing and no matter how we cut it, unless we press for better, which means not being satisfied with things as they are, even if they’re better than they have been for a long while, mediocrity will return, leaving these heady days of 5th and 6th a distant memory.

          Stone me EAS, what crystal ball did that one come from. The Ides of March are upon us, Infamy, Infamy (They’ve all got it Infamy)!!

          I think the pressure to perform and succeed at top (top) level in football comes from loftier sources than Harry Hotspur – Much as I love this blog. The club won’t suddenly stagnate if we don’t keep the pressure up – It’s OK, you don’t have to carry that burden all by yourself. I’m sure the chairman & shareholders are quite keen for us to progress as well. They also have quite a bit of experience at it.

          If you asked 20 supporters to name the best starting line-up or best new striker to sign, you wouldn’t get the same answer twice. Who’s to say any of us on here are right. I just think you and a couple of others have a bit of a raging downer at the moment and it is about the personality of Redknapp rather than the results of the club.

        • SpurredoninDublin says:

          @Astro re your 8.39 comment.

          It is fair to say that some of the points we have earned have not been particularly pretty, but I can’t think of a single game in the last six PL where you could say that the result was a travesty.

          In every game, we have gone out to win and scored first every time. Much as I enjoyed the rollercoaster of last season, not once in those last six, have we had to come from behind to rescue the points.

      • SpurredoninDublin says:

        @EAS.

        Remember Linford Christie: When he was the Commonwaelth, European, World and Olympic Champ, the Americans would keep saying, “Yes but just because you are champion of everything does not make you better than us”. You remind me of the yanks.

        Your point may well be the first curmudgeonly one that is made, and I can bet it wont be the last, but my point still stands: Who would you rather be right now – us or Wet Sham, who hide all the unpleasant news by announcing, “We best Spurs Ladies”, and as Jim pointed out ignore thaat they lost to our youth side.

        Getting back to my point, if as you would have us believe, we are so poor, what does that say about West Ham who receive a boost if they can beat us at tiddlywinks.

        • SpurredoninDublin says:

          Just to add to what I have said, last season we frequently outplayed the underdogs and still came away losing. This season, we have not done much to show them we are in a different class from them, but so far this season, we have taken 9 from 9.

          It doesn’t strike me as being too unjust that we have played better and lost, and now we are not playing particularly well, and are winning. Before the season is over, there will be a few games that we will all be wondering how we never won them.

          For all that, apart from the two Mancs, there has been nobody who has made mugs of us, so on that basis, who can say we don’t deserve to be in 5th.

        • eastanglianspur says:

          Actually SpurredoninDublin I think I bring a lot of joy to this blog, just think how boring it would be without me. 8O :daumen: :-D

          How can you compare me to the Yanks re Christie, he was a champion and the Yanks had a serious bout of sour grapes. How can I have sour grapes over the team I support and want better from? Not a very good analogy SpurredoninDublin. :dizzy2:

        • eastanglianspur says:

          Why all these comparisons with West Ham? :blink:

        • SpurredoninDublin says:

          The comparison with West Ham is to show the curmudgeons that we really have a lot to be grateful for. There are a number of us who regard the way we won at Blackburn as bad news. They may well be right, but when you see what constitutes good news at West Ham these days.

          Regarding the yanks, it may well have been sour grapes, but as with the current so called miserable period that many of you are claiming we currently suffering from, the record book says 16 points in our last six. Only Man City have equalled that. At the moment, two well respected websites are projecting a comfortable fourth place for us.

          Much as I like to see us win well, I can remember a number of games last year against inferior teams where we totally outplayed them and came away with nothing, or a draw. So if we aren’t looking that good at the moment, I don’t see any injustice in our current league position.

          And for all the disparaging remarks about it not being pretty to look at, you need to ask yourself, how many of those teams we have beaten in the last six clearly deserved to beat us? I can’t think of any. As for the cup games, the real issue is that we have played a reserve team in all but the first Hearts game, and apart from the penalties at Stoke, nobody has been able to beat us.

          And BTW, it’s not “all these comparisons with West Ham”. There has only been one comparison.

        • MysteriousStranger says:

          Whilst you are all talking about him, of course it should not be forgotten that although a “champion”, Linford Christie was a proven drug cheat.

          What I do notice is how many Brits (media outlets included) seem to conveniently forget this fact when talking about Linford, his achievements as an athlete, and now coach, sports personality etc.

        • SpurredoninDublin says:

          @ Mysterious.

          I’ve not forgotten it, but is it really that newsworthy. The reason I ask is that if you take the race where Ben Johnson was caught out, the first four including Lewis and Christie were all later found to to have been doping. It is now pretty well known that Carl Lewis in particular was a protected species as far as out-of-competition was concerned.

          So I am not excusing Christie, but mentioning that he was caught doping at a time when non-dopers were apparently a rarity, is about as relevant as those people who watch Queen on Youtube and can only discuss Freddie Mercury’s sexuality as opposed to his music.

        • Astromesmo says:

          He wants to break free you know.

        • MysteriousStranger says:

          Personally Spurredon, I’d rather we don’t acknowledge any cheats, regardless of how things were back then, to nowadays.

          e.g. Baseball shouldn’t make excuses for their “steroid era”, or laud any participants for their greatness or comparative successes during those years either.

          No point harping on about “what those cheats did” in any game, then either. It’s basically saying, so what if he dived, so what if the ball was or wasn’t over the line, so what if he shouldn’t have gotten sent off – it renders any accountability redundant if you choose to make allowances in any timeframe, for cheating or injustice, be it the 90 minutes of a match or 20 years in a sporting era.

          As for your Queen analogy, I see where you are trying to go with this but it is hardly the same thing. Mercury’s homosexuality is not participating in cheating – and I’m sure you aren’t closed minded to suggest his gayness is “cheating” the human race? Unless he cheating the legions of women who fancied him? No, he kept his sexuality a secret for a time, like the drug cheats kept their cheating a secret – but as you say, it shouldn’t be talked about ahead of his music, whilst all PED cheats should be talked about for tainting their profession and their celebrity dismissed. Did Mercury taint his profession? Don’t think so.

          You stated “Remember Linford Christie:”

          Seems like I remembered the more important stuff IMHO. You’re the one who brought his name up. I didn’t say it was newsworthy, merely questioning the use of Linford in the context of this discussion was a poor choice, and that factually, even after his failed tests, he was still gaining media exposure and benefitting from the sport he cheated.

          Yes, like Mark McGuire is now, the hitting coach of the St Louis Cardinals.

          I personally think it’s wrong.

          I don’t ever want to discover that a Spurs side was serially cheating, be it in a drug fashion, diving fashion or whatever. We can live in hope.

        • SpurredoninDublin says:

          @Mysterious

          Are you on medication or something, or perhaps you are a student of the Japanese style of teaxching history. You’ll find that many Japanese Schoolkids learn history up to 1941, and then notice that nothing happened in Japan until 1951.

          I am not praising Christie, but you cannot change the fact that he won all those medals. One minute you seem to be implying that I am ignoring his doping, and the next you are implying I was conding his drug use because everybody else was taking drugs at the time. Neither implication has any basis. Can I suggest that if you are looking at a career change, don’t try mind-reading, because you are crap at it.

          Is your middle name Stalin? It appears to me that you are trying to airbrush those people out of history that you find to have unpleasant antecedents. If you don’t like the history, take it with the relevant associations, because Lewis and Christie were never stripped of their medals or expunged from the record books.

          Please let me know if there is anybody else whose name I should not mention, because to be honest with you, dealing with your asinine reply is far too tedious and time consuming for me.

    • jim says:

      The Spammers wives beat us 3-0 and your right they are holding it like a trophy. Their youth team lost to ours 5-2. Makes it all the funnier!

    • Steveo1987 says:

      Are you sure it was their ladies team and not their laddies team?

  • ric says:

    Why Lord almighty, can’t Arry play both Scotty and Sandro together? Why? Was the same against Arsenal. I begged for Sandro getting in, and too late he came in, but hey, then we had control on the midfield and actually won! So why then, when we struggle like yesterday, don’t the retard put him in? Rose against Azza? Defoe against VDV?, when we are in the lead and are pushed back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Harry Redknapp: Can you please leave the Lane? Please, you are killing me!

    • Astromesmo says:

      Apparently Sandro came back from International duty with a knock and he was only in the squad as back-up.

      • melcyid says:

        Sorry Astro but on the last blog you made reference to a shoeless Kenyan ,I would have thought that a shoeless Gazza V the Ar5ena1 would have sufficed. just sayin! ;-)

        • Astromesmo says:

          Somehow the Phil Knight ‘Nike quote’ sounds better the way you have it – “Show me the shoeless running Gazza”!

    • dancingbarber says:

      Harry explained in his post match interviews that he would have liked to play Sandro but the doctors warned him he needed longer to recover fully from injury.

      So ric seems like you owe our manager an apology for your insulting language. Seems like ignorance is killing you mate rather than Spurs.

    • toddspur says:

      You cock

    • SpurredoninDublin says:

      Not sure I agree with all you say, but for me, our best performance last year was when we beat AC, and Sandro and Sarge were magnificent as DM’s. I think Sandro could work even better with Parker. The problem then, assuming Lennon returns to form, is who do you pick from Modric, Bale, Lennon, VDV and the Thud.

      As for Rose, last week I read him saying that he was ready for and deserved to be in the first team. On yesterday’s performance, definitely not

      • jim says:

        Was Rose poor yesterday? Tried watching it online but the feed was driving me insane. Resorted to radio and its hard to judge a game sometimes.

      • daytripper16 says:

        I was really disappointed with his defending. The first 66 minutes or so, they only had one successful attack down our right. The second Lennon went off, the floodgates opened and they were blowing past Walker at every turn.

        Perhaps in Rose’s defence, Parker was the CM covering on the right, and he had by far his worst match with Spurs. He looked spent just ten minutes after the break.

    • Finn says:

      Legless possibly!

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