Good morning.
And so to part two of what I can now reveal is a two step search and rescue mission for sanity and someting that might just pass muster for the truth.
We’ve established that the environment isn’t fit to play in and heard from some caricatures that are part of the problem. The stain on the Y fronts of what ought to be our support.The argument of this subspecies appears to be that if you go every week then you’re entitled to behave as you wish. Devoid of accountability or reason. Thank god the customers of the Coach and Horses aren’t calling the shots in our board room.
So let us now risk further enlightenment by looking at resources. As a football manager your players are a vital element in a fairly simple equation. I have to labour this because I know some of you are as thick as paint and actually believe it when you say ‘X’ manager is a better manager than ‘Y’ manager. The truth of course is that there is an element of truth in such assertions but only a smidgen. No coincidence that the world’s most successful managers have also had great resources.
Villas-Boas took over after Arry, but he did not inherit Arry’s squad. To suggest so is wildly inaccurate. Beyond laughable.
Here are the players you need to minus from the new chap’s armory. King, Modric and Van Der Vaart. And just as missing due to prolonged injury Kaboul, Parker, Ade, Moussa and Benny to which you can now probably add Sandro. Scratch Moussa and that’s over half of a typical Arry first team squad right there.
Now this is a cracking opportunity to wheel out the old tripe about the chairman of course. The astute among you will recall a couple of facts. Modric went on strike. Sylvie Van Der Vaart tweeted, ‘Thank you Spurs, and all the fans ? you always#coys Time to go home now ?’. These two weren’t sinister cash ins. Some fans need to embrace the ebb and flow of life. Maybe your grandparents haven’t died yet and you still think everything stays the same forever. Oh dear… did I say something bad? Let’s move on.
We were linked with a host of strikers in the window but 99% of it was a combo of paper talk and agents looking for leverage. The Moutinho thing was undoubtedly a fiasco but it is painful to hear the guesswork of people who were 100% not privy to the negotiations deliver their punts with such searing authority. Beyond painful.
Could we have landed any number of ‘superstars’ that were untested in the Premier League? Arguably yes. But as we aren’t Champions League side we would have had to pay more for them both in fees and wages. Last time I looked we only have 36,000 odd seats to sell. You see that’s why they call it breaking the bank. That’s why they call it bankruptcy. Not ‘tickling’ the bank or ‘bankfuncy.’
The fresh meat has been a mixed bunch. Vertonghen is a class act, Siggardson might be alright and Moussa was rapidly becoming a blessing until his hip went and that is a total disaster. Dempsey may be more limited than an Alan Sugar limited company but Deuce was a back up buy. That is what you get for that money.
So where or rather with whom that leave us with? A still clearly unfit Adebayor. The lunatic Walker. Ten Tonne Tommy. A Migdet gem who spends most of his time wincing as he pings the damn thing wide before saying, ‘Wha?’ with fake confusion to teammates who were in space. Sandro, a man with a hernia from carrying Tommy and Jake. Gallas a man who has asked our physios for written reassurances that he cannot catch ‘stupid’ from Walker.
Is AVB making a mistake with Brad and Lloris? Who knows? I want to see Hugo play but to be blunt this is almost a cosmetic decision at this stage. If we were losing every game to Gomes theatrics or by 3 or 4 goals then I’d have more of a beef. My guess is that AVB doesn’t need any more naffing ‘maybes’ to factor in. Brad ain’t perfect but neither is he broke.
Our midfield has no wit or discernible craft. And this is where great teams create and thus achieve. You can boo and grumble all you want sweethearts but this isn’t a tactical issue. We don’t have the staff. Leave out Livermore, bring in Carroll, play Tommy deep it’s all shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic. Parker was immense and now he’s gone. Maybe he’s back by Christmas. Maybe. You don’t lose a player like that and ‘laugh it off.’ He is to us what Scholes is United.
It is the absence of players like Parker, Kaboul, Moussa and a fit Adebayor that is killing us. Nothing else. So stop booing. Stop acting like outraged consumers. If you really care about this club more than anyone else …give up your seat to someone who wants to cheer the lads on.
You’re not that special and worse you’re none too bright. Stop booing. There is a considerable waiting list that believe, like me that it is your time that is up. Tottenham need your seat.
To put a supporter in it.
Are you really HH ? Completely agree with every word and that’s a first.
Are you really Razspur?
H, I think you need to take off those rose tinted glasses! I’m waiting to see if AVB has what it takes to improve the team, and will wait for the rest of the season before passing judgement, but the alarm bells are ringing already. Irrespective of who is manager, we’ve gone from a team playing flowing football which was a pleasure to watch, to the dross of yesterday. So stop blaming the supporters descent and start looking at the real problems i.e the manager’s decisions – Siggy into MF when Sandro went off. Instead of Vertonghen there and Naughton at LB.
Putting Vertonghen in midfield was indeed an option. But that’d mean losing the most effective attacking performer down the left flank for Spurs for that day. It’s not a clear black and white which decision is better.
I was there yesterday and I agree the support was poor and doesn’t help in any way. However, on this blog that point seems to be overshadowing the bigger issue. Yes AVB does not have the same playing resources as HR. however, I personally don’t believe he Is playing the hand he has got as well as he might. I am fairly moderate in my views and am prepared to give the guy time, but alarm bells as beginning to ring. Don’t let the poor support overshadow the bigger issue.
Harry, how exactly do you think the fans should react to a performance like that, booing is the only outlet of non-violent frustration we have. A thumbs up and a “oh hard luck today guys” is not what that kind of performance deserved, the players and AVB deserve to get booed when they are that bad. Wigan should have won that game 3-4 nil, you cant brush that kind of performance off like its noting.
Fans have right to boo. But the question is does it help the guys on field? Does it help that the fans put further troubles in their heads? We seen how Arsenal supporters singing for their team at Old Trafford as they were badly outplayed, that’s what Spurs need. Yes, it was terribly disappointing performance, and it makes one feel better for the moment booing and expressing disgust in that manner, but it’s just making things worse by sapping the players’ confidence. This has been far from the first time fans do this at the Lane, maybe because the anxiety the players are feeling at the Lane are taking its toll.
Knee-jerk reactions are never a good thing but let’s not forget, AVB has form. He had fantastic resources at Chelsea and blew it. For whatever reason, and we can all form an opinion by using the back page of The Sun for reference, he messed up. I have seen all our games this year and we are dull, especially the last 3 games. Remember the spark, the fizz, the style from the last two seasons? They’ve gone. There has to be a reason for that – is the manager’s tactics and/or motivation or is it the players?
HH, going through your ‘half of Harry’s team has gone’ theory – the King was a bit-part player. Kabul is excellent but so is Caulker. Benny is good but Vertonghen is probably even better. Parker is missed but, lets be honest, it’s hard to get excited once he passes the half-way line. Modders was triff when we was in the mood. HR thought the sun shone out of his every orifice but take him to Stoke on a cold and wet Tuesday evening and you might as well have left him on the coach humming away to Una Paloma Blanca. So yes some of the players are no longer available and I am sure things will improve when Moussa and Parker get back but there is still sufficient quality in the squad to play fun exciting football…and score goals. And we don’t.
And you hark on about not buying Moutinho. I don’t believe we need to buy headline acts. How many of us knew much about Ba before he went to Geordieland? I would welcome his goal scoring ability now. Blimey, even non-league Holt looks more menacing that our two.
We will all have our own opinions about our team members and their contribution. For my part, I do not believe Jake adds anything to the cause, boy Carroll might be one for the future but no-where close yet and for all my praise of Dempsey last year, he really does look rather lost now. He ain’t a striker and our manager should stop referring to him/playing him as one.
I am happy to give AVB and his exercise book more time, after all we are still joint 4th on points, but I just hope Levy has the balls that, should the time come when boredom and/or results head south, he takes the appropriate action. I don’t believe he will be a big enough man to admit it was wrong to sack Harry but privately, he may think it.
Of course there is a reason why the spark and fizz are gone – Modric – simple. He supplied the spark and fizz and he’s gone or hadn’t you noticed?