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14th August 2010 – Spurs 0-0 City It was disappointing that one of the many chances created by Spurs did not beat an inspired Joe Hart in the City goal but it’s a point gained with a mostly rousing performance which if repeated throughout the season should see Spurs right up there again. For what its worth, spurs also drew at home with man city in 60/61 on the way to the title! For the first time for many many years, Spurs started the opening game with no debutants, a few years ago it was the norm to have five and Spurs tended to start the season slowly, and it showed with a fluid performance from 1 to 11, and plenty of options from the bench including Dos Santos who could be the latest to come in from the cold shoulder to be an important member of the squad. Short of getting a win and three points, this was just about as good as it could get for a start and hopefully four wins or three wins and two draws from the next five would represent a very solid platform for the season. And now for the Champions League game. While it could have been a lot worse in terms of the potential opponents, Young Boys will be a tough and very different challenge but a top EPL side should progress. Hopefully Spurs will be focused enough to take one game at a time and get the job done to open up another chapter in the modern history of the club. 13th August 2010 – TOPSPURS Season Preview It’s a fact of modern life that exposure to football is never that far away and as the dust settles on the dullest World Cup ever, its time for the EPL to revive football’s entertainment quotient with its familiar brand of athleticism, greed, desperation, cheating wrapped up in ‘man-bag’ gossip. The whole basis of International football is flawed. Arbitrary rules based upon nation states are random enough but when these are bent double to secure the best players for the richer nations, its all a bit of a nonsense. While normally you can take it or leave it, the fall out from England not doing well at the world cup is that the dead hand of regulation has fallen on the EPL with criteria for entry being aligned to place of birth rather than footballing talent. This is so regressive and stupid, a product of parochial thinking from an age before globalization and can only harm the league – one of the few success stories this country has produced in recent times. Not much going on over the summer is not a bad thing as Spurs can start the season with the team that finished off so well last season and there is no reason to expect anything other than something similar to last year. The target must be not to go backwards. This is not meant to be negative but Spurs need another top four/70+ point a season to put a floor under Spurs progress over the last few years even if it may seem running to stand still. This will allow both friend and foe to accept Spurs as an established and worthy member of the Premiership Elite. Over the summer, we have never been far from snide comparison with Everton and their implosion after breaking into the top four a few years back and avoiding this with a similar haul of league points and a creditable run in the Champions League will represent another high water mark in Spurs first golden age since the 80s. There is no one key player this season. Where once Spurs have been characterised by individuals, New Spurs is all about the team or more accurately the squad. Established stars provided the basis for the good season but some of the most important moments of last season were produced by players previously out in the cold such as Bale, Bentley and Pavlyuchenko, and even the much maligned Kaboul did a great job towards the end of the season. In Gomes, Spurs have a quality keeper but look a little thin in terms of cover with doubts over Cudicini‘s level of ability thesedays and Alnwick looking distinctly Leyton Orient. Another experienced international keeper coming towards the end who would be content with the League Cup and sitting on the bench drawing an EPL wedge would be ideal. At full back, Spurs have plenty of options on the left with BAE and Bale if required but the EPL’s most improved player is surely put to better use further up the pitch. On the otherside, there is perhaps more of an issue with Corluka mostly getting the job done but looking a bit short of pace against the top level. At centre back Spurs have three quality players, however two of them have serious injury questions and the other one very much benefits in having a top class player next to him to be at his best.. Like at the right full back position, Spurs can get through but a quality signing in this area would be very welcome The major signing of the summer slots into a midfield squad which is already stuffed full of talent and there should be no problems other than balance and keeping everyone happy. A similar story up front where the four of them are all good enough but ensuring harmony will be no easy task if the best players are picked each time Behind all this Spurs have a quality manager, steeped in common sense with a great desire to win and all in all, Spurs have a lot to be thankful for. Starting with a team in disarray at the bottom of the league, he averages a very healthy 1.75 points per game which is head, shoulders and navel above his EPL contemporaries and has achieved this by playing positive football. While Redknapp’s years of managerial experience and good footballing sense have been important, the key issue was that he was the first manager for a generation to work without the hindrance of a director of football looking over his shoulder. As soon as this dead hand was released, Spurs started to rise and fulfil the potential of the hitherto sleeping giant. Spurs toughest opponents will be ourselves. To achieve success you need the ability but to maintain it you need the mentality. Spurs never dropped below 6th place last season but the sense of crisis which followed a run of two draws and a defeat to Wolves, one of only two instances that Spurs went more than 2 games without a win, was symptomatic of the fragile confidence under the surface of many fans. Hopefully the fourth place finish will have done something to cement the belief both on and off the pitch. Spurs have got the players to do well again but the manager and his staff most important role will be sustaining motivation and re-enforcing belief, especially during dips in form. Aside from this, the stats show that Spurs have just two wins (both in 1993) from 72 matches away against the Sky4 sides since the start of the Premiership and last seasons return of 0-3, 0-3, 1-3 and 0-2 is a 12 point handicap that needs work. Of Spurs rivals – Chelsea are ageing and will struggle to repeat last years performance and while United always solid at the back, it looks pretty thin behind Rooney for goals. Arsenal have a lot going for them but the effect of Fabregas want away will be another tug on what looks thin team spirit and Wenger’s development of players has always eclipsed his buys who again look CL rather than EPL. Liverpool may be more league focussed this year but are a one/two man team with a lot of journeymen behind and how anyone can take Man City seriously is beyond me, a cockeyed club now run on the whim of an Emirati sounds a recipe for another showy big money failure. With Villa set to back peddle, nothing else will come from the pack and should the elite come back to the pack, a resurgent Spurs may even exceed our own dreams – 50 years on from the last time. Why not… and just remember how the 50s/60s is being mirrored in the 00s/10s…. In the October of the eighth year of the 1950s, Spurs replaced the manager of a side struggling in the league and the new man managed to keep Spurs in the top division while upgrading the squad. The next season saw progression to the top four, which was sustained to deliver a league and cup double the following year. In the October of the eighth year of the 2000s, Spurs replaced the manager of a side struggling in the league and the new man managed to keep Spurs in the top division while upgrading the squad. The next season saw progression to the top four…. It would be wonderful to think Redknapp Snr could continue to follow in the footsteps of the great Sir Bill but another 70-75 points, good runs in the domestic cups and a good showing in the Champions League into the new year would be another reason to sing ‘its lucky for Spurs when the year ends in one’! As a post script to the new season, the masochist/sadist relationship between supporter and club is one to a new level with this “stadium access card”. The days when football was just a pastime rather than a ‘religion’ and you could just turn up for a game on Saturday afternoon are long gone and God forbid anyone new tries to fathom how to get a 'ticket' for Spurs in the future. I’m sure even the fledging stadium access card will be fondly remembered one day when it’s a photocard and an iris scan to get in the ground, with a criminal record for those who try and cheat (except corporate, well known touts and players tickets obviously). Good luck to you if you somehow think you’re experience of the game is heightened by watching it in the 20th century way of travelling to the stadium and paying for the privilege, in every sense of the word. Citeh Spurs have won 22 of the 31 first team matches in all competitions against Citeh, including the last two league games where City were blown apart at WHL before folding under pressure in the CL playoff match at the end of last season. All Spurs - Citeh games A load of big money signings on medium talent players is not going to be game changing and Spurs should again be too good for Manchester’s finest granted normal luck but again it may be by a small margin 2-1 or 2-0 scoreline ..
.. TOPSPURS COLUMNISTS
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26th July 2010 –Topspurs VoxPop request With the World Cup come and gone, its that time of year again for the annual topspurs vox pop to put together a few thoughts and predictions for the new season for publication on the site. Deadline for submission around 12th Aug - anything from a word, few words, general rant (if there is anything to rant about thesedays) up to an article and for a flavour of previous years, click the following links http://www.topspurs.com/topspursvoxpop0910.htm & http://www.topspurs.com/topspursvoxpop0809.htm 6th May 2010 – Spurs are in the Champions League
There have been some iffy games against the previous Sky4 earlier in the season and a sense of perspective was required after a three game winless run culminated in defeat at Wolves in Feb, but a season which started with four straight wins ended with nine wins in eleven including wins against the Goons and Chelsea and most importantly when the pressure was really on against Citeh. Fate had conspired to reschedule the away game at Citeh to be a Champions League play off, and there is nothing like a Man City ‘cup final’ to bring out the best in Spurs, and just as the win in 81 brought the club in from the fringes, this win puts Spurs back in Europe’s premier competition for the first time in nearly 50 years. Spurs have now won 12 of the last 13 against Citeh in all competitions and 19 of the 26 EPL games between the two sides Spurs were worthy winners on the night with heroic performances all over the pitch, but a special mention for Kaboul who has come into the team and given his best for the team out of position and capped a fine display with the assist for the winning goal That run which took Spurs to the Champions League:
And the seasons manhattan:
There tends to be too much focus on managers in the modern game but in taking Spurs from bottom with two points from eight games to the Champions League is nothing short of astonishing, and in this instance you cannot heap enough platitudes upon Redknapp who’s mixed of guile, shrewd tactical awareness and old fashioned common sense into a winning system. And all this without a director of football! The uncanny parallels with Bill Nick’s start at Spurs continue – rescue club in 8/9 season of decade, top four finish in 9/10 season of decade, then win the double… ;-) When Spurs flirted with the CL back in 2006, although Jol’s side got the results there was a feeling that there were some fine margins and the lofty league position was not matched by the convincing performances. However this Spurs side for the most part have looked like a team near the top of the league, which bodes well for a decent run in the CL next season and another EPL season of 70+ points. Congratulations to everyone at Spurs – it has nt been about one game or even one season, this is the culmination of an upward curve started by Jol after the sacking of Santini in 2004 only really interrupted by a couple of dodgy late summers in 2007 and 2008. And although there were some gorblimey moments from the board in the early part of their tenure (and relentless customer exploitation), since they got lucky with Jol and eventually dumped the director of football nonsense, they have played a quietly effective hand. They may not be perfect, but other clubs seem to suffer plenty worse owners/directors This achievement while an end in itself today/this season, will only really have any significance if it is the start of a new era of success for Spurs. The real hard work starts here, but for a day or two, we’ll enjoy it And some dates for your diary:
Next year is 2011. It's lucky for Spurs when the year ends in '1'!
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Disclaimer:
Please note the words on this page are the opinion of the topspurs columnist
and are just that, opinions, not facts and are nothing to do with Tottenham
Hotspur Football club PLC. Just a supporter having his say nothing more
nothing less. Any commentary on betting is meant for discussion purposes only
and does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation. |