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The dawning of another season, same old hopes and
aspirations, but the history of the past couple of seasons has tempered the
euphoric thoughts about making the top 4 with a real kick in the arse
realism. Harry has no excuse this time out, the
2 points from 8 games, could mean he will head the same way as Jol and Ramos,
heaven forbid! I suppose I am happier and feel more
confident that we haven't had another mass clear out of squad players and
brought in a load of new names, nobody from overseas who will take half a
season to adjust, so the squad with a bit of tinkering looks good enough to
be part of the second league within the PL after the top four plus City.
Consistency and confidence will help us, and the signs from the second half
of last season augur well for this. I am desperate to see us win something,
so once again I start a season full of hope, but this year it is tinged with,
as I said earlier, "realism". So this season, I would love to see us have 16 points from the first 8, see players like Rose and Bostock given a chance and any other youngster. This is World Cup year so performances from the likes of Lennon, Defoe, Crouch could not only enhance their value but their value to the club as well. I want to see us play well, entertain and give the so called top 4/5 a run for their money. I believe that on our day we can beat anyone in the league, but sadly we can get beaten as well, so if we can improve our away form, whilst maintaining our home consistency and meanness about giving goals, then we will be alright.
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.. TOPSPURS COLUMNISTS
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14th April 2009 – Onwards and upwards I write this on the basis I think we are safe now from
relegation. Deep down I never thought we would be relegated but there was always
the niggle at the back of my mind it could happen. With just half a dozen
games to go, there is even talk about making If anything this season has shown us that to be for ever changing the side, is not good for “business”. To buy players so late, they were ineligible for UEFA cup games, was a distraction, and when we were playing Carling Cup games as well, the team set up and formation was changing every few days. It didn’t help with King in and out of the side like a fiddler’s elbow. Look how we are playing now with a consistent back four for example? Our consistency since the CC final has been the key, and
when you look back at some of the games we lost, normally we would have or
should have won, even with the dreadful start of “2 points from 8 games”, we
could have been up there with Everton and Villa. This season has shown that
survival in the Premier league is becoming more and more difficult. The top
four are still the same, but any of the sixteen teams below them could be
dragged into the relegation battle, and whilst a couple of wins can get you
up the table, a couple of defeats can get you sucked in. Look at Between now and the end of August the rumours and speculation about who Harry will buy and who he will sell, will be frantic. I still think we need a good strong squad, and with the coaches HR has as his back up, the squad needs tinkering with, no more mass changes and clearouts, please! Having good players challenging for places will get the best out of the first team choice. Look how Lennon has come on this season, he is a far better all round player, he even gets involved in defending now. Coach him to be more accurate with his crossing and shooting and he will be hard to replace, and that brings me to Bentley. A disappointment this season? Yes apart from the goal he scored against Arsenal, he has figured irregularly and when he has, has failed to deliver. The initial fault was Ramos’s playing him out of position, and then when HR came along Lennon has been a regular, getting rid of Bentley will take away his competition. The same goes for Assou-Ekotto, a much improved player this season, and Gareth Bale has to improve considerably to take his place. The reserves and the youth teams have been playing well and it has been good to see many of the young hopefuls going out on loan, although I am suspicious that many of them are in the shop window. It will be very satisfying to see some of them come through to the first team squad, the likes of Dervitte, Bostock, Parrett, Obika , Rose and Mason, however Dos Santos and Taarabt are more likely to fall into the ex- Spurs category. On the current playing front, I do find it strange that players are supposedly issuing a “play me or I will leave” threat. Like young Huddlestone= supposedly reported. He has played in 26 of our 40+ games this season, so has had the opportunity to prove he should be first choice. Our downfall in past seasons has been our results against
the top four, and against the other I feel with Harry and at his age, he doesn’t have a great
deal to prove. Yes he would love to win the title, manage
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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. |