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by Patrick Daly The words ‘fan favourite’ can be perfectly applied to our, now former, Russian marksman Roman Pavlyuchenko. There were times, in our heart of hearts, that we knew that Pavlyuchenko wasn’t the world’s greatest striker, but in his three and half seasons at White Hart Lane, he showed us Spurs fans enough glimpses of the magic that he could conjure to make us love him. Making it look easy It is, in knowing that some Spurs fans are happy to see the end of his time at the club, that I write this ode to the one that we called ‘Super Pav’. I for one will never forget the moments of pure class that he could induce – times when could make scoring world-class goals look easy or the way that, especially during the Ramos days, he looked like the one player in the team who could change games in an instant. It is easy to forget that we rode to the league cup final in 2009 on the back of his goals in what was a scrappy run to Wembley. The magician The perfect striker, he definitely wasn’t. Pav could be lazy and frustrating in many games and sometimes looked downright uninterested. On his day, however, I always felt like he was a special striker – a true magician. The way he could turn and shoot in an instant; the way tight angles meant nothing to him or the way he could make you dream of the top corner rattling every time he approached the opposition’s box with the ball at his feet. It was for these reasons that I loved watching him play. And what about all those important goals that he netted for us? The goal away to Burnley in the semi-final of the league cup in 2009 to take the sting out of the game; the screamer against Young Boys to give us a realistic chance at home in the Champions League qualifier; the winning goal against Liverpool to begin the Harry-revival or even his recent superb strike against Sunderland, coming off the bench to keep us dreaming of a top three finish. It is for all these reasons that I’ll miss Pavlyuchenko playing his football in a white shirt. Testing times I had noticed, especially this season, that many of the Tottenham fans around me at home games had started to moan about Pav and his lack of clinical finishing at times. I did feel sorry for him though, as he must have always known that he had to be sharp from the moment he came on the pitch – he had a 15-20 minute windows (if that) in games to prove himself. I knew the writing was on the wall when the song of ‘Super Pav’ became changed to ‘Super Scott’ in devotion to our new midfield terrier. A song that we White Hart Lane faithful had sung so many times in applause of one the Russian’s goals had been transferred to our new golden boy, and for that I was saddened, not to mention a little bewildered that we couldn’t think of a different song for Parker (is it me or do Spurs lack inspiration with our player chants?). So Pav – I will miss you. You frustrated and delighted in equal measure. But – when you did delight – my goodness, you were good. Farewell ‘Super Pav’ and thanks for the memories. A video of some great Pav moments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KoXEmIjJiE |
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TOPSPURS COLUMNISTS
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30th
December 2011 - Spurs Upside/ Downside by Daniel Ayers In idle moments
when I’m not thinking about buying presents for my fiancé, I keep a mental
tally of Tottenham’s progress this season vs the
same fixtures last year.
I.e., in 2010-11
we drew at home to Man City, but in 2011-12 we lost. So we’re down a point
there. But last year we only drew at home to Arsenal, and this year we won,
so that’s 2pts up. And so on. And
this season vs last season has been going well. Really well. Lots of
upside, very little downside. We’re 11 points better off than we were from
the same games last year. We’re 3rd in the table and generally considered the
best Spurs side since 1961. So I thought I’d
make the same comparison with 2009-10 season, when
we qualified for the Champions League. It gets a bit more flaky the further
back you go (more teams have been promoted/ relegated), but still - it would
be nice to find that we’re ahead even of our best ever EPL season. Except,
in that case, the difference is… 0. Nothing. Exactly the same amount of
points from the same subset of games. Which suggests there’s plenty more work
to do in the second half of the season, even to equal the 2009-10 tally. I was quite
surprised (and a bit disappointed). Player for player we’re a better team
than 2 years ago. Walker>Corluka, Adebayor>Crouch, Parker>Palacios, VdV>Kranjcar, Bale11>Bale09,
etc. And our points-per-game so far is much better - 2.24, vs 1.84 in 2009-10, and 1.63 in 2010-11. And everyone says
we’re better. Even Steve Claridge likes us now. And of course,
this is all a little meaningless- lots of variables that the stats don’t
account for (changes in strength/ form of opponents, injuries, etc)- and I’m sure Harry isn’t concerning himself with
similar comparisons at all. But
it’s a note of caution, at least, before we start to fully believe our own
hype about the current side. For
our final 20 games, the 2009-10 equivalents worked out as W9 D5 L7; given our
form so far this year, the same (at least) should be possible. I hope. Read more from Daniel at http://yodaniel.com/tagged/spurs/ 28th October 2011 – New Spurs
books A message from the authors … It’s that time of the year
when Martin Cloake and Adam Powley
have got some new Tottenham books This time around it’s a little different. We’ve created a
couple of ebooks on THFC legends called ‘Spurs
Shots’ – bigger than an article, shorter than a book, priced at a bargain
£2.99 each. The first two are on Danny Blanchflower
and Glenn Hoddle. You can download them with one click them from Amazon for
your iPhone, Android and whatnot, and the iBookstore for Danny B (Hoddle coming soon). Some links
here: http://amzn.to/ofgZ96 and http://amzn.to/pquEql
We’ve taken quite a strong and hopefully through-provoking
line on these, so if you’ve got any comments we’d be very glad to have them. Incidentally,
if we don’t already and you want to link up on Twitter we’re on @adampowley and @MartinCloake. 4th October 2011 - The Tottenham Young Guns When it comes to producing fresh
young talent, as much as it pains us to say it, us Spurs fans know that our
team hasn't been particularly good at it in recent years. Tottenham academy players litter the teams of the lower leagues while the
only real triumph we can hold up as an example of a job well-done in the last
ten years, is our loyal centre back, Ledley King. Reasons to be excited Thursday night was therefore,
a very pleasant surprise, as I watched a youthful and talented Tottenham
side take on Dublin's Shamrock Rovers in the UEFA cup. After an initial scare
early in the second half, our domination and prowess finally showed through
with some well made goals giving us the respectable 3-1 score line. As much
as this was about getting the job done for Redknapp,
I felt the performance of some of the younger players on show gave Spurs fans
a lot to be excited about. Tom Carroll, Andros Townsend
and Giovanni dos Santos all stood out as star performers, especially in the
second half when the team was really taking the game to Shamrock Rovers. Dos
Santos has had a hard time at Spurs over the course of his three
seasons, having been loaned out so often, but on Thursday night he looked
sharp, skillful, comfortable on both sides of the
pitch and the manner in which he took his goal indicates that he may now have
developed the precision to push for a first team place. The poise that young Tom
Carroll showed on the ball, in which was a big game for the 18 year old, was
unbelievable at times. Every time he got the ball, he was looking for space
to receive it again and the ease with which he switched the play displayed an awareness only second to that of Tom Huddlestone. Carroll could do with working on his upper
body strength and he needs to cut out some of the slack in his short passing
game but, overall, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in our Premier
League set-up in two season’s time. Yellow-booted brilliance It's not a matter of leaving
the best 'til last but Townsend is certainly earning his plaudits. As soon as
he came on, he brought a new urgency to the game as he looked to beat his man
on the left wing every time (and rarely failed to do so). The pace at his
disposure is putting Lennon to shame and, as his delivery for Defoe's header
indicated, he is showing he's got the final product to match. Townsend
un-doubtfully needs to sheen up his game a bit more, and the UEFA cup
exposure will only help to do that, but this yellow booted winger is
definitely one for the future. The fantastic thing about
going home from the Lane on Thursday night was not just the warm feeling that
three points gives a fan, but also the knowledge that the future of Tottenham
Hotspur FC looks to be in good hands. With our performances in the
league getting better and better, culminating in Sunday's pulsating win over
Arsenal, the 2011/2012 season is looking brighter all the time. 2nd September 2011 – Bad Start So the
coming or more goings have now finished, with new lad Parker - thunderbirds
himself and will it be "yes m`harry" no doubt linking up with em others who are called playmakers whatever that means With only a modest defeat at manchester
compared to some others (ssh you know who) made me feel much better
until I looked at the table and there we are nu pont..shades of ramosta ..well
lets hope not! 24th August 2011 – Getting twitchy My feeling of apprehension when I saw the early fixture
list seems to be being brought true having seen the clips of the shambles at
Old Trafford, which seemed to a distant observer to prove that we are nowhere
near the level of Man U, and I can see the following results coming up. Hearts, well with respect this was only going to be tough
training run, and overconfidence was in the offing. Man U. This was always going be a loss wasn't it. We are
not at that level. Man City. I can only see another loss. Wolves. Playing better this year, and we had trouble with
them LAST season. Another loss. Arsenal. Probable loss as they always lift when they play
us. Hopeful draw and one point. Liverpool. Hopeful draw and one point. To me this seems to lead to a probable 2 points from our
first 15, and if this is true then we will be out of touch with the top 4
already, and Champions league a dream, and Europa League fading fast. If the last few seasons are any guide the first 6 matches
set the pattern for the year, then we will be in the struggle zone at the
outset. I HOPE that Harry has some magic wands somewhere, because I have a
nasty feeling that we are going to need a large one, if we are not going to
be in the drop zone for longer than I would like to see. John Cobb. Melbourne, Australia
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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
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