This morning I checked in on social media to gauge reaction to the game, as I usually do. There’s a lot of criticism of the crowd’s reaction. Throw me a lifebelt, I’m drowning in a stream of moralistic pious sewage.
Have people ever been to a football match? Have they ever supported a team? Any team? Teams have rivals. They don’t want those rivals to succeed. It’s fundamental. You decide who you support and in that big bang moment of creation you also learn who your rivals are. Positive and negative. Yin and yang. Defines what you are by knowing what you’re not.
Last night, Spurs played a football match. I wanted them to win. I admit that I didn’t feel as bad about this defeat as I have done with others. That’s it.
Not every Spurs fan felt the same. I really don’t agree with them, but that’s not the point. The garbage I’m reading, from pompous sermons on how Spurs fans have desecrated the righteous values of football to small-minded snarking from small-minded fans of other clubs has one thing in common – they just don’t get it.
This is what football fans do. They despair when their rivals have the upper hand and gloat whenever they fail, or in this case might fail. Last night was an expression of this eternal truth. Cheering for City? From my corner of the South Stand, I didn’t hear any pro-City chanting. I did hear a lot of abuse directed at our north London rivals. I don’t need to stand up to know what I feel about them, although I did need to stand up to see the game.
Here’s Oliver Holt, now chief sports writer for the Mail:
In this tweet he manages to be so mistaken about football fans in so few words. “fans got it wrong” – don’t make judgements about how we fans are thinking and feeling, and don’t ever tell me how to feel. “Mocked” – Spurs fans around me did not fear being mocked, social media is not the real world. “an example of the very best of sport” – where Oliver transports us back to late Victorian times. ‘Play up lads, and play the game!’ Blimey, those Royal Engineers fans are going to give us some stick, eh.
And also in the Times, Martin Samuels:
What angers me are the patronising judgements being made about Spurs fans coming from all sides this morning. Fans who wanted us to lose made me angry but I understand why they were conflicted. We all were to some extent. This was a highly unusual set of circumstances. I very much doubt that fans of other clubs would have behaved any differently. Remember the so-called Battle of the Bridge, when Chelsea prevented us from sustaining our title challenge even though they had only the prospect of a mid-table finish. Their crowd chanted for Leicester as one. Or here’s Tony Evans, a writer who does understand fans, writing about when Liverpool had a chance to stop United winning the league.
There’s no mention of fan loyalty, for example. Of capacity crowds every single week despite the extortionate prices and the fact that under this chairman we’ve won a single League Cup and nothing since 2008. Of British record crowds at Wembley.
And while I’m about it, there are endless examples this morning of how the expression of fandom on social media appears for many to be the only reality. My question asking if people had ever been to a football match is not entirely rhetorical. Many younger fans have not been to any or many games, for reasonable reasons of price and, where the fanbase is world wide, geography. So social media is the only place where they express themselves. The bantz, the ‘mocking’, the insults, these do not reflect the reality of fandom. Much of it is generated for the express purpose of getting clicks and hits, all of which are monetised. In other words, it is sustained, if not created, with profit in mind. In this world, cliches abound, convenient off-the-peg takes that mean anyone can join in without having to think for themselves, or indeed watch much football. In this world, Spurs fans today have no class, we’re two-bob and tinpot, we have loser mentalities.
This world is real to its inhabitants because this is their main source of information and the place where they express their fandom using these conventions. It’s not my world. I visit every now and again but I don’t live there. Other interpretations and realities are available.
By and large, Spurs fans in the ground handled it well. Fans got behind the team, for example after City’s first goal, there was a groundswell of singing to urge the players on, and we responded approvingly to our effort and good football, especially in the first half, both of which have been sorely absent of late. And barracked City for timewasting when they were a goal up. Those conflicted feelings emerged later, and once the game was gone, the balance tipped towards acceptance of a City win. Many left the ground as soon as the penalty was awarded, let alone scored.
There were quiet periods, but to be honest, that’s not unusual at Spurs, particularly when opponents are on top, as was the case for some of the second half. But ‘normal anxiety’ isn’t a hot take. Neither apparently is having fun. Samuels pictures a few Spurs fans doing the Poznan. Perish the thought that with the game lost, they had a bit of fun, last home game of the season. Because football fans can’t have fun. It would be an insult to our chairman.
This debate has been energized by Postecoglou’s post-match comments where he referred cryptically to problems at the club: “the last 48 hours to me have revealed the foundations are pretty fragile…inside and outside.” The focus of today’s coverage has largely been on the fans, the presumption being that we are the ‘outside’ bit, compounded by a video showing him having a go at a fan behind the bench who wanted us to lose.
He was obviously very angry in that press conference but it’s debatable whether he meant that there’s a fundamental lack of support from the crowd. Never a good idea to be seen to have a go at supporters but I think sections of the media and unchallenging social media discourse have made more of it than is justified and I don’t see anything in what he said that means he doesn’t feel supported by us. As Celtic manager, he’s seen all this at first hand and coped well in an atmosphere that’s frankly more combustible than the north London rivalry.
As for the game itself, I took away the positives of a committed, organised performance with Romero leading the way, and where Ange showed, belatedly perhaps, that he can adapt his tactics to match the demands of the league. Sarr as a false nine gave us more heft in midfield, the extra man being the basis of our better shape with better passing and covering options, unfortunately at the expense of weakness up front in the absence of a central striker. After a poor run of results, I hope this is the beginning of the changes that must surely come.
This leaves us with what to me is evidence of a more sinister problem – what does Ange mean about “inside”? Is he referring to the players – are some doubting his methods? Or does he know the summer transfer budget and he’s unhappy about it? I like the fact that he is angry about the club’s future and wants to do something about it. He has the ability and determination to address these problems but the board have to support the growth of the club. As I said last week, once more we’re ending the season on a sour note.
TOTTENHAM ON MY MIND 
This is not a Spurs thing. Has everyone forgotten when we got to the Champions League final. All the Arsenal fans I knew and loads on social media were saying they would rather lose the Europa League final than Spurs win the Champions League.
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If those Arsenal fans were dumbed it does not mean that we have to act the same. It is rather childish if you ask me.
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i don’t think football is for you….v without rivalry the game is dead.
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There’s rivalry and there’s idiocy. Cheering goals against your own team comes into the latter category. People need to grow up.
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Nobody cheered Man City’s goals so what’s your point?
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What an excellent article. I’ve been in search of reason all day long. I was there too, sitting where I always sit in the North Stand (nee Paxton Rd) doing what I always do – wanting us to win and so was everyone else around me. I’ll admit that the game didn’t have as much jeopardy as we’re used to, it was an interesting experience to simply admire the craft of our football. I saw some real green shoots. I’ve been a supporter for 54 years – loathing Arsenal is hardwired into my psyche but loving Tottenham is my heart. All n all it was a good game. Was I happy that we lost – no. But in this case the searing disappointment didn’t linger because the silver lining of this cloud is that Arsenal might now not have any silver – only a cloud. As for top 4. Yes for vanity’s sake all day, but it’s worth remembering that it was Ange who managed our expectations about the UCL.
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Thanks for this excellent article. Since my first game at WHL in 1966 I have always wanted us to win. From my now seat in the West Stand, I felt the overall atmosphere was pretty reasonable given the circumstances. I expected us to lose against an outstanding side and was quite heartened by how well we played on the whole – much better than many of this season’s performances. Of course I don’t want our main rivals to be more successful but, over the years, I have respected some of the outstanding sides they and others have produced. On the whole our supporter base has always been and still is outstandingly loyal. It is natural for us to be jealous of others’ success when we have enjoyed so little in recent years. We should be capable of winning trophies and I fervently hope that we can kick on and do so, in what will remain an incredibly tough and competitive environment. But sometimes it is the small things – the flick, the dummy, the great pass or save – that bring joy and reminds me why I have always followed my club, the great Tottenham Hotspur.
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If Spurs could have gone out there and won handsomely then I would have been happy with it despite the connotations.
Though once we fell behind I did not want us to equalise as a draw really was no good to anyone except Arsenal.
Son missing and then the awarded penalty was a relief in all honesty.
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Oh and if we hadn’t been so bad since the West Ham game and all but blown our CL hopes anyway, and if the result last night would have been to secure a CL spot then the hopes of a win would have been far stronger.
Ange needs to understand that the season has been lost in the last two months with such rotten form and play, and all we had left really was the joy of scuppering Arsenal.
If he had done better in getting the team to perform then this whole position we were in could have been avoided.
For me it’s on him and the players that WE FANS were put in this situation and he should understand it and let it be.
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I don’t know who you are, but I wholeheartedly concur with your comments. There was nothing much in this game for us as we had totally imploded in the month or so prior. Allied also that Manchester City were and are far superior to us and didn’t need to get out of second gear to beat us.
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genius is an often overused word but Alan you are a genius.
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I remember from his days writing for the Daily Mail Mr Samuals is a West Ham fan with all that that entails Also the media allways forget when Leicester s “fairy” came true various teams openingly saying they wanted them to win and a few roll overs happening..
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Read’s Review of the season.
You couldn’t have made this season up. It would be easy to complain about the negatives (and I shall) but the main takeaway is that everything could have been so much better. To add to the confusion, AP warned us that we’d suffer because we no longer had the guarantee of Harry’s 25 goals a season. Yet, perversely, we have scored more goals this season than last. We also accumulated more points than last season. We let in fewer goals. If you’d offered me fifth place last August I’d have taken it. Yet we still under-delivered. Some of the defeats were hard to take with some individual performances that were shameful. The most visible player this season was Manny Unforced-Errors who was everywhere, all at once. We seemed to be making it up as we went along and ended playing worse football than at the beginning of the season. We won just one away game since January. So, how is that progress? Player reviews for the season:
Vicario- 7. Let down by a collapsing defence and midfield. Saved several points early on with excellent shot stopping. A keeper.
Porro – 6. Went missing in too many games. Not a natural defender and out of position so many times.
Van D. Ven 8. Excellent first season. PotY.
Romero – 6. Often out of position. Cannot be happy leading a defence that shipped 60+ goals.
Udogie – 6. Fell away dramatically after a good start.
Sarr – 6. Like Udogie, lost form and influence for months.
Bissouma – 6. Unrecogniseable in the second half of the season from the player than dominated teams last August and September.
Madison – 6. Injury interrupted a good start. Talked a good game but didn’t back it up when it mattered. More walkie, less talkie, please.
Son – 7. His early goals allowed us to scramble a European place when we fell apart in the Spring.
Richarlison – 5. Sell him and use the money to buy a proper #9.
Johnson -5. We were told he was a flyer but he’s nothing remarkable. Hasn’t got a trick to get past defenders. Indecisive. Easily marked.
Kulusevski -5. Great start. Terrible finish. Far too fiddly and not good enough end product.
Hjoberg -6. He knows he’s going and played like it. Deserved better treatment from AP.
Dragusin – 6. The invisible man. Surely he should’ve played a bigger part in reinforcing a dreadful defence?
Skipp – 5. I fear for his future.
Werner- 6. A stopgap. We should buy a player with his best years ahead of him, not investing in a player whose best years are behind him.
Worst performance(s) Against Brighton, Wolves, Newcastle, Fulham, Liverpool. And I could go on. Zero shape, fight, style. What happens during training to allow this embarrassment again and again?
Best performance: at Villa. If we can play like that why can’t we follow it up again? Demonstrated the fragility of a team not certain about its shape and tactics.
The manager – 5. His performance mirrored the teams. Strong start and rank finish. Other teams lay in wait to unpick our tactics (e.g. Newcastle) and by half time it was too late for AP to save the day. Happened too many times to be an occasional misjudgment or, ‘part of the learning curve.’. Clearly the players are not listening. Or, if they are, they are ignoring him. Which doesn’t bode well. AP demonstrated serial naivete against canny teams and the lack of a plan B highlighted how much he still has to learn at the top level. After 38 games we still play like a team of strangers. Getting us into the minor European leagues earns him a reprieve for next season, but his team showed they haven’t fully understood what he believes is the way ahead. Priorities are fix the dreadful defence, stiffen the midfield, Get a more energetic attack with a proper #9. And stop being so chippy with the media. You need them far more than they need you.
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harsh scores for johnson & sarr…..agree re: poro overated and a 5 for me
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Ange is absolutely spot on. There’s sewage (to use your word) inside, outside and everywhere at the club. It’s over 63 years since we won the League, most of the 61,00 in the ground have never witnessed such a success. And with a bunch of chicken hearts turning up to offer no real support for our players, and then worse, celebrate the visiting team scoring, that reflects an attitude of inferiority which any PL League win very, very unlikely anytime soon. Conte and Mourinho were firmly I Ange’s camp. Most likely, he’ll eventually vote with his feet too.
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Good read. I’m a Man United fan and echo your thoughts. Oliver Holt gets it so wrong. You support your team, want your rivals to lose, this is it. It’s a bit like the ‘supporting English teams in Europe’ rubbish. Do you think I want Liverpool or City to do well in Europe? Any real fan knows the answer.
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brilliant writing
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Unfortunately there were 3 areas that needed fixing but have not been addressed.
We’ve been used to Harry Kane, not just for scoring 25 goals a season and creating up to 10, but also his ability in defending set pieces. We seem to be totally unable to defend corners and free kicks. I don’t blame the centre backs as such but the training and preparation of the team. Too often players are marking space, with opposition players running in from behind them unsighted. You would have thought that would have been obvious as it’s happened week in and out but still it’s allowed to happen.
The full backs are constantly disappearing leaving gaping holes. Poor Skipp ended up on the right wing at one point against Burnley when he was supposed to be covering the left. I understand APs style but his inability to either see this or allow it to continue is another factor in the goals we are conceding.
Finally, not bringing in a proper striker was suicidal. Richarlison simply isn’t good enough or fit enough. If we’d had a decent striker contributing 20 goals and able to help defend set pieces then we probably would have made the champions league.
For the record I always want us to win. I couldn’t care less about that other London club
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Nice piece. I’m an American who started supporting Spurs back in the early Redknapp years, but even I was feeling conflicted before yesterday’s game. That conflicted feeling could all have been avoided if Spurs hadn’t shat the proverbial bed for the last three months. Note: all the shit in the bed isn’t from the fans–it’s from the players and the coaches. The fans have held their nose and supported the team throughout this unpleasant stretch of bad losses–but now the fans are the one’s taking all the heat after their relief that they didn’t help Arsenal win the league? FOH
I wanted Spurs to win. I bet most Spurs fans did. Once it hit the 80 min mark, I instead hoped to god Spurs wouldn’t score. That is a perfectly logical and reasonable response.
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Spot on. There are conflicting views and my take is that I would have liked to see a Spurs win irrespective of what other teams were doing. I was in the North Stand and that seemed the common view around me. I thought the team gave it a good go, could easily have nicked it and I would have celebrated that as much as any win. But not bereft at the defeat either, though pressure on for a point on Sunday.
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This is the way our season ends (too often). Not with a bang, but a whimper.
Look, Spurs have been my one ‘constant’ love since 1963 when, aged 11, I saw an apparition of white ghosts on grainy b/w TV hammer Atletico Madrid 5-1 to become the first British team to win a major European trophy. I was a NW London boy who went with my dad intermittently in 1964/65, before going regularly myself in early 1966, walking from Manor House tube past Seven Sisters (before THAT tube even existed) and up the High Road to see my heroes. Did I care what the other teams thought or did? NO! Arsenal’s results meant little to me in the mid to late 1960s, although it really hurt when I went to Highbury, and then the Lane, to see them nick a classic 2 legged semi and get to the final of the League Cup in 1968/9. Although I was thrilled when Swindon beat them at Wembley. But it was CHELSEA who most Spurs fans hated back then. The fan rucks were with them, not so much Arsenal. Obviously I’m not enamoured with either of them, because that got ingrained over the years. West Ham I always had a soft spot for, because I cheered them on (you know, being an ENGLISH team) when they followed up our 1963 ECWC win with their own in 1965, plus England had Moore, Peters and Hurst in 1966 (although still sick to this day that Jimmy never got another look-in after the France game).
All this, even though the Hammers ‘hate’ us too.
Sometimes I’d go with friends to watch ALL these teams play, if Spurs weren’t playing. Arsenal and West Ham were straight through tubes, pretty much, from Harrow where I lived. Chelsea was even easier to get to. Did I support them when I went? God forbid, no! I mostly and quietly supported whoever they were playing. Apart from Fulham, because
I liked/like Fulham fans. Either way, it cost peanuts to go and watch other London based great players back then ..players like Johnny Haynes, Bobby Moore etc.,
so I took advantage of a better, less cynical and greedy, time in football history.
Any Spurs fans who think I’m less of a fan because of this, I feel sorry for them. If Spurs came 2nd in the PL to Arsenal’s 1st, I’d be cheering our 2nd. If we came a dull 5th to Arsenal’s 6th, it would be very small comfort to me indeed, and yet perversely some fans would prefer that outcome to the former! I only care about Tottenham and, before I die, I’m desperate for us to succeed again and win the sort of trophies I’ve seen us win many times over the decades. I’m gutted we didn’t beat City last night, because if we’d held our nerve we may have, and then Sunday would have been really interesting as Villa took on in-form Palace away. Now we have to get a point against Sheffield Utd to secure 5th! Big deal. Did AP talk us out of the CL some weeks back? I know one thing. If we’d started the season the way we finished it, then he may not have lasted as long as Nuno.
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Alan thanks mate, normal praise for your considered thoughts.
How ever, on the words of Ange I wonder whether his outside / inside comments had more to do with the media who have seemingly become fixated on asking the same question about his attitude towards ‘the game’ in as many different ways as possible and inside being to do with what fans chant. There is the long tradition of the chant about “standing up if you hate Arsenal’. Recently that chant had to my ears be losing some of its sound and bite. At the city game, again to my ears it was chanted with extra venom. I’ll admit to getting caught up with it during its first rendition. Secondly, the silence that can and does regularly descend within the so called wall of noise. I wonder if given history of managing in Australia, Greece, Japan and Scotland if he has been surprised by this ‘ perculiar’ English tendency, of going into our shells when not ‘being entertained’ . Anyway given our relative close positions in the stadiums it’s surprising that we can hear slightly different things from the crowd. Maybe Ange hears a totally different game which has been exacerbated by the aforementioned media questions. And there stoking up of the differences between fans in the lead up to the game. Which, again I got caught up by!
MAL. “UP THE SPURS!! and “SAVE OUR SENIORS”
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Age: 80. First game 1950. Can’t remember NOT being a Spurs supporter. Can’t afford to go often, but watch anything I can on the box, including ‘illegal’ streams. I felt conflicted, always want Spurs to win; always want Arse to lose. Felt we played our best game in a long time and deserved better but were let down by attackers not at their best. Generally OK about AP, but feel we have been let down by owners only interested in a balance sheet who could have seen the Kane transfer coming way back and tried to do something about it. To play Angeball you need a big squad with a high standard of fitness – we have had neither, and the owners are responsible for that. The crowd made it’s statement – we ‘ate Arsenal, but we also wanted the win – success on our terms. We didn’t’t get the win, but we still wanted it. When we couldn’t have it we had the first really loud songs for the team, for the club rather than the money. I don’t give a fuck what Telegraph/Mail public school hacks think because they aren’t anything to do with the club I have always loved, but everything to do with the money killing our game.
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My longstanding dislike for Arsenal is far exceeded by my love for Tottenham.
For many fans it seems their hate exceeds their love.
Hatred should not rule our lives and support should not be dependent on consequences beyond the stadium.
I get it that fans don’t like turning up at work the next day to see smug grins on the faces of their colleagues who support that other lot from Woolwich. However, I’d prefer not to risk condemnation for possessing reversible principles or be judged as a shallow turncoat, with my loyalty questioned and the strength of my love and support for Spurs in doubt.#COYS
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IKNOWALANGILZEAN: Hello Alan. Tbh I was surprised at how willing Postecoglu was to get into the rivalry aspect in the pre-match period and more than a little annoyed at how he led with the Conte-esque fragility stuff rather than a good performance by the team on the night. He came across as naive and needlessly antagonistic both pre- and post-match for me.
On naivete, I was most pleased to see that he finally changed things up to match the task ahead of the team, rather than play his one way or the high way, which, to me, is naive football vs the best. If it’s good enough for Guardiola to evolve his way of playing, it’s certainly good enough for Ange Postecoglu.
Given the results and performances for the most part (as some good thereafter) since early November after Chelsea home game, the way he wants to play will not win any of the biggest prizes imo. Regardless of better suited players, familiarity with system, etc, you routinely leave 2 at back you won’t get away with it consistently vs good teams. Not popular view, and with good second half at Etihad taken into consideration, we were very lucky to still be breathing first half there and Newcastle and Liverpool the other week showed teams have ways to destroy plan A.
In sum, he’s put added pressure on himself and the team for next season and subconsciously I am fighting so as not to call him Mr Christmas or panettone as they say in Italy as he won’t last til the end of the festive season unless he changes things when playing good to very good sides. To non “mangia il panettone” (not get to eat the panettone) would be a shame as there is I believe big promise in him and the team and 5th and EL (not yet certain with Poch and Chelsea’s resurgence and us losing 5 out of last 6) is a good end to a first season give the chaotic starting point.
I wanted a good performance and a loss going into the game, but when I started to watch the game I just wanted us to win and what played out at the weekend che sera sera. I wasn’t, however, sad that we hadn’t won and very quickly looked at the upside!!!
However, my overriding feeling was that if he had changed up earlier to play Newcastle, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal we needn’t have all been put in such a conflicting and unholy mess on Tuesday night. I don’t mean throw the baby out with the bathwater as the base is potentially very good and exciting but not leave us so exposed and rubbish vs set pieces. Like it or lump it, set pieces can decide games at the highest level, however good your football is…
Even if Man City mess up on Sunday, we haven;t given it to Arsenal and that’s important imo.
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As always Alan you’ve put what I’m thinking into your words. The whole night was perfectly summed up for me in the three seconds it took Son to run in and shoot. Instinct kicked in, then instant relief when he somehow missed!
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Brilliantly written, as usual from Alan.
An unusually brutal end run of fixtures did it for us.
Funny, if all the matches were run in
R E V E R S E order we would have ended Ange’s first season on a high of last 10 games unbeaten. A huge positive success given the previous ones of anti-football.
And we’d still have the same number of points as now!
As Jimmy Greaves used to say – It’s a funny old game.
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Sheffield Utd
Well, Alan, do we need to add another forward to our ranks as Kulu shows he can take up the slack if required?
At this point I’m not sure where Postecoglou feels he needs to add to the squad, maybe the sales will provide a guide to the answer.
Pleased to see Dragusin getting more playing time and we have been tighter at the back during the last two games. I wonder where does that leave Udogie? Perhaps he & Porro could play either side of Bentancur in a holding MF three in front of three central defenders?
On va voir…
Hibberni
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