Our world looks odd from the outside. I follow comedian Simon Evans on twitter because he’s funny, not for his perspective on sport. This weekend, he’s more involved with football because he wants Leicester to win the league. His conclusion after checking all the results, predictions and permutations was this: “It must be bloody exhausting to genuinely give a sh*t.”

My life at the moment, right there. On the same day Spurs had one of their easiest wins of the season against an ailing Villa side. By the end, I was knackered. I’ll tell you how bad it got. Of the many dire cliches in football, the worst of the worst is “2-0 is the most dangerous scoreline.” No, it isn’t. 1-0 is worse because you have one goal fewer. 0-0 is worse because you do not have the lead. And I’ve not even mentioned losing 4-0, which I would venture is more dangerous still. But for one terrible moment in the second half, I found myself solemnly evaluating the merits of something as self-evidently wrong as marmite and custard (don’t try that at home kids). Then there’s always “One of those days when the keeper saves everything….” don’t get me going.

This clammy fear was compounded by Peter Drury, the commentator on the stream I was watching. He had Spurs as winners as soon as we were two up and spent the rest of the match talking about all the possibilities at the top, all with his commentary trademark of using ten inappropriate words when one simple one might do. The computer screen was several times in danger but survived, as did I.

Villa and Bournmouth are two winnable matches and we have to take maximum from them. Spurs took the right approach and in truth I could not have asked for more. With a full-strength side, we took the game to our opponents from the start. The tempo was self-generated because our opponents were as shapeless as a woollen jumper left out in the rain. Kane chipped onto the bar, Lamela the post and the keeper saved everything thrown his way. Guzan has been dropped recently because he has been so shaky but yesterday for twenty minutes he played us on his own.

Despite the setbacks we kept going, undeterred and largely untroubled. As everyone was winding down for half-time, Deli Alli was wide awake. He was fouled after making yet another little burst through midfield. He picked himself up, took the kick quickly and placed a perefect ball at Kane’s feet. He rolled the ball across the keeper into the far corner.

The second came just afer half-time. Villa lost the ball in a tight spot 60 yards from their goal. 5 passes and 8 touches later the ball was in the back of the net. Alli, Lamela and Kane made it, Kane finished it, Alli and Kane both touching the ball twice in a flowing, effortless piece of football.

Along with Kane, Walker and Alli stood out. Refreshed after a rest this week, Alli had both assists and his combination play with Kane posed a constant threat while took advantage of the freedom of the right wing. Villa don’t bother with all this covering back malarky – Walker could operate as a winger most of the time. Lamela did well, linking up in and around the box. His early pass split the defence but Kane lobbed the keeper and onto the bar.

I genuinely feel for the Villa fans, cruelly treated by unknowing and uncaring owners and management, who reward failure by creating jobs and fat contracts for themselves. How can people do these things to any football club?

A good win but there are no new lessons to be learned from this week. All season Spurs have been a match for anyone if the best nine from eleven play, perform to their best and are all fit. Of the side that played yesterday, Wimmer is a very able replacement for Vertonghen, otherwise it’s only Lamela in my view about whom there’s any selection debate.  Maybe Mason to allow Dembele to come forward. The problem with the Dortmund game was that our squad is not deep enough to offer rotation that maintains quality. Lamela is far more effective if he has an extra half a yard of space and Villa were much more generous. All this we know.

My main worry at the back is our comparitive weakness in the air at set pieces, which we’ve seen a lot since Christmas. Gested missed two good chances that he should never have been allowed.

Spurs have to go flat out for the rest of the season. Don’t think of rotation. Clear heads of all doubt, the only thing left is to give everything, every game. Banish fear and doubt -all we have left this season are opportunities. Same approach for every match, leave nothing behind. Opportunities we can take.

 

 

 

 

I won’t waste your time. Please don’t continue if you are after a match report on the north London derby. I was there. It was enthralling, compelling, utterly absorbing. Every neutral I have spoken to tells me it was a fabulous match and I’m sure it was. Just don’t ask me to tell you what happened.

Don’t expect reasoned or indeed reasonable analysis. It was a classic derby, raw and fullblooded, so chronicled not by a minute-by-minute report but by the circadian rhythm of body and emotion over 90 minutes. Individual moments become clear like isolated tops of skyscrapers poking through the mist. How they fit in relation to each other I’m really not certain. Alli’s volley in the second half after an insignificant match where he failed to make much of an impression but he can change things in an instant and I thought, hoped this was that instant, before it hit a defender and bounced over. Alli was still shaking his head when play restarted.

Dier flying in, the product of total commitment, frustration that we had let a lead slip and tiredness – hard game, long season. Bound to be sent off, two bookable offences, just as Couquelin had, refs always even it up. Except this time.

Wimmer’s heroic late block when suddenly we found defending hard again, saved us against the ten men. And Kane’s goal, when legs that have been wasted and soggy over the past few weeks suddenly for a second rediscovered their spring and the ball curled improbably, ridiculously into the top far corner. A goal deserving of victory in any match, anywhere, but as ever it’s the celebration in the stands that will stay with us as long as the exquisite memory of the goal.

Except it wasn’t enough in the end. At the end, disappointed didn’t cover it. Odd certainly, numb almost. I needed time to settle down and come to terms with the comedown after the biggest north London derby in my era, probably the match with the most significance that I have ever been to in person.

I’ve been lucky. I’ve embraced the joys of cup finals at home and in the UEFA Cup, which of course was also at home but you get my meaning. Perhaps when we had to beat Leeds in the last home game of 1974-5 to stay in the top division, but in those days the disparity between the divisions was not as great as it now appears. Less money in those days. Maybe a couple of desperate matches towards the end of Pleat’s caretaker reign in the wretched spring of 2003 when we could easily have dropped out of the PL. But the title has always been too far away even to dream about. So remote that it’s not even locked away in my deep subconscious. Beat Arsenal. The title. Beat Arsenal to the title. With a goal that good. From a player that good. With a team that good.

Logic, you want logic? Really? After what we have been through. Rationality, I still have a few traces left that have not been shredded along with my nerves. Look, Spurs played well. We took the game to our opponents without making the impact in the final third we deserved. In the first half especially, Rose ever-willing and alert on the left, put four or five balls hard and low into the near post. Intended or miss-hit we won’t ever know but what we do know is that no one was attacking them.

I saw Arsenal get strong in the middle where in their last three games they have been as softcentred as a Newberry Fruit (one for the kids there). Paying us the respect we deserved, that we have earned this season. Everyone raises their game now. ‘Lads, it’s Tottenham’ has a very different meaning these days.

I saw us dominate possession but let goals slip, the first and last, by giving the ball away carelessly. The second was especially galling as we had moments before defended superbly before letting it go.

I saw us rampage forward once the equaliser went in, 5, 10 minutes, I honestly don’t know, glorious stuff, off the line by a centimetre, two goals. Unstoppable. Or so I thought.

The rational explanation: nothing much has changed for Spurs. We play at our very best if we have a full team who are all fit and playing well. Against the top sides there’s little margin. Alli not quite on it. Needs a rest, a little knock I hear. Eriksen everywhere but his passing accuracy failed to come up to scratch. Lamela, again busy and pressing like billy-oh, except we needed also one moment of calm and precision with the ball at his feet, not to be on Saturday.

So that feeling. I wanted my moment. NLD, top of the table, Kane’s goal. I had it and it had gone. That’s what it was all about. I don’t think for you but I wonder if some of you, the ones who felt low rather than angry or disappointed, I wonder if you felt the same.

Maybe I’m being greedy, because last season in this fixture I had my moment, when I was right in line behind Kane’s unexpected header as it spun over and over and time stood still. But this felt different and I know why now. That moment was for me. For you too, and my son and my granddaughter in one of her very first games, but that was about feeling good, a great goal beats the old rivals.

This time, it wasn’t for me. I wanted this moment for the team. This wonderful surprising over-achieving team. This lot who are as committed and determined as any supporter. Who may be on the threshold of something special not so much in the next few weeks but in seasons to come. I wanted people, I wanted football, to see how good they are. To talk about Tottenham. Praise them, to marvel at how we got right up there. To see what Pochettino and his squad have created.

To take on the Arsenal and beat them with a goal like that. My Spurs can do that. Youngest side in the PL, outstanding, this is what they can do. I feel for them, not for me but for them. I wanted them to have that moment and for you and me to be part of that.

We saw enough, have seen enough, to know there may be other opportunities. Flat out now after a tough week, foot down, don’t think of tiredness, only of the rest week coming up. It’s mental tiredness not so much the relentless pressure on the pitch. That’s what gets the young and inexperienced so just go with it. Dortmund will inspire them, save enough for 6 points in the next two games, then let’s draw breath.

Sometimes there’s no alternative. Admit you’re beat, take it on the chin and move on. Yesterday against WHam it was Spurs who had to suck it up. Never in the game, from first to last.

Tottenham did not play well but were not allowed to play, never able to find a way past or through Bilic’s tactics. Pochettino simmered on the touchline throughout, muttering darkly to the bench. Whether this was because he was angry with his team or angry that he had been outmanoeuvred we will never know, probably a bit of both. It was a surprise to see WHam line up with three at the back but the real damage was done further upfield where they did not allow us to play out from the back by pressing the centre halves and denying fullbacks Trippier and Davies any space. In midfield they always had at least one extra man. Never mind three at the back, we hardly got anywhere near them and when we did, Kane was one versus three, an unfair fight even for him.

A theme of the past few weeks is that word is getting around – break the game up, disrupt the flow and Spurs are nowhere near as dangerous. We fell back into bad habits and for extended periods were our own worst enemy. We tried to beat a player and lost it countless times. We went long to try and loosen the stranglehold in the middle, in reality we just went aimless. Kane alone up front was easily picked off, but most of these passes went either straight to an opponent or into touch. Ahh, AVB, those were the days…

In my last piece I praised Pochettino for playing to Nacer Chadli’s strengths. He doesn’t take on the full responsibility of MP’s regime, so the manager has freed him, using him either in games where the team has a little more space (Colchester, Fiorentina) or as a sub when we need a goal and are pressing forward. In other words, not as a starter in a London derby.

Less than ten minutes in, Chadli’s pass back towards Davies put the fullback under unnecessary pressure and he had to concede a corner. It flew to the near post where the man Chadli was marking, or rather the man Chadli was nowhere near, headed it home. It was a vital goal. Ultimately it proved to be the winner but at the time it set the tactical tone. WHam did attack but they were under no pressure to open up to seek a goal. If you’ve gone with three at the back, perfect in fact.

Erik Lamela was also back to his bad old ways. He worked hard but held onto the ball too long and was frequently tackled. In one particularly irksome phase, he expertly wriggled clear only to stop and then pass to our wide man without spotting the two defenders in the way. All that hard work wasted. Meanwhile he got wound up and put his foot in late, breaking up the play and giving WHam the ball. Just what they wanted. Thought he had got past his brat phase – this was a big game and he did not cope at all well.

But they were symptoms not the cause. This was collective failure. It started early and spread from the back. Hugo has set an example for the whole team this season. Yesterday he missed a cross early on and then nearly dwelt too long on a ball at his feet in the box. We generated few ideas and forgot the movement and possession game that has served us so well. Might have done better to take a deep breath and knock it about for a bit. The only time we looked at all like scoring was after Alli came on and became a focal point for attacks as well as sharing the burden with Kane. He missed our one chance, miscuing a rebound after Toby’s fierce shot. It looked bad but the defender just did enough to cramp his room for movement as he shot. Kane looks really out of sorts. He looks knackered.

Enough. I’ve seen every NLD at the Lane bar one since 1968. Without question this is the biggest of them all. In my time the title has never been at stake, not for Spurs at any rate although in my time I’ve seen them win the league not once but twice. We are still second with everything to play for. Take the game to them from start to finish. Take them on. Don’t leave anything behind, play without fear. This is spellbinding stuff. The Derby will provoke every emotion known to woman or man then suck it dry, spin it around and rearrange the very atoms before we come out the other side. It’s what we live for.

Tottenham On My Mind has readers all over the world. The New Zealand Spurs Supporters Club are full of proper Spurs. They are running a Q&A with Don McAllister, who I think lives in Oz these days, before the NLD and you can watch it live on some new-fangled social media platform that I have never heard of and you can contact them if you want to join the club. Good people.

Add @opcmedia2013 on twitter or Periscope and we will post the stream up at 7am UK / 8pm NZ.

You will need one of these apps on PC or Phone/smart device to view.

This will give you the opportunity interact with us on the day and ask question while watching the stream live

https://www.periscope.tv/

If you have any questions for Don McAllister or wish to get in contact with us you can contact us on one of our social media account below:

• @opcmedia2013
• @officalspursNZ
• com/SPURSNZ
• media1gmail.com

Hope to see you guys Saturday

#COYS

@deanbaker22

 

Spurs’ rise to second in the table has been astounding. We have become resilient and relentless, the best defence in the league and always taking the game to our opponents. Now Tottenham face the biggest challenge, maintaining that momentum under intense pressure. Against Swansea they passed the first test.

Nacer Chadli has become an unlikely star. He’s barely been noticeable during a couple of games as makeshift centreforward but since Christmas he’s come up with a steady flow of goals. Sunday’s equaliser could turn out to be the most valuable goal of the season. Just as levels of frustration ratcheted up a few notches as our pressure failed to produce a goal, Walker’s low shot flashed across the box and Chadli expertly turned it in.

At the time I thought it just hit him, or from my vantage point that it might even have been an own goal. Both do him a disservice. He had found space, not easy with Swansea packing the box, and swivelled swiftly and precisely to twist into the perfect body shape to angle the ball home.

In the past I have been critical of his lack of effort or thought. Either way, too often for someone with his talent he does not take up the best positions with or without the ball and waits for things to happen rather than making them happen himself. Pochettino has turned this into a positive. Against Colchester he had more space than he would in the PL and scored twice, while coming on as we chase a goal, we’re not after his defensive qualities. He has more freedom, his team-mates are creating chances and they need him to be on the end of them.

Waves of relief rolled around the ground. It feels like a highly significant moment even now. Spurs’ domination was turning to desperation. Swansea went a goal up then played for an hour with the whole team behind the ball. On several occasions in the second half everyone on the pitch bar Hugo were within 40 yards of their goal.

We had tried everything – the full-backs cutting the ball back from the byline, Fabianski cut out the cross. Shots from close range, Fabianski saved them. Shots from range, Fabianski held on to them so no rebounds or in the case of a Rose shot powered by his anger as he recovered from being fouled yet again, tipped over. Free-kicks, those too, his best save high to his right as Eriksen was on target once again.

An opportunist deflection assumes huge significance, breaking the Swans’ resistance. More than that, it confirmed that our resilience and patience paid off. Those qualities have been crucial to our success this season. We have the mental strength to keep playing if we go a goal down. Spurs have pulled back 17 points this season having been behind. My mind drifted back to the days of AVB. In those situations we looked the same – lots of possession and territory, moving the ball back and forth across the opposition box – but appearances are deceptive. The end result was usually very different with nothing to show for our effort. That’s about belief but also about in-game intelligence. Now we have greater variation rather than bludgeoning ourselves senseless against packed defences. Times have truly changed for the better.

On Sunday, no one epitomised this change more than Christian Eriksen. His prompting and probing were ceaseless in the second half, popping up all over the place including one 60 yard covering run deep into defence when others had been caught upfield. Not everything came off – a couple first half crosses thumped into the crowd behind the goal, miles away from Kane’s head – but the point is, he was always available for his team-mates, always trying to make something happen.

Walker and Rose have both had better games, both were invaluable. Rose was cleaned out every time he made a run in the second half but his persistence paid off. A loose ball after a corner and the shot bounced into the far corner for a precious winner. Walker of course teed up the first. Full-back is a key position for Poch, they repaid his faith in them.

Swansea were ultra-defensive once they scored. Word is getting around the PL – last week Palace broke up the play at every opportunity and disrupted our flow. The Swans did the same, with the keeper time-wasting from about 20 minutes in and conceding a series of free-kicks.

Kane in his mask looked out of sorts, unusually quiet, Lamela quiet too and Son contributed little. Toby was once more outstanding at the back, Hugo kept us in the match with an early save from Siggy. If I have a quibble, that move took the defence apart too easily and for their goal two players had too much room. Versus City and Palace we conceded after not tracking the runner.

I can’t recall a season I have enjoyed more. I’ve seen better players, thrilling matches, I’ve been overwhelmed by the elation of winning a trophy, but for sheer enjoyment this is hard to beat. It’s the perfect storm of emotions. Attacking football the Spurs Way, fearsome motivation from players who are as committed to the cause as the fans, a clever, inspiring manager who has instilled a rare determination and resilience in his squad. Players and fans have never been closer in recent times. And then there’s the extra ingredient – surprise. We didn’t really think it would turn out like this so we’ve watched them grow in wide-eyed wonder.

Now it’s getting serious. I doubt that I will use the word ‘enjoy’ again until the season is over, not if the gut-wrenching, bile-inducing, intestine-unravelling second half if anything to go by. No fun at the top of the table. On the train home my body was ready to shut down and collapse, my brain was whirring so fast that if you had hooked it up to the national grid, you could have cancelled the orders for those Chinese nuclear reactors right then.

At times like this, Tottenham On My Mind and its loyal readership becomes less of a blog and more of a mutual support group. I keep waiting for something to go wrong. Then I look at the league table. It really is possible. There, I’ve said it. We are playing as well as anyone right now and, vitally, these players are not afraid of anyone. Whatever happens, we will not crumble.

Tomorrow against West Ham will be tough – they are as self-confident as we are, in contrast to their dismal showing in the home game. Rest assured Spurs will take the game to our opponents, just as we have all season.