Yesterday there was a job to be done and Spurs did what they had to do. Not in a straightforward manner, of course, why break the habit of my lifetime? After conceding the most pathetic set-piece I have ever seen, which is an accolade in itself given our recent sorry history at corners, Tottenham applied themselves fully and properly. Spurs were well on top even before Adam obligingly got himself sent off, then eventually the pressure paid off.

In many ways this was an unremarkable win in a match where little of note took place. However, this is our Spurs and we don’t confront these must-win games very well. This time, we kept the ball, kept going and came home with a deserved victory.

Possession won this game. All the time we had the ball, Stoke were under pressure. Their regimented defence kept us at bay for a long time but we kept coming. Much of it was ordinary, a game played sideways as we shuttled back and forth across the field in search of an opening. The tempo could have been brighter but mostly it was played in Huddtime, where the clocks seem to run just that little bit slower than the rest of the universe.

But we kept going and the chances came our way. Bale came close two or three times, once from a delicious through-ball from the otherwise ineffective Parker, Dempsey’s reaction miss from a corner, then Vertonghen. In the end, patience found its virtue with Manu alone at the far post to touch in Dempsey’s low, late cross. The American had a good game. Ignore Adebayor’s silly rehearsed jig, as the ball hit the net Deuce turned and raced to our grateful fans in that corner. He has a feel for this club.

Another goal in the last ten minutes. Is that the seventh match running? Villas-Boas has passed on the message that you keep going until the end. They are certainly fit enough to do so. His substitutions were effective too, Dembele coming off the bench fresh when we had to keep up the pressure and pace a better sight than his sorry figure limping off, finished after an hour. That time when we were worried about conceding late on feels like a bygone age. Yesterday we played out the last ten minutes without incident.

Our Andre deserves the credit for this and other aspects of the performance, including Manu’s drifting into good positions from out wide and for standing dutifully in the pouring with a mac that may be smart but clearly isn’t waterproof. However, he hasn’t sorted out the set-pieces. Our pitiful record had Pulis salivating in anticipation. First free-kick, we went zonal in response. It worked. Everyone stayed dutifully within those zones, it was damned unfair of the Stoke players to actually move. We stood still, they didn’t and we were one down in a couple of minutes. It was irredeemably stupid, utterly pathetic defending. We can laugh about it now but at the time the dark clouds blotted out the sun above my house…. And let’s not forget Dempsey needlessly gave away the free-kick in the first place.

Dempsey however found redemption in our equalizer, sharply reacting to a poor clearance and lobbing the ball into an unguarded net from 35 yards.  An assist too, a good game indeed.

Charlie Adam helped the cause. Determined to carry on his record of maiming as many Spurs players as possible, he challenged Vertonghen with no hope of winning the ball then stretched too far after the restart and was gone, second bookable offence. He’s a man out of sorts with his game, capable of so much more. I’m not a bitter or vindictive man but had to chuckle at the indignant reaction of many Stoke fans to the referee’s performance, which the TV showed was spot on throughout. Stoke had a rota to foul Bale as he ran at them. Pulis must surely understand why most supporters of Premier League teams have little sympathy for his oft-repeated line that his team don’t get the breaks.

Finally, a reminder of who really runs the game. Last week we kicked off thirty minutes late because of traffic problems. Yesterday, train-loads of Spurs supporters were delayed in or near Rugby because of an incident that closed the line but the match is on Sky so kick-off goes ahead on time. It stinks.

Sometimes a bit of distance helps. Time to breathe. Sense of perspective, which is impossible to achieve in the midst of the white hot heat of a Chelsea derby with Champions League qualification hanging on the result. May the deity who does not exist strike me down but yesterday I had Other Things to do, so no blog. Not a bad thing. Time to pause, disentangle the loose ends of a tension-filled evening. deep breath, take a moment. This sound advice doesn’t apply to Spurs defenders at a corner, by the way.

Performances and results can be both good and bad at the same time. I could press the pause button for a month and still not reach a firm conclusion. A draw was bad – the CL is now out of our hands even if we win the last two games. The draw was good – we twice came back from a goal down, saved a match where at one stage we were being outclassed, notched a point. The draw was bad – I had hoped we would win. The draw was good – it was more than I expected.

That’s a contradiction, but hey, we all know that contradiction, the unity of opposites, is fundamental to society and our full understanding of the nature of reality. Big shout-out to all you Maoists out there. That’s what we saw on Wednesday, the reality of Spurs. Tottenham are in fifth place because we are the fifth best team in the league.

The magnificence of the week where we defeated Arsenal and brushed Inter Milan aside did not as I said at the time herald a new balance of power but was in fact the highpoint of a season that has since declined. We’ve not played well for a while now. The sublime seven minutes versus City, Bale’s sublime seven seconds last week or two ropey goals to salvage a point at Wigan have covered the true extent of our dip in form. You know what, I’m disappointed but not too down about it. That ridiculously wonderful week remains glorious, not because of the immediate consequences but because it showed what we are capable of and what we should aspire to. We’ve overachieved to reach this point, whereas our rivals are uncertain of their future. There’s so much to be proud of.

Let’s take the Chelsea game. That slick midfield trio tore us apart at the Lane earlier this season. They were on top for much of the first half and at times threatened to repeat their trick. However, we dragged ourselves back into the game with a combination of hard work and application plus a few tricks of our own. It was an unequal contest on paper. By my reckoning our starting eleven cost a couple of million more than Fernando Torres, yet in the build-up no pundits mentioned that as an example of the imbalance in terms of the resources available to the respective managers. That’s because we are seen as their equals, which in itself indicates some of what Villas-Boas has achieved in such a short time.

The pundits did reveal the truth after the match however, albeit inadvertently. Souness, one of the few I admire, trotted out the hackneyed line that our Andre was fortunate to inherit the side from Our Glorious Harry Redknapp. Not so. He has had to replace half a team, the best half aside from Bale. Modric and Van der Vaart sold, King, the finest British centre half of his era, retired, Kaboul, our best current centreback, injured all season. Then he’s had to cope with Sandro’s loss, the lynchpin of our side. Against them, Mata, Hazard and Oscar. How many times do we have to say this before it is heard? Yet still Villas-Boas cannot get the credit he deserves for punching above our weight. It’s a backhanded compliment that people now expect Spurs to play so well, that our standards are so high that we are criticised for falling below these rich expectations, but it takes only a moment of perspective to uncover the reality.

With the positives comes frustration at what might have been. Never mind what if we had a striker, what if Adebayor had played for the rest of the season as he did on Wednesday. His goal astonished as much as any of Bale’s this season. Winning a scuffled challenge deep in his own half, on he went, and on, as fast as his spindly pipe-cleaner legs would carry him. Lennon’s shrewd run occupied a couple a defenders just long enough to give Manu some room, by no means the first time this year that Azza the unsung hero has worked hard for his team-mate to take the glory. A gem of a shot, floating into the top corner, the most precious of accolades, a flat-footed keeper helpless in the face of such brilliance.

The frustration of a midfield unable to protect a back four. Analysis of individual goals in blogs has been rendered pointless if Gary Neville is poised by his touchscreen. All I would add is the position of our midfield. Three blues were between them and our back four when they began the move that led abruptly to their second goal.

For a time it looked unequal but we gradually inched our way back into the match, keeping the ball better and playing as a unit further up the pitch. As Chelsea tired or slowed because they thought the game was won, this allowed Vertonghen to push up, gave Parker a fraction more space, which sadly these days he needs, and with the introduction of Siggy and Dempsey we could put more pressure on the centre of their back four. We had an outlet. Nothing was going on down our right but Adebayor was drifting left. (AVB again…). To begin with, this gave us an outlet as we relieved the pressure on our defence. then, gradually, this became part of our attack. For the first time we employed some combinations between our players. We had three, Manu, Benny and Siggy, to their two. Moreover, Manu was thinking quickly as well as moving into the gaps. One touch, Siggy filled one of those gaps and finished with aplomb. The runs from midfield, a goalscoring midfielder, that was why he was bought and he fulfilled his promise.

Mentions in dispatches for Lloris, who stayed calm and did what he had to when he had to do it, and Walker, who takes up some crazy positions but worked tirelessly and defended well. He does what he does because he wants to do well and I can handle that.

Fourth was always between Spurs and Arsenal. Look at what Chelsea have at their disposal, with a manager who knows how to organise a team. We’re ahead of Arsenal in so many ways – I wouldn’t take any of their back five. Yet since the derby they are unbeaten. Our problems are not up front, they are at the back. All this tactics, the hope, the despair, the promise, all the philosophy and words I spew out. No point if we can’t head away a corner. It’s odd how these grand schemes fall in the face of humble problems. Last season, how we bemoaned the fates – the injuries, Fulop, the dip in form, Bayern Munich. I tell you what’s truly ironic. We are the fifth best team over the season because we can’t clear a corner.

 

SPURS LEGENDS IN ACTION

The John White Memorial Match will take place on Saturday 18 May 2013, with kick-off at 2pm.

The match is being held at Colebrook Royals FC, Grange Farm Lane, Chigwell, Essex, IG7 6DP. (Close to Chigwell tube station)

One of the heroes of Tottenham Hotspur’s all-conquering side of the early 1960s will be remembered in a special memorial game featuring the Spurs Legends team on May 18.

The official Spurs Legends team, which tours the UK regularly to help raise funds for worthy causes, is set to take on FC ScotSpurs, a dedicated team of Scottish fans of Tottenham, in a memorial match for John. Guesting in the FC ScotSpurs side willl also be Flav, Charlie Marks, and Thelonius from TFC podcast.

Poignantly, John’s son Rob is set to captain FC ScotSpurs against the team of ex-White Hart Lane favourites, which regularly features the likes of Mark Falco, Paul Miller, Tony Galvin, Clive Wilson and Darren Anderton.

Please support the event. Rob is a great friend of Tottenham On My Mind. Hope to see you there.

Tickets will be on sale on the day, priced at £5 for adults and £1 for under-16s.

Money raised from the event will go to the Tottenham Tribute Trust, which is an organisation that reaches out to members of the Spurs family who are facing hard times.

Donations can also be made via: http://www.justgiving.com/fcscotspurs

Before kick-off Villas-Boas and Martinez embraced and chatted warmly. For a moment I wondered if they might turn away and find a quiet corner for tapas and a glass of white, leaving the vulgar hurly-burly of a tense top and bottom game behind them.

They have much in common. Serious, earnest students of the game, they must overcome not only their comparative youth but also the suspicion of the cerebral approach that is inbred into English football. It may be a meeting of minds yet on the evidence of Spurs’ two matches against Wigan this season, it is not a meeting of equals.

Twice Martinez has tactically out-thought and outmanoeuvred the Spurs manager resulting in just one point from six, not good enough as we push for the top four. At the Lane, his 3-4-3 stifled our midfield and constantly pressured the defence. We could not get going. Yesterday, they fell back after going a goal up. With a high line at the back and conceding space around the halfway line, they compressed the play into a twenty yard strip. Spurs barely had room to breathe let alone pass the ball or, perish the thought, mount some attacks.

We fell into the trap. Spurs had changed things around too. Huddlestone’s strong appearances as a substitute were rewarded with a start. He played well in the first half, finding his range straight away and willing runners into the channels. With more composed finishing and touch on the ball we could, should, have at least got more shots on target.

However, once Wigan went into the lead, there was no space for the ball to drop. As soon as he picked out a man, the ball was either intercepted in the air because our opponents had time to see it coming or the man on the ball was swiftly swallowed up by willing tacklers. Also, we did nothing to knock it around patiently to draw out the Wigan massed ranks. So the passes became aimless side to side rather than into the heart of the defence and our opponents could contentedly stay in formation. Hud’s long passing game became a liability.

Belated width from Bale and Lennon changed nothing. We did not give the ball to either of them. Their starting position was too far up the field, swallowed up like the rest of us.  We never escaped from that stranglehold. We have the skills but not the wit or intelligence.

None of which should have mattered. On top in the first half, Hud’s raking passes looked as if a breakthrough was sure to come. Defoe was bright save for wanting the extra touch. Bale went through the full repertoire – headers, passes, lay-offs, cushioned headers in the box – excepting a flat-out afterburners run. Something is not quite right. Parker should have shot when after a fine move Defoe’s touch rebounded to him off the keeper. Quite what he was thinking of in taking a touch only he will know.

Yet it was comedy not class that brought the goal. Ten thousand times we’ve seen forwards descend on the keeper only for the clearance to sail upfield. This one hit Bale and pinged into the goal. I have seen it once before, Mark Schwartzer at the Lane, Kanoute’s backside?

Most teams would have ruthlessly exploited such good fortune, but this is Spurs. Wigan equalised from a corner within two minutes, Vertonghen beaten from a standing jump for the second time in three games. Corners and set-pieces have become a liability again. Without making a detailed analysis, my impression is how empty our box seems. The tiresome argy-bargy that comes with most set-pieces is about blocking runs, shutting down space and ensuring that no opponent has the luxury of a clean jump. We don’t have men on the posts so where are they? We need to get low down and dirty like the rest of them.

I don’t recall Lloris making a save in the first half or even touching the ball although he must have. Yet soon in the second half we were 2-1 down, a fine shot from the edge of the box. We needed a lift to get back yet there was nothing.

Pass and move is our style yet everyone was befuddled. It would have drawn Wigan out and got our dangermen on the ball. Parker was committed but failed to exert his influence, too far forward again. I know he is capable of more.

Then we have the substitutions. Last week they won the match in a frenzied spectacular of goals. Yesterday they merely added to the gloom. Not for the first time we saw a full-back for a full-back, which is such a waste especially as on the left there isn’t a radical difference between Naughton and Benny although the Frenchman is undoubtedly the better player and should start. I have advocated for a while now that we should play the same defence for the run-in rather than chop and change all the time. Villas-Boas judges Naughton to be better defensively but we know BAE needs a run of games to bed in.

As it was, we could have done with another midfielder, Siggy to get into the box or Carroll to stimulate the passing game, releasing Dempsey to get alongside Defoe. The few crosses we managed put no pressure on the Wigan defence.

Wigan were extremely good at what they did, pressing like maniacs and allowing us no time on the ball. They also kept their shape like Roman centurions. That said, it would have been harder with ten men. Gomez, who had already been booked, went in head-high on Holtby. Much as I despise players who make a fuss, if Lewis had gone down the referee would surely have reacted.

We needed more luck to equalise, a late free-kick diverted into his own net by Boyce. We are still in it, the pressure until the end of the season won’t diminish regardless of today’s results. However, we are not sparking as we should. Lennon, Bale and Dembele (who went off holding his leg yet again without making a significant contribution) are not fit and we really need that spark because we can’t keep a clean sheet. Four left, flat out now. Much focus on the attack this season but our destiny is in the hands of our defensive discipline. Must get sorted at the back.

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