Spurs v City – I Feel Fine

August 16, 2010 / Alan / 12 Comments

Forget the goalkeeping heroics: the story of the weekend is the emergence of Spurs as a genuine force to be reckoned with.

In my season’s preview, I stressed above all else that we had to respond to the pressures of expectation by taking the play to our opponents and dictate the game. Every match, every stride, pass and touch. Using that as the benchmark, the draw against Manchester City was a fine performance that augers well for the future.

Infused with optimism that really is not like me at all, I took in it all those precious moments of anticipation before kick-off. Shaking hands with the seat-holders around me, who I’ve seen every other week for many years, see in fact far more frequently than my ‘real’ friends these days, yet we still don’t know each other’s names. The ground full and shiny, a roar at the first whistle.

As ever it’s also the moment when it suddenly occurs to me that things may not proceed as smoothly as my fantasies predicted. City have a mighty team, the experience, quality and muscle of that midfield. Yaya Toure is huge. 30 seconds in and they have 11 within 25 yards of their goal. Reality bites.

From the first whistle we went hunting for the ball, teasing and probing City’s massed defensive ranks. Modric busied himself from the off, covering ground, available for team-mates and searching for passes, either wide or into the channels at the edge of the box. Huddlestone had a quieter but effective game, not afraid to put himself about a bit with a couple of sly late nibbles at City players’ ankles. Both put their foot in when it mattered.

Sometimes, though, it’s the attitude and approach that signals the true state of play. Throughout we were impressively purposeful and confident, barely a moment’s complacency in the 90 minutes. Hud again marked it for me. In the past he’s hidden from the challenge and slunk away when the first passes go astray. Now, there’s an air of authority about him. He put in the yards and maintained his concentration. He wanted to make things happen rather than wait for colleagues to take over the centre before he gets going. Again, he was not our best player by any means but he symbolised this new attitude. Dare I say he looked like man not an overgrown boy.

Luka’s excellent first half kept everyone moving. The interchange in the centre was good and throughout the match we had width from Lennon and the superb Bale, raiding with exhilarating power and precision for the entire game. Those curling crosses at pace will lead to many assists over the coming season and he was unlucky when he hit the post.

Unlucky – lazy writing, you make your own luck and if the ball hits the post, sure, it’s close but it’s a miss nonetheless. But ‘unlucky’ is my mind’s entry into the fact that our sustained first half superiority didn’t lead to goals. Hart was fantastic, the reaction save from Defoe bettered only by the gravity-defying leap into the top corner from Benny’s deflected shot. JD had probably the best chance but his effort was smothered well. Sharper finishing would have made the difference but I don’t feel inclined to be over-critical, although he should score more one-on-one.

City got a grip in the second half as they pushed De Jong into a more central role. However they seldom threatened and the brave double substitution reinvigorated our play as Keane and Pav’s movement created further chances. In the end, the pressure told. The ball bounced clear in the box and Bale moved on to it. You work and work, something will come up. Not luck, you see, keep grafting and there, suddenly, is your one precious moment, when time stands still, acres appear where once there was barely room to stand, the target is wide and inviting…..

The ball dribbles onto rusty shale, a crunching that sets the clocks in motion once more, the chance gone, never to return. The raging after that miss soon subsided and this morning there’s an air of quiet satisfaction despite the loss of two points. Our team play was outstanding, considering that it was the first match of the season. We (almost) always had plenty of men both in attack and defence, worked hard as a unit and tracked back for 90 minutes. In the first half City broke swiftly after we had a corner, yet by the time the ball reached our box we had 6 men back. That would not have happened last season.

We missed chances but at least we made them against a team with a disappointingly negative outlook. Understandable as it’s an away match versus one of their closest rivals but City have such quality I had expected more. There will be more as the season progresses, I’m sure.

Tactically, our 4-4-2 was seldom outnumbered in the middle but up front Crouch and Defoe still operate as individuals. JD’s off the ball play continues to improve but his runs should be sharper. When the ball is coming from the right, he usually drops away instead of running for a ball down the right channel. It’s because his instincts take him towards goal but often he needs to wait for a pass or three as the move develops rather than go too early and be marked out of it.

Our full backs were cautious for the most part – I’m not sure Charlie crossed the halfway line. It meant that even when we pushed on, we always had three men at the back. This in turn gave the midfield some security to go forward and could be the way we maximise attacking resources whilst staying strong in defence when teams drop back into their half to defend. City made it easier because they were so narrow; it would be difficult if a winger kept Corluka occupied out wide. Dawson was scarily willing to commit himself, often inside the City half, but again this might have been part of the tactics because Corluka was usually behind him. It’s still reckless and Daws should make his choices more conservative before flying in. Get stuck in is fine, but miss and he’s on his arse and out of the equation.

Man of the match was Assou Ekotto, by a nose from Bale. Neat in the challenges and creative in his use of the ball, his long curling passes were a feature of our performance and his tackle on SWP was a match-saver (although MOTD showed his was the error that allowed SWP the space).

So early days but the signs are good. Points lost in circumstances where later in the season I may be feel less sanguine. Now, this feels like a promising beginning, and the first half especially was a thrilling spectacle. Roll on tomorrow night – impose ourselves in the same way and we’ll win.

Season Preview 2010/11 – I’m Worried That I’m Not Worried

August 12, 2010August 12, 2010 / Alan / 16 Comments

This afternoon my son and I will conduct our regular pre-season ritual. We could have the season tickets posted to us, but instead we opt to travel for 90 minutes to queue up in a portakabin then wander round the outside of an empty football ground. No doubt we will be tempted by some ludicrously over-priced items of tacky clothing. And we will relish every moment, because there’s nowhere else we would rather be. I’m ready now.

Last season’s predictions pondered on the clichéd but oh-so-true summary of the pain and joy of being a fan: it’s not the despair that gets you, it’s the hope. If true, then this term promises to be excruciating, because the hope has never in recent times been greater.

I’m trying not to write or talk about Spurs being in the Champions League. We’re just in the qualifiers, but if thinking about something that has not yet happened is a jinx, then too late. A top European team, at the Lane, under lights, the hairs on the back of my neck are bristling as I type.

This isn’t the pandemic of blind optimism that spreads like the plague throughout football in these two weeks in August. For Spurs, this is reality. We finished 4^th on merit. That when the media blather on and on about the top four, they’re talking about us (not Sky, obviously. They awarded Liverpool 4^th on an honorary basis). That we will be a target for every single team that plays us. That in every match we must confront the pressure to deliver. I hope the players have come to terms with this because I’m not sure I have. I’m a Spurs fan, I’m not used to this. My emotional territory is wasted promise, dashed expectations and a lack of fulfilment gnawing away at my very soul.

We have a strong squad with several emerging players who can only get better, a good team ethos and above all a growing sense of confidence and resilience. There’s talent and cover in every position and excellence in a few. Harry’s lack of transfer activity has no doubt left him twitching like expiring roadkill but players of the quality we require are in short supply and whilst it is frustrating, Levy is totally right to not panic buy and pay inflated prices for inferior goods.

Anyway, we have been richly successful in the market this year: we’ve kept our best and most coveted players. Modric was Ancellotti’s first choice in midfield but instead he’s signed a long-term contract. Huddlestone, Lennon and Dawson have all signed up over the last 6 months or so. Levy has moved purposefully to do the deals before the window opened. Brilliant business, and a sign of the optimism amongst the squad as a whole. We’re also looking to the future with deals for promising young players like Townsend, Caulker and, today, Dean Parrett.

Nor do we need to sell in order to buy. I’m sure Harry has said we do, and I’m equally certain that he said on another occasion that we didn’t, but we’re used to the bout of temporary Alzheimer’s that hits twice a year, in January and the summer. Our financial position is strong and I would not get rid of any of our current players until we were certain an upgrade was in place. There is simply no need: the demands on the squad’s depth will be unprecedented this coming season.

More of the personnel in a moment, what comes first is the tactics. Harry’s keen on 4-4-2 and has bought the players to put that into practice. That’s his distinctive ability as a manager: he buys men to do a job then enables them to get on with it. So we have the big man/little man up front, a flying winger and strength and skill in midfield.

The rest of the league may not let us get away with this. A few weeks ago I was musing about the effect of the World Cup on the Premier League. The Prem has often been accused of inhabiting its own little environment, oblivious to the changing climate around it, and there’s no doubt that the physical pace of our game marks it as different from, say, La Liga or the Scudetto. However, 4-4-2 was soundly discredited in the World Cup, where most teams operated with five in midfield. Their actual set-ups differed – some had two DMs and 3 further forward, others turned 4-5-1 into an attacking 4-3-3 as soon as they won possession – but they all had 5 in midfield when they did not have the ball and the team with a four, England, were easily outnumbered. The skill factor is nullified if you are overwhelmed, and I predict that many Premier League teams will continue the safety-first trend of last year by using this formation against us.

Two other lessons emerged from the best teams in South Africa. One, midfield players were flexible, masters of every facet of their art rather than just excelling in a single area. For example, defensive midfielders weren’t crunching enforcers, they were mobile, alert and able to distribute the ball once they got hold of it. Their team-mates chased back and bombed forward time and again.

Secondly, possession is the new religion. It’s one thing playing a high tempo and moving the ball forward but in both attack and defence, keeping the ball is an absolute priority. If the opposition haven’t go the ball, they can’t score.

So where does all this leave Spurs? Whilst we proved that we could defend, especially at home (and I have to say our low goals against was a big surprise to me), we’re at our best when we take the game to the opposition and we must play to our strengths. Mindful of our opponents, we can’t allow them to dictate to us. That’s what the best teams do – they dictate the game. This attitude must infuse every stride, every pass, every touch. We are a top four team now.

Build the team around Modric. He has all the qualities of the modern midfielder, a world beater if he scored more but to me he’s a gem. I’d play him in the middle where he can exert the greatest influence on the match but he’s more likely to cut in from the left to enable Palacios and Huddlestone to control the centre. Goodness knows how Wilson coped with the pressure of his brother’s death but this season he must pass the ball much better and stay on his feet in the tackle, otherwise he should make way. Lennon on the right, of course, with a reminder to keep working back. Just being there is often more than enough, it’s not about hard tackling these days.

Kranjcar can slot in anywhere across the middle, again he must track back. Sandro must be seen as an unknown quality to be protected from over- exposure early on, but I’m very much looking forward to seeing him. He comes highly rated.

Last time, the only time in fact, I made a sustained comparison between Jenas and Huddlestone, one of my most regular and insightful correspondents vowed to be physically sick next time he read anything on the topic. Which happened to be when he visited AANP– sorry Michael. So none of that here. I’m happy for JJ to stay, even though I suspect most readers are not, but as back-up, because Hud has progressed, he hasn’t. I expect he’ll be off, though, as will Bentley, for whom I won’t shed many tears. Whoever plays, we must keep the ball better, especially when we have gone a goal up. Too often we let teams back into the game without them having to try too hard.

Bale at left back for me, Benny’s good but not that good. Coming from deep, Bale can combat even the most packed of midfields. At right back, Corluka of all our players disappointed me most last season. I rate him and he’s clever enough to not let his lack of pace be an undue problem. His steadiness allows Lennon freedom to get forward. I expect Hutton is off, Walker looks talented.

In the centre, it all hinges on Ledley’s fitness. Daws will be mighty again and should be captain but he needs pace alongside him. Kaboul may be ready as back up but I can see another player coming in. Gomes is simply magnificent and with Cudicini fit plus the expected arrival of Pietlkosa, we were well served between the posts. When I said I was happy to keep all the current squad, I forgot about Alnwick. Byeeee!

Which leaves the strikers, my main area of concern because I doubt that they have the ability to score consistently against the best defences. None are good enough to play up front on their own, which is a problem for me. Pav is used to that role in Russia but his flashes of brilliance don’t banish the feeling that his consistency in front of goal is not good enough. Crouch is limited, lacking in pace and movement, and if we are trying to keep the ball the temptation to wang it forward is too great when he’s in the team. Defoe’s movement and team play improved for England but he can’t be trusted to do the work on his own, and the same can be said for Keane (not the England bit, obviously).

The addition of a top class striker able to play on his own up front could transform this already excellent squad. I’d go 4-5-1 with Luka behind the front man, Niko could play more often, Wilson and Hudd together… but the whole world is after that front man.

Harry’s solution could be pace. Several of our supposed targets, like Bellamy and Young, are fast and mobile. Add Bale and Lennon….

One dark horse is Gio. He likes to party and was on his way out but had a good World Cup and by all accounts has buzzed behind the strikers in the friendlies. Could this be his moment? He needs some freedom – he’s wasted stuck on the right or left – and he could suit that link up role between striker and midfield, dropping back to help out.

One final point – free kicks. Sort them out. Over 35% of Premier League goals were scored from set pieces last season, but not by us.

And so the madness begins. We’ll do well again this year – you want a prediction don’t you, head says 5^th, heart says 4^th so 4^th it is. Handling the pressure of every single game at the top is a new experience, one that we must learn to love and cherish, rather than shrink away with intimidation.

The exciting thing is, the players who did well last year, Lennon, Bale, Modric, Huddlestone, Gomes, are going to be even better this year, never mind any new signings. They have more to give, I’m convinced of it. And with the addition of a quality lone striker, the possibilities are truly mind-boggling. The only thing that worries me is my unnatural optimism.

Always On My Mind. Spurs Stories: In Hospital

August 5, 2010 / Alan / 3 Comments

There’s always a stir when the ward has a new arrival. Disparate individuals thrown together forge temporary bonds in adversity as a lifetime of carefully tended privacy is at a stroke upended by the indignity of pain and bed-pans, honed by a nurse’s scolding when powers fail.

A fragile culture is shaken whenever a newcomer appears, the tension is palpable if it’s a man. The last man was oblivious to his surroundings, baring the West Ham tattoos on both thighs and when he wasn’t snoring bellowed his suffering down his phone louder than a Tunbridge Wells stockbroker on his mobile in a rush hour train.

We, the regulars, practised in the fine art of hospital visiting, we who long ago said everything that there is to say but still talk, feign indifference but are alert to the swish of the plastic curtains being pulled back.

‘Leave me alone, woman. Leave me alone.’ He’s a shouter.

She sits, she stands, she sits again. ‘Have a wine gum, go on, they’re nice’

‘I’ve told you, I don’t want a wine gum.’

‘Go on, have one. They’re nice’

‘I don’t want a wine gum!’ The whole ward knows he doesn’t want a wine gum.

‘Go on, do you good, you need the energy. How are your pillows? You’re not comfy.’ She’s up again. ‘Let me do them for you.’ She glances around without making eye contact with anyone.

‘Leave me alone woman!’

In hospital nothing happens. The slightest provocation is acted upon, if not created, in minute detail, then discussed with a similar nuanced attention. All undertaken in the name of the patient but in reality it fills the time and provides the visitor with a reason for being there.

She looks around again with a nervous grin. ‘All right if I have one?’

The young man, quiet until now, has had enough. ‘Spurs are playing tonight, granddad. Go and get a coffee, mum. Cup game!’

‘Up the Spurs!’ Animated now, alert and bright. ‘They’re doing all right this year, eh? Told you Harry would sort them out. Told you.’

‘Win this one and they’re at Wembley, granddad.’

‘Ahh, Wembley. Did I ever tell you about when I was there in ’61?’ The boy settles back with the air of someone who has heard this one before, several times, but he’s happy to listen once more. ‘Never be bettered, son, not the same these days.’

‘I couldn’t get coffee. Bloody cafeteria’s closed. Coke from the machine all right? He’s not going on about bloody Spurs again, is he, the old sod?’

‘Mum,’ says the boy, ‘Just shut up.’ He settles down again for the rest of the well-worn saga. His mother stands. Moves the pillows a fraction. Smith scores. Sits. Tucks in the blankets. Blanchflower lifts the cup and he’s lost his hat, tossed high in the air. Stands. Sits.

A few days later, when we are all familiar with tales of Tottenham heroes, of Smith, Greaves, Blanchflower and especially White, glorious, silky, best ever White, I pass the bed on my way out. ‘Good to meet another Spurs fan.’

He stirs and sits bolt upright. ‘Two sugars please!’

He dozes again, as suddenly as he woke. I walk on, past the laminated pledge on the wall that guarantees same sex wards from 2007.

Next day I stop again. ‘Bought you a programme’. I’m not a good visitor, despite the practice over the last two years. I’ve deserted my duties. Even now, under these circumstances, the game and being there is on my mind.

The boy thanks me, ‘Look granddad, a programme. 3-1 today’. The woman, more agitated than normal, thanks me repeatedly, and no, for the tenth time, I really don’t want the money. The boy shows him the pictures, as you would a toddler.

He barely stirs, a flicker maybe of an eyelid buried deep now in hollow sockets surrounded by grey drawn skin. His lips move, ‘What’s that granddad?’, says the boy, ‘3-1 today, Defoe again!’ Faint and barely audible, he summons the strength from somewhere to respond. I swear I heard, ‘Up the Spurs’ but I couldn’t be sure.

Sunday afternoon and I pass the woman in the corridor, on the phone telling someone that she has the money but will be late because she’s at the hospital. The boy brushes past, carrying a small bag with the programme in his hand. ‘Thanks for this,’ he looks at his shoes and doesn’t stop. Turn the corner and the curtains are pulled, the bed empty. It will be occupied by the evening.

Lucrative Friendlies or the Training Ground? I’m with Harry not Daniel on This One

August 1, 2010 / Alan / 17 Comments

On Friday the draw takes place for the final Champions League qualifying round. Even now I’m simultaneously incredulous and breathlessly excited that the name of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club will be included. Yet even before the balls emerge from UEFA’s tacky plastic cannister, our preparation for the most significant match in recent times has been severely hampered in the pursuit of the true goal of Premier League clubs, money.

The days of a relaxed pre-season to ease the players back into fitness are long-gone. A couple of weeks hard running in the home counties followed by a jaunt round Scandinavia was the traditional precursor to a few friendlies against well-known sides, usually Scottish, a tapered build-up to a long, strenuous season. Now we’re off to the States for three games, back to play at the Lane only four days later, then Portugal, then back to the Lane for Saturday. You can’t hit the ground running if your legs can’t stand the strain.

Harry Redknapp agrees: “Our schedule is crazy. We pile games in but I need to get the players on the training pitch.” The players who went to America have struggled to adjust to the time difference, waking at 3am. Jenas has a thigh strain, Modric and Pavlyuchenko both picked up hamstring injuries in the States, Palacios has a groin strain. Says Harry, “He’s had an injection and I hope that does the trick.”

Two weeks before the opening match and we are using injections to enable a player to work through an injury. All these problems are the natural consequence of athletes pushing too hard too soon. If a podgy panting decrepit jogger like me knows this then I’m fairly certain it’s apparent to the Spurs legion of medical staff. Medics and manager want one thing, the chairman has sorted out something else, a nice little earner.

Pre-season is always a delicate art. If teams start well, you’ll hear it attributed to a good pre-season. If teams fall away in the second half of the season, I guarantee someone, usually the same someone, will solemnly ajudge this to be down to a heavy early schedule. If teams lose their pre-season games, someone will say friendlies are meaningless, it’s competition that counts.

So it can be everything and nothing. Pre-season gives coaches the chance to settle their men into familiar formations and patterns, as well as getting them reasonably fit. The training ground is the place where this happens, not a jolly with half the first team in the states.

This has never been more true than this pre-season. Not only do we have the Champions League, we have players returning late from their travails in the World Cup. Time is therefore precious in order to establish the blend, yet Harry and his coaching staff have been deprived of this most valuable pre-season resource.

Daniel Levy has ensured the financial security of the club at a time when many of our rivals’ self-inflicted wounds have left them vulnerable. For this reason only I’ll lay off the criticism. This schedule was presumably arranged some time ago, indicting that Levy wasn’t so certain of finishing 4th. Of course I realise we need the cash to compete at the highest level but however lucrative the tours, it’s nothing compared with the riches of the Champions League. Oh yes, and the glory but never mind that.

In a way,pre-season proper starts here. Harry has two full weeks and two friendlies with the whole squad, hopefully the injuries will have healed. It’s not just the Champions League: we open against Manchester City, one of our main rivals, who may be bulging with quality but who will be away from home and potentially disjointed with all the new arrivals. One consequence of our lack of transfer activity is at least that the players all know each other. It’s a good time to play them, provided that we ourselves are fully prepared. We’ve not given ourselves the best of chances.