Harry has hit out at the booing that could be heard at the end of last night’s match, but then he was being paid to watch that frustrating performance, whilst we were paying through the nose.
For that reason alone, I think that football fans are always entitled to boo if they feel like it. The professional football community shouldn’t be so sensitive to it. It just means that we’re annoyed by what we’ve seen and it’s an immediate way to express that. Take it on the chin and move on.
If I went to see a play that was absolutely terrible, I would probably apologetically applaud at the end of the performance and then make sure that I never went to anything else by that writer again. In contrast, no matter how many duff performances I witness from Tottenham Hotspur, I will be there the following week, ready for more misery. You’ve already got us over a barrel Harry, so don’t make us suffer in silence as well.
The reason that we were so frustrated wasn’t because we were completely terrible. We were the better side, had most of the possession and created the odd chance. It took us a long time to break them down, which is a familiar experience in recent seasons, but the expectation was that when we did finally score, we would go on to win the game quite comfortably.
Instead, after Van der Vaart did eventually break the deadlock, we held on to our lead for just three minutes. Bentley gave away possession cheaply and Sunderland waltzed through our ‘defence’, as Kaboul and Gallas indulged in some Keystone Kops-style buffoonery.
After that needless equaliser we folded like a pack of cards and never really looked capable of scoring a winner. As the minutes ticked down, even the likes of Modric and Huddlestone were misplacing passes, as we struggled to build with any fluency.
Our central midfielders weren’t the only reliable performers who had an off day. Bale looked as if he was over-thinking every decision and was hitting first time crosses straight into Sunderland defenders, when he’d have been better off rampaging into the box.
While we might have been surprised by the poor performances of our best midfielders, our strikers lived up to expectations. Unfortunately though, we no longer have any expectations of our forwards. Pavlyuchenko was replaced at half-time after a quiet display, while Crouch created another goal for VDV but looked no closer to actually scoring one himself.
By far our worst player though was David Bentley. I’d been encouraged by his cameo against Bolton, but once again he flattered to deceive. What makes Bentley such a frustrating player is that he retains so much confidence in himself, even against such compelling evidence to the contrary. There he was having a ‘mare, yet he’s still shooting from 35 yards when he has plenty of passing options and insisting on taking every free kick, when Bale and Van der Vaart were also on the pitch.
No one exactly covered themselves in glory and yet we still should have won the game quite comfortably. That’s why we were frustrated Harry – the three points were there for the taking. It’s not that we’re not grateful for how you’ve turned our team around, but when you’re beating Inter Milan 3-1, it’s hard to think that next season we’ll be playing Lech Poznan.
If we carry on slipping up (literally in Kaboul and Gallas’ case) then the horrors of the Europa League is the best that we can expect next season. Fail to beat Blackburn and we might as well start planning those glory, glory Thursday nights.
Agree with everything apart from the unfair targeting of Bently.
He had a ok game, linked well with Hutton and should have got us penalty. If on of he’s shots had gone in we would all be chanting he’s name again. He’s only fault was trying to hard. If only some of our other players had done the same….
COYS!!
of course you are entitled to boo but then so am i for calling the booers idiots. Its not like we are rubbish ( remember 1 week ago anyone ?? ), the problem is that fans have got over inflated expectations and have got carried away thinking we are as good as chelsea or man u. Reality check …. we arent !!
You have a right to boo, but that doesn’t mean you should, or that it achieves anything.
What sort of impression does it give to the players? I’m sure VDV is saying to himself, “well, they’re actually quite a pack of cun*s”. Wouldn’t blame him either
well said sir.
Its very frustrating being a spurs fan at the moment. We should really be beating teams like Sunderland & Bolton, giving them a good hiding along the way, if we are to challenge and become a top team. However, if the fans who choose to boo put as much effort into getting behind the team and making WHL a more intimidating place then I think we would be getting the right results!
If Harry can get Levy to spend big on a top, top striker in the coming window, we could still have a great season and push for top honours.
Get behind the lads – COYS
I was at the Lane and didn’t boo (I never would). But let’s get some perspective… A number of people around me seemed to be booing the ref, while others were having a bit of a rant against Harry R for failing to bring on any subs, despite Bentley obviously running out of gas and Luka not having any influence after the Clattermoling. Both valid targets in my opinion. Harry was being a bit disrespectful really – fans are loving the Champions League journey, but we are all worried by our Premiership form. In the 12th game last season, we also faced Sunderland and ran out 2-0 winners – against a more threatening team in fact. After that match in 2009 we had 22 points with a goal difference of +8. If you also consider that our first 12 matches last season were harder on paper than they have been this season, it does look like we’ve gone backwards, doesn’t it?
I don’t think you can have a go at Modric. Cattermole nearly took his leg off at the knee.
I’d like to see you running around after that thug had a go.
It was a hospital pass from Huddlestone that invited the Cattermole lunge so I wouldn’t want to demonise him too much although I can see why Modric wasn’t happy.
The Park Lane was actually in good song last night for at least the first half and some of the second. The chant of “Harry Redknapp’s blue and white army” went on for a lot longer than any booing.
The fans should not have booed the team,some were targetting the ref who had a poor game but those near me were aiming the negativity at the team and one player in particular.On fan started on Bentley in the 5th minute and kept up the same monotonus criticism of “look at him showboating” every single time the poor lad touched the ball.It seems certain players get stick from the same”fans” every week wether its JJ,Bentley or Crouchie.Supporters should do just that,Support…its easy to cheer on your team when your beating teams its when your struggling or playing badly that the fans should encourage and lift the players and become the 12th man.So no dont boo.IF you dont like the downs as well as the ups stay at home and watch it on the TV you will be doing the rest of us a favour.
Bentley should not be allowed to:
– shoot from free kicks
– shoot from outside the box
– take corners
– attempt any kind of complicated flick, nutmeg or complicated skill
He needs to get back to doing the simple things well before he can try the audacious, you have to earn the right
Pav,crouch n keane are all donkeys. Howard webb is a f@cking c@nt,again, cattermole a northern oaf, and redknapp a c@ck! If i want to boo i will. Typical tottenham! Why we didnt buy any quality strikers is just thick, keane,crouch,pav,palacios,dos santos,jenas and gallas out, suarez or van wolfswinkel, lukaku or wickham,lassana diarra, eden hazard and shay given in
Yeah ok Guvnor. As if you’ve ever seen ricky van wolfswinkel play. And if you had, you’d know that he’s useless with a questionable goalscoring record. I guess you just heard about him scoring that hat-trick against celtic and decided he was great?
Haha
I’m pretty embarrassed by the booing to be honest… unless it was directed at the ref. We should have had a pen and they should have been down to 10 men.
I thought we played ok apart from the Bentley/Kaboul/Gallas gaff that gifted them the equaliser. We did more than enough to win it, especially in the first half. Gordon played a blinder. End of.
It shows a massive lack of respect to the rest of the fans who want this team to do well. I have as much right to see the team succeed as anyone else, yet the boo-boys take it upon themselves to try and screw that up. When will they learn?: Booing a team MAKES THEM WORSE – NOT BETTER!
Sure, moan about it afterwards – voice your opinion by all means, but not during the match when those players are trying to do their job. How would you get on at work if you had someone looking over your shoulder telling you how cr@p you are every time you try to do something?