Without harking back to ‘that game’ on Tuesday night, the lack of a weekend fixture gives us time to reflect on the recent performances.
Overall it’s been a good February and we must not forget the great run of three wins which sandwiched the memorable night in Milan.
One question that Spurs fans seem to be asking is how a team can play so well in Milan and then lose to one of the Premier League’s lesser sides just seven days later. Football is naturally unpredictable and odd results happen – one newspaper even made a point of highlighting these, asking how Wigan could beat Chelsea then lose 9-1 to us shortly after.
The Hornsey Journal suggests that Spurs play more openly in the league which leaves them vulnerable while the solid defence and counter attacking that saw victory in the San Siro is a perfect combination in the Champions League.
However, you can’t say that we have been defensive throughout our Champions League campaign. Others insist that the overseas style of play allows us to come at them more and lets players like Gareth Bale run riot. Maybe we just lift our game for the big occasions and become complacent on the smaller stage?
Either way, many Spurs supporters are saying that, provided we get past Milan, the only teams they fear for the next stages are the English ones.
This isn’t a bad league campaign and this isn’t intended to be a moan about the odd ‘blip’, but having played so fantastically well in Europe this season, why aren’t we sweeping all before us domestically?
all those years i watched the champions league and i always thought we would do well in it. The time you get, the lack of hustle from the opponents play right into our hands. Compare to Bolton away in mid winter and you can see excatly why we play better in europe. We have never been good at scrapping.
Well apart form three consecutive wins, and an impressive away CL win, followed by a game we destined to lose, what’s your point?. Reality and expectations are really over the top, and so many fans are getting carried away with things. We’re competing on an uneven playing field financially and yet the same ones that demand we stay at the lane are those that bemoan our lack of activity in the transfer market for players that are beyond our financial limits!, ridiculous. Trying getting the best out of we we’ve got, as it appears to be more of a lack of confidence among the forwards than that of ability.
Essexian76. You are the most inteligent person there is on the internet today. No joke, I am not blowing smoke up your a5s either. You are 100% right. I am sick and tired of everyone worrying and complaining. What’s worse is the constant ‘Arry slagging. How dare people say he has no tactical knowledge… did they watch the Milan game at all. The perfect formation and team attitude to win the game. What manager in the last quater decade would have got a 1-0 there? He has got a bunch of consistent under acheivers to acheive more then anyone thought they could. We are punching over our weight. Spot on assesment dude – I aplaud you. One game the the Spurs of the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s used to always lose and the world has ended – give me a break! Sunderland beat Chelsea at home guys…
You are confusing two matters:
Overall Harry HAS done an excellent job, but most good managers have an ability to organise, get a strong work ethic and motivate players. This is what Harry does well, and if you have a great squad, which is what he got in the main then those things will get you very far.
Getting most of the basics right makes you better than most managers who are just poor.
But it doesn’t change that he hasn’t improved the league points despite adding some phenomonal talents like vdv and the emergence of Bale. Modric getting even better, Hudd the same and getting the experience of Gallas.
Extra games is a factor but only a partial one, I mean most of the team has really kicked on and we’ve added some serious players. The squad numbers are also deep and there are plenty of talents there.
It’s just disappointing because this team is so darn good and could easily be winning the league right now as it is pretty weak.
It’s not Harry bashing as such it is just the reality that although he’s done so much right he could easily be doing better as well.
The problem is how highly he rates average forwards like Defoe and Crouch. If Keane is well past his best then all he had was Pav really. He desperately needed to buy last summer and he left this situation in January.
They didn’t even have to be worldy’s either. There are so many better strikers out there than JD and Crouch. Their hold up play and movement is average/brainless and that is when they are scoring. Right now they are a total disaster as they aren’t even scoring.
Harry hasn’t helped matters either by playing 451, vdv is too far away from the lone man and none of our strikers are really a lone man. Maybe Pav can do it but the others really struggle.
And he leaves Pav out and he is the only really good forward left AND the only one that can do the lone man role!
Harry has done so much right but he’s royally fucked up with the strikers.
And no, you are not wrong that he is the best manager we’ve had in the last twenty years. But let’s face it getting an excellent chairman and a decent manager was always going to be way better than Sugar and all the clowns he employed!
That is a good arguement I have to say. Agreed on our strikers, they belong to a team fighting for a mid-place possition. Thing is though, I do not think our first team is better then that of ManU, City, Chelsea’s or Arsenals… first team that is – squad wise we are better then Arsenal (IMO)… maybe on par with Chelsea. The serious weekness in our team is our strikers. Everyone knows it. I have not been to convinced of any of the targets we have been likened to have real value for money though, hence, Levy hasn’t got the cheque book out. Who knows, maybe we will get one in the summer.
That being said, he has been using the Crouch – VDV as much as he can as it does seem to be the only way we get goals consistantly really. I hate to say it but we carve out as many chances as Arsenal do a game and actually take the shots – our strikers are just useless at the moment.
But, I don’t think you can question ‘Arry on their incapabilities. To be honest, I still think we are puching over an above our weight for that very reason. We need that special one
isn’t this unpredictability one of the reasons why we follow the sport? Be a bit dull if the same teams always won every game, and the same ones always lost. Nice to see Wolves beat Manure…but Spurs do seem to have a habit of slipping up against the lower orders…..so we lost to Blackpool, but beat the Arse on their home turf. Don’t try to work it out…
The reason is Crouchinho. For some reason he plays really well in the Champions League….are scores too and provides a good presence up front. In the league, he turns into the assist man who fluffs his shots. Apart from that, it is injuries. We had vdv against Milan, but were missing him against Blackpool – along with 5 or 6 others. Besides, we were expected to lose against Milan, but not against Blackpool, so the dynamic is different. Anyway, are we better in the Champions League? I count ONE away victory, 2 away draws, and 2 embarrassing defeats….
When I saw the team sheet on Tuesday I predicted either a 5-1 win to Spurs or a 3-2 Win to Blackpool. I hoped for the win but feared we would lose. Rednapp is more lucky than clever, lucky to win 1-0 at Man City last year gambling with an attacting team. We know Blackpool are a Kamikaze side, and the only way to deal with that approach is to defend well, then rip their hearts out on the break. Exactly what they did to us. Against AC Milan Sandro and Palicious were excellent in centre midfield, so Harry broke that up. Our Strikers haven’t performed all season, so Harry picked two, that is why we lost. With Gallas playing out of position, and the vunrability of Bassong, we needed more protection against Blackpools attacking style. Harry got it wrong and its probably going to cost us Champions League next year, with all the transfer problems that may cause. I say HARRY FOR ENGLAND the sooner the better.
Sorry mate – I don’t agree. I know it is your right to have that oppinion… but I do want to know what better manager we have had in the last 25 years? Teams are getting beaten by (supposed) smaller opposition all the time this season. I would not say one result is going to cost us. We are still fourth, worst case senario 5th if Chelski win their game in hand. We all thought Spurs would bottle it at the last hurdle last season, news flash, we didn’t. Still so much to play for.
How can Harry be costing us 4th place WHEN WE HAVE MORE POINTS THAN LAST SEASON AT THIS STAGE???? What MORE can the guy do? He gives us Champions League football for the first time, and the last time we were in that level of competition, BLANCHFLOWER was playing. And you ignore the injury crisis. And ALMOST ALL teams have their league form suffer when they enter champions league for the first time. OURS HAS IMPROVED!! I am not denying that Harry got it wrong vs Blackpool, but ALL managers get the odd game wrong! Cut him some slack.
harry has obviously been a great tonic to tottenham but i think he should have swallowed his pride and played hutton against blackpool,the whole defence was weakened by breaking up the centre backs,i don,t think it would be a sign of weakness plus i get the feeling he doesn,t really like us yiddo,s
Probably those who have study human behaviour or human characters or have studied to become trainers know that there are people who have a so called “winner’s character”. Those persons hate to lose in any activity they participate and they really get sick if this happens under any circumstances and they always aim and try to be the best ones. Accordingly they do always their best and try to correct or/and to improve their shortcomings. They do that primary for themselves but if they are members of a team or a collective effort by this they help also their team. According to statistics those people are about 10% of the population. In football this means that while the majority of the players need to be special motivated, for example, by the opponent’s allure, fame and name or the level and prestige of the competition in the frame of which takes place the game, those with a ‘winner’s character” do always their best even if it is only a training. Every time this rule has been applied by those clubs that knew it and therefore had implemented it in order to buy or to use as many as possible players with a “winner’s mentality” and strong personality has resulted to great successes (see MU, Liverpool, Chelsea in late years, Milan, Juventus, Bayern, Ajax, Barcelona also in late years and others).
In the Champions League we have nothing to loose, in the League teams saw what we did to them last season and don’t want it to happen again. There is also pressure on us to achieve top4 again which is why we are extra cautious and plus this is a transitional season for us… teams approach our games differently – in the CL we are the underdogs- the team who have never played in the CL and people think La Liga is better than the EPL so they expect 4th in our League to be like Sevilla- i don’t think so!!!!COYS
It Simple in Ufa Cup energy cheats are caught in England Scotland Spain leagues its ignored because its not Football the best team wins its Sky Brand likes shocks football. I could bore you with the prove but after 1st of March my energy drum will fall silent because of the new laws so i will leave you with some starling facts in a season of shocks. We have lost to six teams five from the north west who have bean on bad runs and heading or in relegation the most telling one Wigan who had shipped 11 goals in two games they beat us one nil. In all of these games we where favourites to win the reason given for these shocks was the Champions league Wolves beat Utd and stopped there unbeaten run , Newcastle came back from a record deficit to draw four four with there best striker sold, West Ham came back from forty five mins bashing and had West Brom hanging on with there fans staring in disbelieve the same in Scotland Rangers and Celtic got beat by teams in the bottom three also Barca and Madrid got beat 1-0 by Hercules and Osasuna so there you have it Sky dictate the shocks by joining with our FA the premiership in no name and shame policy of offenders and Spurs utd and the rest are tested under Ufa while playing in there Cup and when we are not playing Blackpool Wigan and others now this and target Arsenal Utd Spurs Chelsea City Liverpool Rangers this year. Hope this helps in a year of shocks in all these leagues and another fact is loads of unexplained deaths the last one being the friend of a player from my town Taylor Fletcher from Blackpool this does not mean these poor souls have used the killer drug Ephedrine but it makes you think twice like the lad in Spin aged 22 who dropped dead during a game i watched for Seville he had the ball nearly nine min i watched and chased a lost cause all the way to the Goalkeeper and five mins later he was dead. All these games like the ones we suffered had this in common Blocks saves mass unbelievable defending. Last year Utd where getting beat 3-0 by a Russia team Dynamo Moscow Utd came back and drew 3-3 the game was identical to Blackpools defending by Moscow later two players got caught taking Epedrine they admitted to taking Sudaffed for a cold and Ufa had to except or they should have got 2year ban. This is true because the team i reported have just sold there best player for 50 mill so expect Chelsea to speed up soon just like is ex club have now started to do this you will be glad to no will be my last blog on why i hate playing Desperate Teams because of new laws. Coys
Is that you Davspurs, if so you are still a barmy army legend.
Anyway I still think we can finish 4th, when Bale and VDV are back, and bring back Kyle Walker ( a must) from Villa, and Harry leaving his favorites out, definate 4th.
Oh dear, Oh dear, what the hell are you smoking?. We’re now subject to a Sky conspiracy?, so it was them that cooked the lasagne!, there was me thinking it was David Dein adorning a huge moustache and a flakey accent .They were bloody brilliant to think so quickly and rule out Mendes’ goal as well, so that clears that up, hey this is good…. stay there and light me one up please!
Lots of valid, varied points to consider, however, what is the most important end result to our season? It is, w/o any doubt, a top4 finish & Champs League football again. If we don’t win it, I think we may come close but our lack of a decent strike partnership may cost us,& failing to finish in the top4 again will mean we have made a total ‘rick’ of things. Out best opportunity in years to do something close to those twats from Woolwich, will slip away& we become the nearly’ team again. I’ve being watching my beloved Spurs since 76,we were terrible then, but if we’re not careful we’ll end up with sweet FA! My brother knows Levy personally, he’s had opportunities to join the board, but won’t because he considers him a selfish, arrogant liability. Not buying in Jan was a disaster. Loosing at Everton and on Tues may, sadly, prove to be the end for our top4 aspirations. I will cry if that happens.
:It was something of great etiexemcnt discovering your site this morning. I came up here today hoping to get something new. And I was not disappointed. Your ideas upon new strategies on this topic were enlightening and a fantastic help to me. Thank you for making time to write out these things plus for sharing your opinions.
Oh right, so Levy’s bad for Spurs then?. Yes of course you’re right, he’s a liability, done nothing for the club and has only his own interests at heart. So I’ve dreamt the millions of pounds spent and wasted on countless players. I’ve imagined our gradual improvement since ENIC took over from SAS, and the name of our club being spoken about in the same breath as Milan et-al?. Our club should be the blueprint of any mid-table, financially hamstrung team, like Everton for example as a way forward. Did it all happened by an act of God or perhaps osmosis, because according to you it certainly wasn’t ENIC or Levy’s foresight and good management!
Guys you do realize we have lost 6 SIX games this season in the league- even Chelsea have lost more and have not played United yet! Only Arsenal (5) and United (1) have lost more- Chelsea still have to play United (2) Spurs, Man City, Everton away, Aston Villa away and Blackpool away- they have the hardest games- they could loose at leas 4 of them and to be perfectly honest i do not think we will loose 4 more games this season…come on guys have faith- believe in the lads- they probably want this more than we do!COYS!
That’s the spirit “ilovespurs” positive thinking. I’m off to Dubai Monday, and messages anyone would like me to pass on to Harry and the Boys?
So we lost the cup today, I was feeling so depressed
I decided to meander over to your blog and learn what losing is all about.
We kinda looked your defence today….looking forward to our date April.
Btw I don’t think they have meat pies in Dubai. Perhaps Becks could have some sent over to Harry …
Gooner 1, where were you after the defeat against us in November?, your team have all the skill in the world, but where’s you guile, where’s your heart?. Have you forgotten why you’re playing Barca when you’d been give a series of byes to the knock-out stages?, gutless mate, very reflective of your manager I’d say!
Mate… Are you the only person on here with something between their ears?
You are my hero… that is all.