Sunday’s 3-1 victory over QPR at White Hart Lane could kick start a bright future for Tottenham Hotspur. With the form and style of a top team, Spurs absolutely dominated the first 45 minutes and should have gone in at the break with at least double the two goals scored by Gareth Bale and Rafael Van der Vaart.

QPR soon hit back in the second half, but as we dug in our dominance prevailed when Gareth Bale once again struck to make it 3-1 and round off possibly our most impressive performance so far this season.

With six wins from a possible seven games, Tottenham are second in the form table only to league leaders Manchester City. Fourth place seemed to be our maximum aim this season, but with our current form, surely we should be looking to finish higher than the Champions League play-off spot. Third placed Chelsea have now lost their last two league games, meaning that Spurs are currently level with the three-times Premier League title winners, with a game in hand.

For me, instead of looking at Liverpool and Arsenal creeping up the table below us, we should be looking to overtake a stuttering Chelsea side and the over-achieving Newcastle instead of worrying about our ‘fourth place’ competitors. These sides should not be completely ignored, however, as Arsenal continue to improve and Liverpool appear to constantly switch positions with us every weekend.

But are we better than Liverpool and Arsenal? The Gunners have always been known for their slick football even if they are without a trophy for the past six seasons, and Liverpool have spent heavily this summer to be in the position to challenge the league’s top teams. Our midfield performance against QPR on Sunday was by far better than any football I’ve seen from Arsenal or Liverpool this season so far. Add this to our impressive home wins against both those sides already this season and you could say that we look to be the team with the most quality out of the three.

We are now at the stage of the season where the inevitable “Who would be your player of the season if you had to choose now?” questions on call-in shows and chat-rooms are thrown at pundits and fans. Since signing, Scott Parker has been my man of the match in every game he has played for Spurs so far. The old-fashioned central midfielder was compared to the likes of Dave Mackay by Harry Redknapp after his superb display on Sunday, contributing further to his stunning performances ever since he pulled on a Tottenham shirt in our 2-0 victory at Wolves.

Parker’s directness, drive and defensive ability gives the likes of Bale, Lennon and Modric the permission to be themselves and primarily attack our opponents. “Super Scott” seems to have slotted in delightfully quickly at Tottenham – even to the extent of keeping the impressive Sandro out of the team.

So with the defensive part of our side looking solid with Parker and our back four proving strong (the consistency of Kaboul and Assou-Ekotto ever-present), our attacking force was able to get the job done against QPR. Joey Barton tweeted after the game that Luka Modric is the best player in the league after coming up against him in the centre of midfield.

The Croatian craftsman held things together and supported the likes of Bale, Lennon and Van der Vaart, constantly creating chances for himself and those around him. Bale himself looks back to his best after two superbly hit strikes, the second of which being a well worked move involving the Welshman and Aaron Lennon moving the ball slickly and quickly to devastating effect. Lennon also made Bale’s first goal – the English winger looked to be over his lack of confidence that has been evident since returning from an early season foot injury.

It has been widely discussed that the goals of Rafael Van der Vaart so often got us out of trouble last season. On Sunday, Rafa’s goal simply added to the marvellous display from himself and the rest of his attacking team-mates in a side that look worthy of scoring a few goals against any opponent. I believe that Van der Vaart’s strikes this season will be seen as more of an overall contribution rather than a get out of jail free card, mainly thanks to other players in the squad also finding the net. Jermain Defoe has even struggled to get a minute on the field recently despite looking twice as sharp as last term.

The short, quick passing game that I saw at the Lane on Sunday was even better than our performance in the 4-0 thrashing of Liverpool last month. At the risk of getting over-excited, I tentatively foresee similar displays to come in the future for this current Spurs side.

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28 COMMENTS

  1. lets not overreact! we are a good side,but are we really better than chelsea? lets wait and see because we need to beat the likes of fulham away to make me start believing,not qpr at home

    • Maybe not better yet, but certainly no worse. 3-5 against an Arsenal side pretty much similar to the one that we beat. We have to aim high.

    • Well said.And ill say it again, lets not overreact it was qpr at home, but we were very good and played them off the park.To prove we mean Business we have to do the same to Fulham.

  2. 3rd should delinitely be the aim. There will be a couple of sticky moments during the season but we now have the squad to deal with these. We just have to make sure we grab the opportunities when they arise, and not capitulate like against Blackpool away, last season, when the chance to cement 3rd place was on

  3. HARRY YOU MUST PLAY SANDRO YOU ARE GOING TO SCARE THE GUY AWAY FROM WHL COME JANUARY !! AT LEAST TURN THE TEAM AROUND A LITTLE TO BE SURE OF NOT BURNING OUT THE PLAYERS WHO ARE THE 1ST TO CRY WOLF !! FRIEDEL WALKER KABOUL KING AKOTTO LENNON SANDRO MODRIC VDV ADEBYOR BALE .

    • Please explain how a footballer in the prime of his career can possibly burn out from playing maximum 38 matches? There is no CL this time round. They are not playing in cups. Sandro should only be considered once injuries occur to the 1st choice midfield – or at least until our superb run ends.

      • No Chumps League you`re right, but Europa League cant be more than 5 games less than the Chumps League is it? Anyway, forget this 4th or 3rd place bo!!ox, WE ARE TOTTENHAM, WE SHOULD be thinking about being 1st place!!!! BTW, has anybody else noticed that Ferguson and Rooney(wifebeatinggrannyphukkerbaldyuglytwat), are a pair of cu nts?

  4. drop Lennon on difficult away games and play Sandro

    with a two holding midfielders (Sandro & Parker), 3 more forward midfielders (Bale, Modric & VDV)
    Adebeyor to hold the line on his own. with a midfield like that we should be looking to try to outmuscle teams away from home. The way we’ve played in the last 7 games who knows what we can achieve?

  5. Great win against QPR but they are not a good team and it looked like Adel still played for us because he gave us the ball more than anyone was like playing against 10 men first half he was that bad. Confidence is really high and the momentum is with us we need to beat Fulham away they are a decent team at home and Chelsea game will be massive for us if we. Sell Gio Pav Gomes and bring in another right player and forward yes top 3 is possible Junior Hoilet and Llorente would do it for me.

  6. John Duckett, what are you on about?

    Harry plays others, including Sandro in the Europa League and i expect he’ll do the same in the FA Cup (depending on the opposition) so burning out players is not really going to happen. Also Sandro has just returned for a long spell on the sidelines, i think he’ll be happy to bide his time as it’s unlikey Parker will play every premiership game.

    By the way you left Parker out of your list of players who ‘could burn out’ and that would be the natural position for Sandro.

    P.S. please learn where the caps lock button is on you keyboard.

  8. ive honestly thought we were better than chelsea for a long time now but we have just been inconsistant.

    if this stops, we will be gauranteed better

  9. We are in the title race right now. Until we aren’t that’s what we aim for. What we end up with is what we end up with but I’m not trading 1st for third or whatever else until the team actually falls short.

  10. Listen, do any of you remember the bottom clubs that came to WHL last year and got results, teams that we should have eaten alive, one of whom has been relegated. The result against QPR was great not only because we played with a swagger, confidence and drive but with a belief that I hadn’t see from a Spurs side for so long. Even when they pulled a goal back, we did not change our style of play or go into our shell as we have so often done in the past. In truth, QPR could have parked the bus in front of their goal and it wouldn’t have made any difference to the outcome and it should have been a hell of a lot more than three goals. Last year we would have fretted, huffed and puffed and got sweet FA. This year is vastly different, I sense it and suspect a lot of you do too. Ade and Scott has made a big difference to the mentality of the squad, they have brought excitement, the yes we can factor. Alright, Ade is struggling of late to find the back of the net but with the players around him, it wont be too long before he hits the next goal because he’s always in the right spot and shows fight and determination as does Scott. Wasn’t it also great to see Modric, Bale and Lennon defending as well, helping each other, yet another thing I hadn’t witnessed a Spurs side do for God knows how long. At this point, I must heap some praise on the Chairmans head for standing by his word and commitments to the club and it’s fans. Long may it continue. We sure can achieve third spot this season, aim for the skies.

  11. Our squad is as good as any in the prem, maybe apart from man city with their forwards. Mental beleif is the main obstacle, man utd rely on this and it wins games for them. Look how crap their midfield is!
    Imo we could win the title.

  13. Please keep a sense of perspective. I understand the arguments regarding beating “lesser” teams but there were signs against QPR that we are not yet the finished product and if the luck had gone with QPR they could have snatched a point quite easily.

    After the first half domination the effort, concentration and intensity went out of our game for 20 minutes or so. BAE giving the ball away and being slow to react, Ledley humping high balls up to Adebayor and in spite of Parker’s great efforts we were being outpassed in our own half.

    Against Newcastle our great mid-field was outplayed for most of the game.

    So, exciting as some of our football was on Sunday, there are still signs of frailty in our play, we are heavily dependent on Adebayor for his brilliant hold-up and linking play, we never know whether King will be fit or not and we are not consistent over the 90 minutes.

    Fulham will provide a good test (one of our bogey grounds) but also the Chelsea game will show whether we are equipped to challenge for top spots.

    • Exactly. A Spurs fan’s view of a title challenging side is always mistakenly based on just the first 11. We lost King for most of last season, and it showed. As you say, Adebayor won’t play vs Man City for a start, and may get injured. Defoe & Vdv up front…? Sandro is good, yes, but is his 21 Premier league apps enough to back up Parker should he get injured? What if Modric DOES actually leave in January? What if VDV loses his scoring touch? Not even prolific Adebayor is scoring now. We don’t yet have the squad for a title challenge.

  14. Guys….Redknapp has managed one storming run of games each season. Each year it stops. It will stop. Let’s not let it get to our heads. We are NOT title contenders. The difference between us and title challengers (and Arsenal) is that they do more than one storming run of games. We should try to win every game as per usual (thanks to Harry for approaching each game like we can win), but this season’s minimum target is to get back into the CL, anything else is a bonus. COYS!

  15. i know spurs will finish below newcastle united this term becourse the way they play right now, they have the best defence in the country right now.gooo on TOONS

  16. So many people on here saying ‘lets keep our feet on the ground/have some perspective’ ‘what if Adebayor gets injured’ ‘it’s only against QPR’ ‘what if our whole team die in a coach crash on their way to Fulham’ – this is football, have a dream for your team and be positive, get carried away, we were great on Sunday, have been for few games, have a run of easy fixtures for a while, and lots of players in form – hopefully Emmanuelha saved his goals for Fulham Sunday and we can get even more excitato about winning the league! But I agree with article, aim high (3rd or more), if we don’t achieve that hopefully we’ll get 4th as a concilation prize…… not bad

  18. Unless I’m mistaken Adebayor didn’t really have any pre-season as Mancini wouldn’t let him near the club. So I guess the games he’s playing now are his warm up games. Just wait until he clicks into full fitness. That’ll be like signing him all over again.

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