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Born from years of mediocrity, mundanity and monotony

2 min read
by The Fighting Cock
It’s an alien concept for all folk accustom to supporting Spurs, being pleasantly surprised, or even over achieving. Born from years of mediocrity and mundane, monotonous mid table finishes the natural, the knee jerk reaction for a supporter of Tottenham is to view any good run of form with a degree of uncertainty, ‘I wonder […]

It’s an alien concept for all folk accustom to supporting Spurs, being pleasantly surprised, or even over achieving. Born from years of mediocrity and mundane, monotonous mid table finishes the natural, the knee jerk reaction for a supporter of Tottenham is to view any good run of form with a degree of uncertainty, ‘I wonder when we’ll cock this up’ type mentality.

However, in the shadows of Redknapp’s departure and AVB’s subsequent, contested arrival at the club, for once we seem to be able to, dare I say it, relax after an exquisite festive period that saw us take ten points from a possible 12, scoring an impressive nine goals in the process and conceding a miserly two. In many ways we find ourselves in a more prosperous position than we did last season, certainly no worse. Third in the table, on par with Redknapp’s side’s standing of last year, out of the league cup, as we were year ago.

[linequote]Should the miserable sods that were so anti-AVB earlier in the campaign be forced to cut a huge slice of humble pie?[/linequote]

Boas has though masterminded progression through the Europa League group stages, a competition good old ‘Arry disregarded with such ignorance. With a trip to France to look forward to in the round of 32, the Champions League it aint but I would much rather have some silverware to polish come May than settle for just finishing fourth again, and I’m sure 99% of fans would agree (Ars*nal take note).

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This ultimately leads me to my point, should the miserable sods that were so anti-AVB earlier in the campaign be forced to cut a huge slice of humble pie? True January is no time to settle on laurels, a lesson we so devastatingly learnt last term, nor is it time to accurately articulate an opinion on the long-term success of Villas-Boas. In spite of this, the fans that expected and almost hoped for him to fail so spectacularly before, should now accept that he is competent in charge of a Premier League team, and that he is capable of juggling more than one competition at a time.

With no chance of our manager jumping into bed with the FA this time around, with a January transfer window where it is not crucial to strengthen in upon us, and with two winnable and respectable competitions to contend along with a top four finish well within our grasp, the self inflicted clouds have lifted over White Hart Lane, and the man who leads us into the new year deserves the upmost credit for maintaining his dignity throughout.

[author name=”James Asher” avatar=”http://i.imgur.com/Hoi4H.jpg” twitter=”James_Asher” website=”” tag=”JamesAsher[/linequote]

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

16 Comments

  1. Vic
    07/01/2013 @ 1:51 pm

    Yes, large dollops of humble pie should be consumed. Of course it’s too early to say if AVB has been a success or not in terms of achievements, we are only half way along the road. But some of the comments I heard and read about AVB at the beginning of his tenure were unbelievably jaundiced with many of them saying they’d be surprised if he lasts until Christmas because he’s that clueless. Well the humble pie is for being so wrong on that basis.
    As you point out, we’re sitting very close to where we sat last season before the England job and the subsequent collapse. The difference is that we have a manager who will not lose focus and a squad that is strong and improving. I had great hopes for AVB because I took the time to look beyond the Chelsea experience and to understand what he stands for. We are seeing his philosophy come to fruition. He keeps his right elbow dry and not hanging out of a car window searching for a microphone. He praises his players and deflects any compliments towards them. He studies the opposition and plays his cards accordingly. He keeps his squad fresh and hungry. He is not afraid of admitting mistakes and seeks to put them right. So far so bloody marvelous. Early days but I like the cut of this bloke’s jib.

  2. Darbinho
    07/01/2013 @ 1:59 pm

    10 points from 12 over Christmas (not 9). We drew with Stoke and beat Reading Villa and Sunderland. Otherwise agree entirely with the article.

    • James Asher
      07/01/2013 @ 4:28 pm

      Rookie error there, I hold my hands up haha. Thanks for agreeing

      • Case
        07/01/2013 @ 8:44 pm

        Amended.

  3. Dean Francis
    07/01/2013 @ 2:04 pm

    We are certainly not in a more “prosperous position” than this time last season, as back then, we were 10 or possibly 13 points clear in third place, and we were still in the title race having lost just 2 or 3 league games at this point. Of course we need to strengthen the squad! If Bale or Lennon pick up a long-term injury then we don’t have any like-for-like replacements in our squad, so we need urgent cover here – and at some point, we will have to rest one or more players as the season progresses. The striker problem continues; and failure to bring in a third striker could once again mean we miss out on Champions League football. Levy needs to bring in players who will make an impact now and that will benefit the first team; not ‘promising’ youngsters who will sign in the summer or who will be loaned back to their parent club.

    • Crísandro
      08/01/2013 @ 4:09 pm

      In terms of like for like replacements on the wings, we may not have that. But we do have Dempsey, Sigurdsson, Townsend, Falque who can play the wings. The latter two are out-and-out wingers. So we need not throw money away on a position that is not threatened. The move of Ade to go to the ACON despite retiring from international football necessitates our need for another striker. We’re not doing too badly in terms of creating chances so no need for a midfielder (goes to those that say that Spurs are “crying out” for a VDV or a Ratface-type player). In terms of crucial strengthening, for us this is not the case this season.

      We’re certainly not out of the title race by any means. A lot can happen in the next 17 games and 13 point leads have been blown before, and am pleased that we have European football to look forward to in the new year. Going hard for 2 or 3 trophies after December helps keep our season alive and I am looking forward to the outcome. Whether it’s a trip to Wembley or Amsterdam or both, I am looking forward to seeing where we end up.

  4. TMWNN
    07/01/2013 @ 2:16 pm

    How were the clouds self inflicted?

    • James Asher
      07/01/2013 @ 4:28 pm

      The boo’s didn’t help, and a strong proportion of the crowd were expecting failure and not hoping for success.

  5. Ricky R
    07/01/2013 @ 2:16 pm

    Similar to last year except we have almost a full fit squad, most of which has been contributing thanks to a sensible rotation policy. Last season you were either one of ‘Arry’s favourites or out in the cold. I never did get his fabled man management skills – his treatment of some frine players during his time was shameful.
    When it came down to the hard yards half the first team was knackered and we were reduced to shoving old warhorses like Nelsen and Saha out in their place. This time round we have genuine competition for almost every position and with a bit of judicous tweaking we can look forward to the second half of the season with optimism. It’s too soon to judge AVB for sure but most fans will like the direction of travel.

    • Crísandro
      08/01/2013 @ 4:12 pm

      This was exactly my feeling. We did not collapse last season because Harry’s head was turned by the England non-job offer, it collapsed (like the season before) because Harry only chose to use around 15 players all season. Come January, they did not have the legs to finish. Never get why people say they were surprised by his sacking, he did not know how to manage the squad. Not one, but twice.

      Glad he is gone.

  6. len
    07/01/2013 @ 2:20 pm

    Agree with the article but this is where we should be with the squad we have, I was delighted that we sacked redknapp coz I can’t stand him and he’s just overrated in this country because of his mates in the media. I didn’t want avb as manager not because I don’t rate him but because I’ve wanted David moyes since before redknapp got the job because he’s a certainty to be challenging at the top (and for the league title given 3 years at a club like spurs) in my opinion so can’t eat humble pie til proved otherwise which won’t happen because levy has to be in charge of transfers etc which moyes wouldn’t have and rightly so. Still onwards and upwards with avb and let’s not get carried away too much with media transfer bullshit because we don’t really need to go out for this playmaker while having sigurdsson who needs a chance once we finally start playing 4 2 3 1, if we can get damiao then we have to do it other than that we ain’t desperate like this time last season.

  7. Jimbo
    07/01/2013 @ 2:20 pm

    It’s still too early to be dishing out final judgements. Let’s wait until the end of the season before we start handing out the plaudits or the p45’s. We have a precarious position in that the league is much tighter this year than it should have been last year without our late season flop.
    Personally I have been very pleased with how the season has gone, and how AVB has equipped himself and the team. Hopefully we can maintain this good run and really push on for a top 4 finish! COYS

    • James Asher
      07/01/2013 @ 4:31 pm

      I agree Jimbo ! I wasn’t trying to praise him too much and say he has already proved a success, more that he has proved he is good enough to warrant our support, not that he should have to earn it, being our manager should mean he is more than deserving of it.

  8. Woodsy
    07/01/2013 @ 2:26 pm

    It’s worth remembering that we’re effectively a new team compared to last year as only Walker, Lennon and Bale played regularly last term, the rest are either new players or rarely used by Harry. We’ve also lost our two world class creative players so for AVB to have got the squad playing well without King, Kaboul, Benny, Parker, Modric, VdV and last season’s Ade is pretty impressive.

    It’s exciting to hear the likes of Willian and Holtby talking him up as his reputation stretches further than England and the most important point is, unlike ‘Arry, he’s 100% Levy’s man so we’re far more likely to see some backing.

    We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves but one of Moutinho or Damiao would make this an incredible transfer window. Whilst he’s expensive, if we can beat ManUre to Zaha too that would be a coup and I guess will settle the nerves around Bale’s departure.

  9. Briz
    07/01/2013 @ 2:41 pm

    Good article. But no-one is going to be eating humble pie until the end of the season. We’ve improved on the pitch, we have injured players back in contention and we’ve had a little activity in the transfer market. All good stuff so we should be happy.
    I felt terrible for AVB at the beginning of the season and some of the home support made me embarrassed to be a Spurs fan. At the very least AVB has silenced the majority of his critics and now has the luxury of going into the second half of the season with some fresh legs and added support.
    This can only be a good thing.

  10. Ross
    07/01/2013 @ 3:54 pm

    The great thing about us at the moment is that we look like such a solid unit. For once we are really hard to beat. We are far from mediocre and we now expect big performances. We have match winners and what I believe to be the best midfield in the league. I doubted Dempsey and possibly still do but if he can start linking us all together whilst still scoring goals maybe we don’t need the number ten I’ve always thought we did need.
    The big issue now is obviously a forward line that will be nearly non existent for a really tough run of games. Levy will spend on account of what happened last year so I’d expect someone to join and let’s hope it’s not a panic buy.

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