How more ‘Spursy’ could it get? An entire 38 game campaign hinges on two results on the final day of the season. Win and hope that Arsenal don’t and we finish fourth, AVB is a hero, and the press dig into a slice of humble pie. Fail to win, or indeed win, and see Dial […]
Failure? What Failure?
How more ‘Spursy’ could it get? An entire 38 game campaign hinges on two results on the final day of the season. Win and hope that Arsenal don’t and we finish fourth, AVB is a hero, and the press dig into a slice of humble pie. Fail to win, or indeed win, and see Dial Square beat Newcastle and we finish fifth, AVB is crap, and the media sharpen their knives for an all together much different reason. Its that fickle, sorry, simple.
Forget studying the form guides, if you really want to know what will happen come Sunday just revisit the classic 2005 ‘lasagne-gate’ debacle, or even last season, when one of our former prodigies (the irony gets sweeter I promise) decided to throw the ball not once but twice into his own net to leave us on the brink of total footballing oblivion (or as non moronic people dub it, the Europa League) I look forward to whatever contemptuous hand we are dealt.
Optimistic I know.
Please, however do not misconstrue by beatings as anything over than chronic pessimism. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than seeing us march into next seasons European Cup at the expense of the great unwashed, sorry, Arsenal. Nor do I hope you take the impression that I am a defeatist, well I am, but regardless I still believe that we, the supporters, should roar and scream the team to victory on Sunday like we should whether we spend next year in the Champions league or the Championship.
What we do have to ask ourselves though is rather more complicated and controversial, is a Europa League spot that bad? Has our season been that much of a failure? Therefore will every season be measured with make or break yardstick of Champions League qualification?
[linequote]I still believe that we, the supporters, should roar and scream the team to victory on Sunday like we should whether we spend next year in the Champions league or the Championship.[/linequote]
One thing that is undeniably true is that, should we win on Sunday, our seventy-two point haul is our highest in Premier League history and will rank among our highest accumulation of points since three points for a win came into force.
This season has also seen us collect the most away wins since the inception of the great commercialisation of football. Record after record is smashed yet some still doubt the capability of our manager and some still pine for the return of good ol’ ‘arry.
This, conveniently, brings me to my next grievance.
Harry Redknapp was gifted with the most well balanced and talented Spurs team of the last twenty years, arguably since the great double winners, and ultimately he underachieved. I was one of the first to quell any murmurings of us challenging for the title, but given the great gift of hindsight there is no reason why we shouldn’t of mounted a more serious pursuit of the championship.
Okay, I concede it was to our detriment that both City and United were so well equipped, but by that logic third place should have been a bare minimum not fourth.
This season AVB was given the unenviable task of rebuilding a team that had established its class, one which in the main he has achieved
Our present manager has had to do without, the love him or loathe him figure of Luka Modric, who was the beating heart of Redknapp’s team. His loss has been magnified by the departure of Rafa Van der Vaart. A Dutchman who could turn any game on its head with a moment of sheer audacious brilliance. Then there was the inevitable but still heart breaking retirement of captain and inspiration Ledley King.
This is of course ignoring long term injuries to some of the players that would no doubt have been key to AVB’s system; Younes Kaboul out the entirety of the season, Sandro out since January, and the form busting relatively short term injuries to Mousa Dembele and Benoit Assou Ekotto.
So why, given that we have lost, forgive the cliché, the spine of our team should fifth place be seen as a such a washout?
The fact that we may miss out on the top four this season should be a worthwhile sacrifice given that we are only one or two players off potentially challenging again.
I won’t bore you with needless transfer targets and players who could ‘do a job for Tottenham’ but United and City will both have new managers next season, so given proper strengthening we could capitalise on any potential teething problems, we certainly have a more tactical astute outlook.
[author name=”Jasher” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/3312741970/6fa7e44f3ba28d68923d6fbc7033a42b.jpeg” twitter=”james_asher” website=”” tag=”Jasher[/linequote]
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23 Comments
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18/05/2013 @ 8:08 am
I don’t think the press will be after AVB if we don’t make fourth. They’ve already been forced to admit he’s done a good job which he has.
We can’t compete at the moment with the current top 3 and even the Arse has a much greater turnover, which makes it all the more remarkable.
18/05/2013 @ 8:38 am
5th will be abject failure, having been so far in front in early March.AVB’s obsession with playing every last drop of energy out of his first eleven in Cup competitions is the reason. He’s still a boy whistling in the dark. Better wake up and smell the coffee next season AVB.
18/05/2013 @ 9:15 am
Silly, silly and ……… silly. Please take some note of the fact that we have won more games away than ever before in the PL, and that our points total will be our highest if we win. We began with the problems of assimilating new team members, and started slowly. We are not in the same league financially as the big boys and we are coming along just fine. Get behind the team.
18/05/2013 @ 8:46 am
Surely the failure of the chairman to deliver strikers puts us here, third would of been wrapped up by now. An easier chance will never appear.
18/05/2013 @ 8:47 am
Get back in your cave Caveman – very shortsighted you are – we have had a season of transition – new players new coach and have had moderate success – only a few if only’s but afterthought is a fine thing. I would have taken 5th and a quarter final at the beginning of the season!
Next season is going to be very different!!
18/05/2013 @ 3:35 pm
I have been longsighted since 1978 when I went to my first game at WHL. Frankly I am pissed off with Levy and his skinflint ways. Tottenham have wasted the players energy this year in a competition that requires about 16 games to win the cup whereas 7 games wins the FA Cup and something similar for the League Cup. This thing of starting over again season after season, while at the same time losing our best players has been a permanent pattern since throughout my 35 years of supporting the club. Not buying a striker in January was the icing on the cake. Levy certainly doesn’t buy players unless he gets approval from Lewis and Lewis has the same interest in the club as he does in his Chinese investments and his bonds. I think it would be the right time to get new owners that will invest in the Club and actually get us some players and a stadium. All you young fellows can afford to be patient. I’ve been patient long enough. ENIC out.
18/05/2013 @ 3:36 pm
By the way Sybrian, thanks for your politeness, it’s much appreciated.
18/05/2013 @ 6:11 pm
Caveman, im with you bud. Why buy so many midfielders without a top marksman. Crazy. Will Lewis will shoot himself in the foot again. The revenue from CL would recoup what the skinflint would shell out. He is a very successful man in business but lacking vision when it comes to spurs. Levy loves saving money for joe. Thats the key.
18/05/2013 @ 9:00 am
Failure to finish above Arsenal is failure. Just like last season, we failed to finish above Arsenal and we missed out on the Champs league. AVB is a good manager but made silly mistakes that had contributed to a carbon copy finish of last year. A better manager would have realised that Spurs could not compete on two fronts simply because Levy did not support him by providing him with the players therefore the squad was not strong enough to deal with two matches a week. A great manager would have substituted Aaron Lennon and G Bale when we were 3-0 up against Milan with 15 minutes to go with the game against Liverpool coming up 3 days later but AVB is asking them whether they wanted to stay on. As a result, Lennon missed the Liverpool game due to injury and we lost. This is in my view, where things started to go wrong. Kyle Walker’s famous back pass and Defoe’s back pass were all symptomatic of a team struggling to cope with fatigue. What bugs me most of all though was our reluctance to attack teams and live up to our famous logo, ‘to dare is to do’, because if we dared a bit more, we would have beaten the likes of Chelsea who were in their 66th match of the season instead of patting ourselves on the backs when Chelsea had a dangerous free-kick outside 16 yard area minutes after we’d equalised. My prediction for the last games of the season is that both Spurs and Arsenal will win but we will miss out again on Champs league because we never learn from our mistakes. As long as Levy is at the helm, he will always put his business first. Leaving it until the last minutes to get a bargain in the transfer window is a reflection of his short sightedness as this always comes back to bite us. Fail to plan or plan to fail is the reason we will miss out again by one point like last season.
18/05/2013 @ 9:19 am
On the other hand, we could go out and spend big and run the team into the ground. Thanks very much, but Levy delivers far more than any other PL chairman, and I’m happy to go with the long view. It can’t be that bad if one draw changed into a win would have won us CL.
18/05/2013 @ 9:13 am
Bloody brilliant article. I don’t see the Europa League as a failure and am aghast at those who do. I’m glad that someone else sees last season as a failure. We were 5pts off top with 14 games to go. Yet people saw finishing 4th as a great season, donning their Bayern Munich avatars and moaning that Chelsea knocked us out of the CL when Harry did that to us.
This season was about getting the team used to AVB’s methods. Next season we will come back stronger and I have no doubt with our strengthening, as well as Man City’s and Chelsea’s uncertainty, Man Utd’s transition, we will be in or around the title challengers come 2014.
18/05/2013 @ 9:14 am
CWTH, spot on, mate.
18/05/2013 @ 9:18 am
Look we have no patience and a sense of entitlement
If your team is not in the CL we will not want to play for you.
So what if this leads to a vicious circle of teams in the CL getting all the best players and so remaining in the CL forever
18/05/2013 @ 9:28 am
Yet another article making AVB’s excuses in advance of our probable failure to make the CL yet again, despite the chance to clinch the top four being there for the taking a few weeks ago. Oh, and if anyone knows what ‘I was one of the first to quell any murmurings of us challenging for the title’ means, preferably in English, I’d be interested to hear.
18/05/2013 @ 11:07 am
5th is not abject failure. If we let slip a lead over the Woolwich wanderers it wasnt down to our europa games……it was partly down to arsenal playing very well (and getting some outrageous decisions) . If we get more points than ever how can we have failed, with squad that lost 5 key players last summer or during the season. AVB has done a good job ………of course he made mistakes (every manager does) but look at the bigger picture.
18/05/2013 @ 3:42 pm
Gary is your Father Gerry (Sam). If it is I know both of you.
18/05/2013 @ 11:29 am
Brilliant, brilliant comments. If the entire whl support took these comments on board for not only tomorrow but all next season, we would be able to lift avb and his team into the top three!
Come on you Spurs supporters, cast aside the pessimism, the begrudging, the negativity, the booboys and give this great club the boost it deserves!
18/05/2013 @ 11:42 am
fantastic article. Harry massively underachieved with his squad, and without Modric and Van Der Vart AVB has done a great job building a new side.
Just look at the progression that both Bale and Lennon have made this year. A decent striker and we would have been 4th, and I still think that the season long injury to Sandro was the worst one (just watch the United win again and see who intercepts Van Persie before our goal).
5th is not a failure as we may have our best ever points total, a manager who knows what tactics are, and a team who play until the 95th minute every time they go out on the field. Will be cheering the team on tomorrow, and looking forward to some great summer deals and a strong start to next season.
19/05/2013 @ 6:54 pm
The problem with AVB is he tries to play at Home like he does Away. It works Away but most certainly does not at Home. Two defensive midfielders and no desire to go for it, he is far too happy to keep everything tight, hope for a goal and then try to hold out. How many times has one Gareth Bale dug AVB out of a very big hole created by none other than AVB. We are like “Stoke + Bale”. With Bale and Lennon we should be brushing teams aside but it won’t happen unless we play someone in the middle of midfield that actually wants to venture over the halfway line. The record points haul is all very well but the division is so poor this season and 5th was the lowest position we were ever going to finish and we did. The fact that we had the 4th best team means we underachieved unless someone can tell me that we finished above a team that were better than us. It won’t matter a jot who comes in unless AVB is willing to change his entire outlook on how the game should be played.
20/05/2013 @ 7:20 am
While I don’t agree that we have the fourth best side (let alone squad) and many were tipping Liverpool to finish above us at the start of the season, as we had a crap manager (apparently) I do agree that AVB needs to be less cautious at home and the passing and movement needs to be quickened considerably. The first 20 mins of the Liverpool home game is what we need on a consistent basis.
20/05/2013 @ 7:15 am
Just because the football media tells me the CL is the be and end all doesn’t mean I have to agree or play along. This season Arsenal were in a group with three teams I’ve already forgotten (was Schalke one?) and then went out as per to the first decent side they played in the last 16. Being in the CL hasn’t stopped their class players leaving and the ennui of yet another by numbers CL campaign among their fans was palpable. Their years in the CL hasn’t seen them mount a challenge for the title for years.
I’d venture that were we to be in the CL every season it would soon be mundane as we would be unlikely to top our QF effort. It was so great because it was so well earned and so novel.
I’d still love to be in the CL of course, and finally come above the original Franchise, but supporting a football club is about so much more. We will be in the premier league again next season and in Europe. I’m really looking forward to it all. I’m happy for AVB to give the EL a real go rather than put all our eggs in the CL basket, because frankly I like to think Spurs is about more than that.
AVB has done a fine job, some errors of course, and he’s young and has much to learn still. Rather than be down about that, I’m excited by it.
20/05/2013 @ 7:32 am
I mean it would be very hard to, rather than be unlikely that we would top our CL QF. Of course we should always strive to better, but if we are not in that comp I seriously don’t get the doom and gloom. We were not in the CL this season yet attracted Vertonghen and Lloris and had an enjoyable season imo. Arsenal haven’t just lost Fabregas, Van Persie but also more ordinary players like Flamini and Hleb and Song despite CL football. Bale may well stay. I wouldn’t give up on next season yet.
20/05/2013 @ 2:42 pm
Failure is Tottenham’s middle name and yet again we failed and everybody is saying it’s okay I don’t understand? If Redknapp finished 5th this season he would of been crucified well he was crucified last season for finishing 4th so what’s changed? So many mistakes this season from Levy and AVB it’s unbelievable.
Levy thinks it’s a 35 game season and doesn’t sign players until the very last minute which results us with a unbalanced squad. We picked up 2 points from the first 9 available, we would of finished 2nd if we won the first three games. People talk about it being our highest ever total points tally but that doesn’t mean a thing if you still finish 5th. I don’t know what’s sadder not playing champions league football next season or playing Europa league football next season.
That brings me to AVB according to the press and our fans we have the best overall player in the league, the best defender in the league in Vertonghen and the best keeper in the league in Lloris and we still finish 5th, how is this possible? AVB played one of the worse players I have ever seen in a Tottenham shirt for years in Livermore for half a season, he played let’s say a ‘past it’ goalkeeper in Friedel for half the season and played the worst defender we have in Gallas for half a season AVB has made so many mistakes. I don’t think Dawson is anything special but he’s certainly better than Gallas.
We would be in the champions league right now if AVB actually wasn’t scared of people reactions and played Lloris from the start because lets face it Friedel is a joke of a keeper stuck on the line of the goal. Friedel cost us champions league football, he also cost us the Europa league with his awful performance against Basel and he also cost us the FA cup against Leeds.
That brings me to Jermain Defoe ‘the goal machine’ as some ‘fans’ like to say but I see probably one of the worst strikers in the league. When he plays he must touch the ball about 10 times a game which is beyond a joke. I hear Adebayor getting dogs abuse from the fans at WHL and nothing when Defoe is playing it’s nothing more then flabbergasting.
Everyone knew we needed to sign a striker in January and I couldn’t believe my eyes when we never and that has cost us, Daniel Levy has cost us again by not backing the manager he did it with Redknapp last year and now he’s do it with AVB.
That brings me to my last point and this summer transfer window, If we want to achieve anything next season AVB needs the backing from Levy. We need a complete overhaul of strikers I pray to the heavens everyday that we will sell Defoe and I hope Adebayor is sold as well. Maybe we will sign Benteke maybe Damiao but I know one thing for certain we need fresh blood upfront. We have never replaced the quality of Berbatov when we sold him all them years ago…. WE HAVE TO THIS SUMMER.
We also need to try and I mean try to get rid of the average (I’m not really sure if premiership level) players we currently have on the books which includes: Bentley, Livermore, Huddlestone, Parker, BAE, Friedel, Gomes, Dempsey and Gallas who’s contract is up (Thank God) just to name a few.
It’s going to be a long hard summer of speculation of players coming in and out of the football club especially of a certain chap called Gareth Bale but with or without him next season we need to break in to the top 4 or it could be curtains for us (well until the new stadium in built anyway).
With the top 3 having new managers next season we have a chance to do something special next season so Mr Levy don’t let me down!
COYS