What This Season Has Not Been Missing

After 37 league games last season I wrote an article called ‘What This Season Has Been Missing’. Now, due to a technical hitch somewhere along the line the article never saw the light of day, but I’ll briefly summarise: incredible as it was in many ways, the 2011/12 season seemed to be lacking something.

Statistically, little or no new ground was broken. Whereas previous years had seen Spurs break hoodoos, break into the top 4 and break the spirits of some of Europe’s finest, last season ultimately saw no improvement in league position or points total, no cup run that hadn’t been matched or bettered in recent memory, and no end to any significant winless streaks.

It is perhaps unreasonable to expect that every season will improve on the last one, but you hope that your team will break new ground in some areas, if not others. The only significant ‘progress’ I could find was the fleeting, somewhat intangible fact that Spurs were, come the turn of the year, genuine title challengers. Unfortunately, thanks to that improbable series of events in the final third of the season, even that brief title challenge will not go down as the overriding memory of the 12/13 campaign.

But it’s not all about statistics – what about the moments? From this fan’s perspective the on-pitch drama was lacking, too. Spurs played some flowing football last season and scored several fantastic goals, but the big home wins against Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal are perhaps the only games that really stick in the memory for the right reasons.

[linequote]Last season ultimately saw no improvement in league position or points total, no cup run that hadn’t been matched or bettered in recent memory, and no end to any significant winless streaks.[/linequote]

Further victories against the top, top teams were hard to come by, whilst late goals and comebacks of any significance were virtually non-existent. In other words, those individual, glorious, where-were-you moments that make all the heartache worthwhile, were in pretty short supply in 2011/12. This season, however, has been different.

This season’s legacy

So, let’s start with the more statistical side of things, shall we? At the time of writing (and in true Daniel Levy end-of-season message style – the man may leave his transfers ‘til late, but never let it be said he doesn’t get his statements in early) there is still much to be decided. Fourth place and Champions League football is still a possibility, and would of course have a huge impact on how this season is viewed.

Whilst a top four finish is a great achievement in itself and would unquestionably represent another step in the right direction for the club, Spurs fans have already experienced it in recent times – twice. What we haven’t seen for quite some time are a finish above Arsenal and a 72 point season. At the time of writing both are still achievable – indeed we could still achieve either one and not the other. Or both. Or neither. Who knows, eh? Anyway, the latter, which is in our own hands, would be our highest ever Premier League points haul – and in AVB’s first season. Prospects look good for a statistically ground-breaking league campaign, then.

This season saw our longest Europa League run for a little while, but ultimately could only match Martin Jol’s best showing: a quarter-final exit. Meanwhile, both domestic cups ended in premature disappointment, confirming that this season won’t be remembered for cup runs or silverware.

Still, another way to ensure a season is remembered fondly, and make a bit of history while you’re at it, is to get results against the league’s biggest teams – especially when you haven’t beaten them in decades. Well, I’m pleased to report that we amassed one of our very best points hauls against the top teams this season: late draws salvaged against Chelsea and United; the now customary home wins over Arsenal and Liverpool; some revenge for last season’s painful defeats against City. The Stamford Bridge hoodoo remains, but hey – we’ve got to leave something for next season, right?

[linequote]What we haven’t seen for quite some time are a finish above Arsenal and a 72 point season. At the time of writing both are still achievable.[/linequote]

Then there’s that victory at Old Trafford. A ground Tottenham Hotspur had not won at since before I could crawl. To be honest, I’m not quite old enough to really remember any victory over Manchester United clearly – at any ground, in any competition. I’m very much old enough to remember countless cheap surrenders and near-misses, though – each somehow more cruel than the last – so this was the team I wanted us to beat more than any other. It was never going to be easy (that second half seemed to last six months and took at least as much off my life expectancy), but the way it happened was special. Potent attacking, resolute defending, away at the champions elect in a league game of real importance.

One of the last great Tottenham hoodoos was finally broken, and from that day I knew that, whatever else they may do in their Spurs careers, Clint Dempsey and AVB would always have a special place in my memory. But wait – that wacky duo only went and did it again at the Lane! Well, sort of. Four points off United in a season is a great return, and how sweet it is to finally get one (or two) over Alex Ferguson at the last possible opportunity.

Which leads us nicely onto the moments. Dempsey sweeping home that equaliser, in the snow, in Fergie Time, was glorious. Rarely has a draw felt so much like a victory. But what about Mousa Dembele’s last-minute equalizer in Lyon? That was both a draw and a victory, and in that instant the Europa League felt like the most important competition in the world. Then there’s the home leg, and the surreal inevitability of Bale’s last-gasp free kick finding the net, giving us a lead to take back to France.

The thing is, this season, we’ve been positively spoilt as far as late goals go. Sigurdsson’s equalisers against Everton and Chelsea, the own goal at Wigan, Dempsey’s second at Basel and Bale’s screamer against Southampton all came when time was fast running out, and all got the adrenaline pumping. Adebayor’s winner at Stoke means Spurs have scored critical goals in the final 15 minutes of their last seven matches (incidentally, it also marks the sixth league game this season that Spurs have come from behind to win – compared to just one last term).That’s a whole lot of euphoria right there.

There are plenty of other great moments to choose from. Perhaps your favourite was that clinical 3-minute dissection of Arsenal, or the staggering 7-minute turnaround against Man City? Hell, even the sheer relief of Adebayor’s away goal in extra time at the San Siro (a match that induced heart palpitations of Old Trafford proportions) is worth a mention.

If we were to put it to a vote, however, I suspect a different moment might come out on top. The end of the West Ham away game had it all. It was a London derby, it was a mighty comeback (Spurs had trailed with 15 minutes to go), it was a match of real significance, it was the ninetieth minute, and, above all, it was an absolutely stunning goal from Gareth Bale. The celebrations between Bale, AVB and the rest of the team were even more passionate than ever. The pieces never fit together so perfectly. Not for Spurs they don’t. Yet they did that evening.

And so to Mr Bale. We’ve been blessed with some great players at the Lane in recent times. Ginola, Berbatov, Modric, van der Vaart… We’ve even had award winning players, including Bale himself a couple of years back. But to have one of our own make a clean sweep of the end-of-season honours and be universally regarded as not just one of the very best players in the league but in the whole world… well, that takes the biscuit. I hope we never take him for granted.

We finally have that 20 league-goal a season man, and he isn’t a new striker. He’s scored against the big teams, against the little teams, in the league and all the cups. He’s scored first goals, winning goals, equalizing goals, consolation goals. He’s even scored goals for other teams. He’s apparently incapable of scoring a bad goal (even the charged-down clearance against Wigan had a balletic/ninja like quality to it), and that line about him warranting a whole goal of the season competition to himself is no exaggeration. I have never seen a Spurs player do as many consistently incredible things as Bale has. So this season’s got that going for it, too.

Speaking of goals, the current tally is 92 – one better than last season. Again the quality has been high, mainly thanks to Bale but with the odd aesthetically pleasing effort from someone else thrown in (Defoe v West Ham, Adebayor v Chelsea, Dembele v Lyon, Dempsey v Stoke to name a few). The quantity could still be improved, and while the contributions from central defence, attacking midfield and the free-roaming number 11 role have been encouraging, it would be nice to see more goals come from centre forward and central midfield (for Pete’s sake, someone give Tom Huddlestone a tap-in already…)

Sure, this season’s football, on the whole, hasn’t been as easy on the eye as last year’s. And sure, the low-points of 2011-12 (derby day thrashings, injury time losses, penalty heartache) decided to stick around another year. But at least this season has had the good grace to bring its fair share of highs as well. More than its fair share, in fact – though that’s not to say there isn’t room for one more.

So, the abiding legacy of 2012-13: great comebacks, late goals aplenty, victory at Old Trafford, Gareth Bale in full bloom? Check, check, check and check. Record Premier League points total? TBC. Champions League qualification…?

[author name=”BoxBat” avatar=”https://www.thefightingcock.co.uk/forum/data/avatars/l/0/263.jpg?1349590890″ twitter=”jackedwards_” tag=”BoxBat[/linequote]