Time To Get Back On Track at City

It has been one of those weeks, devoid of anything “Tottenham” interesting. My depths of boredom sunk so low that even 11 men throwing a ball to each other whilst they think about sandwiches at lunch and tea at tea threatened to grab my attention. International week is a gaping abyss where a twisted ankle can become a broken spine and a defeat to Sports Direct United sticks to your clothes like a bush-tucker challenge.

This weekend though, praise the Lord, the PL is back and Spurs face Man City away, a team who pre oil steroid, and forgetting a few relegation’s here and there, used to be very similar to us. A team with a strong fan base, an intense hatred of local rivals who wear red and that unique ability to hand out indigestible depression interspersed with moments of trouser tenting glory.

That all changed though. A billion pounds later and a take-over of an athletic stadium (see more quasi similarities) they now operate in another stratosphere. Their team is littered with class, but scratch at that surface and as Sunderland, Cardiff and Villa have shown, there is a ticklish little belly waiting for some warm fingers.

[linequote]an intense hatred of local rivals who wear red and that unique ability to hand out indigestible depression interspersed with moments of trouser tenting glory[/linequote]

Their main issues surround a keeper, a central defence and midfield that can be exposed. In the centre of the pitch  Yaya Toure is a colossus, but as Bayern showed, keep the ball out of his reach and he lumbers around like a drunk Rancor. Alongside him support generally comes in the form of Fernandinho, who is decent, but not as highly regarded as Paulinho and Sandro by Brazilian national manager Luis Felipe Scolari. His lack of international caps are a clear indication as to his true ability.

In defence the absence of Vincent Kompany has been reported occasionally. I heard somewhere City gain 2.1 points or something equally absurd with him, and only 1.8 without him. Take that how you will, personally I am just glad he is out. I love watching Joleon Lescott play, the fear in his eyes when the ball is played into his feet is like Newt’s when she comes face to face with a swimming Xenomorph.

Should Newt Lescott  be kept on the bench, manager Manuel Pellegrini will have no choice but to turn to Martin Demichelis  or Javi Garcia, neither of whom inspire much confidence for those of light blue persuasion. These are areas we can and need to punish City in if we are to get our season back on track.

[authquoteleft text=”As Sunderland, Cardiff and Villa have shown, there is a ticklish little belly waiting for some warm fingers[/linequote]

In goal Pellegrini looks set to recall Joe Hart, a keeper who two years ago was touted as being one of the world’s best.  Most of us will remember the 2010-11 opening game of the season at the Lane where Hart was a brick wall and saved everything, that man has long gone though. In his place is a fallible Englishman adept at performing a Benny Hill version of Hugo Lloris rushing out for the ball. Any quick through balls  or direct football may unsettle him, therein though is his comfort and our problem.

Quick and direct play hasn’t been our forte this season.  AVB has at times been rather stubborn in his tactics. The former Porto man must change this rigidity and realise quicker and react better when his plan isn’t working. At Spurs we have progressed from a manager who had no plan, to one obsessed with a plan.

Surely there can be a happy medium?

Christian Eriksen’s injury as unfortunate as it is does solve one problem for AVB. Instead of having the conundrum of which three to play from Andros Townsend, Lewis Holtby, Glyfi Siggurdsson and the Dane the choice is now made for him.

[linequote]The former Porto man must change this rigidity and realise quicker and react better when his plan isn’t working[/linequote]

There is still the supernova of all problems to remedy though. The Erik Lamela problem, by problem I mean “AVB’s reluctance to select him” problem. Should the Portuguese boss claim that our Argentine was tired after travelling, I would like to direct his view over to the City team which will have a far greater number of players affected by “travelling.”

Alongside Lamela in the US were key men Kun Aguero and Pablo Zabaleta, in Casablanca playing a crucial World Cup qualifier against Senegal was Toure, whilst elsewhere in Africa, the Spanish duo of Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo ,were in Equatorial Guinea and then South Africa. For Spurs only Paulinho and Lamela went somewhere exotic, the rest were either in Europe or at Spurs’ training ground.

Air miles, jet lag, travelling and any other motion excuse is one that I don’t want to hear from our boss this week. International footballers travel, it’s a fact that has existed since aeroplanes, trains and boats came into existence, not an excuse for a poor performance.

Lamela spent most of his time in the US inverting himself into the bench, the same position  AVB has played him all season. The young man should be refreshed and eager. Its time for the Argentine to be given his first start in the PL, or at the very least 30 minutes. If AVB was so keen to throw him into the North London derby with 15 minutes to go, two days into his Spurs career, why is he not playing him now?

AVB’s rod for his own back is getting bigger and bigger as each week passes and Spurs remain bereft of creativity, ideas and pizzazz.

[authquoteright text=”Air miles, jet lag, travelling and any other motion excuse is one that I don’t want to hear from our boss this week[/linequote]

It’s still very early to talk about crunch and/or season defining games, but sometimes reality needs to come early. This is a major game, the fact that not many teams will take points away from the airline stadium should not be used as justification. Not many teams will be thrashed at home by West Ham or defeated by Newcastle. That’s six points gone in a puff ineptitude, we must make up for this by claiming points in unlikely places.

Spurs also need to make a statement of intent and get back to beating the bigger teams. This season we have one point out of six on offer against our rivals, with Man United and Liverpool around the corner we need to start adding to this account.

[author name=”ARLombardi” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000190788876/b1d0a1120760e39338a815ea5827d7f8.jpeg” bio=”I read, I write, I edit for The Fighting Cock” twitter=”ARLombardi[/linequote]