Glory glory Tottingham Hotspur

It is a Tottenham fan’s prerogative to be a pessimist; either the circumstances to conspire against them or their Lilywhite clad heroes will slip up, again. Indeed, this outlook has been largely validated over the last few years with Lasagne-gate, Chelsea winning the Champions League and “mind the gap” debacle with Arsenal to name just a few.

This negative stance is not helped by the fact that we have impossibly high standards, expecting both aesthetic, attacking football plus silverware and success.

Unfortunately, a number of things have fuelled the sense of foreboding that some Spurs fans feel towards the upcoming season. Namely, the lack of a signature signing so far and the huge expenditure of Chelsea (Diego Costa, Fabregas, Filipe Luis), Manchester United (Luke Shaw, Andre Herrera), Liverpool (Lallana, Lambert, Emre Can, Markovic) and the typically frugal Arsenal (Sanchez, Debuchy).

[linequote]In a strange way I am profoundly optimistic about the coming season and Pochettino’s Blue-White army[/linequote]

Furthermore, despite high optimism, last term was one of the most disappointing in recent years as we changed managers from the pragmatic and ineffective AVB to the passionate and tactically naïve Tim Sherwood. The performance also featured disappointing performances in the domestic cups; crushing losses against almost all the teams above us and ultimately an average 6th place finish. It was quoted that we sold Elvis and bought the Beatles, however, unfortunately it looked more like a cheap tribute band.

This season there will be more competition than ever to get in the precious top 4 places as the five above us last season have only strengthened their squads and Manchester United are sure to be up there with the esteemed tactician and ex-Netherlands supremo Louis van Gaal at the helm. Finally, for the 3rd season in a row it is a season of transition. The players will have to get to know the methodology and style of their new Argentinian gaffer and his backroom staff and he will have to assess his new players and quickly find the best combinations.

However, in a strange way I am profoundly optimistic about the coming season and Pochettino’s Blue-White army. The former PSG and Espanyol centre –back is sure to endear himself to the White Hart Lane faithful by his return to the Spurs way as throughout the 2013/14 season Southampton were one of the most exhilarating teams in the division. They utilised a 4-2-3-1 formation; mixing high pressing to win the ball high up the pitch, fluidity, high tempo and a possession based attacking ethos.

[linequote] the relentless pressure on Spurs to break into the Top 4 has been dispelled somewhat as no one expects them to do it this year and that could certainly work in our favour[/linequote]

Furthermore, after a year and a half at the South Coast club Poch has proved that he can succeed in the Premier league, while bringing through lots of home-grown English talent. Due to the fact that there were no Tottenham players in the World Cup squad for the first time since 1954 and there are quite a few burgeoning academy prospects in the ranks, that is certain to be good for N17.

Also, the little business that Pochettino did during his spell with the Saints seemed very astute as Dejan Lovren was an inspired choice leading So’ton to 15 clean sheets throughout the year, while Victor Wanyama from Celtic looked excellent in patches in central midfield with his season unfortunately curtailed by an injury to his fibia in December.

In a way the relentless pressure on Spurs to break into the Top 4 has been dispelled somewhat as no one expects them to do it this year and that could certainly work in our favour. Pochettino proved pundits wrong when he replaced Nigel Adkins the January before last, as he brought his new club on dramatically, hopefully he can do it again.

[linequote]Blanchflower said,’the game is about glory’ and I feel that we have gone much too long without silverware.[/linequote]

This year the Europa League winner will be awarded a place in the Champions league for the first time and this year I feel this should be a bigger priority. Not only for this reason but because, as the eloquent and legendary double-winning captain Danny Blanchflower said,“the game is about glory” and I feel that we have gone much too long without silverware. The Carling Cup victory of 2008 still has a special place in my heart but now I feel the time is right to add to our trophy cabinet.

Perhaps, we may aim lower this year and just hope to build upon last season and create a dynasty for our new head coach. But as Bill Nicholson so famously said “It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory.” I believe to achieve this “glory” we must continue to aim as high as we dare and if we fail so be it. But at least we can say it was exciting, thrilling and probably a bit heart-wrenching.

If Glory=Style + Success then we have already fulfilled half of that requirement through this appointment, can we fulfil the other half? We can only wait and see.

To Dare Is To Do