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A welcome win

5 min read
by ARLombardi
Winning the first game of the season is always important, but even more so when it means putting a bunch of West Ham fans back in their place. There were some negatives, but we are still in August. Let's look at the positives.

A win, three points, a debut goal and a debut victory for the new man in charge. It may have been different had Mark Noble passed the ball to a ball-boy, but who cares? When you have lost three times in a row to any team, a win, regardless of how it arrives is a welcome friend.

Eric-Dier-goal740Unable to be at the game I had to endure the fixture at first with Russian commentary, before switching to a more palatable and harmonic Spanish. It is quite amazing the affect of tuning out the commentary and relying solely on your own thoughts is. The permutations, the outcomes, the realness of the game is magnified.

On TV, in the pub or in the stadium you allow yourself to be carried away by the noise and vibe of those around you. On your sofa, squinting at a jagged stream, you become your worst nightmare.

“He needs to do this!”

“Why is he doing that??”

On Saturday though I found a oneness. I found myself totally at peace, I started to believe in Spurs. Even that split second where somehow a back heel from Kevin Nolan found Stuart Downing one on one with Hugo Lloris, I didn’t panic, I knew it would be ok.

[linequote]Winning 1-0 away to West Ham, in a London derby, on the opening season, is a good result, regardless of whether the goal came in the 65th or 95th minute[/linequote]
I admit the penalty and the preposterous red card for Kyle “Put your hands up for Detroit” Naughton, had me concerned, but there was something about Noble that comforted me. Perhaps it’s his hair, or perhaps it’s the fact that he is outrageously average, I knew he would miss. Although he hadn’t missed a penalty since 2009 or something, there was sense of preordained failure about his run up. Even the miss itself summed up West Ham on Saturday, impotent.

It wasn’t a Chris Waddle wild thunder strike, it wasn’t even a comedy Emmanuel Adebayor run up and blast into the Swiss rain swept night, it was a pea roller that bobbled wide. It was a limp wristed flap at attempting to grab victory. I am sure Mauricio Pochettino just passed around a Vine of the miss to his players during the halftime team talk.

Hombres. Mira how much they want this. They don’t. We do. Vamos hijo putas!!

It is easy after victory to turn away from the negatives and focus solely on the positives, so I shall, however only after making one point. A fact that seems to have escaped the most pessimistic of Spurs fans:

Cast your eyes across the rest of the Premier League and try to pick a top 6 team that had a successful weekend, both in terms of performance and result?

Please note I am referring to the weekend, Chelsea’s Monday night semi-destruction of a team that costs less than Nacer Chadli, I am refusing to count.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City laboured to victory, whilst Man U under the tutelage of tactical Tsar LVG lost at home. Winning 1-0 away to West Ham, in a London derby, on the opening season, is a good result, regardless of whether the goal came in the 65th or 95th minute. Yes it could have been worse, and yes it probably should have, but after a last season where anything bad that could happen did, it not happening is a rope I am happy to cling to.

[linequote]West Ham are nothing special, in fact in footballing terms they are pretty close to being irrelevant[/linequote]

Another positive was the attitude and belief shown by our manager, and by the players in him. Pochettino emerged from a skirmish against a team that had a major affect on AVB losing his job, and demonstrating that Paulinho and Adebayor were unwilling to take a ball in the face for Sherwood. West Ham are nothing special, in fact in footballing terms they are pretty close to being irrelevant, but they do offer an insight into our players and team.

Gareth Bale’s wonder goal, Paul Stalteri’s last minute winner to make it 4-3, after being 2-0 down, all demonstrations of team spirit or sheer genius. A 3-0 thumping, a bore draw at home, coupled with a pathetic attempt to win away, are all 3d PowerPoint presentations of tactical or personality failings.

Last Saturday West Ham also proved very useful to help launch the career of Eric Dier. In a world where first impressions matter, at Spurs we have seen some glorious ones. Mido at home to Portsmouth, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Dean Marney, Danny Rose and now Eric Dier.

The former Sporting man capped a great debut by cooling rounding Adrian and slotting home. His goal was a lesson in composure in the face of extreme pressure, a lesser defender would stumbled and fluffed it, one of our strikers may have skied it, but Dier kept his composure. Was it his continental upbringing? A sign of his inner class? Or was it fate that granted him a moment of clarity in an amongst 36,000 screaming lunatics?

Once again it is easy to reach to early conclusions, but the signs are promising for Dier. The youngster was forced to cover two positions against one of the most direct teams in the league and he handled it masterfully. During the summer, when we had nothing much to do but speculate, I had assumed Dier would start as a back-up and rarely feature, however, circumstances have arisen where he actually looks like our best fit centre back.

[linequote]I am tempted to bet on Dier scoring the winner against Arsenal and Chelsea, if only Carlsberg made debut seasons[/linequote]

Comforting? Maybe not, but he has enjoyed a strong start and arrived without the hype or weight of a multi-million pound price tag. I just hope we don’t expect him to round a keeper every week, although I am tempted to bet on him scoring the winner against Arsenal and Chelsea, if only Carlsberg made debut seasons.

Next up for Spurs in the Premier League QPR at home. If we keep the dedication and belief, the system and style will follow. For now though, we are already two points better off than last year, but most important of all, they can finally stop crowing and get back to avoiding relegation.

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.

ARLombardi

I read, I write, I speak, I edit for The Fighting Cock

5 Comments

  1. Iron
    20/08/2014 @ 11:45 am

    Considering how “irrelevant” we are, you lot talk about us an awful lot.

    • arlombardi
      20/08/2014 @ 11:53 am

      Its a match report.

      Why are you on a Spurs site btw?

    • Joe
      20/08/2014 @ 12:03 pm

      Did someone pop your bubble? Of course we talk about you as we just beat you recently. Until our next game you’ll become irrelevant again. At least we don’t cherish wins against us, like you’ve won the league. Sell t shirts? Really? That’s pathetic.

    • Dan Mac
      20/08/2014 @ 1:34 pm

      Are you called Iron because you support West Ham? Because I’m pretty sure Iron’s are something else?

  2. Danny Norman
    22/08/2014 @ 2:42 pm

    By the way the font of all knowledge that is Paul Merson called us “Tootheless” in this match…oh the irony

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