White Hart Lane on Saturday made for uncomfortable viewing for any Spurs fan. Denied our best players, handicapped by individual mistakes and lacking the slices of luck that some teams can call on at will, our position within the Premier League became apparent. This realisation didn’t occur when Chelsea and Daniel Sturridge celebrated their fourth […]
A Blunt Knife in a Gunfight.
White Hart Lane on Saturday made for uncomfortable viewing for any Spurs fan. Denied our best players, handicapped by individual mistakes and lacking the slices of luck that some teams can call on at will, our position within the Premier League became apparent.
This realisation didn’t occur when Chelsea and Daniel Sturridge celebrated their fourth goal, but 45 minutes before kick-off. Stood alone in the Paxton watching the Spurs keepers going through their warm up routine, the news that Mousa Dembele and Gareth Bale were missing set the alarm bells ringing.
We boast a wonderful starting XI when all our players are uninjured or not attending births, but when fate or circumstance come swooping in, we are left exposed.
Any team attempting to play a game shorn of six first team players would struggle, but when you have to play the league leaders and free spending Chelsea, your weaknesses are magnified. I still believe, however, that measures could have been taken to ensure we didn’t concede four goals and capitulate again to a team the whole nation despises, no matter how they protest differently.
Andre Villas-Boas is a manager in whom I have a great respect and faith, but he must learn that if the shoe doesn’t fit, there is no point in pretending it does. His preferred formation relies on width and pace, and without Bale he was missing his most effective outlet. AVB either had to deploy Andros Townsend in the Welshman’s place or change tactics, because Clint Dempsey and Glyfi Sigurdsson are and never will be left-wingers.
However, AVB is just working with the tools he has been given. Both Dempsey and Sigurdsson seem to have been signings made on his behalf not his bequest. Our lack of strength in depth was alarming and was clearly demonstrated by the two benches both teams named.
[linequote]Spurs meanwhile don’t have the resources that Chelsea can delve into, should our Plan A fail then Plan B isn’t strong enough to match the oil rich south Londoners[/linequote]
Our opponents had two young exciting fullbacks, a winger who kept Wigan in the Premier League last season, an England starting central midfielder and a capped striker, alongside a La Maisa graduate. Had Chelsea needed to change their style of play at any point they could have.
Spurs meanwhile don’t have the resources that Chelsea can delve into, should our Plan A fail then Plan B isn’t strong enough to match the oil rich south Londoners. This defeat was made even harder to bear by the knowledge that every Chelsea player who inflicted damage upon us, could have, if circumstances had allowed, been ours.
Gary Cahill, Oscar, Eden Hazard and Juan Mata were all at some point, heavily linked with coming to White Hart Lane, but finances and/or and inability to move swiftly in the market meant they all ended up plying their trade south of the river.
Oscar, the new number 10 for Brazil, arrived at Chelsea from Internacional in his home country, a club with whom we have a partnership. This understanding allows us to have first option on their talent, as long as we match the price of the highest bidder. Unfortunately for Spurs, we were unable or unwilling to match what Chelsea offered.
Tales of near misses and failed transfer deals are ones which we as Spurs fans have come to accept, but when your failings arrive at your own home and destroy your unbeaten run, it hurts. When Cahill swung his boot at a poor clearance by William Gallas, and fired the ball through Brad Friedel three of Tottenham’s errors were highlighted within seconds. A centre back who could have been playing for us, punishing one who shouldn’t, making a mug of a keeper who isn’t better than one Spurs have sat on the bench.
In the grand scheme of the Premier League a defeat to Chelsea is not a disaster. They have taken maximum points away at Woolwich, and will probably do the same in Manchester and on Merseyside. We are too early into the AVB transition to contemplate a title challenge; instead we must refocus on 4th or possibly 3rd place.
The next two Premier League games are against Southampton and Wigan, two teams we must beat. In these games our talent should over power them, unfortunately we still have some way to go before we can do the same against Chelsea and the Russian ruble.
We will meet them at Stamford Bridge in 2013 when hopefully Daniel Levy will have taken the steps to correct this summer’s errors, and our two veterans will be watching from the comfort of the bench/stand/their front room.
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17 Comments
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22/10/2012 @ 2:33 pm
Nice piece. However, it does touch on the issue of strength of bench. Personally I’d rather have eager, young & ambitious talent pressing for a run out than last year’s bloated bench of unused, expensive & alienated internationals. Even without BAE, Kaboul, Dembele, Bale (& possibly Parker) we produced a fantastic 20 mins in the second half – there is reason to believe that a full strength First XI would have made the whole game a more even contest. Totally agree on Gallas & Brad, time to step aside gents & let the future in
22/10/2012 @ 2:46 pm
I am a big fan of AVB and think he’ll be a wonderful manager for us in the long term but consider the two scenario’s here…
We go 2-1 up and we are running them ragged – we bring on a holding midfielder in Livermore.
Chelski go 3-2 up and bring on a striker in Sturridge…
That highlights the difference in philosophy between the 2 teams
I think AVB made a mistake here – sure Huddlestone was blowing a bit but I don’t think the situation required trying to shut up shop with half hour to go.
you can’t legislate for individual errors but I think we brought it on ourselves to a certain extent.
however – many positives to be taken from the game and I still maintain that with Bale and Dembele in the side we’d have won that game.
COYS!!!!
22/10/2012 @ 2:53 pm
Wow I think this is the best piece I’ve seen written on us all season! Not a word of fatboy being better than xavi or Dawson being the best centre back in the world! I didn’t want avb, Ive wanted moyes since before arry but definetly getting behind avb. Levy has been the problem this season and nobody can doubt that with all the ‘in levy we trust’ bullshit, he didn’t get the two players u can truly say avb likely wanted through most (moutinho and willian) so we can’t blame avb if the team looks short without our top players against top teams. and I hate chelsea as much as anyone but our club is being run the same way with levy signing players he wants but not spending the same so a little less in quality
22/10/2012 @ 2:56 pm
I know Tottenham is a fair way from the Thames, but even a cursory glance at a bus map should inform you that Stamford Bridge is actually north of the river. May be the salty tears of despair are impairing your eyesight, if not your judgement.
22/10/2012 @ 3:27 pm
No point blaming the “rouble”. Or did you simply make a typo and leave off the “T” from the word “Trouble”? Because TROUBLE is what Tottenham are in, with a manager who has all the nerdy, statistical nous of a train-spotter and none of the instincts of a man-manager.
And let’s not forget what happened the last time Bale DID play against Chelsea… an even HEAVIER defeat than this last weekend.
22/10/2012 @ 3:41 pm
“Ply their trade south of the river”? Don’t get to many away games then…or is geography another weakness? The fixation with finance doesn’t do you any merit either.
22/10/2012 @ 3:49 pm
Rather a perfect summing up on Spurs at the moment,things went wrong in Transfer window i do believe we attempted to Purchase a Top ball-playing Maestro & C/Forward,loosing out in champions League,remember final games W.B.A. v Arsenal,Cerny(remember him)gifting that lot down the road with two goals & our last Match !! Anyhow January window I want Either Neymar,Leandro,Llorente.Moussa Sissoko & A midfield Maestro,(Three around),one will do ! Lloris in Goal,Youness Back,Benni at L/B, Huddlestone to train with Bolt,Oh & Dawson !! Christan Ceballos to play on Thursday. If I win Euro millions Tuesday I`ll treat Daniel to a Class Player!!
22/10/2012 @ 4:02 pm
When Tom Hudd went off, we were in trouble and the ‘rouble thieves’ took over in mid-field. Jake Livermore may be a very nice person but he’s not as good as Tom Hudd at either passing the ball or defending. Tom was breaking up play all day until AVB decided he had had enough. That was a mistake and we paid for that mistake, dearly. Another mistake (as you quite rightly said) was not playing our No.1 goal keeper. Why the fuck play Brad when we needed someone who would come off his line and be more involved. Dawson needs to play. We complain endlessly about how he boots the ball up-field. Well that’s exactly what we need when the ball’s bouncing around in our penalty area. Gallas has a great heart, but his legs have had it. As for Chelsea, someone blogged yesterday that they fell behind us last season as far as ability is concerned (and their league position showed that) but they bought their way out of trouble. And they and the two Mancs will continue to do that indefinitely or until someone in authority at UEFA levels the playing field. No matter, I wish Chelsea and Man City all the best in the meantime in their quest to purchase the title.
22/10/2012 @ 4:14 pm
You did not have first option on Oscar — the agreement with Internacional only applied to players from their academy, and Oscar was a product of Sao Paulo (he moved clubs after a dispute over unpaid wages that saw him unable to play for the better part of a year while the case was under arbitration). The implication that Spurs lost out because of finances (“unable or unwilling to match what Chelsea offered”) obscures the reality that Chelsea are the reigning European champions and conseuqnetly the more attractive club and the bigger footballing proposition, independent of “finances.”
Also, as others have pointed out, Stamford Bridge is north of the river. Schoolboy error.
22/10/2012 @ 4:18 pm
You think Gallas shouldn’t have been playing? I guess you don’t remember his brilliant performance against United then. Yes he had one almighty clanger of a game but lets not hide behind hindsight and pretend that we knew better than AVB. The same for Lloris, Friedel’s been solid this season producing some outstanding saves at times. Had Lloris dropped two crosses like he did against Panathaniakos or thrown the ball to their attacker like against Villa then Chelsea would likely not have been so charitable. Going with Friedel in such an important game was the more sensible option.
There were plenty of errors in the game but lets just be a bit more realistic about what they were and where things did go right, like Defoe for example when most that I spoke to(including myself) thought Ade should start.
22/10/2012 @ 4:20 pm
I think when The Rich Russian was looking for “Stamford Hill” his “Del Boys” Sat-Nav sent him to Stamford Bridge !! Just our Luck !!
22/10/2012 @ 4:21 pm
Come on. Let’s not use injuries as an excuse for anything. Besides, who is the sixth absentee that you are referring to? Jenas? I count Bale, Dembele, Kaboul, Ekotto, Parker. Anyone else likely to play was available, Man U had the same excuse against us, and had the class to not mention that Valencia, Smalling, Vidic, Jones, Young were unavailable through injury. Chelsea played better, had the better chances, and we made bad substitutions and left gaping holes in our midfield. Gallas was poor despite scoring…
22/10/2012 @ 4:34 pm
Fatboy huddlestone defending?! Get a grip he ain’t got a chance defending against players like Mata hazard and Oscar! If we had dembele or parker in there with bale we probably would of won but let’s get real. Do u huddlestone and Dawson lovers not stop to think why clubs like stoke and qpr wanted them? Coz they ain’t good enough even as squad players for a club that wants to challenge for 4th! We’ve got a really good first 11 when fit but need to be replacing crap like fatboy and Dawson with quality to push on and quiet frankly levy won’t spend the big money on someone like damiao or willian, them two would put us ahead of the scum
22/10/2012 @ 4:52 pm
Chelsea merely spent their huge winnings from their Champions League victory on a couple of top class players. In the meantime, Tottenham, who won nothing, sold a player of equal value. So its not only Chelsea’s money that wins them titles, but also the titles that wins them money… in lumps of $60m a time and more. Had Tottenham managed to get in the CL through their league position last season, they would have had more money to spend too. But they didn’t. Because they failed. Again. And all the while, their supporters make excuses for them, saying they have no money or some such drivel.
Chelsea supporters are very grateful to their owner for his investments in the club. So should Spurs be with their owners. Shouldn’t they? Well, maybe not. So enjoy the Europa League and spend accordingly.
22/10/2012 @ 6:04 pm
Sir Cecil, At least AVB brought Mata to Chelski, Lampard of to States soon,Drogba gone & J.T.(i`m not a liar),well Surprise,Surprise,He`s Admitted it,also to slow,not long to go!! A.V.B. was right to blood younger players,now I want that at W.H.L. Friedal & Gallas,warm the bench !!
22/10/2012 @ 8:30 pm
Funny how AVB is now said to have bought Mata to Chelsea. At the time, all the papers were criticizing Abramovich and his advisors, saying they were responsible and that poor old AVB had no say in it (which he never denied at the time). Now that Mata is doing particularly well, AVB is very keen to say he signed him and it makes a better story for the press to give AVB the credit after all. I wonder if AVB will be so eager to remind people he signed Dempsey in a few months time!
23/10/2012 @ 4:07 am
oil rich?
We spent exactly what we earned through ChampLg winnings on new signings.
What’s tottenham owner wealthy from. Not UCL money’s…