So much I want to say but 140 characters on twitter is nowhere near enough to get your point across fluently and correctly. The scoreboard last night at Wembley said Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 5, but the game I watched was in no way one side dominant over the other by the tune of 4 goals. I know you watched it but I'll run you through how I saw it. I will refer to Spurs as Us/We if nobody minds.
The game took some time to get going, but after around half an hour We sprung to life and took the upper hand. A goalline clearance by John Terry and Van Der Vaart's whipped ball in evaded Ade and Cech but connected with the upright. Unlucky Spurs. Then a moment of brilliance about 5 mins from Half time from the mercurial Didier Drogba. I thought Drogba was immense the entire game and his goal was a bit special. To concede a goal like that when you've not only been on top but unlucky to still be level is heartwrenching. It will have completely changed the mood in the dressing room at half time. I don't think we started the second half well, the goal looked likely but how it came was a disgrace. There is no way that Martin Atkinson could have seen that as a goal with little to no doubt, therefore benefit should be given to the defensive side, or that is the way I've always been informed it should be. His decision was worse than had he not given it if it had crossed the line in my opinion. To come back from 2 goals against a top side is near on impossible and effectively the game was over. We battled hard to get back into the game with Bales goal, but unfortunately the game was so open and the underperforming Gallas was picked out time and time again by Chelsea, there was only so much King could mop up for him. Credit to Chelsea, they were ruthless and took the chance they had to put us to the sword. The game could well have been very different had the goal not been given but heyho.
Now the biggest worry is the similarity this game posed to the Man City game at White Hart Lane. On that occasion we were on top and failed to make our chances count before Dzeko put one in off his knee, again a sterling fight by spurs before a city second on the stroke of half-time, we were beaten and proceeded to collapse to a 5-1 defeat.
The other issue is that we haven't played well since Harry stepped into court, bar the Newcastle game. I don't think January was helpful to us at all. We weakened our squad in January with key squad members going out on loan and bargain bin entities coming in, I understand that books have to be balanced but if those moves count towards costing us the multi million draw of Champions League football then a mistake has been made.
Harry Redknapp is a terrific man-manager, he tells the players how good they are and gets them to believe it. With this though comes elation when things are going well, but if you are a constantly told how good you are, yet results are suggesting something else it leads to a confusion in morale, and becomes very tough to pick yourself up.
I think sacking Harry Redknapp would be very much the wrong thing to do, a manager should only really be sacked for the following Bringing down the stature of the football club, bringing the football club into financial trouble, behaving negatively in the name of the football club, and/or losing it's virtues. Harry has not done any of these, in fact he has returned the virtues of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club to White Hart Lane. We've had some managers in recent years who have served to do things their own way rather than the Spurs way, most notably Graham and Ramos. I'm not going to get carried away by how this season finishes. I recieved my first hand me down Spurs shit circa '87-'88, since that time we have finished very much mid table most seasons, Landed an Fa Cup and a League Cup, only recently, from about 2006ish have we began to truly drink at the Premier Leagues top table again, achieving Champions League status, winning the League Cup, and regular appearances in the UEFA/Europa cups. A lowest realistically possible 6th place and an FA Cup semi final don't count in my book as a bad season. Okay yes it would be dissapointing when you consider where we were at Christmas.
I think the real turning point was the game at Eastlands on Jan 22, this was the day we went from Title contenders to battling for our Champions League place. The players looked dejected and defeated at the final whistle, after defeat from a last minute goal, scored by a player who shouldn't have been on the pitch. I think all the belief washed out of each and every player with that one single moment and it's been a very slippery slope since.
Where do we go from here? Well luckily our run in is kind, QPR, Blackburn, Bolton, Villa and Fulham. QPR is a must win game, they want points to help towards safety, as do Blackburn and Bolton. If we can take 9 points off these sides scrapping for their lives then Villa and Fulham should have nothing to play for by the time we meet them. We are in the unfortunate position of hoping for a home win at the Emirates on Saturday, I cannot believe I just typed that. I can't see Stoke getting the job done at St James' though, but hopefully us and the barcodes can move 5 points clear of Chelsea, who will have had 3 season defining games in a week.
I think over the summer we need to look at our transfer policy, I think there is better out there than Adebayor for the money that Man City will expect us to pay. I think we should aggressively fight to bring Eden Hazard to the Lane, he will adapt in the role that Van Der Vaart currently occupies, Rafa has been great but isn't getting any younger. We need cover for our full backs, Benny and Kyle have played far too many games this season and played through injuries at time. We need cover for Lennon and King, who when fit should be first team regulars but that is only about 30% of the season! We have Dawson and Kaboul but if one of them is injured there is nothing. Gallas is poor, Bassong is championship at best, the only hope I guess is the lad Caulker who is at Swansea but if they put in an offer to keep him he may well be tempted by a regular start. As for Lennon, we have Gio Dos Santos, for some reason Harry refuses to use him. I've not seen him put a foot wrong in a spurs shirt, he has played well in Carling Cup/Europa league games, and he really grasped the opportunity when sent on loan to my hometown club Ipswich. No Ipswich fan can understand how he doesn't get in the spurs side week in/week out, and neither can any Mexican football fan, the lad plays football with passion, pace and no end of ability. He scored a hattrick for Barcelona for goodness sake! I get that when Lennon is fit he plays but when he isn't there is no excuse.
Anyway I have really rambled here and probably haven't put any point across at all. I was devastated by last nights proceedings, I'll move on, it's something I have learned to do throughout my years as a Tottenham and England football fan. I just hope the players can on Saturday, and I really really really hope the Adel Taarabt £1 million sale doesn't bite Harry up the arse.
If you are still reading well done for staying intersted, ha ha, but you'll be pleased to know this is the end.
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