By cockerel downunder
Well, the Spurs are about to go marching in... excitement’s building,
travelling fans planning their journeys, the manager finalising his team
selection, the big premier league kick off is only one day away.
And yet... this feels like an odd time to be previewing the season, and
reviewing the summer. With the small matter of our first choice strike pairing
for the season still up in the air, and 2 weeks before the transfer window
mercifully shuts, it’s hard to predict what kind of season awaits. Difficult
also to judge the success of the summer dealings. Valiantly though, I will try.
Despite this uncertainty in hard facts, there is a feeling, an aura,
surrounding the club that radiates confidence and more importantly, competence.
Whatever happens in the next 2 weeks, you get the impression that we will have
a good season.
No longer do we rely on one or two star players, but we have a talented,
energetic squad with firm, decisive management and an excellent support
structure. We have momentum, and it’s very hard to envisage anything other than
forward movement, although the speed may depend on how the balls currently in
the air, fall to the ground.
Hitting the ground running is of course vital for any team with ambitions of
breaking the top four monopoly (well oligopoly, technically). Conventional
wisdom is that you can’t change half your team without a period of adjustment,
especially if your imports include foreigners with no Premiership experience.
Luckily for us, Juande Ramos is anything but conventional, and pre season form
would suggest a team that is already clicking.
In fact, from Juande’s viewpoint, being able to train this group of players
for several weeks without competitive games is a relative luxury when compared
to last season. Matches were already coming thick and fast by the time he took
over, and results took priority over ingraining his style on the team.
(On a side note, why did Ashley Cole just pop into my head? Oh yes, thick
and fast, that’ll do it.)
Running is a pretty important part of football, and our lads have done
plenty of it this summer. A strict diet and fierce pre season has left them in
the best condition of their lives. Strength, speed and stamina will provide a
solid framework to our season, upon which the more silky elements may be hung.
What amazes me is that such a marked improvement in fitness was possible for
a group of professional athletes, but the important thing is that they are now
the best they can be, and no longer will we roll over in the last ten minutes
of a match and concede a last gasp equaliser in a match we dominated. (Well,
hopefully not too often anyway. I
mean fit they may be, driven on by a great motivator and organised by a master
tactician, but it’s still Spurs after all.)
Getting the best out of players is a common thread in Juande’s management
career, especially at Seville
where he left a team of household names behind, created mainly from players who
did not cost a great deal. Our own former striker Freddie Kanoute is testament
to this. After half a season the asses the Spurs squad, the ever decisive Ramos
has shipped out those without promise, and extended contracts of those he
intends to work on.
Chief among these must be Jermaine Jenas, a player many fans wanted replaced
in the summer, but Juande has promoted to vice captain. The promise that he has
always shown looks set to be fulfilled, and I think he will be a vital
component of our team this season. It looks as though JJ will be the workman in
midfield, after playing deeper and with more discipline that usual in pre
season.
Ahead of him will be an (as yet incomplete, but mouth watering none the less)
array of interchangeable attacking talent that could really bring the glory
days back to the lane. Behind him, a new look defence and keeper look solid and
classy, albeit with the usual injury concern caveats.
I wont go into detail about our signings and departures, as there’s been
plenty said already, and a proper assessment will have to wait a couple of
weeks anyway.
Gus Poyet recently said that the signing of Bentley will give us a free kick
specialist which we missed last season, that we might convert more of those set
pieces we win. This kind of pragmatism
would perhaps invoke a distasteful response from Spurs fans had it been said by
George Graham, among other past managers.
Like the fitness improvements though, it shows the management team know how
to play the percentages, shows they have common sense (how refreshing) and that
they know what they are doing. The fact that this approach is coupled with an
exciting brand of fluid, attacking football (and the purchase of a raft of
flair players,) makes it not only palatable, but compelling.
Even with all the uncertainty, even with the dragging on (and on, and on) of
certain “will he, wont he” transfer sagas, I feel nothing but confidence,
optimism and excitement for the season ahead.
Middlesbrough away is the first real test
of this new Spurs team, and we will soon find out if my optimism is misplaced.
This is no pre season friendly, this is a tough game against a decent team.
It’s also the kind of game that a top four side would want three points from, whether
they have finished their transfer dealings or not. That’s what we need to do,
and I think we can and indeed will.
Ohhhhhhhhhh wheeeeen theeeee Spuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrssssss……