What a season it turned
out to be. The season started with the usual optimism but also the
usual “we'll feck it up” feelings. It was my first full season as
a season ticket holder and I couldn't have picked a better one in my
twenty years watching Spurs. It's never boring being a Spurs fan.
Even under Gerry 'the badger' Francis and the Goonersarus we had
Ginola to keep us entertained. Due to finding myself rambling on I've
split my season review into two halves. (well, it is a game of two
halves boom boom). This is a season that saw us get to Wembley,
banish some demons and end the Bale jinx.
It started on a sunny
afternoon in August against Liverpool. The cracking strike by
Assou-Ekotto to give us the lead set the tone. It wouldn't be the
first time a left footed screamer would crash against the Park Lane
net! 5-1 victories against Hull and Doncaster that month as well as a
last minute winner by Lennon against Birmingham had all of us
thinking “it could be our season”. What was strange about the
Birmingham game was that I expected us to win. Even though it was 1-1
and in injury time, I was still confident about victory. I think it
was the first and last time I had that feeling! Unfortunately after
the game we found out that Modric had suffered a fractured shin.
Fortunately we were able to raid Pompey (again) and bring in Kranjcar
(had to check how to spell his name, don't want another “Zokora”
“Zakora” debate) before the transfer window shut.
We were brought
crashing back down to earth in September with successive defeats to
Man Utd and Chelsea, the latter seeing us play a disjointed diamond
formation and playing badly. October wasn't great either as we lost
1-0 to Stoke despite battering them and Lennon going off injured
after we'd used our subs and Glenn Whelan the player that kicked him
off the pitch popping up for the winner. We lost 3-0 at the Emirates
where we were without Modric, Lennon and Defoe. On the plus side, I
made that month I made my first away trip when we played Portsmouth.
I couldn't get tickets in the Spurs end so had to sit with the home
fans. Despite Dindane being unable to hit a barn door, we were 2-0
and looking good. Defoe then stupidly got himself sent off for
stamping and we were under the cosh the last 30mins. It was the most
frustrating half hour of my life as all I wanted to do was shout
“just f***ing clear it” but had to bite my tongue. Because of all
the built up tension it took me a while after the game to calm down.
We got out of jail in
November against Sunderland, as despite playing badly in a 451
formation with no width we won 2-0. No one was thinking about that
the following week when we annihilated Wigan 9-1. It was quite
surreal seeing all those goals go in and as well as feeling delirious
there was a real sense that we could push on and crack the top four.
December started off
with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford in the Carling Cup, a
ground where we never have any luck. We then threw away at two goal
lead at Everton and missed a penalty in the last minute and this was
followed by a 1-0 home defeat to Wolves. They scored in the opening
minutes and then parked the bus and we failed the break them down.
There were rumblings about “same old Spurs”, although we were
still up there due to the teams around us dropping points. We then
ripped Man City apart 3-0 and in the process got Sparky the sack. I
didn't feel guilty about that as he came across as a smug git after
getting all that cash to spend. Remember his pursuit of Lescott? An
away win at Blackburn was pleasing due to out away from being patch
over the years and the team usually not fancying the fight at places
like Ewood Park. The month ended with a 2-0 win at home to West Ham.
It's always good to take six points off the bitter 'Ammers and ruin
their cup finals against us!
That's it for the part one, part two will be up soon (as soon as I get my arse in gear!)