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I’ve previously made my admiration for D. Berbatov clear. I have been less enamored by our other star forwards, R. Keane and J. Defoe—they are both good players but not great (in the same way that D. Beckham is a good player). However, losing all three strikers without replacement, leaving only the yet to be proven in a white shirt D. Bent, can only give rise to consternation. And if we do sign someone, what are the odds that he will be Rebrov-like having hit paydirt with Berbatov?
The doom and gloom merchants will, no doubt, have a field day, but, after my initial shock, I can see a possible chink of light. How many remember what happened to England in the lead up to and beginning of the 1986 World Cup? A team set up to operate centered on Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins was ripped asunder by the former’s injury and latter’s sending off. But changes forced on Bobby Robson transformed a team heading for an early flight home into a contender. Sometimes adversity, and luck, can lead to finding just the right mixture for success.
Over the last couple of seasons, I’ve felt that Spurs were almost forced to play 4-4-2 because of their abundance of strikers who could not be dropped. With Berbatov a sure starter, there was no way that both of Defoe and Keane would not start so we could play 4-5-1. As a result, our less than stellar midfield would find itself outmanned against teams not playing with two out and out strikers. This included not only the Boltons of this world but also Chelsea (with Drogba), Manchester United (without a genuine target man and Rooney and Tevez dropping into midfield) and Liverpool (Torres up front with Kuyt playing wide right). Even the other North London team played the midfield heavy formation on occasions. Relieved of the obligation to play two strikers, Ramos is freed to play one and pack the midfield. Or play one down the centre with two fast wingers. In other words, since he doesn’t have to make the system fit the players that must play, he can be more flexible.
Whether deliberately with the departure of Berbatov and Keane (or one of them) in mind, it seems to me that we have bought so far with a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 in mind. From current personnel, how about Hutton-King-Woodgate-Bale, Jenas-Modric-Zokora, Lennon-Bent Dos Santos or Hutton-King-Woodgate-Bale, Lennon-Jenas-Modric-Zokora-Dos Santos, Bent? In theory, neither line-up looks too shabby. I’ll acknowledge that it has players untried in the Premiership, but I have confidence that Modric will come good. And what an incentive for Darren Bent, a player used to playing as a sole striker but who never had the opportunity to do so last year. I’ll also accept that our defense may owe much to the miracles of modern medicine. But (and I know it’s a big but) if they are all present, I could see us being an equivalent of Manchester City at the start of last year, especially as the expectation will be much lower.
I’ll reserve judgment until the first five games of the new season are in the books, but hope that the applicable cliché will be something along the lines of “it’s always darkest before the dawn.”
COYS!!!
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After the Cup Final win against Chelsea, while celebrations were ongoing, it was clear that the Spurs supremo had the future on his mind. In a speech to the assembled gathering, he told the players that they should not be getting big headed. After all, he told them, they hadn’t won anything yet.
This wasn’t a linguistic mix-up. The coach meant it alright, because his standards were so high. But the coach’s name was not Ramos, it was Nicholson and the year was 1967 (see “The Glory Game”). However, it would not surprise me if Ramos was thinking this even if he did not articulate it. After all, his brief is not to just win the Carling Cup. George Graham did that, after all, and where did it get him? No, that victory is only a stepping stone, albeit a significant one.
With the only remaining issue for this season the picking up of a few points for mid-table security, the speculation is already building on the personnel for next season. I expect there will be some significant changes, especially now that Ramos can point to the transformation he has wrought with the existing squad. We clearly need to find better players in certain positions to play the way Ramos would like. Hopefully, we will be looking at spending the budget on two or three top players rather than seven or eight who might, someday, become good. Now is the time to avoid the “has beens”, the “never was'” and the “prospects” and, instead, to sign established quality.
Time will tell on our transfer policy, but among the changes since Ramos took over has been a change in internal practices at Spurs. Have you noticed how, compared to the prior regime, little information is coming out about players' fitness and who will play on any given occasion? It is a much harder job to guess who is going to be playing because we are keeping our cards close to our chest. While it is frustrating as a fan, it must be a better way, a more professional way, to operate. I don’t know if the spies are still watching Spurs, from trees or otherwise, but they are being kept guessing, as are our opponents. This cannot be a bad thing.
I’ll be watching through to the season’s end, but know that it will be hard to motivate the players for the remaining games. The real action will be in the close season. Fingers will remain crossed that we keep and buy the ones we need. Hopefully, if the pundits tip us for top 4 this time, they will be right.
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As a fan, there will always be certain players that stir strong emotions, either positive or negative. John Pratt was always the player that I couldn’t stand as a kid. My recollection, which may be apocryphal, is of one particular gem; Pratt’s fifty yard back pass that let an Arsenal player in on goal. Pratt could do no right in my eyes, even though I’d accept that he must have done something to justify his appearance on the team sheet. When I heard that he had been appointed as a coach, I knew that we were in for a bad run.
As a kid, I sat behind a supporter who my family later discovered was a toastmaster. He utilized his loud voice to berate his personal bete noire, Martin Chivers. According to my grandfather, so loud was this guy’s voice that Chivers would look up when he screamed at him.
At the other extreme, there are players who just appeal strongly to a fan and can do no wrong. I confess to having a soft spot for Nico Claesen. While all around were fawning over Clive Allen (imagine what a certain Bulgarian would do if supported by a midfield including Hoddle and Waddle), I preferred Claesen and still feel that he was hard done by. Which brings me to Mr. Berbatov.
I’ve been waiting for the right moment to post a rebuttal to all the naysayers. I confess, Berba can do no wrong in my eyes. He can sulk and moan and be all manner of negative body language, it makes no difference to me. He is class. He is special. Although he is a different type of player, he brings to mind Jimmy Greaves in one respect. Players would moan about Greaves’ lack of workrate. Nicholson would meet this comment with a response along the lines of “you score 37 goals next season and you can do less tracking back!”
If Berba hangs around a while, I expect history will be kind to him. After all, Klinnsman deserted the team after a mere one season and has been deified by some. Ginola was a luxury player, but the highlight reels make him appear to be a god. For now, fans like me, who consider Berba’s participation pivotal, have to pray that he isn’t tempted to move on. I’d be broken-hearted if he did…..until the next Spurs star appears, that is!
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It’s said that even the worst of humanity is of some use: to stand as exemplars for the rest of us. By this measure, the methodology behind the firing of Martin Jol stands as a fine example of how to lose friends and antagonize supporters. The only people to benefit from this fiasco have been the press (what would they write about without us?), our adversaries and Mr. Jol. The latter has garnered tremendous sympathy for the perception that he has been subjected to cruel and inhuman punishment by being publicly hung out to dry. And that was before he coached his last game while everyone else knew he was fired! I feel that Mr. Jol will now benefit from the response that Henry Cooper received from the public when he was adjudged to have lost his last fight to Joe Bugner. The perception that “Our ‘Enery” had been wronged ensured a special place in the British public’s heart—the support for MJ suggests he will get the same response.
In my view, whatever his shortcomings, Martin Jol deserves the kudos he has received from the rank and file fan. His Spurs certainly put a smile back on this ex-pat’s face and for that I will be eternally grateful.
However, it’s time to move on. As all Spurs fans “who know their history”, a firing of this sort can presage a variety of results. I was in the crowd the day Bill Nick announced his resignation and the upshot was relegation within two years. However, we fared somewhat better with Gerry Francis’ arrival taking us to the brink of a major breakthrough, only for our hopes to be dashed. I believe that the result of this hiring is difficult to call.
Ramos’s obvious pluses are a recent successful track record and the indication that his teams play attractively. Looking at his predecessors from Spain and Portugal, Benitez and Mourinho, they have succeeded in transferring their foreign success to England. However, both of these managers spoke English well and arrived at teams on the cusp of success. Neither took over in mid-season, faced by a demoralised squad in the relegation zone. Unlike both of these international success stories, Ramos does not have the luxury of a pre-season period or the ability to sign one or two key players that he can rely upon. All managers like to get their guys on board---Ramos will have to wait until January to even attempt to do so. My fear is that by then the pressure may be unbearable.
I do not know enough about Ramos to feel confident that he will bring success to the Lane. Sometimes a new broom can create sensational improvement in fortunes, partly from introducing a different methodology to a foreign country. We must hope for that miracle quick fix. Nonetheless, however one looks at it, the timing of his arrival is far from ideal. For example, I doubt Ramos has been keeping tabs on Blackpool in preparation for his first game. That, inevitably, brings us back to the handling of Mr. Jol’s departure and leaves this loyal Spurs fan shaking his head. We have to hope that, to bowdlerize the words of the immortal Bill Nicholson, those at Spurs who have set their sights very high (top four or bust!), will still hear the echo of glory even if we fail. Fasten your seatbelts—I have no doubt it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Best Wishes from New York—Yours in trepidation and expectation, NYSpur
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It has taken a few weeks to get the North London derby out of my system. Rumours that I was incarcerated after the game are false, although my father’s arrival just as his team took the lead (see earlier blog) was particularly bad timing. Nonetheless, I have rationalised that game. We were beaten by a better team on the day. There, I’ve said it. The missed chances notwithstanding, they were the better team and deserved the points. If we want to beat them and progress, we have to recognize that fact.
I’m less sanguine about failing to beat less accomplished teams. Fulham was particularly frustrating because we were the better team. I didn’t see the Bolton game, but understand that the same applied there. Aston Villa? All I can say is that my workday was disrupted (3pm kickoff here) as I ran the gamut of emotions. Bloody team!
On the much discussed topics, I am firmly in the “time for a break” camp for Robbo. Unlike outfield positions, the idea of goalkeepers playing themselves back into form is almost bound to drag a team down. Once a goalkeeper’s confidence is shaken, not only does he become prone to errors, but so do the defenders in front of him. Uncertainty breeds uncertainty. All those who watched the Aston Villa game and saw Dawson turn and begin to head upfield in the belief that a simple catch had been taken will know that he won’t do that again because he cannot trust his keeper. It takes a string of flawless performances to repair that trust and there is no sign that Robbo is capable of doing so at the moment. Personally, every time I have seen Cerny I have been impressed at his competence and good distribution. I would have given him a run already, before the current incumbent’s confidence is completely gone.
And then there is Berbatov. For him I take a different tack. I think that people expect too much from him. With service, and support, he is a gem. He is not a one man team. Shorn of other forward options, such as Lennon, he becomes the sole focus and much easier to snuff out. Today, he showed glimmers of last year’s form, but I do not think we will see his best again until we have some more width. But I cannot see any reason to drop him. He is creating chances for others and I am confident that he will rediscover the goalscoring form that has eluded him so far.
By the way, if we keep up the manner of our play for the rest of the season, I have to make some changes to my TV room. Memo to self----purchase life size Wenger doll to strangle if we let any more last minute goals in!
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In an earlier entry to this blog, I let slip that I have been supporting Spurs for forty odd years despite the fact that my father is a fan of that other North London team. One respondent queried how my allegiance ended up at variance to my paternal influence and I promised to provide an account. Ultimately, I see parallels to Harry Potter who could have ended up with the evil Slytherins but persuaded the sorting hat to assign him to the virtuous Gryffindors. In a nutshell, I was saved from the dark side by my maternal grandfather.
My grandfather was a real Spurs fan. He didn’t just “know your history”, he had been there. He witnessed the 1921 final and regaled me with stories of how Bertie Bliss would score from the halfway line. (In a Spurs encyclopaedia that I have, the aforementioned Mr. Bliss is described as possessing a powerful shot whose efforts were as likely to end in the stand as in the goal). But most important to my choice of a team, he was keen to lavish the time and money to take me to White Hart Lane. While my father remained a staunch supporter of the other team, he had retreated to the sofa from the terrace. The modern generation (circa 1970) were not a patch on Denis Compton so I was told. So that is how I found myself at White Hart Lane on the 4th April 1969 to watch our 2-0 triumph over Coventry. As a six year old, I remember very little of the game, but can tell you that George Curtis, he of the squared off haircut, played in defense for Coventry.
Over the next twenty plus years, I attended numerous games with my grandfather. Some stick out, such as the second leg of the League Cup semi-final against Wolves on the 30th December 1972. I was one of a very noisy 41,653 who saw Spurs go through to the final after extra time and can remember it as if it was yesterday. We were also there for the 9-0 demolition of Bristol Rovers in our brief sojourn in the Second Division. Unfortunately, I can’t remember being at too many North London derbies with my grandfather, probably because the tickets were harder to come by. However, there was the time that he traded his ticket for mine….. and I found myself among Arsenal fans at the top of the East Stand. One of the more Neanderthal gooners kept up a constant stream of vitriolic abuse for the entire game, much to the consternation of the foreign fans sitting immediately in front of him who were showered with spit.
This Saturday I will be watching the game live here in New York and will have my father’s presence for at least part of the game (he is returning from a trip that morning). We watched the Fulham game together and it was not the most pleasant experience. I am strangely optimistic though. I feel that we are on the cusp of the sort of form that we displayed on our successful run last year. All the rational data suggests another disappointment though. But being a Spurs fan is much more about the heart than the head. I’ll take us to win 2-1 and for me to have the opportunity to lord it over my father, at least this once!
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One of the bane's of modern life is the "spinmeister", those PR people hired to defuse every crisis and portray their masters in the most positive light. It seems to me that we have been treated to a front row seat of spinning the news, Spurs style, this week and it is ugly.
When our brave lads on the Board got their hand caught in the Ramos cookie jar, their first reaction appears to have been to play ostrich. Yes, Ms. Cullen may have advised, always best to hide behind the "we do not respond to speculation" line. However, that approach did nothing to quell the firestorm erupting in the press, so plan B appears to have been, brazen it out. Here we see spinning at its purest. Pick something that is a true half truth to obscure the whole truth: We have never officially offered Jol's job to anyone. Based on later events, this disclosure appears likely to have omitted certain pertinent information: Yes, we have sounded out a potential successor, flying club officials to indirectly meet with him and to see if we could get an agreement in principle.
The brazen approach was undone by Ramos' disclosure, making Spurs' spin look disingenuous. Never mind, there is always the indignation response: of course we are always looking to improve, its top 4 or bust (for the coach). However, that fell like a lead balloon as it made Mr. Levy look ungrateful--two top 5 finishes not enough for you Daniel? Suddenly, there was a backlash, players, including ones that had left Spurs, supporting Jol, managers supporting Jol, fans supporting Jol. With the winner in the P.R. battle sorted, there was only one place for the Board to go--join the support Jol bandwagon.
So now we have the Levy-Kemsley version that puts them 100% behind Jol (with a slightly blunted knife no doubt). The whole Ramos thing was not because they were going to replace him, heaven no. Instead, because Jol is so wonderful, Kemsley was concerned that Jol's loyalties might lie elsewhere. Ramos was just a contingency plan if Jol left. The board (except Sir Keith) love him oodles and there is no pressure to finish top 4. Got that?
Is it just me or has the more Spurs' P.R. done their work, the worst this has become for them? It is like the animal in a trap that gets more entangled the worse it struggles. I'm going to guess that the truth is in the statements that have been made, hidden by the spin. However, I'll be damned if I can discern exactly what it is. Instead, I think that the Board has lost all credibility. No one will believe anything they say because we all know that they engage in this shell game. It would be naive to think that they didn't spin the news at all, but to have it's scope demonstrated so publicly is especially harmful. Ultimately, if the steps taken were so innocuous, why hide behind the spin? Heads should roll, swords should be fallen upon, purely based on incompetence. It will be interesting to see who is sacrificed when the furor dies down--it won't be anyone important though.
The only plus I see from this whole sorry mess is that those with nothing but the best interest of the team at heart, you and me, have played a part in reminding the plc that we do have a say. Sometimes, democracy works, sort of. We have our dysfunctional Spurs back and maybe only the fans can save it.
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NYSpur Gears Up for the New Season
On August 11, 2007, the 2007-2008 English Premier League season gets underway. However, for me, that date has a greater significance. Fifteen years ago, it was the day before I bade farewell to England and started life in the US of A. For Spurs, those fifteen years have been tumultuous with more than our share of disappointments. For me, supporting from afar, they have been at times frustrating and at others exhilarating.
When I first arrived in the US, I had very limited access to Spurs media coverage. I was one of those souls that Radio 2 commentary would be talking to when they began second-half commentary with “…and we welcome World Service listeners wherever you may be to…” I would get newspaper cuttings from home a week or so late. In contrast, as of this season, I will have access to virtually every game via a combination of Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Broadband. When I speak to my father, I often tell him news that I have picked off of the internet. It is a great time for Spurs to be resurgent because I can see it as it happens. And not only that, my progeny can too.
Growing up in Southgate, North London, I was schooled in the North London rivalry. Literally. Playtime involved kids lining up as Spurs versus…well you know who. Bertie Mee’s daughter went to my school and, sorry to say, my father took pictures of me getting autographs from the 1972 team he managed (Did I mention that my father supports the wrong team in North London? Why I do not is a story for another day.) I first went to White Hart Lane as a six year old in 1969 (versus Coventry) and have been a devoted supporter ever since. But how does one imbue similar loyalty in twin boys who live thousands of miles away from “Norf London?”
I think the key is persistence. From having them on my knee as babies when I watched the games on TV (it is a bad idea to make that “ohhhh” noise when the ball hits the crossbar with a baby on your knee, by the way) through to watching the West Ham game with them last season, their allegiance has been forged. However, I don’t know where I would be without our uptick in fortunes. When my son Bryan says his favorite player is Berbatov “because he is the best” he is not only echoing my sentiments, he is right.
I’m ready for the new season. I have seen Spurs when they were expected to beat the best teams of the day. We are close to doing so again. Hopefully, I will be watching them, this time with the next generation of fans in tow. COYS!!
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