Sunday, March 30, 2008
Trouble In Paradise: Thus repuls'd, our final hope Is flat despair
Eddie, you didn't really put our life savings on Spurs to beat crappy old Newcastle, did you?
What a fiasco this season has been and become. With all the Cyber huffing and puffing you'd think we'd all fallen from the sky last week hadn't been through all this before. Spurs have been making a fist of it for a dog's age. No consolation when you've schlepped out to watch a side with top four aspirations deliver a performance that only serves to underline their league position.
Looking around the Net tonight there's a fair element of Witch Hunting but the problems are beyond the individual errors, there's a broader malaise at The Lane. Incompetence? Ha ha, close. Complacency. This lot think they've the job done. Trophy won, Europe in the bag, autographs all the way to the Bentley dealership.
These are the same players, Jol fans, who began to strut, then switch off, then throwaway leads last season and the beginning of this. And they still haven't learned a damn thing.
Poyet was clearly not only embarrassed but bewildered as to how this shiftless mob had failed to maintain the new discipline that he thought had been successfully instilled since he and Ramos took charge.
"You have to be careful what you say. I'm trying to be calm and not make a mistake, when I'm calm in a few days I can chat about this game... It's going to be a long week for everyone at the club."
These are the words of man incandescent. Translation?
"I want to apologise publicly to everyone who paid good money to watch the perfumed ponces who wasted an hour and a half of our time today. I plan to scream and throw small pieces of furniture at them initially, but by God if they don't sort themselves out they'll be wishing they left with Paul Stalteri."
Paradise is where we were after deservedly beating Chelsea, a genuine top tier European side,and winning the Carling Cup. Top Five? Fifth rate Guest House Paradiso is where at right now. Unlike the movie, we need to demonstrate we're not run by imbeciles. It's my belief we're not, but we are staffed by some.
Posted by Harry Hotspur at Sunday, March 30, 2008
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32 comments:
Worst Spurs performance ive ever seen. the fans voted with their feet as the 4th went in. Utter disgrace and they should get done under the trades description act for calling that football.
Wow. Today was really, realy shit.
I think we should not panic after this defeat.We already know that most of the 1st team squad are on their way the only players i would keep are
Lennon, Keane,Berba,Gilberto,Malbranque Bale King Woodgate, Hutton, Kaboul and Huddelstone .The rest of the squad i would pretty much get rid of the question is who comes in amy ideas HH?
mmm...went from being a good game from the neutral point of view in the first half to utter tripe the moment they scored an equaliser.
if i were you harry i wouldn't even bother doing the ratings this week as we all know exactly what the players deserve.
An experimental line up in a meaningless match but.... 4-1? Come on chaps, at least look like you want to be here next season.
By golly, that Taraabt looks like a poor signing.
Its not the scoreline which is disgraceful ..its not the performance which is an insult to every Spurs fan..... the thing that concerns me is the lack of respect that this shows to Ramos and Poyet by the players.
Now unless they are all complete muppets (a distinct possibility) they must know that Ramos is a hard nosed individual who will only accept total committment and professionalism from each and everyone of them every time they put on the Spurs shirt
So the fact that they still go out there and play as if they dont give a sh*t about the club or its supporters that pays there wages says one thing..... most of them know that they are on their way in the summer either as a result of Ramos dumping them or them scuttling off to some other club and as such do not give a toss either way.
I dont think I have seen any other premiership club with a squad who apart from 3-4 individuals comprises of players who cant be arsed....... we have been poor ever since the Carling Cup Final and I cannot believe the players do not get a clear idea from Ramos and Poyet as to what is expected.
This is not Ramos's squad... this is the leagcy of Jol and Commoli and the only time to start judging Ramos will be when he has had an opportunity to create a squad with players that he wants and who want to be at the club. I think this summer will see us as one of the biggest squad changeovers at any premiership club with a massive clear out and influx of new players......
And based on this bunch of complete and utter wasters it cant come soon enough..........................
At least Taarabt looked up for it, wanted the ball, and tried to go forward with it. Not to mention the fact he had a shot from outside the box, anyone else do that in the second half?
Robbo - 2 Doesnt understand free-kick set ups.
Daws - 5 Average, gave away a few silly free-kicks
Woody - 5 Same, few mistakes, passable though.
Hutton - 7 Our sole attacking threat, got forward loads, but please Alan, stay on your feet a bit more.
O'Hara - 6 Out of position, delivery got better as the game went on, one of the better players today.
Huddlestone - 4 Pass to our team please.
Zokora - 4 Couple of surges forward didnt hide his wasteful use of the ball and horrible distribution.
Malbranque - 6 Done ok, as always, nothing special Meat and Potato stuff from Mr Average.
Keane - 3 Anonymous, should have scored from 1 yard out, but defender kicked the ball off his shin and bounced wide, wasnt himself when asked to play in front of Berba, as he wasnt able to do his chasing down.
Bent - 4 got a goal, apart from that, didnt do much, tried to get in behind, but they defended deep and nullified the threat.
Berba - 1 Tosser, all our problems stemmed from this arrogant nobhead who thinks defending is below him. If your playing behind the front 2, you are taking on the responsibility of dropping back into the midfield to help slow opposition attacks, not sit on the floor adjusting your hairband. Bell end!
Subs.
Lennon - 2 crap, tried crossing the ball lately Aaron? Beating the man is all well and good, but not if you dont do anything with it.
Taarabt - 7 Done everything he could to get the game going, problem was everyone around him thought it best to watch instead of help.
Tainio - 3 made a 5 yard pass look hard. Terrible.
And to the guy that said dont panic... I'm not panicking, I'm pissed off that the players today didnt give a shit.
Manager ratings...
Ramos - 4 His comments pissed me off by reinforcing what the players did on the pitch, namely by suggesting it was a training match.
Poyet - 10 I've never heard a manager talk so much sense as Gus, probably because he's actually a fan of football and understands what fans go through when your forced to watch that kind of crap.
Rant over, line drawn.
Nah, Taraabt was shocking. Constantly giving the ball away through showboating on the halfway line (at 3-1 down!) when a simple pass was on, contributing to the last two goals. So he had a shot? Whoopee! Even Nicky Butt had a shot the only difference being that he scored.
Greedy, self-indulgent and lacking the intelligence to go with this mythical ability that we've heard so much about and seen so little of. Simply not good enough.
Damn, I'm in a bad mood!
At least he gave the ball away in the final third. Unlike the rest of them, who tried to give it away as close to our box as possible.
22:46 - This was a real money-back performance.
23:40 - Loved the rant. Frank and no messing.
I would've fancied LA Galaxy against the Spurs today. Pathetic.
Problem is, the speculated summer clear-out would surely just postpone a top 4 position for another season. It takes time and consistency to create a winning team and culture.
Which is what infuriates me so much about today's boll*cks. Doesn't the team realise that points are accrued by wins, week in, week out?
If they want top 4, a defeat should be unthinkable, a draw unacceptable. Such a mind-set can't be conjured out of a hat.
A summer clear-out might toss the baby out with the bath-water.
Mind you, it's a pretty ugly baby.
9.37 Anon
Let's face it we all new this squad needed strengthening even after the Carling Final and this was one of many really poor performances this season under both Jol and Ramos. I didn't see the game but the impression I have is that we lost it in the middle of the park and Robbo went AWOL again. That's nothing new.
But how refreshing to see one of our coaches (Gus) really annoyed about the performance and actually apologising for the performance. If the players can't all show they care at least it's reassuring to see the coaching staff do.
I notice my mate Chimbo wasn't playing. Maybe we missed him ?
Pissed off about the result.
Glad I didn't fork out to go.
Pissed off that I went to a pub I don't like much to watch the foreign channel.
Not entirely looking forward to Bolton and Boro games that I already have tickets for.
Not going to buy a ticket for Liverpool.
One plus from today:
ex·per·i·ment
n.
1.
a. A test etc etc...
2. To try something new, especially in order to gain experience: experiment with new methods of teaching.
We can now summise reasonably that with our midfield being the weakest section of our outfield players, weakening it by going 4-3-3 won't work.
Also, at 2-1 we'd normally chuck on Bent or the late Defoe with fresh legs. That option was sorely missed.
I suppose Ramos just wanted to prove these things to himself.
Not much fun for those who have paid good money but hopefully next season will see profit from this experimentation.
Doesn't excuse some of our players' laziness though.
Fuck it, if we're experimenting, let's really experiment: Taarabt (to start), Gunter, Rose, Peckhart, others? At least we'd see some hunger.
And lastly, how about swapping Robbo for a small tree, at least we could plant it in the right place before a free kick and it might move slightly in the breeze.
England's number 6?
Typical Spurs. Easier to roll over than a giddy and friendly mutt at the nearest kennels!! There clearly needs to be a massive clear out and rebuilding programme over the summer at the Lane. Starting with a decent goalkeeper. Fingers crossed that Commoli is let nowhere near the company cheque book come June. He is about as qualified to be Sporting Director as David James is to be England's No.1!! Commoli would not be able to recognise talent if it tapped him on the shoulder and introduced itself whilst holding a large sign with the word TALENT in large bold lettering.
So who's to go? Well it is probably a simpler task to list who should stay. Sod baby and bath water! Spurs fans have witnessed too many false dawns to wait another 2-3 years for comprehensive and lasting team success. In fact we would have probably played better today if we had false Dawn in the centre of our anonymous midfield! Anything but the wretched Zokora. A true waste of £8M GBP. Is there a single Spurs fan in the known universe that rates him? I doubt it! The guy cannot pass, tackle or hit a barn door. I concur that things have gone badly down hill since the cup final. Top four finishes are built on taking 3 point off of the Birmingham's, Man City's and the Newcastle's. Our dull, underperforming and overpaid lot have saved King Kev's job today. Gus has got every right to be pissed off as have the fans.
My chief concern is more incoming foreign, expensive and useless pap and flogging off all of our British talent. A topical subject in the recent media. Ramos has bought wisely in Bale, Gunter and Hutton. Perhaps signalling his intent. We need more guile and steel throughout the side to compliment the flair. Two away wins is simply not good enough.
Time for a change me thinks. We have to put our trust in Ramos and Gus to make good decisions over the summer.
The positive has to be that if Ramos had any doubts about how second rate most of his squad are then he should be crystal clear now. He should also own up that even he got it seriously wrong yesterday; no young blood tried out and a trio of strikers that has never previosuly worked in a whole game. Also you do not have to be Poirot to work out that since Robinson came back into the side we have slipped back into conceding four goals a game with an alarming regularity. Let's face it when both Butt and Geremi score against you in the same game that is a serious wake up call.
It certainly is quicker to talk about who to retain rather than who to keep. Some, like Dawson, Zokora and Robinson have to go whilst they still have any sort of market value, whilst others like Lennon, Huddlestone, Malbranque and Bent will probably need to leave to finance replacements.
I would not expect too much next season.
I was so pi$$ed yesterday i didnt know where to start.
I think there is a high possibility that "Ramos" might well be spanish for "Roller Coaster" or "when one loses, one loses quite heavily".
Talk of "meaningless" games annoys me quite heavily - the rumbles started with 10 games to go - a quarter of a season!!!!! What drivel, no such thing as a nothing game for a proper team - what did Mr Nicholson OBE once say:
"Any player coming to Spurs, whether he's a big signing or just a ground staff boy, must be dedicated to the game and to the club. He must never be satisfied with his last performance, and he must hate losing"
ie not be an arrogant, lazy, good for nothing.......
I just hope the Carling Cup is not the Pinnacle of some of those boys careers like they obviously want it to be.
How embarrassing.
PS Robbo, please go before you outstay your welcome.Thanks.
What a shambles.
On the bright side, we'll have more hilarious quotes from King Kev to look forward to next season.
On the not so bright side, said King won't want to buy Dawson now he's seen the goods up front.
Oh, f*kkity fcuk. Will any of our wares be saleable? Job-lot, anyone? Make way for the first squad to be sold on ebay:
'Pig's ears available, unsuitable for turning into silk purses'.
Yesterday, Spurs demonstrated that they have a veneer but no substance. In fairness, every team demonstrates that from time to time. Spurs just seem to do it more often.
I think Robinson's future may lie in a Reality TV Show auditioning contestants for a Comedy Musical based on the football career of goalkeeping.
Suggested songs for the show:
Ball of Confusion;
I Miss You So; Baby I've Been Missing You;
With These Hands;
Put Your Hands Together;
Too Stuffed To Jump;
He (Doesn't Have) The Whole World in His Hands.
Even the ball can have a part: You're Gonna Miss Me.
If I didn't laugh I'd have to do some work instead.
9.37 Anon
"Are you trying to seduce me, Mr Robinson?"
"Sorry pet, I just dropped something. Were that yer leg?"
A lot has been said about the lacklustre and casual performance of the team, but what about the fans?
The atmosphere yesterday was TERRIBLE. We never got behind our team - not at 1-0, not at 1-1 and certainly not at 3-1.
Every Spurs fan in the stadium was already thinking about their summer holiday and expecting an easy win.
You can't moan about the team having no passion when the fans show the same traits.
Aaron you quite clearly weren't there mate.
Hazza, I have spoken to Mr Levy and told him in no uncertain terms that I want an apology on the Official Site for yesterdays shambles, he agrees and has deigned to do so post haste.
Anon - Yes, I was. East stand, block C. The Newcastle fans outsung the home fans all match. It reminded me of Chelsea's dire support at Wembley.
I was in 32 and up until their goal they weren't louder than us, especially when we were one up.
Alright Aaron,
I make you right to some extent, the atmos wasnt great by any stretch - not terrible - but certainly not great. Park lane and the south end of the shelf was making an effort at least!
Not sure an "average" atmos vindicates that totally disinterested display tho. Arsenal, Chels and Man U would probably all be in the conference based on that theory!
Ranting is one thing... and believe you me, any self respecting Spurs fan should feel aggrieved at yesterday's "performance".
However, don't let the rant take over and get in the way of the facts.
Anon 03:19, I have to take you to task.
The club bought Bale when Jol was manager. Ramos doesn't get credit for that...!
I fully support using these remaining games to try formations and audition squad players -- yes, it sucks losing to the barcodes on our patch, but if that's the price to allow JR & Gus (LOVED his post-game rant by the way) than I'm prepared to pay it. Those attending these last few games be warned. Pre-season starts now.
But while I'm actually glad some of the players I don't rate (ex. Zokora) are getting found out. Their plummeting market value is worrysome. I thought the sporting director's plan was to buy up young (primarily English) talent, and reap the profits by selling them on when they start to shine? Well, if they were sold today we'd likely have to take a loss on players like Bent, Kaboul, Taarabt, and Boateng, not to mention the recent devaluations of players like Zokora, Robinson and possibly Lennon. That's not a sustainable business model. Buy high and sell low?
On the other hand, it seems silly how many on these blogs discuss what players need to go and who the club should buy as if the most talented teams always win. I think if there's one thing a team like Greece demonstrated, it's that the best "team" can often beat the best collection of talent. If that's true, then getting the players to play together in an effective system (with heart and pride, of course) should be JR's primary concern, not simply amassing the best collection of talent.
Waddle's Mullet
Right. Roast potatoes on. Time to lay into Robbo a bit more...
In my opinion, his problems stem from the 2006 World Cup, where he performed below averagely. This means that his 'dip' in form is now two years long. That's time enough to conceive a child and see it through its first birthday.
In relation to our No 1, the oft-quoted aphorism, 'Form is temporary, but class is permanent', has expired its statute of limitations. Average is now his 'class.' Below average, if I'm being brutal. What can you say about a keeper who provokes the 'wince reaction' every time he's challenged with a free-kick or a corner?
No one has actually done any tests, but I believe that Yids are the most psychic supporters in the EPL. This is evidenced by the number of times you can hear a Yid say 'I saw that coming'.
Maybe it was something in those German frankfurters but, post World Cup, Robbo returned to the domestic (and subsequently international) game seemingly with a new determination to enjoy football as a spectator sport.
Unfortunately for him, the sport requires participation. Perhaps he needs reminding that spectators are meant to be OFF the pitch, not ON it.
So, I don't think it's a 'confidence issue' any more. The confidence is back - at least for him. Or as back as it'll ever be. Of course, for us, it's shot to pieces. I'm tempted to suggest that Robbo may have now achieved a permanent personal standard (in a Spurs shirt, without a doubt). It's all gone quiet over there.
On another matter entirely, was it Zokora who sang 'I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down?
9.37 Anon
I extend my apologies and thank Mysterious Stranger for highlighting my factual oversight re: Bale purchase.
I do not think that mine was the only 'rant' of the day and given how much a match day ticket/season ticket costs these days we the fans have every right to vent our frustrated. Winning a trophy every 10 years is simply not good enough. Both Everton and Portsmouth have weaker squads than us but yet reside far higher in the table. Newcastle were ripe for the taking yesterday. Lets also not forget that every premiership place lost come the end of the season costs the club thousands of pounds. Money for reinvestment in the squad!
Call me controversial but is it not too much to ask that starting from next season that were perhaps have the following on the WHL 'wish list':
1) A Goalkeeper that can actual catch a ball!
2) A team that can defend inc. not shipping goals in the last 5 mins (i.e. against Man U to name but one)
3) Wingers who can cross a ball
4) A player that can take a decent freekick or corner (yes, that's you Jenas MIA!
5) Far less prima donna strikers who sulk and remonstrate their team mates and spend more time earning their vast salary
6)Pride in the team and its traditions
7)A will to win!
Rant over...
15.11 Well done! ;)
9.37 Psychic Spurs fans...
We continue the cycle of playing wonderful football, serving up rubbish, being incensed and hoping.
When you know something's about to happen again is it preja vu?
To Anon 03:19/21:07
We all agree the ranting is merited, I think. I for one was doing the self same thing during and after the game!!!
And I on the whole agree with your "seven point plan"!
I think we do have some talented squad members, who can cross the ball. Lennon, at present doesn't appear to be one of them...!
Bale* can, Hutton can. But naturally we should get in some proper wingers that are up to the task.
*Whether Bale will be a left back or left winger in the future, only time will tell.
Bale most certainly can take a free kick, I for one couldn't think of many other players his age that could, bar a certain (C) Ronaldo. And Cristiano's efforts have, rather like a fine wine, matured with age. Obviously the club have taken a long term view with the lad, so let's hope the decision to end Bale's season prematurely to ensure a full recovery reaps rewards. Given this decision would have been made with our recently added "strength and conditioning" coaches, one has to assume it will be vindicated.
I guess your fifth point would be directed towards a certain Dimitar Berbatov? Well, I reckon his agent may get his way on this, and as much as I like him when he's good, on more than one occasion I've come to question his own lack of effort and continual head tossing/finger pointing. If someone wants to pay between 30 to 40 million GBP for him in Summer, to me it's a no brainer.
Sure, it wouldn't be too popular with many of the fans, but it may just be what Ramos' long term plan requires.
You could probably buy 3 or 4 top class "team" players for that sort of money. And we probably need a few more than that to bring our team up to scratch.
H,
What are the odds Lennon will transfer to Rugby League? He has good acceleration and has a talent for not passing at feet.
9.37 Anon
Hazza, just got in from the reserve game, the nutmeg kid ran the show, 30 mins yesterday, 90 tonight and barely broke a sweat, scored a peach as well. Class.
I am glad there was a mass exoudus by our 36,067 fans (I was one of them) on the Martin goal on the 83 minute.
It clearly send a strong message to Ramos and company + the Spurs Board. That we will not stand for a rubbish play, when the Toons are an average team.
In these days, there is no time mess about with the team - because anymore results like that we will be calling for some serious sackings!!!! Remember Jol!
Shame on Ramous for what he did in tinking with the team!!!
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