King Staying At The Lane stories proliferate the press and my first reaction was who expected him to travel to Wigan anyway? Then there's an offbeat piece on Sabermetrics and a chap called Beane. Which sadly only got as much interest as it did as the legions of cyber parasites queued up to tell the Grauniad they'd spelt Keane wrongly.
So to the untelevised matter in hand. Wigan away. Frankly Tottenham look every bit like mid~table patsies who might well be handy for a point or three as we hit the last games of the campaign. And if you think that Wigan, Bolton or Liverpool have a more charitable view of us, then you are my friend, delusional. This game would be our THIRD away win of the season.
Robinson's ankle sprain means the Wardrobe On Casters that is Heskey will be up against Cerny. Chimbonda hasn't trained all week so he's out too. Calf strain. And from a calf to a goat or two, here's my Pick Of The Pops:
Cerny
Hutton Dawson Woodgate Gunter
Lennon Jenas Tainio Gilberto
Bent Keane
Subs: Forecast, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Taarabt, Berbatov
Hutton Dawson Woodgate Gunter
Lennon Jenas Tainio Gilberto
Bent Keane
Subs: Forecast, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Taarabt, Berbatov
As you can see I have employed spite and mathematics in equal measure in my selection. I'm benching Berba for his agent's Goat Getting activities and by my reckoning Jenas is not due another corker of a game until Liverpool, so I'd save him until then.
I think I'm being infected with the teams apathy and am finding it difficult to see beyond the draw. A glum one a piece then for me.
23 comments:
Going or staying...whatever! Berba!! 1-0! COYS!!!!!
I take that back - he's definitely going now! As Harry said - a wardrobe on casters.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/live/spurs.ram
Strikers, Defenders,Strikers, Defenders,Strikers, Defenders, Lennon, Strikers, Defenders.........
Strikers, Defenders,Strikers, Defenders,Strikers, Defenders, Lennon, Strikers, Defenders.........
Not watching the game, but am listening.
From what i can make out Keane couldn't reach the ball and it fell to Berba, does that mean that Lennon made a good cross or missed Keane and was lucky?!?
Try this:
http://www2.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=10547&part=sports
And click on PLAY by sopcast green button by True Visions logo, top of list...
Lennon is our stand out player so far, don't know what Ramos said to the poor lad, but he's been a lot more energetic in the last couple of games. Even made a pass or two!!!
However that said, any passing along the ground is woeful. I'm assuming thats all because of the utterly woeful pitch.
Why did we buy Silva btw? 4th choice left back behind Bale, Chimbs and O'Hara?
I am on a Mac not PC, can i use sopcast?
I guess so mate!
well Berba seems to b e still doing the business in front of goal anyway.. and get this he smiled AGAIN afterwards..
have to say though i didn't see any of the game bar the 2 goals...
can anyone fill me in?? any moodiness from Berb??
Same old from Berbs, majestic on the ball, lethargic when without it.
Yet another great day for Tottenham Hotspur. I actually dread us scoring early and first, as soon as we do we appear to think its game over and we can pack our bags. Exactly the same as the Boro game, clearly a better team in the 1st half, 2nd half we're chasing the game. I think Ramos needs to work on his half time speeches a little.
to be honest im actually gettin fed up with htis.......last 5 games we scored first an ony 1 one game ..we are not much better then when jol was here same players plus this new fitness ???????? tbh we are as bad now as we were at stat of season plus he plays same 11 plus same position an not much has changed it to predictable....god help summer.
If Berba smiled, then maybe it's because he's now just playing for fun - marking time, taking the opportunities that come his way, not especially exerting himself to create others that don't. One down, three to go. Ho hum. Not long now. I wonder if he's already packed his stuff into crates.
I didn't see all the match but what I witnessed in our 2nd half performance seemed a lack of passion. Which is not to say the game was without incident. Plenty of goalmouth stuff (usually ours). Wigan could have won it.
There was something akin to 'going through the motions' evident in some players. Regrettably, those motions didn't involve incisive forward play from the midfield resulting in sweetly-struck goals.
Keane's substitution seemed routine. Even he, when leaving the field, didn't evince much emotion. Same old same old. 'Why me and not Berbs?' Coz that's the way it is. 'Fair enough.'
Oh, and who, at the final whistle, didn't experience the usual relief at scraping a point against a side which (although admittedly fighting for PL survival) we ought to have punished? Ought to schmought to. Sure, we had another makeshift defence. The fact that but one of the first five would probably meet Ramos' criteria for filling their respective positions has to be taken into account.
What irks is that clubs seldom approach a match against Spurs as if they were up against a mighty challenge. They always fancy their chances. And if Wigan had taken all theirs we might have been left in the unsavoury position of having to blame the pitch. How embarrassing that would be.
What to do between now and the end of the season? It's like 'Waiting For Godot' - nothing happens. It's not even woth getting drunk over.
9.37 Anon
Grazza mentioned Tevez' contribution to Spam in the previous post and, as if to remind us all, he pops up again today in the right place to score a valuable equaliser for Man Yoo.
I know the circumstances are different, but what spirit the guy shows. You have to salute his will to win. He never gives up. You could probably heat a four-bedroomed house with his energy. If that sort of enthusiasm pervaded the Spurs team we might actually hang on to a lead occasionally. Talking of which, I vote that 'Giving up Leads' be nominated for entry into the Spurs Hall of Fame - to stand alongside 'Annual Crisis' and 'Poor Buys'.
Gus seemed quite chipper in the post-match interview. I do like that guy. Bit of a wag (not THAT kind of WAG), if you ask me. But his motivational powers will be tested for the Bolton match. Maybe the suggestion in a previous post - to establish pay-related play - is the answer. Or bringing back the town stocks and pelting underperformers with tomatoes.
Pomodoro, anyone?
9.37 Anon
The problem with play related pay is that a) No players would come near our club if that was on offer and b) Non of our players would resign their contracts for this to take effect.
In an ideal world this would be a workable solution, unfortunately the premiership is far from ideal. Completely agree with the level of effort in recent games being a shambles. We're great when everybody is running to attack, but very few players are running back to defend.
However, as I've already said Lennon appears to be playing for his future, the last few games he has covered nearly every blade of grass. He is back to looking like an unpolished gem, instead of almost player.
The only Pomodoro I'm interested in is located in Beauchamps Place. That's two lefts up from that cornershop in Knightsbridge.
You're right of course 9.37 Anon. To steal from the old Guinness campaign, Gus Is Good For You.
Bless my live stream today. Shackled as I was with a time delay that would give any safe in Hatton Garden a run for it's money, the chummy factor between the car coated Capos wasn't entirely unpleasing.
Bruce is what John Francombe would call 'an honest sort' and his positive comments about the frenetic head tennis this afternoon are consequently welcome.
Remarkably enough the game did fail deliver what we all wanted and so live up to at least my prediction in it's whole but not in it's parts.
Everyone got stuck in. With varying degrees of success. O'Hara was washed out it as Left Back. Zokora wasn't cunning enough for Heskey which is a DefCon2 type alarm bell.
Cerny LOOKED awkward but crucially didn't LEAK awkward. Well, not too badly. Until Robbo's replacement signs I'm more than happy with our 'Number Two'.
Tevez.
Seemingly the Dunkirk Spirit HAS been bottled.
And er.. put in a red shirt.
Great site with great contributors.
Mauritians? Get in!
You're right, Jared, about the play-related pay suggestion. I was just toying with what I might introduce if ever I'm Chairman. It's the weekend, and a little megalomania is good for relaxation.
Tonight's Dr Who missed a trick. The Time Lord and his assistant, Donna (Catherine Tate) found themselves 2000 years in the future. Donna fired questions at the Dr regarding the nature of humanity in the 4th millenium. At one point, I half expected her to ask if West Ham had won the league yet, and for for him to say, with mock sadness, 'No'. Another perfect comedy moment missed.
That live stream is addictive, Harry. I tried getting the Barca-Espanyol game to check out Jarque, but the images were so grainy I gave up. Unless that's how he really looks. What's the news on his mooted transfer?
Today's performance met our expectations but not our aspirations. I just hope that this Spurs team is like a clock with all but a few essential components in situ and in perfect workable order. The insertion of those components (in the summer transfer window) will get the entire mechanism turning and operating regularly - like clockwork. At least, I trust it will. I certainly don't see this side - which doesn't have the mental stamina to last 90 minutes - pushing for top four next season. And if the new campaign gets off to a stuttering start I can't see confidence levels being unaffected. Ah, well. I still think we're capable of winning the league before the 4th millenium.
Try Maroush, Harry, in the same street. Great falafel wraps. The Almaza's not bad, either (glug).
9.37 Anon
Errrrr seeing as we bought two left backs in the last 5 months how come when Chimbo is a no go we don't play Gunter or Gilberto.
Bit worrying that.
Can anyone point me in the direction of an article or interview where Berba says he wants out cos I can't remember seeing one ?
Has Berbatov been sold yet? My son went yesterday and reckons he was our worst player, bar Zokora. He used to love him; can't wait for him to go now.
dannyboy -
I agree: bar Zokora. Now.
Funny thing, though - I seem to reacll Wenger was interested in signing Zokora at one time. Can't help thinking that, under Wenger's coaching, Zokora might have turned out ok. Wenger likes recruiting athletes (some reports suggest he's interested in Kenwyne Jones now) and turning them into players.
An encouraging thought crossed my mind today through the miasma that is my usual pessimistic outlook on life. The fact that Ramos has spoken of extending the players' season means that his own season is extended, too.
When his contemporaries may be excused for turning their minds to golf and sending invitations to summer barbecues, his own seems fixed on the matter in hand: that is, how to improve Spurs. I salute him.
The whole Berba saga could work against him and us. He recently said that he couldn't bear another transfer window speculationfest regarding his position. I took this to signify that, to avoid this, he would soon make an affirmative decision, to stay or go - probably to go. But the questions over his temperament just may have caused the interest of some parties to wane. I trust there will still be sufficient numbers of them to inflate his price when the time comes.
9.37 Anon
Post a Comment