Pleading the fifth...a just reward for a transitional season

One more fixture. Ninety minutes plus stoppage time of the 2012/13 season to go and then its two months of watching sports that are not the Beautiful Game.

And, with so much riding on the final match against Sunderland, I will take fifth position in the Premier League. There, I said it.

I will be OK with finishing in the Thursday night European spot, I will not complain about watching games on a Sunday and I believe that it will be just reward for our efforts this year.

There will be some who disagree. I accept that. I expect to get slaughtered on social media and told by the latest generation of Spurs fans that I don’t know what I am talking about.

That if we don’t get Champions League football next season, Young Gareth will leave, nobody of any real quality will want to join us and that we will be forced to pay over-the-top prices for players who will happily accept high wages for the chance to get Spurs into the holy grail/cash cow of European football for the 2014/15 season.

They might be right. 

But I believe that finishing behind the Manchesters, the Roman Empire and the Nomads will be a true reflection of our season. And if every Spurs fan is honest with themselves, they would have taken finishing 5^th as a significant achievement bearing in mind the players that left the club in the close season and the appointment of AVB in what we all expected to be another one of our transitional seasons.

There is another reason why I think that we probably deserve fifth place.

Because we haven’t played consistently well enough through the season to secure the 3^rd or 4^th place that some fans consider to be our rightful position. They aren’t delusional, they are passionate and committed to the club – as we all are – but a healthy reality check is in order.

In the years since Sky TV irreparably changed the face of the game in 1992, we have finished higher than 7th on five occasions. Three of those have been in the last three seasons, and the other two were back-to-back 5th place spots overseen by Marin Jol in 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 campaigns – before he was disgracefully removed to make way for the short tenure of Juande Ramos.

With the exception of those years, the most we had achieved was to take 7^th in 1994/95 – with the help of a certain German striker and our very own Teddy bear – but apart from that, we have spent the majority of our Premiership life enjoying mid-table obscurity and an end-of-season game that means little to us.

Just for the record, I don’t want those days to return. Bob Marley once said that “in this bright future, you can’t forget your past,” and I have to agree. We need to know where we came from to appreciate what we have achieved this season and (hopefully) where we will be going.

In October 2008, we were bottom of the league. Two points from eight games. Staring up the table instead of looking down. Then The Badger rode in on his second-hand and slightly dodgy off-white horse and saved us. We got to a cup final and finished a respectable 8^th.

The next season, we finished 4^th. It was an unbelievable achievement. We looked forward to the Champions League in the same way that a starving man looks at the array of cakes in a baker’s window. And, as we all know, we did quite well in our CL debut season.

We did so well, that our Premier League form suffered a bit and we finished the season in 5^th position. But we had tasted the nectar of the footballing gods and, understandably, we wanted more.

Harry wheeled and dealed his way through the summer of 2011, persuaded some players who wanted to go to stay and was lucky enough to have a player on the books who was on his way to being a superstar. History shows that we held on to a coveted 4^th place – despite our manager being distracted and what some pundits feel is our now traditional dip in form - and that if it wasn’t for a freak occurrence in Munich, we would have spent the summer of 2012 dreaming of the treats that awaited us in the following season.

But this is Tottenham Hotspur. We don’t like to make things easy. 

Seemingly annoyed by his failure to bring the cream of the football world to N17, The Chairman dispensed with The Badger and brought in AVB – who had spent a few months watching the players who refused to play for him at Chelsea seemingly happy to add silverware to the cabinet of a bloke who had been sacked by West Brom.

Transitional season was the first thought that ran through my head after AVBs appointment.

This was repeated again when I watched the team in a pre-season game at Baltimore and once more when we sold Modric, let Van Der Vaart try to patch up his marriage in Hamburg and sadly waved goodbye to the King.

For the first few weeks of the season, we looked like a team that was coming to terms with not playing in the Champions League by making sure that we got nowhere near it this time. The new signings – with the exception of Big Jan – were not setting the Lane alight and we had the unedifying spectacle of having to see Chelsea perform so badly in the defense of their trophy that the Roman decided to get rid of the manager who won it for him.

Then we seemed to get it together. The results started to get a bit better – including a fantastic win at Manure – and we were doing OK in the Europa League. It got a bit shitty in November, losing to Wigan at home was followed by a battering at the Nomads and defeat by the other Manchester, but then we moved into another gear and moved up the table.

A defeat by Everton in injury time aside, once we got into the top four, we played (for the most part) as if we should be there. However, the consecutive defeats by Liverpool and then Fulham in March sent my spidey-sense into overdrive. A seven-point gap over the Nomads was quickly charged down and we have been (to my mind anyway) clinging on as opposed to stamping our authority on the European spots.

It has helped that the majority of the Premier League care less about going on a European Tour and more about avoiding a trip around the Championship. If you look at the current league table, we are 21 points clear of West Brom (8^th) who are themselves 9 points ahead of Sunderland in 17^th.

While this is great for the clubs at the top of the tree, it is not healthy for English football. We all know that there are now only three or four teams that have the financial resources to win the title, with perhaps three others who may fight over the scraps. The Manchesters and Chelsea are the most likely to stay at the top of the tree leaving us, the Nomads and Liverpool and potentially Everton (depends on the post-Moyes era) as the ones-most-likely-to-be-there-or-thereabouts.

I want to stress that I am not unhappy with this situation.

As I said, I don’t want us to return to the days when the chances of making Europe rested with a successful cup run – something that we have also failed miserably in since the formation of the Premier League. Two League Cups is not a good return for a club with our supposed cup reputation, while not even making the FA Cup Final since 1991 is (quite frankly) pathetic.

But in terms of where the club is heading, I am confident that we are on the right track. The signings are getting better and we have players that can light up the league in the same way that Hoddle, Gascoigne, Lineker, Ginola, Waddle and Ardiles did in the pre-Premier League days.

We are financially secure and haven’t fallen into the trap of overpaying our stars, despite the obvious disparity in wages between our boys and those at clubs being bankrolled by foreigners. The new stadium will see more people come to N17 to watch the team, a knock-on effect that will help the community as a whole. The Chairman may still be playing hardball in terms of what he is willing to spend for players, but there is a healthy glow coming from the Lane these days.

So if we don’t get that last Champions League spot this year, it won’t be the end of the world. The naysayers will moan that Gareth will leave us and that another year of Europa League is not where we deserve to be. I disagree.

Finishing 5^th will be a reflection on the season and the team as a whole. One that I expected little from and instead got to watch one of the best players I have ever seen in a Spurs shirt terrorize opposition on a regular basis, while knowing that we have potentially over-achieved in terms of the playing staff available.

Put it this way. If someone in that stadium in Baltimore in July had told me that 5^th was the least we could get on the last day of the season, I would have bitten his or her hand off.

But 4^th would be nice.

COYS

Wigan Casino

The Verve may have held on to the 'best band from Wigan' title for five years or so in the nineties before decamping to London (indeed, one of them lived in Tottenham territory for a bit and became a good friend of mine for a short time), and the rugby league team are, I hear, quite good (or have been) but probably the best thing to be associated with Wigan is the Wigan Casino and not the football club.

Classic soul tunes, Mods and Modettes in vests and original Adidas gear doing the splits and getting a bit sweaty. For many, the key ingredient in a proper weekender. Of course, the Wigan Casino might have had a cool name and a great reputation, but you weren't taking a chance on the music as you queued up outside the Embassy, it was always going to be good, you were only taking a gamble on just how good it could be. A bit like Spurs this season.

For many, this will be the Tottenham team that flattered to deceive, full of unrealised promise - a marked improvement on the players and manager who last won us a trophy (how can we laugh at Arsenal when our trophy-less run is now five years long?) but still empty handed and in the position that Martin Jol's last full season saw us finish in (albeit with more points already).

Not for me though. I see a Tottenham team mixing it with the biggest clubs in Europe at the top end of the Premier League, and capable of beating the Milans, beating Manchester United, beating Manchester City, beating Arsenal and boasting players who are world class. Vertonghen, Bale, Lloris, Walker (yes, I'm serious), Dembele, Lennon, and Sandro would grace any Big Cup or International team, not far behind stand Dawson, Parker, Defoe, Dempsey, Benoit and Caulker. We might not being using up a tin of Silvo at the moment, but these are very good players delivering some excellent results. Let the good times roll.

Bale scores, Clichy gurns, Hart dances to Northern Soul, I look on (circled)

Our victory against Manchester City last weekend was widely reported as unexpected at 70 minutes, a result of a brave suite of substitutions and tactical changes by the manager and a consequence Gareth Bale's realisation that actually, he felt a bit better, the ankle wasn't too bad and he would have a go and change the game after all. Tom Huddlestone has used his fertile cameo as a bargaining position for first team football or a lucrative move (but not for a haircut) and Scott Parker has taken no credit from anyone for running Manchester City's midfield into the ground so that our subs could either have the pace or space to either close City down (Holtby) or pick them apart (Hud).

Whilst I still bask in the glory and revel in those good times, I can't help but feel that I'd have taken a draw there if it meant beating Norwich, Fulham and Wigan at home and having more points.

And this is a little problem. Not of AVB's making, he's done well mostly, very well, after a bit of a turgid start and some wobbly home form, but he needs greater depth in his squad if he's serious about competing in more than one competition. Which is interesting, because it was this depth of squad issue (admittedly one of many, but still a significant one) that lead to the downfall of AVB's predecessor as he lined up but failed to land the players that he really wanted and grew frustrated. The Remys and Damiaos, those one or two extra world class players who could make the difference between nearly and not quite and an end of season, 36,000  strong half an hour long "YYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!" instead of polite applause as the team do their end of season lap of White Hart Lane in the last home game.

Would Mr Levy foist the likes of Nelson and Saha onto AVB? We shall see.

Glorious against the big clubs, average against lesser opposition... an Arsenal fan described me as 'supporting the new Liverpool' today. Bless him. Not the brightest spark, but the habit of only being able to raise it against the biggest, mixed blessing as it is, will carry us to glory against Chelsea on the 8th of May if we can learn from our defeats and overcome the weaker opponents with the same intensity that we show against the top teams in the meantime. I have seen it. I once wee'd the face of Christ onto a tree at the green near Turnpike Lane station. Believe. AVB will see his journey from White Hart Lane to Stamford Bridge and back again as an escape to victory and we will claim three points there. AVB is unlikley to beat Peter Shreeve's (can you believe that?) 77 point total, the most we've accrued in the three point era, but he's well placed to move above Harry's haul of 70 points, which would be some achievement in a debut managerial season. Respect.

To do this though, we do have to dare to beat teams like Wigan, Southampton and Sunderland. Three renascent teams, one through seasonal factors (Wigan might be losing but they're playing well) and two through risky, but seemingly inspired managerial appointments. Bale and Lennon have to stay fit, Dawson and Vertonghen need to stay strong and Jermain Defoe's return to action needs to equal goals. The next five games could make the difference between keeping our star player and our manager and building a fantastic team that can turn everything up to 11 or having to scrabble about in Swansea trying to persuade Michael Laudrup to move to England and hoping that Real Madrid's cast-offs are still better than our weekly opposition.

So all to play for then, I'm going to have a fiver on the white number seven to make the difference in the footballing casino tomorrow. With Aaron back, there's no stopping us now.

Six of the best will help us achieve our goals...

Six games to go, still in the Not-so-Poisoned Chalice of the Europa League, still hanging onto a top four spot and still above Arsenal. And mathematically safe from relegation.

With supporters suffering from a gnawing sense of déjà-vu that hangs around like the smell of stale beer at The Bricklayers in the close season.

Did I miss anything? Is my assessment of our current standing about right? I hope so, because this season has been bizarre and memorable – so far – for so many reasons that occasionally my head spins round like that little girl in The Exorcist.

Followed usually by a stream of consciousness dialogue that has very little to do with how well we have done so far, but with the view that these next few games could conceivably mould the future of my beloved Lilywhites.

I will admit that it took me some time to warm to AVB. As I may have mentioned before, I was a confirmed fence sitter. Like all early relationships, I didn’t want to commit and throw my hat into the ring too early. I didn’t want him to fail, per se, just was unsure how he would succeed in what seemed to be another inevitable season of transition.

In all fairness, I don’t think I was alone in feeling that a man who had disappointed the Roman – ensuring that the overworked P-45 department at Stamford Bridge could close another staff file – would potentially struggle to match the highs that the Badger had hinted at. The media spotlight in the early days was relentless, as it seemed that every pundit and tabloid hack wanted Andre to slink back to his Portuguese villa with his tail between his legs.

It didn’t happen. Football fans (who know nothing about the game) watched as AVB took the team that had finished fourth last term and started to mould it into a potent attacking force – even with only one recognized attacker. Shrewd signings also helped to convince the doubters that this year might turn out to be better than we hoped, with Super Jan the pick of the bunch (in my humble opinion).

Yes, we also signed a lazy ex-Gooner who has managed to make Berbatov look like a 120 percent workhorse and Clint hasn’t been the revelation that we all hoped for, but apart from that, the Chairman has done well at the Lane this season. Bearing in mind that we also lost the Croatian contingent and Rafa van der Hoddle to the EU, and the fact that April sees us in a healthy position is to be applauded.

Without wanting to delve into the big book of football clichés, this is where the hard work begins. The business end of a long season, the games where everything we have strived to achieve could be undone by yet another careless pass by Gallas, Kyle or BAE. With the final stretch in sight and a summer of non-tournament football to look forward to, the nerves will be stretched tighter than young Gareth’s hamstrings.

Being the eternal optimist that I am (yes, really), I want to believe that last year’s spectacular collapse – which still would have seen us qualify for the Champions League in any other season – is driving the players forward. We also have a young manager who is hungry for success in this country, if only to prove to a bloke in West London that he was completely off his rocker to fire him. And then there is this Welsh winger that seems to have found his form.

Having cruelly mocked my Goon chums for being reliant on a Robin last year, we have – at times – been seen to be in the same boat. When someone like Zidane calls Bale one of the best players in the world, you take notice, and when the talk of him being at the Lane next year seems to hinge on where (and how) we finish the season, then the events of the next few weeks take on a huge significance.

Gareth has been immense. We all know that, we have seen the highlights reel. But to call Spurs a one-man team misses the point entirely. He has stepped up when others – and we also know who they are – have failed to do the job that they are paid for. I only really realized quite how influential he is when I was playing FIFA 13 with my nephew when on an unscheduled trip back to London recently.

So when he went over on his ankle at the end of the Basle game – which admittedly I only heard about through the joys of internet commentary from BBC London 96.4 (my preferred choice of game following at the moment) – I was ready to emulate Rocky at the end of Apollo Creed’s fight with Ivan Drago and hold up a blood-stained towel.

The initial diagnosis was not good, Bradley Allen (co-commentator) declared it to be a potential game changer for the season and my social media feeds filled with chortling gooners and chavs. I just listened with a look that said that I had been here before.

Because we have seen how this scenario plays out. Without wanting to be pessimistic, this is part and parcel of being a Spurs fan. The rollercoaster of emotion that comes from many years of nearly – and even the years of moderate success came fully packaged in a box of not quite – with the expectation that if one top team is going to implode at the end of a long campaign, it will be the lads from N17.

 ,

Sunday’s game was also brought to me courtesy of BBC London – not because I didn’t want to watch it but due to other commitments – and unsurprisingly the lack of Gareth and Lennon (another victim of Basle) allowed Everton to provide their usual degree of work ethic and substance.

Apparently Adebayor looked as if he cared for a change – which was nice – but another 2 points slipped away and saw the Roman Empire move ahead of us, while Saturday’s victory at West Brom put the Nomads 2 points behind with a game in hand. Which happens to be against Everton.

Basically, this is now the moment for AVB to show what he can do. To my mind the team has been running on empty for some weeks, with flashes of the style that got us into the top four in the first place. Our lack of striking power has become more evident as the games have rolled on, with injuries to Defoe not helping the cause.

At the back, we have shown a worrying ability to concede from set pieces, and the only good news appears to be that a) Gallas has got a knock and that b) Kaboul could play a part at the end of the season. Dawson has carried himself brilliantly – on the whole – and the signing of Big Jan still looks inspired.

In midfield, there have been disappointments. Scotty P has been patchy at best and Dembele seems to have lost an undefined something. Not having Sandro has affected us more than I thought it would, and Holtby is yet to blaze the expected trail of glory. Dempsey has been inconsistent, Siggy is weighing in with some important goals and Thud still hasn’t cut his hair.

Six games to go….if anyone thinks that they will be enjoyable examples of the Beautiful Game, then they may find that listening is preferable to watching.

COYS

Diamond Dogs

Reading Steve Archibald reminiscing about David Bowie on Twitter provided a few happy moments amongst a timeline of gloom and doom after the Basel game. It got me reflecting.

I watched our extra-time defeat to Liverpool in the 1982 League Cup Final from the front room of the council house opposite the one I lived in in Suffolk. Despite living firmly in Ipswich Town territory, Liverpool were the Man Utd of the time, winning most things. The Reds had the most supporters anywhere. My Mum was (is) a hippy, she'd hidden the black and white portable TV in a cupboard or a friend's house having read about the imagination-crushing powers of television on children and so the house over the road, where my best friend of the time lived, whose brother was a Liverpool fan and whose TV was colour, became my window into Wembley that afternoon.

As I took my place on the floor (all seats were taken) of the living room, my friend's dad said to me "Archibald's like a dog, he only does what you want when you feed him". We had Hoddle in the side, supplies weren't an issue, so what? I was 11 and grateful just to be able to see the game, I just took it on the chin. Archibald scored from a Hoddle pass, as he did so many times in his all too brief time with us before heading to Barcelona. If Archibald was a dog, we now know that he was a Diamond Dog.

The rest of my Twitter feed, with a few notable exemptions, seemed to think that our 2-2 draw with the Swiss Champions was a dog of a performance. I don't really agree, but there were some obvious shortcomings.

Benoit. He struggled.

Our defence looked like a company of strangers. Benoit, whose LOL hair and golden boots suggested he was looking for the new sound, or the spirit of Timothee Atouba rather than a victory in a football match, was run ragged by the excellent Salah, Kyle Naughton and William Gallas offered performances that suggested that our best squad players in their positions were on the bench or on loan in the Championship. Friedel takes some grief for not being Lloris and being over 40 but was man of the match for me.

Our midfield looked reasonably solid, and Dembele excelled but tired late on and we needed natural width both as an outlet and to pull Basel about and stretch play. The Lennon injury detracted from what would have been a passable performance in this department as everything headed through the centre of the park. Even still, we all too often gifted possession to the opposition here. And Scott, great Scott, how did he miss?

Up front, our attacking players were like Eric Morecombe's piano playing, hitting all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order as each player took up a variety of positions to try and compensate for the lack of Aaron Lennon or a striker in form. Bale played in at least four positions, Siggy (who looked lively and deserved his goal) moved from left to right. Holtby tried gamely to combine out and out left-wingery with a neat tuck inside to join up with central midfield. Adebayor worked hard, scored a goal, but failed to convince. Clinton shifted from left to in the hole to up front but struggled to make any impact.

None of the negatives were due to a lack of trying, we were simply outclassed by a very good team.

As Tottenham supporters we need to take some comfort from the fact that with a weakened side, with our key players picking up injuries like The Gaffer picked up parking tickets, we salvaged a draw. A tighter defensive performance with a goal on the counter could still see us a step closer to Amsterdam.

Back when Archibald was scoring for fun for Spurs and I was 10 years old, my hippy Mum had bought me a vinyl copy of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, which I played a fair bit. Starman was one of my favourite tunes and still is. Our star man, one Gareth Bale, has made footballing music (is that a thing?) this year and the reaction to what we thought was a season ending injury last night was telling. For most, in the moments before rallying and getting into "it's a great opportunity to play the youngsters, other players will have to step up to the plate" mode, you could feel the sense within the ground that this was it. Season over. Nobody uttered anything about us not being a one man team for at least 10 seconds.

Worse still was thought that it'd be like Gazza all over again. A top player ending his Spurs career on a stretcher.

Personally, I hate to think that any one man could be considered to be bigger than the club. We've survived the departure of many of our greatest players reasonably well, particularly since the Jol era. Tottenham aren't likely to slip into another era of transition like those seen in the years from Gross to Santini. No, if we lose Bale we could wheel and deal to compensate across the team. What's worrying is the thought that if we lose Bale during this point of the season, we lose a proven ability to score goals in tight games.

Much of this is because we've become victims of Bale's success, as have the likes of Adebayor, Defoe and LOL whose confidence has drained as they no longer have a predictable supply line/ outlet as Bale goes roaming in search of the unfeasibly good goal. Even Archibald would have struggled to survive on the scraps coming their way. When the get the ball to Bale tactic works, it's beautiful (Swansea, West Ham, Arsenal). When it doesn't, we look very average. (Many of those in the ground against Basel were clearly not at the Fulham game. That was far, far worse).

Contrast this to the shape, discipline and precision shown by the Swiss and you had the battle of the one man team against the team that play as one. If we go out of the Europa League next week, this is something that we have to learn, whether it's this summer or next or through a long term injury, that the way to survive another key departure, Bale's departure, will be to develop a team structure at the club that can compensate for these kind of changes, that mitigates against being too dependent on an outstanding talent or two and that plays with cohesion. In the meantime, we only have two nerve shredding weeks of moaning about Andros Townsend being on loan before Bale and Lennon return.

Hang on to yourself Tottenham, the next day might not be as good as the golden years but last night was not really a low. We will not have to wait five years. Diamond Dogs rule, ok?

Crash and burn

Perhaps it was inevitable that the run of 12 unbeaten matches in the Premier League would end in a streak of three consecutive defeats, perhaps it was wholly avoidable. That AVB has built up a bank of goodwill through the good run we've had has spared him the kind of lambasting that previous managers would have received from all quarters, that Levy failed to furnish him with a striker offers a plausible mitigating circumstance. Broadly, things are still looking good. Fourth, quarter finals of the Europa League and one of the more entertaining Premier League teams to watch turn out in our colours, boasting one of the world's best talents. So why worry?

Each of our defeats, Liverpool, Milan and Fulham have been self-inflicted. At Liverpool we were valiant, the better team on the balance of play if not on the final scoreline, Vertonghen's super-human efforts were undermined by two stunningly bad individual errors. Walker's ambitious, back-firing back-pass and Defoe's appalling touch and follow-up scuppered the whole deal and the good run in moments, allowing the Sky Top Four loving pundits an occasion to wallow in the possibility of things returning to their 'natural' order.

Milan away. Just thinking about it a week on has me running to the kettle for a cup of calming camomile tea and some rescue remedy. I still can't decide whether it was the poor tactical approach (4-4-2 at the San Siro, even Redknapp would have baulked at the idea - he'd have lined up 11 Wilson Palacios's), or the generally lackadaisical 'we've won this already' mentality of many of the players that was most at fault. The general shoddiness, the result brinksmanship that probably wiped out a few of our Spurs supporting number, the seeming inability of Mr Gallas to replicate his resolute performance of the previous week, the random lumberings of Livermore and the out-of-body experience forward play of Adebayor and Defoe all contributed to a drubbing that was richly deserved. But we got away with it.

Fulham at home. For a variety of reasons, my worst experience at White Hart Lane since Juande Ramos decided that David Bentley was a right back, when we'd lose at home to big clubs like Hull City.

Oddle

Flat atmosphere, flat performance, poor set-up with players at odds with each other and their positions. Benoit at left midfield, Walker dropped (sacrificial lamb), Dawson crocked, Adebayor often running the left wing, Defoe shooting straight into defenders every time, Bale on the right. From the huddle at the top of the game (some huddling, some standing up straight) to the last knockings and disconsolate body language of some of the players, the whole thing felt wrong. Slow, uninventive, drab. Tottenham Hotspur crashed and burned. Did the kit man get their boots mixed up? Would a sip of whisky been more effective than some celery and a sports drink? Just tired? Did Martin Jol just confuse everyone by declaring his love of all things Spurs in his pre-match interviews?

I left early, something I very rarely do... but I knew the team would get booed off the pitch and didn't want to hear it.

Individuals selected for special treatment by some of the glass half empty people...

Walker has been pilloried, and abused on Twitter for patchy performances but he gets my nod every time for the right-back berth. He gives so much than he takes away and is still learning the game. He's more than just a pace merchant and, in the absence of Lennon, give us a positive option for wing play on the right-hand side - a position that Bale failed to adequately cover against Fulham. But I'll get to that in a bit.

Adebayor, veers between hard working and non-plussed. Hardly ever scores but then isn't getting the greatest supply. Misses Lennon and Bale on the wing, misses just having the job of getting on the end of things and has the look of a comedian who's forgotten his best lines. No one's laughing.

Parker, getting plenty of stick for not being Sandro. Playing consistently well, puts Jack Wilshere in his pocket, runs hard to the final whistle, all neat turns and short passes. Needs more mobile attacking options around him and needs a goal. His dipping shot against Fulham was close, with more confidence being a year past his best wouldn't matter.

Benoit. Dropped, played out of position, then expected to carry the entire left-wing. I'm as tired of the threadbare LOL persona as anyone but he's the best left-back we've had since Mitchell Thomas, or Mauricio Tarrico. He's throwing in the occasional wobble but his partnership with Bale used to be devastating. Without the Welshman for company he looks Lost Out Left (sorry).

Dempsey. You try getting some form when you're in and out more than a gigolo invited to a hen weekend. He scores against Manchester United, give him some respect.

As for the squad as a whole, we were all reasonably satisfied with Holtby when the transfer window closed (and he'll grow into the role when he gets the chance to be more involved) but the failure to sign a striker and the loaning out of Andros Townsend have bitten hard. Particularly since Lennon's hammy went twang. Bale has dragged us over the line in a number of games but being as key person dependent as we are on him is risky and, against Fulham in particular, he looked under pressure and frustrated - it's too much to expect him to pull a rabbit out of the hat every game, someone else has to chip in. Conversely, John Arne Riise was seen to be smiling and barely perspiring.

So we're creaking a bit under the strain of keeping up the challenge, there are a few worries brought on by a bad week but the outlook is bright. I loved Ledley King's rallying call this week - we are near the end of the title rainbow, really we are. We have the international break to help us forget before we regroup for a few really tough fixtures. I think we'll be up for it, we'll bounce back in Wales, we'll show Everton why we're a notch above them, we'll finally take a result from Stamford Bridge and we'll edge Man City at home before we lose to Wigan. We'll also take the Basle games in our stride and have the prospect of a semi final in Europe (please let it be Benfica). Yes, the Ides of March are done. It's time to get positive again, the wheels came off, we're having a pit stop, then we'll go faster.

The best players in their best positions in the biggest matches is all. Easy.

Flying

It's been a month since my last blog here. So much to do so little time, so compressed ramblings from the last couple of weeks will have to do...

Lyon away was such a fantastically mixed bag that, in many ways, it summed up what being a Spurs fan is all about. I headed out for the Eurostar before dawn broke last Thursday to read about how our fans had, once again, been selected for "special" treatment by right wing extremists at The Smoking Dog pub. This was daunting news and it goes to the heart of who we are as a club but we should not change or be deterred from following our team. I read a number of "this is why I don't go away" comments on social media, which are understandable in practice (why risk your life for a football match?) but on point of principle are defeatist. 

The events of Wednesday night last week could be viewed as a barometer for the state of modern European nations. Something is rotten in the state of Europe; the bankers have taken all our money, the politicians have decided that austerity and divide and rule will crush a little more blood out of our collective stone and youth unemployment is sky-rocketing. It feels like a perfect storm for fascism is developing across Europe and our "Jewish club" status combined with Europa fixtures make us a mobile lightning rod for it. 

Nevertheless, in a world where we are defined as much by what we consume as by what we do, following your football club wherever they may go is an act of freedom of expression that we should hold on to for dear life. UEFA could act meaningfully (unlikely), clubs could do more to challenge the organised neo-Nazi gangs amongst their fanbase but they don't. No, when it comes to our identity and our support in the face of this extremism it is down to us, and we should never surrender. 

A winning mentality was exactly what our team showed on the pitch too. Across both legs of this tie, Tottenham Hotspur and Olympique Lyonnais were very evenly matched. Lyon were excellent, and beating them bodes well for the round of sixteen. In the end, the difference between the teams were defined by the arrival of moments of individual brilliance from key players at key moments. We all lament the lack of a talismanic, or even a goal-scoring striker but, between Bale and Dembele, we have the talent to cover for Daniel Levy's failed brinksmanship in the transfer market (this time) and the imbalance in our squad.

Lining up in Lyon

Our follow-up victory at West Ham was then, all the more remarkable. Games come thick and fast when you're deep into a Europa campaign. West Ham had been out in Dubai and had the look of a refreshed team as they initially set about Spurs as if a cup final place was at stake. But, as with Lyon away, we demonstrated steel and belief, as well as the capacity for extraordinary goals from our outstanding individuals.

Dawson and Caulker were mostly solid, Parker worked relentlessly if not effectively and Lloris was outstanding, dashing off his line to sweep up danger and taking the ball with his face to thwart Taylor. Our new strength of resolve was no better expressed by the ugly Sigurdsson goal. Gylfi's introduction helped change the game, fresh legs, probing runs and not afraid to shoot but the effort and persistence that led to the Icelander's two yard toe-poke was a timely reminder that we can win ugly as well as beautiful. We might be seen to be dependent on the Welsh boy wonder for goals at the moment, but the supporting cast can get us over the line should some flailing centre-back prematurely end Bale's season. 

Bale's late winner at the Boleyn ground instantly entered my top ten favourite goals of all time, to get up having been chopped down at the end of a 40-yard dash, receive the ball as soon as he'd got vertical and then strike a goal of such beauty from distance was just astonishing. It's a goal that I can and will watch repeatedly, like Hoddle at Watford, Gascoigne in '91 or Ricky Villa in '81. He rightly bears comparison with the best players in the world at the moment and his modesty is refreshing in an era when players make platinum statues of themselves. 

And so we come to what used to be the highlight of our season, the North London Derby. Much has been made this week of our position as slight favourites, but the Premier League form table has us in third with Arsenal second, and we should be cautious about getting too optimistic or too nervous about this one. As I write (Saturday lunchtime), I think I'm bucking the trend, I'm feeling remarkably relaxed about things. It's a big game, for a long time it was our cup final, but we'll finish the weekend above Arsenal whatever happens and we have the above-mentioned steel and resolve to bounce back should we lose on Sunday. Unlike last season at the Emirates, this is Arsenal's season defining game, not ours. Theirs is a season to save, ours a season to savour.

We will succeed in our quest for being not quite good enough to win the league but good enough to finish above Arsenal. This will bring big financial gains and a second Champions League adventure will help with player retention and recruitment too. The kiss of death player/ manager of the month awards and a dropped three points will not derail our season and nor will the team in red and white. Like the monkey God on the wing, we are flying.

Our Europa Cup run, far from being a distraction, offers a chance to bounce back against a European giant should the worst happen tomorrow, which will give everyone an immediate lift. A win away at Anfield would do it too, it doesn't happen often but we are capable and motivated enough to beat anyone - even with ten men. 

I won't rant, I saw Adebayor chasing down balls and putting in a shift on Monday night, but he has been close to anonymous since his trip to the Cup of Nations. A striker who promised so much has delivered so little, but tomorrow is his big chance for a shot at redemption before Defoe returns, to show some mettle and deliver his best performance of the season. If Adebayor does this, Bale will and Lennon can dance through the holes he tears in the Arsenal defence and, provided we can stop Walcott, we can all look forward to seeing Jack Wilshere cry. Bale may need to show more defensive discipline down the left side than he has for a while though.

1995 was a long time ago, there's a generation of Spurs fans who have never seen us finish above Arsenal, much like there was a generation of Spurs fans who hadn't seen us win at Old Trafford. Until this season. Until AVB. 

We are in a race for third place, not a battle for fourth. Chelsea are in turmoil but still in the top four, Arsenal are deceptively vulnerable (when you think they're about to lose, they pull out a win) but vulnerable nonetheless and Everton are not consistent but are definitely persistent. It might come down to Sunderland in May but we will finish this season as the top team in London, or I will eat this blog. 

COYS!

1000 Volts of Holtby

The arrival of our newly acquired German international on Wednesday was electric. A game that threatened to yield nothing following another limp first-half performance on the road was resuscitated by a commanding cameo from the boy with a shock of blonde hair and a flash of flair. 

Our first ever debutant to hand deliver post-it notes to his colleagues as his first meaningful act in a Tottenham shirt soon showed why AVB/ Levy decided to bring him to Tottenham early. Holtby quickly provided a series of incisive, tidy passes into feet in triangular exchanges with Lennon and Walker over on the right-hand side, he had a foot in the build up to Bale’s solo special goal and generally helped the side to raise their game in order to salvage a point from what was, hitherto, an  underwhelming showing.

The performances at Leeds and Norwich should have resulted in some Tottenham action in the transfer market on deadline day as the evidence of our dire need for a striker, or at least a player capable of delivering a reliable flow of goals couldn’t get much more compelling. We’ve been unnecessarily thin on that particular patch of ground since we let Pav, Crouch, Dos Santos and Rafael van der Vaart go. Whilst I respect Levy’s hardball desire not to overpay, there are circumstances where you bite the bullet, swallow the expense and manage the consequences financially in order to pursue success; our current situation is one of them.  We should have bought Damiao.

Gareth Bale is occasionally vaunted as the alternative striker option; his pace is capable of destroying most defenders but the prospect of his physical challenge is probably not a worrying one for the centre-backs in the Premier League. A couple of strong challenges and Bale will disappear as we’ve seen against tougher opponents. Whilst Adebayor is away our game misses an important dimension, which is the ability to hold the ball for longer up front and bring the rest of the team into play and when Adebayor is here, we still miss a reliable source of goals to double Jermain Defoe’s contribution. As I mentioned in my email to the Spurs Show last week (they read it!), put RVP in our side and we’d be top of the league.

They had strikers at the Olympics

Still, RVP’s don’t come around too often and, on the sunny side, Jermain Jenas has finally departed N17 for good. At his best, he was a penetrative, hard working midfielder who contributed the occasional important goal – not least his divine curler at the Emirates in our sensational comeback to 4-4 in the early days of the Redknapp era. At worst, Jenas was incredibly frustrating, weak in the tackle and injury-prone; a thin facsimile of Jason Dozzell. Good luck to him, and I do hope QPR stay up, but I’m guessing the “undisclosed fee” secrecy was to cover the likelihood that paying Jenas for 18 months was part of the terms and conditions in Andros Townsend’s loan deal.

Our series of draws in the league is a little worrying. 1-1 to the Tottenham is rearing it’s mediocre head as a signature score-line again. Ok, there are 1-1's against Man Utd and there are 1-1's against middling teams - I'm concerned about the latter. We still hold fourth with the possibility of closing the gap on Chelsea to one point, but we have a determined Everton (I'm not so sure that they're going to go away this year now) and renascent pair of reds in Arsenal and Liverpool to fend off from the our precious Champions League berth.

West Brom’s want-away striker will have unsettled them a little but Steve Clarke doesn’t look like the sort of manager to tolerate any soap opera nonsense and, by putting Odemwingie on gardening leave for the weekend, has minimized any disruption that his striker’s deadline day shenanigans might have caused. But we should be good enough. Like Norwich, West Brom are good club, with a good manager and a hard working group of players, but they are not world-beaters. We are, or we should be, and we should be good enough to beat this kind of team with or without a fit and fantastic striking option.

Three points today then is important, timing-wise. It will stave off a downturn in form (we still rarely turn in a good performance for more than 45 minutes) and it will restore confidence as we strive to meet our objective... we might not get glory, glory football whilst we remain a piece or two short of the puzzle, but we can get the points. COYS!