Pre-season is one of those funny times in the football calendar when you have one eye on your teams results but in reality, win, lose or draw, it does not really matter that much. Don?t get me wrong, it is really nice to start to get a winning feeling before the start of the season but it is the way you start the first proper fixture of the season that counts.

Last season, we participated in the Peace Cup and eventually lifted the trophy, Ledley King?s first trophy has club captain, although I will not be shouting that too loud! Our pre-season record was excellent and we did not lose a game. Wins over Real Sociedad, Lyon and Porto were well deserved and the testing nature of the climate we played and the quality of opposition evidently helped in what was to become our best ever Premiership season. If you use pre-season as a bench mark, Tottenham once again look on course for a very good season. At present, we have a 100% record and have defeated Bordeaux, Nice, Celta Vigo and Birmingham as well as Stevenage. The real test however, will be Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund in our next two fixtures.

If pre-season does not represent meaningful fixtures for the fans, I am sure it is very different for the players and staff. For Martin Jol and Chris Hughton, it will give them a chance to assess the fitness of the players and also, try out new formations. Thus far, Spurs have tried playing Berbatov, Keane and Defoe up front in a seemingly 4-3-3 formation. Hossam Ghaly and Wayne Routledge have been given significant playing time while Ledley King is returning to fitness with every game he plays.

However, it is Jermain Defoe that is impressing the most. After the disappointment of missing out to a teenager that has yet to play a single Premiership game for a place in England?s World Cup squad (I am not bitter, honest), Defoe has shown himself to be a true professional. Undoubtedly he would have been match fit up until the start of the World Cup campaign so he may be a little bit ahead of his team mates in terms of fitness but he has been on fire. This can only bode well for Tottenham has we challenge on four different fronts over the coming season. Invariably, this season will be about the strength of the squad as opposed to our starting XI and this is why pre-season is so crucial and the games against Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund.

While the opposition has been of a decent standard thus far, it will be a testing time for all the players as we face Italian Champions Inter Milan and Dortmund in Germany. I am not confident that we will beat both teams but it will perhaps be a sign as to how strong the team actually is. Nothing can match competitive football but I know Jol will want to see the desire from his players to beat quality opposition. Dortmund will also be an excellent test as we will be playing away from home in European games this season.

I will be looking on with interest as to how Berbatov does on his return to country he has played in for the last few years. His experience and knowledge may be crucial to our European campaign. I would also expect it to be a chance for Jol to test himself against European opposition. Playing to a high standard week in, week out in the Premiership does not necessarily guarantee the same standard in Europe, just ask Jose, and Jol will be conscious of this.

As August 19th closes in, the one thing Jol will hope for over all else is a fully fit squad. A few niggling injuries persist at WHL but nothing serious and if the squad come of the next three games unscathed, win, lose or draw, we should be happy. If you believe Defoe, a few new faces are expected in the squad and it will be interesting to see how these players fit into the system. With stories of Carrick?s imminent departure rife in the tabloids, it might be just as interesting to see how we replace players as well.

As I said in a previous column, optimism is engulfing White Hart Lane. Lets hope this does not evaporate on a hot summers afternoon on Sunday!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Tottenham Hotspur. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.