HE’S GOT NO HAIR AND WE DON’T CARE: Halfway To Heaven
Well, we were nearly there. After our best ever Premier League season, our worst ever start. After the sunshine comes the rain. It has been truly awful as the results after filtered in this season and I am absolutely gutted. I cannot believe that even the most pessimistic fan saw this coming. Next up, our first foray into Europe for years but it is almost not wanted as we have to start putting points on the board in the league not making long trips away. All this after Jol said we have the strongest Tottenham side in ages, a point I agree with. But where did it all go wrong?
When the fixtures were announced, I was away on business in London. However, one of my colleagues kindly called with all the news as it broke. ?Away at Bolton first game, Sheffield United after that?. I was gutted and those passengers sitting around me in First Class as we hurtled down the East Coast main line looked a little shocked as I basically said ?oh, sh*te?. I could not hide my disappointment, Bolton away to start. Ironically, I was away on business in London when Tottenham played Bolton last season and lost 1-0. We should have got something, Defoe was not offside, but it was a defeat. In my own mind, I think we have a better set of players and a better team than Bolton but worried that if it was defeat, we might struggle in the opening fixtures. And so it has proved. Three points from twelve is an awful return and we may struggle to get 65 points again this season.
The mathematics for the season make it look even worse. 34 games left until the end of the season. A maximum of 102 points. We currently have 3 so need 62 to equal last season. Basically, that means we need 17 wins, 11 draws and can afford 6 defeats. In my mind, and on current form, I cannot see this happening. It is going to be tough in the league this season as the likes of Everton, Villa, Portsmouth, Bolton and West Ham all look stronger. Coupled with the fact we seem to have got stuck in a rut, I cannot see us challenging this season. But where did it all go wrong?
Jol had an excellent first full season in charge. Or did he? Was it a bit of luck with the rest of the Premiership poor? Did we get the rub of the green in most games? Is he a tactical genius? For me, it cannot be the latter. What has disappointed me so much this season is the tactics, all wrong. It harks back to the days when Pleat played six defenders, three midfielders and one striker in a 4-4-2. Against Manchester United, a poor looking Man U as well, we played four central midfielders in a 4-4-2. We also included Edgar Davids. If this was kids football, you would certainly think Davids was the child of Jol as he has blind faith in the veteran Dutch midfielder and he seems undropable despite abject displays. I do not want to turn this into (another) rant about Davids so will say this, if you played Paul Robinson as a striker would he be as good as he is in when in goal? Despite scoring for Leeds a while ago, I am sure he would not be much use up front as Davids is not as a left winger. We had no width against Manchester United and this meant that both Mido and Keane were missed out of the game. Davids drifts inside which leaves Benoit Assou-Ekotto exposed and faced with acres of space in front of him. It also stops Zokora and Jenas from forming a partnership. Fair play to Hossan Ghaly, he tried his best, but a winger? Again I do not think so. OK, so Lennon was missing, but we have let Routledge out on loan, Malbranque is injured, Ziegler does not get a look in while Murphy picks up his cash but does not look like playing. It has to change and Jol must realise that. In my eternal wisdom, Jenas could be a makeshift right winger while Ziegler showed enough to make me think he can work on the left. In the centre, Zokora has to play just to get used to league. Alongside side him, Murphy? I don?t think Davids and Zokora would work or Zokora and Huddlestone so for me, Murphy is the option. As for Davids, the bench is where he has to reside for much of this season.
I think we have the makings of an Everton all over. Fantastic season followed by a struggle to get out of the relegation zone and the lower reaches of the league. It pains me to say it, but maybe Jol is being found out? It is a true test of his ability to get us out of the mire. I do agree with him when he says we have the strongest squad for years, I cannot think of a stronger team in my lifetime as a Spurs fan (c1987-present). We have the players, just as England did at the World Cup, it was about finding the right balance and getting them to work as a team. This is the job of Jol and if he rode the crest of a wave last season, he is currently neck deep and sinking. I am not about to call for his head. Far from it. You need a good couple of years to build the team up and get them playing the right football but after such a good season last time around, anything less than 6th will be failure. Expectations have risen significantly and we currently look like crumbling under the weight of expectation.
I cannot predict the future but I do think this will be a rollercoaster of a season. I have already said I can imagine an Everton-like collapse but I also think it could go the way of Middlesborough. A fantastic run in the UEFA Cup but at the expense of league football. Spurs have a reputation as a Cup team and I think this may well be how the season goes. I am not sure which I prefer. If Ledley lifts a cup, any cup, it would be excellent but I really want us to be a force in the Premier League. I don?t think you get any respect if you are not finishing consistently in the Top 6. The team is strong enough, lets hope the Manager is good enough. Whatever happens, testing times are ahead.
About the author Gareth Johnson
Such negativity. Us Spurs fans are always guilty of thinking the worst. Positives are Zokora is beginning to adapt to the pace of PL and looked very good second half of Manure game and plyed better than Carrick. Scoring goals appears to be our main problem.
Pretty much disagree with everythng except swapping Zakora for davids… if anyone should lpay alongside Zakora it has to be Ghally, he was the most creative player in a Spurs shirt against UTD, but like you say he’s not a winger, and Jenas out on the right …. for now…. then benched when Lennon’s back. Ziegler was awful against UTD, he retained posession ONCE the whole time he was on, and managed to lose it every other, thought he showed exactly why he doesn’t get a game, and didn’t get a game for Hamburg nor Wigan, not gonna tell Jol who he should play left wing, we haven’t got a winger, so it’s up to him to find that square peg for this particular round hole, although I would probably go with Tainio for now, when fit.
All in all, I’m still happy plenty of time, gonna give him another 2 years to get it right if that’s what it takes, after all, look at Man Utd. If it was up to the fans SIR Alex could have been sacked in any one of his first 3 or 4 years in charge… give managers time and look what happens!!
COYS!
You lost ne as soon as you compared Jol to Pleat, you must have a short memory
I strongly disagree that Jol has in any way been “found out”. He has said that all the recent international football has been especially disruptive to a team trying to bed in new players (the players had only one day together before the Man U game) and that the loss of Carrick meant that the right midfield combinations have to be found. This all makes a lot of sense. Against Bolton we got hit by 2 early goals (the first shouldn’t have been allowed!) and we never recovered. By all accounts we played very well against Sheffield United and then had a very strange match against Everton. We seemed to be dominating against their 11 but were forced back by their 10 men! They had two chances and took both. (Against Liverpool they had 3, and took all three!) Then more disruptions, and finally we failed to take a few very presentable chances against Man U after gifting them a goal. So its not really the tactics that are at fault (tactics are about making chances and keeping opposition chances to a minimum, which we’ve done as well as can be expected) but rather our maturity and mental toughness which need to be worked on. Oh, and we have to finish much better! Calls for Murphy and Huddlestone to be introduced into the midfield may be spot on, but I’m sure Jol has considered these options and if he doesn’t think that’s the right move right now, that’s good enough for me. Rafa Benitez said after the Merseyside derby that Liverpool were “too nice”. Triple that for Spurs!!! This is a tough league and we have to be much harder. As Davids has rightly said, we have to grow up, dammit. And that means you, Jermain Jenas!
For goodness sake, the season is four games old!! We have new players in the team, Lennon and Berbatov were out injured, and the only thing that is truly wrong is that we have had three hard fixtures out of four for a team that is now starting to gel, with the result against Everton being justified by their result against Liverpool on Saturday. Given that we have Fulham up next, I am sure that we will double our points total, and move on from there.
Nice going Gareth.
At last I have found a person with similar opinion, I think we have the players it takes, but I doubt the managerial qualities of Mr.Jol.
United were an average team on Saturday and we were worse. The Davids-saga is really ruining Spurs, and if we look back to last season, how many matches did we lose out in the dying seconds thanks to bad dispositions by Jol. Murphy, one of the best passers in EPL, is warming the bench. He can be the substitute for Carrick. Now Defoe wants to leave and I think it will not stop there. It is a tragedy for the club. Jol has showed a lot positive signs but he will be dragged down by his blunders and blindness. I for one hope somebody in charge has open eyes.
For heaven’s sake, when the transfer window is closed, we always hear Defoe wants to leave, but he never does when it is open! Perhaps we should just put that nonsense to rest. And Murphy was dropped at Charlton because Alan Curbishley said he didn’t apply himself to his defensive duties! In any case, he doesn’t even play in a holding role like Carrick does.
Short memories of Spurs fans are starting to wind me up a bit! 4GAMES!!! I\’m sure last season there was a point where we played 4 games and only got 3 points, but we still managed to finish 5th… remember draws with Sunderland and a loss to West Brom last season as well… and still we managed to get 65 points… so a loss to Everton, albeit awful, is not the end of the world, we dealt with one for the teams who will (probably) be relegated… so it\’s already an improvement onthe Sunderland result… keep the faith and give a few more games (at least) before you start telling Jol he aint got a clue… by the way, while you\’re watching the Euro game we\’re playing on Thursday, win, lose or draw…. remember who got us there!!! COYS
The coming three PL games are Fulham (h), Liverpool (a) and Pompey (h). Should we get six points from the two, which I believe is credible, we will have 9 points from seven games. This is the same as last year, which I think most will agree, was an ok season.
If we then can find some consistency we will again be at the fun end of the table. Just need to avoid the slumps of oct/nov and jan/feb last season, which cost us the CL spot.
Give Jol a chance to find his best midfield constellation and lets keep our heads up. We’ve got a squad of great potential and I’m sure it will be proven in the months to come.
P.s. Arsen*l have two points from three
LOL
Some good points made. However, I do think it is too early to panic. We should not underestimate the importance of having Ledley King back, he is our best player by far. I thought Chimbonda was excellent as well, so we should at least start to look more solid which is a good basis to start improving from. Keano was dreadful against Man U, but he had little service. I think Jol will find the right balance in midfield soon, but I agree this should not include Davids. I think Berbatov shows great movement, and if we really do want to score more goals then maybe he should look at 4-3-3 which he did in pre-season. I realise that this would weaken the midfield, but if we only have central midfield players available at the moment then this systemwould suit them, especially with a more solid defence.
COYS
To Dan Mac, do I offend you because I have an opinion that differs to yours. I thought it should be possible to discuss the team we love and I think it is interesting in hearing other peolpes view, no matter if I agree or not. If you cant accept that, then stick your head in the sand, or maybe it is already there. I am not going to discuss here anymore, I am sick of ignorants like you.
Dear All
As author of the article, I welcome your thoughts whether you agree with me or not. My piece is an opinion and yes, it is probably pessimistic, but it is just my thoughts.
Please do not engage in slanging matches with each other, it is good that opinions differs, it is why we all love football. If everyone had the same thoughts, it would be a waste of time not to mention boring.
Also, I think Martin Jol is fantastic, hence the name of the column!
Why dont we try robbie on the left of midfield with Zokora and Huddlestone in the middle and Jenas on the right with Defoe and Berbatov up front, I am certain robbie can do a job there for now. We must give defoe a run of 5 or 6 full 90 minute games to really get him sharp and firing on all cylinders and then the goals will come. Anyone think this will work??
knut strand… apolgies… That was staring me straight in the face, and I couldn’t resist it. Just getting annoyed with all the pessimism, and think it’s actually pathetic, and would rather, that if after only 4 games into a season, following on from a very successful season, you want to start slagging off the manager that has made us the team we are now, without the likes of Stuart Nethercott and Dean Austin, then I would rather fickle support elsewhere, not to another site, your opinions are fine, but to another team, cos your support is sh!te! Please remember if Jol (as you put it) drags us down with his blindness and blundering, he will still leave us a level above from when he joined.
Chris, think having Huddlestone and Zakora is far too defensive, that’s two deep midfielders playing together plaing balls from deep. I think Zakora should be played alongside Ghaly for a bit, I was impressed with him against Man Utd and think he would play even better in the centre in Jenas’ position. But agree that Keane should maybe be tried on the left for a while, that would give efoe a chance to find his shooting boots, before we completely lose him.
Can everyone please refrain from personal insults please. I don’t want this site to be dragged down into a mire of petty childishness, there’s enough of that littering the web as it is. We can all have our say and deliver it with passion without turning on each other in a way we wouldn’t necessarily do if we were stood face to face discussing these issues.
Thank you.
(and COYS).
Saying it’s ok to lose two nil to ten man Everton at home because they followed that result up by walloping Liverpool 3-o at Goodison is ludicrous. International break or not, Liverpool were woeful. Reina’s boob at the end just put the tin hat on matters for them. How many saves did Tim Howard have to make against us? There is no justifying a performance like that, it was humiliating. I see no reason why Defoe won’t leave when the transfer window reopens, he’d gladly have gone to Portsmouth when they came a-knocking. You could see him doing the business at Villa. For instance, look how much Martin O’Neill was able to get out of that donkey Heskey.
you idiot, you say that even the most pessimistic fan wouldnt expect it? well we’ve only had one bad result, did you expect to go to Bolton and Man U and win? Grow the hell up, and stop writing so much crap! youve wasted 5 minutes of my life reading it!
You obviously didn’t waste any time reading my comment above though Rick. When I say no personal insults I mean it. if you don’t like it, don’t come back and definitely don’t waste our time with a childish nonsense comment.
You’ve now wasted 60 seconds of my life both reading your comment which adds nothing to this debate and then having to reply to you.
Ok folks, despite several pleas from me I’ve had to delete two extremely foul languaged and insulting comments on this post and as such I’m going to close comments on it.
As an editor it annoys me that people have so little real thought in their heads that they can’t put some intelligence into their objections to what Gareth has said and as a Spurs fan I’m disappointed at the way some of our supporters can turn on their own because they don’t have the exact same view.
For the record, if some of you think that three defeats out of four is acceptable then I think you’ve got the problem in this affair. It’s far from acceptable losing again to Bolton, losing badly to ten man Everton at home (who hadn’t beaten us there in over 20 years) and sending out a side to try and keep the score down at Old Trafford. Not good enough at all. That doesn’t mean I want Jol out but I do want him to buck up his ideas a lot, it’s dropped points like these that cost us Champion’s League last season, not the West Ham Lasagne game in isolation.
Anyone who doesn’t see that better take off the Orange blinkers.