Where does the next point come from?

I’m depressed. No I seriously am. I’ve said for ages “there are no easy games in the Premier League” only to find that there is at the present time – Tottenham and Newcastle. After the euphoria of our trophy last season it has gone from bad to worse and I reckon if you plotted a table from March to now we would be points adrift with Derby. No wonder Robbie Keane was so quick out of the door! How we miss him and Malbranque.

 

Hull City at home next week and a possible exit from the UEFA cup on Thursday. The next 7 days are crucial for everyone at the club that’s for sure. Having seen the Wigan match – if you could call it that – I would ask “what happened to the entertainment factor?” I was pleased when we signed David Bentley but he looks a shadow of the player he can be and at the present time if his life depended upon hitting a great corner or free kick the funeral would have been sometime last week.

 

All sports are confidence based and we surely cannot be as bad as we are playing at the moment. But you have to see a spark of something to change what is happening. We seem to be making strange decisions regarding selection and substitutions and you surely cannot accommodate everyone in the hope that it all comes right. For example, Modric signs for a lot of money looks good in Euros, reasonable in pre season but sat on the bench yesterday. Gunter does not play the first two games, appears against Chelsea does well for 70 minutes is subbed and sits back on the bench again. Corluka plays right back, not so good, plays centre back against Wigan looks solid but then goes back to right back. Zokora has been one of our best in midfield this season but has played 3 games at right back and then gets subbed yesterday when playing well.

 

Decide on your best team and stick to it should be the answer, the problem appears to be “we haven’t got a clue which team that is!” If you went back to basics you’d play 4-4-2, with a settled centre back partnership, committed wingers, a ball winner, some one creative and two up front. You’d play them all in the positions they know and understand so in my book it has to be;

 

Gomez, Gunter, Corluka, Woodgate (Cptn), Bale, Bentley, Modric, Zokora, Lennon, Pavlyuchenko and Bent.

 

I’m missing King because he cannot play all the games and as such we need to get a settled side and Jenas because for all his box to box running  I’m interested what he does with the ball and I’ve never been convinced that’s a great deal. I would have them both on the bench along with Huddlestone, Frazer Campbell, O’Hara and Giovanni and Hutton would replace Gunter when his fitness is complete.  We also need a leader on the pitch so give the armband to Woody.

 

And Ramos and Poyet? You have to stick with them at the present time. No doubt the suggestion is to spend big in January but as Mike Ashley’s statement showed a number of clubs have plenty of debt and Spurs may well be one of them. Changing Manager once more will not be the answer but if the players at the Club are not good enough a certain Daniel Commolli must take his fair share of the responsibility for that. I doubt he will see out the season.

 

No team is ever too good to get relegated. It’s down to the Spurs squad to fight for every ball, win every tackle and header and get the fans back on side. Have they the talent, I think so – but have they the desire and commitment – not on performances so far.  So COME ON YOU SPURS.

Chance of a Lifetime

Mike Carabine

At the March committee meeting the club I have played for over 25 years, Beacon Hill Rovers, decided to nominate ourselves for the County Charter Standard Club of the Year for Essex more in hope than expectation.

 

The Scheme looks at both the playing and non-playing aspects of a club, so as well as coaching it covers child protection, administration, disciplinary and development. The Scheme is open to ALL clubs below league level, so locally we were potentially up against Braintree Town, Witham Town, Chelmsford City and the like. So imagine our delight when in June we were invited to the Waterfront to collect the County award.

 

Part of the award offered three lucky Under-10’s the chance of a lifetime to carry out one of the pre-match flags before the crucial England Under-21 qualifier against Portugal on Friday 5^th September. Imagine my pride therefore when my son was one of the three chosen to carry out this duty. As soon as he found out, he phoned everyone he knew to tell them – his excitement turned up to 11.

On the day the Essex FA had laid on a coach for all the boys and accompanying adults, arriving at Wembley in plenty of time before their duties were due to start. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of going to the new stadium, I must recommend it. As you approach by road it looks a fantastic sight, the Arch more than making up for the loss of the Twin Towers. After leaving the boys to get their kit sorted, have a tour of the stadium, eat and then have a practice of what they would be doing later, the adults were treated to a pleasant meal at the Wembley Plaza Hotel, again courtesy of the Essex FA.

Upon our entry into the stadium we were shown to our seats above the corner flag. What struck me was, despite its size, the arena seems quite small, an effect of the extended roof constructions most of the way round. The consequence of this is that you feel closer to the action than you really are.

7.35pm: As the teams take to the pitch, the first flag out of the tunnel is a blue “Respect” banner, supporting the new FA campaign to encourage players, coaches and spectators not to harangue and abuse match officials. Immediately we spot that the three bearers our end are the members of our club – little old Beacon Hill; on the pitch; at Wembley! They carry out their duties without falling over or kicking Ricardo Vaz Te and are brought back to sit with us for the game.

To be honest for much of the first half the boys would have been better off still under the stands, as the match was pretty dire. Considering Portugal needed to win to top the Group, they made no real effort to get forward. England played with Gaby Agbonlahor up front on his own supported by a midfield five. For this to work effectively you either have to get it in to the frontman’s feet and play off him or get the two wide men playing in more advanced positions and playing almost as wingers. For most of the first 45 minutes we managed to do neither very well, but just before half-time a soft penalty was awarded to England, which James Milner tucked away.

My only cause for a moan during the whole day came at the half-time interval. The cost of refreshments at Wembley has been well publicised, so I was prepared for the extortionate prices. However what did come as a shock was the speed of service and the fact that when we did finally get to the front of the queue half the menu was off! All this on a crowd of just over 27,000 – so what must it be like on Cup Final day?!!

The second half saw a better performance and when Mark Noble slid a great through ball to Mr A, who then finished casually, it was game over. Portugal eventually mustered a couple of efforts, which Joe Hart coped with easily, leaving England 2-0 winners to finish top of the Group. In a strange twist, this does not guarantee a place in the finals as there is a two-legged play-off before that.

I must commend the FA with regard to ticket pricing for this game, with it being only £10 for adults and a fiver for children. Given that most of the England side were regular performers in the Premier League, and the importance of the match, I thought that was good value and would consider going again in the future. Even better for me, the England side selected included players from a number of clubs not just the three or four that dominate the main England team.    

On the way back on the coach we had a bunch of tired but elated children, who were soon fast asleep. Although their enjoyment of the whole experience was clearly immense, I don’t think that at that age they can appreciate what an honour it was for them and how lucky they were to get the opportunity. Hopefully in years to come, when they look back and remember 5^th September 2008 they will.

 

 

 

 

Supporting your team – it’s a tough job!

It’s tough being a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur. Last year I travelled to the Stadium of Light to see a lacklustre performance and last minute defeat and we then lost our first home game to Everton – the top four a million miles away. This year we’ve repeated that feat but thankfully I invested nothing in tickets! Both seasons have an air of predictability about them. Last year we had paid far too much money for a striker no one particularly wanted and then substituted Berbatov for him in the first game provoking a strop as he left the field. Not a surprise, our midfield had failed to produce anything for Berba or Keane so was it their fault they had not scored? And this summed up our Premier League season, particularly after the Carling Cup victory where instead of pushing on our form deteriorated leaving them alienated up the pitch and forced to retreat deep to find the ball.

 

At the seasons end we sign Modric and Dos Santos and though this adds little steel to the defensive part of our midfield game it should produce the service our strikers need and certainly so after the signing of David Bentley. However, then the strikers issue rears up again. Keane is approached by Liverpool, as witnessed by their “charity payment” when signing the player and Berba wants away to Manchester United. Having let Defoe leave Bent remains our only option and an average one at that.

 

This is the problem that faces every club wishing to break into the top 4 and win a Champions League spot. The team has to improve year on year. But to do so it has to hold onto its best players and add quality around them. I have no doubt that Spurs have added quality in the signing of Gomes and the aforementioned midfielders but after the loss of Keane and surely now Berbatov are we any further forward or effectively a team of equivalent strength but with weaknesses in different areas of the field.

 

The first two games have shown up our continued inability to make tackles in the midfield leaving our back four to make the first effort at regaining possession. To succeed in the Premier League you cannot give teams this amount of room yet it is a lesson we appear not to learn. The injury to Alan Hutton has seen Zokora playing at right back despite him being a defensive midfielder and whilst he only presses rather than tackles he must be better in this position? I had a feeling that Modric would replace Jenas as I could not see how both could be accommodated yet Jenas was stepped up to captain for the season opener. I know we were light that day with captain options but surely Woodgate was a better option as Jenas cannot organise himself let alone his colleagues!

 

With Keane and Berbatov up front and the signings we had made we were only a defensive midfielder away from “no excuses” over a top 4 spot. We still need that player. When I talked with fellow supporters at the end of last season we figured signing Bentley and Gareth Barry would add to Modric and Malbranque thinking no chance of signing either. Would Barry come – probably not and he is cup tied for Europe. But do we need him for the UEFA games where space is easier to find? It is in the Premier League where our lack of commitment finds us undone and the Liverpool saga looks over and he does need a new challenge. A cheeky bid maybe?

 

And what of Berba? Unfortunately from a business perspective he needs to be sold, as we cannot guarantee what may happen to his value post 1 September. Brian Clough would put him in the reserves but that was then. I expected him rather than Keane leaving the club and was hopeful that he might give it to Christmas to see if we were improving or not before putting in the transfer request. But one window to the next is a long time these days and Berba wants to play in the Champions League once more. Who can blame him. And let’s be fair we’ve seen it all before at White Hart Lane with Klinsman coming and going.  If he leaves good luck to him; thanks for the quality and excitement he brought to White Hart Lane – if he doesn’t knuckle down and help get the team out of jail – that’s all any Spurs fan would ask.