Relegation Scrap™ 2008/09
Spurs 0 Wigan 0
Whilst Man City decimated Portsmouth, I was experiencing the displeasure of the pinnacle of inept. Wigan, for all their work and efforts, are not that good. Good enough though for a point at the Lane. This was the quintessential 'game for the taking' for us. Instead we failed with all the basics. From set pieces to passing and movement.
Upfront, Bent and Pav had no support. And sadly no understanding between the two of them. The latter is something you could forgive if the midfield were able to provide opportunities for the both of them. But they couldn't. Bringing on Campbell didn't make an impact good enough for a breakthrough. Lennon though gave us some much needed pace. Questionable selection by Ramos choosing the completely out of form Bentley who appears to have forgotten how to beat the first man with his corners. Again.
In fact, all in all, most of our players looked uncomfortable and uneasy on the ball. We hoofed it. We mis-placed passes. It was all a bit too embarrassing, lacklustre and basically fucking shit.
Too good to go down? We ain't even good, so going down at the moment isn't something that should be dismissed because you have to worry about where the confidence boosting morale changing team performance enhancement victory is going to come from.
The chant of 'We are Tottenham Super Tottenham' that rang out from around the ground in the second half was there to make up for the booing at half-time and help inspire the team. But it felt more like a defiant song of realisation; we are heading for a scrap.
Over dramatic? Well, how many times were going to have to wheel out the same excuse of 'time is needed for the team to gel' and 'once we win, all will be fine'. Will another month of defeats and draws still be 'ok' for us while the players all learn how to work hard, graft and play with urgency, passion and fucking bite?
Our fixture list for the next two months (ignoring the Carling Cup and UEFA Cup, because at the moment, I wouldn't bet on us progressing in either):
(A) Pompey
October
(H) Hull City
(A) Stoke City
(H) Bolton Wanderers
(A) Arsenal
November
(H) Liverpool
(A) Manchester City
(A) Fulham
(H) Blackburn Rovers
(H) Everton
Last year, we knew we would concede but we also knew we would score goals. This season, conceding is usually a cert. Scoring....well, we look incapable. The worst in the league. Although, since that Carling Cup win - even with Berbatov and Keane in the team, we hardly set the world on fire. We had a useless end of season run-in. So this 'run' started at the back end of last season and has continued into this one.
When did we sell Robbie Keane? During the summer months. Why not replace him there and then. With Berbatov, it seems Levy holding out for the extra £5M and thus resulting with us taking on a Utd reserve player on loan is proving to be of great irony considering the lower we finish in the table the less money we take from the Prem place we finish in. That could cost us a hell of a lot more than £5M. He should have gone in the summer too, and the likes of Comolli and Ramos should have had a complete squad before we kicked off at Boro.
The fault is with all, from top to bottom. The quotes in the previous blog sum it all up perfectly.
So, looking at October (and the Pompey game next week):
(A) Pompey
October
(H) Hull City
(A) Stoke City
(H) Bolton Wanderers
(A) Arsenal
How many points, on current form, could we get from this lot? 6? 9? Whatever happens, Hull and Bolton at home are now MUST wins. Depressing, no?
Played 5, 2 points, no wins. This isn't the Glory game. I fucking hate football.
~Spooky
