Chill
It's the calm before the storm. The perfect storm. Our manager denying transfer talk, suggesting we're not in for another striker. I scratch my chin then laugh out loud. Surely misdirection, mind games? Deflect attention away from us then BANG official announcement to reveal our new forward? Although all the conjecture only serves to attract more attention, mostly of the knee-jerk variety. We all have a lust to know something before it happens, something we have no control over yet simply can't wait to see it play out. One or two of our tribe appear to be rather fragile at the moment. Which in turn is then echoed and exaggerated by the media and other fans. Levy placing business ahead of football, sacrificing early points. Villas-Boas wanting to move on stench Lilywhite players. Sentimentally blinding most. Why anyone gives a sh*t about the bullsh*t being stirred by non-Spurs I don't know. Haters will hate no matter what. No reason to lose our swagger. No reason to panic.
Squad depth is being highlighted as an issue. Sorry, is this season 2012 again? We had squad issues last season. Same supporters, same complaints. We all have our own perceptions of how the club and the team should be managed. That lack of depth cost us not only thanks to lack of rotation but also because the players we did have in reserve were not called upon often enough. Benched players have now been sold off. Players that have spent a couple of seasons injured and will not figure in the first team this season are being shifted out also, on loan and permanently. This is the job of the coach, it's why we pay him. It's why he's been employed. He has to be left to fix things and he's not answerable to me or you, not yet, not this early in his tenure. It's ridiculous to even talk about it, yet here I am talking about it.
He respects our traditions and the ambitions we have at the club. He's been very respectful in how he's carried himself since becoming our head coach. He's been respectful to us. Can we just sit back and trust the bloke to do his job instead of swimming neck high in pessimisms after one sodding game? Is football so highly strung these days that people fear the very idea of failure so assume it's happening when it isn't? Bit melodramatic for you? Not for some.
I guess the brilliance of all the nervous dispositions is when you compare us to last season, the fact that chairman and coach did not see eye to eye on transfer strategy and selection was based on players rather than formation and tactics. And mistakes made on the pitch were not magnified thanks to agendas. Not that playing your best players in their best positions isn't a decent starting point, but it's limited if alternative preparation and planning is never truly considered.
Fact is, we're shaping up to being far more professional without the circus of sound-bites anchored to us. But it doesn't help if the benefit of the doubt given to Redknapp isn't awarded in the shape of patience to Villas-Boas. If Spurs was a boxer, we'd be a little raw, flash and dancing away with fancy footwork but running out of steam in the latter rounds, TKO'ed. We need to fight, we need to box, we need to know when to defend and when to attack and most of all we need to take each opponent and compete with intelligence and craft, as well as graft. Full distance and the odd KO in our favour the outlook we should be embracing.
The less time spent trying to validate how not getting our business done earlier is costing us points the better. You'd need to believe in the assumption that we're half arsed about signing players and if that was true then best we lower our expectations. That's not really a good place to be is it?
When Redknapp arrived at Spurs did you consider him the right man for the job? Probably not. I didn't. So settle down people please. Let's reserve our frustrations and theories post-deadline day if we fail to cement key areas in the build up to deadline day. Watch negativity turn to positivity off the back of a couple of transfers. Then hear the cries of 'fickle' echo through social media like a Kraken baying for blood. For now, sing, sing for the shirt.
If I'm wrong, I'll dust off the effigy and you can take it down the Lane.
