What is to be done? Sorry to channel my inner Lenin there. But what is to be done with Tottenham and this little team of show ponies? I can’t believe I am writing this after two cup wins on the trot but you can’t gloss over some salient things about this season as a whole.
I watched the all games over the holidays and a few things really do jump out at you. The most glaring thing of course is the pretty good defence is offset by the complete lack of fire power. Sure, Pavlyuchenko had a great game against Wigan in the FA Cup, but really, it was a penalty and an “empty net goal” as they would say in ice hockey. Modric’s goal was pure flukery…if that is a word…looked cool and was fun describing it to my mates and you need that sort of luck, but hardly convincing.
Thankfully, Spurs have brought back Defoe. He should add much needed fire power. He is a fan favourite and only left because he wasn’t getting enough playing time. Look for him to add much needed goals in the coming weeks. At last Levy has gotten something right.
The management has also been trying to land Stewart Downing from Boro because Spurs still desperately need a left winger. But do they need him? They already have a show pony that can’t take on and beat players on the other side of the park – Captain Hairdoo himself, David Bentley. We need someone with a bit of flair and an ability to confound and beat defenders on the left. Someone who can cross, drive into the centre and create chances for our strikers, someone who can actually add goals from the midfield. I am not sure Downing is that guy. I’d rather pick up Joe Cole or Valencia.
Not to keep on about this, but Bentley really does have to go. Loathe as I am to praise a Gooner, but Arsene Wenger knows a thing or two about developing talent and he thought Bentley was a tit well worth ditching. So he ends up with Tottenham. In all the games I watched over the holidays, I swear he didn’t hit the head or foot of any Tottenham player with his corners. Did he get an assist on any goal? Did any of his much-vaunted free kicks make it past a wall or on net? I am a broken down old git and I could do that. I saw him on a breakaway on his favoured right side, only to see him slow down, allow the rest of the other team’s defence to get back into position just because he wanted to do some poxy step-overs. By then any attacking options were gone and he ended up giving the ball away — again. He has had half a season to prove himself at Tottenham and it is not like he is coming from another league and getting up to speed ala Modric or Pavlyuchenko. He is an expensive flop, which is what a lot of people were saying he was going to be. He didn’t really flourish under Mark Hughes at Blackburn or under Juande Ramos or Harry Redknapp at Spurs. So who can he work with? Vidal Sassoon?
Tonight, in the Carling Cup semi final, Bentley was the worst player on the pitch. At half time Tottenham were down one nil to Burnley. He was substituted for Jamie O’Hara. The final result? Tottenham four, Burnley one. O’Hara had one goal and two assists. If that doesn’t seal Bentley’s fate I don’t know what does. I’d rather see Santos or Taarabt get a run out and see what they can do. Doesn’t Sunderland or Portsmouth usually take our cast offs…perhaps we could unload Bentley to one of them or maybe trade him and get Malbranque back. Hey, if we can get Defoe back, why not?

So three games over the holidays and one big stinking point to show for it. And we played Newcastle, Fulham and the bottom-placed team, West Brom. Tottenham are starting to make me ill. I think Harry Redknapp is going to start ralphing too.
I am starting to become repetitive I think. I feel like I keep complaining about the same bloody things. It feels like the same rubbish each and every season. The same nausea that washes over me again and again as I watch another season circling the toilet. And this year brings the added anxiety of Tottenham actually being relegated. And there is nothing to be learned from the last three games that would indicate we are too big to go down. Frankly, Tottenham are starting to become too irritating to watch.
Simply, it is time to ditch the tossers and get some proper footballers who can actually get a ball in a net. Who are the tossers? Bentley for one. I am sick of people saying that he is unfairly singled out for criticism. They say he works hard. They say because he came with a huge reputation and price tag we expect too much. OK. Here is what this fan expects – a corner that connects with a Tottenham player’s head not straight into the goalie’s arms every time. A free kick that doesn’t fly pathetically over the net every time. A pass to a Tottenham player once in a while. That goal against Arsenal bought him a couple of game’s grace but he has sucked since and has yet to score again. He is a luxury player, great when you are cruising near the top of the league but when you are in a dogfight you don’t need floating hair models like him falling all over the place. I’d flog him to any team stupid enough to buy him. Lennon is our right winger.
Jenas. Please tell me why he continues to play. He is better at tackling back than he used to be and I’ll give him credit for working hard. But as the central attacking midfielder, does anyone expect him to score? How is it that 95 percent of his passes are backwards? Compare that to Modric who is always pushing forward. He is a squad player at best.
Bale. I don’t know what it is, but the guy is a jinx. I’d dump him for that reason alone. Two seasons played zero wins in the premiership.
Assou-Ekotto. Even worse with the Kidn’Play hair do. Today’s performance was another piece of crap. I hear he wants to move to Paris St Germaine. Au Revoir.  
Why oh why did we trade Malbranque?
Tottenham have some great players and some are playing well but we can’t put the ball in the net. One goal in the last four games. We have the same defensive record as Arsenal. Yet we are near the bottom and they are fourth. The problem is goal scoring. The lack of adequate replacements for Berbatov and Keane is a huge problem and Levy and Comolli own that disaster. Let’s hope that doesn’t end up costing Spurs a place in the premiership. Tottenham should have gotten six points from these three games and they have four games they should win coming up. It would have gone a long way to moving us up the table. As it is I can see us only winning a couple in January and still be in the thick of it come February.

You know, this Gomes bloke might not be so bad after all. Against the Hammers he kept Spurs in it at the end and his double save kept it one nil and then O’Hara went down the field. Yesterday, it was a last minute to stuff United. 

It has to be said that I thought Spurs were the equal of United yesterday. True, they didn’t have many chances but they kept United at bay. And that was a cobbled together defence. King and Hutton were already out and when Woodgate went down injured after ten minutes the you had Zokora playing right back and Corluka playing centreback alongside Dawson. A guess what? They shut down Ronaldo et al. Zokora was especially impressive. Even Dawson played like he did a couple of years ago. 

Spurs are not in the relegation zone and putting some points between them and the stugglers. There is also a long stretch of what should be easier games. Newcastle, West Brom, Stoke etc. Of course Spurs often have a harder time with the potentially easier opponents. Although one hope Harry will sort that attitude out. 

The speculation has already begun about the January transfer window, with speculation about goalies, strikers, left wingers and central defenders all being mentioned. Certainly a back up for Gomes, a central defender, another striker and true left winger are all things the team need and have needed for a long, long time. 

The Mirror that bastion of journalistic integrity, reported that Michael Owen is on his way, along with Joe Cole from Chelsea. Interesting rumours, which are probably tosh. But I think Owen would be a great compliment to Bent and Cole is a natural left footed player who can move in an play behind the strikers. I am still not sold on Modric so Cole would be a great addition. Still I don’t see either leaving their clubs mid season. 

Up next Spartak Moscow and a place in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup. Come on you Spurs. 

It is safe to say the honeymoon period is over for Harry Redknapp. That’s not to say the team is going back to dark old days of Juande Ramos, (who just got hired as the coach of Real Madrid. I guess that means Roy Keane is off to Milan then) but the heady days of optimism and pumped up enthusiasm is waning. As I said, the game against Everton would be a real indication of how far the team has progressed. It was a close affair, but Spurs ended up on the losing end of a one-nil result. It was a fair result too and gave an indication of just where the team sits. Huddlestone seems to be slipping back, Bentley is an expensive tosser and left wing is still a major issue as it has been for five years. The team clearly misses Modric. On the other hand, Lennon is blossoming and Pavlyuchenko and Bent are showing their class. Even Gomes is starting to look like the guy they hoped he would be. Confidence is everything. 

The team responded well by dispatching Watford handily in the Quarter finals of the Carling Cup and last night put the Hammers away. It was a gritty performance, again led by Lennon with the help of Ledley King. Gomes got a clean sheet. Probably the best sort of response. And the team is getting some of the injured back, most notably Modric and Jenas. But now the hard work begins. First up is Manchester United on the weekend. You know how I feel about those knobs and their empurpled boss. Needless to say a victory over those tossers will be a highlight of the season. It will be a tough test, but Tottenham always seem to raise their game for the Red Devils. Here is hoping a Spurs victory will effectively end ManU’s defence of their title. 

Then comes the UEFA Cup tie against Spartak Moscow. Spurs are almost certain to go through to the knockout stage but nothing is guaranteed and position is everything. There are a lot of tough teams left but Spurs have to be one of the favourites. There is an FA cup tie coming up against Wigan. If you were going to get a Premiership team in the FA Cup I’d probably wish for Wigan. Still a potential banana skin to be avoided. 

Spurs have avoided Man U in the Carling Cup and been drawn in the semis against Burnley. Man U got Stoke City. I guess we could see a Burnley Stoke final, which would be a lot like “Life on Mars” – everything’s gone back to 1973. Here’s hoping it’s a Spurs Stoke final. 

And so Kevin turned to the Mock Turtle and asked “What more had we to learn” 

“Well,” said the Mock Turtle “They certainly know how to hold onto a lead. Plus they understand wreathing, writhing and fainting in coils.” 

Yes, two one nil wins on the trot and Spurs are back to their winning ways. On Sunday Tottenham ground out a win against a very poor Blackburn team and tonight basically secured a spot in the next round of the UEFA Cup with a win in Nijmegen. 

I didn’t see tonight’s game but reports are it was a canter for the most part. The interesting thing about these wins appears to be the comfort. Early goals followed up by containment and lots of possession. A second goal would have been preferable but it seems the defence was rarely troubled. It seems Redknapp has given the team some much needed grit and determination. He has also calmed them down. They are not as panicky as they were. Is that the mark of confidence or the mark of a good coach? Whatever it is, 

it is the mark of a good team that they can hold onto a lead. Arsenal used to be famous for it. Chelsea have made a bit of habit of it too. 

It’s a bit early, but the last couple of wins indicate if the team can keep putting wins together this might turn out to be a good year. Top six and a cup? Why not. On the other hand the game against Fulham showed that there is a crap team just under the surface likely to raise its ugly head if the coaches aren’t vigilant. 

The next game against Everton is going to be an interesting test…a team supposedly on the same level a second tier team pushing the top four. Teams tend to get up for the big big games and can beat the lowly teams. Everton offer a different challenge. Sunday will be a good indication on just how far the team has come under Redknapp. 

Another point to be made is that since the Fulham disaster, Gomes has two shutouts in a row.

O’Hara had a good game tonight and Pavlyuchenko on the weekend, which points to a non starters getting in good games and pushing for places.

Bloody hell. Spurs smoke Liverpool again. And score four goals again. This is the same group of players who made Sunderland look like Real Madrid on the season’s opening day. When I first read that Tottenham were drawn against Liverpool in the Carling Cup, Spurs were still under Juande Ramos. Frankly, I thought Spurs would be giving up the cup they won last year and we would be humiliated by the reds, even if we were at home.. Well out goes Ramos, in comes ‘appy ‘arry and Spurs go an embarrass the crap out of the scousers. 

I picked a good week to take off from work and got towatch our B team hammer Liverpool’s B team 4-2. Not as great as last year’s smoking of Arsenal in the semi’s but lots of fun nonetheless. And, unlike past years, it wasn’t Tottenham’s starting line up against the other team’s youth squad, it was the second stringers for the most part. I thought the Campbell kid was particularly good.

Tottenham seemed to have found their way again and are playing attractive football, and when they are getting outplayed they get lucky. 

It was very interesting that when, with the game effectively won, Redknapp brought on Kevin Prince-Boeteng, who hadn’t even been given a squad number by Ramos. There was a huge roar from the crowd. I don’t think it was for Boeteng it was more a roar of approval for Redknapp and a crowd-wide rebuke of Ramos. Like old Stroller Graham eight years ago, he might have won a Carling Cup but Ramos never won the fans over. 

So the draw for the Carling Cup is Saturday (here’s hoping Arsenal draw Man Utd and we get Watford) and Tottenham have a date with Fulham. Not a time to take the foot off the gas. But confidence is high now and the win over Man City last weekend and over Liverpool on Wednesday has the players brimming and competing for places. 

The fired Comolli went on record today as saying his time at Spurs was a success and he was proud of what he did. I spluttered in my Pinot Noir when I read that tonight, but upon reflection it is his players that are now doing the business. So he might have a point. A small point. I am still glad the little git is gone though. Hope he likes Saint Etienne. 

To-day, the fight: my end is very soon, 

And sealed the warrant limiting my hours: 

I knew it walking yesterday at noon 

Down a deserted garden full of flowers. 

…Carelessly sang, pinned roses on my breast, 

Reached for a cherry-bunch—and then, then, Death 

Blew through the garden from the North and East 

And blighted every beauty with chill breath. 

I looked, and ah, my wraith before me stood, 

His head all battered in by violent blows: 

The fruit between my lips to clotted blood 

Was transubstantiate, and the pale rose 

Smelt sickly, till it seemed through a swift tear-flood 

That dead men blossomed in the garden-close. 

Robert Graves 

So let me get this straight. Tottenham under Ramos go eight games in the League without a win. Bent scores two goals, Bentley is benched, Huddlestone doesn’t get played and people are suggesting we ship Modric back to Croatia because he is a lightweight. Spurs lose to the likes of Stoke and Hull. In the UEFA Cup, the competition where Ramos made his name he one game, tied one and finally lost.
Now under the mundanely English Harry Redknapp Spurs have beaten the League leaders Liverpool, beaten Bolton,  roared back from 4-2 down to tie the Arse in their own building and now, tonight,  Spurs thrash Dynamo Zagreb 4-0 in UEFA. Of course Bent has now scored I think six in six, including three tonight, Modric is looking like the guy everyone thought he was before he arrived, Bentley and Hudd are scoring highlight reel goals.
I don’t know if it was the players who didn’t want to play for Ramos or that Ramos was the embodiment of the peter principle. Perhaps it is all confidence. But I can’t believe one team talk can change everyone’s attitude.  Whatever it is, I am glad Tottenham are back.
It seems like the team has started to play the way people expected them to. I was going to say it might be a little late for a run at a Euro place next year, but the table is so tight Spurs are still on the bottom but only six points out of the top ten and nine out of fifth. Bring on Man City.

The world seems a little better today. Maybe it isn’t, but it feels just a little better. It seems like this cloud that has sat over America since the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 has lifted. America seems like a sunny place again. 

And it seems to make the world seem a bit better too. 

IT might all be bull of course. Americans have a knack of making everything bigger, grander and more important that it really is. Only Americans talk about liberty and freedom with a straight face. I am moved as anyone else by Barack Obama’s soaring speeches, but do they really change anything? 

Perhaps. Perhaps inspiration and appealing to the best in all of us is enough – perhaps can have a tangible effect on people. By making the world seem like a better and more enlightened place, maybe it can actually become one. If people feel uplifted people are more inclined to be altruistic and help their fellow man. FDR said the only thing to fear is fear itself, well Obama may help lift that fear that has pervaded the world – certainly since 2001, but probably before then. Perhaps Obama can indeed foster the end of history (to borrow a famous line from a neo-con). Perhaps the world will turn to America and be inspired and liberalize and become more open. Perhaps America can return to a place of leadership, an inspirational place that leads by example and can be a positive voice in the world again. Perhaps it is too much to ask. 49 percent of Americans still voted for the other guy. 

I hope Obama will rise to the occasion. He has the potential to change the course of history, to reset America’s role in the world. He can be an inspiration to others. As Andrew Sullivan wrote a few months ago ..when some Islamic militant sees an American president who is black how does he make an argument to those that he wishes to enflame that America is the enemy? Obama has a lot of good will in the world and world leaders want to work with him. The last eight years have been seen as a nightmare by many, and finally over. The neo-con experiment has been exposed as corrupt and has probably contributed to the beginning of the fall of America. An Obama presidency can probably put that on hold for while. 

I am ambivalent, however, about this whole American exceptionalism thing. On one hand America has elected a leader who is one the front page of every newspaper in the world this morning. Americans have put history aside and elected an African American. The president of the United States is the only world leader that has the power and influence to be a transformative force in the world…certainly the only one for positive influence. 

But then listen to certain commentators and you are made to think that only America could do this. Well, I beg to differ. I was in England when it elected its first woman prime minister. In Canada when a woman became prime minister (before being turfed). The ethnicity of politicians in other countries is rarely an issue. I am not sure of the ethnicity of my MP and really don’t care. Metis, Aboriginal, people of East Indian, Sikh, Muslim, Chinese and Japanese descent were elected in the recent Canadian election and it wasn’t even mentioned. When an Inuit woman under 40 was appointed to cabinet as health minister it was mentioned only in passing. Does anyone care where Inky Mark’s family originally comes from? In many countries women, disabled, ethnic and visible minority members are elected with barely a comment. And have been for years. Nicholas Sarkozy is the son of immigrants. 

When Joe Lieberman ran for Vice president in 2000, that grinning face of American exceptionalism Doris Kearns Goodwin claimed “only in this nation of nations could this happen.” Really? At the time she said that Canada’s deputy PM, Herb Gray, was Jewish and I remember vaguely Benjamin Disraeli, elected as prime minister of the UK in 1868…when America was still trying to figure out if slavery was a good thing or not. 

This is not to minimize the importance of Barack Obama’s achievement, but perhaps to emphasize that perhaps America is not a leader when it comes to this sort of thing but perhaps is only now, finally moving beyond its terrible history and catching up with the rest of us. For that we should be grateful. 

Perhaps that is the greatest thing with last night and in fact the whole campaign. Perhaps the plea of Martin Luther King will come to pass and now someone will be judged not on the colour of their skin but the character of their heart. And Hillary Clinton and, to a lesser extent, Sarah Palin removed that ceiling for women too. People are talking about Palin runnin’ in 2012 and while people might thing she is an idiot I haven’t heard anyone say she shouldn’t run because she is a woman. 

But for me the most important thing isn’t the colour of Barack Obama’s skin, but that he seems like a reasonable person – genuinely looking to make a better world, not an incurious buffoon fronting a cabal of sinister ideologues. 

The word hope gets bandied about too much. But today, there is a tangible feeling of hope on people’s faces. Even republicans if they really look closely.