The British North American Blog

Now we all must sit back and hope that a bunch of Germans (and an ugly Frenchman and bald Dutchman) help Tottenham into the Champions League.

But after ten-man Chelsea beat Barcelona and now with half of the London team suspended or injured, surely Bayern Munich will lose to those plucky chavs in one of those Cinderella stories.

Mind you, the football gods had a bit of a laugh on the weekend when Alex Ferguson almost chewed his cheek off when he thought ManU had actually won it all until Man City scored two in injury time to rob the old bastard in particularly ManU-like fashion. So nothing for ManU, nothing for Arsenal and Chelsea potentially not even in Europe at all next year.

What could be better than that?
A lot it if the reaction of the crowd at White Hart Lane on Sunday was anything to go by. Tottenham had just cohesively beaten a cross town rival and secured fourth spot. The last time Spurs finished fourth there was dancing in the streets and Redknapp got doused in gator aid. This time, White Hart Lane resounded to the peels of polite applause.

Everyone in that stadium knew  fourth wasn’t good enough. Sure, as Redknapp is now parroting if you said at the beginning of the season Spurs would finish fourth then you would have been happy. But that was before Spurs were12 points clear in third and keeping pace with the two Manchesters for more than half the season.

Spurs should have wrapped up third a month ago. Even a win against the worst team in the league – Aston Villa – a week ago would have been enough to win third. Now Tottenham fans must rely on a Chelsea loss to get their team into the Champions League and maintain any real chance of attracting major players and keeping the talent Spurs already have.

Finishing fourth is a big deal in such a competitive league and Redknapp should be recognized for getting the team into that position during the first half of the season. He built a good team, a good set up and invested in a couple of needed players. But when the rubber hit the road (the cliché Tuesday night in Bolton in February), when the injuries came and other teams learned how to play against Spurs that is when the team was found out and the lack of a plan B painfully evident.  The winter transfer window was a balls up.

I can’t remember any players having brutally bad games or not trying their damnedest. Even during the slump they worked hard. While they may have been given much encouragement, Redknapp didn’t give much direction and no tactical change ups to help find a way past stubborn teams.

Spurs are a team of immensely talented players and that squad is always going to do very well. But as the fan reaction at WHL showed, fourth is not such a great prize when Spurs could and should have been in the mix for the top.

So come on Ribery and Robben et al. And maybe, just maybe, things will be forgotten, and we can all look forward to a happy summer.

After getting themselves back in the grove with a rather mundane win against a Blackburn team who frankly couldn’t be arsed, and then a scintillating display against a tough Bolton side, Spurs found themselves in the position of being able to take third place back from Arsenal. Then Harry manages to balls it up again.

Spurs could have moved two points above Arsenal with a game remaining. And, assuming they could beat Fulham at home, they would be guaranteed a Champions League Spot even if Chelsea won the Champions League Final. Even if Spurs had lost the final game they could have done no worse than fourth.

But thanks to today’s cock up, they can still finish sixth if they lose on the last day and Newcastle win their last game against Everton and Chelsea win their last two. Arsenal can also lose and still remain ahead of Spurs.

Harry was going on after today’s draw with the dire Aston Villa about how resilient the lads were after going down to ten men after Rose got sent off. Did he see the same game as I did? Spurs could have gone down to eight men and would still have dominated the game in terms of possession. It was barely an issue really. Spurs were all over Villa. Spurs had 19 corners. 19. I can’t remember a game where one team had 19 corners. Especially a game where not one of those corners resulted in anything close to a goal.

Again – I know broken record – and all the kids are asking what a broken record is – but Harry is entirely to blame for this today.

Reason one. Does the team practice set pieces? If so how is it that Spurs probably have the worst record for this. It is pitiful. 19 corners and not a sniff of goal?

Two. Bale. On the left wing, hugging the line he is the sort of player Barcelona want. Not hugging the left wing and drifting infield he becomes the sort of player Wigan want to get rid of. This is basic stuff and everyone can see it. When Bale drifts in he gets in Modric’s way, offers nothing interesting, doesn’t do anything of note. Why can’t Redknapp get his player to do what is expected of him? What about all that man management we hear about. Getting a 22-year old to do what he is told and paid to do should be the simplest thing. It is not as if he is Mario Balotelli. And while he might think otherwise, he isn’t Lionel Messi either. Against Bolton he played along the left wing and was great. Today, he offered nothing.

Three. Dumb substitutions. You are tied. A win will almost guarantees Champions League football. It will certainly guarantee fourth. A draw is as good as a loss in mathematical reality. You need a goal. A spark. Some moment of inspired genius. So what do you do with 12 minutes left if you are Harry Redknapp? You pull off your top scoring midfielder and put on a second defensive midfielder. Not goal scorer Defoe. Not even Dos Santos. But tackling Scott Parker. When the team saw that move their drive and work rate dropped noticeably. They knew Redknapp was playing for a draw.

Four. Tactical Dithering. After going down to ten men, Redknapp really had no ideas. Bring off Lennon, drop Bale back and bring on Nelson or King and play 3-1-3-1 with Bale and Walker as wingers? Er….Or drop back Bale, move Modric out left and bring on Defoe for Adebayor and go more direct. Err.  The pivotal moment of this season came at the game at Arsenal. Spurs were two up. Redknapp admitted he wanted to bring on Sandro to bolster the midfield and gum up the game a bit to prevent Arsenal getting back in it. He dithered, he admitted, he thought he would wait until half time. By then the game was tied and in the second half the team were overrun. The following weeks saw the team slide to such an extent that over two months only Wolves were worse and a ten point lead over the gooners became a five point deficit.

Spurs couldn’t close the deal today. Will Spurs bottle it and tie or lose to Fulham next week? You look at the line up and think how could they? But then I see Redknapp flapping around out there I just get that sinking feeling. He is seemingly incapable of calming a team and getting them in the right frame for a big game. Inter, Real, Chelsea last weekend, Young Boys….

Still, you don’t think Martin Jol will be gunning to stick it to Spurs do you next week?

Five reasons why Tottenham are currently in fifth.

One. Harry Redknapp. You would think that becoming a Premier League manager requires some level of intelligence. But then there is good ole Harry. During his recent tax evasion trial his defence was essentially he was too stupid to hatch such a complicated plan to evade taxes. This week a reporter asked him about the Champions League and Harry opined that he hoped Chelsea would win. The reporter then pointed out that would mean fourth place Spurs would then miss out on qualification. Harry said he hadn’t thought about that.  WTF???

Two. Harry Redknapp. Harry’s idea of tactics is ….kick the ball and run about a bit. Against Chelsea he played Lennon on one wing and Bale on the other and only Parker as protection for the brutally slow King and Gallas. Against a hard, combative Chelsea midfield. Result Tottenham was pushed around and the wingers negated. Next week against a midfield of slow marginally talented QPRers, Redknapp throws out two defensive midfielders and leaves Lennon on the bench and Bale running around. QPR couldn’t believe their luck. Result two pathetic losses.

Three. Harry Redknapp. Today’s excuse was an injury crisis. So whither Samba, wither Cahill. Why haven’t Dos Santos and Rose been given opportunities to step up and fill in for Lennon et al. Why would you buy a 34 year-old has-been to cover your chronically injured 33 year-old defensemen?

Four Harry Redknapp. Are you seeing a trend. He isn’t  a very good manager. I know he is the choice for England and all. But let’s look at some facts. Honours won. One FA Cup. That it is. Sorry a third division championship doesn’t count. This is his winning percentage record, for the record, Bournemouth 39%, West Ham 37%, Portsmouth 46%, Southampton 26% and Spurs 49%. That’s a losing record with every team he has been with. By comparison Arsene Wenger’s record at Arsenal is 67%. So, basically, in spite of all the hype he is a mediocre manager at best.

Five. Redknapp. There is a saying that says insanity is repeating the same thing and expecting a different outcome each time. So you have a team that is imploding and losing like crazy. Only Wolves are worse over the last two months and what do you do? Keep sending out the same team in the same formation.

So basically, Redknapp is an insane, mediocre, tactically inept, whinging moron. And we wonder why Spurs will end up in sixth.

Irrespective of what happens with the England job, Harry Redknapp needs to be shown the door at Tottenham.

I have never been one of those knee jerk ‘arry out types and have given him credit when it was warranted. I have put up with his winging, excuses and media ramblings but he has outlived his welcome at Spurs.

Today’s balls up is the latest in a number. Sure bad luck and ridiculous officiating pretty much destroyed the game but Redknapp got the tactics and team all wrong.

Tottenham are now out of every competition. The FA Cup by virtue of an easy draw was the only one in which we even attempted to compete. Redknapp made the decision to concentrate on the Premier League and bail on all the others. A shameful ploy but one that could be tolerated if the quest for Champions League was successful.

Well, in the words of the immortal Doctor Phil. “How’s that workin’ for ya?”

Tottenham could line up next Saturday night against a resurgent QPR, 11 points behind Arsenal for third and three behind Newcastle for fourth. If Chelsea beat Arsenal next Saturday, Tottenham will be in sixth.

Sixth.

Tottenham’s swan dive has been both spectacular and heartbreaking. How is it that Tottenham can’t break down Sunderland and three days later Everton score four? How does a Tottenham team purporting to be challenging for a champions league spot lose at home to Norwich? The team has played well at times but the defeat today is probably the last straw. Half the team will now start dreaming of transfers to barca and man city.

The typical Redknapp story seems to be unfolding again. It always seems to be the same old story. Take over a good team who have had a bad run. Lots of blather about challenges and look where we are and don’t expect much. A reasonable turn around in fortunes to make some believe in ‘arry’s magic touch. Its happy Harry time, a good run followed by a collapse and then a complete meltdown of team. See West Ham, see Southampton, see Portsmouth. All of these teams are now in the second division.

Everyone talks about him being the big wheeler dealer. Well, he brought Parker in…great move. But what Spurs also needed to do was bring in back up for the ailing defence. Samba and Cahill were available and Redknapp could have brought them in. Redknapp humiliated and probably crippled King today. I would surprised if he ever plays for Spurs again. He could barely stand. Or run by the second half.

If Spurs fail to make it into the Champions league, make no mistake it will end the team as a challenger for anything for the next ten years. Say goodbye to Bale, Modric, Van Der Vaart, Adebayor, Defoe and probably Walker. No big name signings – no Hazard, no Llorente, no Remy. Tottenham will be back to mid-league mediocrity.

If Spurs do indeed scrape through, then Levy needs to man up and ditch Redknapp. He is not the guy to take you through to a champions league run and not the guy to consistently keep you in the top four.

But I fear it is too late. I predict sixth. And I am going to start following my second team. Plymouth Argyle. Come on you pilgrims.

Whether it was a blip or a collosal balls up here is hoping it over.

It has been a long and winding road over the last few weeks for the esteemed Lillywhites, who conspired the throw away a ten point lead over the dreaded rivals up the road.

Losses to Arsenal, ManU and Everton seemed to point to Spurs buckling under the pressure and putting themselves in real danger of losing fourth place toChelsea. Finding themselves out off the Champions League spots altogether would be an unmitigated disaster for Spurs and you would reasonably expect a mini-exodus of stars like Modric and Bale.

But not to get all negative, the last minute goal against Stoke, which turned a loss into a tie, might have been the most important goal of the season so far. What is showed was an almost Manchester United like drive to keep going until the goal was scored. It showed drive and determination. A draw at home against Stoke might seem like a misstep, but to keep at it until the last kick of the game showed some grit and I think it may turn out to be the turning point and the sort of thing that snaps teams out of losing streaks.

A few days later, Spurs ground out a draw against Chelsea. While it meant Arsenal are now three points clear,  it kept the Chavs still five points back of Spurs for fourth. And both have slightly tougher runs in. And that Arsenal winning streak can’t keep going.

Spurs can still finish third and now despite the mind games, it is the goners who have to look over their shoulder.

This was the worst time to have a collapse, but the reality is Tottenham have not played badly. In the Everton, Stoke andChelseagames they were the much better side. They were just unable to finish.

For the Chelseag ame, Redknapp wisely reverted to the old system with Bale out wide and it worked. While he gets marked out of some games, that extra defender needed to shadow him opens up all kind of space. Tottenham still desperately need Lennon back. That was the same last year too. With Lennon on one wing and Bale on the other defences are overwhelmed. But without a backup natural right winger, Spurs are unbalanced. Krancjar and VanDer Vaart are not right wingers and Dos Santos who is, has been largely anonymous. Here is hoping they break the bank to land Eden Hazard, who will be the perfect back up or replacement for Lennon. Heck they could have picked up Wright-Phillips for nothing to come in for a while.

Redknapp also bravely dropped King for theChelseagame in favour of Gallas. It is becoming apparent that King has lost a yard or two and those broken knees can’t keep going. He has been the leader of Spurs for a decade or more and could have been the best defender in the league had he stayed fit. When he is on his game there is no one better, but it is becoming apparent that the injuries are taking their toll and with third place on the line there is no room for sentimentality any more.

Blip over? The FA Cup win over Boltons eemed to indicate it is. Next up is Swansea at home and a strong showing with a few goals will go a long way to burying the last few weeks.

Sodding useless

What is it about Spurs that makes them the most frustrating team probably in all of sports? After being in the top three almost all year, being neck and neck with Manchester United for most of that time, Tottenham look like they might just finish in fifth. And to be blunt — no Champions league will mean no big name signings and half the team will up and leave. And so will the manager. Which is par for the course with him.

The Arsenal debacle knocked the wind out of the team. The Man U game was a mugging but the team dropped their heads as soon as they went one down. This is not a winning mentality.

I gave Redknapp credit when the team did well. So he must take the heat for this. Sandro and Parker together? Bale on the right and Modric on the left? King again? He got this completely wrong. Again. And why can’t Tottenham score from set pieces? Because Redkanpp doesn’t believe in training for that stuff apparently. Could Spurs get one person who can score from free kicks? Please. Or head in a corner. This is basic stuff.

The problem with Redknapp is he is great with Plan A. But can’t pull off Plan B. When the team played with Bale out wide running at defences and Lennon doing the same on the other side with Van Der Vaart slotted in behind Adebayor with Modric and Parker in the middle, the team were great. But with one person injured – Lennon – apparently Tottenham can’t cope. But now we have Bale seemingly a central midfielder. No right winger. A muddle in the middle and no inventiveness. No incision. No ruthlessness.

This muddle also means the full backs are forced to surge forward…with little cover…which is tiring and leads to dumb mistakes. Assou-Ekotto and Walker have not had great games of late and I think this is down to a lack of a right winger and Bale doing his free role thing.

 I don’t care if Spurs dominate other teams. You don’t get points for domination. You get points for wins. Who cares if they had 22 goal attempts. No goals means no points. 62 percent possession means squat.

Some questions. When was the last time Spurs scored from a free kick or a corner?

How can a midfield with Modric, Bale, and VanDer Vaart and Parker be so frickin lame?

Is Jermaine Defoe congenitally incapable of passing the ball?

Redknapp’s tactical naivety has resulted in three of the best midfielders in the world tripping over each other. They have been average at best for the last month. Since that game against Norwich, Bale has been generally useless. Modric just doesn’t do much anymore except a short lateral pass and run into space. And today spent most of the time tripping over everyone. Hey, we used to have Jermain Jenas for that. Van Der Vaart doesn’t seem to know where to go. I watched VDV and Modric exchange four short lateral passes to each other over about five yards going nowhere. Not exactly Pele and Carlos Alberto is it

Today, Friedel was fine. Assou Ekotto had a good game. Parker was the best player on the pitch. Kaboul was good at the back, useless in attack.

The rest of the team were sodding useless. Again. Defoe could have set up about three goals and instead elected to shoot. And miss. Adebayor is starting to look like the Adebayor we all know and love. Great in the first few games for the new club. Then kind of average and now bored and generally crap. “Sigh. Time to move on I suppose. A bien tot.”  Saha didn’t do much. Van Der Vaart could find a spot with Modric and Bale getting in his way. Walker is increasingly erratic. Sandro was generally getting in Parker’s way.

Dawson is now out for the rest of the season because Redknapp thought it might be good to give him a run out in the FA cup rather than save him for this game. So he went with King at the back again. Sorry, but I have never seen him so slow. He didn’t have a lot to do today but managed to look terrible anyway. Harry needs to figure something out there if only to save King’s reputation.

It gets me so angry to hear all the pundits and commentators go on about Arsenal running us down for fourth place. Well, Spurs certainly give everyone all the ammunition they need. Does anyone believe they can go into Chelsea and beat them in two weeks? I didn’t think so. If Arsenal beat Newcastle on Monday does anyone think Spurs will finish above them this year?

If Tottenham don’t make the Champions League this year, regardless of the England job, Redknapp’s situation needs to be examined. After dumping all the other cups to concentrate on the league – the FA remains only because of an easy draw so far –he put all of Spurs’ eggs in one basket. Now is not the time to bottle under pressure. He has been given the talent to get this done. And for a long time he got it done. But he has to be the one the stop this slide and make whatever changes are necessary to get this season back on track and cling onto third.

This is no time to panic. Tottenham will still be in third on Tuesday no matter what Arsenal do and them winning isn’t a given either. So this will be Redknapp’s defining moment. Can he stop the slide and push on and get the team back on track and finish a creditable third? Or is his England dreaming distracting him and the team and allowing Tottenham to perform the most remarkable choke this time team’s history?

Last weekend it was an arse-kicking. This weekend it was a simple mugging.
Whatever the nomenclature, the result is the same. A humiliating loss.
This Sunday  — and I will freely admit I turned the telly off after they went down 2-0 – Spurs learned that while they are really close they are not ready for prime time.

Tottenham showed great character in coming out after the Arsenal game and going after Man U. In spite of missing three key players — Bale, Parker and VanDerVaart – they completely dominated Manchester United. Had more possession, ran the midfield had by far the most attempts at goal. Man U essentially had five attempts at goal and scored on three of them.

That was the difference.
They were not lucky, as Harry suggested. They just scored when given the chance, while Spurs had chance after chance and didn’t score.

It didn’t help that Tottenham’s defence was starting to look tired. Walker was bloody awful responsible for two of the three goals, Assou-Ekotto is looking exhausted and making mistakes. And, while it pains me to say as he is the embodiment of this team and has been a brilliant servant for the team…Ledley King is starting to look like a guy who can’t train much and his legs can’t keep up. His last two games have been pretty woeful. Even Friedel looked pretty lame on the Rooney goal.

Another key difference between Spurs and Man U is not related to talent. I think Tottenham, overall has a better side than Man United. The difference is attitude. They cheat, they dive, even after they have given up a ridiculous foul they argue, they whine, they foul, they still throw their arms up in the air to appeal to the ref that the infringement was on them. They challenge the linesman on every ball that goes out. And they don’t stop concentrating and working. They scored in injury time against Norwich to win the week before and then in injury time in the first half to go ahead of Spurs, even though it was the first chance they had that half. That is why they are 10 points up instead of one up on Spurs.

Spurs need to adopt this attitude. Arsenal have it sometimes. They showed it the week before even after being two nil down they kept at it. Once Spurs went down two nil to Man U you knew it was over – hence my remote throwing.

Spurs have an FA Cup game against Stevenage on Wednesday and nothing less than an annihilation of the third divisioners can now be contemplated. Spurs need to get their mojo back and while it might not be sporting, a goal rout is what is needed.

Spurs have a run-in that features five home games and six away. They still have a four point edge on Arsenal and seven on Chelsea. Both have more home games but both also have way more games against top six opponents. So it aint over yet. There is still plenty of season left. Spurs have Everton and Stoke next before they meet the shambles that is Chelsea. Win those three and they should get third. Lose and well…let’s not go there.

The mark of how good Tottenham really are will now be seen in how the team deals with today’s thrashing and how they handle the next three games.

Today was a good old fashioned arse-kicking.  Arsenal was  the better team and handed out the sort of beating that they used to, maybe four or five years ago. Spurs have had their number the last couple of years but today was a debacle.

Maybe Spurs were feeling cocky. Maybe the five nothing thrashing of Newcastle a couple of weeks ago was still in their heads. You certainly felt they got a little above themselves when they went two up this afternoon. Against the run of play I might add and two goals conjured out of nothing. The first goal was lucky and the penalty – well I won’t accuse Bale of diving and Spurs have been on the end of some really dodgy decisions this year — but I certainly think he went over a little easy. Let’s just leave it at that.

Redknapp was out-coached today. Despite the two goal lead, Spurs were being overrun in the middle of the park. Redknapp made the right change by bringing in Sandro and Van Der Vaart but he waited until half time and by then the game was tied. Had he been really bold and brought Sandro on for Krancjar after the Spurs second goal in order to shore things up it might have been a different outcome. I am also a bit baffled as to why Redknapp didn’t play Lennon. I thought maybe he was injured, but apparently he was fit. I don’t understand that call at all. Spurs play best with two pacy wingers and if Lennon is too fragile to be consistently picked maybe Tottenham need to pull out all the stops to land Eden Hazard.

Tottenham’s defence was terrible today. I think Tottenham had the second best goals against record in the Premiership and apart from the 5-1 drubbing by ManCity in game 1, Spurs have been pretty consistent at the back. Today they were rubbish. Kaboul and King did not play well together. King made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes, Kaboul looked like the Kaboul of old. Walker did his job, but Assou Ekotto had a nightmare. He was either responsible for or missing in action for four of the goals. There is a level of inconsistency that is creeping into his game.

This was a true six pointer. Had Spurs won, they would have been 13 points ahead of Arsenal and 10 in front of Chelsea. Instead, Spurs are seven ahead of both. Instead of keeping pressure on Man United they are looking over their shoulders. Instead of sealing third they are in danger of falling into a fight for fourth.

So, how Tottenham respond will define this team and season. The next game is against Manchester United at home. Spurs need to come back and win it – by hook or by crook. Winning against ManU will take the pressure off Spurs, restore pride, get the season back on track and effectively stuff United’s bid the win the league. Redknapp has the reputation as a man-manager – well he will have to do everything this week to get the team in the right frame for the next game.

 Arsenal have a tough game next weekend too. Chelsea won’t have an easy time at a resurgent WBA either so no need to panic yet. After Man U, Spurs have Everton and Chelsea away. Get into a losing skid and Spurs could be out of the champions league spots after being top three almost all season. Get back to winning ways and it has to be noted that Spurs have the easiest run in of last nine games.