The premier league has hit the one quarter mark and Tottenham are about to face the dreaded rivals from up the road, so it seems as good a time as any to look at where Spurs are and where they are likely to go.
What a difference a year makes. At this time last year, Spurs were bottom of the table, had just fired the coach and director of football (where are those twits today??) had two points in total and were flopping around like an epileptic seal on an ice floe. Today, Spurs sit fourth and had it not been for a really crap game on Saturday could have spent a couple of hours in first place.
So what is the difference? One word – organization. The team appears to know what it is doing now. People do their jobs and there is a shape and form to the team. It doesn’t seem like rocket science to me. But perhaps it is.
Last year, no one knew the formation or what they were supposed to be doing, the team folded during adversity, got kicked off the park by whatever Lancastrian team was on the pitch were simply out played or just got stuck with floaters like Bentley and Bale. This year, Palacios and Huddlestone have given the midfield some bite; there might be kicking but at least they give as good as they get. Another key change is non-striker scoring, last season, Tottenham got a lot of goals but few from midfield. That is the difference between the big boys and the others. Those top four teams get lots of goals from midfield. Spurs are even getting them from the defence.
Other positive things include Gomes getting his groove back and not being an accident prone pratt like last year. Bassong proving to be a solid stand in for King or Woodgate and boy do you need that with the balsa-twins, and Assou-Ekotto turning from Tottenham’s worst player of recent memory into a solid if not spectacular regular. He even scored this year, although he stepped back into it on Saturday.
Worrying is the drop-off in form since Modric got injured. A couple of those games were tough ones, but Modric really has become an important part of the team system. Last week against Stoke, Tottenham lacked that creative spark to open up The Potters. It is the sort of thing a Gerrard or Fabregas gives you. Modric is the type of player who can do something different and unexpected that can turn plodders like Stoke inside out. But on Saturday Spurs ended up trying to out plod Stoke and got burned. It highlights what is infuriating about Jenas and Krancjar. They are fine players who can score and kick things around but they lack that little bit of genius that takes the team up a notch. Spurs have a superstar winger in Lennon and great strikers in Crouch, Keane and Defoe but they don’t have a solid enough creative back up to Modric.
Tottenham were clearly outplayed by Man U and Chelsea (although a penalty call the other way may have changed things), so there is still a long way to go. But against other teams, Spurs are proving to be solid contender for top four. Spurs are in the last eight of the Carling Cup too after last night’s pedestrian beating of Everton. The match against the Gooners, however will be a sterner test and will a better indication of how the team is progressing. COYS.
