The Spurs’ Revival… oh wait
I was sat in the pub around 2:20pm on Saturday, watching the Spurs vs. Blackburn game. It was 1-0 to Spurs, and while our goal had come from a rather dodgy penalty, we had bossed the whole game, and we could have easily been 3 or 4 up. I was imagining how my next blog entry on Seven Sisters Road would be a wonderful narration of Spurs’ revival since the Carling Cup final defeat to Man. Utd, and how we now looked destined to qualify for Europe in seventh spot.
And then- the referee sent off Wilson Palacios for two bookable offences within a few minutes of each other. The first booking was fair, it was a poor tackle. But the second… well, what can I say!! When you watch the replay, you see that poor old Wilson was booked for nothing more than flopping on the floor near David Dunn. It was a disgraceful decision. Palacios had pulled out of his tackle, and barely touched Dunn. It was no way a booking. But it turned the game around. Palacios had arguably been our best player, and without him to hold things together in the middle, and reeling from the shock of the red card decision, Spurs did their usual implosion – Blackburn stealing two goals in the last ten minutes and taking the three points, having been outplayed for the first 80 minutes.
Now, in many ways it was our own fault- we should have made more of our dominance, and scored three or four goals earlier in the game, which would have put us out of sight, regardless of whether Palacios got sent off. But we didn’t, and ended up losing a game we should have easily won. In the post match interview, Harry Redknapp looked visibly shocked by the late turnaround.
But he may well have to get used to such things. It has been the Tottenham way for years that just when we start to fire on all cylinders, something very, very silly happens. If there is one thing Tottenham have lacked over the last few decades it is consistency, and the ability to be ruthless in finishing teams off. Here is a remarkable stat: Spurs have not lost to anyone in the top four this season… but have lost to every team in the bottom five. Only Tottenham Hotspur could have such a stupid statistic as that. On our day, we are capable of beating any team in the country, but when we get careless, you can bet we will lose to any team in the country. Mid-table finish it is then.
So, after wins against Aston Villa and Chelsea, just as it looked like Spurs’ would be galloping up the table and challenging for a European spot, we go and do something stupid – by losing to Blackburn in the last ten minutes of a game we had dominated. Will there ever be a proper Spurs’ Revival, that fulfils what it promises? Probably not.
Simon
Tags: Blackburn Rovers, David Dunn, Football, Harry Redknapp, Premier League, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur, Wilson Palacios
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April 7, 2009 at 11:50 am
Here is a remarkable stat: Spurs have not lost to anyone in the top four this season… but have lost to every team in the bottom five. Only Tottenham Hotspur could have such a stupid statistic as that.
I loved the way you put that.
Why do you think Spurs seem to perform very well against the better sides in the Prem, and then struggle against the others?
April 7, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Good post, Simon. As the game went on against Blackburn, I always had the feeling we would end up regretting out missed chances. It was so frustrating, all the more so given that everyone around us in the chase for Europe lost too, which meant if we won we would have gone to eighth and if we then won our next game, against West Ham in seventh, then we would overtaken them.
The Palacios red-card was the turning point, and while we didn’t take any of our other chances, the biggest disappointment for me was the way we naively defended for the last ten minutes. Our back four has looked solid recently, but they fell to pieces. And this was against Blackburn who had a defender up front.
The stat you mentioned is quite remarkable. I don’t quite understand why that has been the case, James. Perhaps it’s a case of being fired up against the big boys and ‘taking it easy’ against the smaller boys, but I think pressure has a big influence. There is no expectancy to beat the top four – against Chelsea no one expected us to win and I think that went in our favour. But when we play the likes of West Brom, Stoke and Hull we are expected to win and sometimes, especially when we fall behind, Spurs just can’t hack it. I also think that the smaller teams really ‘get in your face’, which is something Spurs have never quite been able to match.
So there we go. Two very winnable home games coming up against West Ham and Newcastle, but I really don’t think it will be quite that straightforward…
April 7, 2009 at 2:28 pm
James, I dunno mate. It’s been like that for years. We very rarely get hammered by the top sides, and usually give them a good game. This year we have been fantastic against them, which shows that we have a great squad. But when it comes to the small sides, I have no idea what happens- we either hammer them, or things go to pot and we draw or lose. It must be a mental weakness really.
But it has been this way since the 90s, I have lost count have how many times pundits have said ‘on paper Spurs have one of the best squads in the league’, and yet we always ‘under-perform’. The only manager who has been able to put that right and get us any consistency has been Martin Jol. Under him we finished 5th two seasons in a row, and were pressing the top four. But then Levy sacked him. I’m optimistic that Harry might finally be able to give us some backbone, however.
April 8, 2009 at 11:57 am
Yeah I hear all that. Part of me wants to guess that Spurs will do really well next season. But then I’ve thought that for the last 3-4 seasons.