Superkid Eric leaves Big Sam in Dier straights

Sometime during the coming week, Big Sam ‘Allardici’ the West Ham manager will use his weekly newspaper column (The Evening Standard) to have a good whinge about the injustice of Saturday’s result. He would point to the 18 shots West Ham had during the game and how their general play was better. He would fail to mention that his team actually only had four shots on target, the same as Spurs and that despite playing more than a third of the match with 10 men, Spurs actually had the greater possession. He would forget that Spurs outplayed his side last October at White Hart Lane yet found themselves on the wrong end of a three-nil score line. Stats get thrown around these days to paint a picture, but the truth is that stats are only used in this context when a manager is trying to explain away a bad performance, result or both.

Ordinarily, I won’t devote this much space to West Ham. However, they have become a bit of an irritant in recent years, what with the Olympic stadium fiasco, dodgy lasagne and especially last year when Spurs lost three times to them and I had to listen to a smug-looking Big Sam milk each victory with the self-congratulatory air of an A-list tactical guru of a manager which he is not.  So although it’s only the first match of the season, it felt good to win it so late and deflate the optimism surrounding the bubble blowing hammers.

In terms of the match itself, it was a bold call by Mauricio Pochettino to give a debut to 20 year old Eric Dier who played well both at centre back and also when he moved to right back following Kyle Naughton’s rather harsh red card. I was really looking forward to seeing Christian Eriksson and Erik Lamela playing together in attack behind a motivated Emmanuel Adebayor. However, neither of them had a significant impact on the game and as a result, Spurs attacking play was not as impressive as one would have liked. Adebayor played well as a lone frontman but had few opportunities to attack West Ham.

The match was a slow burner to start with, but West Ham had the better of the opening 20 minutes. The sending off of Naughton changed the dynamics of the match though and denied us the chance to see the evolution of Pochettino’s philosophy. Spurs played better once West Ham’s James Collins was sent off to level the playing field. The fact that Eric Dier was so far forward in the 93^rd minute to finish so calmly tells us Pochettino is inclined to always go for it. It also tells us that Eric Dier is a good footballer, not surprising as he has been brought up in an academy that produced Luis Figo and Christiano Ronaldo among others.  

With Spurs unusually quite transfer window and the trauma of last season still fresh in our minds, expectation has been a bit more tempered this season compared to last and the only two questions to be answered this season are; can last summer’s signings live up to their reputations after failing to deliver last season. And can Mauricio Pochettino deliver success and the stylish football Spurs fans see at their birth right with players he has inherited? He backs himself to improve players as evidenced at Southampton and has shown a willingness to attack away from home. His high pressing game might be unpicked by better teams but Spurs fans will enjoy the attacking mentality which makes a change from the safety first approach of Andre Villas Boas.

It is only three points though, so not too much can be read into it. History shows us the folly of jumping to conclusions early. Six years ago, a young centre back tipped for big things scored the winner on his Spurs debut. Three years later, said young centre back, Sebastian Bassong had progressed to playing for Norwich City. Spurs started last season with a win at Crystal Palace. By the end of the season, we had lost two managers and some of our dignity despite a respectable 6^th place. Hope and trepidation abound in equal measure. Such is the lot of a Spurs supporter these days. We’ll know a lot about Spurs prospects this season when we play Liverpool on the 31^st of August, a few hours before the transfer window closes.  

It’s going to be another white knuckle ride at the Lane.