About thirty minutes into this rather attritional match, a fellow Spurs supporter sent me a picture of Fry, the permanently frustrated character from US animation sitcom, Futurama. It had the caption, ‘that face you make when Spurs are losing again’. With Spurs having lost four home games already, I’ve actually recognised that expression on a few faces at White Hart Lane this season. Some of Spurs’ better results this season have come on the road though and as were playing a team full of our cast offs, we would surely come back and win. With that in mind, I replied to my mate with that biblical classic, ‘Oh ye of little faith’. In the event, it is ironic that it was a Christian (Eriksson) who rewarded my faith with a last minute winner that was worth waiting for (Phew). However that was a hard fought win that does little more than paper the cracks of a team searching desperately for form and consistency.
Although injuries and suspension forced his hand a little here, it’s fairly obvious that Pochettino is still trying to work out his best and most reliable starting eleven as his track record does not suggest a tinkering tendency. Still, six changes were made from the last match, understandable perhaps given our performance against Stoke. Hull, featuring old boys Tom Huddleston, Jake Livermore and Michael Dawson started brightly and tested a defence still getting accustomed to each other during a first half when Spurs were outfought. You would have got very long odds on Jake Livermore scoring in any match. However, as former players often tend to do, one of the few goals he will score in his career was also one of his best as he fizzed a long range shot past Hugo Lloris. Hatem Ben Arfa also caused a few problems down the flanks.
Spurs had to get better in the second half and they did, although they were given a massive helping hand by Gaston Ramirez’s moment of madness which resulted in a deserved red card. Afterwards, Hull fought a determined rear guard action with both Livermore and Huddlestone picking up bookings. Dawson played with the determination of a man who did not want to lose against the team he gave so much effort for nine years. It looked like his heroics would deny Spurs the win they desperately needed until Eriksson’s late intervention.
Christian Eriksson had his best game of the season. It was his shot that came back of the crossbar for Harry Kane to score the equalising goal and his winning goal was class. He is the best number 10 we have but he has struggled to raise his game in some games recently and Spurs have struggled to score as a result. Spurs must hope that he is back to his best. Who would have thought at the start of the season that Harry Kane would have more goals than Adebayor and Soldado combined? Or that we will be dreading him getting injured? He has done very well indeed, but he must keep the desire for goals alive because strikers are only as good as their last goal. This is the reality that Adebayor and especially Soldado are finding out rather painfully to Spurs cost.
Adebayor has never really been consistent as a goal scorer but his all round game tends to compensate even if that is currently missing. Soldado is the biggest mystery. There is no doubting his pedigree and his effort, but he is starting to resemble the Fernando Torres that Chelsea bought and another Spanish great who flopped in English football, Fernando Morientes.
It is a source of great frustration to Spurs fans that, having had a season to get used to life without Gareth Bale, we have not got the squad to take advantage of the crisis at clubs like Arsenal, a Manchester United in transition and especially Liverpool, who are finding out fast that spending big money on loads of players may improve the squad, it is a poor substitute for a superstar who can strike fear into opposition players before the match starts and can win games on his own. Brendan Rodgers has gloated in the past that he dodged a bullet by rejecting Spurs and Liverpool would not make the same mistake as Spurs did after losing a star player. I’ll let him stew in Liverpool’s continuing misery before I have my say on him.
Coming back to Spurs, there has been media speculation that Southampton’s head of recruitment, Paul Mitchell is leaving to join Spurs. Should this be the case, it will strengthen Pochettino’s powerbase at Spurs while leaving question marks over the future of Franco Baldini. There have been a lot of players bought over the last two years but Spurs still have one of the most unbalanced squads in the premiership. Most of the players that Southampton have bought or developed over the last two years have shown themselves to be of a very high standard. They also have the best injury record in the premiership. That cannot be coincidence. They are doing something right. This may yet be the most important signing of the Pochettino era at Spurs.
No comments:
Post a Comment