We survived.

West Ham on the opening day. I've seen prettier sites checking the bottom of my shoe to see if I'd just stepped in dog shit. I wrote a piece detailing how, although pre-season results shouldn't be given an inch of your time (and they shouldn't), the style and system in which we approach these games inherently should. This game seemingly worked try and go out of its' way to contradict literally every word I wrote.

Although, that wasn't quite what was top of my mind when I was watching us play at West Ham. I couldn't help but imagining the dangerously unsettling comparisons between our performance across the 90 minutes and the regular drivel we had to endure under Sherwood. The notable thing that we did manage to avoid was an all too typical collapse at the first sniff of danger. The game almost reminded me of the Cardiff away fixture last season. We flattered to deceive for much of it before a new boy popped up and scored a late winner.

That first sniff of danger was our back four. Hands up at the end of last season who'd have predicted Naughton & Rose would be starting our first Premier League of the new season. Neither did I. Kaboul, sadly, is not the player he was in 2011/2012 & the wildcard that is Eric Dier could be hit or miss.

I must've watched this game with my hands over my eyes because up until Naughton saw red, I've been informed that we were doing admirably up until this point. I remember us being slack in possession and moving the ball at a snail pace. We looked a minor shadow of ourselves system wise that we saw more or less in every pre-season fixture. It wasn't the fact that we even put into practice this fresh approach and West Ham stifled it, it was more that we lacked the confidence to try and put it into practice in the first place.

We'd seen a far more pragmatic side that were more direct in their passing style but we struggled to get out of our final third at times on Saturday. We lacked that extra midfield option when the defence had the ball or lacked that option in the final third when Bentaleb came deep to collect that first pass. Maybe pushing Capoue back into CB affected this but we struggled even at 11 vs. 11.

We've big hopes for Lamela this year but I feel giving him this seemingly free role almost stifles Eriksen's effectiveness in the final third. Lamela consistently picked up the ball but struggled to know his next move when receiving and often tried too hard to impress. He'd miss the more simple-yet-effective ball more often than not and looked a little lost positionally when out of possession. I maintain that giving him a permanent role right would allow him to work on his game as well as a role that would exploit the best of Erik as well as the system we're trying to implement. This would further allow Eriksen to adopt a more permanent role centrally and allow him to flourish where he is arguably his most dangerous.

Maybe the system needs time. In fact, there's no doubt it does. One player that slotted like he'd been at the club for years was Eric Dier. His positioning, no-nonsense attitude and versatility were exceptional. Considering his debut was arguably made all the more difficult as he was forced to shift over to RB when Naughton did see red, he performed admirably in his first outing.

It's always satisfying to pick up three points on the opening day but I think it's understandable to expect the more pragmatic approach we'd seen in pre-season to be adopted more regularly as time proceeds. We've still to welcome back a host of players from the World Cup as well as a couple of weeks left of this window. The signals have definitely been quietly optimistic, but it's clear that time is still the most valuable thing Pochettino needs at his disposal.

Regards,
Ben

Diluted expectation.

It's been an uncharacteristically low-key and rather reserved summer. We more or less wrapped up our managerial appointment early and saved ourselves a shadow fewer and a 'saga' less than we've known to expect of latter years. We should probably thank the World Cup for this. The fact it's essentially prevented Neil Ashton from inking poison on to the back pages of the Mail has certainly ensured my enthusiasm for the tournament has remained consistent.

Although come next week and we can only expect the usual pathogens to breed more bollocks on to toilet paper and bleed the eyes of the unfortunate reader. We're fully aware of the vicious circle we fall into every summer. Is it a sign of improvement that these calibre of players are happy to join Tottenham Hotspur or that these players are more wiling to use us as a stepping stone to then fuck off into the sunset? Probably the latter.

But Pochettino's short tenure at Spurs thus far has taught me that we don't need to have our manager bleating the same soundbites of league titles and Champions League qualification for me to feel a sense of warmth and quiet optimism towards him, subjectively speaking. I almost feel as though our greatest ever optimum opportunity in which to establish ourselves firmly within the seemingly intimidating presence of the top 4 has essentially been and gone. I don't see this as a negative though.

Our expectations in recent years have poisoned the atmosphere at White Hart Lane. It becomes more of a chore to enjoy a game and this, possibly, may be the first season in many in which expectation is more aspiration. Content at top 6 is bluntly realistic. The competition for the Champions League and its' riches via Premier League qualification seems more than an arms lengths out of reach. Our arguably more modest and realistic goals for the forthcoming season may ease the previous burden of weighted expectation and allow us to thrive in a more structured environment.

So where do our main priorities lie? The recent survey sent out by THST (that you should definitely fill out here if you haven't yet) asks fans where their personal priorities lie for this season. I felt torn on this one. On a previous question I'd answered that I felt '"dissatisfied" at the atmosphere at White Hart Lane at present and, in reality, a good league run would help to an extent to cure this - but only in the short-term. In Fact, I placed the FA Cup and Europa League above the Premier League in preference. Have I contradicted myself? Arguably, but I hate how we seemingly can't have a fairly average run in the league anymore and still have White Hart Lane as a fortress as we did in the past.

Pochettino's appointment excites me. Not because I think we'll be world leaders under him though. We've craved structure and preparation prior to fixtures. We certainly didn't utilize our squad to the full last season under a manager that struggled to know how to implement them best. Hopefully we'll bring more attractive football back to White Hart Lane and with this a snowball effect of injected enthusiasm into the fans that could roar the side on in the league and cups.

A combination of more modest expectations behind a manager that will pay more thorough attention to detail could (again) be a mix we've desperately required. We've finally reached a point in time in which 'how long' our manager will be given has slowly been swept under the carpet, well - for now. For the moment we seem content to sit back and just see what happens, maybe we could enjoy the company of our football team again.

Regards,
Ben - You can follow me on Twitter here

I want to enjoy Spurs again.

Very rarely have I felt a season concluded in which the word 'bittersweet' could paint the story of how we rounded a largely anticlimactic spell that, on the whole, redefined disappointment. That is 99% bitter with a sprinkle of sweetness on top after Sherwood's sacking. I maintain Tim Sherwood's abrupt arrival was through unravelling a chocolate bar and finding a glistening golden ticket staring at him in the face. The ticket revealed a unique CRN and a bar code that granted exclusive (limited-time) access to the Head Coach position of Tottenham Hotspur. A poison chalice, yet a seat that offers such lucrative wealth it forever remains in demand.

A tenure so brief that all Sherwood seemed to have taken from it was a win percentage and a rife of publicity that, in large, constructed bridges with the media and dismantled any ounce of harmony that existed within the squad. Hold for applause. We quickly became isolated. Hibernating away until the overcast and disappointment had temporarily become dormant once more. The season finished and soon after the clouds departed with Sherwood out of White Hart Lane, allowing the sun, as well as our usual cautious optimism, to re-emerge.

It is a season as typical as this that inherently begs the questions of our expectations as fans. Have our expectations smothered our aspirations to the point where we're suffocating our own realism? You wouldn't bet against it. In truth, this hasn't been the worst season as a Spurs fan, but the feeling is just that. It's the feeling of thorough disappointment. Our heart and soul are placed delicately in the grubby, unforgiving and Stubhub-tattooed hands of a football club that has the capacity to crush them at the sound of a referees whistle. We've qualified for Europe, again, yet it reveals a more disheartening outlook when the path most trodden is one full with fans that do not want it.

Our success is always relative. Achieving 4th position in the league isn't 'success' but is 'relative success'. The money that's succumbed the souls of far too many clubs now dictate that even being in the Premier League is 'success'. It does beg the question though, where do our expectations lye? You look at the league table and argue that there are 7 clubs that will be pursuing the top 4 positions of the league. The strength of the opposition naturally exponentiates every year, excusing United's expected anomaly of a season.

The story of the season said so much more about a few underlying traits of the football club that we want sewn into the DNA. We want to enjoy supporting the Football Club again. It's that word 'enjoyment' that has been so lost in arguments between finances, net spend, league positions, transfers and management that we've forgotten to enjoy having the opportunity to grace the sacred ground and bellow our support at whoever encompasses the shirt.

We want to finish the season with a sense of nostalgia, inherently disappointed that we won't see another game for a few months. We want to be so wrapped up with the club that everything else naturally becomes of second importance. It's difficult to enjoy visiting the ground and watching the side when there remains so much doubt injected into our blood. The doubt has shaped and re-shaped our perception of an unloving club but one we could never outright unlove. The love remains but the enthusiasm sat on a cliff edge, by the end of season it was hanging on for dear life and only the outstretched arm of Pochettino may have reinvigorated it once more.

We'd hit a temporary identity crisis. Temporary being largely the operative word. Our performances have tipped the balance between distinctly monotonous and overwhelmingly flamboyant. A medium between the two would be a welcomed arrival. Preparation and a consistent first eleven will encourage a growing identity we can latch on to. Hopefully the perception of unrest will (again) be buried deep with the memory of Tim Sherwood and his time in charge. In Mauricio Pochettino we may finally have the ingredients to do this but are once more testing an unknown recipe. We can only sit back and ponder as to whether this will finally be our dream dish.

Regards
Ben

Spurs need to change this, desperately.

This summer, like the many that have foregone this one, brings with it a great importance. We're presented with a chess board seemingly stuck in a position of checkmate. One wrong move and it's all over. We over-committed and sacrificed pieces that we thought were for the better of the club but have quickly realised that this short-term impact holds only negative bearings for the long-term.

Ah, the long-term. Look it up in the Spurs dictionary and it'll tell you that this is anything beyond 2 years. A long-term vision that is held in such a hollow shell by a trigger-happy chairman does not bode well for the future of any football club. Given circumstantial external elements must be taken into consideration, as must the internal environment, but the clubs that were around us that persisted with the faith they installed into their respective managers are now stepping on our shoulders with a firm eye on achieving their seasons' objectives.

We can only look down and realise that the comfortable pair of shoes we purchased in the summer have become scruffy and unloved. They desperately need an owner to come and give them some immediate attention. There's no need to fall in to the easy cliché of modern football and shift a variety of players that have failed to live up to our initial perceptions. I find it incredibly difficult to label our summer signings as 'flops' although I can understand why this may be the case for some.

I beg that the surface is scratched a little more. I'd ask how so many players, even those that were stand-outs last season, have shown only half their calibre this year. It was understandable that time, persistence and a notorious amount of patience would be required to install and settle an entire side of talent; three factors that are alien in language for our own club. The seemingly imminent rotation policy would be our own self-created hurdle and a challenge we would have to embrace. I felt that we were too quick to rotate initially at the start of the season, but understood that players had to play.

But right now we're lost without a strategic direction, without a game plan. Forgive my marketing background but if I were to launch a new product and applied little to no branding, no pricing strategy, no method of distribution and no use of promotional tactics behind the launch then no matter how 'good' the product may be, it would fail. If I had no strategic direction to market this product and grow in the future then it wouldn't be a success.

If a team/a squad of players have no real strategic direction, no consistent, homogeneous way of playing every week and approaching each fixture, no preparation as to how to attack the oppositions weaknesses or defend against their strengths and 11 players are just fielded, then the results will be similar. The players have no idea how to operate in their roles. Combine this with a lack of cohesion within the side and the fail to have a leader on the touchline or within the squad and the result is inevitable.

Oh, Bobby. A £26m man would be (and is rightly) judged on goals. Playing up-front is a far more complex operation than it may meet the eye. At Valencia, Soldado enjoyed a flurry of quality crosses and was renowned for pouncing on them. He'd play 90 minutes in the opponents area. With a season that has presented a mismatch in players operating out wide on the wing, the most utilised have arguably been Eriksen out left who naturally tucks inside and Lennon out right who's struggled to execute a consistent final ball all season. There's no stable system for Bobby to play in. The early runs off of defenders at the start of the year - before Eriksen's real introduction into the side - have vanished as the forward works into positions out wide just to get involved.

Without a regular partner feeding him goalscoring opportunities or wingers that are thumping balls into him we lose, essentially, all of Soldado's game. In glimpses we've witnessed a partnership in production between the Spaniard and Christian Eriksen. This may have materialised far earlier on had Eriksen not suffered injury in November and AVB not being sacked moments after. This prospective partnership is the glimmer of hope we have to carry into the forthcoming season. It should be a partnership that we operate around next season. A system that should also see Paulinho exploit his box-to-box asset that we signed him for and present him with a regular partner within the centre of midfield.

It's been mentioned before that we're lacking a real core, a real identity of this football club. Granted the players haven't performed, but the environment they're in is poisonous. There's no system or preparation. There should be a growing desire to keep them and integrate them into something that works. It's criminal that we're into April and still haven't discovered our strongest 11. Selling off an entire team would see another transition, another summer of uncertainty.

So this brings us to the person that can bring all these pieces together. Levy. Sherwood's pitch for the full-time role has fallen on to hard ground. The guy is the image of Tottenham Hotspur and it's ironic that he's pushed his own chances of keeping the job full-time (one would hope) out to sea with his diabolical antics on the sidelines, his alienation of the players and his obvious lack of tactical approach and preparation.

If we were to be sucked into a black hole and emerge into a paradox Universe in which gilet's were a genuine trend and in one that Levy did decide to retain Sherwood this summer, then we'd face another 12 months of uncertainty due to his contract expiration. There's potential for fruition in our, now seemingly, exaggerated objectives of actually winning a trophy or acquiring a Champions League spot next season, but the manager needs changing to facilitate and put this potential into practice.

Regards,
Ben - You can follow me on Twitter here

Sherwood's Master Plan.

Fresh off of consecutive wins at Old Trafford we arguably approached the Emirates with a false sense of confidence and a not so much a 'renewed' but a brief 'revitalisation' of the limited optimism that had dragged us through the season so far. Possibly unwanted. We'd just about scrubbed away the expectation. The brief strangle hold of financial net spend and squad settling issues keeping us from scenarios involving dark rooms and brandy. It's our defence mechanism. A mechanism I sincerely hope we lack next season.

I'm not knocking it, it's fact. Tottenham Hotspur: forever the 'next season' team. Not quite the soundbite notoriously heard at Anfield at the start of every season but you get the gist, it's frustrating. With Bale leaving and 7 players unknown to the Premier League, this year was always going to have atleast an element of settlement required. With AVB gone who knows how long it'll be before we can have a season with little change.

Confidence at your own peril. The DNA of Tottenham never changes, you never know what you'll get with us. The Enemy at their place on the back of Christmas was probably one fixture too much for us. The same 11 feeling the effects of 6 games in 17 days. Feet up and cotton wool were probably needed for the week preceding the win at Old Trafford, they deserved it.

Sherwood, not wanting to alter a short-term winning formula and a lack of options, was limited in selection and picked the strongest available names - bar arguably Bentaleb. Fatigue likely ripe within. We could see the car-crash on the horizon. Yet we remained hopeful. Somehow, someone would step up and become a hero. Contrary to our boss, we were overrun in midfield. Dembele given the job of three at the worst of times. Dropping Soldado and putting Capoue in alongside Dembele and Bentaleb would've given the protection the back four needed. What was more worrying was we could foresee this although our manager seemingly couldn't.

When in possession we were pressed high up the pitch, as expected. Walcott making up extra numbers in midfield. Arsenal were relentless without the ball. Again though, as expected. Sitting deep to counteract Walcott's pace made sense although as a result we couldn't press the ball as often as we may have liked. Eriksen was forced to stay out left far often than he'd have liked and we didn't set up as we should've done until after Rosicky had capitalised on our second defensive error of the night. Given, we sought to make the change before that blunder.

But it is how it is. Neither side were at their strongest. It's frustrating, of course it is. We made individual errors but, if anything, this game should encourage us to operate a different system. The short term under Sherwood made us far more unpredictable, as did 4-4-2, but it's so quickly sussed out & an easy system to play against with a rampant midfield. The space in front of the back 4 left Dawson and Chiriches with little protection but also fewer options to play the ball when in possession.

Hindsights a wonderful thing. It's perfection. We always question our decisions to lavish any hope on a performance at the Emirates worthy of 3 points. It's the hope that keeps us sane, but it's the same hope that can push you over the edge. You appreciate the smaller things in life and turn your back on football momentarily after a defeat.

Soldado reportedly came off with a knock. He's remained a regular fixture in the side despite the recent flurry of fixtures. He's looked better without quite turning it on just yet. If When he's not scoring he's contributing. There's a real ball of fire in him, but we're seeing just a flame so far. The tip of the iceberg. Time obviously not on his side but it's more promising than it was 4 months ago. But this knock may provide us the opportunity to tamper and test the 4-2-3-1 that Sherwood finished the Arsenal game with, albeit with different personnel.

Sherwood: When you lose the ball you are always going to be out of shape - otherwise you are going to be a rigid, boring team". You understand his point but that statement is incredibly naive. Eriksen's recent growth in confidence has allowed him more expression on the pitch. Taking away those final shackles pinning him to cover left midfield will grant him the freedom he so desperately craves in that number 10 role. With Dembele & Sandro sitting in behind him offering support in possession, we could still play with the same flair but have the stability we've arguably lacked under Sherwood. Ie. we could keep our shape though operate it a little deeper when not in possession.

Regardless of how this season turns out, you still get the impression we lack a long-term plan. Sherwood's steered the ship back on course in the Premier League but we look every part as likely to steer it back off it again. We've one competition left in which to compete for silverware and I hope we give it a go (again that word 'hope'). A fully fit squad will allow us to. But that's a feat rarely found but desperately craved in football.

Regards,
Ben

Change is good.

Those of you that actively follow me on Twitter or read my piece for Spurs Stat Man here would understand that I held immediate concerns and strong apprehension amongst Sherwood's full-time appointment. In the short-term he was the only real viable option and Levy had dug himself into a hole without an apparent long-term direction for the football club. I welcomed the introduction of Adebayor alongside Soldado although I strongly felt/still feel that the 4-4-2 previously being employed was not exploiting the talent that we have at our disposal.

The game against West Brom highlighted this. We were far too easy to play against and didn't look organised in midfield as well as being clueless in the final third. Although, against an admittedly poor Stoke side, we looked a fresh outfit. Sherwood's reaction as well as his acknowledgement to change the side and employ a more flexible system against Stoke was a strong positive to see.

 Dembele and Paulinho took turns to sit and advance, closing up any space Stoke had in the middle of the pitch and facilitating our attacks. In truth, this is where we exploit the best of Dembele and it's surprising that we don't see him scoring more goals than he does. Hopefully this license to drive from midfield as he did so well last year will enable us to be more clinical in the final third than we have been in general this season. The attributes are there, we just need him operating in his strongest areas of the pitch.

We're slowly seeing more of Eriksen as the season progresses and it's becoming easier to forget that the Dane is just 21. This side tended to drift away from the 4-4-2 operated against West Brom and Eriksen was given license to tuck in behind Soldado and to operate centrally. With Adebayor dropping in to an advance midfield role as we know he can so well, it was a pleasure to see him and Eriksen on the ball and feeding in others. Two players that fully appreciate the lack of shackles bounded around their ankles. The general consensus was that we were far more organised against Stoke, something we distinctly lacked against West Brom, and hopefully this is another building block to implementing a system and a regular first XI.

What brought about more confidence was the interview Dembele gave regarding Sherwood post-Stoke.

"He's not been with us long, but he's made some adjustments and he's talked with us a lot." - This suggesting Sherwood is still open to the idea of implementing a different system to suit the players who welcome the communication and the open-mindedness.

"He gives us confidence to play our own game and to attack while remaining organised." - In truth, the players seem to struggle with self-belief towards the end of AVB's reign and it's positive to see that the confidence is being restored. It'll be the reaction after a defeat from here on in that will be the biggest test. Also to note that Dembele has mentioned about the organisation whilst attacking, something distinctly missing against West Brom but evident against Stoke.

"We're playing in a very attacking way, but he makes sure we're organised. You can't all attack at once, so he explains it to us and we train that way." - More emphasises on the organisation of the side which will be given a huge test at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

It's frustrating to see us continually in a transition although it's positive to see an open and confident response to an unsettling two or so weeks at the club. Sherwood has sought to lay down the organisation in the side and the next step will be selecting a consistent XI and arguably finding how to best exploit Eric Lamela.

I'd be tempted to label our set-up against Stoke as a 4-2-3-1 with Adebayor dropping in the front three behind Soldado. His free role in the team makes it difficult for him to be picked up by defenders and also supports the midfielders in attack. Soldado's movement still lacks a real cutting edge but he's made notable improvements in the last two weeks under Sherwood and hopefully we'll see the best of him in 2014.

United and Arsenal will be two real tests for Sherwood that have arguably come slightly prematurely. He's stabilised the train and we no longer look to be falling off the rails. Although we've experienced some very poor performances under his brief time in charge and hopefully these have been addressed. Sherwood knows he's little to lose during his time in charge of the club and this was reflected in our last outing against Stoke as we played with far more confidence and conviction as well as looking far more settled and organised than we have done for a few months.

We'll need both discipline and ruthlessness if we're to get a sniff of a point on Wednesday. We've the personnel to over-power their midfield and create the chances although have looked a little suspect at the back at times. Grabbing the chances we do get by the lower regions and smothering United will be key but I predict a very open game.

It's hard to see how this side will approach the tougher fixtures that await us. The arguably reduced expectation can only be seen as a positive.

Regards,
Ben - you can follow me on Twitter here

Isolation

It's understandable that a part of us may begin feeling a little isolated and the feeling of disillusionment over the football club we've followed for the best part of our lifetimes is hovering over our heads just waiting to come crashing down, punishing every ounce of optimism that remains from a summer that promised so much.

AVB is gone. A victim of football's short-mindedness and an example of the hollow commitments that plague the modern game. A manager forever working to disprove the doubters, you always gathered he managed football matches with a weight tied to his ankles. A working struggle to communicate his methods, his passion was never thrown into doubt. As fans we're sold a long-term project. We're sold our new Wenger, Ferguson. We invest hope and expectation. Cutting short at the first sign of trouble seems an easy way out. Regardless of ability, dark patches will inevitably face the greatest of managers and their response to these unwelcoming patches could define a season. Our unwelcoming loss and the snatching of defeat from victory at Goodison saw a reactive change in training methods and a 3 month unbeaten run. We ended the season on record points.

Among hiring AVB, Levy stated the following: "He has an outstanding reputation for his technical knowledge of the game for creating well-organised teams capable of playing football in an attractive and attacking style." It was arguably the latter part of this statement that saw AVB's tenure at Spurs cut prematurely short. The league table didn't show a too discomforting position but that depends where the expectations lay. Belief seemed lost in both the players and the management, they began looking incompatible although I personally felt AVB could've provided the required solution.

Our project was cut short after 18 months, as was my belief that we're willing to give a manager time.

The division amongst our next appointment remained split and the appointment of Sherwood has done little to eliminate that division - nor has the choice to 'commit' an entire 18 months with him. Sherwood's already sought to stamp his authority on this Football Club. His evident opinionated and arrogant outlook could work in giving the players the overdue slap in the face that they've needed this year. His frank and honest views with the media almost create a Harry Redknapp 2.0.

It's fair to say we know little of what we'll get from Sherwood but the priority has to be a settled first XI. It's incredible that we don't know our strongest 11 whilst on the fringes of the half way point in the season. We've done little to allow players to settle into a position and we've tarnished the tools required to breed partnerships. 'The Spurs Way' is likely to do more damage than good to a manager. All I'd want is stability, although acknowledge that in the long-run we're still lacking this in regards to the management. At Southampton we seemed to employ little method but our technical players grabbed the game by the lower regions and played some nice football.

We've found positives thus far in a turbulent week. The shackles have been released from Ade and we're seeing the best of a very talented forward. This exponential effect of this was a better performance from Soldado on Sunday. A weight lifted from his shoulders. He had more chances engineered against Southampton than any other notable PL game this season and helped create two goals for Adebayor. A partnership that could blossom. The attributes are there, the belief just needs to remain.

Christian Eriksen also had a very promising game in a deeper role on Sunday. A long-term solution? I'm unsure but he looked tidy playing there. Of course the Dane is technically a very astute player, his ability remarkable for his tender age. He knows the passes to pick but wasn't afraid to stick in a tackle. Lamela showed more flair and fight this year, more building blocks towards the finished article. Nabil Bentaleb showed us that our youth team is something worth remaining optimistic about.

It's anyones guess as to how this season will pan out. We have stability in the short-term although our long-term plan is seemingly non-existent. We have a talented squad and the hope is that Sherwood's personality doesn't isolate them. Our chances of success are about as likely as our chances of failure, but atleast the enjoyment of watching Tottenham Hotspur may just have returned.

Regards,
Ben - You can follow me on Twitter here

Big Issues.

So we're just over a quarter of the way through the season. We've won 10 of our last 14 games and sit just 5 points shy off of the top of the table but yet we're struggling to breathe, let alone smell confidence at the moment. Our performances have reflected much of our thoughts this year in what has started to look like a far greater transitional season than the one we felt we'd be victims of last year. Fake smiles at 1-0 victories, manufactured laughing and joking far more out of relief than delight. We've lost the that touch of flair and dynamism.

We traded £100m worth of talent for another £100m worth of talent and in all honesty we're a left with a mix of hope and anxiety. We finally didn't see ourselves in the envious shoes watching on as squads - not teams - destroyed competitions and lifting silverware. It was hard not to succumb into a dream world where Tottenham Hotspur are up there with the best, it was a struggle to hold back writing endless pieces of satire about how it all ended happily ever after. But this wasn't the pragmatic viewpoint. This was theory. Theory is something that would generate far more success on FM than in real life. Unfortunately.

What we found ourselves left with was a system that generated an initially unbalanced side. The emergence of Andros Townsend on the right and injuries to Nacer Chadli left us short of an immediate option out left and the natural width that we'd grown so used to. We had quality, but it needed time to settle in - they needed to find their feet and their place in the side. We've grown to become a more expectant fan base. Mix that in with a pot of a £100m+ squad in front of you and the results can be deadly. Last years' consistent performers found themselves fighting off the fringes. One has found himself shoulder to shoulder with the youth (or out in Siberia).

Either a lack of pass and move or a sincere lacklustre attempt at pass and move left us almost unsurprisingly leaving with a sense of misdirection. Was it still a settling in period or are we simply not clicking as we felt we would?

Soldado. I'm still a little lost for words. He hasn't had the service we'd have expected him to get but at the same time he's finding himself marked out of games far too easily. He looks far too leightweight up front and almost seems to have underestimated the physicality of the Premier League.

Soldado's average shot accuracy stands at just 55%. His shots have been few and far between, averaging just 2.3 shots per game. This isn't too considerably less than his final season in Valencia in which he averaged 2.9 shots per game. The issue is that Paulinho and Townsend both have 3.3 and 4.5 shots respectively each - but have scored just twice in 81 shots between them. This arguably hinders the opportunities given to our number 9 as our midfielders aren't picking him out.


Is it worrying that Rebrov had 5 goals in his first 11 league games? I don't think we can dive to deep into that.

With just 12 key passes and 2 assists as well as an average of 0.3 dribbles per game so far, it's arguable to say that Soldado isn't the creative forward that can engineer chances for himself or others and so relies on the service around him. One key issue is we took around 50% of our shots from outside the box from last year (albeit due to the mesmerising attributes of Gareth Bale) and it would always take a more pragmatic approach on the training ground to actually adapt and bed in a team of new players and a new system to fit in a £26m poacher. Soldado's final season in Valencia saw him have exactly 100 shots in the league and a conversion rate of 24% - most of which were inside the penalty area. With two inverted wingers, Soldado lacks the natural width he'd thrive off of to pounce on whipped balls into the centre. Our second issue is that with Townsend preferring to cut inside and shoot, Soldado lacks further service coming from central areas.

Soldado's heat map vs. Newcastle is shown left. It's evident that the forward continued to come deep to try and get involved with play as he became more isolated staying on the shoulder of the last defender. Soldado's a poacher but he's having very little in which to poach. A change of system may resolve this. Shifting Townsend out wide and encouraging him to stick more balls into the box - as he did so well away vs. Tbilisi - would increase the likely attempts on goal and the chance of conversion. But shifting Townsend isn't the only answer.We'd have probably expected more of Soldado but the service provided has been exceptionally poor - and this points us to our next man.

Cristian Eriksen. It raises more than one eyebrow to recognise this guy is just 21 years of age, not due to the ever recinding hairline, but because of the expectation and reliability the guy seems to weight himself down with whenever he takes to the field. His lack of starts (just 7 in all competitions) has prohibited him to find his rhythm and forge a partnership with Soldado in the squad. This has to be our man to unleash our number 9. Engage them, marry them, send them away on a training camp to Dubai together - I don't care - just get the two playing in the same side.

Statsbomb highlights brilliantly that Eriksen actually engineered 9 key passes v Newcastle which has notably only happened 15 times across this year and last year out of a whopping 1800 matches across the big 5 leagues in Europe. This is quite significant. A player that was slated for his performance achieved something that has happened in around 0.0083% of games spanning last year and the start of this year. I feel our main issue is that we don't get the ball at Eriksen's feet high enough up the pitch for any real impact. It's evident that for a player operating just off the shoulder of a lone striker, he's evidently having to come deeper to pick up the ball and play a pass as shown. His heat map also shows an honest story with much of his influence being pulled out left or into the centre midfield role. This arguably could've been as a result of Paulinho pressing so high and leaving the midfield a player short. According to FFT Statzone, Eriksen created 4 chances from open play but notably 3 of the 4 chances created were on the fringes on the final third and unsurprisingly lead to little damage.

This guy was brought in to feed our £26m forward. With 41 assists in 113 matches at Ajax and still being at the ripe age of just 21, it's obvious we've an immense talent within our ranks. A quicker transition between the defensive players/midfielders to Eriksen into the final third will only allow for an environment in which he can engineer goal scoring opportunities. Let others do the tracking back and keep him off of the shoulder of Soldado. That partnership has the making for something quite beautiful. Time is also a beautiful thing, so let's keep our heads grounded and give him the patience than a 21 year old attacking midfielder quite probably needs. Let's leave Eriksen and Soldado to be our vocal point in attack.

I do find it a little ironic that one of our most influential players last year in Mousa Dembele has struggled to infultrait his presence amongst the new side and his influence has been noticeably absent. Although I don't pin this on the player losing his ability over a summer, but put it down to the new role he's finding himself locked down in. He's far more restricted this season, I've almost gauged the impression he's been told not to cross half way on a number of occasions and is forced to act as the anchor in our side. If this is the case then we've sacrificed both an efficient and effective use of Dembele. He's not a midfielder that sits, he's one that breaks up play and drives from midfield, easing past players and picking out a pass. His pace and stamina allowed a flurry of counting attacking moves last year and it's quite possible that this slight change in our new system this year has isolated Mousa from his most effective place in the side. Dembele's heat map vs. Sunderland (our final game of last season) is shown on the left and his heat map vs. Newcastle is shown on the right.

Although this represents just two games spanning last season and this one thus far, it's evident that we're restricting ourselves the opportunity to get the best out of Mousa. The question remains that within this system, if the Belgian is proving ineffective then arguably moving Holtby into this role may work more effectively for the team. I do feel a little guilty at the suggestion of dropping Dembele after his fantastic performances last year, although I can't see him jumping straight back into the side in the long run unless if he is given license to drive from midfield as he did so well for us last year.

With Dembele and Paulinho initially offering more bite than creativity in midfield, a lot of our flair was reborn through the unearthing of Andros Townsend, who seemed to pick up where he left off at QPR and showed a lot of confidence starting in the Premier League for Spurs. In all honesty, I'd always been a fan of Townsend. For me if a winger can beat a player and put in a decent cross then they're half way to becoming a substantial figure in the side. The once irreplaceable Aaron Lennon has found his opportunities more limited this season (granted he's suffered injury for much of the season) but his absence from the team is proving the burden that it once was. We may have the real possibility on our hands of having a fully fit Aaron Lennon come the end of the season which would prove invaluable. This is something that I keep in hope.

After Andros' initial impact in the side, he's arguably come under more scrutiny than he likely ever has done in a Spurs shirt. My frustrations are derived from we lose the effectiveness of Roberto Soldado when Townsend cuts inside and favours a shot. His average shot accuracy is at just 52% and his inability to play (not pick) a pass is proving detrimental to the side. I say this because,  interestingly, Andros has created the most chances in the Spurs side with 19. Kyle Walker (17) and Cristian Eriksen (15) are the two behind him. With Townsend being naturally left footed, it's understandable that he prefers to cut in and shoot than try and pick a cross. He's evidently been given license to do this from AVB and as a result his cross accuracy this season has been a rather abysmal 20.4% in the Premier League this season. Shifting Townsend out left would see him receive the ball on his more favoured left foot and grant a stronger possibility of him whipping in a cross instead of cutting inside and shooting.

This would leave a spot open on the right hand side of midfield and this is where Erik Lamela steps in and tries to recreate the fantastic form he showed for Roma last season out there. Although Lamela is left footed as well, he's had a far stronger experience in the past playing out wide right and seems to prefer to pick a pass than to shoot when inside. This would also mean we're playing with two wingers and give us more balance in the side. Lamela's last outing was a far more confident and thorough performance than in the past and it's clear the Argentine is slowly finding his feet in the side.

Although, with Eriksen now set to be out injured for around 4 weeks, this does offer us the possibility to bringing Lamela into that number 10 spot and recalling Aaron Lennon out wide. This would naturally see us play with more flair and give us some good options on the counter-attack, something greatly needed away at City. Lamela needs integrating into this side and seems to grow in confidence the more times he takes to the field. Although City won't be the most ideal team in which to start his first Premier League game against, he will have the benefit of playing without the pressure and expectation he'd arguably have playing at home against a side in which we're favourites to win. Leave the industrial work to the centre midfielders sitting behind him and allow him to flourish in a free role off of the shoulder of Roberto Soldado.

One other name that needs to be starting more or less every Premier League game is Sandro. I think we as fans do well to not underestimate his ability to break up play and start off our counter attacking. He arguably operates in a similar role to Paulinho but does it in deeper positions then sits - he's not a natural box to box midfielder. Paulinho hasn't proven to be as effective as he was at the start of the season and although I think Sandro and Paulinho can play as a partnership (and arguably against City this may be the best option), overall, we need a more naturally creative outlet to sit in and begin moves - just as Luka Modric did so well. This is where Holtby steps up and plays in his favoured role in centre midfield. The German's looked far more effective and efficient this year and channelled his energy into being more intelligent with his passing and movement. We're seeing more of the Holtby that did so well Schalke. Holtby isn't creative enough to be a number 10 but, like Modric, he has an eye for a pass and begin moves.

We're graced with having 4 very good diverse centre midfielders in Dembele, Paulinho, Sandro and Holtby and utilising the best of all four for the sake of the club is key. Our game should naturally adapt with whichever partnership is playing, ie, we shouldn't force Mousa to play the role that Sandro would play if the Brazilian is missing out. We need a consistent 11 in the Premier League and I'd love to take a punt on seeing Sandro and Holtby paired together or reverting back to Sandro and Dembele and giving the Belgian license to break from midfield. If Paulinho is to make an impact in our side, as I felt he did at the start of the season, then he needs to be sharper. I felt he was capable of winning the ball high up the pitch and beginning moves but his performances have been far more lacklustre as the season has worn on and his shooting has been exceptionally poor - especially for a player that thrives in a 'box-to-box' role.

Contrary to what I'd read recently, 4-4-2 is not the answer. This system naturally isolates the most creative players (if they were to both be playing) in Lamela and Eriksen. They'd start too deep and be pressed higher up the field. Although, in saying that, movement between the lines needs to be better. We don't appear to be playing as a unit, we're lacking any real partnerships - albeit the squad is a relatively new one. If the defence have the ball, we should have more options to play it short - start the moves deeper if we have to. We shouldn't be forced to go long. With these numbers we should play to get the ball into the final third as quickly as possible and one of the centre midfielders should be supporting Eriksen in trying to pick a pass - whether out wide or through the centre. Keeping the ball in the final third, being patient and encouraging an emphasis on quick passing and movement will unlock chances for Soldado and the midfield behind him. We need to be more ruthless instead of the barrel of nerves we appear to be when going forward at the moment.

We've more talent in our side than Mila Kunis' thong yet we;re struggling to see it on the pitch. These aren't changes that will happen over night but are changes that need implementing. We need to get our squad playing the same game, on the same wave length and understanding one another. The Newcastle game was a big a wake up call as we needed. Let's see our response.

Regards,
Ben - You can follow me on Twitter here

Bewildered.

No lasagna to blame. No scapegoat to point towards - although I saw some attempt berated towards Michael Dawson. We lost in quite emphatic style. I was slowly adjusting to this gritty-just-about-hanging-on Spurs. It was growing on me, slowly becoming an expectation - a reality - would we battle a whole Premier League season biting nails and pulling hair out? No. The rather bewildering defeat to West Ham may ironically be the defeat we needed to kick us into shape. We'd started to look a little lacklustre in our play, lacking that bite in midfield and that emphasis to get the ball into the final third and find that final pass. We buckled miserably against a disciplined West Ham side. We lacked invention at times it was required the most and couldn't break down an ever growing brick wall.

Was it tactical or was it fan pressure? AVB rarely gives away a lot and his introduction to begin Jermain did fathom an element of surprise. He'd been scoring goals. The opposition understandably questionable but in all fairness you can only score against what's in front of you. The issue I found, for me, was that it wasn't the forward that was the issue but the supply for that forward. Eriksen had yet to fully click with Soldado and only time will build this relationship between the two. Defoe mustard a similar frustration, gaining just one clear cut chance in which he should've punished West Ham. His fault, our midfield's fault or West Ham's impeccable tactics? You tell me. As the game progressed Defoe dropped deeper into the number 10 role, relieving West Ham's defence of a forward to keep an eye on, forcing them higher up and making it easier to break.

With Dembele & Paulinho operating similar roles we looked incredibly exposed. Paulinho initially started further forward and made some intelligent runs without being found too much or blazing some abysmal shots way wide of the target. Dembele has played the majority of the season thus far and we could've possibly utilised more bite in the centre as well as a deeper creative outlet. Hotlby's starting to show more of the disciplined player that experienced an early run of successful form for Schalke and this game seemed to be set up nicely in which to start from.

But do we change a winning formula?

Our system remained constant, the players were there but there was no psychological emphasis to win this game. We didn't look bothered. I still fully believe that a 4-2-3-1 is a system that can bring the best out of our players. It's likely we won't know our best 11 until around Christmas. We've barely seen the tip of the Lamela iceberg and Eriksen is still embedding into our style. The problem falls that with so much money invested there's immediate pressure for success. Time is shortening, we naturally demand more as our expectations heighten with so much expenditure.

I wouldn't pin yesterday's defeat down to one particular person. It was an abysmal team performance. Townsend proving one less terrible performance in a team of terrible performances - to put bluntly. So where do we go from now? Sandro? I'd fight the point that Dembele and Paulinho were more than capable of bossing yesterday's midfield but had a severe off day. We'll want a big reaction, expect even and I can only envisage a change or two from AVB.

The international break has probably fallen about on time. We've time to brush ourselves down and regroup in over a week. A bad defeat, maybe the reaction will help shape our season in the long run.

Onwards.

Ben

The Holtby Dilemma

I still remember the moment. I had alcohol pumping through my veins in the French mountains when I read that Daniel Levy had sanctioned a move to bring Lewis Holtby to Spurs in January. Immediate erection. The fuel of optimism was a feeling I'd rarely felt. It was gold dust. Of course, the reality was that we'd rarely seen much of Holtby in action. A few dazzling Champions League displays can build an unwarranted and inaccurate perception of what to expect. Adaption is critical when young players move between countries. Although Holtby didn't provide too much value initially in the few months that followed January, we were provided with moments of what to expect prior to digging any deeper.

It's easy to forget the age of some players considering the weight of expectation that we, sometimes unintentionally, place upon their shoulders. It's arguably a little naive to expect a player of Holtby's profile to come in and make the White Hart Lane turf his own within 6 months and it's exactly this reason why I continually fought consciously with myself to not jump into brandishing opinion on him last season.  We saw far more industry than end product with Holtby last year. There's an evident passion there. A fight inside him that commands our love and attention. We give a stronger emotional response than a rational one. But there's nothing wrong with that.

It's obvious right now that we're still trying to find a role that suits both him and ourselves. I naturally thought he was the number 10 we'd dropped to our knees and begged for but it's becoming clearer he's a far more rounded central midfielder. He mentioned himself that his preference is sitting in the middle of the pitch and this is where he's proven most effective for us. There's an obvious trait of playing that killer pass from a deeper position and bringing the ball forward. His energy allows him the freedom to press opposition which is something we're doing more and more under AVB.

So where does this leave us? We're lucky enough to be packed to the brim of centre midfielders; Dembele, Paulinho, Sandro, Capoue. Depth is beauty. We couldn't crave it enough last season and now we find ourselves in the fortunate position of having it. Selection dilemmas are under appreciated. Holtby offers far more flair breaking from midfield then distributing the ball. He needs more playing time there and to become more understanding of his role. He has the eye to play that final pass but needs encouragement to try it more often.

Call me crazy but his play is reminding me more and more of Modric. Obviously the skill set is not quite as matching but the way he can take the ball from deep and bring it forward then provide another option in the final third is similar to what the Croat did best for us. It was a role vastly under appreciated to the naked eye at first but a role that allowed us to be far more fluid. There's arguments for every player to have their position in the starting 11. It's incredible that if we rewind 12 months back, Dembele & Sandro were irreplaceable. Yet, now, arguably neither are guaranteed to start.

I'd like to see more of a chance taken on Holtby. Away from home against a top side may leave us needing more strength and stability in the middle but I'd like to see him given more game time at home alongside one of Paulinho or Dembele. He needs consistency to prove to both us and himself that he is worth a place in our first 11. He's proven effective when emerging from the bench but a consistent role should increase this effectiveness.

A start against Chelsea may be too much of a gamble at this moment but that's not to say that I wouldn't knock AVB for testing him. We'll want to avoid defeat more than anything. Let our CM's suffocate the space given to Chelsea and let our attack run at their defence.

Regards,
Ben - You can follow me on Twitter here

AVB's New System

It's August 27th 2013. We're beginning to find our position more fortuitous as the this window edges closer to its' conclusion. It has to be one of the few that we've seemed to call for a close prior to its' deadline next Monday. When AVB announced that our summer targets, set before the close of last season, would remain the same despite the lack of Champions League football it was easier to find the pessimism in his words than to dig out the optimism.

We're probably a player short of where we want to be. We've been incredibly pragmatic in our approach this summer and signed off the deals we're usually being stringed out over the summer for in plenty of time. Gareth Bale is still a Tottenham Hotspur player. I'd stuck to my guns for a lot of this summer, remaining in confidence he would stay up until last week when a move seemed imminent. You consciously take the decision, usually, to turn more than a blind eye to the back pages but they have a way of weaselling into your subconscious. Planting a seed of doubt. Levy has Madrid tied around his finger. He has Gareth Bale on the end of a fishing line and is ever so tentatively dipping him into the sea. We've got one of the World's biggest clubs eating out of our hands, whether they can see that or not I don't know.

So with a new season brought a new system. AVB is slowly turning the screw towards his ideal of a 4-3-3. We're certainly more aesthetically pleasing on the eye. Despite only scoring twice in our opening two fixtures of the Premier League, we've been solid. We're 5 points better off now than at this stage last season and look good value for it. Paulinho has been one acquisition that's brought an armoury of traits that we've not so much lacked but haven't been accustom to at Spurs previously. He's fit the bill of a 'complete midfielder'. My initial perception of him was that he was more of a defensively driven player. He'd break-up play and let others do the offensive work. But that was naive. His offensive work is his defensive work. He wins the ball high up the pitch then looks to be very direct. He'll bring the ball forward and isn't afraid to have a shot.

Against Swansea, we seemed to play more of a 4-1-4-1, with Paulinho and Dembele sitting behind Soldado looking to win possession in the opponents third of the pitch. We pressed them, barely allowing them to cross the half way line. The holding player in Capoue, sitting slightly deeper than Dembele & Paulinho, ensured we could crowd out any breaks through the centre. His Sandro-like presence gave Jan and Daws next to nothing to do for the majority of the 90. Swansea looked to sit deep & hit long to Michu, inevitable after pockets of space were rarer than gold dust. This pressing game allowing the infamous high-line imposed by AVB to fend off much of Swansea's attacking threat.

We've so far conceded the fewest shots on goal in the PL this season (at 12). With a seemingly fair understanding and the wealth of strength we have in the middle, teams look to go out wide countering any direct threat. Rose has looked a little suspect defensively and seems to lack patience in a challenge when battling one-vs-one against the opposition winger. I'd be generally satisfied if Rose was first choice this year but not fuelled with overwhelming confidence. I do think Walcott would get the better of him on Sunday. We haven't got out of 2nd gear as yet but have 6 points from 6. Our playing staff looked settled into a slightly amended system from last year that isn't built around Gareth Bale. So, in terms of a mini transition I was expecting us to be a victim of in these early days, I'm delighted.

It's clear we still need that number 10. That magician behind Soldado. I can't see the 4-1-4-1 being the system we base our season around but the beauty of the strength in depth we have at our disposal thus far is that we can be flexible depending on the opposition. I am a fan of Sigurdsson, but think we may need someone who can think that one step ahead & get that one final ball spot on. In Soldado we have a forward renowned for seizing chances. He feeds off of them. If he's given the service, he'll score the goals. I'd be more inclined to sit Holtby there and see if he can recreate the success he had at Schalke. Him & Huntelaar enjoyed a fantastic understanding. Maybe this is Carroll's opportunity to step up and fulfil the faith we have in him.

Bale leaving wouldn't be the hole in our midfield as it would've been 3 months ago. Levy's ensured that either way, Spurs will have emerged stronger. We seem on another levels to where we've been before. Last season seems a mere platform. The difference in quality in the squad this season is evident. We've a leaner squad. Despite bringing in a £26m forward, there doesn't seem to be that aura weighed to his shoulders that we're solely relying on just him to bring us goals. Chadli, Townsend and Paulinho are all goalscorers. Not for the first time, but the future looks pleasing. We've lost the 1st season uncertainty of AVB anchoring us down. That air of uncertainty was diminished as we finished on 72 points. Bale forever seems further out the door by the day yet we find ourselves more optimistic than we probably ever have.

It's a funny old game.

Regards,
Ben - You can follow me on Twitter here

Why Spurs need a creator and not a finisher.

Guest Post by 

@Harrishotspur 

It’s been a while, and well reported, that Tottenham fans have been crying out for a striker, and they are somewhat wrong in their pleas. During the course of the 12/13 season, Andre VillasBoas’ team was struggling with the strikers, in fact: Jermain Defoe had scored a lot of goals in the first half of the season, but halted this feat in the second half, whilst Emmanuel Adebayor was injured for a long duration of the campaign and returned to fitness with stuttering form, to say the least.

Yes, indeed, our strikers weren’t good enough, but would bringing in a new forward (e.g Damião) actually solve the problem? You’re forgetting that the striker needs someone to put him in front of goal, most times. The Lilywhites also had difficulties creating chances last season for our forwards to convert. With the departure of Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric, AVB had to use the services of Mousa Dembélé, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Clint Dempsey and, later on, Lewis Holtby. Those four midfielders formally mentioned are far from what van der Vaart or Modric were undertaking in a Tottenham’s shirt.

Dembélé had a good start to the season, he practically carried the team with him. Although this somewhat changed slightly after a couple of injuries. Clint Dempsey isn’t a creative player so he ensured he was on hand in the box grabbing a goals for himself, but usually a spectator in matches feeding off of scraps. Sigurdsson was our starting attacking midfielder in the early stages of the campaign, but gradually made his way to the bench after poor displays. Although Gylfi emerged in the second half of the season with some important goals and started to find his feet and create a host of chances for the team, even if it was inconsistently.

Lewis Holtby – I can’t say much, he had very few chances to impress and was on the end of some poor displays, but he’s the youngest out of the midfielders we bought (21 years old) and we're arguably still finding a role that will get the best out of him. But let’s get to the point: If our midfield doesn´t create the chances (and consistently, also) for the strikers, it is obvious that the team will find a hard time to score goals. It was because of this problem that we had to depend on Bale taking on a couple of defenders and scoring a screamer in the last minute to secure the victory sometimes. The truth is that neither Gareth can do that every game nor would I like my team to nearly draw against 10-men Sunderland by a whisker. Tottenham used to play better football than that; but it doesn’t mean we can´t get it back!

What I really think would work for AVB´s men is buying a top class creative midfielder, João Moutinho, for example (but he´s gone to Monaco), and we will have someone to create chances for Bale, Lennon, Defoe and Adebayor, all of these can score goals, they just need to be well set. We all know that Adebayor can do well! Look at a couple of seasons ago: 18 goals and (I think) 12 assists. That is an awesome number. Alas, Defoe can also bang them in – He has scored over 100 goals for Spurs (that speaks for itself).

My suggestion is that Levy and Villas-Boas go after someone like Miralem Pjanic or Bernard, who we are linked with, to strengthen our creation in midfield. With that move happening, we will get the best out of our current strikers.

Guest post by : @Harrishotspur

Prepared.

The season abruptly ended just under two weeks ago. An anticlimax that I was fully anticipating. Yet, to this day, I don't find myself replaying the 'what if' and 'if only' games. The Fulham home game isn't as imprinted into the deepest of thoughts as I'd have initially expected it to be after Berbatov found his way past Lloris.

Instead, I find myself reminiscing about the games in which we stole victory, escaping back to White Hart Lane singing AVBs name into the bellowing winter air. Every supporter has their own idealist view of where they want Spurs to be. I find many can be lead down a dangerous path dictated by the press, building up hope, then expectation, to only then fall back on their face with disappointment.

I do sympathise, but always think that we must always reflect on the goals we set ourself in the summer and anything more should be treated like a bonus. Everything needs perspective. I'm on record saying I expected a fight for fourth but to see us finish 5th or 6th this year. We always hope for fourth but only the brave go as far as to expect it.

I undertook my first three European away games this season and honestly felt it fulfilled everything I want when I support Spurs. Relatively cheap trips with a fantastic crowd and everyone in great spirits. Would I get this with the Champions League? Probably. But it's have cost a hell of a lot more.

I've come to the realisation that the CL is of course great for the progression of the club. It would've been a fantastic reward for the work AVB has done this year. Although, selfishly, I put my experiences as a supporter probably on par if not a above this. If I'm to find any consolation to our failure to qualify for the CL it is those arguably cheaper trips to the Europa League and a more realistic chance of winning the competition.

If the games about glory then would we rather be in Europe's second tier competition with a higher chance of winning it or in the first tier with a far slimmer chance? Genuine question, and one that I'm sure would invite a variety of answers. Maybe in the longer term, winning the Europa League would provide a pedestal in which to effectively fight for the Champions League crown. Who knows, but its hard to beat a side with a winning mentality.

We've a young side that have just had a year together under AVB and its hard to see us not continue to climb and improve. I take pride in that our achievements will occur within our means. It'll warrant personal pride. Of course a striker is needed, more so than any other position, but we'll stay within a 'sensible' wage criteria and spend what we can actually afford to spend.

I'm always careful when anticipating a season ahead. Although this ones slightly different. AVB is building a bullish side and were arguably just a couple of players short from the quality in both depth and balance in the side that we've craved for so long. With United, City and Chelsea all changing their managers, this offers a potentially minute chance to bite the bullet and fight with these teams. We need to treat the games in August as we do those ones in April and May. I forgive the dropped points in the early parts of the season last year, we were still learning.

Now we've little excuse, let's hope we can kick on and hit the ground running.

Regards,
Ben - you can follow me on Twitter here

"Even failure has an echo of glory in it"

So the end is nigh. Another enthralling season seeks to find its end as we once more find ourselves in an all to typical blindly-hoping-on-another-team-to-do-us-a-favour end of season debacle. Although it's not quite a debacle is it? We're on course to hit our record number of points in the Premier League but the inevitability grows that Europa League football will, once more, be our European path.

That's unfortunate, but barely raises an eyebrow. If you had to label one club this could happen to, it would be Spurs. I'm a fan of broken records, so here's another. For a manager that was hung out to dry by the press, pundits, 'experts' and both a minority of our own and masses of rival fans, AVB's had a remarkably commendable season. You'd have snatched sitting on 69 points after the penultimate game of the season. Has the League become easier or have we become more competitive? Probably a portion of both.

We kicked off pre-season in the USA and AVB sought to lay down the basics foundations of how he wanted us to play. He set out a blue-print for the forthcoming season, that I highlighted here, tinkering subtly based upon the opposition that sat in front of us. We slowly grew into a pressing game, each player learnt their role and soon enough a group of players soon became a team. This is why I refuse to knock our early results. We were still waiting to 'tick'. Despite conceding points early on to West Brom & Norwich we persisted with the system. This season, for me, truly emphasised that patience is a true art. Critiscism seemed far easier to give at the time but I stubbornly felt (even admitting almost 'blind faith') that the right building blocks were being implemented under AVB at Spurs.

Those that know me know that I'm one of the more pessimistic Spurs fan you could come across. Although I feel next season should give reason to fuel that ounce of hope with optimism. Without sounding to Scouse, next year could be one that holds a lot of promise. I emphasise the word could. Injuries can dictate the path a season takes. It's football. We knew losing Kaboul in the early stages would be a bitter pill but then struggled immensely without Sandro in January with Parker playing a shadow of his former self. It's hard to comprehend we've made a fair challenge at 4th, alongside a gruelling Europa League run and yet have two forwards that have struggled to deal with the demands of this season.

So where's the promise?

A young cast-off came in and adopted a side that was largely short of the players that were so key last year; so vital in grabbing us 4th place. A young side.
We'll continue to spend within our means and thus grow organicly, remaining competitive without the need to sell our souls. I'm both proud and tentatively confident of that (confidence is a rare feat with me). Wigan, if anything, should shed some light on that it's not only big wallets that guarantee trophies. We've shown enough heart to punch above our own weight, with individual brilliance pushing us that extra step.

We'll build and learn from this. The players have had a year together, our coach has had a relatively controversial free season and we've looked more of a team after every game we play. I hate feeling optimistic about anything, it usually leaves me with hollow disappointment - an empty shell, but I just can't help but feel that maybe we have the springboard stable enough to jump back up to where we feel we're more than capable of finishing.

This isn't writing off our chances Sunday, this is merely explaining that there's no reason to feel any dismay if we were to finish 5th.

Onwards.

Regards,
Ben - Follow me on Twitter - @InsideN17

Are we being fooled?

I usually try my best to avoid falling into the ITK tra, but I've admittedly been entangled more often than I care to count. It's borderline inevitability. We snatch at any piece of news that carries with it the chance of hope and excitement yet tell ourselves that we're fools for holding it with such a tight grasp.

The vines on the David Villa story appear to be growing. Slowly wrapping us in and engulfing us. We've seen non-runners appear to have legs on them previously. Sneijder and Hazard both fell through on a grand old scale. In this instance, it's not so much that this deal's too good to happen, but more it's not quite a Levy deal. Villa is 32 this year and represents no sell-on value. Levy seeks a potential return on most purchases he makes, if not all.

Maybe we'll find ourselves in a scenario that sees our Chairman emphasising his faith in AVB with practicalities. Maybe we'll bring in a player for more than financial reasons. Again, I lay my hope carefully and Levy won't be keen to expose his hand just yet. We haven't ended the season yet but maybe talk of a player may somewhat prove a temporary distraction away from the seemingly inevitable scenario of a 5th placed finish.

Maybe we're just all being duped again. Villa would be a good signing. He's the strong, experienced head that's gifted with that winning mentality - that gold dust - that is so hard nurture organically. Injuries have been a big issue for the Spaniard which is why I'd be surprised if the deal was pushed through at over £10m. It's unlike Levy to wrap up a signing so early, it's unlikely our prayers will be answered prematurely.

It's evident I'm a fan of Villa, although I do feel that alongside him we do need a young and hungry forward that is in a similar mould. A forward with intelligence. We've a gifted midfield and having a forward that can play to the same tune as that midfield maybe just the ticket to a host of outcomes next season. A player that can bring others in to the game with the tendency of appearing at the right place and right time would be ideal. We can all dream, can't we?

I dare to hope. The feeling of disappointment isn't an unusual one. The season still has one game left in it, yet so much is riding on it.

Regards,
Ben - you can follow me on Twitter here

Our key weakness

Admittedly I felt we looked exhausted. We returned from Switzerland in almost a worst case scenario position. We'd fought our way to extra time only to find ourselves, almost inevitably, crashing out on penalties. If there was such a thing as 'an ideal way to go out of a competition' then our rivals would've picked this way.

The finish line is a distant sight. We've teased and toyed with 3rd, flirted with 4th but the reality could be a rejection from both. I had my heart set on the Europa League, it looked as though we did as well. But it is how it is. I worried for our mentality upon the Europa League exit and we had Manchester City to play. The players found little life running through their veins in first half. Although this time around, footballing being a funny old game actually worked in our favour. I couldn't ever pin us knocking one past Hart, let alone three. Huddlestone's passing was something we've missed in patches, it's a shame he can't be a more complete midfielder. It seems an eternity he's had to develop his game into a complete holding midfielder but still lacks the fine art of tackling. He's stereotypically sluggish ways always weighing him down and soon enough his negatives out muscled his positives.

We approach 4 tough fixtures. 4 fixtures that should be approached with the same forward mentality. We just about have the quality in our first 11, the problem is we seem to have this niggling function born into the Spurs approach system that sees us lose our nerve whenever we have to depend on ourselves. Combine this with a side short of competition in key areas and genuine strength in depth and you find a mountain as tall as Everest to climb.

A starting 11 involving a midfield three of Huddlestone, Dembele and Holtby with Defoe leading up top could be the shape needed to limp over the line. This leaves Sigurdsson and Dempsey on the bench - Two very useful players. Two players that can impact games, our bench should have more. We were flat against Wigan. Neither side wanted it enough. You'd have been forgiven for believing that neither of the sides had anything to play for. We closed another door shut on an opportunity to exploit. With Dembele limping off, it almost compounded me to feel this'll be another season in which so much promise had been shown yet nothing to show from it.

Our first 11 is solid. We're one forward away from having a fantastic, balanced and competitive first 11. Lloris in goal. Walker right, Dawson/Kaboul, Vertonghen, Benny. Dembele, Sandro; Bale, Holtby/Sigurdsson, Lennon and a forward. That team needs little tinkering with it. It's our depth and competitiveness out wide that may leave us just too short of 4th this year. We need investment in quality depth. The trouble is most quality players don't want to be involved in a squad rotation role at a club that isn't challenging at the top of the Premier League every year. Chelsea exploited their ability to rotate quality players and have done so very well to balance their number of fixtures across their playing staff.

The obvious issue here is that we won't go out and spend £60m net in one window. I call it an issue but I'm happy our club is run sensibly. So we have to be clever. We need footballers that can alter our shape, change our direction if needed and those to simply replace like-for-like. Townsend's relative success at QPR will be like a new signing and hopefully his hunger and confidence will continue when he's in a Spurs shirt next year. I hope he uses this year as building blocks and steps up to our first 11. It's clear there is something there.

It's good to see stability at Spurs. Only one player has arguably been sold by the papers so far but, unlike the Modric fiasco, it seems far more underplayed and demoralising at this moment. Clever spending is a fine art form. We've done it successfully in the past and, should we find ourselves edged out of the running for 4th, it'll have to be a summer of shrewd purchases. We don't want to cause unrest, we just need to face the reality that we need the depth to compete in almost 2 seasons worth of games in a single football calender year.

Regards,
Ben - You can follow me on Twitter here @InsideN17

Spurs have "already won".

Guest Piece by @jackuzisps 

Coming towards the end of the season, it's a time for reflection. It's been an interesting season for fans, and not necessarily for good reasons. We've had a number of racism occurrences, some horrendous European away stories, and even fans at Wembley fighting themselves. But, for every person that gives this football a culture a bad name, there's thousands that give it a good one, and at this time in the season, it feels like a good time to talk about that.

I am not a spurs fan, which I apologise for in advance. But having heard about the 1882 setup that you've got going (I've even been to one myself), I think a mutual respect is always built between sets of supporters who follow the game in the right way. That is, religiously.

Being a Pompey fan, the stats suggest that this should have been the most depressing season in modern history. However, for reasons I am about to go in to, it has been the most satisfying. It's during these types of seasons that you realise why you really love it, and why all the 4am starts the away schedule can throw at you are all worth it, just for that split second euphoria of a meaningful goal.

So why, with the worst losing streak since the war, and facing back to back relegations, has this season been what has kept my faith in football? Because, in the same way that the 1882 movement has created more excitement for the right type of spurs fans than a number of games at White Hart Lane put together this season, it's about what's done off the pitch that matters. To me, football isn't about the amount of away goals per season, or the average pass percentage of some unknown Spanish midfielder; it's about how many times you sang for 90 minutes, how many times you went away and embarrassed the home fans, and how many times the score didn't matter, because the proper battle was won in the stands. Speaking as someone who has now experienced three relegations in four years, I honestly believe that part of the magic that I fell in love with was lost in the Premiership, by a number of casual fans (and owners, which is another point entirely) getting involved for the wrong reasons.

This is not plea for sympathy, nor is it a 'look how good our fans are' shout. It's more of general rejection of the fair weather supporters that flood the premier league today. Yes they 'pay good money' and yes they have just as much right to boo as they do to watch a good performance. But what does that actually help? The spirit of the 1882 movement is what the Premiership needs. An injection of passion, of escapism. The reason everyone fell in love with the game in the first place. And that reason wasn't because you reached fourth place over Arsenal, it wasn't because you saw a particular bit of skill or a particular finish. It was because you felt part of something, part of something that seemed like it could never be crushed. So take that to every game, and make sure you sing for your shirt, because any true rivalry has never really been about what happens on the pitch.

To me, football is this thing about being part of something that is actually worth remembering in years to come. Because when you look back on it, are you going to be someone who remembers being disgusted at the exact scoreline of a random league game, or are you going to be someone who remembers backing your side the whole way and enjoying every second? I know what I'd rather be. And anyway, we're still singing 'Que sera sera' down at Fratton park. It's just these days, 'We're going to Wembley' is replaced with 'We're going to Accrington Stanley'.

So, from a happy Pompey fan to a load of (hopefully) loyal spurs fans: don't worry about the race for fourth place. Because to anyone that properly understands, you've already won.

Author: @jackuzisps 

Delighted?

Dreams were soon becoming murmurs of the Dam. Can we honestly forgive ourselves for even daring to think, daring to believe? I felt an Utter fool for doing so. Allowing myself to be sucked in to the belief that Spurs could make a final in Amsterdam. It would've been too perfect. No Spurs train ever arrives at the end of the line as planned. We encounter far too many signal failures, breakdowns and engineering works in our season and we're left reflecting on how we'll cope as fans, how Spurs will cope and whether we can snatch at any positives that fight their way out of the abysmal anticlimax that is the exit of the Europa League quarter finals.

We worked hard for it. The players left blood in their tracks. I genuinely couldn't fault their effort in a competition traditionally snubbed and demeaned by the English; our own past proving little to shy away from this. We've given so much in an intensely demanding season. Our lack of depth almost predictably epitomising perfectly why the season proved as demanding as it has done. Adebayor's penalty didn't knock us out. The complacency in the first leg did, but we always knew we'd be limping through this competition because of a lack of investment in depth in the summer and January. I do trust Levy and hope he'll give AVB the backing that'll match his initial faith in appointing the young Portuguese coach.

I did little to hide my disappointment at Friedel starting ahead of Lloris. Friedel undoubtly gave us a great year last season but the dynamic of our side has changed. Lloris' importance in the Spurs side is second to none. It does force the subconscious feeling of 'what if'. I struggle to find any real benefit of starting the American ahead of the French 'keeper. The Europa League now enters its de-valuing stage. The remaining teams once playing under the Champions League lights now find themselves in Europe's second tier competition. Perspective. Chelsea's arguably initial goals of a good run in Europe and contending the Premier League title now fall to accept a top 4 finish and a Europa League final.

I don't say this accepting second best. I say this as I see it. We've done well to get to the quarter finals of the Europa League and are still heavily involved in the fight for fourth - as were our initial plans. I've been to three Europa league away's this year and I can't express my admiration for the competition so much more-so now. It's an exciting competition that reaps the passion of the fans all across Europe. They love it, and so should we. It's secondary status to the Champions League gives it the edge for me in almost taking away the commercial propaganda that invites half-arsed fans to flick on the TV or buy up space in a ground that could be filled by those that truly wish to sing for the shirt.

Don't have me mistaken, the Champions League is fantastic in terms of growing the club and continuing this exponentially is key. But, from a fan point of view, I've loved every minute and every aspect of following us in the Europa League. It's granted me more opportunity in which to sing my heart out for the only club I'll ever love. Winning games breeds confidence. A minority saw the Europa League as an opportunity cost to a top 4 place. There's little point playing in a competition if you don't want to go out and win the thing. Nothing beats lifting a European trophy, regardless of its' status.

As has been mentioned before, we must return to find our collective. Slating certain individuals does nothing to help the side progress. I don't knock fans having their own negative opinion, I just call for that particular negative opinion to be bottled away from White Hart Lane. Breathing positivism lifts the tension weighing down the players each week. Believe it or not, but we do make a difference at games. We've only a handful of games left in which to play. We're once again underdogs for top flight European competition. Regardless of how other teams perform, let's show both on and off the pitch how much we want that place in the sacred top 4.

Regards,
Ben - Follow me on Twitter here.

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Holtby Missing

An Erection to out-do any former erections. That was the impression I gauged upon the signing of Lewis Holtby. We were teased, toyed with. Were Levy to grant us one plea and bring in this raw, versatile German midfielder in January or would we brand this lack of signing in January a scapegoat after the inevitable internal collapse come May? The conceivable opportunity cost of falling out kof the top 4 seemed to far outweigh the price that was being flirted around and Levy dug into his pockets to pay the pennies that Schalke demanded.

He came to answer the questions. The key to unlock a pair of forwards that had been stuttering in front of goal of late. A midfield trio of Sandro, Dembele and Holtby providing the perfect balance of solidity, speed and creative flair in attack. In truth, rarely do things avail to the idealist way of seeing things; football isn't played on paper and, arguably, we've felt the full force of how cruel the realism of the sport can be.

Holtby's faced the reality of largely being utilised from the bench throughout the second half of the season. I refuse to use words such as "resigned" and "demoted" to the bench as I feel that this is part of AVB's tact. Each manager has varying ways in which they go about introducing players. We like to bed-in and introduce through our own accordance, when we feel the time is right. Lloris was no different. The pantomime that followed his lack of inclusion in the former part of the season from the French was anything but funny or entertaining.

Players are granted positions on merit, not on reputation. It leaves said player having to work hard the moment they step foot in training. It encourages them to find and grow that inner fighter required to not only make the starting 11 but also ensure they do their best to bring home 3 points. This is AVB's way of eliminating any sniff of ego. It keeps away the complacency in the side. This was my theory as to why we'd started winning games late and rid a Spurs formality of conceding in injury time. Each player has to work in training and on the pitch.

Lewis himself joined when we were on a fine run of form. It was rather premature to write in blood (as some seemed to) that we were to bulldoze into the top 4 again, despite the run of great form we were on. Situations change each week. We were always going to drop points, as were/are the teams around us. Holtby spoke that it would be difficult to break into a team that was starting to find their feet under a manager with fresh ideas and a point to prove.

Since then, we've thrown him into a number of roles and sought to find a solution that can get the best out of him as well as the team he's playing alongside. It's fair to assume that we're still seeking Holtby's role with AVB not giving too much away. The player himself stated that "my best position is as one of the holding players, or maybe in a 4-3-3 formation as one of the central midfielders". I hadn't seen much of Lewis when he was at Schalke, but I was well informed that many saw him snatching the number 10 role in behind a forward. On this basis, his comments brought a little surprise but, simultaneously, possibly emphasises the versatility of the player to slot comfortably into a number of positions. With Sandro typically keeping in high spirits despite being on crutches and Parker struggling to even be in the shadow of his former-self, this could open up the opportunity for Dembele to partner Holtby in centre midfield.

I picture a scenario in which there is little to lose by testing this tact. Parker hasn't hit half the heights we'd expected/hoped when Sandro limped off at QPR and so this should open up possibilities of trying different things. This also leaves room for Bale and Sigurdsson to continue their great form in the first 11 and would represent a fairly strong spine in the side; something I still feel we're close to but haven't quite found yet.

This is very much still a bedding in season for Lewis. It was always going to be. Hopefully we're learning that patience is needed for success. This has certainly been the case for individuals. A real life glimpse of Premier League life and a full pre-season will only help Lewis seek a role that benefits both himself and the club. I love the boy's apparent passion - said tentatively, admittedly - when joining others to celebrate and I look forward to the moment it all just clicks both for him, and us.

Regards,
Ben - You can follow me on Twitter here

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