Swansea 1-2 SPURS - Back to winning ways?

Evening Spurs family, and a very happy Easter to all those tucking into their various chocolate treats!

Those of us celebrating Passover have a bit longer to wait, but we'll be taunting you bastards with our untouched eggs in a few days time. Wankers. 

I'm not bitter at all though.

Spurs. I'm meant to be taking about Spurs.

Well we needed 3 points as badly as I need a beer and an Easter egg. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's been a tough week. Have you ever tried to source kosher food in Ireland? It's sort of like trying to score with Adebayor up front. Possible, but you've got to be inventive. 

Which brings me right back around to yesterday's game. From our point of you, it was the tale of two beautiful goals, both produced by a Bale-Vertonghen combination. You can watch SuperJan's opener here, and Bale's ridiculous strike to put us two up here.

All teams have their best players, and ours having been putting in huge shifts week in week out to compensate for our weaknesses elsewhere. Yesterday we saw another masterclass from the boy Bale. Not only did he set up the first with a perfect lobbed through-ball and score a stunning second with the outside of his left boot, he then saved us from disaster right at the end by racing back to stop a last minute equaliser with a brilliant block. That's what I mean by huge shifts. Gareth compensated for our weaknesses at the back by going beyond the call of duty to defend like a centre-back, and similarly Verts made up for our lack of fire-power up front by charging forward and finishing like a top-class striker.

Dynamic duo - SuperJan and the Welsh Wonder

These boys want this as much as we want this. And as a fan, that's what I want to see. 

At times though, our weaknesses still shine through, and in typical Tottenham fashion, we gave them a soft goal, and shat ourselves for the last 20 minutes. Will we ever get rid of that? I'm not sure, and in some ways I'd miss it. It's just so...Spurs.You can see Michu's header here. (Random links, I know) And yes I'd swap any of our strikers for Michu in a heartbeat.

Before the game, all the Twitter talk was about Lloris. I have to admit, I thought it was nonsense, and to be fair lots of it was. But I was shocked to find out he was genuinely out. I knew Friedel would be more than capable of stepping up to the plate though, and I was appalled with the amount of Spurs fans online giving him stick. He's still top-class.

After the game, AVB had this to say.

 "I'm pleased we are back on track. The win was extremely important for us, particularly at a difficult ground against a team who plays well. It was never going to be easy. At half-time we spoke about getting the third goal to put the game beyond any doubt. We couldn't and Swansea did ever so well to come back into the game."

"It was a decisive moment for us to win because it showed the determination of the team and the winning mentality which allowed us to hold on to a great away win and put us back into third position. I am surrounded by top-quality players with ambition. What happened last season and the fact these players weren't present in the Champions' League, even though they deserved to be because of their League position, gives them great ambition to achieve it this season."

"It gives me and my staff great belief. We showed a winning mentality to take this game through to the end and hold on for three points. It's been a good day, but it shifts very quickly. We were in that position last week and it has changed again this week. With the teams so close everyone has to make sure they get the points or one team gets one over you."

"This victory means nothing. If it is to mean something then we have to be competent and try to gather the most amount of points. We still have important fixtures against Man City, Chelsea and Everton who are playing for the same objectives."

I like how he popped winning mentality in there. If we say it enough, maybe we'll be believe it, and ultimately have it. He also complimented Bale loads, but I think I've already copy and pasted enough. 

So, 3 points required. 3 points achieved.

Next up, Basle in the Europa League. I actually think we'll float past them fairly easily. It would of course be wonderful to build a big lead in the first-leg so that we're a little less distracted when Everton come to the Lane next weekend. Everton are actually creeping up on the top four themselves, and will probably fancy getting something from us, but considering we've got Chelski and City coming up, we can't afford anything less than 3 points. It's that shit your pants time of year folks.

Anyway, 'til next time...

COYS!

Follow me on Twitter @hotshothotspur - Spread the word!!

Preview: Swansea (Away)

Well hello there Spurs family!

A four-day weekend AND the return of the Premier League. Excuse me while I 'woop'.

WOOP WOOP.

I don't know what you've all got planned for Easter, but I'll be shocked if I can't guess what's on your mind right now - Swansea. Must. Win. Ahhhhh.

I was right wasn't I?

Anyway, enough about me and you, this is about the team. This is about qualifying for the Champions League, and above all else this is about NOT FUCKING IT UP AGAIN.

8 games left and as Hugo Lloris says in the Daily Fail today, "They are like eight finals". Our first final takes place away at Swansea tomorrow, and we have to bounce back from three straight defeats. Lloris reckons,

"We did very well for 12 games and we lost against Liverpool and Fulham, but the most important thing is the reaction. I think the international break was a good thing for us, to help us find energy for the end of the season."

Hugo 'best keeper in the league' Lloris

As I've mentioned before, I don't fully buy the idea that we were on flying form before the Liverpool game. We had a few players on top form and they were pulling us through with last minute goals and screamers, but  as a team we weren't dominating games, even against poor opposition. I do however believe that the international break came at a good time for the lads. Heads were surely down after the Foolham game, and a rest from the pressure of the Premier League can't have been a bad thing. It also allowed some of the boys to find goal-scoring form, something we need desperately in the run-in.

AVB's had this to say,

"It shifts very quickly for any team in the Premier League who does not get results.  The fact we have had these results recently has put people closer to us but we have been under pressure before and we built a gap which has been shortened now. We believe in our team and we haven't lost our confidence. We just have to make sure we get the minimum amount of points to be within that range of 70 points at the end of the season."

Can't argue with any of that.

Right, a bit of team news me thinks. All good really. Dawson and Lennon are both back and likely to start. Daws missed out on a rare England cap thanks to a hamstring problem. The boy Bale picked up a knock on international duty, but he is 100% fit. Also, Kaboul has fully taken part in training sessions the last few days, and AVB has suggested that he may return to match fitness in the next 10-15 days. Younes was superb for us last season, and in my opinion he's been sorely missed.

Apparently Swansea's only real team news is that centre-back Chico Flores is likely to make a 'timely-return'. Yeah, just in time to see us put five past you, ya big girly-named Spanish prick.

This is the team I'd go with if I was AVB. Just to clarify, I'm not AVB. I'm far less attractive.

Hugo

Walker  Dawson  Verts  BAE

Lennon  Parker  Dembele  Bale

Siggy

      

      Defoe

But that's just me. I assume AVB will play Gareth behind Defoe, but personally I feel he's better on the left, destroying whichever poor full-backs on duty, and he'll cut inside and have a shot regardless. Plus, Siggy showed that he's capable of contributing goals on a few occasions, not least when he scored two belters for Iceland last week. My biggest decision would be whether to play Siggy or Holtby in the no.10 role. Disagree? Let me know in the comments.

Prediction: 2-1 Spurs. I think we'll be nervous as our season is pretty much on the line, so I can see us conceding early on. But I'm hoping Dembele sees a lot of the ball and settles us down, and maybe just MAYBE, Defoe and Siggy will follow up their international goals with one or two here. If not, it will be once again down to Gareth to produce some magic. That's still probably where the smart money is - he is from Cardiff after all.

Follow me on Twitter @hotshothotspur 

Back to business

Bale risking his life playing for Wales

Aaaaaaaaand we're back. The international break has been and gone (thankfully), and guess what? No injuries. Actually, if we're being fair, as much as I hate Spurs-less weekends, this particular break probably did our boys some good. Well hopefully anyway. We'll find out for sure on Saturday.

The players went into the break on the back of three straight defeats, and the mood in the dressing room can't have been good. Everyone knows we can't afford another slip-up, and the pressure to win our next game is huge. A rest from that atmosphere won't have done any harm. 

The international games also gave some of the lads a chance to get into goal-scoring form. If we're to finish in the top 4, we're going to need goals, and we can't solely rely on the boy Bale. Last Friday, Defoe got two for England, Siggy scored two crackers for Iceland and Dempsey scored a crucial winner for the USA. Then on Sunday, Holtby scored for the Germany U21's, as he captained the side to victory over Israel. Of course, Gareth had to get in on the act and he was the only Spurs player to score in Tuesday night's international fixtures. I have to admit, even as I sat in the Aviva watching Ireland blow 3 points against Austria, I found myself nervously thinking of Bale risking our season in a vain attempt to get Wales to a World Cup.

All in all, it was as good an international break as we could have hoped for, but now it's back to business.
Michael Dawson said yesterday,

"Everyone was disappointed with the result against Fulham but that’s behind us now and we have to push on again. We showed exactly what we’re capable of when we went on that unbeaten run and we’ve got to look to do something similar between now and the end of the season. We know it will be tough, but the determination is there.”

I acknowledge that no game is easy in the Premier League, but we have a particularly tricky run-in, far harder than Ars*nal for instance, and we also have the added distraction of the Europa League. In my opinion, we're now the underdogs in the race for North London race for fourth-spot and AVB's men are going to need to dig very deep indeed, starting at Swansea on Saturday. 

Daws says, “Swansea have impressed everyone again. They play good football and the Liberty is always a tough place to play, but we have to go there and bring back a positive result.”

3 points. Nothing less. Otherwise I fear we'll have blown it...again.

I mentioned that the Europa League will be a distraction in the run-in, but that's not to say I think it's a waste of time. In fact, I'm not sure which is more important, winning a trophy, or qualifying to play for a bigger one next season. Can we do both? If we do, it will arguably be our best season in over 30 years.

Hopefully the break will have kicked a few of our players out of their slump, and we'll get back to winning ways on Saturday. Personally, I think we'll walk through Basel and maybe the lads will get enough of a buzz off that cup run to keep going strong through the tough games against Everton, City and Chelski. It would want to be some buzz, I hear you say.

Ah well we're Spurs fans, we stay optimistic even when we should know better.

Look out for my preview of the Swansea game tomorrow.

COYS!

Follow me on Twitter @hotshothotspur

SPURS 0-1 Foolham - Thoughts on a 3rd straight defeat

That smile hurts Martin

Well, amid all the St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Dublin's city centre, this blogger was relieved to find somewhere showing the game. I muscled my way into a comfy-ish spot right in front of the big screen, full of hope that I'd soon be toasting 3 points with green beer and a riverdance. As you know, this didn't happen. The 3 points that is, obviously there was still beer and dancing.

I'm not going to put any spin on it, this was a disastrous result. I said it was must-win in the preview, and I haven't changed my mind. Champions League football now seems a long way away. For me, the overriding feeling after the game was fear. Fear that we've blown it again.. And when I was told that boos rung around the Lane at full-time, I knew I wasn't the only one suffering from nerves. AVB remained calm after, saying,

"You can't hide from what has happened in the past at Spurs. We just have to make sure that we are able to fight against what was previously written. If we are able to find our form or confidence and win, then we can end the cycle that Spurs normally have. I am confident we will."

He was impressively unflustered, but I don't think his words will have changed many people's feelings. 

He went on to say,

“After our last two Premier League defeats in a row we went on an amazing run. I just hope that it shifts somewhere. We just have to wait for a game that enables us to build on our confidence.”

Maybe it's just me, and I promise I'm usually optimistic about these things, but I don't really see that game coming. I think the problem is that we don't have a particularly good team. Right now, I'd say we have 5 available players that are Champions League standard. They are Lloris, Vertonghen, Dembele, Bale and Lennon. And it's shown. We haven't put in a great deal of good team performances. We've relied far too heavily on the players listed above, and luckily they've put in some amazing shifts. We had a winning habit for a while there, and we couldn't help but score screamers and last minute winners. The problem with screamers and last minute winners is that they make you leave the stadium/pitch on an inflated high. You can't really assess the whole performance when you're still celebrating a goal.

But now we're in a losing habit. 3 losses in a row, including Inter last Thursday. Surely that means Bale's ridiculous run of one-man victories has come to an end. And if Bale doesn't score, I find myself really wondering where the goals are going to come from. Is it possible to qualify for the Champions League without one top-class striker? We actually created a few chances after going 1-0 down yesterday, but we simply had noone to finish them off. How Defoe didn't equalise in the last minute, I still don't know.

Look, I'm angry. I'm hungover. And ultimately I'm scared. 

So I'll cut it there, and hopefully I'll be back soon with a more coherent post.

Oh, and fuck you Berbatov.

Follow me on Twitter @hotshothotspur