| 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
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
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