Faith Healer

Looking at the Premier League table right now is almost a surreal experience.

Not only are Spurs 3rd – and above the Arsenal, but we’re there by deed of having scored 10 more goals than them and conceded 3 fewer.

Translated: we deserve to be there and are not to be confused with interlopers.

Despite the largely self-inficted miseries of oiks like Chelsea and Manchester United, Spurs continue to navigate their way to something that might become rather special.

Poor old Poch is clearly doing his very upmost in his pressers not to get up and scream, “We could only bloody do it, you know!” like some Argentinian Del Boy.

“In football, in my experience, it’s better to show than to speak. In football when you speak too much only you can wait for the worst. It’s important to show more than to speak, and to do something more than you say ‘I will do this’.

“But for me it’s very important to care about our goals or objectives and not think too much about our opponents. We’re the most important people, we need to try to keep our way and it’s not important what Arsenal do, or Manchester City or Leicester or different clubs.”

These are the words o f man who realises that the time for being coy is closing, and that the time for consolidation is increasingly upon us.

“We have in front of us a very tough period. From Spain I hear a lot – because I read a lot, always using Google Translate from English to Spanish – that [Arsenal manager] Arsene Wenger says ‘the toughest period of the club was in the period that we built the stadium’. And now I think that you need to know, and the people need to know, that this is a very tough period for us.

“I think that the people are excited to see how we play but we need to be careful, because we need to arrive to the new stadium in a very good condition to try to fight for everything and try to show that we are one of the best clubs and teams in the world.”

The new stadium is being heralded by a process of contract renewal that to date sees not one of our fist choice players on deals ending before the summer of 2019.

The latest additions to that gang being Onomah and Dembele.

Lennon, gone. Adebayor, gone. Townsend, gone.

What Pochettino is doing reminds me of the Alan Partridge sketch, where Alan is failing to negotiate a second series.

Alan: I loved that phrase you used, it was very clever — “revolution not evolution”.
Tony: No, it was the opposite. “Evolution not revolution”.
Alan: Well, whatever. Because that is me. I evolve, but I don’t ……. revolve. Or vice-versa. I suppose what you’re trying to say is, you don’t want another Chris Evans on your hands.
Tony: No, that is what we want.
Alan: I’m your man!

He’s asking Tottenham Hotspur FootballClub to evolve, and the species seems to be responding.

All that remain are a pretty close knit bunch of people willing take instruction and play for each other.

Poch told The Guardian.

“Maybe only the 11 players who play are happy,” Pochettino said. “This is football. Sometimes, there are players like Aaron who was very honest with me. He said: ‘I accept your decision but I want to play more, and I have the possibility to go to another club, and I want to go’. I said: ‘OK’. It’s true I never promised my players that they will play.

“It’s easy to identify the players who aren’t happy because they’ve not played much in the last few months. But we are a club. And when you sign a contract as a player, you need to understand that you don’t sign to play, you sign to train. And then the club signs a manager or head coach to pick the players. This is football.”

And Toby Alderwierld confirmed it, talking to The Mirror recently.

“He only puts in guys who work very hard. Lot of guys have left the club. If you don’t follow the path you don’t belong in Tottenham. The most important thing is we have no heroes in this team. When one makes a mistake the other one picks it up.”

Do I have faith in Poch?

I don’t believe in Poch any more than I believe that there are fairies at the bottom of my garden.

Following a Premier League football club is a slightly more complex business than pressing an ancient scripture to ones bosom.

You don’t beat the opposition by closing your eyes, clasping your hands together and wishing and hoping with all your might, There’s jumping and down and using language containing violent sexual imagery, for starters.

If anyone can deliver success under Levy, then they can certainly call themselves a faith healer.

Competition Time!

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