And so to “the analysis.”
The problem, as has been explained at length is not just the horribly flawed business model Spurs are pursuing, but the fact that it is being applied in such a way that simply isn’t conducive to the advancement of a football club. But this is about the immediate issue, yesterday.
You remember at school there was always the teacher that nobody screwed around with? The humourless bar stewards whose hobbies and pastimes included such delights as the music of Wagner, the life and times of Geoffrey Chaucer and drowning kittens in a bucket. You were never late for their lessons, you never crossed him.
Generally speaking, it was that teacher that was the driving force at the school. The General Patton. In footballing terms, we’re talking the likes of Clough and Ferguson.
Tottenham have needed such a man to manage them, arguably since forever, or at the very least since George Graham. The fragility of the players yesterday isn’t a new thing at The Lane.
Levy & Co. have systematically failed to allow a football man, with some brains in his head and some steel in his veins to construct a crew that will get the job done. Instead we have a better than passable set of end of year accounts to show for our tears.
Instead we’ve sold off our best and indulged journeymen players, who have had to be dragged kicking and screaming from the premises (Huddlestone, J**** …and Azza Blud, who has yet to be ejected.
Then there’s unwillingness or worse yet, the incapability to retain the services of our best players. We all know player contracts are worth less than the paper they are printed on, but Liverpool sat down with Suarez and negotiated a hostage fee. Manchester United did the same with Rooney.
At Spurs, when a player has his head turned, THFC’s first concern appears to be how the payments will be scheduled. If this is mean or inaccurate, where is the exception to this rule?
The repeated use of a Director of Football system that repeatedly proves itself not to work needs to be abandoned. If you think a rip it all up and start again approach is unreasonable, then you must be happy with one league cup win the last decade or whatever it is, and taking it in turns to be laughed at by clubs that are run well.
Make no mistake, this club is not run well. The business is run adequately enough, which is to say there is a bit of growth, a bit of serviceable debt, a bit of hope, no immediate risk of disaster. But it is not run well. It is run better than it used to be prior to 2001, but that is it? Yup. That’s it.
Only in an over micro managed sit com like Carry On Firing, could an ambitious toad like Sherwood secure his very first managerial appointment.
Yesterday was the perfect storm. A combination platter of all that is wrong.
Prior to the team sheet being announced, a pal asked me what I thought Tim’s plan was. My response was immediate. “He’ll play Bonzo up front.” It wasn’t a throwaway remark and it wasn’t designed to induce the small chuckle it received.
But by half past four, or thereabouts, Walker had indeed been confirmed as our secret weapon.
The selection strategies and tactics of Tim have resulted in most of our players having nervous breakdowns. They don’t know what they are supposed to be doing anymore, so I see little point in bawling any of them out. Y Word Army on here yesterday, compared the lads as now having the mental strength of a battered housewife. I couldn’t have put it better.
If a manager doesn’t know what he’s doing, then it’s merely wishful thinking to believe that the players will muddle through regardless.
Online generally, I keep spotting comments that the first half wasn’t so bad. Which made me grin. Another change of plan from Tim and if you suspended your disbelief, we were actually doing a passable impression of the way we played under the last bloke.
This assertion was backed up by Jose in his post match presser, where he said we had lots of possession, but failed to pose a threat.
Going in at half time, it wasn’t unreasonable to hope for something positive from the second half. All it needed was one of those moments of madness when the ball actually gets passed effectively by one of us, in the final third. Alas, individual errors and a Michael Oliver’s desperate refereeing wounded us.
What killed us, was the inability to mentally recover. The players are mentally shot.
I’ve no belief that Lamela is genuinely injured. I was told weeks ago he keeps escaping. The last time, he was found in Bruce Castle Park round the back of the tennis courts, wearing nothing but a fur coat. He thought he was a squirrel.
Should Tim have said what he did in public? Obviously not. But then he was looking for sympathy.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Freund is in charge by Thursday.
