Cock on Ball

Things I have learnt from the North London derby

by Scott

I have been in a foul mood ever since 3.30pm on Saturday. A couple of weeks ago, I questioned whether we had made any progress after our terrible start. After a further two matches, we are in exactly the same position as last year – swap a 3-3 draw away at Fulham with the 0-0 home draw, and Liverpool away for Arsenal at home. Fourth from bottom, four points, dreams of the top four fading fast.

As I drifted back from White Hart Lane I began to reflect on a few things. Here is what I learnt from the game:

• Maybe the board has a point after all

All this scurrying around behind the scenes in Seville was badly handled and thoroughly embarrassing for the club as a whole. As fans, we raised the question of timing, the importance of loyalty and the excellent job Martin Jol had done since taking over. Yet the board is not assessing its managerial options for the heck of it, it realises that success is a necessary part of evolution and – after two near misses – opportunity knocks. One win against the top four since Jol took over (a nail-biting, fortuitous, Graham Poll-assisted win over Chelsea) is a damning indictment of his ability to handle the pressure of the big fixtures. Maybe, as he said, the quality of the finishing was important on Saturday, but, on reflection, they also missed their fair share: Diaby, Denilson and Adebayor all spurned good chances. More concerning was the way in which we were yet again overrun in midfield, not least by the man-child Fabregas. I’m not a million miles away from agreeing that Jol is not the long-term solution. And I love the man.

• We never learn

In the two games at the Lane last season (once only as a sub), Fabregas made the difference for them, running midfield, finding space and delivering the incisive pass. It is quite clear that – despite their wholehearted endeavours – Jenas and Huddlestone could not compete with him. The problem I have with this is that it’s so clear that he’s the focal point for them. Why can’t we devise a plan to deal with a player like him? The obvious but unpalatable solution is to park someone on him and get him to kick lumps out of him. It’s risky but could have been the way to shackle the Spaniard, the Blackburn way. That would definitely be an improvement to sitting deep and allowing the away team to dictate possession, exposing our soft centre once more.

• Luck comes into it

I know that Spurs fans are ridiculed for constant moaning but most people would surely agree that we haven’t had the rub of the green so far this season, in any of the games. There hasn’t been a match where I thought we’ve got lucky or had a key decision go our way. I’m thinking about Man Utd away, Berba’s chances on Saturday, Kamara’s ridiculous last-minute overhead, Bent’s horrendous miss, the deflection for Fulham’s second, Chopra, the Everton game. The list is seemingly endless and we’re only six games in. Aren’t we due a bit of good fortune?

• We won’t finish in the Top Four

It’s as clear as daylight. Man Utd and Chelsea – who are in no way firing on all cylinders – are scraping results while Arsenal and Liverpool are much better than the year before. Mid-table teams are racking up the points (think Villa and Man City) while even West Ham have reached double figures. It’ll be a long way back. And it’ll be bloody difficult.

• Tactically, we’re all wrong

It is common knowledge that we can’t defend a half-time lead, so why did the game replicate last season’s league encounter so obviously? We’re up 1-0, we know that they’re going to come all out and try to hurt us – especially through midfield – so why are we defending so deep from the 47th minute? Why didn’t Bent come on earlier to expose Gilberto’s blatant cumbersomeness? Why did Lennon replace Bale on the left (unless he was injured)? Add these questions to the fact we tend to let in two goals a game from either long-range efforts or dead ball situations and we’ve got it bad.

• Confirmation that our buying policy is suspect

Fans are blaming Jol for his apparent tactical naivety but, in terms of signings, he doesn’t have the final say. He can ask but – more often than not – he doesn’t get. It’s almost comical: no left-wing, no ball-winning scrapper. After all this time! Comolli, according to sources, rates Zokora above Carrick. He is not in the team. We splurge Ł16.5m on Bent (another sub) with Defoe jettisoned out of the match day squad as a result. The so-called continental system was supposed to be a way to stop entire squads being hauled over every time a new manager was put in place. It is, in my view, unsustainable. The manager should be the manager, like the successful models built at other clubs. And money won’t buy you anything if you purchase the wrong players. The current Arsenal team cost a fraction of our side and some were outright bargains.

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Things I have learnt from the North London derby

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