Have you noticed that watching Tottenham is getting more and more like watching England. Both are a group of highly rated internationals who are not quite as good as they look on paper, both raise their game when they are the underdog, both sets of fans are convinced that the object of their support is better than they actually are, both haven't really acheived anything truely impressive since the 1960's - and both are shit at penalties.So inevitably it was left to an England international to end our season. Not that I blame Jenas, in all fairness it wasn't a terrible penalty, it was well placed but just at the wrong height. Chimbonda however is rapidly becoming something of an annoyance to me with his recent and not-so-recent antics. He's the kind of player that would fit in perfectly at Chelsea.
All in all, we was robbed. Tottenham did what they set out to do, win the game, and were by far the better team on the night. The only problem was that PSV refused to be broken. Our final ball was a let down time and time again, and whilst I can see the merits of the long ball game for the last 15 minutes of a match, I can't believe we adopted that tactic virtually from kick-off. Spurs are at their best when the ball is on the ground. Hoofing it up field and hoping for the second ball is NOT a tactic I want to see start creeping in on a regular basis.
Ramos has some difficult (and not so difficult) decisions to make this summer. For example - how many of you expected Robbo to save a single penalty? Compare that to the 'feeling' you must have had about Gomes and his ability to be the star of the show. The fact that he got a touch to three of our penalties suggests that we were perhaps lucky to even make it to Chimbonda's lame attempt. A big club needs a big character in goal, after wavering for quite a while I am now firmly in the "Robbo must go" camp - I suspect that Ramos is with me.
Next on my hit list: Lennon. I'm still at the wavering stage with him, but be honest, is he overrated? Bags of pace for sure; but no end product and extremely poor finishing let him down too often for my liking. Yes, yes I know what you are going to say "He's young, he must be allowed time to develop and progress", but I am not seeing any signs of progress - in fact, if anything I think he's actually getting worse. I don't think I'm ready to bring the hatchet down on him just yet, but in my opinion he's on borrowed time.
In other areas Hutton and Gunter means we can let Shimbomba (quote: David Pleat) go without worrying about back up, Daws, King, Woody and Kaboul are decent enough options and Gilberto and Bale are both good enough. So, goalkeeping aside, options in defence are not too shabby. Jenas and Huddlestone are coming on leaps and bounds under Ramos, Zokora must be kept is for not other reason that for his ability as a utility man, and Steed is solid without being spectacular.
We are blessed with strikers (yes, Bent IS good enough) so in my opinion Ramos and Comolli need to go out and buy 2 extremely expensive flair players for the wings and a world class keeper. (I'd be back dangling £12m in front of PSV for Gomes as he has ability AND entertainment value - not to mention the most incredible throwing ability I've ever seen!)
So there you have it. One trophy will have to do this year - and who amongst us would not have taken that back in October? Come On You Spurs, and bring on next season.
