Today, many frustrated Spurs fans will be experiencing a feeling of de ja vu. Seasoned supporters will most probably have woken up to the realisation that we are slowly throwing away the dream of Champions League football. I suppose those optimists amongst us, myself included, should never have signed up to the hype machine in the first place really. Hansen may be a bastard but he was right on last night's MOTD. Just when you start to believe...However, it's not all doom and gloom because this season has generally been a good one - much more enjoyable than the last campaign at any rate! All season I have been 100% convinced that we'd make the top 4. Today is the first day my belief has been shaken. The only hope for us now is to put together a 4 or 5 game run of wins. We absolutely must beat Wigan, Everton and then Man City to keep the dream alive. Draws will get us nowhere.
The problem is that Spurs have been found out. We simply do not know how to get past the "team bus", particularly without Lennon. Sides who come to the Lane and sling 10 men behind the ball have a very good chance of coming away with something due to us spending long periods passing it around their edge of the centre circle before trying an overly ambitious through ball. You can't blame our opponents, when "plucky" teams come and have a go we tend to tear them to pieces, which is fantastic, but we do lack a Plan B.
My mistake, we have a Plan B - it's having Dawson, Bassong and now Kaboul punt hopeful 60 yard balls up field in a miserable attempt to land them on the snowcapped bonce of Mr. Beanpole. Well Harry, it's not working - and don't even try to tell me we're not a long ball team because against those who come to defend that is exactly what we are. It's becoming extremely irritating.
Not that for one second I condone any Harry Bashing. I like him, he has progressed the club more in a year than I've seen in the last 3. If nothing else we look like we SHOULD be winning a lot more games than we actually seem to be. He's allowed to make the odd mistake here and there, of which last night was probably one. Kaboul at RB, and Jenas... well, anywhere seem like strange choices but giving some game time to Gudjohnsen was a good idea, even if he didn't set the world on fire, as he undoubtedly has the quality to reintroduce Crouchie to the bench he should have been sitting on for the last month.
A lot of people seem to be having a pop at the team selection yesterday but with Bolton in the cup on Saturday I think he has a decent excuse for trying a few different faces. After all, in essence it was only Kaboul, Gudjohnsen and Kranners - and the last of that trio is a firm favourite (who would have won us the game if his early chance had gone in).
That 4th spot is still a massive ask, but chin up fellas as the FA Cup is still extremely winnable. Should our Premiership campaign crumble, as seems likely, an FA Cup final should be adequate compensation.
