Same Old Tottenham 1 - 3 Everton

dé·jà vu
n.
1. An impression of having seen or experienced something before.
2. Dull familiarity; monotony: the déjà vu of the tabloid headlines.

I kid you not, this is the actual entry on dictionary.com. I can think of nothing more suitable to describe the dismal start to "the best season in Tottenham's modern history" (yes, that was my quote). It would seem as though lessons have not been learned, corners have been reversed around, and us, the paying public, have been swindled by the club and the media into believing that the glory years are returning.

£40m spent, seven wins in seven games during preseason and the result? A 4th striker when we already had 3 quality internationals, and a false dawn perpetrated by the belief that victories over mediocre African sides, lower division opposition and Serie A's equivalent of Wigan made us Champion's League contenders.

Before I get lambasted for being reactionary, let me point out that I am not a boo-boy, nor a West Stand moaner, nor part of the Jol Out Brigade, nor a Jenas hater. I my friends am an optimist and a believer of hype, it is for this reason that today I awake sickened. It is not that we have been beaten in 2 games that hurts, more that we were led to believe that these sides are of the calibre that should be effortlessly dispatched. "In Jol We Trust" goes the phrase so often touted by the internet pundits - I wonder if that trust is misplaced, because the man seems incapable of learning from his mistakes.

So onto the game, and it's a story of same shit, different day. What was the number one touted cause of Saturdays humiliation at Sunderland? It was a lack of creativity. What is the number one reason that Everton somehow had more shots on target at WHL that Spurs? Well it's frigging obvious to all but a moron.

I do not quibble about conceding 3 goals. Yes it made life difficult, but when you are playing with a central defence combo consisting of your 4th and 5th choice centre-backs, and a left-back who is so far down the pecking order that he is not 4th choice left-back, but 2nd choice right-back then you must expect to ship a few goals. What irks me is that we couldn't dominate from midfield forward and play in a "best form of defence is attack" kind of way.

Have the midfield been taking mind bending drugs? It can be the only reason for their continued insistence on playing long high balls into the opposition box. Every man and his dog must realise that players with the control, skill and quality of Keane, Defoe and Berba prefer the ball on the ground. I lost count of the number of hoofs up field that came back our way within 5 seconds. The same goes for Paul Robinson, who seems to have regressed into his bad old ways of humping it long when there's an easy pass to a full-back available.

He is supposed to be our midfield linchpin, and I do have an unexplainable liking for Jenas, but yesterday he was utter shite. Squandering possession frequently, not offering anything going forward and generally looking way out of his depth. He is rapidly becoming the scapegoat and either needs a string of top performances, or a stint on the bench. I rather suspect the latter would be the best option.

Zokora did what he is paid to, so I can't grumble too much there, but look at how we improved when Routledge came on. We had some width, someone who could take on a player, someone for Jenas to pass sideways to, thus encouraging him to stop hopefully lobbing it into the box. Look at how badly we miss Lennon, but Routledge, or even Taarabt are ready made replacements, we don't have to change the system.

Robbie Keane is not a midfielder. For the second game running Jol's way of "keeping his strikers happy" has been simply to play them all. This cannot work, as BMJ so rightly points out, "You can have all the finishing power, but if you don't have the loading systems it's difficult".

So what are you going to do about it then Mr. Jol?