Richmond Spurs: Nice Fan article on SC

Courtesy of "xzander" from SpursCommunity-

I've only occasionally popped on the message boards in the past few days on
this site. The level of vitriol against - well, everything - has driven me
slowly mad. Reading a huge number of similar posts about various topics is
wearing me down, in particular the ones ending in "end of". So, ahead of the
Liverpool and Famagusta matches I'm going to put my few thoughts in.

Villa

There seems to be a number of posters of the opinion that somehow a 4-4
draw with a three goal comeback inside twenty minutes is unusual for Tottenham
and that by performing as we did we made a laughing stock of ourselves - as if
forgetting how to play and ending up 4-1 down was new.

As far as I'm concerned to produce such a performance on your 125th
anniversary neatly sums up what it is to be a Spurs fan.

In no particular order: this is the club who managed to win the FA Cup
while effectively insolvent, -who were the first team to win the Cup while a non-league team,
-later managed to cause mayhem by being deducted points, being banned from
the Cup, then reverse it all while buying the World Cup's star players,
-who managed to not beat one side while being in the same division as them
for 16 years,
-who were the first football club to get listed on the stock exchange,
-who won the first double of last century, -who managed to get within 90 minutes of Champions' League qualification before breaking down with a mystery stomach infection and being pipped by their greatest rivals,
-who manage to get the ball two feet over the sodding line and still not have the goal counted, -sign players with weight and mental health problems who introduce themselves by scoring in the North London derby with only one boot,
-who managed to turn up at Kaiserslautern 1-0 up from the first leg, drop
our best player and still leave it till the 92nd minute to lose.
-and I'm not even having to think very hard. You could review this stuff
for as long as you're able to keep awake for.

This Villa game was not unusual, fellas. We hit no peak of incompetence or
recklessness. This is part and parcel of supporting Tottenham. It is a
rollercoaster. It is chaos. It is losing a 3-goal lead to ten men. It is winning
games we've no right to and losing games we really shouldn't. This is not new.

And just because we've spent a bit of cash isn't going to stop this
wonderful, irritating, frustrating organisation we've tied our allegiance to
forever from remaining one of the most potent reasons why people bother watching
football at all - Spurs are innately unpredictable - which is why, despite it
all, I'm on my way to Anfield this weekend, confidently expecting 90+ minutes of
total mayhem. If certainty is what you're after you may be better following
Roger Federer or something. Not Spurs.

Jol

I feel genuinely sorry for the big guy. There's bundles of people here
constantly posting "Jol out" stuff. As my previous posts show, I'm in agreement
that Jol's tenure was showing patterns which couldn't be ignored - namely, the
glass ceiling effect of being unable to take the team past the semi-final or
quarter-final - or fifth place - and to actually win the big, defining match
which would announce his and Tottenham's arrival at football's top table.
Although Jol used to talk a lot about instilling a 'top mentality' in his
players, he doesn't seem to have actually done so - and I'd cite that fact as a
major factor as to why his team hasn't taken that big step. With that in mind I
could understand the board's thinking in talking to another coach.

However, the board really have been cack-handed about the whole thing. Have
they never heard of videoconferencing? Is it necessary to meet the coach of
another team in a public area these days? Isn't that just a bit too risky?
Whatever, it was predictable behaviour from a board geared mainly to maximising
the profit from their future sale of the club and releasing ludicrous numbers of
new kits rather than understanding how their behaviour affects what occurs on
the field of play.

Whatever, as soon as the news broke, Jol was a dead man walking. You know
what, the Jol Out-ers are getting their way. You won, guys. He's going. As soon
as the board have a new man ready to step in. He's off. So do me a favour, cool
it with the "Jol's a fool" comments. Levy's on your side. Just be thankful we
don't have Pleat to step in and tell "Chimbomba" where to play.

The best thing would be for Jol to go now. Why? Because the players know
he's going. I bet, if Defoe (or whoever) wants to question Jol's authority he
feels more able to do so now. How much authority can Jol's word have in the
dressing room now? Fuck all. I place the blame for that at the board's feet. By
seeking publicly to replace him, they undermined the whole thing, and without
replacing him, letting him carry on as the lamest duck in football, the season
is being totally undermined. And whatever positive noises the players make about
it, they can't operate properly with such uncertainty behind the scenes.

Paul Robinson

I'm going to choose my words here carefully. I like Robinson. He's
talented. He was very good in the Leeds Champions' League side. But then he had
proper leaders in front of him in defence. And when he got to Spurs, he had King
and Dawson in front of him all the time. And he was pretty good.

Where he's fallen down is that, with a constant changing of personnel in
defence and no-one taking responsibility there he isn't able to predict what's
going to happen in front of him or feel he has situations under control. And,
unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be a Schmeichel and dominate his area - he's
much more passive. And against Villa, a few dodgy moments against Croatia and
Germany became a full-on collapse in the fundamentals of goalkeeping.

And, whereas in previous years - when we had Michael Carrick - it was rare
to have strikers running at our unprotected back line. With Jenas, Zokora and
Huddlestone in there (it's generally a combination of two of these) attackers
are allowed a run at our central defence. If someone like Fabregas gets a yard
and a sight of goal, he'll shoot, and you know what? He's good enough to score.
Because he does it every day of his life on the training ground. I'm not saying
Robinson isn't culpable for long range goals at all - I was directly behind the
Campos daisycutter from last year's Bolton game - but I am saying that no
'keeper wouldn't be undermined by the lack of cover and leadership in front of
him.

What's the solution? Some people are going to have to grow up very quickly.
Kaboul could be an excellent leader in the future, but needs guidance - he's
like a mad bull at the moment. Ideally someone would wave a magic wand and
Ledley King would be fit again but he isn't. Spurs could badly do with a central
midfielder of real calibre - someone to be the boss' 'conscience' on the field -
but they don't grow on trees, unless we fast track that Parrett kid to the first
team.

And in the meantime, we've got away games against Liverpool and Newcastle
on the horizon and a goalkeeper whose confidence is shot to shit. I don't know
whether Cerny is the answer. Part of me thinks that it would be only reasonable
to throw Cerny in - but then his career hasn't exactly been glittering. From a
decade at Slavia Prague - where he managed more than 20 games 4 times - to a bit
part player at Spurs, at the age of 33 it's not the background of a saviour -
but then Robinson's so out of form that it may be worth just packing him off to
Cromer or somewhere and telling him to sort his head out while the stand-in
plays a few games.

What I would like to see is an end to the sort of one-line post where
people claim that Robinson somehow is the root cause of our form this season,
single handedly wrecking everything with constant mistakes. He's in the most
error-visible position and his mistakes are magnified 1,000 times - if Chimbonda
misses a crossfield pass and the ball runs out of play we groan and forget about
it. If Robbo does it it's a goal, and we berate him.

The problems Spurs have run from front to back of the team and a lot of the
answer lies in what's going on in the players' heads both as a unit and
individually, which Levy and co. have rudely intruded on as well, compounding
the problems. Witch-hunting the 'keeper and berating the manager when he plays,
as some are doing might make you feel good - but it makes no sense.

I'd love to think scoring three goals and dragging a lost game back from
nowhere would invigorate the players and give them a badly needed dose of
confidence which could push them on from here, but only time will tell. That,
and whether Jol's successor comes in the next international break or the
situation will be allowed to drift until next season. At least I know I'll be
there at Anfield to watch the next chapter, and will proudly sing my heart out.