Spurs - The burden of expectation

By Mental Strength
November 12 2006

It is a noose which drags down the would be monarchs. What do I mean by that? I should say that firstly I am annoyed by today's loss which I thought was unlikely.

It is a noose which drags down the would be monarchs. What do I mean by that? I should say that firstly I am annoyed by today's loss which I thought was unlikely. I honestly expected a win but was not going to be surprised at the draw. That we got neither once again allowed me to draw our parallels with Liverpool.

Both are clubs whose expectation is hard to match. Look at Liverpool. They have players who in my mind can at best achieve 2nd but are more likely to contest 3rd or 4th. No more than that regardless. Their players and manager are just not as good as at least one if not two teams. The real question must be can they be good enough or the manager good enough to change that next season? No, is the answer so unless Benitez buys better players or gets 10 per cent better (not possible) then..............

Then you look at us and ask very many of the same questions. I think a fair expectation for us would be no worse than 6th but no better than 4th at the very best. A good cup run, which we are being given every chance to achieve in the League Cup would also be more than welcome. But the next question and yes our players are young but the next question is can Jol and our players be better next season? Could they be expected to finish higher than 4th all things being equal? I am not so sure but I would say we are better placed than Liverpool to improve. But how far behind Liverpool are we now?

A fact that must not be ignored is what is realistic. That we lost today should I guess be taken in isolation but it should not just be cast aside as one of those things. I don't accept that. It is more about players and maybe manager not being able to cope with that extra demand. That extra expectation of fans and pundits alike. And if they can't cope with it then a good manager addresses it as soon as he can if he can. I am not yet saying that is the case this season but good, good managers do not leave that decision for too long.

Even our next premiership game should see change if for nothing other than to say that last result was just not what I will accept.