Week 3 - A Spurs Persective

By Deep Blue
September 6 2005

Week 3 contained 2 games and at the end of which saw Spurs lying 6th in the table with 7 points. In 4 games we have kept 3 clean sheets and beaten one of our rivals for Europe. We should be happy, but the mood amongst the fans is far from content, why? Because now we expect more, rightly or wrongly.

The first game of Week 3 was on Wednesday, away to Blackburn. For many this is the type of game we need to pick 3 points up from, its in games like these that we suffered from losing last year. The dreaded “must win for Europe” started to be muttered and utter rebellion broke out when news that a weakened team was to be fielded. Brown and Mendes were both starting, players both with little match fitness, our 1st choice midfielders (debatably so for some) along with Defoe rested. This was an exercise in squad rotation, with an eye on the Chelsea game on Saturday.

“Why is Brown starting? Why are we resting Defoe, he’s 22?”

Message boards erupted, “we need to win this game”, “Jols lost it” and I have to admit I was amongst those who were saddened to see the weakened squad fielded, Jol gambled that our squad depth was good enough, was it? I would say yes, disaffected players got a game and were involved in the squad, players such as Davids were rested and it showed on Saturday. Yes we drew, but in context this was a game away against a team of battlers and bruisers who were always going to be a handful and I am sure it was a game we would have lost last year.

Jol too is still on a learning about the Premiership and his team and this game gave him some incites into, despite common belief, that there are no easy wins or guaranteed points in the Premiership. Will he rest players again, yes. That is why we have such quality in our depth and why we will have the edge on other teams competing for Europe this year, we are able to that and not see our performance drop greatly. Think of it as an extra point we didn’t have last year (added to the 3 we wouldn’t have got at Portsmouth as well) and it doesn’t seem as bad, if we can do the same all season we will all be laughing.

Results elsewhere were not kind midweek as our competitors picked up maximum points and Man City in particular looked impressive. They are looking to be the major player in the bid for European places this year, the buy of Cole looking a splendid piece of business. Although winning away at Sunderland is nothing to crow about it was a profession performance and a win that they are expected to get. Boro beat Birmingham but boy did they have the benefit of having Birmingham put of one of the most inept displays of football so far this season. Boro fans would argue that because Boro made them look bad, if that is the case then our 2-0 win looks all the more impressive. As a side note it is sad to see such an imperious player in his prime as Mendieta was, look so poor now, injuries have clearly taken their toll.

“why are we so bloody boring to watch?”

Villa dropped points to a frankly rubbish Portsmouth team, again adding worth to our win on the opening day of the season. Villa are fast looking like they will struggle to keep up with the pack. Bolton, surprise surprise, gound out another win, this time against the woeful Newcastle, they can’t buy a win although they would be willing to.

Now onto the second fixture of the week and of course this involves the 1st defeat of the year. It would be so easy to dwell on the poor refereeing and bad luck but equally it is hard to forget how we looked the better team until Mido’s (arguably wrongful) dismissal. His reaction says it all for me, he didn’t think it was a foul, let alone one warranting a red card and had suffered similar changeless from Terry earlier in the match and saw no similar punishment dished out. Cue the Chelsea battering then, well actually no, we still looked the better side, until from a set piece just before the break, we let in a soft goal. I hope that Jol learnt something from this and we will see someone defending the post from now on.

“Styles, Chelsea’s 12th man”

The team battled on however and Davids took it on himself to keep both Makalele and Essien quiet single handidly, the midweek rest did him good and he was emense. Question marks could be raised over the lack of cover at left back (Kelly is a good rb, but at left back he struggled, especially against a player of SWP’s calibre) and upfront (the loss of Kanoute was felt when Dawson was our only option as a target man). The squad still, in my opinion, played well and showed some real steel, if it wasn’t for that (Scooby Do style) meddling ref we could well have seen the end of the Hoodoo they have over us.

Looking at the other fixtures Newcastle lost again this time to Manchester USA, aided by injuries early on to key players for Newcastle. Why Dyer and Emre started so soon back from injury is a mystery, they were rushed back and were punished for the gamble, bad management in my opinion, they are showing signs of desperation as they still struggle to find a win.

Villa beat Blackburn at home, looking far from convincing however, a better side would have beaten them. Man city won yet again against early whipping boys Portsmouth and are really starting to gain confidence which will give them momentum as they pull away from us early on, they are looking a real threat and credit goes to Pearce. Bolton churned out another win this time away to West ham, they are horrible to watch, but so effective at what they do, another major threat and a team we have to match point for point early on and hope to pull away from when they struggle as their thin squad gets stretched later on in the season.

“you are in a world of pain after that performance lad…”

Shock of the weekend and of benefit to Spurs was Everton losing to Fulham, like Bolton they grind out points and a loss like this will hurt them and hopefully affect moral. They did not play well at all and Moyes (typically) will be on the warpath to ensure they improve on their next outing. Another shock was Charlton drubbing of Boro away from home, Boro were poor, but still a great result for Charlton, Bent starting to look a real bargain with another good display. You always have to worry with Charlton that this could be the year that they don’t crumple after Christmas and if that ever becomes the case, they will be looking good for Europe. For Boro, it was good to see them drop more points early on and hopefully will effect their moral.

Certainly the worst week so far, but plenty of positives none the less, a chance for a break for the Internationals and hopefully Jol will use this well to plot the defeat of Liverpool on the return of premiership football….