| The forthcoming season is a very
important one for Tottenham. Having suffered too many
“transitional” seasons, now is the time to win
something. Not just for the long-suffering fans, but for
the sake of the players too, who are ambitious and want
to be successful. There are only three things that Spurs
can win this season, but a good final placing would
provide a European spot and another pot to play for. It
would have the effect of retaining and attracting the
better players. The World Cup showed that there are fewer
“star” players on the scene, but the right men
in the right places are what is necessary. The France 98
side couldn’t hold a candle to that which
represented the nation in 1986 (with Platini, Tigana,
Giresse), but it was good enough to be effective. No
doubt this is the theory being followed by Gross and
Pleat. If they come up with the goods, we’ll all be
pleased, but it appears that Tottenham will slip behind
some of their Premiership rivals if they do not. There is
a real need for the club to be challenging for trophies
again - for everyone associated with Tottenham. So now we have one game under our belts and
no points on the board, Tottenham sit familiarly at the
bottom of the table. What started as a day full of hope
ended with only a long, hard season to look forward to.
David Pleat said on Sky the next day, that the fitness
training undertaken in pre-season would become more
evident after six games or so. He also stated that
Tottenham would only buy the best and would not accept
mediocraty from the continent, hinting that some of the
previous purchases had fallen into this category. He
neatly sidestepped the question about Vega being a
liability to Tottenham. The side that started at Selhurst
Park looked our best on paper, but on the pitch, it was a
different question. Only when Nielsen and Saib were
brought on to replace Berti and Anderton, did they look
capable of doing anything. The ploy of playing Darren
Anderton in the centre of defence was one which failed.
Against Wimbledon, he will nearly always get crowded out
of the game and I still prefer to see him out wide, where
he played for England so successfully. The pairing of Les
and Armo seemed to flop too, with Tramezzani having a
jittery debut and Carr getting exposed down the right. I
really hope that these were early season problems, which
will be ironed out. But they need to be sorted out
quickly. The way the fixtures pan out, Tottenham have
been fortunate - not having to play one of the title
contenders until November. However, we need to have some
decent performances and points racked up by then, so we
can go on from there with some confidence. The talk
amongst the crowd coming out of the game (and from some
going into it) was of another season of struggle and
little hope of anything more than a mid-table placing. We
have had letters/e-mails from readers who feel that Gross
should go, but give him a chance. Clive Allen on Sky gave
him six games. But, if he goes, who replaces him and how
long will it take them to settle in ?? Then we are into
another transitional season before we know it and ....
have I said this before ??
The players must surely realise
that the standard of performance produced at Selhurst was
not good enough. The manager must surly realise where the
weak points in the side are - after all, most of the fans
do. The Chairman must realise that only by investing in
top quality players (or any players who can help us
improve sufficiently to get into Europe) will the club
move forward and the main activity of the company thus
become a real money spinner, rather than a small profit
maker ( as far as most of the shareholders are
concerned). What the fans will do if they witness many
more performances like Saturday's, I hate to think. The
booing started at half-time, which was a bit uncalled
for, but it is not what we expect from players in
Tottenham shirts. It is only one game out of thirty
eight, but we can only pray that is will not be a
pre-cursor for the rest of them. Anyway, when you get
home from the game feeling dispirited and low, then hear
that 28 people have been murdered in a bomb blast in
Northern Ireland, does it really matter that much that
your side has lost a football match. Our sympathies go
out to all those who lost family and friends in the Omagh
tragedy.
Keep the faith.
MY EYES
HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART
LANE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART
LANE
AND THE SPURS GO MARCHING ON !!!
BRUCE CASTLE
|
