Match Report; Ipswich and City, plus… what does the season and future hold for us fans? And then there is the Europa League.

 

Match Report; Ipswich and City, plus… what does the season and future hold for us fans? And then there is the Europa League.

After being knocked out of the league cup by Liverpool (4-0) and then the FA Cup by Villa (2-1), we finally thought the tide had changed (as we always do after a few good results). We had two straight wins (three straight in the League). First up was the hapless United, who came to our ground and crumbled, then a joyous trip up to Ipswich, where Janette and I stayed with her brother in Felixstowe for two nights. Kevin, Janette’s brother, kindly took us to the Ipswich ground (half an hour away) so we could see the tractor boys being whipped 1-4.

The Ipswich game was a hard one for Janette to take as she was originally an Ipswich supporter… now fully bloodied to the Tottenham ways… but she still has a soft spot for them… as I do for Arsenic… it is called the anus… anyway, moving on… after facing and seeing off Ipswich we were ready for the inconsistent, but more mature part of the Manchester region… City.

It took City just 12 minutes to score; nevertheless, our improvement in the second half should have earned us a goal. I thought we dominated in all the areas but missed a goal to get something out of the game.

We did finish strong, but we turned the ball over too many times in the first half. If you do that against City, you allow them to get into a rhythm, which they did.

With Micky van de Ven, Dominic Solanke, and Cristian Romero soon returning from injury, we will be in a good place to finish the season strongly… As for the Europa League; we are still favourites to win it, and our injured players are just returning at the right time. Yes, it is too late for the League and FA Cups… but if we can bag the Europa trophy, then we will start next season in a strong position. Winning the Europa League means, for next season, a place in the Champions League.

Next up is AZ Alkmaar and a trip to Holland. I feel quite strongly that we can get a result there, and if we can, then the return leg will just be a formality… but we still must be sharp-eyed and not take anything for granted.

But what about after this season? There are plenty of speculations about Tottenham being taken over by a consortium of Arabs or Yanks, etc… i.e. anybody with billions to play with. Which will include/ won’t include Daniel Levy. A large portion of the fan base wants Levy out… whatever way it is, there must be improvements to the structure of the team, and those who are pulling the strings of Ange and the team need to get their act together or depart. The football side of Levy’s money-making enterprise is the fan's domain, and we need somebody as dedicated as we are.

We also can’t go through what we have been going through for the last 26 years of Levy’s reign… firing, hiring, and sacking again just because Levy knows nothing about the mechanics of the footballing side, which includes underinvestment in the team.

As for our injury crisis… another injury year without learning anything will only create another injury crisis.

Albert Einstein famously said, 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ Insanity has been part of the chief pullers of the Tottenham strings for decades. Either compete with the likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenic, City or the board must vacate their position and allow others to take over who are as passionate about Tottenham as we, the fans, are.

 

Up the Spurs!

 

Glenn

Paul Coyte and myself at the Spurs stadium