It seems in the modern game with all the money involved in the Champions League that that is the goal, to finish in one of the qualifying spots and that is the mark of success. I like watching the Champions League, teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid taking on the best England and Italy have to offer, but is that everything in football now? What about all the other teams in the league that have no chance of getting to that sort of level, their chance of glory comes in the domestic cups, which some of the bigger teams don’t field full strength teams in anyway.

The domestic cup competitions seem to be devalued now, especially the League cup with only a hand full of teams really taking it seriously. No, it’s not the best cup competition in the world but it’s a trophy none the less and a medal for the players and surely that’s what playing professional sport is all about. When a player gets to the end of his career and looks back at what he has achieved, surely having some winners medals is better than just saying you played in a team that finished 4th best in the league.

It bugs me as a Spurs fan to hear all the talk of having a chance of finishing 4th and that is our goal. Really? Just to finish 4th is the goal, not aiming that bit higher and if that doesn’t go to plan then finishing in 4th spot is the backup. The way the league is shaping up, Spurs do have a good shout of claiming a top 4 spot if they keep up the form they have showed in the first half of the season, but there will be serious challenging from Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa, so one of those teams will finish as low as 7th.

So now Spurs are out of the Carling Cup, I would like to see them really go out and try and win the FA Cup because that, after all, is the best cup competition in the world, offers a place in Europe and is a trip to Wembley, which it should all be about at the end of the day.

When you have extremely rich owners like Man City have and they have put in over £200m in less than 18 months, right or wrong, they expect thing’s to happen fast. To be fair, I think Mark Hughes is a little unlucky, on the day he was sacked Man City sat in 6th spot in the league with only 2 defeats, that’s less than any other team and they have a game in hand. Ok, they have drawn 8 games but the point is they haven’t been beaten many times and are still in the hunt with over half the season to go.

Some people might say that he has had all that money and they should be competing for the title, that may be true in some respect but to throw all those players together in such a short space of time and expect them to be challenging for the title is unrealistic. With the January transfer window coming up and half a season to go, who knows where they could end up, with the players they already have, they could easily go on a long unbeaten run and win 5-6 games in a row and that would put them right up there.

In modern day football with all the money flying around in the top flight and the trend of  foreign owners getting bigger, most managers wont have much longer than 2 years. Of course there will be exceptions, but it’s a trend that not only happens in the top flight but in the Championship to and that has happened throughout Europe for many years. So, good luck Roberto Mancini, you better get it right straight away otherwise your fate will be much the same.

After my rather negative post about the same old Spurs, the next week turns out to be a great one. A 3-0 home win against Man City and a 2-0 away win against Blackburn Rovers, 5 goals scored and none conceded, I really couldn’t of asked for better than that. Before the Man City game I wasn’t sure what to expect, after the 1-0 home lose to Wolves and then playing a team who have only lost once all season, it didn’t seem nailed on.

To me though  Man City lacked any sort of urgency, they played the ball neatly into feet and found space now and then but never really threatened. Spurs on the other hand tried to move the ball quickly and get Aaron lennon on the ball as much as possible and like many other left backs this season, Sylvinho was given the run around big style. Niko Kranjcar had a great game to, always wanting the ball, making thing’s happen and coming up with 2 goals, the second one being a cracking solo effort from a short corner.

Winning away at Blackburn is a good result as well, they had only lost once there all season and are a really strong aggressive team. But Spurs showed they were no push overs anymore, it wasn’t a pretty game but sometimes that doesn’t matter, as much as I would like Spurs to win pretty all the time, it just doesn’t happen, you need to show the other side of the game every now and then to mix it up and Spurs showed the are more than capable of doing that.

Same old Spurs, different day. That’s what I feel like when Tottenham have results like the one on Saturday, losing 1-0 at home to Wolves. Those sort of games against the promoted teams should be home bankers every year, especially if you have ambitions of claiming a Champions League spot, I don’t see the top teams like Chelsea and Man Utd losing at home to these sort of teams and that is why Spurs will struggle to get where the want to be, they just don’t have the consistency.

White Hart Lane was a fortress last season when Harry took over, only losing one game at home to Everton. This season already has seen 3 home loses to Man Utd, Stoke and most recently, Wolves. It’s not like this season is following the pattern of losing to the smaller teams and beating the bigger teams either, with the exception of Liverpool home on the opening day, there have been loses to Arsenal, Man Utd twice and Chelsea in league and cup competitions, most of which by convincing scorelines.

OK, as I write this, Spurs are sitting in 5th spot with a home game against Man City tomorrow night, so it’s not all doom and gloom! But, all the teams Spurs have beaten this season so far have been average at best. Liverpool is always a good scalp to get, although the way their season has gone so far, it would have been disappointing not to have beaten them at home. The recent games at Everton and Villa are prime examples, 2-0 up and cruising after 60 minutes against Everton, then throw it away. At Villa, after going behind early, coming back strong and controlling the second half was great, but it only brought a draw, if that could have been turned into a win, it would have been the best result of the season to date with how Villa are playing now.

The game against Man City will be a good test. They are a strong team home and away now and Spurs really need to beat a good side to get that confidence needed to push on. All these football people talk about what a good start Tottenham have had, but it’s faltering slightly at the moment, Villa are doing better and now Birmingham are on the same amount of points, although they have played a game more.

So, stop talking the talk Spurs and start walking the walk!

Spurs lose 2-0 lead

What is it with Spurs, one minute they can look great, the next they are hanging on for dear life. That seemed to be the case on Sunday when they went 2 up with about 30 minutes to go, then Everton made a change and brought on 2 strikers. Credit has to go to David Moyes and Everton for fighting their way back into the game, you just wonder why they didn’t start with the 2 upfront from the start?!

Even though Spurs had the chance to win it in injury time when they got one of the most blatant penalty’s you are ever likely to see, which Jermain Defoe decides to lose all composure with and scuff it straight into Tim Howard’s legs, that isn’t the worst part for me. It’s being in total control of the game and then when the opposition change formation and/or players, don’t adapt to the situation and stop doing all the thing’s that have made them dominant to that point.

When Saha and Yakubu came on, Everton started having more possesion in the final 3rd and pushing on more, but Spurs just stopped pressing and doing all the simple thing’s that put them in control and that is typical Spurs, have a good chance to push on and climb a place in the league and then mess it up.

Tottenham need to learn how to one, convert more of the chances they create and two, see out a game by defending properly, otherwise there is no way they will ever finish in a Champions league place.

England given great draw

A national newspaper had the headline England Algeria Slovenia Yanks, which is a little over confident but probably not that far off to be fair! England couldn’t of hoped for much better, they will be expected to win the group comfortably but second place is up for grabs and should be between the USA and Slovenia. I think the USA will do it, they have a few players that are playing at a higher level and most of the Slovenian team play at smaller clubs and lesser leagues around Europe.

All the other groups as they were drawn:

Group A

1. South Africa
2. Mexico
3. Uruguay
4. France

Group B

1. Argentina
2. Nigeria
3. Korea Republic
4. Greece

Group C

1. England
2. USA
3. Algeria
4. Slovenia

Group D

1. Germany
2. Australia
3. Serbia
4. Ghana

Group E

1. Netherlands
2. Denmark
3. Japan
4. Cameroon

Group F

1. Italy
2. Paraguay
3. New Zealand
4. Slovakia

Group G

1. Brazil
2. Korea DPR
3. Ivory Coast
4. Portugal

Group H

1. Spain
2. Switzerland
3. Honduras
4. Chile

There are some tough groups there, especially Germany and Brazil’s groups. One of the most attractive fixtures in the group stages also involves Brazil, they will play Portugal on the last day of the group G fixtures.

England will be one of the favorites for the tournament, although in the first knock out round they will play the runner up in group D, which could be quite tough. For me though, the two main teams to beat will be Spain and Brazil, they really are the complete package and have so much flair and skill.

Rocky Baptiste miss

Could this be the worst miss ever?!

[pro-player width='410' height='253' type='video']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvYOA4BXIqk[/pro-player]

He has done the hard part and gone round the goalkeeper, all he has to do is pass it into the net, shocking! He misses from barely a foot out but he can score the screamers, go figure!

Carling Cup Review

Well, there goes all my optimism. After a good start, looking composed and passing the ball pretty well, two clinical shots from Darron Gibson sealed the game for Man Utd, 2-0. I never really feel that confident going to Old Trafford, Man Utd always seem to grind out a result, even when they are being outplayed and unfortunately, Spurs never really seem to take the chances that come their way to beat teams like Utd.

First half played well, created a few good chances but come in at half time 2-0 down. Second half, started OK but faded after about 15 minutes and never really looked like getting back in the game. Harry, please please please sell David ‘£15m man’ Bentley in January, he is barely worth £500,000 let alone £15m, it’s a joke.

The other game went the way I thought, Villa coming from behind to beat Portsmouth at Fratton Park 4-2.

Man Utd V Spurs

The big game tonight is the repeat of last season’s final, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Old Trafford has not been a lucky ground for Spurs, in my 18 years of supporting them, I can’t remember ever winning there! With Man Utd fielding a number of youngster’s, this could be the opportunity for Spurs to really have a go.  Arguably, the Spurs team is stronger on paper but United seem to place the same way with whoever is in the team, much like Arsenal, so the only way to win is to really have a go.

Come On You Spurs!

The other game tonight is Portsmouth against Aston Villa and you would have thought on team selection and current form, Villa would win that.