Dorset Gooner
05-19-2013, 06:25 PM
So it is. The season is over and we now know that, once again, Spurs have fallen just short, pipped to the post by our ugly, smelly, repugnant neighbours.
Cue lots of frivolous rejoicing and nauseating ridicule from the red end of town, but should they really be getting too carried away?
As a Spurs fan I'm obviously a little gutted we didn't quite make it into the champions league spots, but I also recognise that this is a very different situation to last season. This hasn't been a typical Spurs 'choke' which our rivals have ruthlessly taken advantage of, far from it. Sure, the comparisons on paper are there with last tear but dig a little deeper and there's plenty to be pleased about going forward as a Lilywhite.
Arsenal have only just snuck past us to steal 4th place, but they've had everything in their favour for quite a while, whereas Spurs have been up against it all year.
With the exception of van Persie's departure, Arsenal are pretty much the same team as last year - stronger even. They've had consistency with their manager and nothing to disrupt their season particularly. They've had no real injuries of note either, and whilst they might point to the absence of their young star Jack Wilshere the fact is he has actually been around MUCH more often this season than last.
Spurs, on the other hand, lost our captain and club legend Ledley King at the start of the season and that was then followed by a season ending injury to Younes Kaboul. Straight away we've lost our 1st choice CB pairing. Then last season's heart and passion in midfield, Scotty Parker, is out long term with an ankle injury. Of course we then lose all our creativity in midfield by letting both Modric and van der Vaart leave without replacing them sufficiently and we start with only Defoe as a recognised striker. Eventually we bring in Adebayor, with no pre-season and an African Nations cup commitment, but our squad has looked threadbare even without injuries.
We sacked our manager of the previous 3 years, the man who had taken us twice into the top 4, and replaced him with a young man of little experience who had failed so tragically at Chelsea. And, just to compound the upheaval, we close down our training ground, which had been our home for the past few decades, and move to a shiny new place in Enfield AFTER the season had already begun!! As nice as the new training ground is, it would've been extremely helpful if everyone could've been allowed to settle in a bit.
Despite all this disruption, Spurs quickly steadied things and have developed an excellent consistency that has kept us at the top of the table all year. Even with the loss of Sandro, our REAL player of the season up to that point, we continued on our way whilst Arsenal, with relatively little disturbance beyond RvP's departure, yo-yoed around mid-table.
The media made such a big thing about our 7 point lead over Arsenal, but this was a VERY different situation to last year. Our run in was by FAR the toughest and once fate conspired to nullify Arsenal's only really challenge against Man Utd (with the Red Devils winning the title before kicking a ball thanks to our win against City!) we all knew what would happen in the end. The fact that Spurs kept battling away to the final game and pretty much did everything expected of us showed that this was a very different Tottenham.
Everything just seemed to fall into Arsenal's lap. Spurs, on the hand, only lost twice in 12 games in a tough run of fixtures - again, this was no typical Spurs choke - and still it wasn't quite enough.
So, in this world of instant gratification, our lack of champions league football is a disaster. However, in the real world, Spurs have progressed to our best ever points total in premier league history even with EVERYTHING going against us.
Arsenal will be in the UCL again and, as always, they won't really compete. However, Wenger will use the fact that they got there as an excuse not to really spend once again. He'll try and claim this squad he's built is amazing, whereas their lack of silverware will continue to weigh them down in reality. And so Wenger will be another year older and Arsenal will continue to plod along.
Look, we Spurs fans have had to live through 2 decades of dross. Whilst we played around in the gutters, our hated rivals pranced around in the stars, winning trophies. Now they're celebrating stumbling over the line ahead of us, despite what should've been a season of transition at Spurs.
And whilst Arsenal continue to plod along with an ageing manager, our young manager will only improve this Spurs team and has many, many years ahead of him for us to look forward to. Arsenal fans think that our missing out on the UCL will mean losing Bale and an inability to attract the players we really want. However, the chance to play alongside Bale and train at the best centre in Europe will be a big enough draw for most people. Champions League is a target and that will be an easy sell to most players given we now consistently finish within a point of those top places and the facilities we now have on offer. I'm more confident than ever that we will spend money this season and I'm not worried about Bale going - I'd love him to stay but even if he goes he'll bring in the sort of money that can really overhaul our squad
The new stadium, a young manager who has now proved himself and another year's gradual improvement all points toward a club progressing over the long-term toward sustainable success.
On the other hand, it is getting increasingly difficult to see where Arsenal will go next. They have everything in place but, despite creeping into the Chanpions League once again, on the pitch they look very ordinary and unpredictable over the length of a season.
Arsenal just seem to be treading water, whereas Spurs really look to be building toward the future
So why are they celebrating so much exactly?
Cue lots of frivolous rejoicing and nauseating ridicule from the red end of town, but should they really be getting too carried away?
As a Spurs fan I'm obviously a little gutted we didn't quite make it into the champions league spots, but I also recognise that this is a very different situation to last season. This hasn't been a typical Spurs 'choke' which our rivals have ruthlessly taken advantage of, far from it. Sure, the comparisons on paper are there with last tear but dig a little deeper and there's plenty to be pleased about going forward as a Lilywhite.
Arsenal have only just snuck past us to steal 4th place, but they've had everything in their favour for quite a while, whereas Spurs have been up against it all year.
With the exception of van Persie's departure, Arsenal are pretty much the same team as last year - stronger even. They've had consistency with their manager and nothing to disrupt their season particularly. They've had no real injuries of note either, and whilst they might point to the absence of their young star Jack Wilshere the fact is he has actually been around MUCH more often this season than last.
Spurs, on the other hand, lost our captain and club legend Ledley King at the start of the season and that was then followed by a season ending injury to Younes Kaboul. Straight away we've lost our 1st choice CB pairing. Then last season's heart and passion in midfield, Scotty Parker, is out long term with an ankle injury. Of course we then lose all our creativity in midfield by letting both Modric and van der Vaart leave without replacing them sufficiently and we start with only Defoe as a recognised striker. Eventually we bring in Adebayor, with no pre-season and an African Nations cup commitment, but our squad has looked threadbare even without injuries.
We sacked our manager of the previous 3 years, the man who had taken us twice into the top 4, and replaced him with a young man of little experience who had failed so tragically at Chelsea. And, just to compound the upheaval, we close down our training ground, which had been our home for the past few decades, and move to a shiny new place in Enfield AFTER the season had already begun!! As nice as the new training ground is, it would've been extremely helpful if everyone could've been allowed to settle in a bit.
Despite all this disruption, Spurs quickly steadied things and have developed an excellent consistency that has kept us at the top of the table all year. Even with the loss of Sandro, our REAL player of the season up to that point, we continued on our way whilst Arsenal, with relatively little disturbance beyond RvP's departure, yo-yoed around mid-table.
The media made such a big thing about our 7 point lead over Arsenal, but this was a VERY different situation to last year. Our run in was by FAR the toughest and once fate conspired to nullify Arsenal's only really challenge against Man Utd (with the Red Devils winning the title before kicking a ball thanks to our win against City!) we all knew what would happen in the end. The fact that Spurs kept battling away to the final game and pretty much did everything expected of us showed that this was a very different Tottenham.
Everything just seemed to fall into Arsenal's lap. Spurs, on the hand, only lost twice in 12 games in a tough run of fixtures - again, this was no typical Spurs choke - and still it wasn't quite enough.
So, in this world of instant gratification, our lack of champions league football is a disaster. However, in the real world, Spurs have progressed to our best ever points total in premier league history even with EVERYTHING going against us.
Arsenal will be in the UCL again and, as always, they won't really compete. However, Wenger will use the fact that they got there as an excuse not to really spend once again. He'll try and claim this squad he's built is amazing, whereas their lack of silverware will continue to weigh them down in reality. And so Wenger will be another year older and Arsenal will continue to plod along.
Look, we Spurs fans have had to live through 2 decades of dross. Whilst we played around in the gutters, our hated rivals pranced around in the stars, winning trophies. Now they're celebrating stumbling over the line ahead of us, despite what should've been a season of transition at Spurs.
And whilst Arsenal continue to plod along with an ageing manager, our young manager will only improve this Spurs team and has many, many years ahead of him for us to look forward to. Arsenal fans think that our missing out on the UCL will mean losing Bale and an inability to attract the players we really want. However, the chance to play alongside Bale and train at the best centre in Europe will be a big enough draw for most people. Champions League is a target and that will be an easy sell to most players given we now consistently finish within a point of those top places and the facilities we now have on offer. I'm more confident than ever that we will spend money this season and I'm not worried about Bale going - I'd love him to stay but even if he goes he'll bring in the sort of money that can really overhaul our squad
The new stadium, a young manager who has now proved himself and another year's gradual improvement all points toward a club progressing over the long-term toward sustainable success.
On the other hand, it is getting increasingly difficult to see where Arsenal will go next. They have everything in place but, despite creeping into the Chanpions League once again, on the pitch they look very ordinary and unpredictable over the length of a season.
Arsenal just seem to be treading water, whereas Spurs really look to be building toward the future
So why are they celebrating so much exactly?