My father went off to work in London in 1960 when he turned 20. There was no work in Ireland so he had to go. He spent 15 years in East Ham London and he witnessed the 1961 great Tottenham team win the League with the likes of Jimmy Greaves and Danny Blanchflower. Due to his location it was either West Ham or Spurs. But the fact that Spurs were the best team in England it was an easy option to make. He came home for a holiday in 1975. He was a very good footballer so the local club asked him to play a couple of games while he was home. He said yes and after one the games he met my mother. She was a fine thing so he stayed put. I was born in 1982 and I was born into Spurs supporterdom.
I used to have the jerseys growing up in a town where everyone was a Liverpool supporter. I was the only Spurs supporter so I used to get awful grief off the other kids. I still hate Liverpool to this day because of their cocky supporters and I would always celebrate a win more than I would if they bet the Gunners. But I always felt I developed a thick skin by supporting Spurs and it did well in life. I was only a slagging and I grew to love the back and forth. I will always remember the 1990 FA cup semi final with Gaza's free kick against Arsenal, and then the final against Forest 2-1. I was 8 and this is when I first kinda realised that this was always going to be my team. I would have been disowned if I supported anyone else and it became a good way of doing things with the father. The highlight being the Champions league quarter final of 2019 against Man City and then the semi final against Ajax. There was some scenes in the pub. Jumping around hugging each other. Cut to today..... Spurs had a chance to go 2nd. I should have known it was not going to happen. We lost the game 2-1.
Wth Solanke not back yet , Thomas Frank went for Tel over Richarlison up front. Richy has been off form and Tel was on a hot streak with France under 21. However the under 21 and the Premiership are a different standard completely so it was a risky move. Frank went for a similar profile on the left with Odobert and Simons as the number 10. Kudus on the left was nailed on as well as Bentancur and Palinha in the centre. Romero got a knock in the warm up and so did Udogie so it was Porro, Spence , VDV and Danso at the back. VDV given the captaincy in place of the absent Romero.
The Game
Spurs started very well and after just 5 minutes we had after a Porro cross. Palinha headed it into the box for a Bentancur half volley. Things were looking like a walk in the park. Kudus scored shortly after by a long ball over the top and taken down beautifully by hi but he ran too early and VAR declared him off. It was clearly offside. But after the very encouraging 10 minutes Villa started getting into the game. Now when I say that , Vicario still did not have anything to do but the momentum was swinging. Around the 37th minute Rodgers started weaving his way closer to the edge of the box. Not one Spurs player challenged him. Bang. Rocket into the goal. Vicario had no chance. For a player of that quality not to be closed down then there was only one way this was going. 1-1 at half time.
From then on it started getting dirty and Villa were doing everything to break up the play. John McGinn being John McGinn. You hate playing against him but if he was your player you would absolutely love him. Spurs were not moving the ball quick enough and I had seen this movie before.
Tel wasn't getting a sniff. Odebert isn't good enough and was going for glory too much. Xavi Simons was anonymous . Spence was leaving passes astray. Frank had seen enough and whipped Tel off for Richarlison but it did not achieve much. The final third was just not cutting the mustard.
In the 77th minute Spurs cleared the ball which went back to Digne and played a long ball to Buendia who took it down and put it away. 2 goals out of nowhere. It was disappointing. The Spurs Whatsapp group was going mad but I have to say I wasn't too bad over this. We were still solid but we do not have the attack that a top 6 team should have. Tel , Odobert would not get in any other top 6 teams.
November is coming soon and I am concerned about the fixtures coming up
- 1st Nov Chelsea
- 4th Nov Copenhagen
- 8th Nov Man United
- 23rd Nov Woolwich
- 26th Nov PSG
- 29TH Nov Fulham.
So not a nice November for us. We have Monaco next then Everton at the weekend and Newcastle in the cup so hopefully we will get a few wins under our belts and Solanke back in playing before the November fixtures. Big Dom is the key here. We really need him.