Thieving Magpies

Well, British Summer Time is here and don’t the Spurs players just know it ??  All that was missing today were a few deckchairs and some sun-tan lotion as the players basked in the spring sunshine and the glory of their League Cup win.

But hold on ... that was five weeks ago and is now approaching ancient history.

With the side sat in mid-table and being relatively safe because of the paucity of quality at the very bottom of the table, Spurs players probably think they are safe; even though they have not yet reached 40 points.

Safe from relegation they may be (although I will feel better when we have six more points in the bag), but safe from Juande Ramos’ axe they are most certainly not.  The Spaniard will be scrutinising every player’s move between now and the end of the season to see if there is anything in their make up that can benefit his plans for taking the club forward.  There is no doubt that some players will be imported during the summer and talk of “sweat camps” and end of season friendlies should send a message to the players that doesn’t require a mobile phone.

Newcastle United have been struggling this season, but the Tottenham team managed to make them look like world beaters in the second half of this match.  I am grateful we were not playing Derby as they might have added their second victory of the campaign to that over the Toon.

The first half was as open as a game could be with both teams fielding three forwards each.  But it was Beye that hit the bar when presented with the ball in the box by the benevolent Jonathan Woodgate.  Then Robinson recovered a bit of his reputation (although maybe not soon enough for Ramos to keep him), as he dived to his left to stop Barton’s low shot. 

When Tottenham went forward, they looked threatening, as has been the pattern this season.  Keane dragged a shot across the face of goal and Berbatov fired over with a lot of bodies between him and the net.  Bent put a weak shot at Harper after being put through, but when Steed Malbranque put in a steepling cross, it was the £16 million man who rose to nod a towering header past the keeper to give Tottenham the lead.

It looked like that was it then.  It was just a question of how many.  Not, as someone on the radio phone-ins said, that Tottenham shut up shop.  If that was the case, it would be akin to inviting looters to queue up in an orderly fashion while opportunities to rifle through the defence came along.
Dawson’s faintly ridiculous push on Martins (how did the Newcastle man win headers against him for most of the game ?) gave Geremi the opportunity to fire the ball through (I think) the wall and past the keeper.

Mark Viduka’s leave put Michael Owen in with the chance of bending the ball round Robinson.  No chance of the Englandstriker picking up an injury this year, as there was barely a tackle worthy of the name going in from players in a plain white shirt.

In comparison, Newcastle were getting after the Tottenham players with vigour.  Sensing that they would not get a better chance to pick up an easy three points, the Tooners closed Spurs players down, put in challenges that an under-10 should hold off and came out with the ball.

In the end they didn’t even have to do that.  Substitute Adel Taarabt came on probably with the words of the coaches ringing in his ears to go out and run at the opposition.  He might have taken them at their word, as he bumped into black and white shirts and lost the ball, but then, with seven minutes to go, he received the ball halfway in Newcastle half and passed it square … straight to a United player.  Two passes later, the ball was in front of Martins, who turned Tainio and then the ball was behind Robinson.

One defeat does not make Spurs a poor side, but it is the form since the win over Chelsea at Wembley that is worrying.  They bucked up to get a point against Chelsea, beat a Portsmouth side without a few of their first-choice players and who came to WHL for a draw, overcame a poor West Ham team reduced to ten men for half the game and have since lost to Manchester City, Birmingham City and lost to PSV at home, looking a shadow of themselves.

The new formation failed to work and when Ramos decided to change it, his choice of Aaron Lennon on the left wing was not the best for the team nor the player he had criticised for his lack of end product.  Why put him on his bad foot ? 

The Head Coach might have been trying things out for the future, but with some of the teams behind us catching up and the gap between us and West Ham United in tenth not narrowing, Spurs fans want to see them competing in every game.  Don’t forget, an extra place up the table earns £500,000, which is surely an inducement for the board if not the players.

There was a bad start to the season, but that is now even further in the distance than the League Cup win.  Things need to be put in a positive frame of mind going into the summer, otherwise, it might be tough if Tottenham want to persuade top players to come to a bottom half of the table team.
“Can We Play You Every Week ?” begged the Toon Army. 

I am hopeful that Ramos will ensure that nobody wants to do that, but he has a job and a half on his hands unless the players wake up and smell the vitriol from the fans.