Match Report; Palace & Villa (Premier), City (League Cup), Galatasaray (Europa) & Ipswich (league). Plus my prediction for the City game. And my thoughts on Ange and Levy.
You just know it: After being beaten by somebody struggling at the wrong end of the table (Palace), we then get City in the Cup, knock them out, overwhelm and beat Villa (at least in the second half…) it is going to be what it has always been for the last twenty odd years … and that is why we are called “Spursy.”
Of course, when I wrote that little opener, we hadn’t played Galatasaray or Ipswich yet… now we have. Both games were disasters. We got beaten in Turkey because Ange thought he would put out a young side, underestimating our opponents and paying the price for it. Then we travelled back home to meet Ipswich (who sit in the relegation zone and hasn’t won a game this season), we get humiliated… and the cycle of madness continues…
Tottenham have shown everybody that we have the ability to be in the top four and compete with the best; however, we are playing in fits and starts. When we played Brighton, we overwhelmed them in the first half but flopped in the second. Against Palace, we flopped in both halves. Against Villa, we struggled in the first half but were brilliant in the second. Against City, we were excellent… that is against an injury-hit team. Galatasaray could have scored 10 against us if their goals went in; as for Ipswich… I said that we could go out and beat the likes of City and Villa but get disgraced against somebody who is anybody struggling in or near the relegation zone. Same old, same old.
Ange said he must take responsibility. We don’t care what he takes; it needs fixing. We, the supporters, are getting sick and tired of excuses. We’ve been getting them for over 20 years, ever since Levy took charge.
Let us start with Palace…
Against Palace, it was the sort of performance that you called “Spursy”? After a fine win over the Hammering Spammers the previous weekend, we were expecting to build some momentum and push closer to the top four… but we are Spurs… which means fuck that idea… instead, we become the first team to be beaten by an out-of-form Palace, who outfought us for much of the 90 minutes. Before this encounter, Palace had only been in front for 37 minutes this season and were the league’s lowest scorers.
Despite having 66% of the ball in the first half, Henderson was largely untroubled as the manager and supporters looked on.
The influence of injured Son was massively missed in a Spurs attack that looked disjointed.
As captain for the day, Maddison lasted just 62 minutes at Selhurst Park in a game in which our side lacked leadership and drive on the pitch. We surrendered to our third away loss in five.
So… people were apprehensive about our game against City in the Cup. I wasn’t… I thought we would win, and win we did. I also predicted the score would be 2-1… and it was.
League Cup: Spurs 2 City 1
We have a quest… and so does Ange Postecoglou—to end our trophy drought, something we’ve been trying to do for donkey’s years and will continue no doubt until I die, hell freezes over, or Daniel Levy leaves. Our victory over Manchester City booked a Carabao Cup quarter-final with Manchester United.
I don’t know if it helps, but Ange recently stated that he always wins silverware in his second season. Let us hope he doesn’t get an egg on his face. Winning the league this season is a distant dream. However, we are still in the Europa League, the League Cup… and in January, we will be in the FA Cup third round.
Timo Werner, who had a mixed evening, scored his first goal of the season with an emphatic finish five minutes before Pape Sarr doubled our advantage 20 minutes later with a superb low-footed finish from 25 yards.
It didn’t go all that well that night for us as Micky Van de Ven suffered a setback when he received a hamstring injury in the 14th minute, and City set up a tense second half when Matheus Nunes pulled one back in the fourth minute of first-half added time.
City keeper Stefan Ortega kept his side in the contest with fine saves from Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison, while Werner fired wide when clean through before limping off with a groin muscle injury.
Yves Bissouma made a superb block on the line from Nico O’Reilly’s effort as the city’s side suffered their first defeat of the season (it’s their second now, a couple of days later they were beaten by Bournemouth). The same weekend, Arsenic and Old Lace were also beaten… by Newcastle United.
We will now host another Manchester side in United on the 19th of December (Thursday).
Spurs 4 Villa 1
Villa had only been beaten once this season… that is until they met us. Now, they are in double figures. As for us… we are two points behind Arsenic, Chelski, and Villa… three points behind third-placed Forest. We won’t bother – for the moment – with the Bin Dippers and the sky-blue city dummies.
Dominic Solanke scored twice as we came from behind to beat sticky Villa-toffee in the Premier League. He doubled his league goal tally for the season with two goals in four second-half minutes as we climbed to seventh in the table.
Solanke put us ahead with a delightful first by lifting the ball over the onrushing Emiliano Martinez from Dejan Kulusevski’s pass before Richarlison picked out his team-mate to slot in and put a late fightback beyond Villa.
However, what is part of our “Spursy” strategy, we allowed Morgan Rogers to give Villa the lead with the game’s first shot on target after 32 minutes, profiting after we failed to deal with Lucas Digne’s corner.
Villa’s good work was undone within four minutes of the restart when Brennan Johnson met Son’s cross from the left, transforming the atmosphere as our fans roared like lions.
Substitute Maddison then added a fourth with a free-kick deep in stoppage time as we repeated our 4-1 win from a goal behind against the spamming hammers in our previous home league game.
That victory ensured we reduced the gap to the top four following last week’s loss at Palace. Fourth-placed Arsenic was two points ahead, as fifth-placed Villa missed the chance to go third.
Next up, we travelled to Turkey and then back to old Blighty and Ipswich… who, no doubt, will give us trouble as they struggle near the bottom of the league. Nevertheless, we are at home and have a good record… only being beaten by the Arsenic sniffers.
Galatasaray 3 Spurs 2.
Our trip to Turkey was a good one, apart from the football.
We stayed in a hotel near the stadium, and despite being told we had to go to a designated place to catch coaches (which we didn’t), then we wouldn’t be allowed in the stadium, we still made our own way there under our own steam anyway (“we,” as in Mel, myself, Janet and Sue); upon arriving, we went through three lots of security checks and then to our seats. We weren’t in the usual away end as we applied for Category A tickets, which means we sat in the neutral area with the Turkish fans. Everything was fine.
Some say the home fans were intimidating. I enjoyed the atmosphere, which I thought was reminiscent of a circus, not a hostile environment.
The game started well… we kicked the ball… then downhill from then onwards.
Victor Osimhen scored twice as Galatasaray inflicted our first Europa League defeat of the season on a 10-man team.
Our young forward Will Lankshear was dismissed for two yellow cards on the hour mark, having earlier scored his first senior goal for the club in only his second start.
However, by this stage, they should have been out of sight, and the final scoreline barely reflects an encounter dominated by our opponents.
Despite the result, we remain well placed to qualify from the group stage, with nine points from four games, although the Turkish league leaders have now leapfrogged above us in the table. To be fair, no matter how we wish things to be, it always comes down to us being “Spursy.”
Thoughts…
Our attempts to play out from the back and our shambolic defending ensured we endured a trying evening in a destination notorious for its hostile atmosphere; nevertheless, if we want to play against the big boys, we should be professional enough to overcome anything. Otherwise, it won’t be surprising that we are dejected.
Before the game, we met a few Spurs fans who didn’t want to get back on the predesignated coaches and wanted to come back with us (as they were staying in the same hotel), which they did. Once back, we sat and relaxed in the bar; those fans were the parents of Brennon Johnson, Bergvall, and our young goalkeeper, Austin. David Johnson (Brennan’s father) was telling us about his playing days—playing for Ipswich and Forest—about how they instilled their ethics into their young son, and about signing for Tottenham and Ange.
The three days we spent in Istanbul weren’t a disaster because of the result. Apart from enjoying the company of the players’ parents, we did a bit of sightseeing: the Blue Mosque, markets, watching the people walk by and get on with their lives, etc., and trying out the local cuisine.
We arrived on Wednesday and left for home on Friday. A couple of days later, we made our way to Tottenham on the Sunday… where we hoped to thrash relegation strugglers and end up with an extra three points and third place. But we are Spurs, and nothing ends as we wish it to. Oh, no! Reality saw us get kicked in the balls and made a laughing stock once again. We just can’t help ourselves.
I did predict a 5-0 win…, but with a caveat: Which Spurs will turn up? It definitely wasn’t the one we all hoped for and dreamed of… but the Spursy one.
Yes… Ipswich beat us 2-1 to celebrate their first win of the season – and their first in the Premier League in 22 years.
Ipswich did enough to clinch all three points and move out of the bottom three at the expense of Crystal Palace. Sam Szmodics steered an overhead kick beyond Guglielmo Vicario to give them the lead. They doubled their lead when Liam Delap bundled in just over 10 minutes later.
At this point, our fans started booing and screaming all sorts of abuse at the players and manager.
We did score with a Dominic Solanke goal, but that effort was ruled out for handball. However, Rodrigo Bentancur did score, and this time it counted. He gave us hope with 21 minutes left, heading home from a Pedro Porro corner. But it wasn’t good enough. Eventually, the referee blew his whistle for a two-week break. We left dejected once again.
In the ground and outside, more anger and abuse were directed at Levy, Ange, and the team…
What more can I say? It was dire. Total shit football. Granted, Ange said he would take the blame, and rightly so… but taking the blame isn’t going to solve anything, and I can’t see any changes this side of the January Transfer window. In fact, I can’t see any changes on the other side of the transfer window either. We are going to struggle to make the top four, and as for winning a trophy… if it is anything like I’ve seen so far, we are going to end this season with nothing. I do hope I am wrong, and there is a mighty spiritual intervention… such as Bill Nicholson coming down from the heavens and taking over or Daniel Levy deciding to pack it all in and relinquish control to someone who gives a shit… someone who puts his head above the entertainment hub that Levy has created to make millions for those that pull the strings. I suppose anything is possible…. If a fire-breathing Donald can become the most powerful person in the world, then so can Tottenham (not a man, but a fire-breathing team that wins trophies); we dream, wake up and live the nightmare over again and again, realising that we’ve entered the Twilight zone… a Twilight zone under Levy’s making.
Paraphrasing the opening words of the Twilight Zone TV series: You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of Daniel’s mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into… the Twilight Zone. Yes, fuck the football; it is about profit and Spurs just being part of a global money-making exercise (not a trophy-making exercise), and in that Levy has achieved his goal.
No doubt, after the international break, we Spur supporters will shrug our shoulders, cross our fingers, and pray that things will be different next time… they never are… but there is always next season to dream about.
As for Ange and will he last…
The fans have been crying out on social media for him to go (even in the stadium). Personally, I can’t see that… Levy can’t afford to sack him as the finger will be pointed at him as the main problem… He has sacked so many people that he has built a swing door in his office.
The criticism of Ange is that he doesn’t change his system or leaves it too late to make alterations, and by then, it is normally over.
Granted, we need a stronger squad and players who can play his system. The trouble is that other teams are happy to play and use us to get their three points. Years ago, Chelski used to call us “Three Points Lane,” and now others have started using that phrase for their own benefit.
Even though the fans have been calling for Levy’s and Ange’s heads, I don’t know how long we can continue in this manner. Something has to give. There are rumours that there are buyers in the wings for Tottenham. If that is so, I hope that they will use the club as a springboard to create a great team (with or without Ange).
Next up is Manchester City.
After the fiasco against our up-and-down approach, it wouldn’t surprise me if we went out and won against City, beat Roma, and then lost to either Fulham or Bournemouth or both, and then the cycle starts all over again. But so long as we keep turning up and the board are making a profit… then well done… it has all been worth it.
My score for City will be 1-2 to us. But I don’t say that with enthusiasm.
Up the Spurs and enjoy our two-week break!
Glenn
My name is Glenn Renshaw.
I am currently a Premium Season Ticket holder (West Stand) in the new stadium. Before that – at White Hart Lane – a season ticket holder in various parts of the ground (mainly in the North stand).
Before becoming a season ticket holder, I stood on the shelf and various other parts of the ground since the 1950s. In 1987 I became one of the first to hold a Spurs Membership card. I was also a life long member of the Spurs supporters club (now defunct).
I go to all home, away and abroad matches.
I was born in 1955, Edgware, London (it was in the late 50s – as a baby – that my dad took me to Spurs to initiate me). I currently live in Berkshire.
I also collect all Spurs books (and have everyone printed), Spurs handbooks (from 1920s onwards, Spurs programmes (since the 40s).
Previously, I wrote for Spurs Fanzines: The Spur, Spur of the Moment, My Eyes have seen the Glory and various other Spurs fanzines’. I also wrote for the SpursWeb app & its website.
I currently write and work for spursnetwork.com and its website. I write its Reviews & Match reports and a lot more.
My other interests are; reading, history, social history, Politics, going to the gym, wine, going out for a meal, music (all sorts), writing, theatre, concerts, holidays, socialising etc.
I have been writing blogs/ articles since 1989
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