A razor. A functioning alarm clock. Root canal surgery. A job.
There are some things in life which you’d rather not have either because of what they do or the hassle they cause you. This is part of life, sometimes you just have to have a bit of what ails you to make things easy or so you don’t end up as some sort of tardy social outcast with a huge beard, bad teeth and no money.
It would appear that Spurs have never quite got the hang of this concept. The club has a proud tradition of flair, creativity, panache and élan with some of British football’s most thrilling stars having peddled their wares in the N17 area. Thoughts of Greaves, Hoddle, Waddle and Ginola spill through the mind with enough tricks and magic to make Derren Brown look like, well, an annoying beardy con-man. Add to that the numerous circus players that Spurs have feted with lightning feet, step-overs galore but as much end product as a constipated anorexic.
What Tottenham haven’t got to grips with for a long while is that for all these diaphanous fancy Dans to be able to flit about like ballerinas, there has to be someone to do the unglamorous dirty work. It’s like a comedy duo; the straight man and the funny one, the former a foil for the latter. Every Zidane needs his Deschamps, every Lampard his Makelele, every Gerrard his Mascherano and every Modric his Zokora.
Ah, did you spot the odd one out?
This is Spurs perennial Achilles’ heel, an obsession with flair that is lop-sided and reductive. The bigger picture is ignored, the talented players are unable to flair up and the fans despair at the failure of yet another starlet who seemed so talented at their previous club. What could have changed?
Step forward Wilson Palacios. An abundance of drive, work-rate, strength, guts and passion which can act as a snowplough for the dainty skates of messrs Modric, Lennon and Bentley. ‘To let the opposition know they’ve been in a game’ – that was Harry Redknapp’s reason for bringing Palacios in and the Honduran can hopefully allow his team-mates to actually play in a game.
Palacios’ remit will be to inspire those around him, to bring out the fighting side of players who have shown little or no resolve during increasingly tough times for Spurs.
If he can do this and allow the genuine skill and creativity of the current crop of talent to flourish, Spurs will have no problem at all in surviving another season in the Premiership. After that, who knows what might happen? Spurs might even sign a decent left-winger…
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