Hands up all those who were not surprised at the goings on at today’s Leeds game. It really was a microcosm of the weird and wonderful way that Spurs have operated under good old ‘Arry. In no particular order:
· Defoe misses a penalty----it is mystery why, in Keane’s absence, Defoe gets the responsibility of taking penalties. I am yet to see him take an authoritative one and he missed his last one. I see no logic in him taking them, unless everyone else is too inept to do so. I know Modric takes them (I recollect him missing one in the European Championship). What about Kranjcar?
· Keane is brought on so we have three strikers-----I always feel that this move is almost guaranteed to turn the tide against Spurs. Whatever anyone thinks of Keane in his current incarnation, he is not, and never has been, a winger or midfielder. Immediately he arrives to play this role, we are unbalanced and lose our shape. I am yet to see any upside to this tactic, but ‘Arry can’t leave it alone. I can only assume that it is an effort to keep playing Robbie that compels him to do it, but it is all wrong.
· Pavlyuchenko gets a chance and delivers---it must be truly frustrating to be a professional who knows that he can do a job, but never be given a chance.Pavlyuchenko must have felt that he is in the Twilight Zone as he has been watching Robbie get chance after chance, even being played out of position (see above) while he has been watching from the bench. I know that opinion is divided on Pavlyuchenko, but give him some credit, he did well today. The mystery is why, in games like Hull and Liverpool,he never got a chance. Will he get a chance now?
· We can’t finish----today, ESPN has us with 19 shots, 17 on target. That sort of statistic should be consistent with more goals. We need Jimmy Greaves and Gary Lineker to conduct a masterclass on putting these chances away because we seem to be making opposing goalkeepers look like supermen. As I tell the kids that I coach, hit it in the corner.
· We do not know how to kill the game---does the team never watch how other players do it? Taking the ball to the corner anyone?
· I don’t know how Spurs maintains its high level of loyal support----we have to be about the most frustrating team out there. A real tease. An enigma within a puzzle. Are we all masochists? Maybe it should not be a surprise now that we are coached by Harry Houdini!