Another Derby Defeat.....Stop Me If You've Seen It Before.

Win, lose or draw I generally try to leave it at least 24hrs after the end of the match before jotting down my musings on the outcome. This means whatever happens I'm feeling like I'm allowing for a period of reflection and post Wednesday night thats certainly required.

On the face of it what happened was completely predictable. A stereo-typical North London Derby if you like, certainly the ones played at the Emirates. One team was far superior to the other. The lesser team failed to take advantage of the situation they found themselves in half an hour in.  The side with the predeliction for conceding comedy goals in sometimes unfortunate circumstances conceded a comedy goal in unfortunate circumstances and of course followed it up by conceding again almost immediately following two or if your being harsh, three individual errors.

Burgvall Gets Stuck In, Johnson Looks On In Admiration

Despite improving after the break the lesser team failed to have another shot on target after their 25th minute goal but somehow managed to not concede again despite being inferior in just about every part of the pitch. The better team are now 19 points clear after only 21 games.

Its difficult to find any positives to cling to but I'll make an effort. We had a 21 year old keeper making his Premier League debut in goal. He's only played half a season in the Czech league and 95% of what he's done so far has been excellent. We're still missing 4 of the first choice back 5. The one 'firstpick' is for want of another word, fucked, due to being over-played. We have an 18 year old midfielder playing centre back who's had to play in 10 games consecutively. And the left back is the cover for the knackered right back.

Back From Injury. Didnt Score But Not Carried Off Again Either.

The above has hamstrung the manager but with the exception of Bentancur who's been in and out of the team for various reasons all season, the midfield has not had the injury problems of the defence. Trying to find the correct combination in that area has been the problem that has had Ange fluxed all season. The experienced players have struggled, the star of the season Kulusevski is now in a similar physical state to Porro and while Maddisons numbers look good, he looks like he's struggling. At time of writing the 18 year old Bergvall is the first name on the teamsheet in that part of the pitch. 

Up top, we're back to injury City. I think every forward player bar Johnson has missed games through injury. Johnson himself flies between looking the business to looking like a competition winner. Despite this he's the top scorer in the League. Christ knows where we'd be if it had taken two years to sign Harry Kane's replacement and not one year because Solanke has been wonderful but is now physically in the Porro / Kulusevski envelope. For Son, read Maddison. 

The manager himself? Despite what the armchair experts / internet warriors / members of the Redknapp family say he has made and does make a few changes in nearly every game. Usually forced by injury but sometimes tactical. At the end of the day he's a 59 year old man thats got to the position he's in now by doing what he believes in. I wonder what people would think if he suddenly started setting the team up differently because of something Rio Ferdinand said on TNT Sport?

At least I'm starting to get the feeling that more and more of the fanbase are coming around to the same conclusion as I've had for quite a while now. While they can't directly affect what happens during a game the overall responsibility for all of the above stops with the owners. 

I'm going to save everybody including me from another ENIC based rant for the point when Levy decides that he's getting a bit too much grief and sacks the manager, just like he's done time and time again. Its fair to say that in most businesses with such a highly paid CEO if the organisation had had only had one notable achievement after 25 years then the aforementioned CEO would be under pressure, if not already on his way out.

The football calendar just keeps on keeping on and that means a trip to Goodison on Sunday to face Everton now again under the tutalege of David Moyes. This will be Spurs last ever league game at the ground, which is one of the last of the great old stadiums. Can we get a result? Everton have scored just 15 times all season but will surely fancy their chances of at least one goal. Ange said today that Ben Davies will be involved which is encouraging and means that maybe Archie Gray might get a rest? If Spurs can put Wednesday's disappointment behind them and win  the game things will look at lot better because technically that will be three wins in four. A little bit of positivity there but it'll be fingers (and everthing else) crossed this weekend.



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