Is it just me or does it feel like this end of March international break has gone on forever. Never fear though, there’s only a few sleeps left until Tottenham Hotspur make the trip up to St James’ Park to face Steve Bruce’s battling Newcastle United side.
Unless I’ve missed something during my little Vital Spurs hiatus as I’m not a huge international fan, short of maybe some tiredness I don’t believe any players will return worse for wear and that should give us a decent chance to make it back to back Premier League wins again after yet another recent wobble in our form and performance levels that also saw us booted out of the Europa League.
Manager Jose Mourinho will be unable to call on Ben Davies, but we’ll have to see what the later injury update says when it comes to Son Heung-Min, Matt Doherty and Sergio Reguilon. Erik Lamela will return following suspension.
17th placed Newcastle might not have won in their last five, but they are keeping their heads above the drain and have proven tricky for plenty of sides this year, even if they aren’t exactly potent or that threatening on the attack.
As ever though, this is the sort of side that on paper we know we are capable of blowing away, yet we all season long it’s the kind of game that has been our Achilles heel and we’ve struggled to perform in.
All eyes to Sunday as we can still end what was once a promising 2020/21 campaign on a high and with something to cheer about.
WW/TK …. Wow, I’ve just realised that we are all 74 years of age on this site. We’re almost grown ups! : – )
BS …. The ‘lot’ that you said ‘won nothing’, did in fact win the admiration and respect of global football supporters and the media because of the style and entertainment value of the football they played. That should never be underestimated.
Geof, I agree with your reply to BS. Winning isn’t only for cups. Even if they’re D sized cups. A decent life is a bigger win than a Nobel Prize. Winning with ugly play is still something ugly.
Looks like we don’t have to start a Spurs Geezers site. This is it.
By the way, Geof, my maternal grandrather was born in Australia, In Hobart, Tasmania, in 1884—of all the out of the way places. But to him the rest of the world was the out of the way. He ended up eventually in London which is where my mum was born and how I got to be here, I guess. I started bouncing back and forth across the North Atlantic in 1950, and added bouncing back and forth from the North Atlantic to the South Atlantic quite a few years later.
Wentworth. Praises to your Grandad.
I have been a busker in my time… On the streets of London, Edinburgh, here and there, and from Paris, all the way down to St Tropez!
BS and jod. What is it with this word “pretty” that you both choose to use when referring to how I and others like to see the game being played? I have never asked for the football I watch to be pretty… I’ m not a fan of pretty.
In fact I have explained many times exactly how I personally see football as being good football.
And yet I am always completely ignored with this for some reason…
My idea of football is a very simple one. And it’s nothing out of the ordinary at all.
I’m just asking for good football to be played by good footballers… And good footballers can do good things. Spurs have some very good footballers. And I’ve seen them do good things. They can do good things… It’s not a revelation!
I don’t like shit football… Is this somehow weird?!
There are others on here presenting similar sentiments to those you are expressing here.
And in case no one has noticed. Spurs have played a lot of shit football in the past couple of years.
And even if the good football didn’t win us anything. I’d also like to point out that shit football ain’t won us anything either.
Jesus! Why do so many football supporters choose to analyse everything to death!
We either like what we see, or we don’t. We accept what we see or we don’t. It’s not that difficult a concept!
I liked Poch. I don’t like JM! Simple!
I say we have a good squad. Others disagree. Nothing complex at all………
I want Jose fired now! Simple!
not anything here with which to disagree.
And if we are talking apples… I know a bit about apples. And I know that in England alone, there are effin thousands of different varieties of ’em! 😉
So when we compare apples to apples, (As TK pointed out) we really should know a liitle more about our apples.
It’s like comparing all humans and saying we are all the exact same beast………. We are not.
Olá HT,
We are becoming alter egos, it seems on this page of this thread.
By the way, I’ve spoken many times of beautiful football as opposed to ugly football of the kind we see so often with Mourinho managing, but I haven’t spoken of pretty football. I don’t like football when it has too many flicks and rabonas, and fancy dan for its own sake. That’s what I think of when I hear of pretty football. It sound silly.I don’t like playing to the video makers. I like flow and good passes and movement and intelligent defense and a sense of space and position. I like drawing opponents out of the space where thy ought to be. I like taking intelligent chances. I like it when players coordinate and anticipate one another. That’s beautiful.
I always thought that calling football the beautiful game made sense. As in Peles use of this phrase.
It has so much of a different meaning to the word pretty.
I see it as being football that gives us joy. Enjoyable football. In every aspect. From tough defending to sweetly made moves to well taken goals. A well oiled sporting machine. confident and bold. Athletes giving it their all and to the best of their ability.. This is a beautiful thing. A thing of beauty.
I could go on waxing lyrical but I won’t…
Pretty is like a delicate little flower in bloom. Not like a 50/50 full on meaty challenge or an elbow to the face or a kick to the shin. It is not Harry Kane scoring stunners from outside the box. Or Son running the length of the pitch, evading tackles to eventually, neatly place the ball past the keeper into the back of the net. This is not what I would call pretty. Young girls with flowers in their hair are what is pretty. Grown men or women sweating, pounding the turf, bouncing off each other, huffing, puffing, grunting and groaning and shouting at each other. And kicking the shit out of a muddy football ain’t pretty. Even gently caressing the ball with the instep to guide it perfectly to where it’s wanted, is not a pretty thing in itself. It doesn’t come wrapped up with a bright pink ribbon!
Attractive football is not pretty football either. It looks good but I wouldn’t say that it is pretty.It’s attractive because it’s positive, powerful, varied, clever and it just looks good on the eye. And not ugly because it is bad and negative, boring, tactically inept and not so good on the eye..
This is nothing controversial here. It’s what football fans the world over have been paying to see in their millions, for the past 150 years or so.
Blah blah blah…………
… AND
As with some football supporters. I don’t think Jose gets it!
Niall – I agree with most of what you said in your last post. I can certainly accept that JM mauy not be the man to take us forward. I was just pointing out that turning Spurs around is a tough job at this point, and that I don’t believe any manager would find it easy in the current circumstances, providing some context for JM’s struggles.
Geof – let me know when they start handing out medals for respect and admiration… Not to completely dismiss it, but I doubt any of the current Spurs squad will look back on their time at Spurs and be fulfilled by the fact that fans and media were quite complimentary of their performance for a period of about 3 years…
As for the fans, the older Spurs fans remember the sixties fondly not because Spurs were talked up by the media back then (I am guessing they were), but because they actually won titles. Somehow saying respect and admiration are anything more than a pale consolation prize is clutching at straws.
HT – the issue with your post is that your definition of “good” football is very personal and it means nothing to others. It’s a very subjective, approximative definition which will invariably be subject to personal interpretation. For me, football can’t be good if it’s not winning football. Ergo, I struggle to call the football under MP “good” football, on the whole.
I won’t get into the semantics of arguing the difference between pretty and beautiful – again, your sensitivity with both words will be hugely personal, and mostly unrelatable for others.
In fact, you can swap out the word “pretty” for “beautiful” or “attractive” in my previous post, and the point I was making would remain unchanged, as far as I meant it.
That’s just odd, BS.
Most football fans, pundits and observers throughout time, will know, recognise and understand good football when they see it. Regardless of score-lines, trophies not won etc………
So, is my definition of how I view the game wrong? No one can tell me that and be right. As you say, it’s a personal thing.
But the point I keep making is that you and jod are always putting words into my mouth and ignoring what I actually have said a thousand times on here.
HT- I think you are focusing too much on the word “pretty” and the connotation it has for you, rather than the point others are trying to make.
We can all appreciate attractive/free flowing/choose your word (I chose pretty, without meaning anything negative by it) football for what it’s worth. It has entertainment value, no doubt. But the point we keep making, is that no matter how good the football, if it isn’t winning football leading to titles, well it isn’t going to be completely fulfilling to us, even if it is paramount for you.
For some reason, you are either disregarding that point yourself, or at the very least, failing to acknowledge it because you personally disagree with it..
Pundits can say what they like about how well we used to play under MP, they’ll always condition that with “but Spurs still haven’t won anything recently”. All the while, they’ll praise title winners even more, regardless of the football played.
For example, when pundits talk up JM’s titles at Chelsea in 05/06, they’re not doing so because the football was spectacular or attractive, they’re doing so because it was dominant, regardless of how easy or hard it was on the eye.
We’re not saying your way of viewing football is wrong, we’re just saying it’s not a universal truth, valid for all fans. I wish you could do the same.