What had started out as quite a promising campaign has definitely turned into a topsy turvy year for Tottenham Hotspur, and this week has been no different as we backed up a poor performance against Arsenal in the North London Derby defeat with a quite incredible performance that saw Dinamo Zagreb fight back from a two goal deficit to unceremoniously dump us out of this season’s Europa League competition.
Opinions amongst Spurs fans have always been torn when it comes to manager Jose Mourinho and this last week has done nothing to temper those thoughts, and it probably feels even more frustrating as ahead of Arsenal it looked like we were again playing ourselves into some good, attacking form and leaving the more defensive and pragmatic approach behind us.
We will be missing Erik Lamela after his sending off, and Son Heung-Min continues to be out. In other potentially good news, there’s mixed talk about Jack Grealish returning so he might miss out for them, but in any event, we know we have the firepower to take all three points, it just again comes down to how we play and, well, how we play.
The question that no one can bet on ahead of a match this season.
Hot tottingham,
I think you’re right that Yeats was writing about the futility of rebellion, and I’m clearly aligned with rebellion. LOL. Indeed, I was a political prisoner in a federal prison at one time. But I was focused on an alternative interpretation. Poetry, after all, leaves the poet once the words are on the sheet of paper (on on the screen these days). the center does not hold in my usage was not the center of the hold of the old religion, but being the center of control of one’s own life and circumstances. If a Bale or a Torrres or a Kane leave to become the center of a bigger world, they may find that the center does not hold. All flies into unexpected tangents, and the love one expects as the center of attention (if you’re on the biggest contract you expect to be on the biggest adoration) isn’t there. The center becomes something different. what guarantee is there for a Bale or Torres or Kane that when they are in a different world, that the center will hold. And herein lies the rub of expectations–when we use an allusion to the works of others–especially a work that has a multiiplicity of possibe interpretations including those in the history of the original writer, we don’t know which aspect of the allusion is the one that a reader will find.
I once gave a lecture in which I referred to the hymn Amazing Grace, only to have someone tell me in anger that the composer of the hymn had been a slave trader, bringing slaves from Africa to America, if I remember the details correctly. I had in mind the composer’s later life in which he converted to becoming an abolitionist–thus the words I Once Was Lost But Now I’m Found. But both interpretations of the allusion are possible. Metaphors and other tropes–the business of poetry, after all–are a tricky business.
But can you imagine? A site dedicated to football talk has been a site discussing poetry, and we’ve found out we have a pubished poet in our midst, as well as a group who are poetry literate I’m happy to have this deeper understanding of who we are who have been writing back and forth for all these years.
If you love football, you love a physical poetry. The rhythm, the flow, the integration of the rhyme, climaxes and surprises of turn. The joys and frustrations and confusions, the tactical decisions, the frustrations of the editors who interrupt the play, the conveyance of victory in defeat and defeat in victory. the changes of style of time. The interplay of actor and audience. The arguments about what it all means.
It was pure poetry on the pitch for two or three years under MP … and we still won zilch! Watcha gotta do to grab a trophy?
VS is very different to most football related sites.. going by TK numerous philosophical and poetic posts. Brings some culture that we may have missed or forgotten over the mists of time. With various responses by HT and others adds to this.
HT & Niall.. yes I did mean that an HK10 transfer could well be cash & player (s) as clubs don’t have the cash now, Real Madrid who has been the biggest club in the world is now struggling with income sources.. What I did notice was spurs annual wages to income is 57% and £100m less than other top PL clubs. THFC made a first financial loss since 2012 is due to levy’s business model for our club. Which positions us to see substantial income from outside of football over the next few years and… beyond! (thanks to buzz light year for that 🙂
Geoff… yes we have had some good chances to win silverware.. with poch we had 2 LC finals, couple of cup semi finals… one 2nd place PL one 3rd… and a CL final. The fact we won nothing is down to the players 90% on the pitch and poch 10% tactical plans. So clearly we have had mental frailties or “bottle” / spursy performances which gives us ridicule from other clubs fans, and media outlets. As this is still happening, with jose it leaves the only course to rectify this malaise is… rebuilding the squad again…
I think there is a touch of international break syndrome at play here! lol
Talking of internationals…….England’s U21’s have been disppointing losing to both Switzerland and Portugal, three of ours started in the latter with Ryan Sessegnon being subbed off after 55 minutes. 10, or even 5 years ago, losing to Switzerland would have been unthinkable at any level so it just goes to show how much smaller nations have progressed while we seem to be going backwards.
Are we getting it right by playing our best young players like Bellingham in the senior squad or should we be playing them all together in the U21’s giving us an arguably stronger squad that might actually win tournaments and (at the same time) develop a bond for future senior roles
By the way…..I agree with block 108, I don’t have a problem with a bit of culture being introduced when we have breaks in the football schedule. 🙂
I agree. There’s not much else happening anyway until the next match thread.
“On me ‘ead Shelley”!
“Sod off Byron, this one’s for me”
Greavsie was poetry in motion! :- )
I wonder how many PL defenders have Browning in their underpants at the thought of facing HK10 and Sonny? :- )
Gooners are red
Spurs’ Lily-white
Poch was a star
George Graham was shite!
HT 100% m8,
I only quoted Yates because of the current situation and the line
A world more full of weeping than we can understand.
Just with this COVID the world is a very sad place.
Agreed B 108
There a quite a few tips, particularly musical that I have gotten from this site, never mind quotes and programmes.
B 108
Agreed a squad rebuild is defo needed, for me there are many issues.
Do get JM to rebuild the squad (I hope not)
Who is going to remain to build the team around, will Kane/Sonny /Lloris say or go.
Who would want the players we want rid of and how much will we get for em.
Will Mr Levy “hardball” tactics in transfers actually be a negative.
My ideal would be for Kane et Al to stay.
Sell on the 6 or so players listed by WW earlier, for decent money. Not monopoly money.
Bring in 3 really good players in their stead +Sess and Skipp.
Just make our squad more compact but better as a “spring board” to build over the next few years.
Niall D, we also need to ensure that our other future “stars” are given proper opportunities to play. Not 45 seconds like offered to Scarlett once. They should not just be sat on the bench getting cold. Which young players can be worse than Winks, Davies, Bergweijn, Doherty (none of these would even get near the bench of most top ten Prem teams.)
100% agreed WW, there is something wrong with our scouting and buying of quality players, + the integration of players into the “main squad” even if it is to put them into the shop window.
I do however think that this season where we would normally “blood” young players in the EL, or FA Cup I think the need for a trophy and indeed some DODGEY Euro results stopped us from getting some young blood out there.
But let’s get the likes of Sabitzer, Milik, Aarons and Skrinar or similar
Kessie, Gonzalez, even lure Ake away from City with the lure of more regular football.
There are those out there that even the likes of me can see. I’m sure there are others in youre own list WW to bring on get rid and bring in, if we can see it, why can’t someone on a very good pay roll.
Regardless of whether we win anything this season or finish top 4, surely the lure of playing in one of the top clubs in Europe should suffice to bring in top names.
It’s not as if we’re Brighton or Newcastle. (no disrespect) and whilst we Havnt won anything lately we have (sort of) been in the mix at the pointy end of the season in the last decade or so…
Niall…….I’ve been more impressed by Denis Sakaria (spelling?) who plays alongside Kessie in much the same role, either would be a big upgrade on Sissoko.
Amidst ll this poetry talk, can someone please update me – has Jose been fired yet?
Doncaster….sadly no. Levy will hang on until it gets too hot in the kitchen. Then he will yield the axe. Unfortunately, Levy will have to eat humble pie. Mad, panic decision to get a dinosaur will come back to bite him in the bum. This could take us several seasons to take us back to comfortable top 4 and attract quality players. Who would come to Spurs when Kane and Son leave n the summer? Maybe a group of bargain buys?
DH …. Yes, several times! : – )
DH
Re all the poetry
The Portuguese Knob still has his job.
When Harry comes back Jose won’t have the sack
Levey can’t see no reason ’till end of the season
So no matter how much you pray
Jose will stay.
Boom boom.
TQ
As I said we can all. “equally” identify players to fit the creative mid field role m8.
But we ain’t in the hot seat, unfortunately those who are don’t appear to be very good at it. Currently.
Remember when we sold Bale and used the money to buy several players and we were told it was equivalent to replacing Elvis with the Beatles? The Beatles turned out to be Roberto Soldado, Eric Lamela, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches, Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, and Christian Eriksen, if I remember correctly. Wasn’t it Mourinho’s protegé, Andre Villas-Boas, who brought in these “Beatles”? Basically, Eriksen and Lamela and a bunch largely deserving to be forgotten. Two wonderful rabonas over eight years and a man who thought he would be a star in Italy but has been more like the next Etienne Capoue there. Actually, Capoue has played much more that Eriksen has since going to Italy.
Now let’s imagine from this history what we might buy with HK10 money if he goes. A couple of players who might hint at something pretty good, but let us down in the end and a group whose names will fade before the leave us.
Now, there’s some grist for some tragic poetry, or a least an early Dylan song before he moved to Maggie’s Farm.
I trust DL to buy a brewery and put it in a football stadium, but to buy players who are supposed to be john, paul, george, and ringo? not so much. Has there been a bigger waste of a large pile of cash by someone other than a politician buying military hardware?
What we got with the Bale cash was subtraction by addition. Cash out, disappointment in. If a contest were held for the worst use of a big bag of money in the history of football clubs, my vote would go to how the Bale money was spent.