The Lennon Catch Up Supplement

lennon leading the way

I feel a bit like the economically struggling stepdad who makes promises to his unfortunate son, only to find himself in the pub rather than the playground. The thing to do here I guess as some kind of consolation is to write a digest of all the action that I’ve managed to miss writing up and with the benefit of hindsight, and offer a little depth in the action of the past few weeks.

The first point to make is that despite have a great empathy I feel for the ice truckers (as seen on TV), who find themselves riding gung-ho over sheets of ice to deliver their cargo, its a strong (and often repeated) point, that if you’d have asked the majority of the fans whether they’d take a top four spot heading into 2010 chances are, most would scoff that the squad we had was full of individual talent, but were seemingly pieces of jigsaw puzzles that much to the chagrin of anyone seemed to be completely incompatible. Much faith was put into Modric seemingly the only player in a shape-shifting squad that displayed any particular consistency of note. Redknapp’s work since then has lit fires underneath players who had been seen to have major potential, but the inability to actually achieve dramatic progress over their years at the club. Specific players that can attribute their resurgence to Redknapp’s and the team’s coaching are; Daws, Benoit, the Hudd and Lennon. Whilst Dawson and Lennon had always provided certain elements of their ability, the other two had always been seen as simply stop-gaps between bringing in someone with real ability in these positions. Whether Redknapp is able to coax similar improvement out of Bale and the other notable youth prospects in the club is another challenge which you wouldn’t put past him. For this very reason Taarabt’s petulance and suspected departure could very well be his undoing, as he could potentially have a part to play on a greater stage than championship or the lower echelon spanish football he seems to crave.

His insistence to leave is seemingly a remnant of the old ways that in my eyes are exactly that. If we can get Tom Huddlestone playing in England form, then surely it’s only a matter of time before Taarabt would learn when to pass the ball offering that dimension to his game that he sorely lacked in his impressive but fleeting cameo appearances.

Nonetheless we seem to be on a fulcrum of sorts; there are many who would seem to suggest that our forth spot is merely a result of circumstances that were out of our control falling into place, (such as the sploradic form of Aston Villa, the ‘groundhog day ‘draws for Manchester City and Liverpool’s less than fortunate start to the season). However there seems to be a feeling around the club that would suggest that the players are sensing that improvement will continue over the end season and results permitting lead us to a place in the top four; moreover not necessarily the fourth spot. As a fan who’s seen every game this season and last, a continual improvement in performance will have to be seen to be believed, (as with everything as a spurs fan!) But there are clues that would seem to suggest that we’re heading that way. The first of which is notably that we’re 3rd in the scoring ranks this season, only behind the Arsenal and Chelsea. The second and more recently apparent element would be that following last season’s defensive record being smashed, the back four and  Gomes have managed to get back into good habits by keeping 3 clean sheets in a row thus far. In recent matches watching Dawson has been something like watching a tightrope walker, throwing himself into 50/50 tackles with full commitment and leading the line. The thing is he seems to be converting these 50/50s into 100%ers with dramatic style, and notably has been championed by his mentor Ledley for a wild card as a world cup selection. I certainly know who I would rather trust out of John Terry and Dawson in a world cup semi-final. Unequivocal trust in JT at the world cup to me seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

Behind the apparent scenes of player improvement and the grinding of positive (but unfortunate) results at Aston Villa, Fulham and even the capitulation at Everton (a draw at Goodison Park is as good as anyone in the league, even with the notable absences of key players), behind the scenes the club has seemingly gone into overdrive, especially regarding the new stadium project which in a climate of failing development bids is seemingly the only development that is looking likely to go forward. Along with this the club has developed strong commercial links with Internacional in Brazil, (a massive hub of talent), South China and notably are now rumored to be seeking a partnership with Dinamo Zagreb, which would certainly solidify the position of our strong Croatian contingent within the side. This is something that I feel has brought a lot of the balance to the side, and with moves mooted for Stipe Pletikosa and Dejan Lovren, (along with the possibility of Sandro), on the cards it can be said that the long term future of the club is seemingly the priority despite the high expectations of our squad this season.

All of this seems to make the Wolves result disappear from the collective consciousness of the spurs fan. It’s great to know that in a climate of clubs that seemingly find themselves at grips with debt and simply surviving on a year by year basis by financing their loans that we’re a club with the ability to plan ahead in such a way; a move that can only really end in more successes for the club. I for one prefer this approach to the sharp injections that have reanimated Manchester City this season into the league’s Frankenstein’s monster; which ultimately is as fruitless as a cheating on Football Manager. This can be seen in Chelsea today who’s fans are either old guard who find themselves surrounded with a fan base made up entirely of opportunists  or those who have been enticed by the flashy image that is offered through the knock-on effect of turning a football club into a billionaire’s game of Subbuteo.

In a way we can thank Joe Lewis’ hands of approach for maintaining a sense of history at the club along with Daniel Levy’s current run of form as a chairman par excellence.

On the whole I’ve always wondered whether champions league success this season would ultimately be healthy for the club; as we’ve all seen what happened with Everton upon qualifying. It’s at that point where the true challenge begins after all. The increased capital and exposure that the club would receive would only really benefit the club in the long term as behind the scenes we find ourselves growing stronger by the year; and with other clubs really feeling the pinch at the moment now is the time to capitalize in order to solidify the future plans that are currently in action.

An FA Cup win this year too wouldn’t be too bad either…

Speaking of which, next up we’ve got Peterborough and with recent comments attributed to Ledley King suggesting that we’ve got two squads that are capable of making headway in the competitions that we face; we could be seeing a few not so familiar faces at the weekend in what is now seen as a game that the idea of losing is preposterous at best.

PS: To stave off the threat of inactivity in the future I may decide to post more short succinct entries during the week to keep things ticking over and to let you guys know all the insider information at the time. Keep an eye on the Spurs Community ITK feed on the right hand side of the page for some good transfer gossip from people brave enough to suggest that they are ‘In The Know’, (whilst keeping in mind that the majority of this tittle tattle is more or less as reliable as what you’ll read on yesterday’s chip paper). Still, it’s not a transfer window without us being linked to 10 people or more is it?

PPS: Get Lennon a plush new contract before someone makes us an offer we can’t refuse!