Forget Defoe; Reasons To Be Cheerful, 1-2-3
By: Robert Reed | February 4th, 2013
OK. Time to turn that frown upside down.
Much has been said, certainly by myself, about our failure to buy the striker required to give us a bare minimum of cover up front. Now, in the light of Defoe’s injury and the implications thereof be they a two week or two month lay off; the knowledge that the worst has already happened has brought with it for me a strange tranquility.
Nothing can be done now; it is too late so I am not going to mope about with a face like the proverbial, harping on about grim predictability and the short sightedness of the ownership. Instead I will smile and look on the bright side; like a shell shock victim whose foot has been blown off but is nonetheless happy with his new paperweight.
So, carrying on in that mindset of warmth and contentment; that Gareth Bale, he’s playing a bit well isn’t he?
At times an organised defence can make him disappear from games, and guile is something he needs to work on. At other times though he does fit that much overused description of being unplayable.
No footballer in the history of the game has ever gone through a whole match being unplayable, but the very best have those flashes where even though the opposition know exactly what the player is trying to do and have time to react, there is still nothing at all they can do about it; the guy is just too good. Bale has those moments.
As fantastic and as uplifting as those moments are, I’m surely not alone in having them tainted with a slight feeling of dread. I have visions of foreign managers pressing pause on the remote control and picking up the phone to their chairman.
Yes Gareth is certainly our great white hope and in the last two fixtures he has turned one point into four points on his own. While we have the young Welsh lad in this form we will always stand a chance of achieving what we all want to achieve.
We do all want the same thing after all; Champions League qualification. From those deluded enough to think Daniel Levy is infallible, to those paranoid enough to think he deliberately wants us to fail, and all those inbetween; we are of a like mind broadly speaking. Everyone is a supporter, whatever their viewpoint.
So therefore let us celebrate being one point away from third place. It may be a draw at Norwich and a 0-1 win against a ten man West Brom side which got us there but we are there nonetheless.
Continuing in this optimistic vein; as Togo lost their quarter final Adebayor will be back from the AFCON tournament tomorrow. Yes he has been abysmal this season, but the circumstances of this situation may help his form.
He will return as the main man in Tottenham’s attack. The notion of strolling into White Hart Lane like Clint Eastwood and single handedly taking the attacking role by the scruff of the neck may well appeal to him. He is after all a big, tough guy with an incredibly fragile ego who I believe needs to feel indispensable and important.
During the tournament he only scored one goal; he is far from prolific as we know, but his presence up front scared the life out of the Ivory Coast team by all accounts and that is what we need. He will score the odd goal, but as we saw last season he can really bring the best out of our midfield when he is on form. He can be the focal point of the team.
Another plus point for us could be the fixture list. We have a game against Newcastle next Saturday at home, and then a double header against Lyon for us all to enjoy. I want us to do well in the Europa League, but as the Premiership is such a priority I see these as no pressure games and a win-win situation. We go through and it is good for morale, we go out and we can concentrate solely on the league. Magic.
Our only other game this month is against West Ham, and then we play Arsenal at the start of March in a game which should hopefully see Younes Kaboul at least on the bench.
So, nil desperandum (as long as Bale stays fit).
COYS!
Follow me on Twitter (not compulsory) @RobertReedUK
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Comments | Add your comment
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Erm haven’tvwe got Newcastle net then west ham.. think Ade mite come gd on his own up front..
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Yes, Newcastle next then West Ham after Lyon. Indeed we all have to hope Ade does the business.
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Good article overall, but u have been a bit harsh on Ade, he was injured at the start of the season then found himself behind Defoe in the pecking order. The same position Defoe found himself in last season. Our best run of games did come Ade played up with Defoe. Ade can make our season lets hope he does
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I’ll have whatever you are drinking!
COYS! -
Agree with Adam, abysmal is a too harsh on Ade.
Now that the anti-Gallas brigade has gone somewhat quite, It appears that it is now Adebayor’s turn to be made a scapegoat amongst the Tottenham ‘faithful’.
Call me silly, but is anyone noticing a pattern here?
Yes, thats it! Ex Arsenal players players being treated differently based upon the fact they once played for our nearest rivals.
I mean, can anybody tell me when they last heard the famous ‘yido’ chant being sung ,in unison, in the direction of either Gallas or Adebayor, irrespective of their form or performances?
Indeed, Lewis Holtby who has only donned the lily-white shirt TWICE, has already had the honour bestowed upon him, as he has been welcomed into the Spurs family with open arms.
Now, people can say what they like about Ade this season, but last term he was outstanding in his contribution to the teams 4th place finish.
Did he miss chances? Yes. Did his form dip at different times throughout the last campaign? Yes. But what COULDN’T be questioned was his commitment/desire to helping the team achieve its goals. I had never known the player to work so hard!
What SOME Spurs fans have to understand is how their OWN actions contribute to the performances of both the team, and individual players.
If Spurs fans/supporters want to see the best out of a player like Adebayor, they are going to HAVE to SUPPORT, ENCOURAGE and LEARN TO LOVE HIM just like they do with most of the other players in the team/squad.
Sing a (complimentary) song for him, applaud his efforts, greet his moments of inspiration with the chant Yido, yido, yido, and I can ASSURE you that the Togolese hitman WILL pay you back with improved displays.
Adebayor is a player that performs best, when he feels both loved and appreciated. ‘Arry’ knew this, and more importantly- knew how to do this, which meant that the Redknapp/Adebayor partneship was ALWAYS going to be a match made in heaven.
‘Arry’ was a master of the ‘love inn. Its one of his biggest strengths as a manager, and to be fair his had plenty of opportunity to harness/hone this skill, with Di Canio, Berkovic and Merson being just a few of the temperamental talents to have played under his tutelage.
AVB on the other hand, for all his good qualities, is still relatively new/inexperienced when it comes to management/ man-management, as was so apparent during his ill-fated stint as Chelsea manager. Getting the best out of a player that has had a history of being somewhat difficult to manage, is STILL a box Villas- Boas has yet to tick…..
This is where WE can help, by filling in for the recently sacked Redknapp and giving Ade the kind of encouragement in which he thrives!!!
It is no coincidence, after all, that upon returning to the national team, where he is not ONLY Captain, but adored by a nation, Ade lead his largely unheralded team to a quarter-final, with a string of impressive performances.
LEARN TO LOVE ADE AND HE WILL LEARN TO LOVE YOU BACK!!!!
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@Ramos43.
I disagree about AVB not getting the best out of players. He’s gotten the best out of Lennon, Defoe, and Dawson. The players all like and respect him (as far as we know) whereas Redknapp severely hurt players like Lennon and Defoe. I think he just got a bad batch of players at Chelsea that refused to change what they were doing.
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No Ramos Ade has been bloody awful this season. Last year he was in the shop window, aware that he would be touted around Europe by his agent in the summer so little wonder you’ve never known the player to work so hard. I’ve seen none of that this season except in the Arsenal game for obvious reasons, and then he got himself sent off leaving us to get hammered 5-2.
Committed players who put in the effort make fans love them, fans don’t love players to make them committed and put in the effort.
He fell out with Harry at the end of last season and he has fallen out with the Togo coach. He doesn’t need love, he loves himself more than enough. I want him to come back and do what we pay him £100k a week for because it’s his job.
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Adebayor is a complete waste of space. You lot might think he is gonna come good but mark my words he will be as shit as ever when he comes back.
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PLEASE MY LOVELY SPURS FANS WE DONT HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING STUPID ABOUT OUR PLAYERS, YES ADEBAYOR HAS NOT LIVE UP TO EXPECTATION AS COMPARE TO LAST SEASON AND I HAVE A STRONG FEELING THAT AFTER HE RETURN FROM THE AFCON HE IS GOING TO BE THE ADEBAYOR WE KNOW LAST SEASON IF NOT BETTER BE PATIENTS PLEASE, GOD BLESS OUR LOVELY SPURS AND MAY WE ACHEIVE OUR GOALS THIS SEASON. GREETINGS TO ALL SPURS FANS FROM A DIE HARD SPURS FAN IN GHANA (FACEBOOK-zubi zalyata) TOTTENHAM TILL MY LAST BREATH. COYS
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@americanspur If you read CLOSELY you will have seen that I said:’Getting the best out of a player that has had a HISTORY of being somewhat DIFFICULT TO MANAGE, is STILL a box Villas- Boas has yet to tick…..
As far as I am aware Lennon, Dawson and Defoe have NEVER been perceived as ‘difficult’ to manage.
However the Chelsea dressing, Van Der Vaart and Adebayor all have.
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@Robert reed Glad to see your not in the least bit cynical there mate.
Ade has not been AWFUL in my opinion, although he is yet to consistently replicate the form that made him such a handful for the oppositions defence to handle last season.That being said, he could very well have bagged himself 5-7 goals this season if not for a combination of bad luck and bad finishing. Confidence affects us All my friend, and should score one upon his return to Spurs I’m sure we will see him embark on a run of ‘good form’.
Different players are MOTIVATED by different things. It is my belief that if you want CERTAIN individuals to give their ALL, consciously/sub-consciously, than encouragement and support is a form of doing that.
After all, you should know, YOU TEND TO GO THAT EXTRA MILE FOR THE ONES YOU LOVE!!!
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@Ramos I was trying to refute your argument that Redknapp was “the master”. Which I don’t believe to be true because he alienated players like defoe and lennon and never got the best out of them.
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Ramos, I am nothing if not a cynic!
I am painfully aware of the precarious situation we find ourselves in. Two solitary moments of Bale magic and one spitting player are all that have made the difference between fourth place and seventh place with Liverpool breathing down our necks.
Not buying or at least loaning a striker has put us in potential jeopardy sooner than the most pessimistic Spurs fan could have anticipated; so I am all for buttering up Adebayor. I’m sure (I hope) he will be cheered to the rooftops by the desperate Spurs fans, but because that is just what you should do for every player. If he wants to actually be loved he has to earn it.
These reports I’m reading that he feels physically exhausted are unsettling. It’s not like he has played any more games than he would have in the Premiership. I just think he is the kind of character that, in our hour of need, will not even with all the love in the world run himself into the ground for us if it didn’t benefit him. I can see his attitude being, ‘I am tired, you can’t expect me to over exert myself.’
He may go the extra mile for the ones he loves (Togo), but will he go the extra mile for the ones who just pay his wages? I certainly hope so, but there is no real evidence of it so far in his career.
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