The Strutting Cockerel - Chest out, Eyes front....Erhmm!
October 2024
Is there such a thing as getting into the groove of things? Does it have a SKU, like any other product? Yes? Put me down for a couple of dozen ... 5 games, 5 wins on the bounce and a right royal tonking of the not so mighty Manure... yeehar! The Strutting Cockerel takes no prisoners!
But lets hold fire....just for a bit (Yes, you know whats coming!)
We started the season with a promising hiss and a roar but finished games with a smacked arse...So whats changed since the September International Break? Well, what's favoured us has been a sequence of games we should have won without too much trouble (he says biting his lip) - But this is Spurs we're talking about! There are signs that momentum and confidence has come drip, drip, dripping back to this squad like the inertia you get from a ketchup bottle once all the sauce has reached the neck. So lets see if we can identify that secret sauce.
Carabao Cup 3rd Round vs Coventry.
Yeah/Nah, probably the least said about this game the better. Coventry have been one of the League's up and coming teams for a couple of years now. Playing relegation off against threats of promotion, their supporters don't really know who they've been watching - but to be fair they ran at Spurs in a way that made you think it could just be their night. Only an impactful Spurs bench and a last ditch covering block by Gentle Ben kept us in it. One thing we learned is that Fraser Forster is a 6ft 6" lump of 4 x 4 (with the rings wide apart!) - not that I haven't espoused this fact before. Thumbs up to 'Dreds' Spence and Johnno for our injury time winner.
Good old Brennan was caught sipping from a half pint of mojo before this game, and like all superstitious forwards has been sipping from the same cup at precisely the same time before the next 5 games....Good on ya mate!
Brentford
Home of West London's most watchable team. And what a start - like a rat out a drainpipe, 4 games running, first goal scored within 2 mins - one day they may actually be able to hold on to that lead for a convincing win - against the Rent Boys/Arse would be good. I have nothing but a tacit admiration for Brentford.
.........That's it - Eureka - now I realise whats changed.......our press is more intense, more direct (if anyone plays basketball you'll know it as a FCP - full court press) and we're hassling teams off the ball when they try and transition forward - competing even - making them commit mistakes....See...? I knew I've seen that somewhere before! Look at Solanke's goal (more on him in a bit..) hassle from Deki - a press from Madders and Dom from the rebound. Then Johnno's goal, Sonny picking pockets in midfield - takes 2 players out with a slide rule pass that he'd earned the right to make - 3 Spurs players in the box to choose from and pop! By then we had our gander up, slipping passes here there and everywhere - game over. Brentford had nothing on us.....
Qarabag - or Carrierbag to the uninitiated! - Europa League
OK , so Drag (the Impaler) paid for his lack of quick well, everything really, pace, thinking, alternatives...! Although leaving Vic to a one on one wouldn't have been too cataclysmic (he's a good shot stopper is old Flapper) nor would going 1-0 down that early - sound familiar?
Righto, so to our first, and Johnno's third in a row. How strong was Solanke to hold off the challenge of 2 Carrierbaggers so he could get his pass off to BJ (!) yes I know - Down Tiger! Just look at the work Mr 65m puts in - he's not shy of making clearances from corners in his own box, laying on a pass and sticking his boot in where it pays dividends - reminds me of a certain HK way back when....We ran the gauntlet a little bit - but not much before the improving PM Sarr half-hit the second from 7yds. And for all his hard work Solanke was presented with a tap-in for good measure. We'll forget Qarabag won a penalty.... because it was just that - forgettable!
Manure
So anyone take a guess how long Mickey van der Ven's legs are? He is like a feral daddy long-legs! Our first, and Johnno's fourth in four, was a lesson in eating up the turf - start and don't stop is the mantra! Cutting through the Utd resistance was like passing everyone queuing for a No.7 bus. Lets not focus on the pundits view of how bad Utd were, let's celebrate Spurs whipping out their 'smacky stick' and applying 3 strikes with gusto! Ooooooohh lovely!
Fernandes - well what can you say? haha, haha haha comes to mind. Now, I really have no beef with the Portuguese. But like a irritating zit that has no right to form on someone's chin a day before a job interview, he had no right to be making that kind of challenge on Madders which was, at best, reckless - spite and retribution had something to do with it ...... there I said it, it was a red (no it wasn't really....). Can I say that game was probably the most complete (riot) performance under Ange since the beginning of last season. Hat's off to Deki and Dom for putting the Devils to the sword.
Ferencvaros - Europa League
Bring on the Kids - I should admit I didn't watch this game - only the extended highlights! Suffice to say the commentator mentioned Mikey Moore's name quite a lot(!) PM Saar slotted a doozy home from 6 yds and Johnno bobbled an 'in-off' for his fifth in succession. Oh! how the social trolls must be feeling now!
Brighton
No, No, No Sod-off, just Sod off!
Just when you think, 'I'm beginning to enjoy this season', you get a right royal kick in the nuts! Know what? That strut has suddenly turned into a rather pathetic limp and I'm feeling very sorry for ourselves....Hoorah for (yet another) International Break!
COYS (I think..)
Richard
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