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All Leagues, EPL, England, Europe, Features, Ian John, Leagues, Regions POSTS

The Season Ahead Part Seventeen : Tottenham Hotspur

Published by Ian John on September 18, 2009

Prospects for 2009 :
Spurs have enjoyed a great start to the campaign, but the wheels came off in predictable fashion against Manchester United, when once again the club took the lead only to allow the Red Devils to come back and give them a good hiding. It was almost as predictable as Robbie Keane being linked with a big money transfer at some point during the season. However while I don’t think Spurs are quite set for the top four just yet, there is every reason to think that under Redknapp and with a vast squad to pick from, they could well have their best season for a long time.

2009 is a big season for :
So many Tottenham players need to have a big 2009 after the disappointment of last season, but one who probably feels this most acutely is Jermaine Defoe. With a World Cup on the horizon and after cruelly missing out on the England squad to play in Germany in 2006, for Sven Goran Erikssons folly in selecting an untried Theo Walcott, Defoe will be desperate to have a season where he proves himself not only of worthy of a place in the squad but maybe even in the England team. Certainly his early season performances for club and country will not have done him any harm on either of those fronts.

Guaranteed to irritate in 2009 :
Bless him, as nice a guy as he is and as up front as he seems to be, there’s something about Harry Redknapp that screams “Cockney Wideboy” at you from the moment you set eyes on him. The fact that it seems a day can’t go by without him trying to buy someone is one thing, but when you’ve treated a club like Portsmouth as badly as you have in the past, then I think contrition may well be in order. Sadly it seems unlikely to be much in evidence, with him bragging on a TV advert for the Daily Mirror that he can’t wait to go back there. I am sure Pompey fans can’t wait either. They’ll get to see half of their team from two years ago playing for Spurs too. There’s that and the fact that they can’t hold a lead against Manchester United, even if their lives depended on it, too.

Things they’ll moan about in 2009 :
I think there’s going to be a whole lot of players not too impressed at the way things have turned out for them at Spurs this season. Given the players Redknapp has brought in and the fact that many players, internationals, cannot even get a place on the bench most weekends, this isn’t conducive to great squad harmony. I think more than a few players will be knocking on Harry’s door come January asking why he was brought to the club in the first place, if all he is going to do is use his posterior to shine the seats in the stands most weekends.

Song that sums up their chances in 2009 : “Harry’s Game” by Clannad
It is indeed a game for Harry, he buys and sells more than Mohammed Al Fayed in his day job and he collects players like a tobacconist with OCD. Still he has brought a stronger edge to Spurs who are a markedly changed side under him not only in terms of personnel, but also attitude and expectation. They won’t be Champions League come the end of the season, but they’ll definitely be in Europe and Harry will be looking to push on and break that seemingly indestructible stranglehold of the top four and if one team is well equipped to do this in the next year or so, then it does look like Tottenham.

Image Courtesy of ***Eamon Curry123*** at Flickr.com