The article below shows how the media are beginning to change their view of Spurs. Quite a change from the start of the season when we were all told to expect a big challenge from Liverpool and only Alan Shearer gave Spurs any chance of making the top four. Another couple of wins and we will be told how they all thought Spurs would be up there all along. Perhaps they should look in on not606, we could have given them a more realistic picture from the start of the season. Oi! media! try and keep up. _______________________________________________________________________ Regal Spurs look born to the purple after quelling Fulham rebellion Tottenham survived a battering at Craven Cottage and have an inviting run of games to come as they close on the top four Richard Williams at Craven Cottage guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 November 2011 20.24 GMT "A bit hectic," Brad Friedel said, which must have been the understatement of the year. The Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper was accepting the man‑of‑the‑match award at the end of a second half in which Fulham put their visitors on the rack and were deprived of a point only by an extended display of surely the most desperate defending the Premier League will see all season. One almost feared for Harry Redknapp, watching on television in his south-coast mansion while recuperating from emergency surgery to clear his arteries. Even the stoutest Tottenham heart would have experienced palpitations during a second half in which the home side had no fewer than 23 attempts on goal, 13 of them on target, while managing to profit only from an own-goal. Was it heroic defending or daylight robbery? Fulham were justifiably incensed when Kyle Walker went to ground in the second minute of added time and appeared to grab the ball as Clint Dempsey's close‑range shot rebounded off Friedel. The officials noticed nothing. "I felt that Walker at one stage was the goalkeeper," Martin Jol said. It was just one in a catalogue of incidents that made the five minutes of stoppage time as eventful as some entire matches. Immediately preceded by an incident at the other end in which Steve Sidwell went unpunished for barging Scott Parker off the ball as the Spurs man dribbled into the Fulham penalty area, it included a clearance off the line by Luka Modric and the classic sucker-punch goal from Jermain Defoe that sealed the result. If the two unrewarded penalty claims cancelled each other out, then so did the two halves. Spurs' domination of the first period may not have been as statistically conclusive as Fulham's display after the interval but it contained two fine goals and showed the benefit of being able to make 11 changes from the team that started against Rubin Kazan during the long trip to Tatarstan in midweek. Defoe, in fact, was the only player involved in both matches, playing all 90 minutesin Kazan but less than half an hour on Sunday after coming on for Rafael van der Vaart. The result, however fortuitous to west London eyes, extended Tottenham's unbeaten run in the Premier League to eight matches, seven of them victories. Only high-flying Newcastle United, held to a draw at St James' Park, have denied them all three points since that 5-1 home defeat at the hands of Manchester City on 28 August. So they stand level with Chelsea on 22 points, with a slightly inferior goal difference but holding a game in hand. In an unusually volatile Premier League season the chance of repeating the fourth place of 2009-10, and the place in the Champions League qualifying round that went with it, seems within their scope. The 3-1 victory over Queens Park Rangers last weekend inspired observers to rhapsodise over the interplay between the members of the first-choice front five: Modric, Van der Vaart, Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Emmanuel Adebayor, anchored by Scott Parker. After surviving a scare in the second minute, when Parker intercepted John Arne Riise's cross and Friedel brilliantly parried Sidwell's near-post header from the resulting corner, Spurs slipped into high gear and it was no real surprise when they took the lead in the 10th minute through Bale. The second goal, 35 minutes later, was more a picturesque example of the current Tottenham, Bale cleverly touching Benoît Assou-Ekotto's pass on to Lennon and the little winger, who had switched to the left flank, beating Chris Baird with a bravura dash and holding off the challenge of Zoltan Grygera before shooting past Mark Schwarzer. At that stage Tottenham were well worth their lead, particularly since Parker had been shaken up when taking Sidwell's elbow in his face in the 19th minute. Despite having his nose rearranged, Parker recovered his poise and went on to play a vital role as his side resisted Fulham's second-half siege. Fabio Capello can only have been impressed by the performance of a player who arguably has a better claim than Frank Lampard to be wearing the captain's armband when England play Spain on Saturday. Capello will also have been watching Walker, whose unnoticed handball was just about the only blemish on an energetic display. The 21-year-old right-back and his team-mates certainly rode their luck as Fulham's forwards bore down in waves but the success of their resistance will have delighted Redknapp. When the domestic programme resumes after the international break, Tottenham face Aston Villa at home, West Bromwich Albion away, Bolton Wanderers at home, Stoke City away and Sunderland at home. By the time they entertain Chelsea three days before Christmas, they could be in even better shape.
In a way I like Spurs being the underdog that not much is expected of, the other thing a top side has to learn to deal with is the pressure and expectancy of winning games and trophies. What a difference a year has made for Citeh in that respect, lets see how they handle it.
I don't think that we're the underdog very often any more, Notso. If this run continues much longer, then we certainly won't be. Teams are scared of us now. The team sheet is intimidating to most fans. If everyone's fit, then seeing a front six of Bale, Parker, Modric, Lennon, van der Vaart and Adebayor is bad enough, but Kranjcar, Sandro, Defoe and the like on the bench is horrible. We're not up there with the two Manchester sides yet and Chelsea still have that aura and the players to back it up, for the most part, but we're on the next level. Arsenal are there with us, but I'm not sure who else is.
ATM Newcastle are there but the next three games should sort them out: Saturday, 19 November 2011 Barclays Premier League Man City v Newcastle, 15:00 Saturday, 26 November 2011 Barclays Premier League Man Utd v Newcastle, 15:00 Saturday, 3 December 2011 Barclays Premier League Newcastle v Chelsea, 12:45 If they get anything from those three then they will have to be taken seriously.
Hopefully those games will put them back in their box, although I am finding them quite refreshing, the more mixing up of the top 6 that happens the better in my opinion.
PNP - "I don't think that we're the underdog very often any more, Notso."...nor do I, and I agree with what you say, but the media still prefer to portray us as such, which is less pressure, City go into all games as favourites now, which is kind of what I meant. Spurf - they also lose Tiote in Jan, I've not seen them cope without him yet, Taylor and Coloccini are still the same defenders that got relegated, but have had decent protection from him, and they may have improved from playing together a while. I thought we exposed them, just couldn't see the game out. Like you quite rightly say, we'll see how they venture against decent opposition.
I'd agree with most of that. Bugger what the media thinks, it's what the opposition thinks, that counts. We are much more feared now, than before. Although, there is still a perception in some quarters that we can be bullied - hopefully we're slowly dispelling that. We still lack the killer instinct of say, UTD. We tend to get a lead, and then sit back & invite pressure on ourselves with sloppy passing, etc. Whereas, when a team like UTD has you on the rack, they don't let up. That is something we have to learn if we want to compete regularly with the real big boys.
The best way to judge our rise to prominence in the EPL is to see the effect it is having on the old guard, 'Pool, Arsenal, and now Chelsea. It can be no coincidence that their demise is as prominent as our rise.
I do enjoy looking at Liverpool team sheets and knowing that only one of their 1st XI would get in to ours, their goalkeeper.
He's a nasty piece of work, but I'd have Suarez without a doubt. Our scouts cocked up big-time, there.
Not really, given he'd be vying with VDV for his place in the team and, frankly, I doubt 'Arry would pick the diving racist cannibal. Coincidentally, Diving Racist Cannibal is a great name for a band...
Yes, I concede, as I've already said, that he's nasty bastard. BUT he's a natural goalscorer. I'd have him like a shot.
Yes, I can remember pre season when Sky were advertising the new season, they had pictures of players (from their Sky 5) from Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and unbelievably Liverpool on their front pages and on their TV ads. Spurs were not even considered worthy of such treatment, even though they were CL QF`s the season before. Predictably they chose to use Liverpool instead, and how silly they look now, Liverpool are only marginally better than last season and Spurs are far better. Wouldnt expect anything less from Sky.
Yet our Ledley has made him look like a Uruguayan goat herder...twice! Personally, I'm glad he never set foot in our place.
Liverpool got it wrong in the last transfer window. Henderson, Adams and Carroll just aren't the quality Spurs, Arsenal, and, so far, Newcastle can play--though Henderson might be eventually, and Pool still has another transfer window to try to undo their mistakes. We'll know more about Newcastle pretty soon. I'm not completely convinced by Arsenal of late either. Their midfield is good. But I think their good run is more the result of Van Persie's fantastic form than anything else, and he's liable at least to cool off, and if the past is any guide, get injured. They also have a history of being a fair weather team, unable to deal with poor conditions later in the season. Though that was true of Spurs last season as well, to be fair, adding Parker and Ade should help.
