Tottenham Hotpur Half-Term Report: Get Parker Fit, Sell Gallas & AVB Can Guide Us To The Top Four
What's going right?
The transition from Redknapp to Villas-Boas and the steadily silencing of the critics. The attacking football has been sublime at times and the signings all look to be finding their feet after shaky starts. It was a difficult summer full of negative press and doubt cast at our door, but we're showing what we're made of and Daniel Levy's ambitions look close to being met.
What's not?
The injury list influencing the season and my mood way more than it should be doing. It's an easy excuse, but the likes of Younes Kaboul, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Scott Parker have missed the majority of the season thus far, and we'll be much stronger going in to the Christmas period should they regain fitness in the coming weeks.
Got the right manager?
Of course, I was virtually lobbying for Andre in the summer and I'm ecstatic that we actually got him. I've said this from the start, but he's got to be given time from the fans and board alike, and backed just as wilfully. He's the perfect man for the club, and he's one or two top signings away from really proving the press-agenda against him wrong.
Star player?
There hasn't really been one in my opinion, the ethos under AVB is that we play as a complete team, and a handful of players have taken it in turn to put in outstanding performances. Between them; Mousa Dembele, Jermain Defoe, Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Hugo Lloris, Sandro, Jan Vertonghen, Steven Caulker and Tom Carroll have all been the players to impress the most.
Who would you like to sell in January?
William Gallas hopefully; he's been a shadow of his former self this season and he's been directly responsible for more goals than anybody else. Saying that, if we're going to compete on every front like the manager seems to want us to, it might be an idea keeping him around as a squad player.
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Who do you want to sign?
We need a player who can effectively cover both wings when either Lennon or Bale are missing, and a decent understudy at left-back wouldn't go amiss either; neither Vertonghen nor Naughton seems entirely comfortable when having to play out there. The elusive 'complete forward' will be heavily rumoured; names like Llorente and Damiao are likely to raise their heads again. The Moutinho and Willian saga's are likely to be rekindled too, although I wouldn't say no to either.
Best chant so far?
Our chanting has come under threat of some laughable legal attack this season, so the defiant "we're Tottenham Hotspur, we'll sing what we want" has proven its point. Candidly telling Man City fans that we'd seen their mothers on Shameless also raised a chuckle. In all honestly; I'm still a tad bitter my chant for Gylfi Sigurdsson to the tune of Sally Cinnamon by the Stone Roses hasn't taken off, but if "whoop whoop, that's the sound of the Lloris, whoop whoop another save from the beast" takes its place, I'll be more than happy.
Best opposition player / team you've seen this season?
Juan Mata looked like he was on a completely different level when we played Chelsea at home earlier on this season, absolutely unplayable at times. That front four that Chelsea have acquired are wonderful to see when on song, Torres aside, either one of Hazard, Oscar or Mata has the ability to single-handedly turn a game on its head. Terrifying when effective.
Biggest c*nt of the season
The tabloid press have actually outdone themselves this season. The names of John Cross at The Mirror and Paul Jiggins of The Sun spring to mind. Cross famously tweeted that Levy was "UP THERE WITH THE VENKY'S" when he sacked his close media friend Harry Redknapp, and after AVB dicked him in a press conference after an inflammatory question regarding goalkeeper selection, Jiggins retaliated with a baseless hatchet job the following weekend along the lines of player mutiny within the club - to which they all immediately called nonsense. There's a certain Peter Herbert too; but he can kiss my yid arse.
End of season prediction
It all honestly depends on how heavily we invest in January and the quality of those signings too; and hopefully injuries don't resonate as heavily as they have done this early on in the season. The pipe dream would be Champions League football and a cup; but anything positive would be good enough for me this season. We capitulated fairly spectacularly in the second half of last season, so anything less embarrassing than that would be nice. As always; I'd naturally swap that all in a second to finish above Arsenal.
