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Here is Brian Judson's preview of the game
Read the full preview pack for this game here.
Full Record of Spurs -v- Blackburn Rovers
Prem Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 8 4 1 3 11- 10 13
Away 9 4 1 4 12- 9 13
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Total(Prem) 17 8 2 7 22- 19 26
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Football Lge
Home(Div 1) 24 16 4 4 63- 30 36
Away(Div 1) 24 5 5 14 23- 50 15
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Total(Div 1)48 21 9 18 86- 80 51
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Football Lge
Home(Div 2) 6 5 0 1 22- 8 10
Away(Div 2) 6 2 2 2 9- 7 6
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Total(Div 2)12 7 2 3 31- 15 16
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Total(Prem) 17 8 2 7 22- 19 26
Total(Div 1)48 21 9 18 86- 80 51
Total(Div 2)12 7 2 3 31- 15 16
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Grand Total 77 36 13 28 140-114 93
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And so we come to the end of another transitional season for Tottenham.
For a few months, we were able to delude ourselves that better times were
on the way when we very briefly figured at the top of the table (for 14
days, too!) but all too soon, it all proved to be just another chimera, a
mirage, if you like, in the desert that Tottenham have been becalmed in
since 1984. Occasionally, we have seen signs of life in the corpse but all
too infrequently.
Sunday's game provides us with the chance to say farewell to Sheringham,
Poyet and Freund (even though Freund will probably not play). A pity that
Anderton is not going too. Perhaps Redknapp Senior will try to persuade
him to return to Portsmouth???
There need to be other changes including that of the management.
I don't know who we should go for but it does seem to be clear that Hoddle
can't scratch the surface of our problems. What we need to do is to rip
the current side up and start again from scratch. We all know what the
problems are. One of the most important of those is attitude. The advanced
striker is thee first line of defence. We want to see him harrying the
opposing defenders in the way Alan Smith does.
What we need most of all is a hell of a lot more OFF THE BALL RUNNING.
Blackburn have had a fairly good year since they won the League Cup Final
last spring. They almost qualified for the Final again this year and were
close to qualifying through final position. But manager Graeme Souness
says he has no money to persuade Sukur to stay on and expects to lose Dunn
at some point during the summer.
One player who played for both clubs was big Mike England. England only
left Blackburn because they were relegated at the end of season 1965-66, a
season that was dislocated because of an outbreak of polio in the town on
the even of their first home game (against Tottenham!). But the first six
weeks of their season was dislocated and it affected them from the outset.
They were quickly stranded at the bottom of the table.
England signed for Spurs the day before the season started for £95,000, a
record at the time for a defender. What would Spurs have to pay for
someone of his skills today?
Spurs have never replaced him in the defence. If we had a defender as good
as Mike was, we would see a dramatic drop in the number of goals conceded.
The result doesn't matter on Sunday as there is nothing at stake except
pride. Most people will be listening to reports elsewhere. But I think we
will see an early Spurs goal being cancelled out by a rapid reply from a
Blackburn player and, after that, the game will fizzle out.
Thanks to all of those who have responded to my postings, both those
sending bouquets and those sending brickbats. I try to make my articles
interesting. I still miss going to the Lane but Berkhamsted, who play in
white, share many of the traits that Tottenham labour under and the enemy
from Hemel Hempstead Town play in red!
See you all in August.
Cheers, Brian
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