Spurs say goodbye to a Galactico and become mere mortals
After a successful August in which Spurs won all four of their games, without conceding a goal, and eight of the squad had scored 7 or more out of 10 on the Spursometer the team became mere mortals in their defeat at The Emirates, with one honourable exception.
That one exception was Hugo Lloris, who was our player of the month for August (August form guide to be published asap), and who was by far the Spurs man of the match against the old enemy. Hugo has been in great form, and like the departed Gareth Bale, can be regarded as a "Galactico". Such is Lloris's reputation, status and distinction as a goalkeeper. That is not just my opinion, but clearly that of the Spurs fanbase. Let's hope we don't suffer another continental raid next year, eh?
Lloris got his highest mark of the young season with an 8.4 on Sunday, and averages over 8 out of 10 for the 4 of our 5 games he has played. he truly did stand head and shoulders above all his team-mates at The Emirates. Next in line as far as getting some credit is concerned, was "roookie" Andros Townsend, who declared yesterday that he was pleased not have an interest in the transfer deadline, other than to watch Jim White getting orgasmic on Sky Sports News with the rest of us.
Everyone knows that the North London Derby came too early for our new boys, and we are not the only team to have come unstuck in an early crucial fixture, with Manchester United also losing 1-0 at Anfield. United and Chelsea also failed to impress last week in their quite dull 0-0.
The fixtures computer has thrown up other early Derby matches, with United due to face City away before the end of the month. We will also face Chelsea at White Hart lane on September 28th. Of course a conspiracy theorist might suggest that Sky colluded with the Premier League to get some of those big games early on, knowing they were going to trump BT Sports by using a high proportion of their first picks in the first batch of TV dates, which, after all do run to November.
I am not a conspiracy theorist though!
Whether you were a Spurs fan at The Emirates, or watching at home or in the pub, I know it is so difficult to handle defeat in one of our most important matches of the season. It doesn't help having two weeks to mull over that, but time is a great healer they say, and I am sure that our team, including our new boys will give us a great season. I am even prepared to bet that we will finish above Arsenal come May 11th.
One Mesut Ozil does not equal seven top class signings for Spurs.
· See this week's spursometer in full.
Results 31.08-01.09.13
Man City 2-0 Hull
Cardiff 0-0 Everton
Newcastle 1-0 Fulham
Norwich 1-0 S'hampton
West Ham 0-1 Stoke
C. Palace 3-1 S'derland
Liverpool 1-0 Man Utd
West Brom 0-2 Swansea
Arsenal 1-0 Spurs
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Liverpool 3 3 0 0 3-0 3 9
2. Chelsea 3 2 1 0 4-1 3 7
3. Man City 3 2 0 1 8-3 5 6
4. Arsenal 3 2 0 1 5-4 1 6
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5. Stoke 3 2 0 1 3-2 1 6
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6. Spurs 3 2 0 1 2-1 1 6
7. Man Utd 3 1 1 1 4-2 2 4
8. West Ham 3 1 1 1 2-1 1 4
9. Norwich 3 1 1 1 3-3 0 4
10. S'hampton 3 1 1 1 2-2 0 4
11. Cardiff 3 1 1 1 3-4 -1 4
12. Newcastle 3 1 1 1 1-4 -3 4
13. A. Villa 3 1 0 2 4-4 0 3
14. C. Palace 3 1 0 2 4-4 0 3
15. Everton 3 0 3 0 2-2 0 3
16. Swansea 3 1 0 2 3-5 -2 3
17. Fulham 3 1 0 2 2-4 -2 3
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18. Hull 3 1 0 2 1-4 -3 3
19. S'derland 3 0 1 2 2-5 -3 1
20. West Brom 3 0 1 2 0-3 -3 1
