April shower

There has been apathy on and off the pitch regarding Spurs this month. On the pitch, we endured a terrible game and performance in a 0-0 draw at Turf Moor, and even worse at home to Aston Villa, against whom we lost for the first time since 2008. Both teams were, and still are fighting the relegation battle, whilst Spurs finally had to face reality and give up on the dream of Champions League football.

Ironically, in the same month, Manchester City, who started April still in the hunt for the Premier League title, lost both to Cystal Palace and Manchester United. Had Spurs done their job against Burnley and Villa, the top four might still have been in reach.

The performances of a number of Spurs players at Turf Moor and at home to Villa suggested that they were already "on the beach". Certainly, according to feedback I have received from many fans, apathy is now prevalent amongst the following, who are being asked to renew their season tickets before the end of the season, in mid-May.

Pundits have asked where would Spurs have been without the goals of Harry Kane, and fans are getting excited with none of Kane's team-mates, save Hugo Lloris, who returned from injury for the Southampton game, and ran Eric Dier close for man of the match, perhaps just for "being there".

Kane reached the 30 goal landmark for the season in all competitions at Newcastle, and that made it 20 league goals for the season. Harry was nominated for both the PFA Player of the season and Young Player of the season awards. He won the Young Player vote, but had to settle for second behind Chelsea's Eden Hazard, who continues to drive his club towards another Premier League title, which will probably be sealed this week-end.

European football is still highly likely, but the Europa League is not enough to satisfy a lot of Spurs fans, and not exactly sought enthusiastically by Mauricio Pochettino. Compare that attitude to that of Southampton fans, for whom European football has been a rare part of their diet, last featuring in the 2003-04 season.

The assessment of Spurs Odyssey voters has been that April has seen our worst monthly performance not only of the season, but since March last year. Similarly, Pochettino's grades have been the worst since I've been keeping such records. That includes Pochettino's three immediate predecessors.

Even choosing a player of the month is difficult for April. For Harry Kane, apart from that goal at Newcastle, the goals have dried up somewhat. Hugo Lloris beat everyone with his one appearance and a grade of 6.8. Jan Vertonghen played at Newcastle and Southampton and averaged 6.45. Perhaps Danny Rose, who played three games and averaged 6.43, deserves credit. Most of those who played were simply below par.

Unsurprisingly, Lloris and Kane lead the way for our Player of the season. I suspect that Harry will win the club members' vote, but Lloris is going to take some shifting off the top of our tree!

Let's hope for a good end of the season and fifth or sixth place! (If we finish seventh and Arsenal lose the FA Cup Final to Villa, we miss out on Europe. Some would be happy about that)

Don't forget to check out the players' current figures re. appearances, cards, goals scored and accumulated ratings to date below.

...if you want to read reports of the matches played during this season, then links are on the Spurs Odyssey Fixtures/Reports page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review the performances over 14 years!