Don't say this to Harry's face, but the "Wheeler and Dealer" springs yet another surprise, much
to the delight of the Spurs faithful. On deadline day, despite Redknapp's claims to the contrary,
he ended up completing a magnificent piece of business. Or did he? Given the system often used by
Redknapp and the plethora of midfielders (especially Central Midfielders) already at his disposal,
was the signing of Rafael Van der Vaart really necessary?
What a disappointing day Saturday was. Don't get me wrong, The Hawthorns is a very hard place to
go and the draw isn't what made the game such a let down, it was the performance and formation.
As far as Spurs go this was back to the old Spurs except we managed to sneak the draw in the end
instead of conceding a late winner, although we did our best to give one to them.
With apologies for the tardiness – this missive is penned from a NYC-to-DC coach, as the
all-action holiday in America continues.
Thus began the glorious new era. Designed with a view to travelling to the San Siro and such
places, and chastened by the Young Boys plastic pitch experience, ‘Arry unveiled his brand
spanking new and eagerly-awaited 4-4-1-1 away formation, and I found myself anticipating it in
the same excited manner with which I used to look forward to the launch of a new away kit, as a
nipper.
Even observing from across the Atlantic, AANP is well aware of the worrying signs that, for all
the cheer and merriment created by our Champions League qualification, our heroes are doing a
dashed good impression of a pack of mutts who have bitten off more than they can chew. I'm not
quite sure how tiredness can be a factor so early in the season, particularly as many of the
players had an international break, but there has been a sluggishness to our recent league form,
and the forthcoming glut of CL games is unlikely to freshen up any of our heroes.
Take that, Champions League. Cagey away teams? Ten men behind the ball? Sheer gubbins, cried the
merry men of White Hart Lane. We did it the Tottenham way, and while some will probably berate
‘Arry for not adopting a more conservative approach, particularly when two goals ahead, I
revelled almost drunkenly in our insistence upon flying forward at every given opportunity.
I'd forgotten about these: let's give 'em a go. I was
thinking of fitting an electric touch pad at the bottom of the stairs which causes a tape of the
Champions' League music to play very loudly in the Master Bedroom. I tentatively suggested this to
Mrs.JimmyG2 and it is now fitted to the front gate and plays instead in the garage.
Admittedly a wish-lit of things I would like to see this afternoon ought to include an end to
world poverty and the like, but with the disclaimer that I focus the following thoughts on
goings-on at N17, pray go ahead and dig in to things I would like to see around 3pm British Summer
Time...
1.
As if a flight across time-zones was not discombobulating enough, I found myself stepping off
the plane to be greeted by the news that Alan Hutton had scored for us, while Jermaine Jenas had
put in a decent performance and Robbie Keane had started -all of which left me wondering whether I
had flown into a new space-time continuum rather than simply across continents.
A good bourbon. Terminator 2 with surround sound. Scantily clad nubile young women
prancing around AANP Towers. Just a selection of some of the finer things in life, which get the
juices flowing here at AANP Towers, and to this exalted list can be added an evening kick-off at
home to l'Arse.
