Hull win to kick-start season?

[Rob]

Despite our hard-fought win against Newcastle to keep us in with a chance of defending our Carling Cup, we still haven’t managed to put in a decent league performance since visiting Stamford Bridge. We welcome Hull to White Hart Lane on Sunday in the hope of kick-starting our worst start to the season for decades. Unfortunately, the team sat at the foot of the table without a win and who are there for the taking aren’t the visitors but our very own Lilywhites. Should the unthinkable happen and we yet again fail to take the 3 points, not only will Hull put themselves into a European place but our own chances of Europe will be gone.

Considering our awful start to the season, some might say I’m crazy even considering that we might still manage 6th place and with us already being 10 points off West Ham it’s hard to see how we will make up so much ground but I still strongly believe that once we “click”, we’ll look like a completely different side.

Game after game we’ve berated Ramos for his strange team selection but then he goes and puts out what’s almost our best team (albeit with Modric more on the left than some would prefer) and we look even worse. It’s got to the stage now where it’s not even about the tactics or the starting line-up, it’s about one thing and one thing only. Confidence. Once we start playing with more confidence, the leadership we’re so badly lacking on the pitch will slowly appear again and after that everything else will fall into place.

On the subject of leadership, I still really struggle to see why Jenas retains his place not only as vice-captain (effectively captain with Ledley’s injury) but even on the pitch at all. We’ve had lots of witch-hunts against players over the years and Spurs fans love a good scapegoat but I really don’t think this is the case with Jenas. He’s just continually failed to step up to the mark when needed. Our downturn in fortune recently, and make no mistake a lot of luck has gone against us when we needed it most, might have been the perfect opportunity for Jenas to grab the team by the neck and drag them kicking and screaming into a decent performance. Instead the only players who’ve shown that grit and determination when called upon are the likes of Jamie O’Hara who’s now done enough to earn himself a permanent place as a utility squad player.

Not that we can just single Jenas out as being a bad performer. We’ve had pretty much a whole team of them recently, even the rock-solid Woodgate getting himself booked for assaulting the keeper not once but twice in consecutive games. The problem though is that while we’ve seen before just what Bale or Lennon are capable of when they’re on form, even when Jenas has played his very best for us he hasn’t really managed to dominate a game in all his time at the club.

Everything I’ve said so far regarding Jenas was leading me to make the point that I’d drop him for the Hull game if we really need the players to dig in and grind out a result. If we mess this one up our Premier League campaign is really over. No, we won’t go down. The saying “too good to go down” is true and certainly applies to us. With the players we have we’ll pick up enough points over the season to be safe but how long that revival takes is really what’s going to define our season.

Sunday 5th October 2008. Will it be the day that kick-starts our season and ultimately the future of THFC?

 

[ostrov]

Totally agree about Jenas. He's by no means a leader. At times like that you want more O'Haras on the pitch.

 

[dayid]

I personally think we lack necessary desire, passion, determination, motivation and fight to match Hull's, and therefore, unless this miraculously changes, i think we will get beat...

Lack of technique, skill, flair and a bit of bad luck is acceptable. So long as i have seen every single player that runs out on to that pitch put in 110% for my club. But from the games that i have seen, I don't think every single player can hold their heads up, put their hand on their heart, and say that they have given 110%...

And that is down to one man - Ramos. In this league you need more than a bit of flair and pretty football. You need passion - something which, i think most of you would agree, is not a necessity in Spain. But it is a necessity here, and this is where Ramos has fucked up

 

[mil1lion]

The lack of leadership is a problem, i agree. And the next best thing is to have someone in the heart of the team who is prepared to make things happen for us. We have no less leadership thank Arsenal do. They also have a very young squad like we do. But the difference in my mind is Fabregas. Despite being so young, he's always confident. He's a player who will never hide from the ball and is always looking to make things happen.

Unfortunately for us, Jenas doesn't do this enough and simply isn't close to the quality of Fabregas. The only player capable of doing this for us in my eyes is Modric. Its a lot to ask but he is certainly a confident young man. We saw that at the Euros. Although, Bilic plays a big part in that. He makes Modric aware of how good he is and gives him the confidence to play his own game. I hope Ramos can do the same for him. He's the answer in my opinion. The one who will drive us on like Berbatov and Keane used to.

Personally, i hope we use Modric in the number 10 role behind Pavylcuhenko or Bent. He's the one who can make things happen and create chances.

It will just take one game and a few goals before all the confidence is back in our players. Hopefully that game is against Hull. It just annoys me that we have another International break after this one.

 

[doom]

I personally think we lack necessary desire, passion, determination, motivation and fight to match Hull's, and therefore, unless this miraculously changes, i think we will get beat...

Lack of technique, skill, flair and a bit of bad luck is acceptable. So long as i have seen every single player that runs out on to that pitch put in 110% for my club. But from the games that i have seen, I don't think every single player can hold their heads up, put their hand on their heart, and say that they have given 110%...

And that is down to one man - Ramos. In this league you need more than a bit of flair and pretty football. You need passion - something which, i think most of you would agree, is not a necessity in Spain. But it is a necessity here, and this is where Ramos has fucked up

Disagree with you here I feel it's a fear of failure that's crept into the team. For me I think it's worth to play a team of confident players such as lennon, o'hara, campbell and fringe players burning to get into the team. Players needing to establish confidence should be the minority of the first team. We have a squad of reserves capable of beating the likes of Hull.

 

[guate]

Dayid.....you echo my sentiments 100%

QUE VIVA LOS SPURS

 

[JimmyG2]

I admit its getting hard to defend the choice of Jenas as vice captain,but it is too sweeping to pin the blame the poor performance on him.You argue that Billic gives Modric confidence by his support and then argue that Jenas should be dropped.
he is a crucial player to us and should be backed and supported.When he doesn't play he is sorely missed. I like the spirit of O'Hara but he is not the answer to our problems.He doesn't have the technical ability,nor the vision to turn a game round.A team of O'haras would be a very industrious but pretty pedestrian.

 

[Krafty]

There is lots of reasons why we are suffering, and I think Jenas epitomises everything that is wrong at the moment.

The most inconsistent player in the world, his performances this season have been far worse than even his most anoynmous days before. When he is meant to be the most experienced Spurs player, the guy at the club that should be the glue holding everything together, he has gone backwards and is a massive liability.

He needed to improve to warrant being in our team if we had desires of being a top 4 team. This season he has showed he isnt good enough if we want to avoid being relegated. I always hoped he would improve, my first column hoped he would become what we hoped he could be, but now I have to say I wouldnt mind if he was sold in January

 

[batigol]

I have always said that JJ has the potential to be a great player but he lacks the two most important ingredients in my opinion; a wise head and a stout heart.

He has great stamina, decent technique and passing ability but what he really falls short at is decision making at critical points of the game and a stout heart to fight back when the chips are done. We cannot have a vice-captain who wilts like the rest of the team when we are under pressure. We also truly need a player who plays with his head and not continually drift out of the game because of bad positioning, bad off the ball movements, and generally a lack of sense where the game is and will be.

JJ, like I said last season, should only be a squad player for because he simply is not capable of galvanising our team and perform consistently.

 

[Geez]

I think that on reflection Rob your title could have been better worded :roll:

And the message is that without confidence, we are presently up shit creek


My feeling about Jenas is that he seems to have permission to pop up all over the pitch but not only do the opposition not know where he's going to pop up but nor does the rest of Spurs team :roll:

However, he's just been called up to the England squad so he must have something we're missing :shrug: