- Jul 27, 2006
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Player of the Season?
It struck me this morning. Sooner or later, we’re going to be asked who is Spurs player of the season? And I realised how ridiculous that annual debate currently seems. It’s like a parent being asked to choose their favourite child. There is no way I could choose my player of THIS season, above all.
And therein lies the answer to Spurs 15/16. Title or not, trophies or not, even top 4 or not, this is a triumph of the whole, not any individual part. How could you NOT choose Lloris whose game-saving moments are only matched by his quiet leadership and captain’s example? Or Alderweireld, not only the buy of the season but the best CB in the premiership? Or Dier, our modern Dave Mackay, whose attitude is as non-Spursy as it’s possible to be? Or Dembele? A lamb reborn this season as a lion. Or Alli? Enough said. Or Kane? Again, enough said. It would be just plain wrong for ANY of these six NOT to win.
But that’s just a shortlist of six. Could you really leave out Rose, who just laid his solar plexus on the line to remind us never to write off young talent too early? Or Vertonghen who simply needed a partner worthy of the name? Or lung-bursting Walker, Davies and Trippier for that matter, each prepared to be rotated for the greater good? Or Lamela, the quiet assassin, whose pressing and foul count go unnoticed by those who demand endless defence splitting passes? Or, in particular, Eriksen, a genius who sweats 12 kms a match, the player through which the two parts of Pochettino’s machine flow; creation and destruction.
But with so many crucial games to come, isn’t it a bit early to write off Chadli and Son, Mason and Bentaleb, Carroll and Vorm, who all – like Wimmer – are ready to step off the bench, egos under control, knowing they have important roles to play?
Player of the Season? The question misses the point and in doing so hammers home the truth. Under our own French captain, this Spurs squad visibly embodies the motto of the Musketeers; ‘un pour tous, tous pour un’. It took a match against Manchester City’s individual millionaires to highlight it so perfectly. Win or lose, these Spurs really are “All for One, and One for All.”
It struck me this morning. Sooner or later, we’re going to be asked who is Spurs player of the season? And I realised how ridiculous that annual debate currently seems. It’s like a parent being asked to choose their favourite child. There is no way I could choose my player of THIS season, above all.
And therein lies the answer to Spurs 15/16. Title or not, trophies or not, even top 4 or not, this is a triumph of the whole, not any individual part. How could you NOT choose Lloris whose game-saving moments are only matched by his quiet leadership and captain’s example? Or Alderweireld, not only the buy of the season but the best CB in the premiership? Or Dier, our modern Dave Mackay, whose attitude is as non-Spursy as it’s possible to be? Or Dembele? A lamb reborn this season as a lion. Or Alli? Enough said. Or Kane? Again, enough said. It would be just plain wrong for ANY of these six NOT to win.
But that’s just a shortlist of six. Could you really leave out Rose, who just laid his solar plexus on the line to remind us never to write off young talent too early? Or Vertonghen who simply needed a partner worthy of the name? Or lung-bursting Walker, Davies and Trippier for that matter, each prepared to be rotated for the greater good? Or Lamela, the quiet assassin, whose pressing and foul count go unnoticed by those who demand endless defence splitting passes? Or, in particular, Eriksen, a genius who sweats 12 kms a match, the player through which the two parts of Pochettino’s machine flow; creation and destruction.
But with so many crucial games to come, isn’t it a bit early to write off Chadli and Son, Mason and Bentaleb, Carroll and Vorm, who all – like Wimmer – are ready to step off the bench, egos under control, knowing they have important roles to play?
Player of the Season? The question misses the point and in doing so hammers home the truth. Under our own French captain, this Spurs squad visibly embodies the motto of the Musketeers; ‘un pour tous, tous pour un’. It took a match against Manchester City’s individual millionaires to highlight it so perfectly. Win or lose, these Spurs really are “All for One, and One for All.”
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