Cup Shruggery and Wigan Away

Tom Carroll see's Tuesday night's team sheet

Just another toe-tappingly dull week as a Spurs fan then? Not on your nelly guv, plenty to pump up the thermostat, even if the on-pitch fare wasn’t exactly hot tamale.

It would appear only a handful of us got a full picture of what really happened up in Stoke, but encouraging consensus seems to be that young Tom ‘Tommy’ Carroll continued to impress; his wee Charlie Bucket stature belying his obvious ability to kick footballs at a high standard. Jake Livermore was impressive, and descriptions of ‘immense’ have been directed at the Atomic Kaboul. So that’s good. Less said about Gomes, GDS and Pav the better, is my understanding. The result and subsequent penalty shoot-out defeat was disappointing, but seems to have given way to a rather heated debate in some forums about what the cup’s mean to us.

None of us like to see our lads lose, but I can’t say I was particularly devastated. I was lucky enough to be at the ar5ena1 game, and the Wembley final, and can assure you there was no one who went more potty than I at Berbatov, Woody and the final whistle, but like all things, it’s relative. At that point in time, a domestic trophy was a great achievement and the best we could have hoped for following an alarming neglect of our league commitments from the hapless Spaniard, so the celebrations reflected that. It was the circumstances of our position and opposition that made that cup win so special. As for now, we find ourselves with a decent chance of finishing in the top 4 again, meaning potential Champions League qualification, and all the riches and exotically named opponents that come with it. It may not be represented in the form of silverware, but it’s the only thing that really matters to a club with our aspirations.

The league must always be our priority. In order to thrive in the league we need to attract the best players, who invariably want the best pay days which only a Champions League run can fund, and to play against Europe’s best. Tell a coveted target you won the Carling Cup last year and look at their reaction. Tell them you can offer them Champions League football and see the difference. All these steps are towards the ultimate aim (realistic or not) of winning the league, and if the Carling and Ropey cups are sacrificed along the way, so be it.

With that out of the way, Wigan are next up at a ground where we’ve not exactly been prolific over the years. They lie 15^th in the table, and bearing in mind who they’ve had to play so far, they’d probably hope to have a few more points on board. Tottenham meanwhile have lost a couple of games they were likely to lose, and won their 2 winable ones. So a bit unspectacular all round, but it is us with the momentum after a dominant showing at home last week, still riding the wave of optimism that Captain Combover and Ade’s signature’s have brought to the side. Sandro’s back, and his potential incorporation is an interesting point to ponder.

My feeling is that the experimentation with Bale on the right has been preparation for Harry to play Parker and Sandro in the middle away from home, with Luka moving left and Gareth right, making us nice and compact (narrow) and the full backs providing the width. Ultimately, I think he see’s VdV playing behind Ade, but has alluded to starting Defoe again, following his 2 in 2 return (and he likes a goal against the Wiganista’s), so can see Sandro for Krankie being the only change.

We only need one goal. Ledley’s fit so we won’t concede. 0-2 for the Totters.