That’s The Stuff, Tottenham

Oh yes Tottenham, that’s the stuff. That’s the ruddy stuff.

Best result of the season that, all things considered. To lose VdV was a bit of a blow, but to have Modders pull out at the last moments could have potentially been very damaging. Not these days though, in came a passed-fit Jermain Defoe and possibly the only man associated with the club who isn’t over the moon about the form of Captain Combover, our favourite pube-haired Brazilian, Sandro.

The wisest of the pre-match tweets I managed to catch was one calling for patience. As Mulumbu gave both King and Kaboul the ‘oooh, what’s that over there?’, it was to become a mantra. Judging from the reports, it would seem that me and my old man, who’d come round to watch us on a wonky stream, were the only ones to think that being level at half-time was just about fair, as, according to Auntie, we were lucky to not be at least seven down. Blinkered vision aside, the second half was quite the onslaught, with chance after chance going begging; Adebayors 9 attempts on goal being the most from any one player in a Premier League game for 5 and a half years. Rare profligacy then, from a chap whose overall contribution and influence on this side has been so vast, you can forgive him record-breaking levels of fluffery on occasion. The important columns will say that he’s a striker with 4 goals in 2 games and that he’s on fire. Streaky he may be in the finishing stakes at present, but… sleeky, in everything else. Yeah.

And so to Defoe, who’s been subjected to some not always unjust criticism here at ISS, but who was pretty decent on Saturday. I maintain that VdV is the better technician, the better footballer, the one who will make more difference over the course of an entire campaign, so if he’s fit, he should start ahead of, and not with, Defoe. Like Keane before him, VdV has already worked out that the pair of them don’t work together in the same side, but also, that he has something different to offer. If you want someone with a great awareness, technical nous, and the ability to bring others into the game, Defoe will be found wanting all day long. If however, you need a striker to make half a yard of room and tonk a ball really, really hard in the direction of the opposition’s goal, then he’s Jermain man. Like your main man, but jer-main man. Brilliant, eh? Sometimes you need the half a yard and tonk it-type player to start a game. Most of the time you don’t. A tad unfair as that hit was a thing of beauty, and at a time when we were very much in need of making the dominance count, so credit where it’s due... that lay off from Ade was tip-top.

Like a conscientious school nurse, I’m merely nit-picking. The overall display of resilience, patience and, above all, quality, was a joy to behold. Make no mistake fellow spursers, this is no rag-tag bunch of ball kickers putting together ‘a bit of a run’, this is a well drilled, focused, balanced, talented and hard working group with real belief . The #WWWWDWWWWW streak has had a bit of everything, with the trip to the baggies providing a fair summation of what we’ve seen so far. There’s a long way to go, but for the first time in my Spurs conscious lifetime, this lot are on the right road to achieving something a bit good.

Merry flippin’ Christmas, and Happy Birthday to 'I Spurs so', which was a year old on Saturday. How fitting.