By Tony Attwood
- Who owns the Premier League and why are they minded not to make any changes?
- The impact that Viktor Gyökeres is making for his country and for Arsenal
Quite a few publications of late have analysed what Tottenham have been doing wrong of late, and I thought it might be an interesting way to end the working week by highlighting a few.
I think we first started to wonder if there was a little amiss with Tottenham when they had a host of injuries (maybe bad luck but often down to poor preparation) and really didn’t seem to have the quality of back up players who could deliver on their promise to reach, if not for the stars, then at least the upper parts of the league.
And the thought grew that maybe Tottenham had convinced themselves that top-rate medical staff were merely for dilettante players, not the tough men that Tottenham had as players. Yet throughout almost the whole season, they have had more injuries than almost any other club. Worse, it seems the quality of their backup players was not really at the level needed.
There was also the issue of the Eze affair, where Tottenham somehow seemed to think they could get him on the cheap, as he only scored 15 goals last season. The club stood by their offered price, and Eze went somewhere else.
Next, someone splashed paint over a mural of the player near Arsenal’s ground. That was naff, and there could have been a denunciation of the vandalism by Tottenham, but if there was, I didn’t see it.
Of course, Tottenham had a decent start to the season, winning six, drawing two and losing two. 19 goals scored and seven against. The table read…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 16 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 14 |
Then Joe Lewis (whose family trust owned Tottenham Ho) was fined $5m and jailed for insider trading. (He was then pardoned by Donald Trump). I am not sure how Tottenham fans saw that, but it didn’t look very good to me.
I am not sure how many mistakes of that sort that is that Tottenham made this season, but whatever the number it is not a good idea to take the story of someone like Brooklyn Earick bidding £4.5bn to buy the club seriously. Instead, the moment you hear the story, try saying, “The media just made that up.” What’s the worst thing that can happen? You kill the story on day one.
Likewise, you could have killed the story of re-signing Harry Kane coming back. if you don’t, he’ll make an announcement to the effect that Tottenham has gone downhill, and he prefers Germany. Not really a good thing to happen. After that, you can try to make sure your proposed signing knows which part of North London he is signing for.
Next, when you have won two games in eight and have just lost the last one to Chelsea at home in November, for goodness sake, shut up and get things sorted out. Do not go and lose 4-1 away to your nearest and deepest rivals. It doesn’t help you, although it was quite jolly for us.
Two defeats in eight games from October to January weren’t quite as good as it sounds, but it can be spun into a good story, providing (and this is the big bit) it carries on. Yet two wins in 16 games really is beyond the ability of Donald Trump to spin. Even your pals in the tabloids seemed lost and couldn’t make anything up. Plus, what you should not be doing is sending your players over to applaud your few remaining supporters at the end of a game you’ve just los when they are clearly utterly seething with anger.
And of course that wasn’t all of it. There was still the Eze issue – he chose not to go to Tottenham for perfectly obvious reasons. Being bottom of the league when your near neighbouts who your fans insult at every chance are top, isn’t a good look either.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 15 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 35 | 9 | 26 | 38 |
| 20 | Tottenham Hotspur | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 28 | -10 | 10 |
There’s a lot more of course, but one of the key points is to make sure that your appointments don’t leave after a couple of months. And don’t let your captain get sent off four times in a couple of months either. Oh yes, and if you are sacking a manager, do it before, not after the transfer window.
Oh, and one last thing. Don’t let any senior officials give talks on how to be a success. Especially with the title suggesting that the team is evolving into a “global brand”. It makes you look a bit silly.
And if I may, let me conclude that I started watching Arsenal in 1956/7 so I’ve seen Arsenal in difficulty like this too. The difference, however, was that Arsenal’s players and staff knew when to shut up and simply work on making it better. Which in the end, they did. It took a while, but we fans stayed patient. Try it sometime.
