The curious tale of H Kane, Totts, Bayern and a lack of trophies

 

 

• A Revolution at Arsenal? Certainly, but at what cost?
• Arsenal’s squad and the two clubs with the most valuable players in the Premier League

By Tony Attwood

Football headline writers are curious people, playing with the language and turning it inside out to meet the demands of their editors to show a positive where there is a negative, and an earthquake when everything is peaceful.   But surely that headline “Watch Harry Kane refuse to lift the trophy” has to be one of the weirdest of all time.

This century Tottenham have not got into the Champions League 19 times in 24 seasons – that is a 79% failure rate.  Is that really worth watching?

As for  Harry Kane – the player who famously failed to win any trophy of significance and then moved to Bayern Munich who had won the German league every year for 11 consecutive seasons, then simply didn’t when Kane turned up… well what can one say except not winning anything, is what he does.  He is the specialist, the master, the maestro.  He does it with England, he did it with Tottenham and now with Bayern.   That’s what clubs and country pay him for.

We might as well say, “watch Tottenham not get into the Champions League”.  You can do it if you like, but well, it is not exactly a very positive and enjoyable thing to do.  

Still there nis “No mentality problem, says Postecoglou, as Tottenham lose again” according to Reuteurs, so presumably all there is, then, is a competence problem.

Tottenham have come sixth, seventh, fourth, eighth and fifth, in their last five seasons… which for a club that expects to be in the top four and hence the Champions League each year is a 100% failure rate for five years   And of course I know that Arsenal went 5th, 6th, 5th,  8th, 8th, 5th before the last two seasons – but the revolution was clear even in the two eighth place finishes.   I find it a little harder to see in the Tottenham revolution that will lead to the top two, of late.

Still, maybe I am wrong, but anyway instead perhaps we all to focus on Cheslsea who finished sixth last season which was a major improvement on finishing 12th the year before.   The Daily Mail meanwhile is full of the story that “Chelsea could start new Premier League season without a shirt sponsor AGAIN as Blues ‘struggle to secure a lucrative sponsorship deal’, which does seem to reflects big companies’ view of the club.   Just as Postecoqlou knew what he was saying when he pronounced that Tottenham had “No mentality problem”.

It is one of those things that somehow one doesn’t normally say.  ‘“I don’t have a mentality problem” says Tony Attwood,’ would surely invite suggestions that this is exactly what I do have (as some readers regularly like to suggest in the posts to this site that I choose not to publish.)

All of which negativity does indeed make “Watch: Harry Kane refuses to lift trophy after Bayern Munich beat Tottenham” one of my favourite headlines so far this pre-season.  One could of course run a very long video of Kane’s total career and say “Watch Kane not lift a trophy” but that would be boring.

But really it is all a fuss about nothing.  For there is, “No mentality problem, says Postecoglou, as Tottenham lose again” which confirms what we all knew: there is no mentality problem – they simply are not very good.

Last season saw the lowest number of goals for Tottenham’s top scorer since Adebayor was their top man with 14 goals in 2013/14.  That surely was a problem.  But still, we must all have our dreams even if as in Tottenham’s case, they are not very good dreams.

As for Arsenal the story is that Eddie Nketiah is about to leave Arsenal for Marseille – although such tales have been circulating for quite a while…. at least that is what Team Talk are saying.

Up next, whatever tittle tattle there is for today’s game.