Your Honour, A Case For The Defence

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Article by Chris Mecoy

Hello again, Spurs fans.

I'm writing this article at two in the morning, unable to sleep, tired as Hell, and just hours after another fine Spurs performance, this time against Cardiff City, and another welcome clean sheet to go with it.

As is common for me when I'm lying in the dark unable to drift off, my thoughts
turn to Tottenham, and this time I'm thinking about a rather pleasing addition to
our game this season, and that is the amount, or lack thereof, of goals we have
let past us so far.

A lot was made of our signings in the summer, and, forgive me if I'm wrong, but it
was the additions to the attacking side of our game which filled us with the most
excitement. The goal machine that is Soldado, the skills of both Chadli and Lamela,
the late runs into the box by Paulinho, as proved by his VERY late goal on Sunday,
and of course, the sheer all round brilliance of Christian Eriksen. These were the
players that created the biggest buzz amongst Yids and Yidettes the world over,
and quite rightly so.

Yet the signings of Etienne Capoue and Vlad Chiriches, when compared with the
others, were almost low-key affairs. I, for one, believed that if Spurs were going to be
successful this season, it would be down to our quite frankly star-studded forward
5 or 6 outscoring the amount of goals our defence would undoubtedly let in.

This is no judgement on our current crop of defenders, of course. In fact, I am a
big fan of almost every single one of them. It's just that I've always believed that
if you were to take the best four defenders in world football, and put them in a Spurs
shirt, they would still make horrendous errors week in, week out. It's just always
been with that way with us.

I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG

Whether it be the heart, soul and passion of Captain Micky D, the flair, skill and
intelligence of Jan Vertonghen, the apparent return to form of Kyle Walker, the
vast improvement seemingly each week of Danny Rose, the willingness to step
in when needed of Kyle Naughton, or the return from injury of the hugely
influential Younes Kaboul, our defence is at it's best for many a year. What's more,
whilst they are able to keep sides at bay with just sheer talent, they also seem to
have improved their concentration levels to such a standard that we have almost,
ALMOST, cut out these silly errors too.

Add to this, of course, Hugo Lloris between the sticks, a man who clearly has a
great command of his 21-yard box (sorry Hugo, I couldn't resist), and you can
see why maybe, FINALLY, we too can actually say that "the best form of
offence is a good defence".

What's more, is that while we can't claim to be playing the same kind of attractive
football as we were in the 2011-12, season, we most certainly are not boring
either.

BEST IN EUROPE

After the Cardiff game, I took the liberty of checking out a few stats, and I was
pleasantly surprised to discover that not only was the recent North London Derby
our ONLY loss in the last 16 competitive matches, but that the goal conceded in
that match was the only goal scored against us in over 900 minutes of football.
It was also brought to my attention that Spurs have the best defensive record
over the last 8 competitive matches in the whole of Europe. That has got to be about
1000 teams!

I've perhaps become known for my 'glass half full' articles, but right now, I'm
finding very little to be upset at regarding Spurs, and if, IF, we can get another
clean sheet against Chelsea next week, I think people will stand up and take
notice of what is actually happening at White Hart Lane.

The defence rests.

COME ON YOU SPURS!!

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