No Excuses at White Hart Lane

Article by @ginolasleftfoot

Before Victoria Pendleton competed for her sprint gold medal at the Beijing Olympics 2008, she was presented with a pre race snack. A pre peeled banana. Several minutes later, Pendleton cruised towards her gold medal and in turn added to Team GB’s eight gold medals in cycling.

David Brailsford is the head architect of Team GB cycling and Team Sky, a man who began building the foundations of what is now generally accepted as British dominance in the cycling world over 10 years ago.

The ‘peeled banana’ approach highlights Brailsford’s no excuse environment that has been gradually shaped around the athletes whom he is responsible for. With peripheral distractions removed, athletes are able to focus on the immediate goal in hand.

Tottenham have never plunged so deeply into the transfer market as they have in this one, leaving Spurs fans reeling, punch-drunk with the signatures that have ensued over the last two months. This has been fairytale stuff, albeit with a strong film noir undercurrent in the form of The Gareth Bale Saga, but now with the transfer window wedged crudely shut with some cardboard, time is now nigh for the squad to perform to a level that the modern day Spurs fan has no frame of reference for.

The excellent work of Franco Baldini has provided Villas Boas with an immensely talented squad to launch a serious challenge for the much-coveted top four positions in the Premier League. Therein lies a chalice not quite poisoned but capable of a long and heavy hangover, for Tottenham now cannot crow of such shortcomings concerning the calibre of player at White Hart Lane.

With Villas Boas at the helm and a healthy, young and skilled group of players at his disposal, Tottenham will have to cope with the weighty expectation of a team that has spent. Naysayers have immediately started to question how good these players really are in view of the recent defeat by Arsenal, and this is something the club will now have to manage. The premature nature of such remarks are cyclical and bereft of real worth so early on in the season but are expected all the same (just ask Arsene Wenger) in the knee jerk reactionary world that football now finds itself in.

If Tottenham’s spending has edged them towards that no excuse environment, have their goals now changed with the influx of these players? If the team’s goal prior to their summer spending was to achieve top four, does that expectation now remain or has the bar been raised?

One can imagine Villas Boas being calmly handed a rewrite of his expectations for the season with the top four requirement now written in capitals, and ringed by a red biro.

The folly consistently committed by pundits and fans alike is the expectation for all new signings to hit the ground running, telepathy coursing through their veins and acclimatize with immediate effect to a completely different lifestyle. These demands grow greater in accordance with the sum spent. One can only wonder how Madridistas would feel if Gareth Bale took as long to settle at the Bernabeu as he did at White Hart Lane. This is an unwholesome approach to new signings, but seems to be a by-product of the instant gratification world we live in.

The fixture at the Emirates highlighted the fundamental element Tottenham need greatly but is generally found in short supply. Time.

Villas Boas appears far more adept at managing his squad than we were perhaps led to believe on the back of his blink and you missed it Chelsea reign, and the character of his players lack any whiff of inherent dissension. Tottenham also appear, similar to Liverpool to have settled on a manager who they believe can deliver them to the next level. This is encouraging for Spurs fans as it diminishes the classic cycle (out with the old, in with the new) that has hurt the team for so long.

These are exciting times for Tottenham and the season’s expectations should be tempered not with a sprinkling of pessimism but with an allowance for the team to develop. The players brought in have truly excited the Tottenham faithful and we now have a squad that is the envy of other clubs.

The wise words of Uncle Ben’s riff on Franklyn Roosevelt’s;

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”

should offer a note of warning for Villas Boas, but one that should not be feared. In all cases, Peter Parker turned out just fine.

Tottenham are slowly emerging as a club of great power on several fronts but lacking in the one most vital to any team’s growth. Success. Villas Boas now must galvanise his squad and focus their sights solely on the attainment of this goal in its various forms.

From the outside looking in, many will be clamouring for Spurs to internally combust in the hope of exclaiming their doom merchant prophecies from the rooftops. What we must ensure as Spurs fans is that White Hart Lane becomes a fortress built around optimism and belief. Corny? Yes. But a collective mindset is needed and 35000 Spurs fans offer no better conduit.

All those with me tweet YARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

I’m off to find someone to peel a banana for me.

Over and out.

@ginolasleftfoot.

 

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