Looking on the Brightside with Billy Ocean

As the brilliant Billy Ocean sang in 1986: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going – when the going gets rough, the tough get rough”. Mr Ocean was alluding to the situation Tottenham Hotspur and their supporters would find themselves in 30 years later. He was magic.

Article by Locky Peters @loque91

This has been a dense and trying set of fixtures. Since gaining full momentum against Manchester City, Spurs have ran into a muddy patch consisting of draws, frantic defending and spells of impotence going forward. Sandwiched between Dele Alli’s late equaliser at the Hawthorns and Vincent Janssen’s coolly taken penalty at Anfield, were a couple of scoreless draws where we could have perhaps lost if it weren’t for some truly heroic performances from Captain Loris.

TERRIBLE RIGHT!?

Losing in the cup to Liverpool will not have disappointed many as much as dropping what now seem to be very precious points in a league where only one point separates the top 5. Some may bemoan the selection of so many young players to go away to Liverpool but I think this position is naïve. Yes, we would all love some silverware, but perhaps this wasn’t the year to push on for that particular piece. Having just secured Champions League football again, I think it would be fool-hardy to take it for granted so quickly. Or to deny ourselves the chance of qualifying two years in a row and the opportunities that would follow such a success; the players, prestige and even glory that our club could glean from such an endeavour by needlessly tiring our stretched first team.

It is this point that I suppose this article should revolve around, a plea to fans to once again look at the big picture and appreciate the context of our current situation. The social media melt-downs that have occurred in this patch of fixtures has been torturous to be a witness of. People wishing to lose instead of draw in order to learn some kind of lesson, people calling for players that have barely played ten games for Spurs to be shown the door, people saying we might as well give up the season when Toby got injured (ok I thought that one too). The point is that we as fans have a responsibility as well as the players to remain tough and upbeat – yes as the song goes, “when the going gets tough”.

There is a really basic behavioural therapy technique that you might have heard of, it’s called ‘looking on the brightside’. When we aren’t winning games, we are not losing games. That is a big deal folks. We are unbeaten in the league, it’s one of our best starts in the league IN OUR HISTORY. Yet people look toward the nearest bridge to jump off when we draw a couple of games. It isn’t like these are terrible teams either, Bournemouth have really hit their stride this season and have a great record at home. West Brom will always look to stifle us, and they often succeed. Not to mention that both of these games were played after extensive travel and playing time for our players, either in the Champions League or International duty. These are real factors to take into consideration, as well as the fact that these were away fixtures and we were lacking either our best forward for a generation in Harry Kane, or our best defender since Ledley King.

Here is where the cognitive therapy comes in. I’m going to cook a believable little scenario up for you, and you can tell me which one you would prefer.

Toby Alderweireld is subbed due to injury. Eric Dier replaces him. We then concede to Nacer Chadli in the later stages of the game. Then, once we begin to chase the game Dele Alli misses a guilt edge chance, Ben Foster throws the ball out to an unmarked Chadli who races forward and scores past Loris. 2-0 West Brom.

Away to Leverkusen, we dominate the first half but fail to score. In the second half the hosts manage to turn the game completely around and threaten to score on numerous occasions, on one of these former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez pokes an outstretched leg toward a cross and the ball, while caught by Loris, goes an inch over the line. 1-0 Leverkusen.

Bournemouth have a very bright first half and completely catch us off guard, they score early on from a set piece and our tired legs show as we never really get back in the game. Sissoko is given a red card late on and we lose the game 2-0.

If you know anything about quantum physics you might know that those scenarios happened in different universes. But not ours my friend! You can be content that within mine and your reality, Tottenham are one point off the top of the league. Second place in the Champions League. And without a string of league cup fixtures that could have derailed an already thinly stretched squad.

To reiterate, the point of this piece is to re-affirm a positive attitude about where we are right now. Do not forget the achievement of last season, or let the glamour of the Champions League wear off on you. We waited so long for that anthem. We are legitimate title contenders. When is the last time we could say that so early within a season? And look at what is happening to teams around us! All conquering City have been ruined by us, United can’t buy a goal and the scum couldn’t beat Middlesbrough at home! What are we complaining about?!

This is the toughest assignment we have faced in a long time. We have a lot of very important matches to play and in a very short amount of time. The going has gotten tough, and we need to get going. We are barely over half way within this testing patch of games, with Leicester and Leverkusen to come. But we need to be behind our team, not heckling them as they stammer. The club has given us a lot to cheer about lately, and we owe them gratitude as well as support. The future is bright, the future is lily-white. Don’t worry so much.

© e-Media Group 2016 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of @e_media_group

Share on Google Plus