time for divorce proceedings.
‘Arry was right it was as far as he could take them, a bottle of ketchup, an arm round the shoulder, a pep talk and telling someone to run around a bit is all well and good but it’ll get you nowhere against the likes of Fulham 😉
Confidence, it’s a funny thing in football, Spurs needed it and needed it desperately but it reaches a level where it’s a detriment to the team as it moves into arrogance and it’s quite easy for your average footballer to end up there. More man management is required because it’s losing points to the likes of Fulham, who while having an excellent home record and the jinx over us in the last few years, that will keep Spurs in the relegation mire – back down to second bottom.
But divorce proceedings have to start, a separation of sentiment and support from the reality of what happened on Saturday and what has happened in pretty much every game so far this season. Gomes costs goals.
Gomes saves goals, excellently every game he saves goals going in from shots and that’s great but he presents the opposition with at least one, it’s probably knocking on two now, clear cut open goals per game. So far ‘Arry’s luck had overridden Gomes’ howlers, it had only costs goals, it hadn’t cost games and points. The luck ran out on Saturday and ran out to probably one of the most unlucky teams in the league. Gomes other, great, saves really don’t matter in the game, they were for nothing, his error was the difference in the end, the other saves just kept the scoreline a little on the respectable side, they certainly didn’t instil any confidence in the big Brazilian.
And that’s why he’s not a great ‘keeper, he’s not as bad as some pundits would have us all believe – Alan Hanson has obviously forgotten Taibi at ManURe. Great ‘keepers make errors, Jennings, Cech, Schmeichel, Banks etc etc they’ve all made errors, absolute screaming howlers that have cost the team but they were few and far between. And when it happened it didn’t get to them, it was over as soon as the game restarted, it didn’t nag on them, undermine their confidence and didn’t become a huge fault in their game that every team would target. Great ‘keepers “turn the page”, Gomes can’t.
Yes it’s nice to have a ‘keeper who takes the decision to come out and command his box but what kind of command is it when 4 times out of 5 he’s flapping at fresh air or getting blocked off long before he’s anywhere near the ball. And that’s a huge problem in English football, it’s OK saying he was great at PSV but Dutch football and the game he’s now playing are completely different. How many goals come from corners and crosses in this country? Whatever the number it’s on the increase with Gomes about. It looks like being great in Dutch league football really doesn’t mean much whether you’re a goal a game striker like Kezman, Kuyt, Alves or a keeper of clean sheets like Gomes.
Added to all that he’s useless with the ball at his feet as well.
Comolli has been spouting on about what a great shape he left the club in before his sacking, he must think the £9m was well spent. You look out at the ‘keepers who could have been bought with that money this summer. Friedel cost Villa about £2.5m, Newcastle would have snapped Levy’s hand off if he’d have made a good offer for Given, Jaaskelainen’s contract ended at Bolton during the summer, you can’t tell me we couldn’t get him for that money, nice little signing on fee. Yes they’re all over 30 and much older than the 27 year old Gomes but they are all class ‘keepers that know the English game and most important they aren’t head cases with huge holes in their game.
Just don’t go out and get James in January ‘Arry, he’s not as bad but he’s still a clown.
‘Arry also needs to sort out a few other things in the divorce settlement, while Fulham had Bullard running the game for them, we had Jenas. One came back from injury and led his team out of the drop last season and is quietly the driving force behind their rise to the top half of the table this, somewhere Spurs haven’t been for a while. The other minces about knowing he doesn’t have to bother because no matter what he gets picked for the next game and sometimes gets and England call up out of it – luckily Fabio hasn’t fallen for it recently and picked the right one this time.
And what to do with Bale, it’s another league game lost in which he’s played, we’ve lost them all when he’s played Time to stick him on the bench, hope you get three or four up with a couple of minutes to go and then bring the kid on ‘Arry.
Funny how even though Joe Jordan is now a Spurs man I’m more inclined to side with Roy Hodgson follow the pairs little spat at the end of the game. I suppose a combination of a couple of things, I’ve always like Roy as a manager, he likes to play the game the right way and I did think he should have got the England job a few years back. Also I still remember my dad recalling one of Joe’s first games for Leeds that he was at and allegedly saw the big jock elbow an opposition defender while the ball was miles away.