games like that.
What do you put it down to is anyone’s guess. Was it Spurs knowing that the job was done, chances of 3rd were slim to begin with and growing slimmer by the minute and gone by half-time, it was the same XI as Wednesday and they gave everything that night when it counted and so relaxed, Burnley wanted one last hurrah in the top flight and so wanted it more. Or was it just Spurs being Spurs?
The answer is probably the complete opposite of the box most voters in the UK wish was on their ballot paper on Thursday – all of the above.
Burnley, only team to put 4 past us all season. They have to go along with Wolves, Stoke, Hull and Everton as the worst points dropped this season, all adding up to 16 in total. We would have been losing out on the title by goal difference with those points. Come to think of it I don’t know if that would have felt any better.
Fifty years ago Burnley versus Spurs would have been a title decider anyway. Back when we used to score 100 goals a season for fun, 115 in ’60/’61.
This season well the goals could have been up there with Chelsea if chances had been taken. And not just half chances but almost sitters.
Consternation when Defoe was substituted on Sunday but take out the penalty against Chelsea, so just open play, he hasn’t scored in nearly two months. March 13th, against Blackburn, was the last time he found the back of the net, 10 games ago. Pavlyuchenko has gone off the boil since his purple patch, missed some real sitters since, again you have to go back to that Blackburn game for his last score in the league.
Added to that is Modric, he’s played an instrumental part in this season’s final league position but he should have scored more and when you see his goal against Burnley you know that he can. It was a hell of a goal but it was only his 3rd all season. Yes he played a lot of games as the left sided wide man but he’s had a lot of shots and yes he’s laid quite a number on for others after having a wild shot turned in. All the talk about 19 different scorers, we need more than just 5 league goals from the central midfield partnership.
Thankfully we’ve had those other players to chip in and Bale was at it again as Spurs looked to be running away with the final game of the season, a great build up and smart finish from the Welshman followed up by Modric’s little cracker. It was just Burnley and we were unstoppable until they stopped us, or did we stop ourselves?
And so onto next season, a Champions League qualifier and a summer of transfer rumours to go through.
Well the happy thought that spread yesterday was that this could be the last time we see the Jenasite in a Spurs shirt, it’s no coincidence that he didn’t play much this season and we reached fourth unlike ’05/’06 when he was always there destroying any chance, forget the lasagne it was the Jenasite at work.
Then some of the other rumours, well Bellamy he might have shaken ‘Arry’s hand after the Citeh game but we have to hope that doesn’t turn the bosses head, even though he tried to sign the player previously. What has really stood out this season is the team spirit at Spurs. When the players celebrated with Pav after his goals, at the beginning of his purple patch even when there was talk of player grumblings, Dawson hugging Gomes after a game recently and the celebrations after the Citeh triumph. Team spirit and Bellamy are two words you very rarely see in the same sentence, especially not in a positive way.
And as for Raul, as someone said to me when I mentioned the rumour “christ he was crap even when he was good”.