phespirit.now: games

Spurs Armchair Diary, season 2009/2010. The transformation from relegation certainties to Europa League nearlies has surely stiffened everyone's resolve never to plumb such depths again. Crouch and Bassong are not exactly marquee Premiership signings, but the club start this season with a bigger, better squad that has good options in every position except the left-wing. Always the left-wing. The pundits generally have Spurs to finish 6th or 7th, which would be fine. Let battle commence.


	Sunday 8th November 2009 [13:22 GMT] Spurs 2 - 0 Sunderland : A fortnight after having wiped the floor with Stoke only to come away nothing, this match was the absolute reverse. Sunderland had the better of the play, the majority of chances, and showed the greater ambition, but their reward was two goals conceded, a missed penalty, and a goalkeeper with a broken arm. Such is football. Sunday 1st November 2009 [16:50 GMT] Arsenal 3 - 0 Spurs : No real surprise in this result, except perhaps the awfulness of Spurs' performances at centre-back. Missed Defoe, who is still a twat for getting sent of needlessly at Portsmouth. Missed Lennon, whose pace remains more dangerous than Bentley's crosses. But most of all, missed Modric. Only one league win in six since he broke his leg against Birmingham. OK, so three of the four defeats were against Chelsea, Man United, and now Arsenal, which may well have been defeats even with Modric at his best, but the team is more likely to be competitive and dangerous with him than without him. Sunday 25th October 2009 [08:54 GMT] Spurs 0 - 1 Stoke City : First bad result of the season, although perversely it was one of the better performances. All that it lacked was the finishing. The performance for last weekend's 2-1 win away to Portsmouth wasn't nearly as dominant yet they came away with all three points. It's a wake up call, and perhaps needed ahead of the midweek League Cup against Everton. Spurs will not finish in the top four this season - that was never on the cards, however positive the start - but they still look comfortable for the top seven. Indeed, making a prediction at this early stage of the season, the top half of the table ought to finish: Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Spurs, Everton, Wigan, Sunderland. As always, the truth remains to be seen. Sunday 11th October 2009 [18:45 BST] It's a been a while, but taking advantage of the international fixture weekend, here's the last month's worth of results. 03/10/2009 Premiership: Bolton Wanderers 2 - 2 Spurs 26/09/2009 Premiership: Spurs 5 - 0 Burnley 23/09/2009 League Cup: Preston North End 1 - 5 Spurs 20/09/2009 Premiership: Chelsea 3 - 0 Spurs 12/09/2009 Premiership: Spurs 1 - 3 Manchester United Notwithstanding a couple of unfortunate reversals against the big boys, that little lot leaves Spurs placed third in the Premiership and in the fourth round of the League Cup, drawn at home to Everton. Things aren't so bad. Saturday 29th August 2009 [23:08 BST] Spurs 2 - 1 Birmingham City : An exciting open game, like all Spurs' games this season. Still no clean sheet, the Brum equaliser coming from a proper cock-up in defence. Spurs are 100% victorious and 50% riding their luck. Great goal for the win, but the fifth minute of stoppage time is cutting it fine. Now second in the Premiership, behind Chelsea on goal difference. Wednesday 26th August 2009 [21:47 BST] League Cup: Doncaster Rovers 1 - 5 Spurs : Bloody hell. But it surely can't last. Donny hit the woodwork a few times, and Spurs are still without a clean sheet, but these are happy days. Four matches, four good wins, four goals against, fourteen goals scored. Nice! Sunday 23rd August 2009 [19:17 BST] West Ham United 1 - 2 Spurs : Yet another win, the third on the trot after last weekend's domination of Liverpool and the Wednesday night thrashing of Hull. It's the the first time since the double-winning season of 1961 that Spurs have opened with three wins. That was a legendary team that went on to win the next eight league matches as well. This one won't, but they ought to win at home to Birmingham before trickier looking fixtures against Manchester United and Chelsea. There is only one slight dampener on the assumption that this year's team is playing much better than last year's, and that is the fact that last year's team also took nine points from these three fixtures. It never felt quite this good, though. Saturday 22nd August 2009 [10:35 BST] Hull City 1 - 5 Spurs : What a magnificent start to the season. Two excellent performances, two victories, only the second time in fourteen Premiership seasons that Spurs have opened with back-to-back wins, the first time in four years that Spurs have topped the Premiership table. Fantastic: 1. Tottenham Hotspur (played 2, 6pts, +5) 2. Chelsea (played 2, 6pts, +3) 3. Arsenal (played 1, 3pts, +5) 4. Liverpool (played 2, 3pts, +3) =================================== 5. Manchester City (played 1, 3pts, +2) =. West Ham United (played 1, 3pts, +2) 7. Wigan Athletic (played 2, 3pts, +1) ----------------------------------------- 8. Fulham (played 1, 3pts, +1) Sunday 16th August 2009 [19:11 BST] Spurs 2 - 1 Liverpool : At long last, a feelgood start to a Spurs season. It makes a change not having to play away on the opening weekend, but this was still a difficult-looking fixture. Last year Liverpool played Spurs off the pitch at the Lane, yet Spurs nicked it 2-1 - one of only two league defeats for Liverpool all season. This time Spurs have played Liverpool off the park to the extent that it could have been over by half-time, yet at the death Liverpool might have had a penalty to equalise. At full-time, however, the score and the result were the same, and that's the main thing. Three points in one match. Last year it was two points from eight. Things are looking up.

phespirit.now: games

Year 2009/2010 Spurs armchair diary (Phespirit supports Tottenham Hotspur F.C. from the comfort of his armchair)