Wave on…
With the signing of Rafael van der Vaart for £8m, I felt it was time to give Spurs their due.
They are on the ups, aren’t they? You commenters. ‘Arry’s boasts. Peter Crouch’s insipid celebrations. The lack of tears. It’s all getting a bit much, and so, I decided to clear my head and take a look at The State of Spurs.
First, take a look at the state of the club. Daniel Levy is a f**king smart owner. Buys reasonably and sells high. Van der Vaart is a typical Levy signing. The Dutchman may be past his prime, but at 27 he’s still a quality player and has much to prove. Certainly worth more than the £8m paid, no? Good business.
It seems that Levy almost always does good business. The Spurs balance sheet is strong and White Hart Lane is full. At a time when Liverpool and United are listing over with debt, can’t you appreciate a well-run club living within their means?
They made the Champions League proper. This is huge. It gives Spurs more income, gets the faithful frothing, and allows them at least the possibility to attract a different level of player. And while the loss to Wigan this past weekend shows that they can’t assume consistent play, it wasn’t long ago that Spurs were in the bottom half of the table.
Now? Who’s on a better run over the last 12 months? Forget Chelsea and United and Arsenal. They have resources and panache that Spurs can’t touch yet. But look at the other clubs trying to make the leap. Everton? Villa? Hell, throw in City and Liverpool. Spurs rate in that group. They do!
And the squad is strong. Scan the list with an objective eye. Strong Keeper. Deep at the back. Plenty of creative midfield options. Gareth Bale re-invented! And some big stones sprinkled throughout. The only question is the strike force (Crouch is over-rated sh*te. End of.). But even there, think of a single injury to Torres or Rooney or van Persie or Drogba. Take what’s left. Compare it to Spurs. Further, Spurs are playing attractive football. Their matches are flat-out fun to watch.
Now, I think Harry Redknapp is going to be sorely tested this season. Playing in four competitions means squad rotation. Harry hasn’t seem to have grasped that. And they were beaten by Wigan this past weekend after recently losing to f**king Young Boys in Switzerland. Nevertheless, despite the abuse he receives, I do think that Redknapp is a quality manager. He’s gotten it done in a number of situations. But he’s the weak link here, isn’t he? And what does that say? Strong finances. Smart owner. Very nice squad. Full stadium. Champions League football. Managed by Harry Redknapp. When ‘Arry is your question mark, I think you’ve got to be happy with where you are.
OK….
I will be honest that I wrote this after one too many gripes on the UF Contributor Thread about Spurs. A certain contributor slagged off the van der Vaart signing. This contributor’s “Big Four” club had spent the day trying and failing to trade Rafa Trash for Carlton Cole. They filled a need with Paul Konchesky. That’s good business… for a mid-table club like Spurs used to be. Meanwhile, Spurs are buying van der Vaart for £8m. A Gooner contributer recognized the value here and compared this buy to Arsenal’s failure to sign a keeper.
And, of course, our humble site has attracted all sorts of Spurs commenters. Many of you are mouth-breathing troglodytes, to be sure. But it’s the sensible among you that truly are making the UF crew a bit mental. You are getting under our skins, it is true. Poor Likely Lad is just getting killed on the thread. Plus, it’s always good for traffic to play to the cheap seats.
So let me be Dr. Autoglass for a bit. The Gooners don’t like hearing their North London rival’s supporters being confident, especially when they have every f**king reason to be confident. The Pool supporters can’t help but compare the “State of Spurs” with the “State of Liverpool.” Liverpool are swimming in debt and don’t have owners. The Stretford End and I don’t like your general uppityness. Win something, eh? Then we’ll talk. We slap back at the Gooners for their barking without trophies, but we certainly aren’t going to take it from you.
But… we all now kinda dread a Spurs fixture, no? Used to be an automatic three points. Now? Not so much. Right now, I would rather go to Manchester City or Anfield than to White Hart Lane.
And that, I think, is the truest testament to the fact that, right now, it’s good to be Spurs.
Still watching FSC and they showed Tony Pulis sans hat. He has more evil eyebrows than Ancelotti.
@OM: That wasn’t Tony Pulis. Tony Pulis’ head comes permanently attached to the hat.
Alright, I’m referring comments to myself again, it’s time for bed. COYS!
@Anon
I didn’t ride the metro home I drove back to my cousin’s house in Alexandria. But the flight from DC to ATL (2 hour layover) to San Antonio (7 hour layover) to LA (1 hour) then home, was pretty bad.
@Tno; Actually, that’s about how long it took the Metro to get up to Upper NW D.C. :P
I actually shouldn’t bitch to much, family member working for United airlines=free airfare anywhere in teh wurld.
If you’re craving more hot US Open Cup action:
http://www.soundersfc.com/Matchday/HTML/Live-Webcast-Player.aspx
@ryan: Nice! And it’s a British dude commentating.
Some of these camera angles are truly bizarre. I like the from-behind-the-goal angle, though.
Someone alert The NYK. GK is wearing pants, repeat: GK is wearing pants.
Ugh. Stop encouraging them, crikey.
Geez, gotta do better with the shot than that, man.
Is the Chivas Sounders game the only one on?
Dunno, but Chivas is as pants as Casey Keller’s uniform.
MLS refs tweet their post-game analysis of the videotape? Odd.
Fat Zach Thornton almost lol’d a second goal away.
How was that not a goal?
I really like the effort this Riley kid gives.
While most games are stupidly referred to as “games of two halfs”, this half was apparently a “half of three halfs”. Thanks, American commentators.
Maybe it went to super special extra time?
That’s probably it. There had to be a rational explanation in there somewhere.
Wow, a sell-out of 4,500!!!
Holy s**t. What a strike from 45 yards.
Well, that was too easy. WTF was Chivas’ defense doing?
Nice that he got a goal, too bad it wasn’t the retarded awesome 45 yard free kick.
Ok, I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw that. That was ridiculous.
It was. Who the f**k shoots from there? Besides Purseboy.
Thudd does from time to time. :P
Ok, even Hudd doesn’t shoot from there. Also, allons-y, Alonzo.
Pfft. That was a let down. I was so excited for that free kick. I guess it was inevitable that he’d f**k it up.
Wow. Didn’t see that coming.
Either did. Stream died and didn’t resume until the goal was over.
I didn’t actually see it either. I heard them say 2-1 out of nowhere. And apparently these people don’t believe in replays. They haven’t shown it again.
I keep reading the little “Are an overly fanatical Sounders FC fan?” as “Are you an overly analytical Sounders FC fan?”
Yeah, I’m not convinced they have the capacity for replays with this setup.
What are you talking about? They sold at a 4500 person stadium. Clearly they’re rolling in cash.
out = at
Hmmm. What nationality is this Zakuani dude?
4,547. Eat that.
A quick glance at Wikipedia tells me he’s an uncapped Congo person. But he trained at Arsenal.
Which apparently has no connection with Spurs. Odd.
Every time they say Mike Seaman, I keep thinking they’re going to say Mike Seaver. I was a big Growing Pains fan…
Click on the link for White Hart Lane School. Apparently they had to change the name because it had such a bad reputation. I hope they went with Naming Rights School.
That’s awesome.
And thankfully it’s late enough that we don’t have to hear the rest of the commentariat give us s**t about it. :P
This Zakuani has some skeelz. And he’s fast as explosive diarrhea.
Seriously. If only we supported a Big Club like Rangers…
Yeah, I definitely like this dude. The US should find some way to make him an American.
“Beth-lee-ham” Steel?
Invade the Congo. Sounds reasonable.
No, Bethlehem Steals. Like they stole Jesus from the Jews and made him a Christian. Or something.
Well, that ruined him for me. How do you miss that header?
Dude, he plays Fast Black Guy, not forward. He’s not supposed to score headers. Just be really, really fast.
Robbie Findley is interested in your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
There’s only a limited printing, but he can have Theo Walcott’s subscription. If you ask any Arsenal fan, he’s put all that behind him and is Becoming The Player We Know He Can Be.
I don’t care what you’ve done. If it’s the second year of your existence as a franchise, you are not allowed, by definition, to be “storied.”
Hey, a replay!
Ha. I had the exact same reaction to that comment.
If I listened to the tripe the Arse fans babble, my ears would regularly bleed.
The replay was for Zakuani’s benefit so he could see how to score a header.
Well I guess that’s that. Yay Seattle.
Indeed. And let no one accuse us of maliciously threadjacking non-Spurs threads. We threadjack even our own! Tootles for now.
Night pupsters.
I keep hearing this kid’s name, and from the looks of things he’s going to be something special. 17 yr old Harry Kane put 5 past Crystal Palace in a Spurs XI match.
Zakuani, a former UF interview subject.
http://unprofessionalfoul.com/2009/04/09/steve-zakuani-is-loving-seattle/
@Anon&LE
You guys should make out.
/f**kspurs
@LE, Anon:
Thanks for the hilarious outsider Sounders-Chivas commentary. Sounders drafted Zakuani out of college. Played for the U of Akron, was collegiate POY. He’s crazy fast, seems faster in person. And Anon…I agree with the “storied” remark, though they’ve been around in NASL and USL since ’74.
Screw Spurs, Harry sucks, is ugly and will ruin you. That is all.
/waits for pot-kettle retorts because Spurs fans only have four default comments.
Good to see that in the middle of your late-night eye-making you took a shot at me. Your manager signed someone no other club in the world wanted for the duration of three transfer windows. No wonder it feels like f**king Christmas around here!
Steve Zakuani is good. Danny Mwanga’s gonna be even better.
/Union’d
/DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP
TL; DR
@JT:
I’m still upset about the loss of LeToux to the Union. I still can’t believe that we protected Nate “Lumbering Behemoth Vag” Jaqua over him in the expansion draft. Bah. He’s a homeless man’s Peter Crouch. (Angrily stumbles away…)
@Ivy
Hindsight is 20/20. I didn’t see much of Le Toux in Seattle, but he didn’t seem to fit well there. Was that the case? Agree with you on Jaqua though. Meanwhile, our Seb has reinvented himself behind the frontlines.
It’s hard to say who fit well and who didn’t in the first year of that team being cobbled together. We wouldn’t have won the US Open Cup without him. As a USL Sounder and the team’s first signing, he was certainly someone that the fan base rallied around, and we were really bummed when he was chosen by Philly. I don’t know about how it is now, but last season he was always the last guy off the pitch, and I’ve seen him climb in to the stands many times to sign autographs for kids and pose for photos.