One Nil To the Tottenham!!

[basskadet]

It is a very strange feeling to watch our Spurs team winning so many games 1-0. It used to be the domain of Arsenal to be winning games 1 nil whilst Spurs would usually score loads & concede loads.

However, being able to win 1 nil is an extremely important trait & a habit well worth getting into. It doesn't mean you have to be boring. Chelsea won the title winning games 1 nil but they were so dull to watch, scoring a goal & then just killing the game off. Spurs may score but we continue to play with a swagger & a bit of flair. In all seriousness we should be getting second goals & even thirds but the ability to maintain a clean sheet to preserve the victory is vital either way.

You have to say that if we can keep it going, the future is very, VERY bright for us. We always used to score but our defending regularly let us down. Harry seems to be getting that sorted now, especially at Home. We haven't been banging 'em in like we usually do but I have every confidence that we will score something & that is all you need if you can defend right.

Like I said earlier, it's a habit. The reason Manchester United are such a tough proposition is because they've done it before & they've done it consistently. Their players aren't necessarily miles ahead of ours on paper but their team mentality is years ahead. They've had 10-20 years of a winning mentality that has been passed down over the years thru the whole squad & down thru the youth team. Spurs, on the other hand, have had the opposite. We've never been quite sure what we're going to get from our Spurs & I don't think they have ever been sure what they're going to give. Teams hear United's name & automatically associate it with a difficult game, one they are likely to lose. However, they hear our name &, although they expect a tough game & quality football, they know we can be beat & often they know how to go about it.

Since the dawn of the Premier League we have never really gone on a run that has been either long enough or consistent enough to convince the opposition, or even ourselves, that we are not easy to beat. Marti Jol worked really hard to change that. There was still an element of our bad habits, we still conceded too often, even when we finished 5th the 2nd time around we only kept 6 clean sheets, but he showed us how to be more consistent at getting results. Had he managed to maintain that for just 1 more season our quality would have existed long enough to have taken root in people's minds & we would genuinely be up there competing for titles I believe, certainly CL. However, he slipped up a little & then had the carpet whipped out from beneath his feet. His replacement, after an OK start, then proceeded to dismantle all the hard work Jol had achieved. We became easier & easier to score against, teams started to suss us out, we lost our confidence & we lost the fear our opponents had of us. That ability to win games before the kick-off was gone & it is extraordinarily difficult to get back.

However, Harry seems to be turning it back around. I my mind nothing says 'resilience' more than consecutive 1-nil victories, especially when achieved with the style of football we've been playing. Of course, I'd prefer to be winning 2,3,4 or even 5-nil but 1-nil makes the point just as profoundly and the longer it goes on, the more teams will look atus & feel that they have little chance of getting anything out of us. The longer they think that, then we will start winning by more than a single goal.

This is a start we are sowing those seeds, I just hope we can keep all those things that have effected the growth of those seeds in the past at bay so that they may be allowed to prosper & mature under Harry's careful cultivation. My only worry is that, with Harry already into his sixties, he will not be the man to harvest the crop. That will have to be left to his successor & I pray that we find the right man for the job, we don't exactly have the best record in that respect. However, I would think that this time that decision will be largely down to Harry & I think he would know who will be best to continue his work.

However, it is still very, VERY early days & that it is a long, LONG way off (if all goes well). There is a definite trend emerging under Harry, one that will surely make our rivals take notice of us. They won't be laughing at us anymore, that's for sure (Ramos's 5-1 victory was a bit of a freak result, as was Harry's initial 4-4. Both were as much down to arsenal's failings as they were dow to our good play. However, Harry's more recent 0-0 with the scum would have had a far more profound impact on their psyche. Tottenham were by far the dominant side in that game. For once it was they that were lucky to come away with the point & their nervous mocking of "you still can't beat us" only showed how much we'd got under their skin).

[CmonyouSpurs]

If you offer me a 1-0 win before a game I'll take it. What I don't like is when we create enough chances to win by at least 3 goals to nil, and then have some nervy moments in the end. I'd rather the game be settled by then. Our defence isn't as strong as Manure's so it won't be able to hold out game after game on a slim advantage, so we have to learn to kill off games by converting our chances.

[Pitseleh]

i think bent is largely a reason we arent scoring more atm. he doesnt really get involved in building attacks or creating chances, hence the reason most are calling for his head which is fair enough, but keane hasnt exactly been on fire in the last few games, hopefully just reminding harry of the fact that he by no means picks himself above the little man up-front and hes just as liable to the off-game as everyone else.

on the subject of 1-0's i am absolutely loving it. i cant remember when the last time we kept 5 clean sheets on the bounce at home. WHL is becoming a serious fortress, as it should be considering the kind of flowing, beatiful football we've been playing lately. i'd take a 1-0 over a 3-2 anyday. our defensive capabilities have been boosted ALOT by the continued presence of ledley king and johnathan woodgate, the fact that dawson hasnt put a foot wrong all season yet still cant get a game is testament to just how good they are. i seriously believe we have the best english centre back pairing, both are better than there everton counterparts, who have had a large say in them being where they are in the league.

dont get me wrong, i hate watching everton, and am always digging my toffee mates out about being "the bolton of the top half" - but they are getting the results, and besides i cant see spurs ever resorting to playing sh!t football as our fans are sticklers for good football, and harrys always been an advocate of that.

i hope we can hold on to harry few a good few seasons if i'm honest, and with regard to his replacement i think we will find it hard, but he will have hopefully left us in a considerably more stable state than he found us in

[CmonyouSpurs]

i think bent is largely a reason we arent scoring more atm. he doesnt really get involved in building attacks or creating chances, hence the reason most are calling for his head which is fair enough, but keane hasnt exactly been on fire in the last few games, hopefully just reminding harry of the fact that he by no means picks himself above the little man up-front and hes just as liable to the off-game as everyone else.

The thing about that is Keane offers more to our game, skilfully, than Bent. Bent just runs after long balls that we throw up there, so he definitely isn't the Spurs kind of player if you want to see attractive football. Keane drops off into the spaces between midfield and attack and really helps to create a link between our midfielders and forwards, and thus it helps us to make a few more clear cut chances.

[basskadet]

I agree totally that we should get more goals rather than suffer those nervy finales but I think this is sort of what I'm trying to say. Those endings are so nervy partly because the opposition start to attack us but more because the team, the opposition & us fans all have little faith in us being able to hold on because we've messed up so frequently from this position in the past. The more times we DO keep the clean sheets, the less nervy those final moments will be because we'll believe we can do it, the team will believe they can do it &, perhaps most importantly, the opposition will believe that they cannot do it. When I watch Manchester United & they are 1-0 up they go thru similar defensive moments toward the end of the game but their fans don't seem to be put thru the mill in quite the same way & I think that is because they believe it more likely their team will hang on than we do.

I agree that Bent it an issue at the mo. I was hoping his goal might mean he got a bit of confidence back but he then went & missed that header. His goal wasn't even taken particularly confidently. I find it frustrating to watch him if I'm honest. I've ever sen such an up & down player in all my life. That hattrick he bagged against Dinamo earlier in the season was superb. I know people will say that Dinamo are not a patch on a premiership side but that's not the point. Darren took those goals extremely well, he hit them with confidence & just had a different 'air' about him. If the ball laded anywhere near him in the penalty box I thought 'goal', he just looked like scoring, but now I think the opposite. It's nothing to do with the opposition. It's him & the way he carries himself, scuffing shots, not looking properly or taking the right decisions. I have to say that he has been much better in other areas of the pitch & it was good to see him against Newcastle getting a strong head on their corners to relieve pressure from our defence. Earlier in the season he was not even doing that, in fact, he looked more like scoring at our end than he did in a rival's goal!

i hope we can hold on to harry few a good few seasons if i'm honest, and with regard to his replacement i think we will find it hard, but he will have hopefully left us in a considerably more stable state than he found us in

We are in a decent position in this regards, as well as a not so decent position. If you look at the clubs Harry has managed, virtually every one has gone into decline after he's left. They've always struggled to replace him. I don'tthink we'll have quite the same problem because we are in the lucky situation that Harry looks like he'll see out his career here & if he does then he should have the main say in who replaces him. I just hope we actually listen, as we failed to when it came to Bill Nick's retirement. However, we are in the not-so-great position in that it won't be long before Harry calls it a day. It could even be a case of him leading us to a major trophy & walking away. He is here to prove he can do it at a big club & finish his career in style. I hope it becomes a Fergie like situation where he gets the bug & if he wins something it only makes him want more. . . but we'll have to see.

[cohonjes]

1-0 is the best result for winning in series because your atackers are always houngry for more and defence is looking to keep the clean sheet game after game.+ your opponents got so close and again nothing witch is frustrating

[paul turner]

it doesnt matter how many you score the win is the important thing we beat the chavs 1-0 and the will do me if we beat man u 1-0 at old trafford on saturday i would be well pleased with that

[Pitseleh]

bass i think alot of what happened when he left pompey etc in the lurch was down to large wage bills and the club couldnt afford the players he had if they werent up there and winning things. we have a very solid financial base here, and if he leaves us with a balanced squad and some good players it makes the next persons job alot easier.

[basskadet]

True Pit, but I don't believe they replaced him with the right man in Tony Adams either. The same thing happened when he left Pompey the first time & when he left West Ham in that Glenn Roeder was not the man to fill his boots,

[Croatia_Gracac]

The main reason for so little goals is because of the thinking of the players. They se we are leading and instant they pull the break and start to play defensivly.

[basskadet]

I disagree with that completely. We've been anything but defensive, playing great attacking football & making plenty of chances, just not sticking them in the net. However, like I said in my first post, winning games consistently 1 nil is far more profound than winning 4-1 or even 4-0. 4-0 implies an easy game where the opposition have crumbled whereas 1 nil is a far closer affair yet we still won & we still did not concede.

[jesco29]

While 1-nil isn't quite as fun to watch, I will agree that it shows our defense has improved greatly. We need to improve our finishing, but I think once Bent gets replaced in the lineup with either Pav or Defoe our finishing should improve greatly.