Things you were wrong about, things you were right about and things you're still unsure of Spurswise

[fortworthspur]

still unsure about Alli's footballing ability, I know he's done quite well but sometimes he just looks so average with a ball bouncing off him & other times he seems unbelievable

not trying to wind you up, but...

what is different this year? Id say the midfield. And whats new in the midfield? Dier and Alli. Every game. Yes, Toby is new, too. But games are won and lost in the midfield for the most part.

 

[TwanYid]

Why so much hate Twan? I think we all have players we either struggle to feel a connection with or don't think are good enough for the team but I generally reserve my hatred for real ****s like Wilshere and Terry, not players that wear the lilywhite shirt. I think Eriksen only ever plays to 60% of his potential, it really annoys me and I would like to see him moved on but I'll still sing his name at matches and be ecstatic when he scores a winner for us. We all want the same thing for the club, right?

I would NEVER, EVER boo or hate on a player in person at WHL- in fact I abhor that kind of shit. I am not unduly negative towards our team. Funny enough, I am the type to only cheer on our squad and never badmouth- out loud- ANY of our players, ever. It's only on an internet forum in a chat room where I ever express antipathy towards anyone connected with our club. And when I say "hate" (as in a player) it's almost always down to their attitude rather than their suckiness per se. So with Rose, I was angry at what I perceived to be a haughty, I'm-too-good-for-this-team, sulky demeanor. With Chiriches, he seemed not to give a flying fuck that he just did the stupidest thing on earth (and just generally seemed to have his head up his ass), with Keane he was a traitor, etc. So my "hatred" was more down to anger at what I perceived to be players not playing for the cause. With AVB, my hatred was for his rigidity and turgid style of football, which to my mind came from an outsized ego.

Anyway, nowadays I don't "hate" anyone on our team, as no matter how poorly they perform, everyone seems to be pulling in the same direction, which is all one can ask.

 

[Matthew Wyatt]

A few weeks back I posted a mea culpa about Poch, openly admitting that I was very, very wrong about the guy. It felt good- really fucking good. So with that in mind, let's collectively discuss aspects of our club about which we were mistaken, things we were dead on about and things we're still unsure of. No agendas, no revisionist history- just pure, unadulterated honesty. Try it- you'll like it. I'll go first lol:

Wrong

-Poch. Nothing more to say than I've already said. Thought the guy was a mediocre, unproven "yes-man"-type coach, a guy brought in by Levy in order to be controlled by Levy. Boy oh boy was I wrong on that one. Only thing I'll say in my defense is that I said a number of times in various posts that I hoped I'd be wrong about the guy- that I hoped to have egg on my face and would be happy to admit being wrong. Which I was. Ecstatic in fact.

-Danny Rose. Fucking hated this player after his crap return from Sunderland. I was wrong- his crap return was a dip in form-- the real Danny Rose plays for us and- though he is prone to the odd bonehead play-- is one mean mofo, a great player to have on your side, a super athletic fullback and one who truly "dares to do." He's fantastic- I love how he tortures the opposition, gets in their face, harasses them and just generally wreaks havoc. My God was I off base about this guy.

-Harry Kane. Lordy Lordy Lordy this might be my worst call yet (though I wasn't as vocal about it since he didn't offend me the way the above two did). If you would've told beginning-of-2014-me that Harry Kane would be our lead-dog striker (and one of the best forwards in England- if not the world) I'd have smiled and said "oh- o.k.- and I guess Benoit Assou-Ekotto has been made club ambassador!" and laughed along with you since obviously you would've been joking. Except that you wouldn't have been- and the joke would've been on me. Again: thank God for that.

-Emmanuel Adebayor. I wanted this player so badly I would've carried him to the Lane. I loved him, loved his stylish play and loved him being on our team that first season. I clucked and crowed like a rooster, proud as hell of both myself and Daniel Levy for outsmarting everyone else and getting a world-class striker on the cheap. Welp, ya get whatcha pay for...I mean wow was this guy a cancer. Don't worry people- at least I can say that end the end I, too, hated the guy. Yes, I should've realized that what appears to be too good to be true always is.

-Etienne Capoue. I loved the guy. He had everything you could ask for in a DCM- like a more elegant Sandro. He was going to eventually be our Xabi Alonso. Except he was awful. Still can't figure out where it all went wrong with that guy-- but go wrong it did...


Right

I have to say that though I've been wrong about a fair few things in my almost decade-and-a-half of loving Spurs (first season following the club: 2002), I've been right many more times than I've been wrong. So instead of listing all of the "rights," I'm going to list the highlights of correctness. Take this with a grain of salt (it'll seem as if I'm bragging), but I'm not lying and/or exaggerating about any of it. I've fully admitted my errors- now for some spot-ons:

-Roberto Soldado. Out've everything I've ever accurately called/predicted, this one stands out. The day he was acquired I wrote to a friend "great, we've just shelled out upwards of 20 million Quid on a poor-man's Jermaine Defoe. What a colossally stupid buy this is. We will rue the day we made this worthless elf our own." Holy moly was I dead on. How did I know he'd be so bad for us? I just did. He was a small, slow poacher, a guy incapable of leading the line/playing up front on his own, a talented footballer but just disastrously wrong for Spurs. On them %$#&s up the road, sure- but not us. I couldn't believe it when we signed this guy- but even cynical old me was shocked at just how bad he was. Holy SHIT was that a bad acquisition- and wow(!) did I know that from the start.

-AVB. I was so opposed to him becoming our manager-- I mean so utterly against it-- that it's a wonder I'm still here, that, indeed, I didn't keel over from a mixture of grief, frustration and rage over this person taking over our club. I know, I know-- "c'mon, he's not that bad" you say- "he's done pretty well at Zenit, and as far as his time with us he was put in an impossible situation because of Levy and ..." to which I would say "please, please be quiet." Because you see, no matter how revisionist anyone gets, no one on earth will ever convince me that this guy's tenure with us wasn't torture. "But he led us to the most points we've ever had in the league since we..." you'd sputter-- but again I'd put my fingers to my lips and motion for you to cease talking. Maybe it was because I loved Harry so much, maybe it was because I hated Daniel (for firing Harry) so much, but I was sure with every fibre of my being that this guy wouldn't just be "wrong" for Spurs (in the way that appointing, say, Alan Curbishley would be), but that, indeed, his very presence would damage us. In the same way I was wrong about Adebayor, I was right about this guy: Levy thought he'd pulled a fast one on a mega-rich club, obtaining a cast-off relatively easily, one that would turn to gold for us. You could just sense Levy's desire to get one over on Abramovich, to demonstrate how he/we could succeed where another failed. Turns out there was a reason the ginger genius was available: because he was a putrid manager who had no business being in- and would never succeed in- the Prem. Honestly, the football under AVB was so bad that I began to rethink my love of the sport. Maybe some of my disdain for the guy was/is irrational, but I can honestly say I might've quit watching us had he stayed long term. Gareth Bale masked it that first season, but that second one was pure torture. The guy made me love the appointment of Tim Sherwood FFS.

-Vlad Chiriches. This was a weird one in that, though I didn't "know" upon hearing we'd gotten him that he'd be a failure (a la Soldado), I promise you that once I saw him play one time I was positive that he was a colossal bust- and I said so on here immediately. I got a lot of hate for that- dudes saying I didn't know shit about football, that I had no idea about "underlying talent" and that I was rushing to judge a player who- in time- would prove me utterly wrong ("he'll go on to be a Spurs legend" was something actually said by someone on here). Well, in the real world Vlad Chiriches turned out to be absolute fucking toilet- and what's worse- he seemed not to give a fuck. At least Soldado cared.

-Post-Liverpool Robbie Keane. I was dead- and I mean DEAD-set against re-acquiring him. In fact I was so angry about it I seethed every time he touched the ball. I fucking hated him for leaving us but that's not why I didn't want him back; I didn't want him back because I knew he was shot, and utterly effing worthless (which he was). I still wish we'd have left him with Rafa; I still cannot believe we gave him/them a lifeline. We offed him at the perfect time and then shot ourselves in the foot! Aaaarrrrgghhhh!!!!!

Still unsure about

-Levy: I can't for the life of me decide if this guy is a cheap, penny-pinching leader who only helps Spurs because it adds to ENIC's bottom line or if he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. After all the upheaval, all the coaching changes and all of the turmoil (amid a bit of relative success), I honestly can't even figure out how I feel about him! Sometimes I hate him, most of the time I love him...Can someone please tell me if he's awful or the best chairman we could possibly hope for? I'm starting to adore him- is that right?

Ok, so that's a few of my Spurs wrongs, rights and IDK's-- what say you? Who/what have you been utterly mistaken about, and who/what were you dead-on correct regarding? C'mon- get it off your chest!

You've more or less said it all for me, and particularly about Pochettino and AVB. Nice post.

 

[Atarrier]

I'm wrong so often even I've started to take my opinion with a pinch of salt

Wrong:
I'm still angry at myself for buying a Philip Ifil Shirt.
I use to think Bale was one-dimensional
Harry Kane wasn't particularly good
Kuyt was amazing
Postiga was going to be amazing
Soldado was going to be amazing
Poch- Had nothing against him but would have preferred FDB- I think ThinkTank did convince me with a few articles though
LVG- Really really wanted him
Capoue was the next Vieira
Holtby was on a par with Goetze
By not signing a DM in the summer we were done for.

Right:
Stephane Dalmat was a wizard.
Sherwood is a poor man's Frank Underwood
VDV should never have been sold
Tarrico was shite.
Defoe is massively overrated by anyone who doesn't follow Spurs and only sees them on MOTD
Alli, although looks fantastic, doesn't deserve to given Man of the Match award by nearly every media outlet after every game

Although not Spurs related:
-Wayne Rooney has been massively overrated his entire career.

Undecided:
Lennon should have been the first name on the England team sheet 2006-2010
Bentaleb plays like Zidane- Perhaps that could be put in the Wrong section
Ledley King would have been England's best defender- Although that tackle against Robben is still my favourite of all time.

 

[Borks]

I would NEVER, EVER boo or hate on a player in person at WHL- in fact I abhor that kind of shit. I am not unduly negative towards our team. Funny enough, I am the type to only cheer on our squad and never badmouth- out loud- ANY of our players, ever. It's only on an internet forum in a chat room where I ever express antipathy towards anyone connected with our club. And when I say "hate" (as in a player) it's almost always down to their attitude rather than their suckiness per se. So with Rose, I was angry at what I perceived to be a haughty, I'm-too-good-for-this-team, sulky demeanor. With Chiriches, he seemed not to give a flying fuck that he just did the stupidest thing on earth (and just generally seemed to have his head up his ass), with Keane he was a traitor, etc. So my "hatred" was more down to anger at what I perceived to be players not playing for the cause. With AVB, my hatred was for his rigidity and turgid style of football, which to my mind came from an outsized ego.

Anyway, nowadays I don't "hate" anyone on our team, as no matter how poorly they perform, everyone seems to be pulling in the same direction, which is all one can ask.

Fair enough, your original post came across quite strong but I agree with most of what you've said above.

 

[TwanYid]

You've more or less said it all for me, and particularly about Pochettino and AVB. Nice post.

No problem bro- glad you liked it! I wrote it in one stream-of-consciousness rant (one that I'd been meaning for weeks to get off my chest) last night, just prior to going to bed.

My wife came in (mid-novel), turned on the light, looked at me quizzically, then looked at the computer screen, read a few sentences and said- disgustedly- "what the hell are you doing?"

"Nothing honey- just go to bed" was all I could muster.

 

[EastLondonYid]

RIGHT

Caulker ...As an ex CH myself its a position i look at very closely, i thought he was so over rated,and he was.

Ade ...........Didn't want him, knew he was trouble

Sherwood......Fucking couldn't stand him from day 1.

Dembele ... I am a massive fan...he still has some way to go, but has shown us what he's about this year.

Levy.... IMO he has come good, Stadium ,Poch ,and top 5 the last 6 years and financially ok,, Sure he sometimes fucks up , but he always has Spurs best interest at heart.

WRONG

KANE.....Hands up i was not sure about him at all......wow i am now

Dier ....still not totally convinced, but way better than i thought he would do in midfield.

 

[Hoops]

Right
Son is good
Lamela is good
Mason overrated
Walker is good player
Holtby aint that good
Dembele should play


Wrong
Alli and Dier too young to play midfield
Wasnt sure Kane could keep it up
wasnt convinced on Poch, but wasnt against him
thought we should have stuck with Avb

 

[Ironskullll]

Turns out I was right

http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/262199870131
http://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/151924693441

Definitely right was I ...

http://www.acronymfinder.com/EUFA.html

Same season http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOTTENHAM...156855?hash=item43e6b0d2f7:g:5sAAAOSwI-BWKjYM

 

[absolute bobbins]

Right

Sherwood. I was walking over to Roka after the gym when that news broke, immediately lost my appetite, bought a bottle of scotch and went home. I knew he was a chocolate teapot, thankfully Levy realised it too.

Wrong

AVB. Even though we were playing dull turgid football at times I thought he was going to sort and then smash it, he just didn't for whatever reason, may have been arsehole players, may have been his personality...whatever. He's still a very good coach but he just isn't right for the premier league.

 

[thinktank]

Oh, I forgot about Lamela.

Was always super clear he was a special talent, but a very specific personality type who would need more time to adjust and acclimatise here in the prem. before we saw the real coco.

I mean, the guy cried when he left Roma. Not so sensitive anymore though...

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[oskathegobshite]

I'm still angry at myself for buying a Philip Ifil Shirt.

Sorry mate but that's fucking hysterical

 

[HodisGawd]

RIGHT

Levy - he's an evil genius. Thank god he's on our side.
Lamela - I thought people were insane, and utterly stupid, to write him off. IN YOUR FACE haters.
Sherwood - obvious he was a dick.
Redknapp - always said he was a shyster and he blew our big chance.

WRONG

AvB - I thought he would take us places.
Adebayor - I was still defending him in September. What a chump I am.
Dier - liked him, but never thought he'd be a good DM.
Lloris - I thought he'd be off. And I wouldn't have blamed him.
Holtby - I was seduced by YouTube videos.
Kane - I remember saying he was all-round decent but didn't have any major attributes and probably wouldn't make it in the Prem.
Chiriches - I thought he'd be class. Instead he was ass.

 

[Database]

Right
Pavlychenko
Soldado
Sandro
AVB
Holtby

Wrong
Friedel
Kane
Alderweireld
MODRIC

 

[ultimateloner]

Right:
Kane/optimism/Levy/Soldado failure

Wrong:
Lamela/Bentalab

 

[Jody]

Right

Bale going on to be a worldy
Modric ditto
Dell Ali being the next Gerard
Poch being awesome
Lamela coming good

Wrong

AVB being awesome
Bale staying
Modric staying

Undecided

Us winning the league this year

 

[dickyid]

Right:

Levy
Liverpool going to the dogs post Gerrard
Man U going to the dogs post SAF
Terry being a c*** (potentially libellous and unrepeatable story from when I worked for Chelsea in 1998)
Harry Kane being a worldy (see below)

Wrong:
Every other young striker we've had being a worldy, right back to Paul mahorn (willem Korsten excepted. He was gonna be awesome)
Bale being potentially the best LB in the world vs being a very good LW who'd waste his talents playing further up.

Unsure:
When to cash out on my '£10 ew Spurs win the league at 150-1' bet from August.

 

[scat1620]

Wrong
At my first live game at WHL (Derby County; August 1997; 1-0 win to us with Calderwood getting the only goal) I saw home debuts (I think?) for David Ginola, Les Ferdinand and Jose Dominguez. I had a 'blank' replica shirt which I wanted to put a name/number on and before the game I was all set to get Ginola 14 on the back of my shirt, but he had a pretty mediocre match against Derby and was hooked for Jose Dominguez during the game, so as I came out of the ground I headed to the shop and got Ferdinand 10 put on the back of my shirt rather than Ginola 14.

Boy, was that a bad call...

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

I remember being quite vocal in my belief that Harry Kane was never going to be good enough.. How wrong could I have been.

I'm still yet to be convinced regarding Mason, Carroll and Son.. Lets hope they all prove me wrong in the same way Kane has done..

 

[Ironskullll]

Same season http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOTTENHAM...156855?hash=item43e6b0d2f7:g:5sAAAOSwI-BWKjYM

@TheChosenOne - the revealing part is the initials UEFA on the picture of the cup. I well remember it being referred to as the EUFA Cup in the newspapers at the time and wondering why, and which was right. I think it was just our own insular newspapers assuming the initials were EUFA because they figured they stood for European Union of Football Associations or some such thing....