Spurs_Bear
Well-Known Member
- Jan 7, 2009
- 17,094
- 22,286
Ok, so I'm sat here on a Sunday without the usual "Has Harry lost it?", "Are we really that good?", "Pav is the bollocks", "Thrown it away again" type of threads, and have enjoyed reading a lot of people's views on the game yesterday.
I'm a season ticket holder, but due to holiday and work commitments, missed the Blackburn and Fulham replay games. I was especially looking forward to yesterdays game because of this, but also because I am experiencing a weird feeling about Spurs this season.....almost one of enjoyment!
The second half yesterday wasn't great to watch as far as the football goes, granted. But there were other things that happened during the game that interested me (not all of them from a positive point of view as you will see) that made the day enthralling and meant I still left the game satisfied that I hadn't wasted a day at the Lane.
1) Injuries & Injury Time - Now obviously this is one of the NON-positive things that I was talking about! Never have I seen 4 minutes of injury time at the end of the first half, when the hell does that happen?? I thought it was almost a standard 1 min added with the usual 4 at 90 mins, but even that had 8 (for viable reasons obviously) so in total we had 102 mins of football. Another not positive thing, the actual injuries. 2 people stretchered off, awful really. One wearing an oxygen mask and the other looking in a bad way, as well as us losing Dawson to what looked like an achilles injury.
Now onto the more positive....
2) David Bentley - I've been a long time critic of him as a player for us, as have many, but yesterday I felt myself warming to him and not necessarily for what he was doing regards to playing the game. The first thing I noticed was the rapport he had with Kyle Walker. Bentley at 25, is hardly a senior pro, but he encouraged and encouraged the young Walker, constantly slapping hands and clapping his overlapping, as well as talking to him through most of the first half. The other was the first time I have ever heard the WHL crowd sing his name. He came over to take a corner right in front of me (South-East Corner) and responded to the applause of the crowd as he usually does. Then there appeared a bit of an injury so there was a lull. He was having a laugh with a few people in the front row of the Park Lane, and then something weird happened...."BENTLEY....FROM THE HALFWAY LINE, BENTLEY.......FROM THE HALFWAY LINE, BENTLEY" came bellowing out of the crowd, and not just one or two this was sung by a fair few people. You could see the look on his face as if to say 'thanks, I know I've been a bit of a ****. But I appreciate it". This was good stuff and credit to the fans who started off the song.
2) Peter Crouch - Now I agree with BC (yes that's right.....:wink
, PC is the most misunderstood player that we have had probably since YP-Lee (another of BC's favourites). He works his bollocks off every game, gets the shit kicked out of him but never shies away from anything. I was so happy for him yesterday, and more importantly so were his team. Nearly every single member of the team came over for a cuddle with 3 Metre Peter, much like they did when Pav scored against Wigan and then followed it up in the next game. The OTHER thing about Crouch was again to do with the crowd. "He's long....he's tall.....he hates the Arsenal....PETER CROUCH (and repeat)" could even be heard (although it was quiet - it's a terrible song but never mind!) which is a nice touch, as it's something that hasn't been heard a lot at the Lane this season.
3) The Second Half - This has been discussed a lot by people and I honestly think a lot of people missed the point about it. We had the game won, we have had a lot of injuries recently, so there was no need to go out and bust a gut. Yes Portsmouth had a lot of possession, but it counts for nothing when you cant do anything with it, and they certainly didn't do anything with it in the second half. It was also interrupted by 2-3 bad injuries, which not only upset the flow of the game but I'm sure affect the players mindset when they see someone carted off on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on.
4) The crowd & atmosphere - Started off in the Irish Centre yesterday, which had a fairly decent turn out of Pompey fans including the guy who is always singled out in the crowd who doesn't wear a shirt and has about a million piercings and tattoos. The atmosphere in the pub was good, but also the amount of interaction between the fans was also good to see, with a lot of our fans asking for photos with the Pompey guy, who was more than happy to oblige. When the game started, there was good to and fro chanting from both sets of fans but it was something that happened in the second half which was yet another show of the feeling that is around WHL at the moment. Around 80 mins had gone and the Pompey fans were staring yet another defeat in the face, having lost 2 players to bad injuries and seen their keeper limp off as well, they started a chorus of "Pompey til I die.....I'm Pompey til I die etc" which was greeted by applause from the Park Lane and Shelf. And not the usual sarcastic applause which is usually accompanied by a "WAHEY!!!!!" and saved for songs like "You're support is fucking shit!" from the oppo, but the sort of applause that was like "Fair play to you, you crazy Pompey fans!" There was also another example of the good feeling, when during injury time the ground had almost emptied as people made their way out to a chorus of "Was there a fire drill?......Was there a fire drill?" from the Pompey lot, which was again received well by us.
So what's the point of my long winded and fairly nonsense thread? I have no fucking idea.
But I do know, things are good at the Lane. Very good. They haven't always been, and for sure they wont always stay like it. BUT while this is continuing we need to continue to embrace this good feeling and lap it up as much as possible, because I for one love this fucking feeling about my club.
I'm a season ticket holder, but due to holiday and work commitments, missed the Blackburn and Fulham replay games. I was especially looking forward to yesterdays game because of this, but also because I am experiencing a weird feeling about Spurs this season.....almost one of enjoyment!
The second half yesterday wasn't great to watch as far as the football goes, granted. But there were other things that happened during the game that interested me (not all of them from a positive point of view as you will see) that made the day enthralling and meant I still left the game satisfied that I hadn't wasted a day at the Lane.
1) Injuries & Injury Time - Now obviously this is one of the NON-positive things that I was talking about! Never have I seen 4 minutes of injury time at the end of the first half, when the hell does that happen?? I thought it was almost a standard 1 min added with the usual 4 at 90 mins, but even that had 8 (for viable reasons obviously) so in total we had 102 mins of football. Another not positive thing, the actual injuries. 2 people stretchered off, awful really. One wearing an oxygen mask and the other looking in a bad way, as well as us losing Dawson to what looked like an achilles injury.
Now onto the more positive....
2) David Bentley - I've been a long time critic of him as a player for us, as have many, but yesterday I felt myself warming to him and not necessarily for what he was doing regards to playing the game. The first thing I noticed was the rapport he had with Kyle Walker. Bentley at 25, is hardly a senior pro, but he encouraged and encouraged the young Walker, constantly slapping hands and clapping his overlapping, as well as talking to him through most of the first half. The other was the first time I have ever heard the WHL crowd sing his name. He came over to take a corner right in front of me (South-East Corner) and responded to the applause of the crowd as he usually does. Then there appeared a bit of an injury so there was a lull. He was having a laugh with a few people in the front row of the Park Lane, and then something weird happened...."BENTLEY....FROM THE HALFWAY LINE, BENTLEY.......FROM THE HALFWAY LINE, BENTLEY" came bellowing out of the crowd, and not just one or two this was sung by a fair few people. You could see the look on his face as if to say 'thanks, I know I've been a bit of a ****. But I appreciate it". This was good stuff and credit to the fans who started off the song.
2) Peter Crouch - Now I agree with BC (yes that's right.....:wink
, PC is the most misunderstood player that we have had probably since YP-Lee (another of BC's favourites). He works his bollocks off every game, gets the shit kicked out of him but never shies away from anything. I was so happy for him yesterday, and more importantly so were his team. Nearly every single member of the team came over for a cuddle with 3 Metre Peter, much like they did when Pav scored against Wigan and then followed it up in the next game. The OTHER thing about Crouch was again to do with the crowd. "He's long....he's tall.....he hates the Arsenal....PETER CROUCH (and repeat)" could even be heard (although it was quiet - it's a terrible song but never mind!) which is a nice touch, as it's something that hasn't been heard a lot at the Lane this season.3) The Second Half - This has been discussed a lot by people and I honestly think a lot of people missed the point about it. We had the game won, we have had a lot of injuries recently, so there was no need to go out and bust a gut. Yes Portsmouth had a lot of possession, but it counts for nothing when you cant do anything with it, and they certainly didn't do anything with it in the second half. It was also interrupted by 2-3 bad injuries, which not only upset the flow of the game but I'm sure affect the players mindset when they see someone carted off on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on.
4) The crowd & atmosphere - Started off in the Irish Centre yesterday, which had a fairly decent turn out of Pompey fans including the guy who is always singled out in the crowd who doesn't wear a shirt and has about a million piercings and tattoos. The atmosphere in the pub was good, but also the amount of interaction between the fans was also good to see, with a lot of our fans asking for photos with the Pompey guy, who was more than happy to oblige. When the game started, there was good to and fro chanting from both sets of fans but it was something that happened in the second half which was yet another show of the feeling that is around WHL at the moment. Around 80 mins had gone and the Pompey fans were staring yet another defeat in the face, having lost 2 players to bad injuries and seen their keeper limp off as well, they started a chorus of "Pompey til I die.....I'm Pompey til I die etc" which was greeted by applause from the Park Lane and Shelf. And not the usual sarcastic applause which is usually accompanied by a "WAHEY!!!!!" and saved for songs like "You're support is fucking shit!" from the oppo, but the sort of applause that was like "Fair play to you, you crazy Pompey fans!" There was also another example of the good feeling, when during injury time the ground had almost emptied as people made their way out to a chorus of "Was there a fire drill?......Was there a fire drill?" from the Pompey lot, which was again received well by us.
So what's the point of my long winded and fairly nonsense thread? I have no fucking idea.
But I do know, things are good at the Lane. Very good. They haven't always been, and for sure they wont always stay like it. BUT while this is continuing we need to continue to embrace this good feeling and lap it up as much as possible, because I for one love this fucking feeling about my club.
