Spurs v Middesboro

I agree with the non-alarmists: there's nothing much to read into the end of the season, with pointless games in which we're playing for nothing. And, like others have mentioned we showed spells of class in the last two games but no sustained performances.

Steed should never be dropped - Player of the Season and comfortably our most complete and consistent midfielder.

Personally, I'm extremely confident about next season. Some of you may have seen my post before the Newcash game pointing out the Ramos' league form after taking over from Jol (and Allen) would have been sufficient to have us in 5th place again. With a couple of midfield signings and a proper pre-season, I will bet good money on at least a top 6 finish next year.

Number 10 wrote:

I will bet good money on at least a top 6 finish next year.

Is top 6 good enough? We got rid of a manager who took us to 5th in consecutive seasons!

I said at least top 6. Obviously top 4 and another trophy will be the target.

Thought this was worth sharing. Courtesey of TopSpurs.com

As Spurs produced yet another abject performance against another mediocre team, the euphoria and heady days of January and February and the success at Wembley seem a long way off. A team which defeated Arsenal 5-1, which was seconds away from inflicting a deserved defeat on Champions-elect and Champions League semi-finalists Manchester United, that deservedly won the Carling Cup against Chelsea, that thumped West Ham United by four goals and even managed an eight goal thriller against Chelsea is now scraping around relieved to get a point at home against Middlesbrough, having lost the previous home game against Newcastle United. We are led to believe that these players are playing for their futures at White Hart Lane and to impress their manager that they should be part of his future plans. There’s little evidence to suggest that any of them are looking to prolong their careers with Juande Ramos at Tottenham. The manager is finding it difficult to motivate the players for the mundane games at the end of the season – it’s fortunate that they’ve managed to somehow accumulate enough points to avoid the annual end of season relegation dog-fight. For the last two seasons Spurs have been the best of the rest, outside the ‘top 4’. At the moment they look as if they might even struggle to be the best of the bottom half of the Premier League. We all know that it doesn’t really matter as far as this season is concerned - it became much of a wash-out last August with two early defeats and the Jol saga, so we’re fortunate that something has been salvaged with the impressive results mentioned earlier and a piece of silverware collected to guarantee next season’s European football. However, after the exciting finish to the previous two seasons and the earlier performances, the current situation sees the season ending on a low with a long summer ahead. A positive finish to the season does much for the morale and enthusiasm of the supporters even if it doesn’t do anything for the players. Well, what have we got in Ramos? Perhaps we’ve got what we needed a ‘Cup’ manager for a ‘Cup’ team. Tottenham throughout their 125 year history, with their record of fifteen Cup wins from nineteen final appearances, have always been regarded as the Cup specialists, able to raise their game for the important games in the domestic cups or in Europe but struggled with the ordinary routineness of the league programme. They have struggled to maintain that Cup reputation in the past two decades but perhaps they are about to reclaim it under the guidance of the Cup specialist manager, Juande Ramos. With Sevilla Ramos won five Cups including successive UEFA Cups, the European Super Cup, the Spanish Cup and Spanish Super Cup which included victories over both Barcelona and Real Madrid. Last season as he led Sevilla to their second UEFA Cup triumph, they were involved in a four way struggle at the top of the Spanish La Liga table. They were battling it out with Barcelona, Valencia and Real Madrid but at crucial times during the season Ramos sacrificed vital league points by fielding weakened teams prior to important UEFA Cup games, including ahead of their matches against Spurs. This allowed Real Madrid to make a late challenge to claim the title.

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Ramos has shown at Tottenham that he can lift the players and prepare them for the ‘big’ games in the Cup and against the ‘top’ sides but since then there has been a lack of consistency and some very poor displays in the league. What have we lost in Martin Jol? He managed in his two full seasons to bring to Tottenham something that has been missing for many years. The same players managed to play with a consistency that produced results in the mundane ‘bread and butter’ routine of the league. However, he fell short against the top sides and in the crucial games at the latter end of the Cup competitions. When clubs play in a way that they are required to continually raise their game for vital matches, it is difficult to maintain that level of commitment and endeavour over a sustained period and that’s where the Spurs’ season has fallen away this year. These final games are a learning process for the new manager – he’s finding out about the players and also discovering that there a no easy games in English football. Hopefully, with a summer of preparation Ramos will get it right for both league and Cup because a few impressive Cup displays are soon forgotten as a long season unfolds. A few short weeks ago we thought the good times were back at White Hart Lane but any more lack lustre displays carried forward into the new season and the seeds of doubt will begin to take root. At the start of the current season the players at Tottenham were regarded as being good enough to take the club into the ‘top 4’ and Champions League football. However, nine months on, they plainly are not up to that task and many are being regarded as surplus to requirement. Perhaps, with it being so difficult to break the domination of the top sides in Premier League and as they show less interest in the Cup competitions, Spurs need to concentrate on Cup football and focus on adding to their Carling Cup success and in Ramos they might just have the manager who would be able to do achieve it. Logan Holmes