Beef Bagel

It’s hard to tell what’s been my favourite part of the aftermath: the pictures in the papers; articles on our impending great future; going into work wearing my Tottenham shirt in the face of a loud mouth little Chelsea fan, cheering in his face and then going, “ok, ok, I’ll take it off,” to reveal another Tottenham shirt and doing it all over again; or perhaps walking down Holloway Road the next morning in my 1967 Spurs jumper, head held high, going into a newsagents and buying a copy of every paper? The shopkeeper says, “Are you a Spurs fan?” I nod and show him my ticket for the game. “Are you an arsenal fan?” I ask. He nods quietly. I grin broadly, “Good morning.”

Yes, the world is a better place and not just for us. No one likes Chelsea. We weren’t just the underdogs. We represented English football players (not that that issue bothers me that much but it does many), we represented the little guy, we represented potential change in the Big Four monopoly and we represented the fact that you can work your way to becoming Champions even if only of the League Cup.

No more are we a nearly team, no more are we a dressing room full of players without medals and big match experience. No more do we have to defend our club, our faith against critics; they have fallen silent or very stupid. We have something we can build on and every time I look at those Lillywhite ribbons on the League Cup my heart leaps to the future. They look so right. They look strong, bold. At last it’s there for the taking and Juande will take and call it Spurs.

I found myself, in my not so idol moments, dreaming of taking the league by storm next season. That’s right, you heard me. Why not? There seem to be three things you need to mount a proper challenge on the Premiership - even a sneaky one: 1) A good squad - our first team is perhaps not ideal but, with an impressive back line when fit, JJ, Little Aaron, Big Bad Tom, our genii up front, they’re a match for any side. What we do not have is the depth to back it up, but we’re getting there. The real shame is that Woodgate is already a doubt for Saturday’s game and God knows how Ledley’s royal knees are doing.

2) Results against the big guns. We’ve thrashed arsenal, we’ve beaten Chelsea twice out of our last three meetings, we’ve had two very good games against Man U and I’d wager Liverpool have a nasty surprise on their last game of the season when we put them out of next year’s Champions League.

3) Consistency - that word that drops out of Stevie G and his micro forehead in every single post match interview. Well, we consistently won in the League Cup. We consistently leaked goals from set-pieces at the start of the season and we are consistently improving under Juande. With such a familiarity with the concept, it’s only a matter of time before we put that consistency to better use.

Thankfully, Senor Juan is far more sensible than I am. He said, and rightly so:

“We still cannot be considered one of the big four. We are not at the same level as Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool. We have to continue working from game to game, although the trophy will make things slightly easier.”

“There are still many defects yet to polish.”

And there’s two reasons behind these comments. Firstly, it takes the pressure of our boys and secondly it gently lets the air out of our celebrations, so we don’t come back to earth with the bump of any upcoming bad performances of which we are most capable both in Europe and the Premiership. Juande has a plan and the ability to get it done; that’s what he has proved and that’s what we must look forward too. It’s easy to be dazzled by the gleaming of our silverware.

As for the next campaign, we’ve a few plans in the offing regarding personnel to help us with both 1), 2) and 3) above. A list has already been drawn up of who we might invite to join us on our journey and two contenders that have been confirmed are the much talked about Daniel Jarque and his teammate from Espanyol, goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. In an interview on Catalan radio Gus ‘There’s only one’ Poyet said:

“Kameni and Jarque are very interesting players and every player that is interesting is welcome at a club like Tottenham,”

“Both are on a long list of players that the sporting director has and that the club is looking at to strengthen the squad.”

“The decision on which players will be approached has not been taken.”

Central defender Jarque we know of but I think it’s time we take a look at Kameni. What do you say?

Idriss Carlos Kameni, as he’s properly known, is the youngest footballer to win Olympic gold at the age of just 16 - impressive for a goal keeper. Officially Cameroon’s man between the sticks, the 24-year-old helped the Indomitable Lions get themselves to the final of the ACN last month. He’s 6′2″ which is not bit for a keeper, here’s his head…

…unimpressed after his team mates pulled the old superglue on the goalies gloves routine.

Unofficial sources say that he holds an excellent game to clean sheets ratio of 37% but at the least all agree that he’s pretty good. Idriss (great name) moved to Espanyol for just £600k after a relatively unsuccessful stay at French club, Le Havre, and had been doing a decent job although I can imagine quite fancying a move away from La Liga seeing as many fans, some his own, thrown bananas at him during the game just in case he can’t hear their monkey noises. Lovely stuff.

Kameni makes the third keeper linked with us now after Maarten Stekelenburg and Livorno’s Marco Amelia. I can’t say he’d be my top pick but at least his song wouldn’t be hard to figure out: “Cameroon’s No.1, Cameroon, Cameroon’s No.1!”

Comolli and Ramos are set to be presented with some sort of big fat wheelbarrow of cash with which to make such purchases, not least of all funded by the new range of Carling Cup winner merchandise and I must admit, I’m pretty tempted. Call me unsupportive but I didn’t want to buy a Cup Final shirt before the game only to have to hate it for its cruel memories if we had lost on Sunday.

One fan out there, though, has really bagged themself a piece of history from our trip to Wembley. God knows how but someone managed to get their hands on JJ’s used left boot and stuck it on Ebay. Fortunately, it’s already been sold, else I’d be sorely tempted, but I love the description and the fact that he seller has been careful enough to leave it in it’s perfect state complete with Wembley mud. I wonder what I’ll be getting for Christmas?

Good to see JJ wears white boots. I’m always suspicious of players who chose footwear of non-club colours. Where’s the commitment? Speaking of which, Levy & Co. are frantically preparing a new deal to try to keep Dimitar the Great at our club through the summer and beyond. Since Woody’s arrival, our unofficial salary cap of £50k/week has been broken and it’s thought that Dimi will be offered somewhere in the region of £60k+. Fingers crossed. I’ll have a much calmer summer if the beautiful Bulgarian puts club branded pen to watermarked paper.

Drink up, young bagel. It’ll make the whole seduction part less repugnant.

The Bagel.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Match Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.