'A million percent'
Udinese 2 Spurs 0
Great interview here from Woodgate. Great because it sums up what's going on perfectly, pretty much how I or any other Spurs fan would describe the on the pitch performances at the moment. Sunday, genuinely is, a game of extraordinary importance. The fact the players are reacting badly to every bit of unfortunate luck or mistake on the pitch doesn't bode well for this game and the games that follow it. 'Losing mentality' Woodgate called it. Sums it up IMO. We are masters of it.
Once again we played a team this evening who were not that great. And yet we had one shot on goal, saw Gomes kill off the confidence we managed to build up in the opening 20 minutes with a howler - giving away the penalty - and then another inept© (copyright Tottenham Hotspur) second half performance topped with a O'Hara red card and a second Italian goal.
There was not a lot on show to suggest we will compete with Bolton. Yes, in parts, we actually played ok. But there was nothing sexy or slick and we looked a hundred years away from scoring. This is what makes it even more infuriating. We are not utterly useless like Derby County were in the Prem last year. But we are just shit enough to always lose, no matter the opposition. Udinese are second in Serie A, and until Gomes dropped a clanger we competed pretty well. Once again, no leader means when are heads go down, they stay down. Woodgate, for all his post-match talk should be doing some of it on the pitch.
What I hope has happened (at the very least) after the game is that Woody has gone mental in the dressing room, swearing/accusing and generally causing a reaction from other players. I'm talking about an old fashion verbal ding-dong, fingers pointing and frustrations aired publicly. The players have to unite and sometimes the only way is for some home truths to be told. Heads slumped, getting showered and dressed and sticking on their iPods is a no-fucking-go.
Ramos and Poyet have to also get in on the act, but somehow I can't see it. Can you?
The flip side to all this (which is still negative in this case) is that Woodgate isn't helping matters by slagging us off to the media. If he is frustrated then maybe the blame game within the dressing room is having the opposite effect because people are whispering their discontent rather than shouting it.
We also have Bentley telling everyone how 'shit' things are at the minute in magazine and radio interviews. It's grim no matter what what you read or hear.
Woodgate mentions Leeds (in the interview linked above) and how they had a better team than we do at the minute and still went down. Nobody is untouchable. On this current form, nobody will want to touch us come the January transfer window. So the players we have will be the players who will need to drag us out of this.
Relegation fight? A million percent, says our Woody rather obviously.
We are a calamity. And once again we move to our next game in the vein hope that something happens. A wink or a wave from the football Gods might just change our luck. Even a drop of piss from the God of War, falling from the heavens and onto our brow will be more than enough.
Sunday is going to be hellish. I have a feeling the God's will be napping.
