Continuing the occasional column on Spurs, The Times today has an interview with former manager Martin Jol. A couple of highlights worth mentioning:
In England I feel you still play too rigid. I want my teams to play and move, exploit the spaces created by the movement.” He offers an unexpected reference point. “That’s what Arsenal do . . . if I had £2bn, I would buy Arsenal.” He is laughing. “And I’d make a big parking place from the Emirates and make a new stadium for Spurs.”
And it would seem he still harbours ambitions of a triumphant return to the Lane.
It may be some time before Jol stops calling Spurs “we”…. His heart is a little fractured, but the love affair is not over. For those fans who cherished him, the news is, like Terminator, Big Martin Jol might one day be back. “I’m a fighter… I still have the feeling that you never know. I was thinking of Ottmar Hitzfeld. He left [from Bayern Munich], waited 2½ years, returned. In football it’s all about circumstances, opportunities. I realised I had to move on now and Tottenham will do fine.
Meanwhile, the Ramos era continued with a draw at Middlesbrough. A draw on Teeside is never a bad result, but Spurs will feel they should have done better, a view echoed by Gus Poyet after the game.
Ramos made an interesting decision starting Bent and Defoe ahead of Keane and Berabtov, and it paid off, with Bent getting a goal that will hopefully restore his confidence. Defoe played well and created chances, but both were replaced around the hour mark. Keane and Berbatov never really got going, or produced anything of note, and it will be interesting to see who Ramos starts with against Seville on Thursday (4pm Kick Off’s are very annoying!).
In midfield, Kevin Prince Boateng got the start ahead of Zokora, and impressed in the first half before being replaced by Zokora, who like the other two subs, were largely ineffectual. Jenas has again received criticism for being anonymous, but he was all over the pitch, and the lack of mention of his name on the commentary was more a function of the fact he made no mistakes, and put in a solid yet unspectacular performance.
The Middlesbrough equaliser was a wonder-strike from Ex-Spur Luke Young, and like about five other goals scored against us this season, is one that can’t be accounted for.
So Ramos remains undefeated ahead of the trip to Tel-Aviv on Thursday, where Spurs need a win to put their European ambitions back on track, and ensure that the Aalborg game I will be travelling to in a few weeks is not a desperate attempt to stay in the competition!
