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Yes, it is a real possibility. The harm that has been inflicted on our club by its leadership now puts us at real risk of going down. At the start of the season many fans were mocking those who suggested that relegation was a real possibility but the loss of two critical games, against Hull and against Stoke makes it something we have to worry about.

The Bolton game is as close to a must win as we have had this season. IF we do not get a win against Bolton, and my goodness if we lose it is a disaster, I think Levy has to act. So - what are his options?

To my mind I think that the critical thing that the entire club has to focus on is how we remain in the EPL this season. IF we do that, and we have a whole summer to do things right, we can return to the top half of the table with some key signings.

BUT - we need to stay up and if things go badly against Bolton there is a need for a switch - what should he do?

1. He should let Ramos and Comolli go. Yes, I know that the current situation is not Juande's fault BUT a failure to beat Bolton is not acceptable - we need the win.

2. He should pay Terry Venables what he needs to get him on the bench at the Lane. His objective will be to keep us up.

3. The squad should be told that no one gets to leave if we go down.

If we win against Bolton, Levy can keep his powder dry.

Next we need to have a list of players to bring in on January 1. Frankly, we should be seeing if there is assistance we can get now - players like Appaiah are worth bringing in.

This is a disaster of our leaderships making - tough decisions will have to be made to get us out of it.

What do you think?

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David Matzdorf on the Problems at Spurs

by Left Midfield on Oct 22, 2008 11:04 PM BST

David is one of the smartest Spurs fans on the web - here is is take on the UEFA Cup and our problems this season:

Of course it's a good thing to continue to play in Europe, not a diversion.

Wins breed confidence. Getting knocked out of the UEFA Cup at the group stages, or even just losing another 1 or 2 matches during the group stages, is not going to help the team's fragile confidence and would just reinforce the mental weakness that is such a major contributor to our poor performance. Wins don't just breed confidence, they breed more wins.

I don't agree with the original article about our "slow play". It's just factually incorrect. The team brims with pace: Bent, Lennon, Dos Santos, Jenas, Zokora, Hutton and Bale are all seriously quick.

We look slow because none of the midfielders or defenders knows what his new teammates are likely to do next. We play like a team of strangers because that's what we are. Players like Malbranque, Tainio, Lee, Chimbonda, Rocha, Ghaly, Keane and Berbatov were familiar with each other. They knew each other's tics, habits and devices. You can't sell 9 players, banish another 5 to the reserves and buy 10 players and expect everyone to pass to each other with one touch.

Instead, Modric, Jenas, Bentley and Lennon are visibly hesitating with the ball, waiting to see where their targets are going to go. Then they put in a pass anticipating a run and, at least 50% of the time, the target goes the other way. End of move, loss of possession.

We are paying the price for arrogance and hubris. Largely Juande Ramos' arrogance, his idea that he could reject half of the squad he inherited, import a load of players who had never experienced English football and immediately get them playing together.

We beat Roma 5-0. We won several pre-season games by lopsided margins. The moment we started to play English football, we came apart at the seams. Doesn't this suggest something about our Head Coach? Perhaps that he reckoned he knew a few things that he didn't actually know at all.

I don't think the failures at the end of the transfer window were very important at all. What was important was selling off a squad that had been carefully and slowly assembled over a 4 year period and reckoning that a load of strangers could take the Premiership by storm.

We don't miss Martin Jol as much as we miss Martin Jol's team. They played as a team.

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Spurs, Powell, the Redskins and Money in Football

by Left Midfield on Oct 20, 2008 4:50 PM BST

My friends, it is a tough time to be a Spurs fan after our terrible start to the season but the point I wanted to reflect on was my reaction to the defeat against Stoke. I switched on a few minutes late because I was matching the political show Meet the Press where former US Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Obama for President.

When I switched the game on we were down 1-0 and down to ten men. Of course we cam back briefly before losing another goal, defender and the game.

I switched off in disgust and the switched on the preview for the NFL - now that is not the shock - I love futbol and the NFL, the real shock was that I was able to mostly shift Spurs out of my thought process and this morning I was trying to figure out why.

I think at its core it is because I realize that the mess is entirely predictable and of our own making. Two summers ago we had a coach who loved the club, did not want to be anywhere else and had finished 5th twice. He asked for three players - a midfielder, left winger (who was pals with our moody Bulgarian striker) and a defender. Total cost 12.5 million pounds. Instead he got a whole lot of young talent that did not fill the gaps we had. Then our coach made the mistake of saying 5th would be a good finish that year and - in part because the club wants the money of the Champs League - was called unambitious, undermined and fired.

Then, this summer, with another good coach in position we need three players - a defensive midfielder, a left winger and a defender. And yes, we needed to sell Berbatov and by a top striker. Instead me buy lots of young talent and sell our other top striker and now languish at the bottom of the league.

Predictable.

Now here is what will happen, we will dig our way off the bottom and probably finish the season somewhere around 12-14th - maybe we win a cup. Suddenly those top 5 finishes don't look so bad do they?

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Open Thread: Modric is Battling an Injury

by Left Midfield on Oct 10, 2008 7:56 PM BST

Or so says Sky Sports - speaking of our Croatian I have wondered for a while whether it makes sense to play one striker up front Bent or Pava with one in the hole either Modric or if he is unfit GDS. Then with 4 in midfield we can afford to play Bentley on the right, Lennon on the left and Jenas in midfield with either Zoko or Hudd. I think that with Modric moving in that area between midfield and attack he could get free a lot and still assist the midfield pair when we lose the ball.

What do you think?

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UEFA CUP DRAW FOR SPURS

by Left Midfield on Oct 7, 2008 2:54 PM BST

I have a funny feeling that we will do quite well in the UEFA Cup this season, away from the pace of the EPL. Here is the details for our group phase, take a look at the official site for full details and a review from our director of futbol:

We have been drawn against Spartak Moscow, Udinese, Dinamo Zagreb and NEC Nijmegen in the group stage of the UEFA Cup.

It means Luka Modric will come up against his former club in Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb.
We will play each team once in the group stage with the top three of five progressing to the knockout stage.

Dates and what teams we play home or away are being decided at UEFA headquarters now
Here are a few facts about our opponents...

Spartak Moscow (Russia) - Roman Pavlyuchenko's former club, unfortunately he is ineligible for the UEFA Cup. Spartak are currently seventh in Russia. Michael Laudrup is their manager - we came up against him with Getafe last seaso. Sparta lost to Dinamo Kiev in Champions League qualifying

Udinese (Italy) - Currently level at the top of Serie A with Lazio and Inter Milan.

Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) - Luka Modric up against his former club but Vedran Corluka remains ineligible in the UEFA Cup. Currently top of Croatian championship by five points.

NEC Nijmegen (Netherlands) - Currently seventh in Holland with eight points from five games. Secured a 1-0 win against Dinamo Bucharest to qualify for this season's UEFA Cup group phase. Won through in a UEFA Cup play-off in Holland last season following an eighth place finish in Eredivisie.

We will kick-off the group stages of the UEFA Cup with a trip to Italian side Udinese at the Stadio Friuli on October 23.

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Quote of the Day: Juande

by Left Midfield on Oct 7, 2008 2:50 PM BST

From the Spurs Coach:

"This is my job, my work. It is the same whether we win or lose. The attitude of the players is very positive," he said after the 1-0 loss.

"In training and working and speaking with the players my feeling is they want to finish this situation quickly.

"But when you don't score goals it is not easy to win."

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BBC Gossip Update on Spurs

by Left Midfield on Oct 7, 2008 2:48 PM BST

All stuff we should have anticipated:

OTHER GOSSIP

But Ramos has been given a personal assurance by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy that he will be given time to turn the club around. (Daily Mirror)

Ramos was told not to worry about his future by Levy immediately after Spurs' defeat by Hull City on Sunday. (Daily Star)

There is boardroom unrest at Tottenham about the role Levy has played in the club's worst start to the season since 1912 after he gave the green light to Dimitar Berbatov's £30m deadline-day move to Manchester United. (Daily Mail)

Tottenham are set to fire sporting director Damien Comolli, who has angered manager Juande Ramos with his transfer dealings. (The Sun)

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Tough Times at Spurs

by Left Midfield on Oct 6, 2008 3:20 PM BST

Phil McNulty has a tough but fair column on the BBC blog today about Spurs.

It is well worth a read in its entirety but the central aspect of it can be summed up as the Spurs leadership is getting what it deserved at the moment. These are worrying times at the Lane and every Spurs fans should be very worried at what the future will bring.

Here is a key clip from Phil:

He told us, in faltering but improving English, that "all the people" were responsible for Spurs' almost unthinkable position at the foot of the table.

And yet he will know that if Spurs continue to lose, responsibility will ultimately be his - with director of football Damien Comolli possibly thrown in for good measure.

Ramos also struggles with the legacy of Martin Jol, with a straw poll among Spurs fans making it clear great affection remains for the Dutchman so ruthlessly and hastily dispatched by Levy last season.

They do not see Ramos as an upgrade on Jol and results bear out their opinion, with the latter flourishing at the Bundesliga summit with Hamburg.

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Tottenham Reject Hughes Rumor

by Left Midfield on Oct 3, 2008 3:46 PM BST

Well, after the Sun came out and suggested that Spurs wanted to replace Juande with Hughes, the club released this statement:

"The club largely refrains from making statements of this nature unless absolutely necessary in order to set the record straight in light of wholly inaccurate reporting.

"This story is completely untrue and without foundation and the matter is being discussed with the publication."

Frankly I think that this raises three points. 1. I would not put it past the club to try for something like this. There is an arrogance to the leadership at Spurs that makes me nervous as a life long fan. I said last year that we should never have sacked Jol, we should have backed him on players he wanted to bring in. I feel the same way about Juande. 2. Hughes would be daft to leave City for Spurs when he has an opportunity to build a young side that he really owns. 3. Juande is a fighter and I suspect he will not be too bothered by the rumors. His track record, and the flaws of the Spurs leadership, mean that he will get a big job abroad if he is sacked so he can operate in confidence.

Now here is a thought to consider. We bought Kevin Prince Boateng, BAE, Danny Murphy, Ghaly, Rocha for about 19 million pounds. They are all still on the books and would probably fetch about 5 million total. We sold Carrick for 16-19 million pounds. We still don't have a holding midfielder.

Now consider that we bought Pava for 16 million pounds when we could have bought, this summer, Senna (holding midfielder for Spain) for 5 million tops. Or that we could have bought Gareth Barry for 16-19 million pounds.

Leadership problems perhaps?

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Spurs v Wisla

by Left Midfield on Sep 18, 2008 7:56 PM BST

The team news via BBC:

TEAM NEWS Tottenham make five changes from the side that lost 2-1 to Aston Villa on Monday - three of them enforced. New signings Vedran Corluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko are both cup-tied, while Luka Modric is ruled out with a knee injury.

In come Ledley King and Chris Gunter in defence, Jermaine Jenas replaces Tom Huddlestone in the centre of midfield while David Bentley slots in on the right flank. Giovanni Dos Santos will provide support for Darren Bent up front.

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