Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

That's Us In The Corner

It?s a quite unique feeling, I think. One that, in my life at least, has only ever been brought on by football. It?s the feeling of being winded by someone without actually being touched, the feeling that probably most of us felt when Carroll?s goal went in today and you just want to slump somewhere in a heap.

I don?t think it?s an expectation thing because I wouldn?t have said I was expecting to win, or even that I was quietly confident about it. Maybe it was Jelavić?s goal giving a glimpse of how good it could be but then the same thing happened in the Final in 2009 with Saha?s goal, yet this feels different. Then, we were beaten by a better team made up of better players. Today, we weren?t.

The difference, it seems, is attitude. When I say attitude I don?t mean how hard anyone is trying or how much effort is going into it, I mean a winning, almost arrogant attitude that says ?We deserve this lead, we deserve to be here. You try and stop us.? That is the belief that wins you trophies.

It?s the difference between being the King at the head of the table, and the grubby kid sneaking in the back door, sitting in the corner, eating a piece of stale bread, hoping no one notices you.

This is why we don?t beat the big teams away from Goodison. At home, that attitude isn?t as important because we have the crowd and the atmosphere to get over it, but away or at a neutral venue, like today, you need that arrogance to say to the other team ?we?re winning, you do something now.?

Instead, we score and then seem to forget all the good things we can do, or had done up to that point, panic and start to defend deeper and deeper, basically giving the green light to the opposition to come at us before they had even started to play well. Like someone who sees a firework and pre-emptively closes their eyes and covers their ears before the thing has even been lit, because they?ve heard that they can be dangerous.

The art of winning when you?re expected to win or when you?re in a position to do so is probably an even tougher skill to pick up than the art of learning to win in the first place. It?s one of the problems Spurs are having at the moment and it?s one of the reasons we fell apart the year after we finished 4th. Player for player, we?re as good as Liverpool but we just don?t seem to believe we belong at the same table as them.

To me, it?s the same problem that is behind our perennially bad starts to the season. Playing catch up, working your way through the field unnoticed when you?ve been written off and there?s no pressure is much easier than leading from the front and winning when you were the one to beat. It?s the difference between being a one-time surprise winner and a great champion.

I don?t know if it?s something that can be changed in a player a manager or a club, whether it?s something that time and experience teach you or if a complete overhaul is needed to make it happen, but either way, having players who are good enough is only half of the battle.

When it does happen though, just think of how good it?s going to feel!

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