For the second successive season Spurs have finished pre-season unbeaten and that can only bode well for the forthcoming campaign. People say that pre-season is meaninless and in a way they are right. Wins don't accumulate points and there is a large amount of squad rotation. However it must do the confidence of the players the world of good to beat quality opposition such as Sociedad. Bordeaux, Nice, Inter Milan and record a credible draw against Dortmund. It also allows the new players such as Berbatov to settle in with his new team mates. Now look back to the days of Francis and Hoddle when we would tour the Scandinavian countires picking up lousy results with lousy performances - how can that help preperations for a Premiership campaign? It hinders rather than helps and is the reason why a good pre-seaosn showing is vital for a good Premiership start.
The opening three fixtures are all winnable. Spurs should be aiming for fifth place at least and with a couple of wins this season against top four teams will see us challenge for fourth again. Not being able to beat the top four in the last two seasons makes it hard for us to close the gap for us to sneak a CL place and this must be a priority during the fourth coming campaign. It is about time we beat the scum again and is Liverpool really that much better than we are?
The transfer market has been another productive one for Spurs. Berbatov has arrived and has scored some good goals during pre-season and we have to hope this form continues on Staurday and beyond. Zokora joined after an excellent world cup and the new nippy right back looks good business. Screwing £18 million out of United was another good deal. I would have preferred Carrick to stay but once he had asked to go we had to extract the maximum fee possible for him. Now that money is buring a hole in Levy's back pocket we need to continue to strengthen. With just over 2 weeks of the transfer window to go a left winger has to be a priority and will be bad business if we leave this position under strength for another season. We may have to pay a little more than we were hoping to but if it is the difference between fourth and fifth or cup success then the outlay will be worth it.
Going back to pre-season form our first game of the season will be against Bolton, who have had a wretched few games. Fat Sam has had limited money and found it difficult to improve his side in time for the new season and thye have a stack of injuries. However, as all Spurs fans know, a trip to the Reebok is never easy and will be a tough test. Everyone wants a good start and I feel we have enough about us to see off Bolton on Saturday.
Robbie Keane is injured so I expect the line up to be Robinson in goal with Dawson and Gardner / Davenport in front of him. Beniot will be on the left with Lee on the right or vice versa. Lennon will be wide right with Zokora and Jenas central. Davids is almost certain to start on the left with Berbatov up front alongside Defoe. With only three strikers expect Barnard to be on the bench highlighting another area that could do with a bit of investment before September 1st.
See you in Bolton!
COYS!
