Spurs social media has been a fascinating place over the past eight weeks. The ups and downs of Tottenham's January and February have been the subject of quite bi-polar reactions of both the press (to be expected) and sadly even more extreme on social media - a format not exclusively but predominantly dominated by younger, often less sanguine fans.
February 27, 2017 10:46During these same eight weeks due to the involvement of one of the players I represent (left-back, Sam Habergham) I've had the pleasure to also experience first-hand the latest instalments of the incredible journey of Lincoln City - not just in the FA Cup, but in the FA Trophy and the National League as well.
Lincoln is a big club - a core support base as significant as most League 1 and many Championship sides (more than 2,200 of us were up at North Ferriby United this past Tuesday night joining about 150 home fans) to witness another 1-0 win to stretch the lead at the top of the National League.
Watching and listening to the Lincoln fan base experience this renaissance after many years on the slide reminds me so much of the vibe around Spurs in the year running up to our first Champions League qualification. Wide-eyed exuberance, rolling with the hits and enjoying the ride. Able to contextualise the set-backs because the upward curve was inexorable and undeniable.
The generation of fans that have been following Spurs since those days early this decade seem now to expect that Spurs will simply turn up each week, perform and win, ideally comfortably.
Anything other than that will be met with derision, of players (or a specific scapegoat player), the manager (mercifully even that is rare these days), the chairman (for not spending with profligacy whilst he's trying to fund a £750m super stadium) or other fans who apparently display lack of ambition (or perhaps it's simply realism!).
Obviously a fan’s perogative is to demand win after win, but the job of the supporter is to support. The distinction between fan and supporter seems ever more stark in the days of social media where even the kookiest views are given undue prominence.
Sure it's frustrating to lose at Anfield - but shorn of Vertonghen and Rose, our left flank was always likely to be troubled by the reunited Mane and Coutinho. At the top-end of the league you simply can't perform at the same level if you have two 'partnership' players missing at the same time - it upsets the rhythm and shape of the side too much (as Liverpool found to their cost when the aforementioned pair of talents were missing in tandem).
Perhaps the manager has to recognise and adapt the team but that Anfield defeat is one, no matter how annoying, can happen in those circumstances.
The Gent away result was the one true blip - an insipid performance - quickly expunged by a more typical display at Fulham, back to the intensity and slickness of passing that is Spurs' recent benchmark.
What does this tell us? It says that like every team in football in sport or at work, it's possible and indeed likely to have a bad day every now and then.
The critical aspect is to recognise it, and respond. Pochettino and the team have done that consistently over the past few years, emphatically so.
Which brings us to the Europa League exit - after a 2-2 draw at Wembley in the second leg against Gent. Some of the things I saw on social media on Thursday night were almost Arsenal TV levels of embarrassing.
Firstly, the shape and performance in the period prior to the Alli red card gave a clear indication that the side and the manager have found their feet at the national stadium – we’ve worked out how to use the space to our advantage but it’s clear we need our first-choice tools to execute that plan, so a priority for the summer will be to find a left-side cover for Rose in the way Trippier is for Walker on the right. And we must find a creative fulcrum to cover Eriksen’s role behind the front two. Perhaps the emerging home grown Marcus Edwards will save us a significant transfer outlay.
Secondly, the performance once we were down to 10 men was insanely good - usually 10 men performances are lauded for defensive resilience but this was a full on domination, as intense and slick as any 1- man performance we’ve put in this season. That we got caught on the break late on whilst pushing for a winner says everything about how this group of players more often than not display the Audere Est Facere attitude befitting the club motto.
Incidentally the equaliser benefitted from a lucky bounce off Dier and then a defection off Dier’s leg (Dier got slated by the social media ‘experts’ despite being given the almost impossible task of with being the one defender left at the back to cover two Gent attackers), and after that deflating moment of concession, the team still surged forward seeking a late double to go through.
In my book it was an heroic display - and yet the apparently ‘entitled’ cadre of youthful social media mouthpieces were hailing it as disgraceful!
In football as in life, context is everything. In the context of where we have come from, of what we are trying to deliver off the pitch, of the adaptation to two home grounds this season and of the significant short-term inconvenience of injuries to key players and key partnerships what Pochettino and the players are delivering again this season is remarkable.
The journey we are on is an inexorable and undeniable upward curve - after the destruction of Stoke we enter March the closest challengers to the champions elect, battling at the top of the Premier League for a second successive season, we are 90 minutes from an FA Cup semi-final and we have lost just three league games all season.
Structurally the club is a superb shape despite being financially hamstrung (temporarily) whilst we build the finest club stadium in the country if not Europe.
Perhaps we should take a leaf out of the Lincoln fans' playbook: embrace and enjoy the journey.
Jonathan Adelman is a season-ticket holder at Spurs, and also co-manages North London Raiders B in the MGBSFL