Where are we going under Capello?

What a depressing squad announcement.

The return of Carson, Upson, Lescott, Jagielka and Carrick are what we get when we are promised a 'new era' after our shambolic World Cup campaign. Claims that David Stockdale was set to earn a call-up are all well and good and it would have been deserved following his start to the season but we could call me up to be 3rd choice keeper. It wouldn't make much difference. This squad demonstrates that when it comes to competitive games, Capello still cannot help but play safe and go with solid, middle-of-the-road performers instead of blooding exciting youngsters.

Those nasty rumours going around that Capello still hadn't closed the door on international returns for Beckham and Scholes sums this up for me. England's qualifying group is not exactly terrifying. We should qualify without the need for the experience of Beckham and Scholes. The European Championships are two years away, by which time the two of them will be far too old to make any sort of significant contribution. Why then do we not bring in the likes Huddlestone, Lennon, Rodwell and blood them now, meaning that by the time the European Championship comes around, players such as this will be settled within the squad and have two years international experience behind them.

The inclusion of the likes of Gibbs and Wilshere in these squads seem more like a pointless token gesture, similar to how Eriksson took Walcott to the World Cup in 2006. Neither player has made any sort of contribution to Arsenal yet and Capello knows by calling them up, he will look as if he is fulfilling his promise to blood young talent, whilst actually leaving them on the bench to play behind the likes Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Maybe a part of me is a bitter Spurs fan, angry that Huddlestone and Lennon have missed out. But I'm sure not many people could argue that Huddlestone has been a better and more effective player than Carrick over the last 18 months, and the same can be said for Lennon over Walcott and Wright-Phillips. Lescott struggles to make the City team and the last time Jagielka played for England he had to come off with twisted blood after an encounter with David Villa.

With these sorts of players, yes we will qualify for the European Championships. But if we go to the Championships themselves in Poland and Ukraine with players like Carlton Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who quite frankly are not international quality, then it will all end in tears again.

In Joe Hart we have a new and very good goalkeeper. But so far that's it. Nothing has changed from the team that flopped so miserably in South Africa (aside from Heskey's retirement). Unfortunately I don't see this changing. Upson & co won't concede many goals against Bulgaria, Montenegro, Wales et al. Carlton Cole may even score a few goals. Capello will therefore see no reason to drop them and as soon as we come up against a decent team at Euro 2012 we will be humbled again.

Sorry if this seems overly cynical. But as Baddiel and Skinner said, 'We've seen it all before'.

Back to Earth with a Bump.

After the Euphoria of our midweek thumping of Young Boys and the glamourous reward of a trip to the San Siro. Us Spurs fans could have been forgiven for thinking that this was it, we had made it, we were one of the big boys now. After dining on the caviar of the Champions League, we returned to the bread and butter of the league and vomited all over ourselves. This was Spurs at their worst. Static, devoid of ideas and lazy. At the time of writing, Manchester United are moving through the gears and leaving West Ham as a greasy stain on the road. We have a long way to go.

First of all, I believe 'arry got his team selection wrong. A home game against Wigan does not require two defensive minded players in the middle of the park. Huddlestone was as bad as I've seen him in a long time, giving away his first three passes set the tone for a torrid afternoon. Palacios was much improved on his midweek showing but still lacked the creativity we needed to break Wigan down. Many plaudits will go to the Wigan goalkeeper but in fact he only made one save of note before the final 15 minutes when Spurs realised a win was not going materialise by its self. Spurs played the first half at something of a stroll, thinking that the goals would flow without too much effort. By the time they realised that this wasn't going to be the case it was too late and their panicky, rushed attempts to grab a goal only resulted in more frustration, both from the crowd and from each other, and a breakaway Wigan goal.

So who can really hold their heads up after todays game? Bale and Lennon lacked their usual effervescence, Crouch and later Pavlyuchenko were anonymous. Defoe buzzed around in his usual busy way but was bullied out of the game by the physical Wigan defence. After a wonderful midweek performance, Assou-Ekotto spent most of the first half playing silly buggers at the back before being replaced at half time. Cudicini was a spectator for most of the game but when his moment in the spotlight came, he fluffed his lines horribly. Ledley gave Rodallega, who likes a shot (as the member of rows F thru P behind the goal were finding out throughout), too much space to shoot and the resulting tame, scuffed effort someone squirmed through Cudicini's hand and in. Wigan's 14 supporters went mad, the rest inside White Hart Lane went madder.

Until we learn how to break down teams that defend deep in numbers, we will not be able to make the step up to consistently challenging for the top 4 and beyond. As we improve and teams give us more respect, more and more teams will adopt this tactic at White Hart Lane. Last season Wolves, Stoke and Hull got joy from this tactic. Wigan are the first this season and I have a nasty feeling they won't be the last.

Goal Line Technology is needed. But the ref got it right.

Another weekend of competitive football, another controversial goal line incident. According to the country's pundits and everyone involved with Stoke City, the header from Jon Walters clearly crossed the line despite Crouch's best efforts and it joins the 'goals' of Lampard, Pedro Mendes and Luis Garcia sitting on Sepp Blatter's desk marked 'Goal Line Technology - Get on it'.

Chris Foy has been vilified by the media for missing another clear example of the ball crossing the line. The fact is he couldn't have given that goal. He would deserve more criticism if he had given it. From where he was standing there was no way he could have seen if the ball had 100% crossed the line. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. Foy wasn't sure so he looked over to the linesman to see if he was sure, but the linesman wasn't sure either. You can't give a goal on a guess. Clattenburg was about 60 yards away when Mendes's shot bounced over the line at Old Trafford, he couldn't have been sure. Criticism should be aimed at the linesman, he should have been better placed and should have seen the ball cross the line. When Lampard 'scored' against Germany, the linesman was again perfectly placed but for some reason did not give the goal. From the referee's postion some 30 yards from goal, he couldn't be sure.

Foy couldn't have possibly won with that decision. If he had given the goal, comparisons would have been made with Luis Garcia's goal against Chelsea in the Champions League a few years back. The general consensus is now that the ball probably didn't cross the line. The referee couldn't possibly have been 100% sure and so gave the goal on a guess. Maybe the Anfield atmosphere and the importance of the 'goal' swayed his decision. This deserves much greater condemnation. Foy had his hands tied by the rules and FIFA's lack of technology and made the correct decision. Why this incident remains controversial is FIFA's fault.

So what can FIFA do? I personally remain unconvinced by the extra officials behind the goal. The 'did it or didn't it cross the line' debate happens fairly infrequently and having two men stationed just for this seems like a waste of man power. Talk of sensors in the goal or in the ball seems like an accident waiting to happen when defenders or goalkeepers are standing right on the line. The best bet in my opinion would be a cricket-style 3rd umpire or referral system. If the referee is not sure if the ball crossed the line, he should have the power to stop the game to consult with an extra official with access to a TV replay and then either give the goal or restart play with a drop ball. Another method could be the attacking team asking for a cricket-style referral, although this would throw up questions of the referee's authority and could be used tactically to deny counter-attacks etc.

I am aware there will always be people saying that referees are always at fault if they get a decision wrong or that TV replays slow down the game, but I have no doubt that if a TV replay was used at the Britannia on Saturday, results would have proved inconclusive and the official's original decision would stand, as often happens in the cricket. TV replays would have shown likewise that the goals of Mendes and Lampard would have rightfully stood and we would be able to get back to criticising referees for missing handballs, red cards and diving. As it ought to be.

What a difference 90 minutes makes

Well that wasn't meant to happen.

Since Gareth Bale dismantled both Arsenal and Chelsea in the space of a week back in April, the optimism of your average Spurs fan has been on the up and up. Clinching Champions League football at Eastlands. Promising pre-season performances against Benfica and Fiorentina. A plum draw in the Champions League. Only an inspired goalkeeping display preventing us from scoring a hatful against the pundits' tip for the top 4. But what a difference 90 minutes makes.

Suddenly those Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham fans who have become mysteriously quiet over the last six months were coming out of the woodwork and chortling at our downfall. Beaten by some minnows of Swiss football, this was normal service resuming. It is difficult to deny that a few Spurs fans were thinking the same thing after half an hour at the Wankdorf last night. It was three, but it could easily have been five or six. Our defence looked like rabbits in the headlights as Young Boys played with the intent, confidence and tempo that we have been used to seeing at White Hart Lane. As Harry said, to escape those opening 28 minutes with no more goals conceded and two away goals really is a 'great defeat'.

There are two ways of viewing this game:

1) Spurs of old are peeking through.

Sustained periods of pressure on our defence reveal that a soft underbelly still remains. Bassong is raw and panics when confidence is low. Dawson has the turning speed of an oil tanker. Palacios does not have any sort of acceptable passing ability. Where are the goals coming from? Pav, Defoe, Crouch and Keane are all flawed players and do not have the required attributes to become our fabled '20 goal a season' striker. Did this game indicate that once again this season we will struggle away from home against battling teams and be outclassed by the bigger teams?

2) Bad day at the artificially-surfaced office.

The first half hour was a perfect storm. With home-advantage Young Boys came at us all guns blazing. They knew how the ball would zip across the surface and used the pace of Bienvenu and Hochstrasser to stretch our back four. Spurs on the other hand, if we are to believe Harry's comments, were far from happy on the plastic pitch, unable to get to grips with the bounce and carry and suffering from achey joints. It seemed to me that the occasion also got to Spurs. The majority of our team had not experienced a night like that before. As the Champions League music rang out, it hit home to our boys that this was it, they had arrived and, as a result, knees went trembly. A lucky, marginally offside opening goal lit the taper. Spurs crumbled and curled into the foetal position. As the game wore on we gradually unfurled ourselves and began to realise that we were a much better team than Young Boys. I have no doubts that we will be better. We can't be worse.

It is very very easy to knee-jerk over this performance and result. We were as bad as I've seen us under Harry yes and there were some worrying performances but I believe things will be different this time next week. Huddlestone came on and demonstrated why he is now one of our best and most important players with a colossal, ship-steadying performance. There were signs last night that Young Boys are defensively very poor. We will learn from our mistakes. This was a baptism of fire in the Champions League and we will be stronger and more confident in front of a packed house at White Hart Lane. Last time we were in Europe's top competition we opened by shipping four to Polish minnows. We took them back to the Lane and scored eight. We can't afford to be so sloppy again. We won't be so sloppy again. Time for another glory glory night at White Hart Lane.

Young Boys Preview

Right, first post and I'm jumping straight into the deep end with a preview of our Champions League qualifier showdown with Young Boys. No need to dwell on the City game, they were poor, we were great, we should have won. Promising stuff.

The biggest concern over Tuesday night is the uncertainty. Despite the headline-writer's dream of a name, we really don't know anything about the team from Bern. They beat Fenerbache 3-2 on aggregate in the last round and have an Enfield-born Spurs fan in midfield. That's about it. Oh, and they play on astro-turf, a surface that will cause Ledley to break into millions of tiny pieces if he plays on it apparently, so expect Bassong to deputise.

Doubters will point to this astro-turf pitch, saying it is the ace-up-the-sleeve of Young Boys and will be our downfall. They know how to play on it, they say. They never lose at home because of it, they say. I can't get worried about the pitch. How different can it be? The ball may bounce a bit higher, it may skid off the surface more, but so what? Would this not aid a technically superior side like Spurs? If the pitch was a ploughed field I would be more concerned. Home advantage, plastic pitch etc should count for nothing if the likes of Bale, Modric and Lennon play anything close to their best.

Two legs. At our best I would say we could give Barcelona a game at the Lane. We should beat Young Boys comfortably at the Lane. Nevertheless let's not give them a sliver of hope. At least two away goals. Above all, do not lose. We've been waiting a long time to hear that music ring out at White Hart Lane. Bring it on.