He's got no hair and we don't care, Martin, Martin Jol!

There have been murmurings of unrest in the camp over the last week or so, with the big man himself rumoured to be unsettled and not entirely happy with his lot. The Observer mentioned as much last week, and the wires have been buzzing over the last few days amid rumours of fallouts with Damien Comolli and talk of Daniel Levy expressing his dissatisfaction with the team’s start to the season. Let’s get one thing clear, it has been a poor start, and something is clearly wrong at the club – at the moment. The results speak for themselves. Levy was right to express his concerns (if indeed he actually did), he owns most of the club (more than The Waddler anyway) and as Chairman needs to be the ultimate authority. There is nothing wrong with that. What needs to happen though is for the manager to be given time, for the team to gel, for injured players to return, and for the gaps in the squad to be filled up in January. Then, and only then, if results are still poor, should the club management be looked at.

The Waddler hopes that Levy told BMJ that he had time to sort things out, but that he needed to get on with it. With the club selling one of their most influential players, Michael Carrick, and bringing in lots of new faces over the summer, all for the first team, the side needs time to gel. BMJ always talks about his young team, and growing up, getting a strong mentality etc. This can’t be helped by not having a settled side, with players coming and going like no-ones business. Hopefully now there should be an end to the horse trading, with just one or two players being upgraded each transfer window. The nucleus of the team is there now, with a strong back 5 in place, 4 decent forwards battling it out for 2 spots, and some decent midfielders. A couple of left sided midfielders are needed, and in an ideal world a backup for Lennon and a central midfielder that could thread a pass through the eye of a needle would be quite handy too (maybe that is Malbranque). If they came, Spurs would have a squad comparable to only Chelsea or Liverpool.

Spurs have almost started again this season, having bought so many players. BMJ wants to get the team to be solid, grind out results, and be capable of winning without playing well, before eventually letting it fly. It’s an alien concept to Spurs fans, who want to see fast, flowing football with flair. At the moment the football being served up is reminiscent of that brought to us by George Graham, and it’s not pretty to watch. The difference is though that we are watching a team with far better players, who are currently underperforming whilst trying to get used to each other. Once that comes, the football and results should improve. If it doesn’t then there is a problem, but in the meantime patience is needed.

The Waddler.