Are Spurs the new Arsenal?

So after a shaky period between the end of October and the beginning of December, it now seems like Spurs have found their feet again. Spurs have become perennial bottlejobs under Mauricio Pochettino despite all the good he has done since his arrival at, er, wherever they’re playing at the minute. It sort of makes you think though, are Spurs going to end up being like Arsenal? Arsenal have a squad good enough to at least challenge for the title but bottle it at various points in the season. Spurs have now done this this season at least. An awkward month or two leads to Champions League qualification but not the success that looked attainable at the beginning of the season. Who knows, maybe the next step on the road to Wenger transformation will be buying defenders who aren’t even good enough for mid-table sides.

Big Sam won’t last

Everton played out a pretty dull 0-0 draw with Chelsea on Saturday which certainly made me very happy for a few reasons. Firstly, Everton never won which is always a good thing. Secondly, Chelsea also never won which keeps Liverpool in touch with them in the top four. Finally, the manner in which Big Sam ‘gained’ this point will worry Everton fans. OK, so he was never going to bring free-flowing, tiki-taka football to Goodison Park, but set his side up to basically play a 10-0-1 formation. Chelsea are a good side and respect should be paid to them. Goodison, on its day, can be a fortress though and I can’t help but feel Sam’s missed a big opportunity to get the fans on side. They may swallow this boring-arse game he’s employing now while they’re shit, but, if he sticks to that in the long term, then I think the blue shite will start to get antsy. Better get on Footy Manager and start trying some tactics out Sam, because it’s a bit of a styles clash at the minute lad.

Winter Snakes

Look around Europe over the next couple of weeks and you will be hard pushed to find top flight football. Most of the leagues and their players will be enjoying a winter break safe in the knowledge that the hard work will recommence in early January, ready for the back end of the season and the World Cup. The debate of a winter break has raged on in this country for so long that no one’s really arsed about it anymore. However, there seems to be no effort for our players to have a rest. In fact, there seems to be more effort in making more work for them now that Manchester City have thrown their weight behind a potential 39th game. We’ll all moan when England get knocked out the World Cup in the group stages while Spain and Germany march on into the later rounds. We’ll lambaste our ‘lazy’ players not even taking into account they have been playing teams who have competed in leagues split into two halves this season. The fingers shouldn’t be pointed at the players – Sky, BT, The F.A and the Premier League need to have a look at themselves for the amount of games they are putting these players through over the next week or so.