A season that was a successful one, but ultimately disappointing, as the lack of a killer instinct cost Spurs points throughout the season that could have mounted a challenge for the title, instead of scrapping for fourth place in the last few weeks.

 

What started out horrendously, with riots in the Tottenham area causing the first game of the season (at home to Everton) to be postponed, left Spurs bottom after two games, with comprehensive beatings by both Manchester clubs including a 1-5 home defeat by City, as Luka Modric tried to sort his head out.  Transfer speculation over a big money move to Chelsea was rebuffed by the club and although a figure of £40 million was mentioned, Daniel Levy had no intention of selling the midfielder.

 

When Modric returned to play his part, he had been joined by Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor, the former Arsenal striker- on loan from Manchester City.  While there were no doubts about what the former West Ham midfielder brought to the side, with his gritty determination and all action style, the signing of Adebayor caused some concern among Tottenham fans.  His association with Arsenal aside, he had a reputation for starting well before fading out as the season went on.  However, the forward scored goals, put in a lot more effort than I thought he had done when he had played against us (even though he invariably scored against us) and was providing a lot of chances for others too.

 

Playing catch up was no fun, but Tottenham did just that - going on an unbeaten league run from 10th September to 11th December, when a dodgy refereeing display by Chris Foy (and not Chris Hoy, who got a lot of stick from Spurs fans on Twitter) denied us two penalties and saw him send Younes Kaboul off to condemn Spurs to a defeat by Stoke. 

 

In between Spurs had been playing Europa League football with a mix of fringe first teamers and young prospects, but they fell at the first hurdle, by losing out on escaping the group thanks to a home defeat by PAOK Salonika and a couple of results that might have secured qualification.

 

The loss at the Britannia set Tottenham off on another good run, with another defeat to City at the Etihad bringing it to an end.  It was a game Spurs could easily have won, with Jermain Defoe missing a late chance when he couldn't quite reach a low cross across the face of goal.  Tottenham had come back from 0-2 down with a couple of goals that were different as could be.  Defoe seized on a poor header by Savic and slid home from an acute angle after rounding Hart, then Bale swept in a powerful drive from just outside the box, leaving the keeper helpless.  However, another poor refereeing performance let Balotelli stay on the pitch after stamping on Parker and then the Italian was there to convert a last minute penalty to take all three points.

 

The January transfer window saw Spurs unusually quiet.  Making the loan signing of youngster Yago Falque was a strange enough signing, but with Roman Pavlyuchenko destined to leave, a regular goal-scorer was surely going to some in and there was a need for another central defender, with injuries and loans leaving us light in that area too.  So what actually happened on the close of the window ?  Well, the club had brought in injury prone striker Louis Saha from Everton on a virtual free transfer and then picked up free agent Ryan Nelsen, who had left Blackburn Rovers , as defensive cover.

 

Hardly the two to get Spurs over the line and into the top three one would have thought.  Was the whole mess around the Olympic Stadium and the promise of a new ground at White Hart Lane already hitting our transfer funding ?

 

Spurs knew that another good run would be necessary to continue challenging at the top and with other clubs dropping by the wayside, it was something they had to keep going.  But with February and March providing mostly opposition from the top six, it was going to be a tough period for the club.  Initially, results went against form, with Liverpool holding us to a point and then Spurs hitting five past Newcastle at the Lane, but the turning point of the season came at Arsenal.  Two goals up in twenty minutes without playing particularly well, it looked like Tottenham would put 11 points between the two sides, but letting two in before half-time and then three in the second half, Spurs collapsed and went on a poor run.

 

Losing to Man U at home, despite dominating for almost an hour, losing away at Everton and then drawing at home with Stoke and away at Chelsea cost the side vital points.

 

The run also coincided with rumours that Harry Redknapp was the favourite for the recently vacated England manager's job and the team seemed to be affected by this news.  Whether that was the case or not we will never know, but there were also performances which failed to play to our strengths and may have cost us points.  Games away at Man City, Everton and Liverpool all seemed to see a withdrawn Tottenham team, playing a cagey game rather than the expansive attacking style, which had taken teams apart earlier in the season.  Points lost in these games might have been as much to blame.

 

Tottenham had gone from the entertainers of the Premier League to the side who could not buy a point.  Teams tried to stop them playing by packing the midfield and forgetting about scoring themselves.  Others realised that if they got in the players faces, then they could have a go and come away from matches with something.  While Harry Redknapp went on about the squad being limited and that he had to play the core of the team throughout the majority of the season, earlier in the campaign, it had been hinted in the media that Tottenham had the best squad in the league.  Tiredness and injuries to key players at vital times affected the balance of the team, with Aaron Lennon's absence around this time hitting Spurs on their right side, while they were without Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson for much of the campaign and Ledley King's injuries came more often as the season progressed.

 

March had seen Spurs field weakened sides to reach the Sixth Round of the FA Cup, but the home tie with Bolton Wanderers saw something that not anyone was prepared for.  41 minutes into the match, Fabrice Muamba was tracking back as Spurs attacked and ten yards inside his own half, he suddenly collapsed and with physios being signalled on, it looked serious.  At that point, nobody realised how serious and when they started giving him cardiac massage and it went on and on and then he was defibrillated on the pitch, you feared for the young man's life.  The crowd cheered on the medics and when he was stretchered off, still being given cardiac massage, you wondered whether he would survive.  The only sensible thing to do was to call the game off and the crowd left in an eerie silence.  The fact that Muamba made such a quick and strong recovery is a testament to the work of the medics from both clubs who saved a person's life on the pitch that evening.

 

April was hardly a better month for the club, drawing with Sunderland and losing at home to Norwich over Easter, then getting knocked out of the FA Cup at the semi final stage at Wembley by Chelsea, including a goal that was given but had not crossed the line to add Martin Atkinson to the long list of officials who had cost us this season.  I cannot wait until the bad luck we have had equals out, as we will walk the league with every other team miles behind !!

 

Eventually, with just a few games left, Spurs did sort themselves out.  But even then, it was nervy.  Beating a timid Blackburn Rovers side at home was a simple task, but only brought a 2-0 win, then a 4-1 away win over relegation threatened Bolton Wanderers hinted that the attacking style was returning ... especially after being pegged back to 1-1.  But then the normal service was resumed at Villa Park. A deflected goal gave the home team the lead and then Danny Rose was sent off.  It was almost a microcosm of our season, with 19 corners and 21 shots at goal only bringing about one goal ... from the penalty spot.

 

Failure to turn our chances into goals had been the Achilles heel all season and with Pavlyuchenko being allowed to leave in January and Defoe used sporadically throughout the season, Spurs were relying on goal from midfield, which didn't always arrive.  So many games could have been won with a better conversion rate and those that were won could have improved our goal difference.

Brad Friedel's 14 clean sheets were a club Premier League record for a season and the record was the best since 1986-87.

Rafael van der Vaart equalled a Spurs Premier League record when he scored in five consecutive PL games (Wigan Athletic 24.09.11; Arsenal 02.10.11; Blackburn 16.10.11; Newcastle United 23.10.11; Queens Park Rangers 30.10.11).

 

 

 

Emmanuel Adebayor scored three goals in the 62nd minute of a match, with two of them being penalties - against Stoke City away and against Aston Villa away.

Spurs scored in every Premier League home match this season, along with Manchester United and Manchester City.

 

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