Hello? Is this thing on?
Hello. You might remember me from three weeks back. I blog a bit about Tottenham. My sabbatical was not planned. My immune system was dismantled and destroyed by a virus so brutal I felt like I spent the first week being waterboarded by volcanic lava. My doctor called it on the second day, told me what to expect and explained that I would need to prepare myself for at least a months worth of a recovery period. Jesus Christ, whatever happened to 24 hour bugs?
So this wonderful chapter of my life followed our cup final defeat at Wembley. That evening I froze my lungs walking up to a second cab office back in my home town village (due to the waiting time at the first) and was shaking like a leaf by the time I got into bed. A day later the apocalypse rained down on me.
No sleep or food for the first five days. To cut a long and agonising story short, I've only just recovered. I've had zero interest in practically everything that life has to offer during my entry into an isolation chamber of fever, repository infection, vomiting, nausea and violent coughing that has rendered my voice null and void. I lost a stone in weight, so hold back from playing the violin. I even turned my back on my beloved Tottenham Hotspur.
So what have I missed? Not a lot to be fair. The season ended with the 2-0 loss against Chelsea. I'm now looking ahead to the summer and hoping that we apply ourselves with plentiful aggression when it comes to removing players from the squad and heightening the standard in other key areas whilst also hoping (and praying) we hold onto the likes of Hugo Lloris. I'm still preaching patience. Pochettino's tactics and man-management continues to fluctuate but then expectancy will alter perception from one supporter to the next. Hate on the word transition, but this remains our middle name and the arc for 2014/15.
I didn't see anything of the Man Utd defeat. Lucky me. I saw highlights of our wins against Swansea and QPR and extended viewing of the 4-3 on the weekend. I've not had love for England for a while but still pleased to see Harry Kane selected. He's the type that won't let this go to his head and he'll continue to push himself with that ilk of determination that gives me confidence that he'll improve season on season.
As for the comical 'let's just scapegoat' element that remains the backbone of Twitter and some low grade blogs that feel that the only way to support is to slag off? Danny Rose, love him or hate him, has been a solid performer this season. Good luck to him. Kyle Walker has been out of sorts for a while and hasn't retained consistency since his return from injury but he's got the physical attributes (more so going forward). Not sure having Andros ahead of him supports his defence duties. It's questionable if he (Kyle) can be trained to acquire the discipline (positionally) but the lack of self pride we have for our own is disparaging. So many learning curves are playing out. That might not be acceptable in terms of your ambitions for the club (say having Mason and Bentaleb in the middle) but it's what we've got. No point in fantasying about players that haven't signed.
Nothing has changed since the start of the season in terms of squad balance. Seems Levy and Baldini needed a buffer before pushing out some of the expensive signings made with the Bale money. That buffer hasn't really impacted us beyond what I expected. Two coaches can't get the best out of certain players because those players probably should not have been signed in the first place. Does the buffer end this season? Bloody hope so.
Can we make 4th spot? Who cares? We're hardly ready for Champions League football although having it will no doubt see most of our 'talent' elevate themselves to new levels, the type of thing the Europa wasn't capable of doing. Which makes a mockery of about half a dozen things. Everyone remains in a state of flux. We've just not had the consistency to wing it this season. I'd rather not just wing it. Next season (famous last words) is going to be the test - that's for the chairman, coach and players.
Screw it, at least this season has birthed Harry Kane.
It's good to be back writing. Shame it's International Week.