Money. It’s hard not to think of anything else when the opposition, as they will be at lunchtime on Sunday, are Manchester City. Money money money, bags of it and unless the Arab Spring boings its way across the UAE pretty soon the spending is apparently nowhere near an end. Even after the signing of the over-rated wretch Nasri, Roberto Mancini has been quoted as suggesting that the centre of his midfield still needs bolstering. Laughable, except that it’s not very funny.
Over the years we’ve not been shy about chucking a few bob around ourselves of course, occasionally wisely, occasionally not, but this is different and makes the playing field about as level as Assou-Ekotto’s afro. The fact that we’ve had to haggle for so long to get the wages of one of their cast offs down to an acceptable (to us) level says it all.
The performances of Gallas last season combined with a desperate desire to maintain forward momentum and Redknapp’s bristling comments whenever the subject is raised mean that there’s been an almost tangible shift in attitude towards the prospect of someone associated with the smuggers pulling on a white shirt. As Harry said, “If he comes here and gets goals and plays well they’ll love him”, which is a change I suspect from a few years ago when the mere possibility of someone of Adebayor’s ilk being signed would not have been entertained.
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Still, they can only play 11 no matter how many they actually own or loan or pay handsomely to sit idly in the departure lounge. We were unlucky to take only one point from them last season having been the better team in both league games and remembering that, we should go into the game optimistically. Playing at home should bring out the best in us. Whether Modric plays or not will give us a clue at to who is leading in that particular rat race.
Despite the surely imminent improvement in the number of crocks Harry’s team selection will be dictated by injuries to a degree. Walker will have hopefully got over his lurgey and big Tom gained enough fitness to be an alternative in midfield though apparently Luka is already pencilled in. Crouchy’s ankle means he’s more likely to start on the bench next to Pav meaning that the burden of goalscoring will fall heavily on Van der Vaart whilst we await the second (or is it the third) coming of Defoe. Adebayor can’t play of course even if he signs in time.
So, Spurs v the Mancs twice in a week, but we can be confident of a better outcome this time around. COYS.
By MF
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