Tottenham, What Do You Think of Wilshere?

Our big talking midfielder, the one time Future of English Football, has taken his usual position on a training table and will not be on the field at Wet Fart Lane tomorrow.  Not that it makes any difference.

The personnel we have can still make a run at the title this season.  But no one on the team believes they can do it, so why should we supporters?  It's dispiriting to see so many fine footballers adopt a losing mentality.  It's gotten worse as the season progresses too, despite getting most of our important players back.  (Would Cazorla have saved us?  Doubtful.)

Abusive relationships...there are three on display tomorrow in the NLD.  The first is Arsenal and Tottenham.  St. Totteringham's Day is a thing for a reason.  "Mind the gap" is a laugh line for Gunners and a bitter memory for Spurs.  I led with a reminder of Dopey Jack's chants at FA Cup parades to underline the deserved glee Spurs supporters will feel if they finish above us.  We will also deserve every taunt they fire at us.  Payback is a...well, we may find out what it is.  The other two abusive relationships are those between the clubs and their respective fan base.  Both have been underachieving for a while now, playing European football but not grabbing the biggest prizes (in Spuds' case, any prizes).  2004 seems a long time ago; how long ago must 1961 seem?  Both teams manage to play well enough, this past decade, to compete but never to win.  One set of supporters, maybe both, will take another beating tomorrow.

I'm not setting my alarm.  I'll turn the game on when I get up.  The last two league games have disgusted me so thoroughly that I find it hard to get excited at the prospect of playing Tottenham with so much on the line.  The players and manager apparently don't care all that much, so why should I?

I hope this is the last season I have to watch Theo Walcott pretend to be a good footballer.  I'd rather have any on-loan or youth player out there.  He's awful.  Maybe Crystal Palace could use him, but I doubt it.  He has the physical gifts, and can do marvelous things, but he doesn't feel like it most of the time.  Several of our players have been infected by his attitude, it seems, or maybe they have developed their own bad attitudes.  Wenger is not the sort of manager who'd call out players publicly, but I get the sense he isn't doing it privately either.  I've always been a fan of Arsene Wenger, but this season has shown that he does not have what it takes to get anything like the most out of the team he's assembled.

There will be a blog entry tomorrow, win, lose, or draw.  Leicester is looking more and more as though they may stumble across the finish line first.  Arsenal looks as though it's trying to finish third or fourth again.  It definitely won't feel like a trophy if they do.