The Measure of Progress

Last week in the debacle against Manchester City, Tottenham players ended the game with a delusional mindset that they had achieved something massive in stealing a point from Etihad Stadium.  This week those same Spurs players were given a reality check they should have received before Aston Villa capitulated the game and lost 3-1 having led 1-0.

If the game against Manchester City should have been the chief measure of how far Spurs are progressing to challenging the top two teams in the league, then Spurs would be in a good place now.  Yet it was far removed from that, despite the 2-2 draw, Spurs were outplayed, outgunned, out-thought and participated in the most one sided domination of another Top 6 team since the Premier League began.

So it came today's game and if the measure of progress was how many goals Tottenham could blast against Newcastle, then that already is the wrong measure of success.  Instead a team that has already been earmarked as a relegation candidate and who lost 3-1 to new boys Norwich City, went to Spurs without any expectation of winning and won 1-0.

Some pundits were predicting a demolition job of Newcastle - with wild predictions of a 5-0 hammering and then today, those same pundits were saying that what Newcastle United did to Tottenham this week, is what Tottenham did to Manchester City last week.  That is not an appropriate comparison and if it is a comparison, it is unfair to Newcastle Utd.

Too many times desperate Tottenham players tried to convince the referee that they should have had penalties but even with VAR's intervention this week, no penalty was forthcoming and rightly so.  Spurs did not deserve to score simply because their status as a Champions League finalist should warrant more ability than the average performances today.

Newcastle United deserved 3 points and could have scored two more times had two Newcastle players been less profligate with their shooting boots.  Those Tottenham fans who shared the views of today's game were bemused :

They should not be.  Egotistical weakness runs rife through the Tottenham management and governance.  This is a team that has invested tremendous amounts of money on a stadium build, got the right manager and then nickle and dimed that manager by holding player wages and transfers down to the minimum.   Even when this team did engage in two record outlays spending over $100 million, the business was done so late that the players they bought did not have enough time to become embedded in the first team and some lacked match fitness.  That goes back to an egotistical weakness in believing that leaving negotiations to the last possible minute is good business for Tottenham.  It is not.

Right now it is not Manchester City or Liverpool that is the chief measure of progress but unfortunately this result against Newcastle United.  What is seen as a surprise 1-0 win for Newcastle should not be seen as a surprise based on the way Tottenham played last week at Manchester City.  For sure soccer is a results business but it is also has performance barometers and as a barometer, Tottenham are far removed from catching Liverpool and Manchester City and being a contender this year for the league title.

How can they be, they just got beat by a team that has far greater off-field dilemma's than Tottenham ever has, at least the Tottenham chairman invested in a ground that Spurs should be very proud of - but if pride does not show up in performance, then what is the real value of this pride.   Where and how we set our measure of progress is where we will finally end up unless  our measure in life is absolute blind luck and fortune.  Even when Spurs did have that a few years ago, it was Leicester and not Tottenham that took advantage of all the failures that season of the current Top 6 teams.

Whatever the spat and problem is between Spurs and Vertonghen, that Belgian defender is leagues better than the Columbian Davinson Sanchez.  Sanchez cost goals st City last week and his mistake cost another goal today.  That Newcastle needed just one goal to win this match reminds us of knock-out cup tournaments but today was not about Newcastle playing well (they did) but how poorly Tottenham are playing and how much disconnection there is as a team.

Next week the embarrassment in progress will be very stark should Tottenham go to their bitter rivals at Arsenal and lose heavily against The Gunners.  Tottenham is a good barometer for Arsenal as to whether they have solved their defensive lapses, but Newcastle should never become a good barometer for Tottenham, based on how Newcastle is run today by Chairman Mike Ashley.  Ashley is an example of chairman who are financiers rather than football professionals.  At least the Tottenham chairman has put money into the club - but the emphasis of that expenditure is based on quick returns and not in producing the best imaginable team. 

Manchester City today have two squads that can form themselves two teams that could both be good enough to finish in the Top 4 of the division.  That strength in depth is also supported by an excellent management system all the way from ownership to investments in other teams in the MLS and the Australian soccer league.  Spurs do have good facilities but Manchester City and Liverpool have better and stronger organizations.  When Liverpool purchased Virgil van Djik for $75 million, they were considered crazy but that $75 million won them a Champions League and they have nearly recuperated on that spend with winnings that come from prize money.

Spurs huffed and puffed today but like their managerial model, their game is full of holes and not enough character to fix them.  That assessment starts all the way from the top to the training ground and while Spurs have been known for punching above their weight - that assertion is not something to be proud of - not based on where Spurs should be and where Spurs should be is still a failure of leadership, because that failure is a failure of passionate vision.  Not how the property can be sold by finding an ultra-rich buyer, but by choosing the right measure of progress.  Newcastle United is not that measure of progress but after today's game that is exactly where Spurs are still comparing themselves with.