Why I believe we will stay up

The facts are there, plain and simple. If Wigan or Blackpool better our result on Sunday we are probably down. Obviously Wigan are the side I mentioned, but Blackpool have Man United away, so Wigan really are the main threat. But that’s by the by. If we win at Spurs we almost certainly will stay up, and I think we will.

This team under Alex McLeish has the habit of pulling off big results when we need to, when we really need to. Reading away 2009? We thought we were down and out after losing to Preston. West Ham in the Carling Cup; at half-time of the second-leg I don’t think there was a person at St.Andrews who thought we’d get to Wembley. The final itself; who on earth thought we’d beat Arsenal? Under big ‘Eck, this team as a track record of pulling off results.

Now let’s luck at Sunday’s game as just a game. Spurs are good, very good. You don’t have players like Bale, Van de Vaart, Defoe etc unless you are a good side. But good doesn’t mean infallible. Spurs have won one of their last five. They are suspect at the back. Hurehlo Gomes couldn’t catch a cold sometimes. Bale’s out, and he for me has been one of the best players in Europe this season, a HUGE loss. They, in my opinion are definitely beatable.

As for Blues, I’ve already stated that Blues under McLeish generally pull off big results. But some of these players in particular I think would take it very personally to have a relegation on their CV. Roger Johnson, Jiranek, Stevie Carr, Fergie-these players just don’t do failure. For me, they will be busting a gut, liver, heart and any other major body organ to make sure we don’t go down to save their own pride. And the onus is on others (Bowyer, Larsson, Derbyshire) to get themselves a deal, either at Blues or putting themselves in the shop window with a top performance whilst everyone’s watching.

So how do we go about beating them?

Going gung-ho at Spurs would be madness. They have players who could pull us apart like warm bread if they get the space and time to. I’d play five across the middle; Beausejour—Fahey—Fergie—Gardner—Larsson. This would hopefully stop their midfield playing the ball around too much. Fahey can keep the ball in the midfield as well as anyone, and can pick out clever passes going forward. Beausejour and Larsson must be encouraged to pull wide when we have the ball and to tuck in a bit when we don’t, and to double up on their wingers with Stevie Carr and Ridge; a lot of graft involved but I think those two have the energy to do it. The fact that White Hart Lane has a fairly narrow pitch should also help. Gardner could be vital in terms of the fact that his pot-shots have the potential to cause Gomes real problems. Whoever is up front has to pull King and Dawson about because neither are Usain Bolt, so Cameron Jerome is perfect for it.

All in all, I might be being ridiculously optimistic. I might be viewing Sunday through glasses tinted so blue that I can see about as much as Stevie Wonder. There is a fair chance that Spurs could absolutely batter us and we’ll be a Championship club on Sunday night. But hell, I’d rather be an optimist than gloomily planning a trip to Middlesbrough, I’d rather that if we do go down we’d go down fighting than just accepting our fate. But I genuinely believe we can still be a Premiership club next season. I just hope the players do too, and I hope the fans who will be watching on TV do, and the fans that go to White Hart Lane with me don’t stop singing. It’s never usually a good thing to quote a Tom Ross sponsored cliché, but it is true when he says that your team needs your support now, not when their panning everyone every week.

So lets keep the faith, and KeepRight On.

Nat