Glass half-empty, glass half-full

Frustrating isn't it. Being a Spurs fan, I mean. Other people can speak with authority on their team and their players, but after 20 years of supporting Tottenham Hotspur I still look like a muppet if I try to comment how we'll do from game to game. All I really know is that we're unpredictable.

Many Spurs fans have always had a glass-half-empty stance, although, with our recent successes, I know a few (me included) who are becoming glass-half-full kind of guys. In an attempt to please everyone, here's our current situation from both sides of the glass philosophy.

Half-empty

Three games without a win against three Premier League strugglers; if we can't even beat Wolves, Blackpool or West Ham, how can we get into the Top 4? Jermain Defoe missed three good chances against the Hammers, and Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko are hardly firing. Goals from midfield are drying up so we might regret not buying a striker in the transfer window.

Teams seem to have worked out how to play against us. If they keep eleven men behind the ball it frustrates us; our wingers can't get in behind the back line and we have to rely on pot shots and goalmouth scrambles.

Our run in's worse than last year. Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool, and the distraction of a massive tie with Real Madrid. Pplayers will want to be fit for both legs, so they won't put their all into the Wigan and Stoke games.

If we don't finish in the Champions League spots, we could lose Rafa Van Der Vaart, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric and, with City in the Top 4, they'll buy the world's best players and we won't have a chance of getting back in.

Half-full

We've actually only lost one of our last eight Premier League games, and with all our injury problems, we've still only conceded one goal at home in 2011. We had 24 shots at goal on Saturday, and played some great football. We just need to start finding the net.

We've consistently played good football throughout the season, albeit with a few off games, but largely, we're coming out of bad results saying, "How did we not win that game?" rather than wondering where the form is going to come from.

As for our run in, our best performances have come against the better teams, so our boys will hopefully rise to it. We have a game in hand on City, which if we win, and beat them, then we'll jump into 4th, so it's all still in our hands. City have an easier run of games but off-pitch dramas could cause a few problems.

We all want to qualify for the Champions League, but if we don't it's not a crisis, we're still headed in the right direction. Gareth Bale's signed a new contract, so he certainly has no immediate plans to go anywhere and Redknapp made it all sound very simple after the Hammers game.

"If we don't make it this year, we'll have a go next year. I really do think I can win the Premier League with Tottenham."