The past month or so I've been able to hear a quiet chug, chug, chug sound somewhere in the distance. Initially, concerned I was going mad, I decided to ignore it but as it got louder and more noticeable I asked around a bit, coming to the conclusion that it was some form of tinnitus.
Yesterday, however, it reached a peak and it dawned on me that no qualified psychologist or medic was needed for a diagnosis; the chug, chug, chug sound was in fact the sound of Tottenham's season coughing and spluttering to a halt as we ran quite convincingly out of gas.
People are quick to point the finger after results like yesterday and, as anyone who read my last post will know, I feel that Redknapp had to make an example and drop Heurelho Gomes. But I'm willing to stand by his decision as I find it admirable that Harry is willing to stand by the guy and it shows that he has a strong sense of ethics and fairness - Gmoes did make three world class saves yesterday - and if you ask me, Taylor-Fletcher dived for the second penalty.
In truth, the fuel gauge has been firmly in the red for weeks and weeks and two hard-fought legs against AC Milan either pushed us over an edge we had already reached, or they took the wind out of our sails entirely. Either way, the whole experience probably accelerated the slide towards exhaustion that has seen us unable to kill teams off.
Harry Redknapp was a guest on Match Of The Day 2 earlier this evening (Sunday) and, whilst I admit, he is beginning to sound like a broken record with his, "Who are we gonna knock out the Top 4; not United, not Arsenal etc" on top of the "two points from eight games" mantra, I do think he is setting his stall out with regards to next season.
Redknapp has said a number of times that he genuinely believes he can win a title with Tottenham. Only recently has he started to admit that he "needs to add some real quality over the summer." He realises that our misfiring forwards have let us down badly this term. Be it lack of confidence or talent, it can't be tolerated. It certainly can't be lack of service!
We're all grateful for the experiences that have come with this season, it was beginning to look like we'd never see nights like that again, but the way the team has juddered to a halt is far from acceptable. We're meant to have a large squad of talented midfielders and we are either not using them, or they aren't playing ball.
Squad players have to accept some time on the bench and work to prove themselves. We as fans can't judge as we don't see them train from day to day but certain players have fought their way back into the squad in the past (Palacios, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko), so it seems that the manager is only too willing to give players a go when they've earned it.
With that in mind, you can only deduce that the supposed brilliant squad we had assembled lacks a bit of depth and, above all, a bit of determination. Coming from two goals down is one thing, but turning a bad run around under pressure is quite another and it's where we've fallen flat this season.
It's been a long time since we've had a manager who believes we can win a title and, whether you believe him or not, you get the impression the board would be crazy not to throw their weight behind him...
It could be an interesting summer.
(There's also the small matter of whether or not the Europa League is really worth being in, but I'll wait until after the Man City game before I mention that at all)
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