Whatever you do Spurs fans, just don't mention the "D" word

It's here. That wave of enthusiasm is building again, just like it did last year, and I’d forgotten just how absolutely brilliant it feels. 

The moment Ander Herrera's deflected strike hit the back of the net against Chelsea on Sunday, the mood changed. 

As 70,000 Manchester United supporters celebrated a victory that reignited their top-four hopes, the expression on the faces of thousands and thousands of Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham followers said one thing: "F**k."

To Spurs fans, it represents just a small window of opportunity. But for our London neighbours, the realisation that this title race might not be done yet was enough to spoil their weekend. 

And it was quickly followed by a crushing sucker punch...  Spurs are still in the FA Cup. 

In the space of a few seconds, we had gone from Wembley semi-finalists to fighting for the Double. It seems a ridiculous notion at this stage - but you will be hard-pushed to find a rival fan who can take it in good humour.

"Don't mention the D word" I said jokingly in a post-match message to a fellow Spurs fan. His response was beautiful. 

"It's happening mate, believe."

A lot of folk may still be trying to keep their feet on the ground but, if you're lucky enough to have inherited Tottenham as your team I encourage you to forget your feet, forget the ground and start clutching at as many straws as you can. 

Even if you can't bear the thought of calling it wrong or you just don't want to tempt fate then, at the very least, try to enjoy the next three days. 

For that time, and possibly beyond, we are unlikely “Double contenders”. And our rivals absolutely hate it. It is their worst nightmare. 

The jokes, the banter and the backbiting have turned to straight faces and silence. This is the worst it could get. And it will last until at least Saturday evening. 

One West Ham fan in our office now won't talk football, an Arsenal fan is cancelling Sky. The Chelsea fans...? Well, there are no Chelsea fans but you can rest assured they are sh*tting themselves and trying to work out where best to hunker down if their doomsday scenario actually comes to pass. 

I'm just smiling. It really is a beautiful time to be a Tottenham fan. For the next few days, anything's possible. All those years we’ve watched Arsenal lift titles and trophies while our season was falling off the tracks, this is a taste of what it felt like from the other side. 

So make the most of it.

I don’t mean be a dick about it. It is, after all, a delicate situation. It always is with Spurs. So I’m just saying you have to take the opportunity to breathe it in and enjoy it. Apart from anything else, this group of players have earned the right not to be lumped in with generations of underachievers. 

All Spurs fans know in their heart of hearts that we are still a long, long way off turning around this four-point gap and coming out on top. It would take a miracle. But then what's the harm in believing in miracles?

To Dare is to Do? Do it, I dare you.

Pochettino's dramatic change of message

No amount of talk about training-ground summits or crunch meetings can hide the fact for me that Tottenham have dramatically changed the rhetoric. 

Before the Liverpool game Mauricio Pochettino was claiming his players “dream they can be important here and lift trophies". As far as his ambitions went: “A few trophies, that would be perfect."

Even after the 2-0 defeat at Liverpool, Poch turned his attentions to Europe, insisting: “The mentality must be to win the Europa League."

Two bad results later, the FA Cup victory at Fulham brought an entirely new direction. Pochettino said: “It's too early to start to speak about whether we will win some trophies. Now we’re not allowed to speak about the FA Cup - we can see the draw but after that moment we must forget and focus on Thursday and Gent."

Hold on. Not allowed to speak about the FA Cup? After losing at Anfield, Eric Dier was telling the press you can “Never say never" about the title, let alone the Cup.

Quickly and decisively Pochettino has changed the message - from titles, trophies and ambitions to focus and the next game. He is now describing the Europa League second leg with Gent as “another final". 

You just wonder if the Argentine, 44, has realised that - with all the buzz around Tottenham’s big future, impressive setup and new stadium, everyone might just have been getting a bit ahead of themselves.

There is nothing wrong with a bit of belief and all the tub-thumping looks great in black and white, as long as you can back it up on the pitch. 

When the air of invincibility created by an unbeaten run gets washed away with a defeat, the empty promises of silverware and even dynasties do little except pile on the pressure. 

It had seemed almost as if the manager was happy to apply as much heat as possible to his young squad, maybe priming them to work under the spotlight. He has even compared youth prospect Marcus Edwards, 18, to Lionel Messi to make clear the level of his expectation.

But it does not really work like that. 

Nearly every title-winning manager in the history of press conferences has used the "one game at a time" line to lower the intensity and lighten the load on his players. 

Claudio Ranieri was a master of it last season. Leicester were five, six, seven points clear at the top and he still refused to concentrate on the title race - instead reluctantly admitting that the Foxes may just be in line for a top-four spot. 

Even this season, Antonio Conte is adamant that Chelsea are in a six-way fight for the title despite being 12 points ahead of sixth-placed Manchester United. 

You can almost pinpoint the moment Tottenham made the decision to talk up their ambitions. It was the 2-1 win at Manchester City last season, after which Poch declared the fans should be willing to dream.

Since then we have become pretty much self-proclaimed title-challengers, collapsing last season under the weight of our own expectation in a haze of rally cries in the press and pictures of lions on social media. It was all a bit of fun but it was definitely a distraction. 

You can understand that Pochettino wants to instil the mindset that challenging at the top is the club’s minimum requirement. But that mindset can only come with the knowledge that you have what it takes to get through the rough patches, the big games and the cup finals. 

This team does not currently have that and no amount of talking about it will change it. The only thing that will is focusing on the next game. And winning it.

Why the play-offs are key to English football...

Play-offs might not be the fairest way of deciding promotion but they are absolutely vital to English football. 

The pressure, drama and unpredictability of the end-of-season showdowns are now sewn into the fabric of the game - so much so that the lower leagues would struggle to survive without them.

Sheffield Wednesday finished sixth in the Championship to earn today's unexpected shot at the Premier League big-time.

Now, having shocked third-place Brighton over two legs, a win against Hull at Wembley would end the Hillsborough club’s 16-year top-flight absence. 

But Chris Hughton's Seagulls will no doubt feel short-changed that, despite finishing one place outside the automatic spots, they have to sit and watch as teams who finished below them battle it out at Wembley.

In fact, none of this season's best-placed play-off sides have made their respective finals.

League One Walsall crashed out 6-1 to Barnsley across two legs - having finished 10 points in front of them.

Accrington were the same number of points ahead of Wimbledon in League Two but still got turned over by them.

The football purists will tell you it undermines the league system and that since they arrived in 1987, teams have not got the deserved reward for their work over a gruelling nine-month campaign. 

So what's the solution, scrap the play-offs and just provide an extra automatic promotion slot? 

That would certainly be fair but it would also kill the game as we know it. 

Gone would be the spectacle of the Wembley finals. 

Gone would be the pre-season feeling that literally any one of 24 teams might just sneak into a crack at the big time.

Gone would be a post-season extravaganza that allows the lower leagues all the limelight without the distraction of the Premier League. 

And gone would be the massive global audiences to whom the knockout climax is the perfect tonic for their end-of-term football withdrawal.

The Championship final is now billed as the richest game in football - currently worth up to about £170m and broadcast to 131 countries worldwide.

The drama of the play-offs gives the Football league an edge that even the Premier League cannot rival. 

It always goes down the the last game and it is usually a matter of make or break for both teams - or at least their bosses and current squads.

Without the play-offs, global interest in the lower leagues would fall and smaller clubs would slip entirely off the overseas radar. 

That would lead to a lack of interest from the big broadcasters and a crushing decrease in TV revenue which, for some clubs, is the only thing keeping them afloat. 

It would also affect the back end of the season - as mid-table teams that are off the promotion pace would have nothing to fight for. 

That would mean no more last-ditch play-off charges for teams who manage to get it together after Christmas - and would leave weeks and weeks of dead rubbers for many clubs come March and April.

Some fans never get to see their club at Wembley, that number would rise painfully without the play-offs.

But most the important thing to remember is that this is sport.  And its chief role is entertainment. 

English football’s play-offs are thankfully not as all-encompassing as in rugby union or Super League, where the fourth-placed side can literally be crowned champion.

But the shocks, the big stories, the unexpected winners and the devastatingly fine margins between glory and failure are still the game's beating heart.

Every winner can be knocked off their pedestal, every loser can bounce back.

The play-offs allow every player, manager, owner and fan - no matter how small the club - the ability to dream of bigger and better.

That can only be a good thing.

Follow on Twitter @Taxi_For_Maicon

How Tony Pulis had Spurs pegged from the start

Tony Pulis knew how to get to Tottenham right from the off. And it wasn't by winding up Dele Alli, doubling up on Harry Kane or by putting 11 men behind the ball.

We all knew West Brom would come to frustrate us and we all knew how good they are at it.

But the first victim of their stifling strategy was not Mousa Dembele's driving runs from deep midfield, nor Danny Rose's link-up with Erik Lamela – and it was not Kyle Walker bombing on down the right.

It was the fans.

White Hart Lane kicked off the evening in good spirits but West Brom set their stall out early.

They took far too long over every throw-in, goal kick and free-kick, letting a few more seconds tick down whenever the occasion arose and pushing the ref to, but never beyond, the limit.

Credit to our players, they weren't fooled and our slick passing game opened up the Baggies time after time. 

Christian Eriksen was agonisingly close with two free-kicks - either side of Kane's effort that Boaz Myhill somehow pushed onto the post. 

But the home support was starting to play into Albion's hands. Huffing and puffing, booing and jeering every carefully crafted stoppage or set-piece delay that Pulis' side was getting away with. 

The Spurs faithful were not directly criticising their own but, once the agitation was flowing, you could see it start to affect the side. 

Spurs players already had every reason to be a bit nervy - Leicester's 4-0 win over Swansea on Sunday meant this was basically win or bust.

With that in mind, a bit of calm from the terraces would not have gone unappreciated. Especially seeing as this side have risen to the task and proven themselves again and again.

Timewasting tactics are schoolyard stuff but Pochettino's blue n white army of followers fell for it - hook, line and absolute stinker. 

We all ask players like Alli to keep their heads in the face of such situations then we all lose ours at the first sign of bother - effing and jeffing with an irrational fear that, somehow, the Baggies might be able to waste the whole game away before we got our noses in front.

When Craig Dawson diverted Eriksen’s free-kick into his own net just after the half hour the damage may already have been done. 

The reaction was that of relief rather than elation and the lads went in at half-time to muted applause rather than all-out encouragement.

Prior to this we had conceded one goal in four games. A 1-0 win would have done just fine. There was no real reason to believe that West Brom should be able to seriously trouble us at the back.

Still we worried, fretted and bit our nails and the lads came out for the second half a shell of the team we have known in recent weeks. 

Apart from a few shining lights in Toby Alderweireld and Dembele, the nerves were taking hold and the tension was rising in the stands - until eventually Dawson got the equaliser we had all been fearing since his own goal at the other end.

It was job done for Pulis and probably job done for Leicester. 

But devastating? Gut-wrenching? Miserable? Not at all. And we certainly did not bottle it.

At the end of January, 12 games ago, we were fourth – five points behind Arsenal who were top of the pile. 

Anyone who thinks we bottled it has an admirable sense of ambition - but no sense of perspective.

Going forward we will no doubt all look for progression from this young team that has showed so much promise. We will all hope they can use this season as a platform and learn from the experience.

Next season we will look for them to demonstrate the composure of title challengers, rather than title hopefuls.

And really, as fans, we should be looking to do the same.

Spurs face long road to follow Dortmund model

IF Dortmund are the blueprint then Tottenham now have a brutal indication of just how far there is to go. 

People can point fingers at the manager, the line-up and the fitness levels all they want but there was nothing that a few changes would have helped in last night's 3-0 drubbing at the Westfalenstadion - this was men versus boys. 

Our lads were outpassed, outpressed and outworked by a slick, efficient and endlessly fit Dortmund side that could have been out of sight by half-time.

It might feel like scant encouragement but this is the side that Spurs aspire to emulate - with possessive-yet-potent attacking football, homegrown talent and even a huge behind-the-goal kop. 

Who knows, maybe even reasonable ticket prices!

A bigger concern has to be the poor reflection it casts on the current status of the English game.

Yes, we are all enjoying a fantastic and unpredictable season in which any one of four, maybe five, teams could still lift the title.

Yes, we've had some incredible stories, upsets and seen some brilliant goals. 

But should a team second in the Premier League really be so comprehensively outclassed by their Bundesliga equivalent?

You certainly wouldn't back Leicester to give German leaders Bayern Munich a run for their money either.

Seeing our big sides flounder makes entertaining viewing but this was the biggest indication yet that those who have replaced them at the top this season are not raising the bar, just making the most of an opportunity.

On the night it was a painful defeat but at least those on the pitch, the bench, sat in the stands and watching on the box now have a yardstick.

This is what can be created if we stick on the path we have started. 

Mauricio Pochettino's squad are 18 months into a philosophy that Dortmund have had drilled into them since 2009. 

Their boss Thomas Tuchel joined last summer and is continuing the hi-octane, high-pressing work introduced by Jurgen Klopp seven years ago.

Interestingly enough, Tuchel also managed Mainz shortly after Klopp, quickly surpassing the now-Liverpool manager's success.

Where Klopp got Mainz promoted, Tuchel took them into the Europa League.

Where Klopp took Dortmund to back-to-back league titles and the 2012-13 Champions League final, Tuchel has them again chasing down Bayern at the top and they must now be favourites for the Europa League.

It all comes together for one nasty bump back down to earth for Spurs but an impressive lesson to go with it. 

The improved fitness levels, the demanding pressing game and the flowing attacks can all go up a notch. Our players now have first hand experience of it. For some, it will be an encouragement, for others a kick up the ass.

If this Dortmund side is a glimpse of where hard work and a well-drilled philosophy can lead you, then we should be very excited about our chosen path.

Tough week could help Spurs hang in there

ONE point from two huge games was not what everyone wanted but bear with me while I argue that it might do us a favour.

Wins over West Ham and Arsenal would have left us top by two points - but can a team that has not won a title in 55 years really be expected to lead from the front with nine games to go?

The pressure, focus and searing hot spotlight that comes from being frontrunners is surely too much for a club stalked by its own shadow of late-season stutters.

We have a history of easing off the gas from good positions, so let Leicester take the weight of responsibility for the time being.

With 27 points left to fight for, a five-point gap at this stage is hardly unassailable and 
there is no sense in making ourselves the team to beat at the start of March. 

We are safer riding Leicester's coat-tails as they attract the limelight and deflect attention. 

Apart from anything else, my blood pressure could do with a rest from the nerve-shredding tension of our last two games. How the players must have felt is anybody's guess.

If the Foxes do win the title from here then they damn well deserve it and we should all stand up and applaud rather than picking apart our own supposed shortcomings.

But to put that feat into perspective, they have never won nine top-flight games in a row in their history.

It's a nervy time of year and everyone is dropping points. City lost to Liverpool, United at West Brom, and Arsenal haven't won in four.

Leicester's final two fixtures are Everton at home and Chelsea away. That's a tough enough finish in itself but in the meantime, if panic does finally strike Claudio Ranieri's squad, then any match becomes a banana skin and five points can disappear very quickly indeed.

Our final two games are home to Southampton and away at struggling Newcastle. Although by then they could well be "relegated Newcastle".

With that in mind, the main aim should be to stay within striking distance of the top, keep your fingers crossed we can hang in there and give ourselves a chance come May.

But many Spurs fans are starting to bite their fingernails not just over whether we will be fighting for the title come May, but whether we will still be in contention for the top four.

In 2011-12 we surrendered a 10-point lead over Arsenal in barely a month, the season before we won just one league game in ten from late February, including a home defeat to Blackpool. 

Both seasons we had put ourselves in the driving seat with regards to a Champions League finish. 

Yet in 2009-10 we got it right and beat Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City in a run-in that saw us nick fourth. 

The difference being that season we were underdogs right until the penultimate game, where a shock 1-0 win at City sealed it a game early.

And that is why we shouldn't be too disheartened heading into another crucial week on the back of two disappointing results.

On Sunday it's Aston Villa away, followed by Bournemouth at home a week later. 

Both matches present sides fighting for their lives and, given our recent history at this stage of the season, I'm happier to be going into it with a little less expectation on our shoulders.

Villas-Boas' new habit is more than welcome at Spurs

TOTTENHAM'S reliance on late goals and 1-0 wins were not the only trends highlighted by Paulinho's 93rd-minute winner against Cardiff.

Since Andre Villas-Boas' arrival in summer 2012 we have won all eight Premier League games against newly promoted opposition.

To the outsider, that does not sound too impressive, but Spurs fans know it is all too significant.

Soccer scribes and pundits are still questioning how we did not score more of our 29 attempts on goal on Sunday. 

But Spurs' most irritating problem in recent years has not been our failure to kill off the division's minnows early on but a failure to kill them off at all.

And more often than not, that has resulted in heartache come the end of the season.

In Harry Redknapp's three full seasons in charge - not including the season he arrived to steer us clear of relegation, it would be unfair to count that - we managed just six wins in 18 games against Premier League debutants.

The season we qualified for the Champions League, we took just seven points from Burnley, Wolves and Birmingham collectively.

We repeated that feat the following season in 2010-11. So despite reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, we could only take one point off Blackpool all year.

And it's not just under Redknapp that we have been plagued by these lower-league lapses.

Martin Jol took us to the brink of a top four finish in 2005-06, missing out on the final day having only won two games against Prem new boys Sunderland, Wigan and West Ham.

Obviously, circumstances always play their part and these games are never as easy as they sound. 

But just say we had taken all 18 points from divisional new boys as a matter of course, we'd have finished 3rd in 2011-12, unaffected by Chelsea's European Cup win, and runners-up to Manchester United in 2009-10.

In fact, we would have qualified for the Champions league for five of the last eight seasons.

As chance after chance went begging on Sunday, the press was edging our early top-four credentials towards the bin marked Not Yet Ready.

And, before Paulinho's last-gasp backheel broke Bluebirds hearts, the words "same old story" were forming in the frontal lobes of fans and writers alike.

But Villas-Boas' encouraging back-to-basics trend indicates that this is anything but the same old Spurs.

Don't underestimate Spurs legend Chris Hughton

Spurs fans always have time for club legend Chris Hughton but we could soon be sick of the sight of him.

We host his Norwich side on Saturday afternoon hoping that our old player and coach does not continue his good run of form against us. 

Hughton was unbeaten over three meetings last season and the pressure is rising for Andre Villas-Boas to break that trend this weekend.

Just three games in, Norwich at home is billed as "a must-win game". As if, somehow, any dropped points could cause the club to ditch the new stadium plans, flog off the assets and call it a day.

True, if we want to be competing for a top-three spot then it is the sort of game we should he winning. 

But presuming we're entitled to three points does a massive disservice to the plucky Canaries, and Tottenham favourite Hughton.

As left-back, coach and No 2, Hughton gave us 27 years of dedicated service.

He played 398 games for us between 1979 and 1990, winning the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982 as well as the UEFA Cup in 1984.

Hughton served under ten different Spurs bosses including Ossie Ardiles, George Graham, Glenn Hoddle and Martin Jol.

It was only right that, having more than overpaid his dues, he tried his hand at full-time management.

Arriving at Norwich last summer following stints with Newcastle and Birmingham, Hughton took the club to an 11th-placed Premier League finish.

His Canaries side twice held us to 1-1 draws in the league and knocked us out the Capital One Cup. 

On the face of it, that's not a good return for a "must-win" game but when you look at some of Hughton's other results it brings some perspective.

He masterminded 1-0 wins over Arsenal and Manchester United and ended last season with a 4-0 Carrow Road win over West Brom and a 3-2 away victory at Manchester City.

Hughton has worked with polar opposite styles and temperaments. He has seen good and bad, successes and failures, kings of men and lords of idiots.

With this melting pot of experience it should come as no surprise that he can mix it in management, or that he has the tactical know how to flick between gameplans. 

Norwich are just as capable of hammering a team out of sight as they are of grinding out a result against top opposition.

In fact, at 54 years old, it would be little surprise if Hughton went on to become one of the top flight's star gaffers in the coming years.

As for Spurs, we're hardly in a bullish mood having used up all our bull in a frustrating 1-0 loss at Arsenal - where the usual pre-match guff talked us all into believing we had won the game before kick-off.

With the international break in the way our raft of new players have hardly had a chance to settle let alone gel together.

We all feel like a win would set our season back on track after a rowdy transfer window. But this Norwich side will be no pushover.

Hughton will always be welcome at White Hart Lane, we would just prefer it wasn't in the away dugout.

Arsenal's Ozil move doesn't put Spurs in a Mes

SMILES. Smug smiles. That's about all you'll get from Arsenal fans this week. 

But it's not just because they've signed Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid and finally spent some money, it's also because they think they've got Spurs fans rattled.

What's worse is that some of us are proving them right.

Until Ozil's deadline-day Goons switch, our chairman Daniel Levy owned the transfer window but it seems sharing the limelight with our old foes is just too much to bear.

And the irony that it would never have happened without Gareth Bale's Real move makes it all the more cruel.

Well, sorry, that doesn't wash with us. 

On Sunday morning, we were like a boy racer revving his new car at the lights. We were nailed on for fourth place and it was sure to be at Arsenal's expense. 

By Monday evening (yes, that's a long time to be at the lights but just go with it) they rolled up with a Lamborghini and our balls wilted.

What did everyone expect? Arsene Wenger would just sit by and let us speed off into the distance? Hardly.

We've heard it all from Spurs fans this week. "We still need a left-back, why didn't we get Ozil?" and most deluded of all "that was a poor deadline day for us."

All of it is ridiculous.

There's no denying that Ozil is one of the best players in Europe. In the past five seasons, he has created more chances and made more assists than any other elite player in the continent.

But it helps when the man you are passing the ball to is Cristiano Ronaldo.

The simple matter is the German playmaker would never have come to Spurs. He has to perform against the best and we cannot offer Champions League football.

Arsenal's need in the transfer window was much different to ours, they know they already have a squad capable of regularly finishing in the top four, so it only needed a respray. 

But one signing won't win them the title and it does not take away from what we did in the market.

In Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen we have two of Europe's most renowned young talents. Add to that a reinforced midfield of Paulinho and Etienne Capoue. 

It's a lot of players to gel in very little time but the previous squad had proven three years in a row that it could not keep pace for the whole season and enough was enough.

True, none of the new guys are proven in English football but it shows major ambition and if even four of our seven signings live up to their massive potential then it gives us a fighting chance of withstanding another late-season collapse.

If it's Premier League experience you're after then look no further than Danny Rose, one of last season's key left-backs on loan at Sunderland.

What's more he's English, he's prepared to fight for his place and refusing to sell him on could yet prove to be one of our best moves of the summer. 

The other option was Fabio Coentrao, and even Manchester United failed to prise him from Real.

The view that we are typically shrewd on transfer deadline day is a myth as well.

In the last seven of them, the only real coups have been Hugo Lloris and Rafa Van Der Vaart. And Rafa only because we were in the Champions League.

Other than Clint Dempsey - who replaced Rafa with limited success last summer - our ONLY other deadline-day signing since 2010 has been Louis Saha.

The real crux of the matter, which has jilted folks' perspective, is that we lost the North London derby at the Emirates. 

We didn't create much but it's a game that we've lost 5-2 for the past two seasons, so it's an improvement.

We have never been this consistently close to Arsenal since the Premier League began.

Yes they are still in front but it's not Spurs who have 17 straight top-four finishes to protect.

It's not us who are crying over not winning a trophy for eight years.

And it's not us who had to sing "spend some f**king money" on the opening day just to get some transfer activity.

Frankly, it's not us who should be rattled, it's them.

Taxi for Bale... or should that be limousine?

GARETH BALE the promising prodigy is a thing of the past. Will Bale the galactico please stand up?

Seeing Real Madrid unveil the world's new most expensive player hammered home what we've known for weeks - his Tottenham days are done... Taxi for Bale!!

Yet you can be sure it wasn't a taxi that took him from Madrid airport to his new theatre stage, those days are done as well. 

A limousine is more like it, although if the reported contract he is on is accurate, Bale never needs to be driven anywhere again.

Between private jets, helicopters and yachts, his feet only have to touch the ground when he's playing football. 

And his new employers would probably prefer it that way because, when Real pay that sort of money for someone, they aren't just buying a footballer but investing in a superstar.

The confident well-preened young man out there speaking Spanish and doing tricks in the middle of the Bernabeu was no longer the wide-eyed youth whose every touch bore more potential than the last.

It was GB11, the brand - a globally public figure expected to appeal to millions of fans and generate squillions of euros.

Former managers and mentors all say Bale is a homeboy at heart and will not be blinded by the bright lights or sell out to celebrity.

But, like CR7 (Cristiano Ronaldo) and DB23 (David Beckham) before him, Real expect his entertainment value and image rights to more than pay for his astronomical transfer fee.

The sky is no longer the limit for Bale mark II, it's the minimum requirement.

There will still be Spurs fans annoyed at the way the transfer saga played out. 

But the groundswell of opinion is that the man responsible for all the great memories, the amazing goals and the explosive excitement deserves his crack at the bigtime.

The innocent lad who found his feet in front of the White Hart Lane crowd and grew into one of the finest Premier League talents has more than earned his dream move - especially when you look at the rack of replacements he has effectively paid for. 

And if that means Bale has enrolled in a future of backwards baseball caps and personalised sportswear then so be it.

He'll still be welcomed back at Tottenham and, if he does remain a homeboy, then there'll probably still be Spurs fans waiting for autographs when his yacht sails back up the Welsh coast.

So, for one final time... Taxi, well, private jet for GB11.

Hugo Lloris fits like a glove and is key to Spurs' good start

THREE wins in a row for Spurs and our new centre forward is already centre stage but it's also three clean sheets and Hugo Lloris is very much our unsung hero.

The keeper has been in inspired form so far, coming to the rescue on numerous occasions against Swansea and Crystal Palace.

France captain Lloris made a terrific fingertip save to deny Pablo Hernandes a late equaliser on Sunday and twice stopped the Eagles in the final few minutes last week, thwarting Damien Delaney and then Kagisho Dikgacoi.

But it is not just his shot-stopping that is proving so important to Spurs. 

The Frenchman commands his area and organises his defence. He is fast becoming one of our biggest assets and one of the Premier League's top goalkeepers.

He is quick off his line - for crosses and one-on-ones - can mix it in a busy penalty area and is not afraid to throw himself in harm's way.

At this stage last season we had one point, having let leak a late goal two matches in a row to lose 2-1 at Newcastle and draw 1-1 with West Brom at the Lane.

We may have needed two penalties to secure six points this term but we have defended the lead on both occasions and Lloris has been key to closing games out.

But the gloves didn't always fit so snug. When the £11million man arrived from Lyon last August, his position was immediately shrouded in speculation.

Brad Friedel had been a fine servant for just over a season and new boss Andre Villas-Boas was not about to unceremoniously ditch the veteran stopper for no reason.

The tabloids roared that Lloris felt insulted at being on the bench and wanted to go home to France.

In reality, a 40-year-old Friedel was never going to win the battle as the long-term option and it was only a matter of time until Lloris, 26, made the No 1 shirt his own.

We have had some good keepers in recent years but all have had their flaws.

Paul Robinson managed several years of solid service but had a knack of being beaten all ends up from 25 yards. 

Friedel was consistent but only arrived in the twilight of his career.

And Heurelho Gomes was rightly known as "the octopus" for his long arms but was only ever one bonkers decision away from KO'ing his own player or throwing the ball in his own net.

Add Neil Sullivan, Kasey Keller and Ian Walker and it's a very long time since Spurs have had such a consistent and all-round performer between the sticks.

Unlike many of his predecessors, Lloris remains calm at set-pieces and switched on for the full 90 minutes - that breeds confidence in the back four.

It is testament to the Frenchman's influence that we hurtle into the last week of the transfer window looking to strengthen almost every position but his.

That's because, after three wins built on three clean sheets, there are very few keepers out there who can do the job better than Lloris.

Tbilisi was Boom Town for Dinamo man Andros

OUR away support may have witnessed a goal rush in Tbilisi on Thursday but one Spurs fan who really struck gold was Andros Townsend.

Anyone who plays down our wings in the coming weeks will be saddled with the pressure of filling you-know-who's boots.

Yet it is not overplaying it to say that Townsend's performance in the Europa League qualifying first leg has altered the landscape of his whole career.

Prior to the game the winger, 22, was considering his options having been turfed out on loan a whopping NINE times.

The most recent of those was a successful stint at QPR in the second half of last season.

His performances reportedly impressed  a host of Premier League clubs and, with Tottenham's recent exodus of British players, Townsend looked next on our homegrown scrapheap.

The player himself admitted this week that if first-team football was not an option at White Hart Lane then he would have to move on, which put Swansea, Everton and West Brom on red alert.

But then came the Dinamo game - a goal, two assists and a man of the match display that will have thrust him to the forefront of Andre Villas-Boas' thinking.

It was exactly the sort of reaction that boss AVB would have been looking for. Townsend grabbed his chance by the scruff of the neck and shook it till its pockets were empty.

Certain recently departed Spurs players - without pointing fingers - have rarely taken opportunities in such devastating fashion.

And if, as seems to be the case, AVB is replacing some of his restrictive, two-dimensional players with more agile and adaptable alternatives, then Townsend could hardly have better proven the flexibility of his own game. 

His goal in Tbilisi was basically a foot race - explosive pace with a great finish from distance. 

It was skill, rather than speed, to beat the defender before crossing for Paulinho then a cutback with his wrong foot to feed Roberto Soldado for 3-0.

Townsend's performance ticked every box and, if he can make a habit of it against better opposition, then he'll soon find himself on every team sheet.

Levi's hardball stance has never been harder - and with good reason

THE PRESS are saying that Daniel Levy values Gareth Bale at upwards of £100million. The neutrals are saying that is too much for anyone - but are they all gloriously missing the point?

Maybe Levy just has no interest in making this process easy for the Spaniards.

Real have not exactly gone about their business in a civilised manner. They have  refused to take no for an answer, unsettled their target and gone back on their word.

Levy has umpteen reasons NOT to do business with them. And the impression is that he would sooner walk away from the deal and keep our star player .

Yet Bale's desire to leave may be forcing his hand and, if our chairman does have to play ball with these cowboys, he is now bound to play with the hardest ball he can throw.

When we sold Luka Modric to Real last summer, the deal came with handshakes, smiles and an unprecedented "goodwill agreement", meant to benefit both parties.

At the time, Spurs claimed: "The partnership agreement will see the two clubs working together in respect of players, coaching, best practices and commercial relationships."

But it seems Real have translated that as:  "Spurs will bend over and allow Madrid to penetrate as and when they please."

Frankly, it's a joke. We've gained nothing from said agreement other than years of disrupted pre-seasons.

If word is to be believed then Los Blancos - or Los Wankos - haven't even finished paying for Modric yet, so quite why anyone would expect Levy to sign away another asset without cash up front is anybody's guess? 

And can Real afford cash up front for Bale? Can they buggery.

Levy is said to have met Real president Florentino Perez in Miami, Florida, this week but a deal is reported to be a long way off. 

Madrid are in the US for a warm-up tournament and Levy has supposedly rebuffed a family holiday over there to get it sorted out.

Spurs owner Joe Lewis, who owns a house nearby, is bound to be either a phone call - or just a long boardroom table - away, so these negotiations are not going to be easy for the suitors.

They have openly courted Bale for the last few weeks, with club media rag La Marca, club ambassador Zinedine Zidane and even manager Carlo Ancelotti - who should know better - sticking their oar in to turn his head.

This offer should have come at the start of the summer. And it wouldn't surprise if Levy is angling for one more year and a quick sale next summer.

After all, the late-window sales of Dimitar Berbatov and Modric knocked our early season form so heavily that he can't want to flirt with all that again.

But if hardball is the game, and Real want their man immediately, then Levy is well within his rights to smash them out of the park.