Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

When you saw that Bale’s replacement was going to be Tainio and not Lennon it was time to write off the game. With a dodgy defence it was up to Tottenham to place the pressure on their opponents and keep them in their own half. Tainio, good as he is, wasn’t going to do that. The Newcastle goal, when it came, wasn’t a surprise. Spurs defence had been threatening a gift for a while and only a cool Radek Cerny seemed willing to do anything about it. This wasn’t the same team that fought for a result and outplayed their opponents at Liverpool, was it?

Polls on the internet see Jol’s star waning with the fans. In truth they have been very patient. More so than they were with Hoddle or Graham. They have allowed him to trade on his record till now but now, 10 games and 25% of the way into the season, it is time to judge performance. Anything earlier than week 10 is premature and the board made a right hash up of things but it was up to Jol to put that behind him and get on with things. He has not.

The performance against Newcastle wasn’t a brave loss. It wasn’t a fighting performance. It wasn’t unlucky. It was dire, awful, rubbish and, the biggest crime, dull: two or three players with fight and impetus accompanied by a bunch of wankers with no passion biding time waiting for their new manager/ a transfer/ the enemy to roll over and play dead. No passing game. No passion and no imagination. Oh, for a bit of Sam Allardyce’s passion from the bench.

The last time Jol was in this position he threw everything and the kitchen sink at a couple of opponents and got results not only on the pitch but off it from the fans who loved it. This time- not so much. Too much Steve Mclaren: afraid to change things when ahead, too late changing them when behind. A man showing too much loyalty to players regardless of performance… leaving a misfiring Jenas on the pitch and a hard working Malbranque trudging off the pitch.

Jol has to the end of the season. No-one will want to join the club in the position it is in. No-one better than Jol, anyway. Thought of Champions League must now be shelved. There is an easy sequence coming up of Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Wigan, West Ham, Birmingham, Manchester City and Portsmouth before we meet Arsenal again. Seven wins if you had asked me at the beginning of the season. Now, I just don’t know.

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