Spurs: Carling Cup aftermath and the relegation battle

After the disappointment of the Carling Cup final, Spurs must crawl from the wreckage and salvage what is left of the season.

Spurs lost to Manchester United on penalties, having pushed The Red Devils for 120 minutes at Wembley.

Captain Ledley King today stated that he felt Spurs played well and put in a performance to be proud of. Meanwhile,  Jermaine Jenas and Darren Bent are issuing a ralling cry to team mates, insisting they have to pick themselves up from the Cup final and concentrate whole heartedly on the league, right away.

Spurs must now concentrate on their league position, as they are just two points off the relegation zone and head to Middlesborough on Wednesday for a huge six pointer.

The question is, how will Spurs react to the Carling Cup loss on Sunday? Last year the club seemed to completely switch off  after the Cup final. But if the same happens this year Spurs will be playing in the Championship next season.

No one thinks this could happen but we all know actually that it could. And its not because Spurs are not good enough to stay up, or that they don’t have the players to win matches, but its simply down to the fact that Spurs don’t regard ordinary, everyday matches in obscure away from home or at the Lane, worthy of effort or committment.

Spurs: six wins to stay safe?

Harry Redknapp thinks Tottenham Hotspurs need to win six more Premier League games in order to avoid relegation.

But where are those eighteen points going to come from?

Defoe is out for the next 5 games at least which means our striking options are still a huge concern depsite his, and Keane’s return to the Lane.

Fortunately Pavlyuchenko will only get better with time as he settles into the English league –  he has looked impressive at moments, with superb long balls and Berbatov style touches. And Darren Bent to0 looks like he’s finally on the up (finally), although it is yet to be seen how long this will last.

The midfield certainly looked stronger against Arsenal on Sunday than it has in recent games. Man of the match Palacios had an awesome game, and certainly added the steel to Spurs style that Redknapp so desperately wanted.

If Bentley finally comes to form we will have some great wide options too (he could certaintly do with a little fitness training having looked sluggish since his arrival to the Lane). In contrast, on the other wing, Lennon is looking on top form, so if Bentley up’s his game we could once again be formidable out wide in attack.

Cudicini has also fitted in without any problems and looks like a fine asset. With Gomes competing for his number one shirt the standard of our keeping can only improve (something that has been so tempermental in recent seasons) a solid keeper bodes well for a more solid team.

We will always create chances and so we must try to keep clean sheets if we are to indeed win six games (by no means an impossible feet, by the way).This is not to say our back four hasn’t been performing. Woodgate and Dawson have been class acts since Harry Redknapps arrival (and indeed, even under former boss Ramos). And with Chimbonda back (as long as he doesn’t play like he did against Arsenal) we should have a sturdier defence.

Alan Hutton however is still sidelined with long term foot injury.