Phil Neville, who knows a thing or two about what it takes to win titles (he won six with United), thinks that it is where Spurs will be in March and April that will be key to their title hopes. Any team that are as close to the top as they are at the moment are in with a shout particularly as they are probably playing the best football in the league. It’s whether they can sustain their run; whether they’ve got the belief and stamina to withstand the pressures as a lot can happen between now and the next two/three months.
They’ve just got to take each game as it comes and not let all this talk change the way they play although Harry Redknapp’s side could do with another striker. Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe are consistent enough in scoring the goals, but Roman Pavlyuchenko is just not clinical enough with the ball at the moment. Yes, he’s hardly receiving a good run of games, so he may need to play more to get in the swing of things, but then there’s players such as Javier Hernandez and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before him who have often come on as a substitute and put away the first opportunities that they are presented with, opportunities that have regularly converted draws into wins.
They are the sort of players a team needs when trying to win a title because it can be around Easter time that the strain of a long season takes its toll on the players who have played virtually every game. The Lilywhites have strength in depth in all other areas of the pitch, but that is where they could be found wanting should fatigue and injuries come calling. Mind you, if they were still involved in Europe then you could argue that they would need another defender to cover the injury prone Ledley King and William Gallas.
Redknapp has always maintained that the main aim was and still is to qualify for the Champions League and, now it seems, finish higher than their local rivals, Arsenal. It has been an absolutely brilliant season so far as they are on course to fulfil both those objectives, which should mean that there’s not too much stress on them as they were not expected to be in this position last August, but while the opportunity is there, Redknapp and his men should make the most of it.
Feel free to leave me any comments on here and/or on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or YouTube:
https://www.facebook.com/rickymurraywriter, rickymurraywriter.tumblr.com, www.youtube.com/rickymurraymusic
Introducing the neat little app that’ll pay you to view content tailored to your interests:
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.
A piece of idiocy on my part. I forgot to insert that Leeds were a point clear of United in the 1999/00 season in case people thought it was 1999.