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Camden New Journal - CROW by RICHARD OSLEY and PIP WROE
Published: 25 September 2008

Bottom of the table, this is no time to milk League Cup triumphs

BOTTOM One Tottenham have misunderstood the Carling Cup and it sums up their annual undoing. So desperate to win something, they grab foolishly at this unloved competition as if lifting the trophy remains an achievement as special as it was when it was sponsored by milk. It isn’t.
The tournament is now about blooding youngsters and showing the fans what’s in store for the future.
Yet Bottom One Tottenham are still in a hazy world where they are a major football force whose players are picked for England (they were last season and it sure didn’t get the country to the European Championships). Instead of getting into the spirit of what the League Cup has evolved into, Spurs field their strongest team in the hope this tiny shred of silver can make up for decades of drought.
It’s a form of cheating, really, playing so many first-teamers in this charade of a cup.
It meant they conned themselves into thinking they could make a meaningful challenge in the competitions that matter last season. A win against the Arsenal under-21s might have looked dramatic, but ultimately has led to little. The only team without a win in the Premiership, they can win as many Carling Cups as they like and Bottom One Tottenham will still fall short of what the fans who booed them off on Sunday really want.
It makes you think: Is there anybody out there who would swap Arsenal’s sublime Mexican Carlos Vela for the overpriced Darren Bent?

HAVING glimpsed a taste of Arsene Wenger’s motivational skills this week, it appears the secret memo that everyone expected to resemble a formula for alchemy was merely a patronising list of statements of the obvious.
Lines like: “Be fresh and well prepared to win.”
I’m sure the original memo included more accurate lines like: “Always pass to Fabregas,” and, most crucial of all: “You don’t have to like him to pass to him.”
Unfortunately, it appears that treating people as though they’re stupid actually works, so here are some suggestions for Juande Ramos:
1. Try and play the best players you have.
2. Play them where they are supposed to play. (Special note: Zokora is not a right back.)
3. It’s all well and good keeping the ball, but you’re supposed to do something with it.
4. Darren Bent plays for us whether we like it or not, so let’s try to give him the ball.
Finally, a special memo must be placed on Comolli’s desk: “Don’t sell all the goalscorers we have when our defence haven’t learned how to keep a clean sheet yet.”
No doubt Wenger received similar nuggets of wisdom in a memo from Bruce Rioch, which is now laminated and sewn into his pillow.

* Spurs fan Pip Wroe will be going head-to-head with Richard Osley all season.

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