Confused dot com

 

 

This article is about 2 teams that have more in common than at 1^st meets the eye. Juventus and Tottenham Hotspurs at 1^st glance do not have much in common but that is not necessarily the case this season.

 

Both teams were in a bit of a rut at the beginning of the season with the word crisis being bandied about like it was going out of extinction; they both have elderly managers that have won precious little in their careers and they are both popular men that lots of people would not begrudge them any kind of success in the future.

 

They are both in the middle of an incredible run of results of winning matches that much bigger things are now being expected of both teams but this is not what has got me confused.

 

The thing that has totally baffled me is that neither side is playing brilliantly but they continue to baffle everyone with the achievement of great results.

 

Let us start with Juventus, they were branded old and lifeless after a series of uninspiring performances as well as results losing to the likes of Napoli away and Palermo at home while drawing games they should on paper win quite comfortably.

 

Then along comes Real Madrid and their fortunes changed as they beat Madrid 2-1 and all of a sudden Alessandro Del Piero could not stop scoring free kicks and great goals as his side went on an amazing run beating Real home and away; Chievo and Bologna away; Genoa and Torino at home.

 

In all those matches Juventus were just organized without really a coherent pattern of play as they do not seem to have a plan beforehand as they just seem to go with an attitude of if we score, we score but we would make it hard for you to score against us and with the quality of strikers we have then we would score.

 

Against Genoa on Thursday the score line read 4-1 but that was not how the game went at all as if Genoa had another striker like Diego Milito, who was superb on the night and if they had even a modicum of defensive ability they might have stood a better chance. They also did not get the rub of the green with offside decisions that were very dubious to say the least.

 

In other matches as well it has been more of the same as there was never any game plan, but they have been getting results and still Claudio Ranieri is not getting the credit as players like Del Piero and Pavel Nedved are getting the plaudits but once things go wrong then Ranieri gets all the blame.

 

Another thing they have in common with Spurs is they have far too many ordinary players but unlike Spurs they do have world class talent.

 

To Spurs, ever since Harry Redknapp took charge they have been winning game after game and apart from their 1ts game with Harry in charge against Bolton; midweek Carling cup match against Liverpool and discounting the Dinamo Zagreb game, they should have lost all the other games but with incredible luck they have managed not to lose with Harry in charge.

 

Against Arsenal they were totally outplayed but somehow got a 4-4 result; against Liverpool at home in the league, they really should have been at least 4-0 down by half-time but incredibly they came away with a win as Liverpool kept on squandering chance after chance.

 

Just last week against Manchester City, they were taking another battering before Gelson Fernandes got himself stupidly sent off and Spurs managed to win 2-1 with Richard Dunne also sent off.

 

If you take a close look at the Spurs side there are good players but no world class talent in their ranks. Luka Modric is perhaps the most talented but he is just another player; David Bentley is overrated even if he is a good player.

 

The strikers are no where near world class and the defenders are good and nothing more than that as Ledley King, though being a class act cannot play too many matches so it is difficult to rely on him.

 

As for the best of the rest, Jonathan Woodgate looked like he was going to be international class but injuries have limited his potential, Michael Dawson is very average; Didier Zokora is indescribable as I have no idea where he plays, Jermaine Jenas goes from below average to good far too frequently whilst Tom Huddlestone is a good passer of the ball and that is about it.

 

Both Spurs and Juventus are on a very good run as they keep winning matches that they are perhaps not expected to win without really being convincing and it is all too confusing.