It has been a funny old weekend to be a Spurs fan, but generally a good weekend to be a Spurs fan. There have been four major talking points, starting with Gareth Bales interview for Football Focus, but I have already made my feelings known on that so I won't go over it again. This seemingly led to Redknapp stating that he was not sure if Modric would stay this summer, just 24 hours before our important match with Blackburn. We all struggle to see the logic behind this, maybe Harry believed he already had the England job secured and was just being honest, maybe Harry is a slave to the press and will do anything to give them a good story, well no maybe about that one. However, I am beginning to think it may have been very clever mind games on the part of Harry. Modric turned out his best performance this calendar year and was an integral part of the side once again. Whether Modric goes or not will be dealt with in the summer, but could it be that Redknapp has finally pulled off a masterstroke in the press by making Modric realise that he needs to up his game if he wants to keep in the thoughts of his potential suitors?
So we were all apprehensive at kick of as to what to expect, but playing Blackburn, a team who have hardly made it into second gear at all this season, we were also optimistic. Spurs started really well, nearly taking the lead within 90 seconds, through Lennon, who could only find the side netting. Sandro, who I personally thought was man of the match, thrashed a long range effort against the under side of the cross bar. Sandro was on great form all day, controlling everything in the middle, and offering an attacking presence that Parker often does not. Gallas Also hit the woodwork with a header. It was not until after this that Spurs took the lead. Van der Vaart tapped in from two yards, this time with the linesman getting the "was it over the line, wasn't it" question right, and it was no more than Spurs deserved. The second half was not quite as exciting as the first. Spurs confirmed the victory with a world class Walker freekick. He curled it round into the top corner in a strike that he later claimed was his best career goal. Walker has been fantastic this season and is now showing signs of turning into a Dani Alves esc player. Another impressive trait of Walkers' this season is that he has been immensely loyal and has always fought for the cause. He has apologized on Twitter when he has made a mistake, he has always showed passion and a desire to win. One thing that stood out for me is that when he was awarded our player of the month award he stated that he hopes that it was the first of many for the club. That kind of loyalty is refreshing in an era when more players seem worried about getting as high as they can as quick as they can. All in all it was a good performance and a good result, granted Blackburn didn't have one shot but we still needed to get the job done and we did.
Another piece of good news came after the match. The FA reveled that they had approached Roy Hodgson for the vacant England managers post and that they were not intending to speak to anyone else. Obviously I have previously made it clear that I am not the biggest Harry fan but at the same time I am glad it should now be down to us whether he leaves or not. If we do get third or fourth and do get into the Champions League I would not be opposed to Harry staying as then he would definitely have achieved something this season, that is ofcourse linked heavily to Chelseas' fortunes in the final. From an England point of view also Hodgson is a far superior choice to Redknapp. He has international experience and will bring through youth players and not stick with the same old crap that we have been plugging on with for years like Redknapp would have.
We don't have much time to rest, Bolton away on Wednesday, a very important match, that could see us going just one point behind Arsenal. Chelsea play Newcastle at the same time so it is our chance to put some distance between us and at least one of them, lets just hope now all this Harry to England nonsense is finished that we can crack on and produce another good result. I have written the whole article, and still not mentioned that we are back in fourth, and the race for the top four is back in our hands, at least until Chelsea play Bayern.
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