Boggs forgives Danny Murphy for his sins and bigs him up to epic proportions. Cue 2-0 loss to Sunderland tomorrow…
Tottenham went into the January transfer window needing a few things – a left winger, a backup left back, and another target man. Yet our key signing ended up a very anticlimatic Danny Murphy for a couple million quid. The cnut snubbed us to go to ‘bigger club’ Charlton 18 months ago, but I suppose he’s partially forgiven since he was right about how sh*t of a coach Santini was.
But I digress…
I was among those a little disappointed for other reasons, it had nothing to do with the balding player’s ability but more that we had failed to strengthen the areas we needed to in order to continue our push for 4th place, a chance at the Champions league and – more importantly – starting a series of events of unfathomable joy to any Tottenham supporter:
1) Qualify for Champions League
2) Deny Arsenal a spot in the Champions League
3) Deny Arsenal a spot in the Champions League the year they move to Cashburden Grove, keeping dreams alive of a Leeds-level meltdown
4) Deny Arsenal a spot in the Champions League, quite possibly sealing the departure of Thierry Henry to Barcelona
5) Soil underpants in delight
So it was frustrating to say the least to think that any opportunity to ensure such events had been lost, but after some introspection I’ve decided that the man with the tasty wife will be our best chance at achieving our dreams this year.
With Mido in the side, the team has a tendency to play the long ball more often than a few Spurs fans would like. Without him, the whole “Can Keane and Defoe play together?” debate starts, and we’ve only really seen it work once his season against – ironically – Charlton last week. One problem is that three out of the four midfielders tend to be defensive minded or drop deep naturally (Davids, Carrick, Jenas). The result is that Teemu Tainio is often the lone outlet between midfield and the strikers and while he is a good, industrious player – he is not the kind who will unlock defences with a killer pass on a regular basis.
As a result even when winning we can look rather disjointed in attack or resort to the long ball up to the feisty one.
Enter Danny Murphy, who has been on the fringe of the England team for approximately 18 years. When on form for both Liverpool and Charlton he has looked amongst the best creative midfielders in the Premiership and the start of the season saw him almost single handedly steer Alan Curbishley’s side to second place with assists and goals galore. It’s no surprised that when Curbs decided to reorganize his side without Murphy, early-season topscorer Darren Bent’s goals dried up in kind.
Murphy was at his best when Charlton played a 4-5-1 that freed him of most of his defensive duties, allowing him to roam and create. In Tottenham’s 4-4-2 he will find himself in a similar position (most likely cutting in from the left side) only he will be supported by Davids, Jenas, and Carrick rather than whoever Charlton happen to have these days, while enjoying passing to the likes of Defoe, Keane, and Mido (who, despite Tottenham’s success this season, currently tend to be pretty starved for service during long periods of matches).
Considering what Danny was able to do for Charlton, the results should be devastating. He’s experienced, in his prime, and hungry for a chance to play at a big club again that just happens to be one of Sven and Tord’s favourites to watch. At the supreme risk of jinxing the rest of the season and seeing us collapse and go into administration, I reckon Danny Murphy will be the driving force behind our attempts to end this season with delightfully soiled underpants.
Does Boggs know his arse from his elbow? Let us know in the comments section or send an official rebuttal to submissions@caughtoffside.com and we’ll put it up on the page!