NORMAN GILLER'S SPURS ODYSSEY BLOG No 559
Submitted by Norman Giller

"Don't panic ... don't panic" ... Spurs supporters of a certain vintage will recognise that immortal warning from Dad's Army. I plead with all those Spurs supporters on the verge of committing hara-kiri, please put away the knife and hold your nerve.

The Corporal Jones "Don't panic" syndrome was widely in evidence after Tottenham's depressing defeat by Newcastle. It was the sort of performance that sends many reaching for the panic button.

But this is no time for a white flag. Football has a habit of making fools of those who pronounce a crisis after one dreadful afternoon (even if it did come just a week after the nosedive in the season opener at Brentford!).

The performance deserves honest criticism, but the season has not been decided by it. The challenge now is not to explain away what went wrong, but to show that lessons have been learned. Over to you, Signore De Zerbi!

There is, of course, an important difference between refusing to panic and refusing to recognise the evidence of your own eyes. An exercise in stubbornness.

What we witnessed against Newcastle was not simply a case of Spurs being unlucky. This was a loose performance without sufficient urgency, invention or authority. Newcastle looked the more determined team and, most disturbingly, the side with the clearer idea of what they were trying to achieve.

Sorry to be a broken record, but again we looked like "Passing Strangers." Tottenham's players appeared to be operating from different sets of instructions. Passes went astray, pretty, promising moves disappeared down blind alleys and there was too little evidence of the fighting spirit that increasingly impatient supporters have every right to expect.

The defeat hurt not merely because of the result, but because of the manner of it. Spurs supporters will forgive mistakes. They will accept that confidence can disappear and that even talented players have wretched afternoons. What they find more difficult to tolerate is the suspicion that the opposition wanted victory more. That is an unacceptable attitude.

This is where Roberto must earn his corn. Managers are judged not only by their tactics and team selections, but by how they respond when things start to unravel. Anybody can look clever when the goals are flowing and the points are piling up. The real test comes when the critics are sharpening their pencils and the supporters are losing patience.

The excitable De Zerbi has to restore belief, purpose and-most importantly-unity. Spurs need to look like a team rather than a collection of high-maintenance individuals who happened to meet in the dressing room shortly before kick-off.

It is far too early for surrender talk, yet that defeatist tone decorates many of the online comments. Football fortunes can change with astonishing speed. One convincing victory can lift the gloom, restore confidence and make the league table look considerably less menacing. I repeat, hold your nerve.

We old hands have seen Spurs sides recover from worse situations than this, although I am struggling to think of when I have felt so despondent this early in a season. Our hopes and expectations were high because of the club's sudden opening of the coffers ... just hope we're not going to find coffins.

Even as I type there is talk of Iliman Ndiaye arriving from Everton, with the enigmatic Richarlison going back to Merseyside. Spurs have never spent this much before in a transfer window and I just hope the boldness pays off - for all our sakes.

There is unquestionably quality in the new-look squad. But confidence is on the floor and this is where Roberto must overpower the players with his positive personality. The question he has to answer - and quickly - is whether he can blend his collection of high-cost (and highly paid) footballers into a side with the character and consistency required to survive the difficult days as well as decorate the good ones.

With the transfer deadline door about to close, we will soon know. Our Spurs Odyssey guru Paul H. Smith reports on the wreckage of the Newcastle defeat HERE but joins me in being bothered and bewildered by the stuttering start we have made to the season. Hope has been replaced by anxiety, optimism by pessimism.

Saturday's challenge against Nottingham Forest now assumes extra importance. Suddenly, and so soon in the season, we are facing a Mount Everest. On the other hand, it offers an immediate opportunity for the Spurs players to provide the only answer that truly matters-the one delivered on the pitch in the form of a victory and a performance of which to be proud. Yes, I could be accused of clutching at straws. But again I say, hold your nerve.

Spurs must be prepared for a contest at in-form Forest requiring concentration, courage and a willingness to compete for every ball. Pretty patterns will count for little without pace, purpose and penetration.

Nobody is demanding miracles. We simply want to see a Tottenham team playing with pride in the shirt and giving supporters reason to believe that the Newcastle and Brentford nightmares were an aberration rather than a warning of darker days ahead.

So, to borrow again from Corporal Jones: “Don't panic ...” But it might be wise to make certain the platoon is facing in the same direction before Nottingham Forest come marching into view.

COYS!

Just in case you've not heard, I am collecting and collating material for the definitive story in digitised format of the Double Year when Spurs set the football world on fire (certainly compared with the damp squib of Saturday!).

My objective is to convince future generations that there was football before the Premier League by putting that first Double of the 20th century into cement so that it is available online for all time. I was there. Were you-or was somebody you know? Would you like to share recollections of that unique time in the club's proud history when Danny Blanchflower (above) led Spurs to glory-glory?

Please send any memories you or a family member may have of the Double season by email to normangiller@gmail.com. Be part of the lasting tribute to those Glory-Glory days gone by.

Share this with any veteran Spurs supporter who remembers the days when we did not start a season with a 3-0 defeat followed by a 2-0 surrender at home. Things can only get better. Can't they?

Here we go with the third week (already!) of our returning quiz that tests your knowledge of Tottenham players and the club's history ...

Which Spurs player has won 97 caps for his country, has previously played for Hull City and what Tottenham shirt number does he wear?

Email your answer to me at soqleague@gmail.com and make the subject heading Quiz Week 3. Deadline: midnight this Saturday. I will do my best to respond to all who take part. Answer in next Monday's Blog here at Spurs Odyssey.

The rules are the same as in the previous 12 seasons. I ask a two-pronged question with three points at stake - two for identifying the player and one for the supplementary question. In the closing weeks of the competition I break the logjam of all-knowing Spurs-history experts with a real stinker of a tie-breaking poser that is based on opinion rather than fact. This is when I lose what few friends I have.

This season's main prize will be a framed certificate announcing the winner as SOQL champion 2027, plus three signed books to be revealed at a later date.

Last week: Which Tottenham Hall of Famer played 21 times for his country and against which team did he play for Spurs in a League Cup final? He later joined them on loan before briefly becoming Tottenham assistant manager.

Answer: Steffen Freund/Leicester City

P.S. You can still get the perfect post-free gift of my World Cup 1966 book at www.normangiller.co.uk. It's got lots of Greavsie in it and is a lasting tribute to the greatest season in English international football history. And don't forget it was a Spurs-raised man - Alf Ramsey - who made it all possible.

See you back here next Monday, same time, same place. COYS