If Spurs had lost yesterday I was going to take a sabbatical from football. Just, kind’a, ignore it for the rest of the season and come back refreshed, recharged and ready to take on the world again. As if. Because after the dire start to the season, after which, incredibly, we sit 4th in the table (our ‘rightful spot’), we just endured the week from hell. Losing stupidly at Leicester, which under normal circumstances might be forgivable, but they were not normal circumstances, and then losing at Colchester. Which is such a ridiculously abnormal circumstance as to be rather beyond ‘funny’. And losing at Leicester, like losing to Newcastle, was not normal because both were the result of the horrendous malaise that’s been poisoning my club since the term began. And whether this is down to the ‘want-aways’ not getting what they want or down to Pochettino losing the dressing room, or possibly some combination of both, the result is no cohesion in the club, no spirit, no togetherness. No love.

Until yesterday. The love returned. The winning ways. Well, let’s leave it as ‘winning way’ in the singular for the moment. And I’ll delay the sabbatical under advisement. As we only managed to win following an apparent revolt from France. As one Frenchman, Serge (QU’EST CE QUE TU PENSE????) Aurier managed to acquire 2 yellow cards in about 5 minutes of each other and departed the match after 30 minutes. Another Frenchman, the captain of his national team and our esteemed goalkeeper, Hugo (Cruyff) Lloris decided to deploy a trick turn on the ball, on his fucking goal line. The trick failed, the ball lost, the nearby attacker pushing it 3 inches into the net unbelieving of his luck.

But we’ll always have Japan.

Holy shit they are an exciting team. Not blessed with the sheer size required to be your normal rugby types, the Japs do it their own way. As they showed in the last World Cup when they beat the South Africans in probably the most memorable match ever. And again yesterday, they played the Irish. The number 1 team in the world rankings. Above EVEN New Zealand. Ok, Japan fields a few ‘Japanese’ of spurious origin, like their captain, who happens to be the brother of an Aussie cricket star. Both born in South Africa. But we don’t ask questions, lest they be asked about the provenance of our sporting heroes.

But what the Japs do is what they’re famous for. Incredibly hard work and fantastic efficiency. Like the bullet trains, the rugby team just works faultlessly. And the players are nimble and fast and very tricky. So they offload very quickly. Which doesn’t save you from the 17 stone of Dublin potato-head that’s bearing down on you, but it means the play is safely in your mate’s hands when you get hammered. And again, its not so much the result, which was incredible, but the spirit and the determination in which it was achieved.

I hope they reach the final. And Spurs beat Bayern Munich in the week.

Happy Jewish New Year to all. Shona tova, may it be sweet for everyone. Especially Spurs.

A xxxx