Reminiscent

Spurs played well for 45 minutes but a poor second half performance let Leicester back into the game. Are there positives to take from this result or is it too reminiscent of past failures?

It’s amazing how football fans can blindly trick their minds to be optimistic at the beginning of a new season.

After all, it’s like New Year’s Day.

You’ve gorged yourself on food and alcohol for two weeks – probably longer - and then promise yourself you’re going to hit the gym and get in shape.

You have a new purpose, new garms, new signings, and a fresh perspective.

But then, something happens that you aren’t in control of.

Like, eleven blokes pulling on a top you have idolised your whole life and then don’t quite perform to the expectations you have set.

So, at the first sign of trouble, you revert to the tropes and behaviours that are reminiscent of the past.

The opening game against Leicester was a bit like that.

Spurs were in control for much of the first half. Solid at the back and playing nice football. Dominik Solanke was pressing from the front and James Maddison was creating chances from midfield.

Chance after chance then came and went.

We were finally rewarded for our efforts when Pedro Porro headed in Maddison’s free kick in the 29th minute. The mythical vision of ‘Ange ball’ looked like it had come to fruition.

Spurs eventually went into half time only 1-0 up. We should have been out of sight.

But as the adage goes you must bury your chances, and Leicester - for all their troubles – were never going to play that badly in the second half of their first home game back in the Premier League.

It was our old foe, Jamie Vardy, who equalised in the 57th minute after Christian Romero left him unmarked for the simplest of headers.

You just can’t escape the symbolism of that goal.

Not only did it hark back to a time when we couldn’t take advantage of our rivals shitting the bed, but it was reminiscent of much of last season.

Spurs just can’t put together a full 90 minutes of ‘Ange ball’ without giving their supporters an anxiety attack.

Leicester pushed for a winner, and if it wasn’t for a superb save from Guglielmo Vicario there would have been a lot worse memes to wake up to this morning.

Spurs did eventually recover from the equaliser thirty minutes later when Richarlison missed a golden chance late on. But the reality is that we shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

If I am to put a positive spin on this game, then this is a talented young squad that needs a lot of coaching before reaching its full potential.

There is no need to dive down every YouTube, Twitter and Talksport rabbit hole just to confirm that this result was underwhelming.

But such is the nature of life and football that there will always be the need to peer over the neighbour’s fence to see how good they have it and demand the same.

Unfortunately, that long road to success is often painful and full of roadblocks that will drag you back down into old habits.

But it is not impossible if you hold course and ignore the noise. We, as Spurs fans, need to be mindful of this.

Accept this result.

There is always next week.

Let’s get back home and beat Everton.