Ditch the self-pity and move on

Younes couldn’t have picked a worse time to roll out his Petr Cech impression

WWWWDWWWWWWFOY. Tottenham’s remarkable run of winning form came to a shuddering end at Stoke yesterday but the controversial decisions made by referee Chris Foy left a particularly bitter taste in the mouth.

An inept first half showing from Spurs, unbecoming of a title-chasing team, had left them 2-0 and with the prospect of scaling a metaphorical mountain in order to get anything from the game. They responded in a manner more worthy of a team that hadn’t lost since the middle of August but despite having the ball in the back of the net twice and having numerous cast iron penalty shouts rejected, they left the Britannia with only a 2-1 defeat and a sense of what might have been.

It would be redundant for this blog to list the various injustices from the game and become yet another voice claiming how unlucky we were. Anyone with a brain can see that poor refereeing decisions have ultimately cost us the game. It doesn’t need repeating.

The harsh truth is that over the course of a 38 game season, there will be afternoons where it seems like nothing goes your way. ‘Experts’ will tell you that good and bad decisions tend to even themselves out thoughout the year – the theory being that for every referee-inflicted defeat, there will also be a decision-aided win. And though no-one really feels like it at present, it’s important not to get too overblown on self-righteous injustice. How many times do we see Arsenal and Liverpool fans claiming that refs are out to get them and that they’d have won everything going were it not for poor decisions? Do we really want to become those types of fans?

What I found interesting and heartening was the reaction of the players on Twitter after the game. There’s no telling how genuine the tweets of a Premier League footballer are – for all we know, the Spurs Press Officer was hovering over their shoulders, telling them what to write. But, assuming said tweets were indeed from the horses mouth, there was a pleasing lack of complaint coming from the players.

Kyle Walker (@kyle28walker): “Disappointed about the result was unlucky not to get anything out of it thanks to everyone who came great support as normal #wewilbouncebk”

Jermain Defoe (@IAmJermainDefoe): “Disappointed with result but have to look forward to next game great away support like always #COYS”

Emmanuel Adebayor (@Sheyiadebayor): “Very disappointed with the result. We will bounce back quickly. Its in our hands to put it right.”

There was no Wilshere-style moaning about the circumstances and then dressing it up as ‘banter’ a few hours later. There was no screaming of injustice, guaranteed to get them a story on the Daily Mail sport website.  There was a simple acknowledgment of the facts and a willingness to right the wrongs next weekend and get another run of form going. And they all know how to spell ‘disappointed’ (which is nice).

It’s an attitude that is, in this humble blogsworth’s eyes, wholly correct and one that we as fans would do well to mimic. Complaining about Chris Foy and endlessly retweeting images of Adebayor being onside won’t change what happened. Nor will raining down foul mouthed abuse on pundits when they fail to share our exaggerated sense of injustice. To attempt to immediately move on from this isn’t to ignore the fact that we were robbed. But I see no good in wallowing in self pity. We’ve been there before (May 2006).

The message from this blog: keep calm and carry on.**Facebook|Twitter**

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