SHOCKING: For Tottenham supporters, being ‘Spursy’ means “it’s not fun.”
SHOCKING: For Tottenham supporters, being ‘Spursy’ means “it’s not fun.”
Anna Howells, content creator for Spurs XY and long-suffering Tottenham fan, bristles at the term ‘Spursy’ being used about her team – but admits it is an apt description.
“Yes, not a fun word but an accurate one,” she tells BBC Sport. “We have been incredibly inconsistent. Somehow both really good and really bad.”
‘Spursy’ has become shorthand to describe Tottenham’s wildly inconsistent form, an ability to snatch draws or defeats from the jaws of victory, and put their supporters through the wringer.
Last week was one of the most Spursy of all – a thumping 4-0 victory at champions Manchester City, followed by conceding a last-gasp equaliser against Roma, and culminating in a deeply frustrating 1-1 draw at home to mid-table Fulham.
All that came amid worries about injuries and fitness of key players, the quality of their replacements,
and an ongoing existential crisis about balancing the innate
Tottenham identity of attacking football with being able to see out tricky games.
The debate between idealism and pragmatism is one on which fans differ.
“Following Spurs this season has been a tonne of fun – that was the narrative in
the WhatsApp groups after Roma,” Chris Paouros, co-chair of Proud Lilywhites, tells BBC Sport.
“We’ve spent a lot of time saying we want our Tottenham back. We have it back. This type of football is our identity.
“Ange Postecoglou is the man – his football is irresistible. We are the league’s entertainers. I’m happy with that.”
‘Angeball is risk and reward’
That insistence on entertainment shows in the stats. Spurs are the Premier League’s top scorers, with 28 goals from 13 games – yet they sit seventh in the table, with six wins and five defeats.
The Roma match was Postecoglou’s Spurs in a nutshell – taking 24 shots to Roma’s 18, putting together some brilliant attacking play but unable to see out the win as Mats Hummels equalised in injury time for a 2-2 draw.
Following the thrashing of City with a draw against mid-table opponents Fulham, who played the final 15 minutes with 10 men after Tom Cairney’s red card, is also typical. No wonder some supporters are irritated.
“Frustrating mainly,” Alison Speechly, Spurs fan writer for BBC Sport, said when asked to sum up the fan experience this season. “We keep getting glimpses of greatness.
“Angeball is risk and reward, and we are seeing that – rewards at times, but also risk of performances like against Ipswich and Crystal Palace [sides in the bottom four who have beaten Spurs this season].
“In football you can plan, but you also need to react. Sometimes your plan might not always work, and you need to be able to adapt. There has to be some flex in there. They say to the media: ‘We take every game seriously.’ But do you?”
Her frustration comes from Postecoglou’s commitment to attacking football at all times. Goals are usually not difficult to come by – in all competitions, they have 14 different scorers this season, Brennan Johnson the leader with 10.
A star-studded forward line includes several players – including Johnson, Son Heung-min, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski – capable of playing in multiple attacking roles.
It can be greatly entertaining, but also explains why Spurs have strung together three successive wins in all competitions just once in 2024.
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