Bulldoglikeapproach
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 18 Jan 2011
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- 881
out of everyone at the mirror, darren lewis and robbie savage are the only two that i enjoy/respect. we all thought that no one would mention vdv's petulance, and most media outlets haven't. fair play to darren lewis for pointing this out.
Spurs fans have been here before so many times.
Good player gets regular first-team action to rediscover his best form only to start acting up, believing - because of his quality - he is above the law.
Which is why it was so good to see Rafael van der Vaart fail to reappear for the second half at the Bernebeu on Tuesday night.
He'd been building up to this match with a series of strops straight down the tunnel after being subbed by boss Harry Redknapp.
Then he let it be known to the media that he wasn't happy with being taken off, what with him being a World Cup finalist and all.
There was/is a touch of the Dimitar Berbatovs about it all. The Bulgarian appeared to down tools in his last season at White Hart Lane, when he became aware that Manchester United wanted him.
Van der Vaart clearly seems to believe he is doing Spurs a favour by being there.
Yes, he is a quality player and yes, he has been sensational since his arrival on Deadline Day last summer.
But there is still such a thing as respect for your team-mates. And the Dutchman's diva antics demonstrate he has still to prove that he has some.
First the stats: ten goals in the first half of the season compared to just three in the second suggest Van der Vaart's impact is on the wane.
No big deal there. 13 goals in his first season at the club when other teams are still waiting for £50million strikers to get off the mark is perfectly respectable.
It is the way Van the man is going about accepting it is Harry Redknapp and not him who makes the decisions that is proving just a little bit wearing.
Especially when, given the stage to prove that he is really is the big kahuna, he instead proved that Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid were utterly right to sell him.
Twice in the first ten minutes he gave the ball away to spark moves which ended up with Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo having shots on goal.
When Peter Crouch received his second yellow card for an indefensible lunge - however theatrical Marcelo may have been - the first man into the referee's face was Van der Vaart, screaming and shouting the odds.
Indeed, he was so petulant in the minutes after that incident he was shown a yellow card himself and fast became a liability.
His attempt on goal from a 40-yard free-kick with players waiting in the box was confirmation that, for Van der Vaart, it was - and is - all about him.
The Katie Price of Tottenham wants all the attention back on him. He wants to recapture those days of last autumn when it was all about him.
And to be fair everybody would love to see the return of the times when he made hay from the knockdowns of Peter Crouch.
But there is time for him to do that. He doesn't need to make the waves he is creating by acting up.
What Spurs fans needed from him was experience. To keep the side focused when everything was going against them in the Bernebeu.
They needed for him to keep his own head instead of squandering the chance when Gareth Bale launched a long throw at him in the box late in the first half.
This is a man with 90 international caps. A man who has been there and done it. A man who could yet go on to become a Tottenham legend.
As long as he stops believing he is bigger than the team.
Read more: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/darren-lewis/Darren-Lewis-on-Tottenham-Why-attention-seeking-Rafael-van-der-Vaart-is-becoming-Spurs-unwelcome-answer-to-Katie-Price-and-needs-to-put-the-team-before-himself-article720729.html#ixzz1IvP7e1M7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion ... z1IvP7e1M7</a>