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Is Lionel Messi Finally The Greatest Of All Time?

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Lionel Messi has finally won the World Cup. Is the GOAT debate over? (Getty Images) As Gonzalo Montiel slotted home past Hugo Lloris, shades of blue and white erupted across the Lusail Stadium. Messi sank into the ground in joy, engulfed by his teammates. He had finally done it. After a long, glittering career, he had finally filled that one gaping hole in his star-studded CV, one that had always left him lagging behind in the debate with Pele and Diego Maradona to be the greatest footballer of all time. And now, this singular global triumph would surely, almost inarguably, elevate him above these two greats. In the hours after the Argentinian win, pictures and videos of the Argentinian captain lifting the coveted trophy spread all across social media, accompanied with captions like "Messi has completed football." It was almost like a fairy tale that had reached its happy ending. Having emerged over the years as a product of armchair analysts' whataboutism, the lack of a ...
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Croatia, Brazil, And The Art Of The Penalty Shootout

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Croatian players celebrate winning the shootout after Brazil's Marquinhos misses his penalty. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) It's deep into extra time in Croatia's game against Brazil. Well, one minute of added time in the first fifteen minutes of extra time, to be exact. Thirty seconds before the referee blows the whistle, Neymar weaves through the Croatian defence with a couple of silky one-twos and finds himself on the edge of the six-yard box. He dances past Livakovic, the Croatian goalkeeper, and blasts a thundering shot into the roof of the net from the narrowest of angles. Brazil celebrate emphatically, their job almost done. But with Brozovic skying a gilt-edged chance just minutes earlier, the game wasn't over yet. Croatia knew exactly what they had to do. For all of Brazil's flamboyance and skill up front, their defence had been suspect from the beginning. Brazil was freedom personified—Richarlison was a winger-turned striker, while Neymar was a forward playin...
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Toby Alderweireld: Tottenham's pseudo-playmaker

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10 minutes have passed in Tottenham Hotspur's match against Crystal Palace. Toby Alderweireld receives the ball in his own half, looks up, and sends a long ball towards space in behind the Palace defender Sakho. Son Heung-min, sprinting valiantly as he always does, latches onto it, and proceeds to cut inside and score. 1-0 to Spurs, with the kind of goal created seemingly out of nowhere by the direct passing of the big man Toby. For all the creativity of Eriksen, Dele and (arguably this season) Lamela, Toby Alderweireld remains one of the most underrated creative outlets for Tottenham, and yet one whose contract is fast running down. Toby loves to ping long balls over the top, and he's been doing it for years. He's also turned out to be really, really good at it.  So much so that, for the past three years, he's completed the most long balls in the league from an outfield player by a landslide (players who made more than 10 appearances). In 2018-19, he was the o...
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How Not To Play The Possession Game: Tottenham Hotspur

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It's the same story time and again. Against Newcastle, against Villa, against Liverpool in the Champions League. Tottenham are the masters of keeping absurd amounts of possession, and doing absolutely nothing with it. The signs were there going into the season. 4 wins in the PL since February, and our main creative outlet haggling for a move away. Pochettino decided to drop Eriksen for the opening match against Villa, and that's where the issue presented itself yet again. Tottenham always struggle to break down defensive teams. The gameplan of recent times, it seems, has been to pass it around the back and keep possession until an opening manifests itself somehow or someway in the opposing defence. To which Eriksen or even Toby Alderweireld would hoof the ball hopefully towards goal, and pray that one of Kane/Lucas/Son/Alli would latch onto it, and score. And that's exactly what happened against Newcastle last week. We already saw this problem against ...
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Just How Do You Beat Manchester City?

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As Dua Lipa said, "Touch me like you touch nobody, put your hands all up on me." It’s deep into extra time at the Etihad, and somehow a plucky Tottenham side have been holding the champions to a 2-2 draw for the best part of 90 minutes. City’s (and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s) perfect home record is about to come to an end, and Pep is not happy. His team has missed over 10 chances and conceded twice, and he’s already burned bridges with the club’s record goalscorer after subbing him off. A De Bruyne corner is sent into the box amidst a flurry of Tottenham bodies, and lands at the feet of Gabriel Jesus, who smashes it past Lloris. City have the 3 points, and parity is restored. Pep and Aguero kiss and make up in a wholesome embrace. For a moment, City are perfect again. Then in a moment of déjà vu, VAR does its thing. Laporte was seen to have handled the ball in the build-up, and the goal is disallowed. Pep and City are struck with flashbacks of last season’...
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The Introduction

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This is going to be a platform for weekly rants about the state of football in the world today, the adventures of the Tottenham Hotspur team, and my obviously unasked-for opinions. What else would you expect from a blog titled, "The Hurry Kane", anyway? England's number 1 striker looks on solemnly, presumably having injured his ankle yet again.
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