A Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links April 6, 2016

Good morning!

I'm not nervous or resigned to fate at the moment. Usually, the combination of these words would not coincide with a week ending in a match against Manchester United, but here we are. For the first time in my lifetime as a fan I can say that Tottenham are odds on favorites to win the contest between the two sides, and I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it.

This was the yearly matchup that spawned the meme "Lads, it's Tottenham" because no matter how many times Aaron Lennon skewered Patrice Evra, Robbie Keane hustled and harried, or Pedro Mendes scored (but it wasn't given), we couldn't get over on these guys. We would always wilt under the pressure by the end of the day.

Those days seem to have past now, and despite registering wins over the most decorated side in Premier League history, it never seemed that we had become a real competitor with them on the pitch until this year. I'd like nothing more than to commemorate this overtaking than a merciless victory on Sunday that makes people recall those mid to late 2000 United sides.

Perhaps then "Lads, it's Tottenham" can take on a whole new meaning.

And now for the "news":

Hands off Mauricio, United| Express

United's days of taking our best are long over. This is for never appreciating Berbatov, you monsters.

Jan Vertonghen went back to Ajax along with many others over the weekend| The Mag

I imagine the camaraderie amongst Ajax players to be very high, despite the Dutchness of it all. Of all the cool things to be in the world, "trained to play football at Ajax" has to be high on the list, doesn't it?

Ander Herrea says Utd. will be fine because they only struggle against small teams| The Sport Review

This, flat out, is an embarrassing thing for a Manchester United player to say.

What we learned from the match nobody watched| SB Nation Soccer

Munich are good enough to win even when the other team plays well.