I am not going to sit here and assess the stats on any of our players or performances so far this season. That’s for others to do and to be honest I find stats fairly mind numbing after a while. But without question this season has given us cause for optimism and whilst that has always been a cue for a kick in the teeth as a Spurs fan, the visible upward trajectory in the club performances has reignited us all as fans I believe and long may it continue.

And nowhere is it more apparent now that at the football grounds both home and away. We seem to have started singing players names once more and this is usually a good sign. It means that we as fans are re-engaging with the players again after a period of moody despondency where songs were somewhat limited to anything containing the “Y word” or “singing what we wanted” and we’d pepper this with “stand up if you love/hate” something and of course there’s always “Oh when the Spurs” as a staple part of the singing diet.

Now we have a real “one of our own” and some in between “ones of our own”, but we are all in love with Eric Dier and of course he loves us back. And whether we are singing “Oh Moussa Dembele” (who’d have thought that 12 months ago); “always taking Lamela with you”; or thinking Jan is pretty “super”, it is clear that with every song there is an adoration and respect for that particular player and what he does for the team. As the joy and attachment builds so does the repertoire.

In my opinion the star of the season so far has been Toby Alderweireld. A much needed signing that has brought out the best out of some of the players around him. Alderweireld (think I will just call him Toby from now on….) has been a calming influence in our defence and he seems to have brought the best out of Vertonghen and they have formed a great understanding together. So much so that Toby seemed visibly unhappy at the fact that he was partnering Wimmer in the recent cup game versus Leicester but that could only have been a blip. The guy has been immense. He has (according to @spursstatman) only committed six fouls in 1980 minutes of Premier League action this season which is Ledley King standard; oh and he has a crossfield pass that Michael Dawson would probably sell his mum for. Plus he has chipped in with goals.

Suffice to say that Toby has been awesome this season. Defensively he has brought calm and composure (OK so we are still somewhat prone to the occasional defensive panic but not as often as we have been used to). There is an intelligence in his play and a reassurance that has been missing since the departure of the “one-kneed” one. And not only that, he offers a genuine threat in the opposing box from corners and set pieces, and given that we never score from corners you can appreciate what an aberration this is for us Spurs fans.

But we have yet to hear a song for him and this is something that I think needs addressing. OK he doesn’t have the easiest of surnames to use but I am sure that there is someone in our ranks that can come up with something.

So instead of breaking out into a somewhat arrogant chorus of “you’re shit” to opposing fans (to the tune of Hey Jude) why not put your thinking caps on and let’s see if we can’t muster something unique up for Toby. Give Toby some love people. I’m sure you can do it. COYS.