But that doesn't tell the full picture as since Lennon and Defoe have been at the club they have been crucial In us reaching the champions league, being a top four team and last season a records point total so while they where purchased in an era of mid table dreaming, they have proven their worth as we progressed. If we're looking at players who aren't good enough to be part of us moving forward then we could mention a large part of the squad but all it takes is the right manager and then these players who are called average become part of a team that moves forward. Or we could go out and spend 100 Million on new players who are meant to be better and discover they aren't what we expect.
I get it... everyone is trying to outdo the previous poster with how negative they can be. Is that it?
Or I decided to take the bait as I'll always defend players like Lennon and Defoe, even if Notso is looking for a reaction!
Lennon is always missed when injured and is the creative spark in many of our victories. I won't hear a word said against him. Townsend is not in the same league reminds me of Franny Lee he did very well in toilet rolls.
I think Spurs fans are more "into" their club than most others hence the many complaints we are reading. A lot of clubs fans are happy just winning but with Spurs the fans need something more than "just winning",thats nice of course but we want to sit back and enjoy it.Thats something we are unable to do. From the start of the season we were winning yet unable to produce goals and play like strangers....and now we are into February and not much has changed except that we seem to be on a downward spiral. I'm at a loss and many fans are too!
As Spurf will agree, if Redknapp wasn't sacked and remained manager for 15 years we would have the Spurs we all crave. Opportunity missed and now we're on a downward spiral! But there is hope as mini Redknapp is trying to sort us out.
I don't know tbh where we would be if Harry was still the manager. Probably still have lost Bale but I can't see Harry agreeing to a tech dir. so who would we have signed? Unknown scenario. Harry would undoubtedley have sold Carroll But at least we would still have Benny.
I'm not saying they weren't good enough to get us that progression, they were just what we needed, but its stalled hasn't it, 4th/5th being our absolute limit come May for the last few seasons. There are very good reasons we haven't contested 3rd or more. Yes there are more than a few that I don't think are good enough, if we're to compete with those above us. A manager cannot make a silk purse out of a pigs ear! ...or we could spend £100m more wisely...is quality over quantity too outlandish an idea? did we need 7?...clearly not as we are shedding excess 6months later, some ****er at the club can't count! its been horribly misused. If you're going to stick a load of players on a pitch who don't score very many goals, you are not going to win enough games....or have a goal difference thats a Positive number!
I know Lennon, Defoe, Crouch, Huddlestone and co have limitations, taking aside my defence I'm not that deluded! But and it's an important but, these type of players have taken us to a level way beyond their initial valuation and for performance return they deserve praise and respect. Mentioned this earlier. Lennon crossing to Crouch in the San Siro. These are memories that can't be ignored as I personally love seeing 'limited' players stick two fingers up at their doubters. If our target is to compete for top three then our rivals are City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Utd. Would we sign Lennon to take us to that level? No. However, in the only season we battled for 3rd, Was Lennon an important player? Yes. Our problem is we can't replace Vdv, Bale, Modric, Berbatov, that's partly why we're stalling as spending 100 million wisely is a difficult task as we're limited as to which player to attract but I definitely agree about the numbers, we went trigger happy in the summer spending. Since the premier started how many world class players have we signed? Vdv and Klinsmann? Man Utd can sign Mata, Arsenal can sign Ozil. We sign Lamela. We had our chance in 2011-12. Redknapp had to beg Levy to sign Parker, if we had strengthened properly we would have finished 3rd and due to our penny pinching all we could sign was Saha and Neilsen. Now we're spending millions on duds, men health posers and I hope Sherwood finds a way to get Soldado performing as all it takes is for someone to step up and we go from stalling to an injection of pace. But guess what Notso, Lennon will be there as he's proved his worth and he doesn't even have to head the ball
Lloris and Ginola too i would say. But you're right, not many. We buy them young or unproven and they leave world class rather than us buying the finished article
I saw almost none of the game, listened to about half. It seems we followed our usual pattern under Sherwood: sleepwalk through the first 20 minutes, go behind, then come back. This game we didn't get the win. I did see a beautiful buildup to Ade's almost-goal, and a quality goal from Paulinho. I personally don't expect that much from this team, but would say, cautiously, that Sherwood has us going in more or less the right direction--except for the sleepwalk and go behind the first 20 minutes part. That's the problem which most needs solving. The quality of football has certainly improved. This and Sherwood's other draw (along with the cup loss to West Ham) are the disappointing results. Three disappointing results out of ten strikes me as par for the course for a team at this level. Great servant to the club though he is, I would certainly have dropped Dawson for Vertonghen rather than sitting a player who's a decent shout for being our best player, and certainly our best new signing, this year. I'm hoping Bentaleb played because of concerns for the fitness of Dembele. I can see starting him or Moussa against teams lower in the standings rather than a DM. Everton looks like a game where we decide if we're favorites for fifth, or favorites for sixth or lower.
I love Daws but he shouldn't be a starter once Kaboul is fully fit. Kaboul and Vertonghen are without a doubt our two best CB's. Chiriches has been a great signing but defensively he's still not on the level of the other two, that's not to say he won't be in the future though. Dawson is still good enough to maintain a place in the squad but when all CB options are fit, I'd be disappointed if he were selected to start unless it's a cup game. As for Lennon and JD, I think they've been two of the main reasons to our "rise" over the best part of a decade. Before they both joined, Spurs were happy with 13th-ish place finishes and expectations/ ambitions of Europe were non-existent. Since they, along with a ton of others have come in over the years, we've steadily climbed the table to become one of the top 5 teams in the country that aspires to be in the Champions League. For the most part of this season, Lennon has shown he's more than worthy of a slot in our side and with the form of Soldado, I'm surprised Defoe hasn't been given more pitch time. I think both more than merit a squad place, and for the time being, while Lamela is still getting adjusted, Lennon is still first choice RW for me (even if he has been crap in the last two games! Lol).