I wouldn't mind so much us not having any strikers (bearing in mind that some of us were making this complaint as far as when we had Defoe and Crouch, with Pav as a pointless sub, not scoring goals for us), if we had a decent defence, but we don't. I think we have to write this season off as a "squad-development" season.
Have now. Though I'm not so sure that it wasn't the case that Pochettino had no plan B (he made a couple of positive changes, went to two up top) but merely what we've known for a couple of seasons - none of our attacking players are all that good. Lamela may turn into something more than a Poundland Ronaldo at some point but it's still not there with him. Still we wait for evidence of top-level ability from the likes of Paulinho, Chadli, Townsend, Soldado...and consistency from Adebayor and Eriksen. It's been the same for two years - in AVB's first season I was worried that we could fail to beat anyone if Bale wasn't playing. Add to the mix that our defence now looks dodgier than it has for a long time then I start to worry that Poch has a crap plan A with crap players in it more than I worry about how he doesn't have a plan B. Today he had a sort of plan B it just didn't work.
next few league fixtures.. Loss to Arsenal, Loss to Southampton, loss to Man City, win to Newcastle, loss to Villa, draw with Stoke, win to Crystal Palace, We are going to be perched just above relegation...
Don't question yourself HIAG, you're a world cup winner (for predictions) although probably not a good idea to boast about it.
One word... pathetic. I can see this being a really dodgy season with a toothless attack and a dodgy back line. Poch has got his work cut out!
What really pisses me off about Spurs - and it's been pissing me off for far longer than is tolerable - is how we always seem to give really ****e teams their first win.
Well thank **** thats over. Thoughts on the game: -Everything needs to be done more quickly. You don't need to be a fast player if you think and act quickly -Defence was an absolute shambles, Kaboul looked marginally better then Chiriches but that is no compliment -We need a proper RB in there because Dier, although he tries valiantly, isn't right for that position -Dembele is at risk of becoming the central midfield version of Andros Townsend. He needs to get his head up and stop trying to take on every opposition shirt out there -I get why we play out of the back sometimes but decision making in doing so needs to vastly improve -Positioning and passing needs to be executed at a far, far quicker rate if we're going to play this way -Ade looked very poor (but was far, far from being alone in this) -Lamela should not be beaten in the air by Morrison. He didn't even get close to him -I'd like to see Lennon, Eriksen and Lamela as a 3 behind a striker next time. Chadli and Lamela are too similar to me, and I'd rather have the Argentinian and then have Lennon on the pitch to provide the threat of raw pace, which is something our current lineup lacks -Stambouli could be a worthy addition to the midfield in future games as he can actually pass the ball and move with the ball at feet -I never, ever, ever want to see Paulinho in a Spurs shirt again. Ever. He offers nothing. He's never shown that he is fit enough to operate properly as a box-to-box player. I saw him around 70 mins (been on the pitch for ~10 mins) lose the ball and jog back to defend. Where's the pressing? Don't tell me he's tired after 10 minutes! His passing at any range is at best unreliable and at worst, well, atrocious, and he offers very little in the final third. I probably shouldn't be picking on him so much regarding this game because he only had half an hour (and I do pick on him quite a lot anyway) but I just don't see any circumstance where I'd rather have him on the pitch instead of anyone else in the first team squad. Fair play to WBA who came to the Lane with a plan and played to it very well. Their CBs were great and going forward they caused us plenty of problems. Their pressing was far far better than ours, and they played fast enough football to negate our fairly feeble attempts to press them the majority of the time. Massive, massive improvement needed, and I could see us taking a proper hiding next week, even though Arsenal's defence isn't in great shape ours is even worse right now and we look so sluggish going forward they'll probably be able to deal with us anyway. I appreciate Pochettino will need time but it could be painful to watch until it comes right.
Do you know? Sometimes we Spurs fans just want to catch the train on Southend Pier and go jump in the water! Are we,or are we not, a good team.Is this just a hiccup after these useless breaks in the season and go on to achieve something......finally....or another let down season. I wonder if WBA had been a sick team like Aston Villa,would we have still have beaten them........?
Ii didn't see it. Nor will I be watching the lowlights on the Beeb tonight after reading this. I think we have to face up to the fact that we are just an average EPL side. All the signs were there just before Bale was sold. We seem to have compounded things by overpaying for some decidedly average players. Lastly, why the **** can nobody in the hierarchy see that a top striker is needed. It's so glaringly, blindingly ****ing obvious!
What worries me is that they came to attack not just stick everyone behind the ball...they created the better chances and deserved their win. I get he went to 2 up front but in reality the formation may have changed but the style didnt ... all narrow tippy tappy **** We play with no speed and show lots of fear...completely different from when redknapp and jol were in charge. We were boring and toothless today, on thursday and v liverpool and were defensively weak v sunderland...that is a very bad sign for where the team is going
Maybe you blew your budget on Soldado and Lamela? I'm not sure as I don't know your budget, wages etc etc. Just an observation, no harm meant. I save that for the mouser thread
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino: "I'm disappointed and angry. I think we had a very bad day. We played very, very slow. We need to be more alive and play quick. We didn't create too much. We made a big mistake on the set-piece." (BBC Football Live) That's fair enough from Poch, I suppose. At least he has recognised there is a serious problem. Now, can he go on to fix it?
They came to counter-attack, RCL. It was virtually a carbon copy of Liverpool's loss to Villa. Away team was compact with two banks of four and pacy strikers, home side lacked width and penetration. Managers failed to address what wasn't working until it was too late and didn't seem to know what to do.
Unfortunately, the club's hierarchy thought they bought one in the form of Soldado who has to be up there as one of the worst frontmen ever to wear the Spurs shirt. They're desperate for him to succeed but he won't. The guy doesn't know where to play within our system or style of play. If he drops short, he links up play only to then make a run into an area that gives our other players such a small margin of error to make a pass that it would have to be inch perfect to reach him. When he does get the ball at his feet, he has zero finesse or skill to beat players. If he had pace, he could use that as his asset yet he's slow in the feet and pretty slow in the mind too. Awful, simply awful signing. I'd take back Rebrov over this bloke and he was pretty dire at best. It just highlights what a poor decision it was to allow Defoe to leave if we had no intensions of signing a top class striker.
