I think Spurs and Utd have a lot of similar problems at present - the manager doesn't know the best XI or what formation to play them in - the teams are prone to defensive mistakes which an excellent 'keeper can only save you from so many times - the teams can look deceptively good in possession of the ball, but are lame without it - not enough players do the hard work of closing opposition players down, none can tackle and too many are happy to wait for the ball to be given back - there are too few "go to" players who can change a game or they're not doing it often enough There have been some encouraging signs in recent weeks, but you have to accept that it's work in progress for a long while yet.
Getting beaten 3-0 by Chelsea, even if the goals were down to individual errors rather than an especially poor performance, isn't the best form for a top 4 side no. But how many of us were realistically looking for top 4 this year anyway? The ambition this year is consolidation and to finish as high up the table and do as well in the cups as possible. I'm not saying we should ever write a season off because if we win our games anything is possible but to judge us by the standards of a top 4 aspirant is not entirely fair because we're not truly one this year. Maybe next year, if Pochettino proves to be the right man and we get some stability, but not this year unless the stars really align. Once they scored the second, our lack of experience and perhaps a feeling of "oh no, here we go again" showed in our confidence though for sure. Kane does need to pop some goals in soon yes, but he came very close against Chelsea and his all round game the last couple of matches has been excellent. A renewal of the Soldado-Kane partnership against Palace might perk both of them up as they look quite good together. If we were to ditch Ade and bring in the right player in January that would be good, as we can't completely rely on the youngster and we don't want him to burn out. A newcomer might push Kane to improve more too as he clearly wants to start as many games as possible. He's far from a perfect player but he looks more like making stuff happen on the pitch for himself and other players than pretty much anyone else at the moment, so I wouldn't knock him too much.
It also seems some of our fans expect us to have players of similar calibre to Aguero, Costa or Rooney. Kane's only started 3 league games this season, the rest have been sub appearances yet he has two goals and an assist, plus lets also take into account that he was instrumental in the Everton win, it was his shot that Howard palmed onto Eriksen and then he made the tackle on Barry to allow Lennon to supply Soldado with the goal. His all round play has greatly benefitted the side. 18 games overall (many as sub) with 10 goals and an assist is a great return from a 21 year old.
Mixed feelings from me. Like others, I find getting beat by Chelsea more difficult to take with each passing season. Such a "big" club that their stewards can't cope with a large away following, meaning that for the third time in four seasons, dozens of our fans didn't get in until 20 minutes after the start. Last night my feeling was that 3-0 flattered the home side and although I still feel the same today, there can be no doubt that for the majority of the game, we underperformed and never really looked like getting anything from the game once the first goal went in. As always seems to be the case now, all the goals were disappointing and Lloris still hasn't learnt about basic goalkeeping on his near post. He looked a bit vulnerable last night, although in his defence, those in front of him seem totally incapable of earning a clean sheet. But there were some bright points and with better luck we might have taken the lead and maybe it would have been a different story. Not trying to be wise after the event, but I was disappointed he left Soldado out. I am all in favour of "horses for courses" and all that, but I also firmly believe in not changing a winning team, particularly when the player you omit, is one who I would have expected to be well up for it after his goal on Sunday. Let's hope we can get a repeat of the Everton performance against Palace. If we do, then the points will surely be ours.
Hard to disagree with that. I was always hoping for a day when Spurs would be on par so to speak with Utd, I guess my wish came true, just not in the circumstances I was wishing for
Apparently Tim Sherwood was commentating on the game on some radio station and is reported to have criticised Jan Vertonghen, saying "Vertonghen is so poor. Can't move his feet. He can't defend, this guy".
The lad has come a long way in a short time recently, and has worked tirelessly in the game time he has had. I think he deserves to be cut some slack quite frankly. He's still learning his trade and at the moment I think he could be a worthy candidate for the Young Player of the Year award.
Kane has a bit of a "honeymoon" period at the moment, in that many premiership defenders are not familiar with him. Be interesting to see how he fares next season. He at least gives 100%, which is more than can be said for many of his teammates. Not much else to say that I, and others haven't already said. It's a pretty ordinary side. With the occasional exception of Lloris or Eriksen, there isn't one player who stands above the run of the mill.
This aint to slag you off but I really disagree with you. This the 4th or 5th time you've mentioned that miss which was on 6th november...but he also scored in that match. The following match was v stoke where the whole team was ****e. This was followed by the Hull match which he turned around and he scored the winner. He only came on for the final 20 mins in the following match v partizan and did ok ... having a goal ruled out for off side. On sunday he was our best player. Yesterday he hit the bar...a bit of good luck and who knows. He is not the finished article, he may not amount to much but in all honesty you are putting too much on one miss. As for the team...like Harry Kane it is not the finished article so will be inconsistent...we will not come in the top 4 imo but then i never expected us to. I was at a loss of what to make of us getting MP as our manager and, mostly, still am but it is way too early to judge. Any team relying on ego's like Adebayor and Vertongen along with signings that haven't worked out like Paulinio, Chiriches, Soldado and Capoue is going to struggle...as none were his signings he can not be held responsible for them. his plus points revolve around us still be in both cups; bringing mason into the 1st team; continuing to give Bentaleb and Kane good opportunities, keeping the mud slinging in house and having a clear idea how he wants us to play. his negative points revolve around his not knowing his best team* and his lack of a plan B. with all that considered he and the team need a lot more time (at least 18 months...3 more transfer windows) before it can be considered an MP team so imo he can not be fairly judged until then *Powerspurs put me in my place with that one so it no longer counts!
Agree with that RCL apart from the 'not knowing his best team' bit. We shouldn't have a 'best' team. We should have about 18 - 20 players who can rotate in and out of the team plus a few more for emergencies. Different opponents require different players to give us the best shot of winning.
Yeah, all fair points. I think you can pick apart the defending for any goal with hindsight but Lloris has to take the full blame for both goals in the first half. It's a shame as he's been having a great season and having seen his save from Coleman again, it really was an incredibly good piece of goalkeeping. The third was very poor from Vertonghen but generally I thought we were okay in defence. There's still a long way to go but I think we need to stick with this Fazio-Vertonghen partnership, changing then centre backs every couple of weeks can't be helping anyone. It is frustrating to lose 3-0 to Chelsea but we went down giving it a go, there are plenty of teams that would've gone straight into damage limitation after going behind but I like that we're always giving it a go. As for Soldado, I'm sure Pochettino would've started him too with hindsight but I don't think anyone really expected us to unsettle Chelsea so quickly and easily. You could argue the case for Soldado and equally argue the case for a bit more caution. One minute we were charging forward looking first to every ball and a few moments later we're 2 down looking like we've had the wind knocked out of us. Personally I think we should've had Chadli starting on the left because he works harder than Eriksen when he has to run back towards his own goal. I think we have to beat Crystal Palace on Saturday. If things were going better then a slip up would be forgivable but any manager worth his salt really should be expecting to be able to outwit Warnock.
He also apparently said Chelsea should sign Adebayor. To be honest I'm fed up of him being given a platform to spout his bitterness, negativity and general nonsense. Hopefully some dope gives him a managers job soon so he can concentrate on something else.
I'd like to see Tim Sherwood get a decent run as a manager at another club, mainly just to see how he gets on. I suspect that he'd actually do fairly well at the right one, especially if he was given some time and the right guidance. Not sure what sort of opportunities will open up for him at the moment, though. He'd be a risk for one of the strugglers, in my opinion.
Iwonder if Sherwood told Verts and Ade that they played like tired s.o.b's and needed to wake up,when he was manager? Probably not.Now he has the freedom to say what he should have said as Spurs manager.....
Believe me Smithy, he never held back in having his say when on the training ground. Very very direct in his comments and never shirked a confrontation.
I may be wrong, but he strikes me as way too confrontational to maintain harmony in a premiership squad.
I think Sherwood, given the chance, would've got rid of a lot of the deadwood at the club, he just wasn't a big enough name unfortunately
