My thoughts on the game have pretty much been summed up by most posts on here: generally speaking we look much, much more solid defensively this year than last - seriously starving teams of the space needed to create chances. The high line pressing is also beginning to reap dividends as I thought today and for most of the Stoke and United games we win back possession quickly and with relative ease. The glaringly obvious dilemma is what to do with that possession once we've won it back. Signing Son and Njie are the first steps to resolving that problem, but the worry is that Kane looks absolutely shot atm. He should just go off on an all expenses paid 2 week spa break somewhere warm and recuperate. As usual, the intl break couldn't come at a worse time for us with so many key players buggering off to play for their countries. But looking at the other results today it's clear that only City have settled into anything resembling a rhythm. If De Bruyne goes through they will walk the league this year. All in all, it's been a frustrating start to the season but we're a million miles away from the famous 2-in-8 comparison that some are drawing. The rot under Ramos began to set in well before the start of that season, and a disastrous transfer window that saw Berbatov leave without being adequately replaced left us struggling from the word go. Our business this window, whilst traditionally comically last-minute, is shaping up to be our best and most sensible in over 5 years. I'm cautiously optimistic for the rest of the season. Liverpool and Arsenal really don't look up to scratch still, Soton have got off to a shaky start and Chelsea and United are far from convincing. We just need to add a killer instinct to reel these teams in.
Power, I’ve also been saying if you can look past the disappointing results, you’ll see a team playing more coherently than last year. The problem is we need points. The player we have who I think would have gotten us more points this year is Trippier. We’ve scored three goals, of which two have been headers. Dier, Alli, Kane and Chadli are dangerous in the air and a number of other players might put one in. The player who’s MO is to cross has hardly stirred from the bench. On top of that, we seem enamored of short corners. It’s a kind of we-don’t-want-to-be-the-new-Stoke snobbishness, if you ask me, which also explains the reluctance to buy Austin. I certainly don’t want us to be the new Stoke either, but if we’ve lost our number 10, are struggling for goals and wins, and furthermore have a tendency to faff around at the edge of the box when we should be firing in crosses or shots, Trippier makes sense.
Watching MOTD. Ruud Gullit's answer to how to improve Liverpool? They need to build a new stadium. Wow - no wonder his management career went to ****.
Agreed. The problem is that to his credit, Walker is finally starting to look like the player who won all the plaudits 3 years ago; and he's doing that with absolutely no cover or consistency in front of him down that right flank. I'm usually the first on here to lay into Kyle but dropping him now would wreck his confidence. Having said that, our crossing today was utterly woeful and neither Njie not Son look to be the types of players who will solve that.
Rondon looks like the busy forward we needed. why the **** do Spurs think they are above such purchases. And that Lanzini for West Ham....he seems much better than our Argie Lamela. We are **** in the transfer market big time.
Funny thing.I was expecting to see Spurs near the top not the bottom.Also expected C Palace to be near the bottom not the top. ....and,I believe,Soldado has scored more goals,so far, than Harry. Wake me up someone. Well done Hammers.Two wins that have cheered me up.........I bet they would like to play Arsenal and Liverpool every week,but not Bournemouth............!!!!!
I agree that Lanzini appears to be doing, in his first match, what we have wanted Lamela and Townsend to do for two seasons. I'd like to see what Son and N'Jie do for us before claiming we are we are crap in the window though.
In Ramos' case, our record of 14 points from the 12 games after the Carling Cup final was when the rot set in. While it's true a lot of teams coast after winning the League Cup (we also did in '99, Swansea, Liverpool and Birmingham all have in previous seasons) the key difference is that Ramos seemed incapable of imposing himself on the team before the final, let alone the start of the following season. Seriously, has anyone ever figured out what Ramos' tactics actually were, because there never seemed to be a coherent plan - so it's no wonder we were utterly ****ed at the start of 2008-9. And, yes, I have noticed The Narrative is comparing the current run to that period...yet somehow nobody is noting that Chelsea's record of four points from their first four games not only beats the two seasons where Vialli got five from four in 1998-9 and 2000-1, but it's their worst start to a season since Hoddle got them three points from four in 1995-6.
Funnily enough I was just reading about the Ramos' reign in Ledley's autobiography. I usually don't touch anything written by a footballer with a bargepole but I made an exception for the King. He writes that the biggest problems were Ramos' appalling English and his militaristic diet regime that literally saw players sneaking into the changing room showers to eat a mars bar. Apparently his first team talk to the players was 'you are all obese; 100kg in total heavier than my Sevilla boys'. His game was an intense version of what we have now - with high-line pressing and rapid closing down the entire game all over the pitch; a method that required incredible levels of fitness. The younger players apparently took to Ramos' methods pretty easily because their fitness and energy levels were generally much better. The older players resented being treated like children, and also grew frustrated at his tactics - simply because a squad containing the technical ability of Berbatov, Hudd, Steed and Not-so really didn't need to be running around the whole time in such a look-how-fit-we-are frenzy. I think there was a coherent plan; it was the players who didn't take too well to his approach. A lot of the players also harboured resentment over the way BMJ - who was immensely popular according to King - was treated and how the timing of the announcement basically caused us to lose our opening EL game to mighty Getafe at home.
BMJ loved Spurs and we loved him. I'd like to see him back at Spurs in some capacity because I think he is a genuine fan.
Walker is playing well, I agree. The problem remains that he’s a player who looks good without either creating goals or being that good a defender. The players at fault for not winning, strictly speaking, are Chadli and Kane, who didn’t put away excellent chances. Everyone else played fairly well or better. Even Chadli had a good game, I’d say, showing a workrate and inventiveness I haven’t seen from him. So we’re in the unfortunate position of having our best player by far last year letting us down so far this year. If this were most teams I’d be more concerned. GIven how young this team is, and the fact that they are playing better, overall, than they were last year, I’m inclined to hope the improvement continues, and that the wins come. But I’d start Trippier as a stopgap and hope Walker doesn’t get discouraged. I wouldn’t move Dier, though. He and Bentaleb controlled the midfield, and he and Mason did very well also.
Jol was not only a good manager, he was a good bloke too. I've told this before, but my brother knows him personally. He lives in Waalwijk where Jol was the manager years ago. Anyway, my brother arranged some tickets for me to be picked up at WHL. When I went to get them, they were not only there, but Martin Jol came down to say hello and ask how my brother was, etc. He didn't have to do that, and seemed like a very decent bloke.
Some one at Spurs is incredibly keen on the continental manager model (Is it Levy?)Santini, Ramos, AVB. Apart from Harry, who I think was a panic appointment that embarrassed Spurs because of his success. It was not the model they were following. With MP we are back with this continental style (albeit a different continent) that the Spurs board seem to believe is their path to success.
Good overall performance, for me, despite it being too slow at times and the failure to put away our chances. Dembele's injury was a major disappointment and we lost momentum after he went off. We're missing some creativity and pace, so I'm hoping that Eriksen's return and our new signings can address that, as well as our lack of goals. Great pass by Mason for Kane and I think that finish summed up Kane at the moment. Just a bit off in front of goal.
Agreed. Weirdly, it was our best performance of the season despite ending in a disappointing result. Watching the highlights back again you realise were it not for Howard we would've won 2 or 3-0. We had a lot of luck last year and it was always going to catch up with us eventually when, unlike other teams, you can't rely on myopic officials to gift you the points. Harry is now a known quantity, as is Eriksen, and defences up and down the country are going to be focused on stopping those two every time we play. The crowd reaction after Kane's howler was excellent; we cannot let the media-frenzy of pressure weigh down on his young shoulders. Even though he hasn't hit the onion bag yet, I thought he was one of our best and busiest players yesterday, as well as against Stoke and United. Post international break we find out if we have the grit and graft to start winning without the luck that carried us across the line so many times last season. I worry that the lack of anything resembling an old head in the dressing room will make this harder than it has to be.
