You had more talking title than top 4 until this week. If I were you - would be focusing top 6 optimistically.
Just got in, going to read the match thread but need to get this off my chest. Dembele cost us them two goals. That was bollocks from him not laying the ball off in our DM position when the simple passes were on..and they were on, he did have options. Both times they rip us up and score.
OK its been covered by some of you.. ****sake Dembele. Seems like he still had last seasons match on his mind and was trying to outdo Chelsea himself and ended up messing up.
It's worth remembering that we had a hideous run of games that started on 15th October away at west Brom, and finished yesterday away at Chelsea. During that period, we played 10 matches and only 3 were at home. - let's also remember that those games included 3 London derbies, 2 of which were away. There was a tough away match away at Liverpool in the cup, 3 tricky CL matches and a game against the defending champions. We've got 24 points and only lost 1 game. I seem to remember us being in a position last year where we had an incredible run undefeated, but too many draws. IIRC, a defeat to end that run did us a favour as we stopped being so cautious. We now have 6 matches coming up, with 4 at home. We have united in that mix, (another AWAY GAME) but all those games are winnable. We need to be positive and see how the next month pans out, but the club need to learn from this difficult period and realize that the January transfer window could be an asset to us, even if things start to look a bit better over the next 30 days or so. We have many of the same problems we've had for a long time in terms of squad depth. These need addressing or we'll miss the boat.
Sorry Roo but the January window is a waste for us. The only time I can remember us buying well in it was 2009 when we faced a relegation fight and we went and refused bought Chimbonda, Keane and Defoe and got Palacios (excuse spelling). There is not a hope from he'll that we will get attacking and creative players in January. As for on the pitch...the reason I am so disappointed is because we have thrown away two cup chances prioritising the league games after and only got 1 point from those 2 matches. I ain't going to rehash the Liverpool cup defeat but what was the point in resting Walker and Vertongen on Tuesday if we go and produce a second half like that yesterday? The loss is not the issue. It's the inability to play a good game of football for a whole match and the boring football we are being served up that makes me think this is going to be a long, tedious season.
There's no getting away from it that the Jan Transfer Window isn't ideal, especially if you're looking to purchase players. But it can be a time to bring in some replacements on loan. Yes we've been wasteful in the past, but you could say that about any transfer window. The key thing is to look for 1 or 2 faces that will improve us, even if they are only on loan. We need a creative attacking player like Isco (who is rumoured to be interested) and someone who has leadership skills on the pitch. There's always players out there that aren't getting the game time who we could get on a 6 month loan. Last season RCL, as fans we pretty much came to the realisation that we had a First XI and little backup. Sadly, this is still the case. Only this season, everyone knows how to play against us and we've been found out. (+ we've been hit by injuries!) Wanyama is the only signing we've made that appears to be challenging any of those first XI players last year. We needed to have 3 or 4 doing this. We should have been looking to sign players that would improve us at the end of last season and keep the squad on their toes. Not buy more players who were similar to the ones we got rid of.
I do not know anything about European leagues but can not see how we will bring any players which will better us in the January window. No club is going to let their best players leave unless they are offered stupid money or are in financial hardship.
Annoying team to watch. Really got on my nerves with the brainless football on show. Wingers that can't put full backs on the rear foot are useless. For all those calling on N'Koudou to start. I understand why but he isn't a 90 minute player. What he does can only be done in 20 minutes max. Sorry but he comes across brainless too, take his pace away and his use is done for. Dembele needs to stop living off last year. He's been **** and cost us two goals. Incase these ****s have forgotten. We have achieved **** all yet!
December Fixtures: Swansea (H) United (A) Hull Hotspurs (H) Burnley (H) Soton (A) Realistically, we need 4 wins and a draw (probably the United game) to keep our top 4 hopes alive. Lamela and Toby are supposed to be back in contention for next weekend (although I don't think we should risk them - give them minutes against CSKA and then start them against United), while Alli and Kane are nearing 100% fitness. If we can't get 13 points out of the next 15, we genuinely don't deserve CL football next season as we will only embarrass ourselves and English football in general.
The demeanour of the team is tiresome to watch. You think Poch gives rockets up the arse or just massages egos incase he loses the dressing room?
I hate it when we play ****e cos every one else becomes a miserable git and I no longer have a use on the board
The main problem is clearly how inept we are in the market. We had a few good window recently but rapidly reverted to type this past summer and turned those into the exception that proves the rule. The rule being: We seem to believe that we can conduct our transfer business differently to every single one of our rivals and get away with it, despite being financial minnows in comparison. A club with our means looking to secure a place in the top 4 for the long term needs to be getting players in as early as possible in the window, giving them maximum opportunity to gel with the squad. Since every one of our signings will inevitably arrive with a question mark over their head: will this guy actually make a difference to our match day squad? , the logical thing to do is to avoid crippling their chances of positive answer before the season has even kicked off. The GKN signing was farcical. And even if it was OM's fault, so what? He isn't exactly ripping up trees at the moment and wasn't that expensive. Was he really the only pacy wide player in world football who we liked the look of? Was he worth wasting 2 months of ridiculous 'will he won't he' headlines? Was it right to risk our back-up goals on the performance of a young, completely unproven Dutch talent? Would a 3rd striker really have hurt? Did no-one realise we'd be in the CL this season and, to that end, know that we needed players who would improve one Eriksen, Lamela etc. not just back them up? Oh, and once we've decided to bring players in after the season has already started, let's hold a pre-season tour on Jupiter and leave half the squad back in London, so that by the time the season kicks off, we have 4 players who don't know anyone's names, 4 more players who are actually about to be sold/loaned out but don't know it yet, and 8 players who haven't kicked a ball in 3 weeks. We are an absolute joke. And don't get me started on Sissoko. I was talking to a colleague of mine last night who is a massive Pool fan and he just turned round and asked me: The Sissoko signing made 2 things clear: You had £30m to burn and wanted an attacking player. So why the **** didn't you push us all the way for Mane? You had CL football to offer, we had higher wages...maybe he would've chosen you! And he's right. To be pissing about with £30m on deadline day for a player literally zero Spurs fans wanted to see was laughably amateur. We are a club with top 4 aspirations but conduct our off-field business with the sense and logic of a team scrapping against relegation. I'm going to stop there because I'm building up a head of steam for one of my rants and I don't want to upset anyone.
I totally know what you mean CK. The Mane example. Clocked it a few years ago. Spurs are annoying me with their shenanigans. That doesn't excuse senior players though. We don't have enough determination on the pitch. I can't get over Dembele losing the ball twice in the exact same place and manner and them scoring. I told my brother I would haul him off. That would teach him not to dither around...but he goes and repeats it and still stays on! Haven't done this towards Poch but '**** off Poch' can't stand the ego massaging...you are to blame for yesterday... No leadership. I'm not happy. Fair enough if we got schooled....but no....it was our own inflated egos that cost us yesterday. It was so obvious Costa had been told to pipe down and play football... He did that. Dembele is still on a ****in crusade from last year.
If it wasn't bad enough losing yesterday I then have to come on here to read bad tempered rants from posters who really should know better IMO. Our young side is full of talent,. the last two seasons have seen MP build the best squad Spurs have had in a generation and people are still moaning about poor transfer windows. You must be ****ing joking! The best back 4 in the league in the team with the 6th best income. Throughout our team we have young talent that will only get better. What was disappointing about yesterday was losing when we had completely outplayed Chelsea on their own ground in the first half. To lose from there was and is a bitter pill but it was not because we have a crap team and poor players. Was it inexperience, was it tiredness relative to a Chelsea team who had 7 days rest? Whatever it was, I saw enough in the first half to continue to believe that our manager and players can go on to great things. They will do none of this if the fans turn their fickle selves to attacking the management. On a positive note I thought Walker was magnificent in the first half and Eriksen's goal was magic. Wanjama also deserves a mention as one of our newer signings that has made a difference. GKN also had some promising moments, in a Spurs career that has hardly started. Pick yourselves up oh miserable ones and start enjoying the progress Spurs have made in the last couple of seasons.
I thought that it was a combination of Conte making minor changes and the blow to our confidence from their undeserved equaliser. They started finding the space between Wimmer and Vertoghen and getting in behind the defence. Moses was free to attack and pushed much higher up the pitch, as he knew that our left-back wasn't going to attack. I'm not being critical of Wimmer, as he was played out of position and still didn't do too badly. We suffered from not having someone that was comfortable in that role, though. Having Rose and Davies out for the same game cost us badly, in my opinion. Our youth system seems to have started to suffer a little, both in terms of results and producing players. We lack some depth there in comparison to some of our rivals, despite having brought through a lot of quality quite recently. It could do with being addressed, I think.
We are surely due some luck against Chelsea but it was not to be yesterday. To be fair MP himself has talked of the need to strengthen the squad, so the will is there. We need perhaps to remind ourselves of our relative financial clout and the fact that we are building a state of the art stadium that might just put us on a more equal footing with teams like Chelsea. Kane is to get into his stride and Toby and Lamela are not too far from returning, to bolster the squad, plenty of time to turn this season into something special.
It's seeing the same old mistakes repeated time after time that drives us insane. No-one on here expects us to win the league. Despite all of my doom and gloom at the end of last season, I said that I would be satisfied with a top 4 finish this season. This argument about the 'best squad' is an exaggeration though Spurf- surely the past few months have demonstrated the exact opposite?! Pick up more than 2 injuries and we are for all intents and purposes: screwed. Our starting XI is exceptionally strong. Beyond it, there are a handful of players who can be relied upon to deliver the level of performance we need to achieve our targets. I don't see how you can dispute that. And for all the talk of youth, football stands still for no one. The reality is that we will never outmanoeuvre the big guns if we are constantly waiting for youngsters to 'settle down and learn the ropes'. There's a fine line in balancing your squad, in achieving the correct mix of youth and experience. Ours is blatantly top-heavy in one direction. Over the past few seasons, how many years have been spent saying 'oh he just needs more time' about players? Lamela, Son, GKN, Janssen, Winks, CCV, Wimmer, Onomah...yes, they're all promising players, and yes they are clearly a talented crop, but no - none of them are capable of producing good enough displays with the consistency to see us hit our targets. And all of them are supposedly key cogs in our overall squad. Which brings me to my next point... Our squad, unlike our starting XI, is only good in theory. In practice, there are too many variables that could well turn out differently. We all though Bentaleb would be the next big thing. Apparently not. We all thought Mason would succeed. Apparently not. We all thought Pritchard would flourish. Apparently not. We thought Townsend had big things ahead of him. Not so. The sad and harsh truth for young talent in the PL era is that most of it becomes roadkill pretty early on. Players like Alli are one in a million. Look how long it took Walker and Rose to reach their current levels. Look at how many loans Kane needed to become the player he is today. Are we willing to risk everything and indulge the next batch of talent with a similarly grandiose honeymoon period? Where will we be vis-a-vis the top 5 spenders if we indulge in such a policy? Can we afford the potentially 2 year wait for Winks, Onomah, CCV, Janssen etc. to finally crack it? Will they even see enough first team football to have a sporting chance? The solution to the problem is clearly and obviously more transfers like Toby and Wanyama - but they are so few and far between and conducted so laughably every year that whenever we do go for a more experienced player, it usually ends up one big waste of money with lots of comical headlines to follow. Leicester showed everyone last season that the money argument only gets you so far. And to respond 'well last season was an anomaly' means that it was also an anomaly for us!
