Worrying. We are hardly over-endowed with leaders at the club. Whatever his ability as a defender, (I too think he still has much to offer) when it comes to a Spurs through and through leader of men, there is no one at the club who comes anywhere close to Daws.
Michael Dawson, however, has been a key component of a team which has finished 4th, 5th, 4th, 5th and 6th in recent seasons. You're right though - don't think there's much evidence of Andy Dawson being a top 6 player.
Andy Dawson was World Class never mind top 6!!! You never saw his left foot hit a35 yard screamer in 2002 vs Kidderminster!!
A key component? Dawson is lucky we have had such bad luck with centre backs and injuries and that's the only reason he has played so much. He was poor last season and is too slow.
Dawson was once described by Tevez as the best English CB he'd ever come up against; but that was a few seasons back, now. Last season, he had the turning-circle of an oil-tanker and the pace of an arthritic snail with piles.
Point still remains, though, that, however and whyever he was in the teams he still played 40(29), 32(24), 13(7), 34(27) and 39(33) (first number total - league games in parentheses) games in a side that was in the top 6 for that entire period so saying "he's not top 6 material" seems odd. Maybe "key component" is a bit much but you don't have to have "world-class" individual talent to be a very important cog in a successful team. The World Cup shows us that every time. Imagine if we signed, for 4m, a pretty solid defender with bags of Prem experience, real passion for the club, fights for the cause on the pitch every time but also not going to kick up a hissy fit if needed as a sub and also is on reasonable wages. Of course he'd be limited and no-one would expect him to be suitable for every game but I'd consider it one of our better transfers. Also he was never blessed with that much pace or mobility so aging isn't as much of an issue for him as, say, Aaron Lennon. Against a team pumping balls into our box I would have Dawson over any of our current CBs (bar a 100% fit Kaboul, maybe).
I don't think its a case of fans forgetting how good Dawson has been, but that is hardly the point. Pele was an ok player once too, i wouldn't put him in my Spurs starting line-up now though
It is quite possible of course that we finish 6th because half our players are title winning quality and the other half much poorer. I've enjoyed watching Dawson play over many years but I've never thought he was one of our stars.
" It is quite possible of course that we finish 6th because half our players are title winning quality and the other half much poorer." Spurs finished 6th as when compared to Liverpool the same number of goals were conceded but they scored nearly twice as many. So the back four were hardly the main problem last season.
I think you need a more sophisticated analysis than that: eg if a defender gives the ball away a lot then he clearly contributes to our lack of goals as reduced possession would lead to fewer chances. And Liverpool had almost no midfield protection for the back four.
"I think you need a more sophisticated analysis than that" Not at all. The Poool negated their defensive frailties by scoring heavily. Goals for that of the champions, goals against that of 6th place. Spurs OTOH had a GD < 20 and scored < 60 goals for the first time since 2010-11. Much more akin to BMJs' best two seasons than Arrys' .