"OK these are some of the greatest players in the game and I am not suggesting that Adebayor is in their league but for us he is our best striker. Unless we can find better then our manager, whoever he is, should be making an effort to get the best out of him. Afterall Sherwood managed it." By playing him after the predecessor sidelined him for disciplinary issues. Adebayor appears to primarily be a problem of his own making, not the managers' .
AVB managed to get the best out of Defoe but only for less than half a season and it was the same with Sherwood and Ade so inconsistencies were there. I've long said that it's time for Ade to leave for pastures new.
My ideal "3" at this point might be Eiriksen, Holtby and Lamela playing behind Ade. Though Holtby's the only one of those three who has much propensity to track back. I always feel like Holtby's critics are talking about him in a deeper role (as part of the "2"), where I'll readily grant he's the soul of mediocrity. Runs hard, but too lightweight and lacking in positional sense to be very good. You would think he would be good as a deep lying playmaker, but he isn't, I think, because he's neither a great dribbler nor fast. At the edge of the box, though, the only players we have who are better are Eiriksen and maybe Soldado and Ade.
LB, CB and GK #2 (cannot trust Archer) are the outstandings for me. In Pochettino we trust as far as the squad performing to its own paper ability goes.
On second read, it's not exactly a ringing endorsement of the team, is it? A year of reality wrestling hope into submission, that's about right. But hope is feeling good after a pleasant vacation filled with non-reality, and is looking forward to this year! Mr. Smiley Face is unhappy on my browser now, so you'll just have to imagine Toivo playing with his rubber ducky, or seahorse or whatever.
"A year of reality wrestling hope into submission, that's about right." I am more optimistic than that. Last season had more of a 2008-9 feel to it. The difference being that failure was finishing in 6th with 69 pts. Perhaps we will similarly get another 2009-10.
