Rival watch

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Our luck is going to run out, as we're on a good unbeaten run, playing crap football, getting dominated by Norwich, tactics weak and Bale has saved our backside on a few occasions, so it stands to reason we will soon come crashing back down to earth.

However, if Villas Boas is smart and makes use of Holtby, who is fit, full of energy and raring to go and Adebayor decides to remind us he is a footballer then we could have two players to breathe life into this team.
 
Bale is your most important player, he's got you out of jail a few times recently. We were accused of over relying on Van Persie last season (which we did) But without Bale, I think Spurs would struggle to create anywhere near as many chances.
 
PISKIE said:
Bale is your most important player, he's got you out of jail a few times recently. We were accused of over relying on Van Persie last season (which we did) But without Bale, I think Spurs would struggle to create anywhere near as many chances.
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To be honest we create very few clear cut chances, as even when we have a high level of possession, most of our "chances" are pot shots, which is why often you will see the stats say we have a high level of shots on goal/target, but they had little chance of finding the back of the net.

Also, we like to play high up the pitch, but then our best play comes from the counter, so it means we don't have any real fluidity to our play (unless we're passing in areas which don't cause any damage)...or if we're playing Aston Villa!

However this Holtby looks to be a class act and we need to get him on the ball as much as possible as he could well be the missing link in our setup.
 
I was watching Holtby and he kept reminding me of a little player of the past.Then I remembered his name.....little Terry Dyson.Ran, chased,could cross a good ball.....perhaps this is an omen......?
 
Smithy, he does look to be a breath of fresh air and a real class act and I'm amazed he was allowed to run down his contract.
 
bigsmithy9 said:
I was watching Holtby and he kept reminding me of a little player of the past.Then I remembered his name.....little Terry Dyson.Ran, chased,could cross a good ball.....perhaps this is an omen......?
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look's really happy to be playing for us as well,loved the way he was urging the fan's when celebrating Gareth's goal
 
I don't think we are a one man team or anything near it. Bale is on 11 goals...I don't see anyone saying Chelsea is a one man team with Lampard on 11 aswell...RVP bagged 30+ goals, that is a massive difference.

Bale is a player who is being touted by the likes of Madrid...his moments of magic are what sets him apart from the other Spurs players...and that's why big teams want him.

He has talent and he utilises it...nothing wrong with that.
 
Boss said:
Our luck is going to run out, as we're on a good unbeaten run, playing crap football, getting dominated by Norwich, tactics weak and Bale has saved our backside on a few occasions, so it stands to reason we will soon come crashing back down to earth.

However, if Villas Boas is smart and makes use of Holtby, who is fit, full of energy and raring to go and Adebayor decides to remind us he is a footballer then we could have two players to breathe life into this team.
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Goodness. I would describe this as a "glass half empty" view, but it seems like you never had water in your glass in the first place!

Spurlock: agreed with the ludicrous "one man team" thing. In fact stats show Dembele has been more important in terms of not losing when he plays. And as you suggested, RVP's goals last season are about the closest there has been to a one man team in recent years.
 
PISKIE said:
Bale is your most important player, he's got you out of jail a few times recently. We were accused of over relying on Van Persie last season (which we did) But without Bale, I think Spurs would struggle to create anywhere near as many chances.
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Dembele's arrival turned our season around immediately and when we lost him to injury our form plummeted again. Now that Dembele's hit some poor form Bale has taken over as our best attacking threat if you want to look at it very simplistically. In truth though Bale is our best player and as with all important players there will be times when they win you points with their contribution, just like your fans have been saying about Wilshere in recent weeks.

With RVP it was more obvious how much his contributions helped the team because he was scoring every week and contributed a high percentage of your goals and particularly the important ones. Mostly though it was just funny to say it as it wound Arsenal fans up so it's good to know it still irks you :D
 
Spurs are no more a one-man team around Bale now, than we were a couple of months ago around Defoe.
Bale is a top player and scoring some important goals for us, but at the end of the season I wouldn't mind betting he will be one of two or three stand-out players through the season. Already this year, Dembele has had excellent patches, as has Verts (not to mention our worlds best keeper......).

Press speculation (cheap journalism) and rivals jealousy, plain and simple. Mind you, if we were going to be a one-man team, then someone who terrifies the opposition pretty much any time he gets the ball isn't a bad option......
 
It is a characteristic of many top teams that they have forward players who are able to create and take chances to decide close games. Rooney did on Saturday; Bale did it yesterday. RvP has done it many times, so have Gerrard and Lampard and bloody Aguero <grr>.

It doesn't mean that any of the teams these players play for are a "one man team", but simply that Bale has stepped up his game to the extent that he can now be bracketed with these players as a match winner.
 
Relayer69 said:
Spurs are no more a one-man team around Bale now, than we were a couple of months ago around Defoe.
Bale is a top player and scoring some important goals for us, but at the end of the season I wouldn't mind betting he will be one of two or three stand-out players through the season. Already this year, Dembele has had excellent patches, as has Verts (not to mention our worlds best keeper......).

Press speculation (cheap journalism) and rivals jealousy, plain and simple. Mind you, if we were going to be a one-man team, then someone who terrifies the opposition pretty much any time he gets the ball isn't a bad option......
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Exactly the defence improving has been equally important for us. If you want to single out someone though it's easy enough to single out Lloris. He's kept all 7 of our cleansheets this season in 15 games which means that he's collecting cleansheets at a higher rate than Joe Hart, who tops the cleansheets with 11. Piskie doesn't rate Lloris though.
 
The other thing to consider with our defence and the defensive unit as a whole is how many changes we've made to it throughout the season.
We've used two keepers, rotated the whole back four and changed our holding midfielder, although that was due to necessity.
Kaboul should be back soon, too.
 
To call us a one man team is ridiculous. Bale is going through a purple patch at the moment but there have been games this season where he has been totally anonymous and we have still won, the same can not be said for Arsenal and RVP last year. Though Man Utd are still vcapable of winning well when RVP is off form.
 
Well,of course,Lloris is not built like Superman and does not appear to be too strong for a goalie but he has a lot of vision and guts.Yes,he will make a mistake now and then as others will but he could turn out to be the best goalie in the league!
How come Wenger missed him?
 
I remember the good old days, when Bale was considered an albatross around our necks, because we never won a game when he played.

How times have changed!
 
Holtby looks a great signing, gutted we couldn't get him but we probably couldn't afford his wages.

Hopefully his dad will be pushing him to purposely fail at every opportunity this season <laugh>
 
bigsmithy9 said:
Well,of course,Lloris is not built like Superman and does not appear to be too strong for a goalie but he has a lot of vision and guts.Yes,he will make a mistake now and then as others will but he could turn out to be the best goalie in the league!
How come Wenger missed him?
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Arsenal GK - played 16 league games - conceded 29 goals
spud GK - played 15 league games - conceded 29 goals

Why on earth would we be interested in an inferior GK to the one we already have?
 
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