Arsenal were challenging for the league before their injuries kicked in. The only side at the top that hasn't shown any real loss of form without their best players is City but most clubs can't afford to have over £100mill worth of strikers rotating in and out of the team with form and injuries. Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool for the most part have been fortunate with injuries. We have had 2 players play 30 or more league games with us this season, every team above us has at least 6 and Everton have 10! Lots of those players have been at the club and playing regularly together for a number of seasons, when you look at our side we have Townsend, Rose, Holtby, Fryers and Bentaleb all settling into their first proper season in the first team on top of our 7 new players so of course it's going to be disjointed at times. We've been consistent throughout the season with plenty of injuries. The trouble is our consistency has been at a level below CL quality, so yes our squad isn't good enough but it's a great platform to build on. You might say our first 11 isn't at the level we had under 'Arry but what happened at the end of every season when our best players got burnt out and started picking up injuries? It seemed like Lennon was a ticking time bomb getting injured or struggling for form in the final third of every season which ended up derailing our season as we didn't have the quality in depth. This current team would be more than a match for the an end of the season Harry team of 10-11, 11-12.
The problem with assessing the strength of a squad is the tendency to assume that players are fully fit and able to produce their best form consistently. In doing so, you add a lot of value to players who show neither fitness nor form. Spurs are much like Utd at present, so I apply my thinking to both clubs equally. This is not a dig at Spurs. There are too many players who are too injury prone or past their past or are too old to be promising any longer or don't look to be of the standard their price tags suggest - you have Dawson, Kaboul, Capoue, Naughton, Rose, Soldado, Lamela, perhaps Paulinho - we have Ferdinand, Evra, Evans, Smalling, Fletcher, Cleverley, Fellaini, Welbeck, Young, Nani, possibly Kagawa. Assuming both clubs have new managers this summer, I foresee a lot of shifting of deadwood and more spending in the transfer market. There is more to squad strength than a lot of recognisable names.
It's not just the strength of a squad, it's the balance that's important. I agree with King that Naugton and Rose are nowhere near good enough for a side with CL aspirations. Both would be skinned alive by the quality of players we have seen in CL games in the last few days. We have far too many similar midfield players. And nowhere near enough strength in areas such as striker, and full back. I would agree with your assessment of Naughton, Rose and Dawson. Lamela, I think it's far too early to pass judgement on. Capoue is one of the several midfield players I mentioned. Soldado, I would like to see what he can do with a synergic partner.
I'm probably unbearably positive for some on here. I do like to see the positives in Spurs though and if I didn't I'd be utterly depressed I think having a few friends that are Brentford fans helps with a bit of perspective on where we are too. In the 20 years it's taken them to get out of League 1 they've been in the play-offs 6 times, losing in the final 3 times! Last year was by far the worst though as they had a penalty in the last minute of the last game, score it and they got automatic promotion, but they hit the bar and Doncaster went down the other end and scored leaving Brentford in the playoff places where they duly lost another final.
I kind of miss the individuality of a Bale,now he's gone.Wasn't it great to sit back and watch an artist like Alfie Conn,Ginola and Gazza break the monopoly of boring football.I wonder if we will ever see another player like them at The Lane....playing for us!? Not forgetting Ardiles,of course! I don't know what's happening with British kids today.Very few stars coming through and with so many foreigners playing here now,our lads don't seem to get a good run to learn their craft in many cases....and if they do,the tentacles of the Man Uniteds will pry them away with their cash........
Let's see what they do in the last two games, but the team right now both seems fairly strong, and has the potential to be more. Adebayor, Paulinho and Kane working with Eiriksen ought to score goals. The lack of anything resembling a DM should also mean we give them up, but defensive solidity is overrated, and has been ever since three points began to be awarded for a win. Liverpool is defensively vulnerable, and it's the price they had to pay for being able to score so much. To do well you have to win, and to win you have to score. Draw every game and you might or might not just avoid relegation. Score in bunches and you pick up easy points, can afford to sub players, and keep the ones on the field from trying so hard they hurt themselves.
Kane's better than Bale Seriously though, I think he has the potential to mature into a top striker. Potential is all it is at the moment though Alex Pritchard was in the 3 man shortlist for POTY in League One Player of the Year which is pretty impressive for his loan spell and Harry Winks is highly rated at the club from the times he's made the bench for the first team lately. We definitely need to improve on this front as King's the only player to really make it through our academy system but with Townsend, Kane and Bentaleb(I know, not British) breaking through this season I think we can expect improvement in the coming seasons.
Can't see Kane making it. Never have. Drogba, I saw him making it, even when he first moved the Chavs and they, almost to a man, were all slagging him off. But not Kane. I'd rather we had Darren Bent than Kane.
Given that Pritch is back and training with the 1st team (I think) this week anyone reckon there's a chance of him getting a bench spot on Saturday? Timmy does like 'em young...
Good points YV but under Harry we have three quality individuals that made up for our weaker players so it wasn't so obvious. Rose & Naughton probably would of looked better in a Spurs side of 2010/11 but even then they still wouldn't of been good enough.
Spurs were the only Premier League club unbeaten in April (3 wins, 1 draw). Sherwood for Manager of the Month? Premier League Manager of the Month Awards
True but those 3/4 players usually ended up getting burnt out or injured leaving us high and dry. At least with this lot we can pick pretty much any 11 players out of the squad and we'd still win against most of the poorer sides and get battered by the top 3 Pretty sure if we beat West Ham then West Brom would be the only side not in the top 4 that we haven't beaten this season, which would be pretty decent for us.
