We will qualify for Europa if it is a Pool/Arsenal FA Cup final. And in the worst way, with qualifying games early in the season.
Just telling it how it is Spurf. That team has zero leadership and you can see the players play with a huge amount of fear. Seriously, would I get the razor blades out over Spurs? Not a chance fella. It's just football. But to think that team is three signings away from a good team is sheer delusion and the issue is this... even if we did have a blank cheque, the club wouldn't have a clue who to buy. Our recent signing record is an embarrassment. £60m worth of sub 'talent' couldn't affect the game coming on today. That says it all.
As a footnote to that match, I will say sincerely well done to Tim Sherwood. He got treated extremely harshly by the club. Yes he was a bit of a gobshite but he and his team earned that win today and got what they fully deserved.
All our key players look in need of a rest. Bentaleb, mason, kane, eriksen, rose all need a break but MP doesn't seem to have the players he wants or needs to rotate. our centre backs need to be sorted out as they are and have been our achilles heel. My worry is that A) some over react to this seasons failings...MP isnot playing with his chosen players B) we go for shipping out loads and bringing loads in Neither thing will help next season. In my opinion we should get rid of... Adebayor and soldado and bring in 1 known striker and bring through 2 young players like coulthirst Dembele, townsend, paulinio, capoue, stamboli...we should promote pritchard and carrol and alli bring back holtby or lennon and buy an established defensive midfielder Chiriches, fazio and kaboul and buy a known centre back and promote yedlin 10 out and only 3 new signings...trouble is most of them will not be wanted and we wont accept the inevitable losses that will occur withlayers like soldado
I added an end line before reading your post which accepts it will be a problem...personally i think we should pay him off to free up the space in the squad
But at our recent rate of success in the transfer market that still puts us light years away. Over the course of the last two seasons we have signed 14 players (not including Alli) and of them I think it's very fair to say that only Eriksen and Dier have been clear strengthenings. I'm not counting Vorm because, as yet, he's not proved much though that's not so much his fault, obviously. Chadli in his two years with us really cannot possibly be said to be in the "success" category of signings for any club wishing to be top 4. The rest speak for themselves. At this sort of rate, to sign three players who would actually improve the team we would have to sign 21 new players. 21. I know that's a bit of an over-simplified way of looking at it but the message is clear - our recruitment since Baldini has come in has not looked good at all.
Baldini will be gone in the summer...the guy from southampton who came in December means his days are numbered
Oh - and to get a net GAIN of three players that would also mean not selling your best players or players who are better than their replacements. Unfortunately in the last two years I would say we have sold seven players in Dempsey, Huddlestone, Bale, Siggurdsson, Defoe, Dawson and Sandro who would strengthen either our first 11 or our bench. Again - there is no question in this for me. Defoe or Soldado? Dawson or Fazio? Sandro or Mason? Siggurdsson or Chadli? Etc. Oh look! I didn't even have to mention Bale in that comparison! That wasn't even intentional! I think I'll rest my case there.
Sadly we go through this scenario around this time of year, every year. The usual Spurs merry-go-round just raises expectations and lets you down every time. Until that new stadium is built and there's a cultural change at the club, these end of season collapses will just continue. And the selling culture has a big part to play in that.
Sandro or mason? Sandro is a crock...mason has played well this season ... sandro hasn't. .. so i think you're wrong on that one. Defoe? 3 goals in 4 months is not what we need. Dawson is not playing well and did not play well last season Siggurdson ? I'll give you that one. Finally if player choose to leave there is sod all the club can do...look at carrick, berbatov, keane, modric, bale etc. How many did we choose to sell? Arsenal, liverpool and united have all had similar problems with players demanding a move...they are bigger and more successful than us so if they can not prevent it what hope is their for us?
Sandro - I could have chosen Bentaleb and either he or Mason would have been a little unfair because they've done really well but just look a bit jaded recently. But still I'd take a fit Sandro over either of them. That "fit" bit is the only caveat in my mind. I'd also take a fit Sandro over Capoue, Dembele, Stambouli (probably, though I like the look of him and he's one of the ones I could be being a little harsh on). So that's just every single one of our options for CM then. For pretty much any scenario I would want Defoe over Soldado. Again I'm sorry it's not worked out for him cos I love his attitude and his technique that he shows but frankly if we want a goal and have a sub to make I would want Defoe coming on over him every single time. Dawson might not be playing well. I have trouble feeling able to assess players at other clubs in the same way I can do Spurs players cos I pretty much only watch highlights of other teams. But going by his Spurs performances I would definitely want him over Fazio or Chiriches. Again - there is very little doubt in my mind. And remember - for these signings to be improvements it should be obvious that they're better. That just definitely isn't true. I kind of forgot about Bale in my comparisons, I think, because I subconciously wanted to address the point you're making about players forcing a move. Players like Dawson, Defoe, Huddlestone, Siggurdsson, Sandro were not forcing moves yet we let them go anyway and replaced them with often more expensive, less effective players. And believe me I feel the pain of saying that players who were frankly far from the best players at the club 3/4 years ago are now tangibly missed!
Oh and if anyone wants to have a further good moan about this (or fairly assess Baldini's tenure so far - however you want to describe it) then I just started a thread cos I think it's that bloody important! http://www.not606.com/threads/baldinis-transfers-2-14-successes-in-and-7-good-ones-out.297067/
Just found out the result , no surprise there. Had a lovely day out at the Framlingham Country show. The children have painted the Chicken and Duck houses , so We are ready to go, Not sure if a Rooster is needed. Spurs will always under this cretinous bunch leave you Unfulfilled . No change as the culture is rotten and business rules over football . Sid down on the Suffolk farm , enjoying the micro climate , Looking forward to the hedge rows .
It's not delusion it's a different opinion and although it's true to say our recent post Bale signings have not been wonderful remember that there have been some good performances from this team this season which we all remember. They show the potential of even the present squad. We are still a young team and to write them off because of the usual tail off at the end of the season is an over reaction. Coupled with the fact it is the usual team of glass half empty posters who we often don't see at all after a good performance. We are where we would expect around 5/6th so you could argue that it is delusional to expect Spurs to beat all the teams below us. If we did that we would be champions.
got to agree with Spurf..or am I just getting old. We are no better than one of the places we will finish in from 5th to7th. the teams above us consist of billionaires toys..another team who spent 150mill on proven talent and another team who buys players for 40 million and pays the highest wages. Southampton have earned their plaudits. Maybe we as fans are deluded...its natural to expect a lot from the team we support but I don't think we can expect too much more over a 38 game season...we could have a one off wonder season and break into the top 4.....but im hoping that we are trying to build something a bit more consistent. granted it's not looking free flowing and positive..infact absolutely frustrating..however of the rest we are giving it one of the best shots to break into the top 4 on a consistent basis.
If we beat all the teams below us, we'd still finish 5th/6th as we seldom beat the teams above us. This season's form, particularly at home and post Europa league games has been pretty poor by any standards. We've been exposed as having just a Plan A too many times, when no real Plan B was an option to fall back on. When we've performed well, I've always heaped praise on the team and in balance, offered criticism when we've fallen short. We've shown flashes of excellence going forward but all season long, our defensive line has been pretty shocking. Right now at the back end of the season, it's clear the players have totally switched off and that is a concern because it shows the culture at the club isn't about building a consistent level and trying to maintain that. We look like a team that blows hot and cold and that needs sorting out by Poch and his staff if... if we are to progress but in fairness to Poch; that culture ran through the club long before he came along and it will take several years to eradicate it.
At the beginning of the season no one was predicting a top 4 finish...most said a decent cup run and a top 6 or 7 finish (behind city, united, liverpool, arsenal, chelsea and possibly Everton). Well...8 months on that is exactly where we are. The negatives (bad performances the sunday after EL matches, a poor end of season, poor defence etc.) are out weighed by the positives...good young players coming through with more to come, a cup final appearance, some good performances in big games such as chelsea and arsenal, an ability to fight til the end of the 90 mins. We need replacements for bentaleb, mason, eriksen, rose, walker and kane so we can rotate them when they need a break. ..hopefully yedlin, davies, alli, pritchard and carrol can play that role next year. MP must be given the players he wants in the summer and must be given at least another 2 seasons to build a team that can compete for a whole season
I think 90 points would make us contenders Flaspur as they say, do the maths. I agree pretty much with RCL's post above. On the face of it Baldini seems to have had a mare although it's never clear who has made all these player signing decisions. MP needs at least another season to develop the team and his understanding of it. Another change now would really set us back.
