Morning all. Seeing as we're near the business end of the season, thought I'd see what you guys would deem a successful end to what's been a fairly topsy turvy season in my eyes. We've seen some great results and performances coupled with some of the worst I've ever seen, some players have excelled and others have been painful to watch. We've brought in some exciting players while also being extremely pissed off at not bringing what we'd consider necessary targets. So, right now we sit 4th, level on points with Chelsea having played a game more, 2 points in front of Arsenal but again, having played a game more with some tough fixtures coming up. We're also in the quarter finals of the Europa League tonight away at FC Basel and a have a squad strong enough to win the competition with a manager who seems desperate to do so. If it were the 19th May all ready, what would you have considered to have been a good/ successful season for Spurs in it's first year with AVB in charge? A) 3rd/ 4th having also won Europa. B) 3rd spot, not having won Europa. C) 4th spot, not having won Europa. D) 5th spot, having won Europa. E) 5th spot (or lower), not having won Europa. F) Relegating Stoke. (Courtesy of HBIC ) For me, I'd happily settle for C), of course I'd love 3rd and to take home the Europa trophy but in AVB's 1st season in charge, taking into account injuries to key players and poor form of others, PLUS not being able to bring in his main transfer targets, 4th place would be seen as a successful end for this season to me taking all things into consideration. I'd possibly even be happy with D) providing we gave it a good go for 4th still and not fade off like last season.
5th spot having not won europa, but getting as far as we can. (which could be decided tonight) It's AVB's first season, his hands have been tied, it's a transition season, the squad has been threadbare at times... blah blah blah. Anything better than that, AVB deserves a lot of respect. He's done a great job with everything considered.
Interesting mate, personally I think no CL spot and no silverware would be an under achievement/ failure. I remember earlier in the season AVB said that he felt Spurs could challenge for the title, a lot of people then distinguished as that was one of the reasons why he was better than Harry as he had a "winning mentality", where as Harry was someone that acted like he/ us were always over achieving, so in my opinion, if we don't at least match what Harry done last season, it has to be seen as a failure for me. The effects of finishing 5th AND no trophy could be disastrous. Not only will it be harder to attract players but also harder to retain. I appreciate we lost 3 key players in the summer but we did buy several players who SHOULD have done a good job in replacing them, none of them came cheap either. Vertonghen, although nowhere near Ledley's standard has been amazing, Dembele, despite lacking the creativity of Modric has been great in midfield and the driving force of many attacks and then we bought two attacking, goal-scoring (well.. Supposed goal scoring!) mids to replace Rafa. Overall I think the squad is on par with last seasons, taking into account the purchase of one of the world's best keepers and the fact most of our players from last year SHOULD have improved this season, our aspirations I feel should be at least achieving what we did the previous season.
At the start of the season I would of took 5/6th spot considering we'd lost VDV,Modric & Ledley plus injuries to Benny, Parker & Kaboul. Add in a manager who had been sacked for being average at best with his previous club. However in my opinion AVB has done a decent job despite having his hands tied in the transfer windows. I don't think AVB had much say in the players signed and his main target ( mountinho) wasnt signed due to the last minute attempts to save a few quid by the chairman. Now I would take 3rd, 4th at worst and anything below would be a failure. We have got a couple of hard games coming up but so have Chelsea & Arsenal (Everton & Utd). All is not lost yet!!! And Europa league would be a massive bonus in the unlikely event we won it!
i don't think that's fair mate. AVB has taken over had and work with what he was given. They were Harry's players, as well as a few newbies. - AVB signings, or Levy's? the latter, IMO. We also need to remember that regardless of comparing players like it's top trumps, these are human beings who have to get to know one another. That's the manager, the coaches and the players, before we even get started on the football. There's so much change that has to be taken into consideration and that takes nothing but time. Overall we might be stronger, but things don't always click instantly. I actually feel we've not moved on at all. Certain positions have improved, but others have weakened leaving us in a similar position to last year, but with a different set of problems/issues. Then there was the unforeseen striker issue. If it hadn't been for our manager putting bale in the centre as Levy stitched him right up, we would be in a hell of a mess.
Yeah pretty much how I feel mate, our game vs Chelsea is going to be like a cup final. That game would pretty much determine whether we finish top 4 or not I reckon.
I try to put myself into the mindset of taking each game as it comes to enjoy the football. It dosen't work because win a few games and the expectation increases. The more AVB produces results the more you expect from him. I suppose it's a transition season (AGAIN) but the results have led us to expect (hope) for a top 4 finish, if we don't get it we will be disappointed.
Chelsea away will be a massive game. Not won there for 20 odd years so what a time to break that hoodoo! If I'm right Chelsea still have to play Utd & Liverpool away as well as us so their run in isn't straight forward. Arsenal have Everton then Utd away plus games against those scrapping for survival. We've had a lucky touch with Chelsea off this weekend, so we should be near to full strength when City arrive at the Lane. I read somewhere today that AVB is giving the squad a 4 day break so they should come back fresh & raring to go for the run in- hopefully!
It was Harry and his players that got us 4th last season though mate, so for me, if we're installing a new manager in the clubs words "to take us forward" surely he should be achieving at least what the previous regime did as a minimum target? Regardless of player transfers etc? If we'd sold Rafa, Luka and lost Ledley and NOT replaced them then AVB would be a miracle worker to get us where we are now but we did bring in good/ great quality so I truly believe our squad is at least on par from last season. Both Vertonghen and Sigurdsson said in their interviews they'd spoken to the manager, so to me, even if they were initial Levy/ Harry targets, AVB clearly rated them too. Sigurdsson more so than Verts had plenty of options so if his chat with AVB wasn't promising he'd be in a 'Pool or Swansea shirt now. Even if all the players were Levy signings, they're still all very good players that many other managers would love to have. AVB made it clear he wanted Moutinho but if Porto are asking in excess of £20m for a 26 year old unproven in a top league then I can appreciate Levy's caution in buying him and I don't think many can moan at Levy for that. Levy should've dealt with the striker situation better though Ade and JD SHOULD have done enough between them with the system we play but I think releasing Saha and loaning Kane were stupid ideas. AVB's done enough to convince me he's a man with a brilliant future in the game, he completely changed my opinion of him and credit to him for that as I honestly believed he was initially going to flop despite having a good squad at disposal. Don't get me wrong he has his flaws as do most but he's in charge of a very good team, he himself is proving what a capable manager he is and on that basis we really should be looking at finishing 3rd/ 4th - in my opinion.
Knowing spurs they'll come back totally unprepared, a bit like the start of every season, haha[/QUOTE] That would be sods law!!
To beat Chelsea at the Bridge in the situation we're both in would top any victory this season combined. They've got an even heftier amount of games than we have so I'm hoping they're feeling more fatigued than us. AVB will no doubt gee the lads up for when we face them, not only for his sake but for the 4-2 earlier this season. Here's hoping we can bring back 3 massive points.
Fifth/sixth and no trophy is what we should expect on the basis of our raw resources. Anything above that is 'success' of sorts.
Before a ball was kicked I was expecting AVB to be like ramos but without a trophy. We lost modric and vdv and king...plus corluka and nico...we bought in a few but made a profit His decision to sell dawson did nothing to change my mind. But I have clearly been wrong....we have done as well as harry did in his first full season with us when he got us into 4th place...so far. Whatever happens he deserves to be recognised for doing a good job. We dropped out of the domestic cups in a disappointing way but have done in Europe. He's made some mistakes but so has every other manager. Even when / if we dont get top 4 this season and if Bale leaves I still will look forward to next season with optimism. No one gave us a hope in hell at being in this position especially after our first 3 matches where we lost 1 and drew 2.
I pretty much stand as I did at the start of the season. I expected us to challenge for a top 4 spot, reach the semis of the Europa or FA Cup and start playing some quality football. That's what I judge the season on and given that the first one's failr nailed on, 4th is in the balance, as is getting to a semi-final and we haven't seen the kind of quality football I expected, I have no real opinion of the season so far. If we won the Europa League it would have to be considered a successful season no matter where we finish and if we finished 4th that would also be a successful season for us, regardless of what else went on. However, were we to miss out on a trophy and blow another lead in a Champions League position, 7 points this time, I think we'll be in trouble trying to keep hold of players and risk going backwards.
At the start of the season my expectations weren't too high, we'd bought in a very different new manager, lost 3 of the best players we've seen at the club for years and we couldn't be too sure how the replacements would fare. I would have taken re-qualification for the EL and no silverware so long as we didn't disgrace ourselves in the cups and had some encouraging signs in the league. I thought AVB had potential to do well for us but I thought we might see a dip in the league position for a season in transition. After the Christmas period I felt we were really clicking and my expectations have since been raised somewhat. For us not to get CL football now, given the work we've put in this season would be majorly disappointing and may well jeopardise our chances of keeping Bale and making the further signings we need to really push on. So I guess I've revised my expectations now. I want us to get at least 4th, 3rd would be a greta achievement for us this year. My main gripe with us dropping to 5th is that it might halt our progress by making key players leave and limiting who we can sign.
