Tottenham are off to a rocky start in the Premiership after crashing to a disappointing 2-1 defeat at the Riverside this weekend, instantly realigning the inflated expectations of a large contingent of our support. What short memories us Spurs fans have! After a glorious pre-season that included a 5-0 demolition of one of Italy's finest, many fans were expecting us to get off to a flyer. Even I was a believer of the hype - I should have known better, I've been a Spurs man for 30 years and every August feels the same! A few exciting signings and about £50m later it's Bob's your uncle, Big Four here we come. The reality however, is a different kettle of fish.
In all the hullabaloo of signing some of the finest attacking midfielders around, Ramos et al have now seemingly decided that playing them all at the same time is the Spurs Way, in the process brushing the need for tough tackling in and around the centre circle conveniently under the carpet. Having 6 attacking players on the pitch might be a good idea when you're 3 goals down at home, but on the opening day of the season on a grim day up north it doesn't seem so smart - but then hindsight always was a wonderful thing.
When I saw that starting line up one of my eyebrows was raised so far it came clean off my face. JJ has never, will never be a DM. Modric certainly snaps at the heels, but I'm yet to be convinced that asking him to cover back when we attack is anything other than a waste of his talents. So who did that leave to break down the inevitable counter attacks? Well, as the septics say "You do the math".
For me Lennon would have been the casualty with Modric stepping forward and then either the Hudd or O'Hara being asked to hold (I really, really hope we are grooming O'Hara for a DM role as I think he'd a legend there one day). Failing that reinstate Zokora and play Gunter at RB, he looks a decent player by all accounts. What I sincerely hope is that Ramos stops trying to pioneer the radical 4-0-5-1 formation, as it's only going to end in tears.
Defensively Dawson is a capable squad player (although you'd be well within your rights to disagree with that based on this weekend), Zokora is not really a right back (although every team needs a utility man) and BAE is still a kid with only a handful of games to his name (where was the more experienced Gilberto?). Even with Mr. Dependable and The Octopus that my friends is a back line that smacks of mid-table mediocrity.
And what of all this "I can play every game this season" talk from Captain King? I have yet to see an explanation as to why he started on the bench; or Bale; or Berba? At least with the latter we can draw our own conclusions. Regular readers will know that I am the most optimistic of Berbatov fans, but even I can now see that we have passed the point of no return.
When (rather than if) Berbatov goes, Tottenham will have 2 weeks to buy one quality "fox in the box", a world class defensive midfielder and a central defender of recognised ability to partner Woody (hopefully Corluka but I see that slipping away). I don't hold out much hope of a hatrick on this front, but without them we are praying that King really is fixed, O'Hara/Thudd/Zokora have the season of their lives and that Darren Bent stays injury free for the next 9 months!
Well, I suppose those things could happen, so maybe it's top four after all...
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