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...
Up The Spurs!
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Just Another Spurs Blog
15 comments:
Couldnt agree more with your comments well written honesty for a change likewise have been a spurs fan for over 30 years and have to admit i nearly got carried away with the hype but like you should have known better deja vue with spurs lets hope that the really useful signings are on the way as we need those desperately just as we have in countless previous seasons or we will be in the usual position of watching meaningless end of season games again this season ! Hope im proved wrong !
yep, id go along with all of the above,
except, i feel that we lose if we let berbs go, no matter what the fee is.
I say, sorry berbs, you may not get your dream this season.
what good is 30m if you cant buy the talent required with it??
all that will happen is another mediorcre season, pressure on ramos, stars that settle will want out.
its a backwards move. we hold the aces, berbs stays. (if i was chairman)
Trying not to be pessimistic, but it is hard to see where we go from here. A re-run of the carling cup triumph seems unlikely so we could be mid table again with no-europe. Okay a lot of new faces is always going to take time to gel, but we do look light in midfield (defensively), light upfront (is Bent the real deal, and is it fair to expect him to do it all season by himself?) and weak at CB without King. Sad thing is, lke all the previous seasons when we were crying out for a left midfield, we all knew this was going to happen once Keane left, since we leaked so many goals last season and yet here we still are. Time to throw the wallet at it before we do it with even more desparation in January when it's hit the fan. I'm sure Ramos knows all this, but if so why are we where we are? God I need some hope, ai's all starting to look a bit like the Ozzie as manager days. Too long to wait for the next game, give me hope!
Were Roma trying?
have to agree with you that my optimism remains intact, but a draw would still have disappointed me!!!! boro shoulda been 3 points on the board, dont matter who you support if they have the resources and spending power of a club like Spurs!!!! Stop skimping on the money and get the players we want like Chelski did 4 years ago and Real Madrid before them!!!! pay the flaming money and the players will come!!!! phuq the football, its all about results and prize money at the end of the day!!!! I dont want to see managers put in the position of being "responsible" for the football while the money men are pulling strings in the background to keep compromising the managers requirements!!!! Then if it all goes wrong the manager gets the blame!!! Give Sr Ramos what he wants......hes a proven winner!!!!!!!!!1
GIVE ME YOUR MONEY (LEAVY)
show me the money
Yes, Three players that would be first pick for most of the prem's finest sitting on the bench.
Someone please tell us why Ledders wasn't playing.
Couldn't agree more mr Frazzle. I suppose it was an optimistic initial selection from Mr Ramos, had we produced a goal in the first 20 mins, it might have been different, but it ultimately futile, away teams should be approached with a tad more respect.
But what's all this talk of Ruel Fox, He had his chance, and was more box to box than in it? and is about 47.....i think you've made a bit of a tit of yourself there.
Fudgington McGibblet
Stop f*cking dreaming Dim and get on with the job you're being paid 50 grand a week to do!!!
just a quick question!!! everyone keeps blabbing on about Ledly phuqqin King, but if hes so phuqqin good, how come the scottich phuqwit is not trying to buy him all the time???.....OR any other club for that matter??????????!!!!!!!! hes hardly played for how long now??!!!, and all i see is ppl thinking we still need him in defenc3e!!!! get the gunt on the phuqqin pitch and if he spends more than 6 games a season off injured like ANY other player in the Spurs squad then SELL the useless gunt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ruel fox???!!! bring back Freddie, only dont let him play cup semis in case he decides to jump up in the air and handle the ball in the box to give away phuqqin penalties for no good reason!!!! keep the gunt out of our own penalty area and i would be fine with bringing him back to replace Dimwit Berbatov.........hmmm....Ruel Fox eh???...im against cruel sports but i would chase that useless phuqqa on horseback with a pack of hounds!!!!!!!!!! save someone paying him loads of money for phuq all return!!!!!!!
didn't i see ledley playing DM for england a couple of seasons ago? if he's fit, then why not try him there?
And where does Mr Comoli fit in?
How can we be two weeks from window closing time needing at least three critical new players?
Do you guys really want to give Ramos more money? For me he's wasted £45m this season on attacking players you didn't need!!
You've been lightweight without bite in the middle for years, scored freely for seasons yet been let down by lack of team effort and a decent defensive spine.. so he buys MORE attacking players in Bentley, Modric & Santos?
Any idiot could see you needed some quality DM & a DC to replace King who's never gonna be fit.
What would worry me more is the fact he played 5 attacking mid fielders against a Boro side who would quite clearly battle to the end!
Hardly astute tactical nous!
Post a Comment