Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[fallenangle]

Yes, great Soldado goal, hope it motivates him for some more. But they're right on MotD about him and Adebayor not working properly as a strike partnership. It reminds me of Defoe and Peter Crouch. On paper they should have clicked but Defoe just didn't know how to play closely with another forward. Soldado and Ade are even worse, sometimes they're so far apart there's nobody available for either to pass to until the midfielders arrive. That's just wrong.

Some tough fixtures coming up that's for sure.

[EJG1980]

Well my first ever trip to Stamford Bridge went well. It was actually looking good until we decided that to gift them the first goal! Slapstick stuff, we gifted them three goals and (from what I've heard) the ref gifted them the penalty.

No chance of the top four now, I just can't see the teams above us dropping enough points even if we're perfect to the end of the season (which I don't see happening either). Hopefully we can at least beat Arsenal and keep going in the Europa League.

Sherwood not holding back with his post match comments:

"You can't legislate for the capitulation - you can't have that. Lack of characters, too many of them too nice to each other and you need to show a bit more guts and not want to be someone's mate all the time. They need to drag it out of each other.

"It hurts me and I won't forget about this when we hit the motorway, but some might.

"It's not a penalty and not a sending off but the game was finished after that. We've got the Europa League on Thursday and we owe the fans a performance. We let them down again on the big occasion. You won't finish in the top four if you don't beat top teams. You're miles away unless you beat the top teams.

"There have been too many blips. The club talks about fourth, wake up."

[nakamura]

The ref didn't gift them a pen but it was a tough one to get right. I still can't decide if it was. Either way, not a red.

[EJG1980]

Sounds like one of those "some you get, some you don't" 50/50 penalties (can't bring myself to watch any replays to see for myself ) but a real shame about the sending off. We'd probably still have lost but with eleven men on the pitch there's a chance we could have snatched something.

Not sure Levy will be too happy about the "The club talks about fourth, wake up..." comment from Sherwood. Considering we've come 4th, 5th, 4th, 5th in the past four seasons I don't think the board is being too outrageous at wanting us to challenge for a top four spot. Sounds like the pressure might be getting to him a bit now that we've had a couple of poor results / performances recently.

[fallenangle]

Watching it on MotD last night it was almost comically embarrassing the way we gave away most of those goals.

I just wish there were more players with a attitude like Andros Townsend in the team because I do think TS had a point about the attitude of some of the players. Townsend's enthusiasm often gets the better of him, holding the ball too long, poor crosses and distribution decisions. But at least he always plays as if he's up for it no matter what the circumstances. Too many of our midfielders simply aren't getting into the box fast enough when Spurs attack to provide the support our isolated forward(s) so desperately need.

[nakamura]

Townsend is a very rough diamond. I don't think he is that good a player in truth, at the moment at least but boy is he a trier. With good coaching he could go on to be top drawer. He just runs into corners at the moment, he needs to move the ball more and exploit spaces with his pace.

[bwi]

paper talk about more midfielders, its a solid defence we need and always have. We seem to have good individuals but none of them seem to be in the team at the same time ( and i'm talking about 30+ years worth here).

Sherwood is right about Fourth, We only started making inroads when Liverpool fell out the top 4, Only for Man city to come in with the big bucks, and now Liverpool seem to be back on form with a side that seems better than the sum of its parts.

And where the F**K is Lamela? still injured, I have to wonder about the competence of Levy when he brings in Camoli and then Baldini to spend all our money on what seems average players.

Still i shouldn't be suprised live of a spurs fan an all

[fallenangle]

Spurs are apparently interested in is Man. City's James Milner as it is reported his contract has not yet been renewed. Not sure about that myself.

But I very much agree Spurs need more depth in defensive options and the attack, despite Adebayor's regeneration, clearly needs at least one other decent addition. Torres?

[sj33]

Despite being a Man Utd and Bristol City supporter, Spurs are a team I enjoy seeing do well. I don't think I've seen as poor a performance in recent times though as the one at the weekend.

[EJG1980]

I have to wonder about the competence of Levy when he brings in Camoli and then Baldini to spend all our money on what seems average players.

Comolli gets a lot of stick but he actually made quite a lot of decent signings. Zokora, Ekotto, Malbranque, Gomes, Corluka, Pavyluchenko, Kaboul, Woodgate. Some might not be everyone's favourite player but all of them were first team regulars / significant squad players in Spurs sides that finished 5th, 4th, won the League Cup, played in the Champions League. He also signed Berbatov, Bale and Modric. They did okay.

The jury is still out on Baldini at the moment but I think he's been a bit unlucky with some of his signings struggling to settle / find form / being beset by injuries.

Torres?

Could be worth a punt if the price is right but if he can't find his scoring boots in a side with the talent Chelsea have got you worry if he'd be able to find it at Spurs. In the past few seasons he's scored 10, 6, 8 and (so far this season) 4 league goals.

If it was say... ?15 million on Torres, or ?15 million on an unproven (but full of potential) youngster, I'd probably go with the youngster.

[bwi]

i had a big reply written with points and all, but briefly that list of players is the old version of the new average overpriced players we've bought

[EJG1980]

Ha, good reply We'll have to agree to disagree though, I think it's a bit unfair to call players who were regulars in our best league finishes in donkey's years as just average.

Hopefully in the summer we can buy a few of players that we can all agree are brilliant!

[fallenangle]

If the reports of what TS has been saying additionally to his previous criticism of some players is true then I suspect his card has already been marked. He knows he'll be out of the job by the summer so can afford to be outspoken about those he feels haven't been pulling their weight or performing at their best. It could encourage them for the Benefica game but might have the reverse effect too. If so I wouldn't be surprised by a horrible result and TS resigning or being kicked out even before the end of the season.

I just hope I'm wrong.

[EJG1980]

Well if Sandro's comments today are anything to go by it seems they've taken the comments as motivation and, fingers crossed, we might get a good performance out of the team tonight:

Tottenham's hopes of a Premier League top-four finish were severely dented by Saturday's 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge and head coach Sherwood lambasted his side, accusing them of lacking character.

The players were also branded too 'nice' by their angry boss, but Sandro has shed light on how his team-mates vented their frustrations in a lengthy dressing room inquest.

"We spent more than two hours in a meeting amongst the players and we said what we had to say," he said.

"From now on, we know that we all have to listen when anyone says something. It was after the manager's conference with the press.

"We had a meeting with the players. Sometimes one player got a bit more stressed out and we tried to calm him down and talk in a nice way. We spent about two hours that way. Every player had their fair share to say, put it that way. We all spoke amongst ourselves.

"For me, to be honest, it helped a lot because now I can go and tell another player, and another player can tell me. The manager likes it. Everyone can go for it now, and I think it will help.

"I think that is positive from ourselves and we have to show in the next match that we can do much better. And we will prove that. I am sure we will show much more character in the next matches."

Former Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle raised concerns about Sherwood's outburst, but Sandro insists he repeated his media comments to the players.

"He said the same thing to us as what he said to the press," the 24-year-old said.

"I know the manager is with us and we are with the manager. We need to show a bit more in the next match to tell the manager that we care. We will do that.

"Sometimes when you lose games in that way everyone gets cross and we all scream and shout.

"Maybe some managers shout more than others. (Former manager Andre) Villas-Boas, for example, liked to pull you aside and have a nice chat to you to explain things.

"But other managers are more vocal. As professional football players, we have to work with all managers and do our best for them and for us."

Sandro hopes a fired-up Spurs side will produce a response in Thursday's Europa League last-16 first-leg clash with Benfica.

"After a match like this (against Chelsea) we were all upset with what happened on the pitch and I think we have to put in some more effort than we did," he said.

"The manager said we need to show more character. Maybe it is that. We have this big game against Benfica, where we can show that we are better than that."

[fallenangle]

Interesting article thanks for posting it here.

Fingers crossed I guess. It could be a real classic if Spurs really commit and I would (almost) be happy just to see us go down fighting well even if we did lose. Prefer a win though.