Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[fallenangle]

Scott Parker - yes one of my favourite ex-Spurs players (I have a lot ).

The position he use to play - a sort of midfield sweeper operating in front of the back line, much as Eric Dyer did when at his best, is a role we need a player to do now with the same sort of work rate and dedication. Bergvall sometimes drops into that position and may get better at but we don't really have any more defensive minded midfielders I can think of. Maybe Spurs should be looking for that sort of player as well as an overhaul of the defenders pool too.

When you look at the stats we have equal (with Arsenal) 4th highest number of goals in the Premiership but have shipped 51 goals, the 4th worst outside the bottom 3. Look where Aston Villa, Brighton and Brentford are in the table yet they all have roughly similar goal stats but Spurs appalling number of losses, the worst outside the bottom 3, are, as you ^^ indicated. where the difference lies.

Unfortunately that can't be just ignored; it indicates a flaw in the tactics however much of the blame may be attributed to the unprecedented injury problems some key players have had this season.

[EJG1980]

The position he use to play - a sort of midfield sweeper operating in front of the back line, much as Eric Dyer did when at his best, is a role we need a player to do now with the same sort of work rate and dedication. Bergvall sometimes drops into that position and may get better at but we don't really have any more defensive minded midfielders I can think of. Maybe Spurs should be looking for that sort of player as well as an overhaul of the defenders pool too.

When you look at the stats we have equal (with Arsenal) 4th highest number of goals in the Premiership but have shipped 51 goals, the 4th worst outside the bottom 3. Look where Aston Villa, Brighton and Brentford are in the table yet they all have roughly similar goal stats but Spurs appalling number of losses, the worst outside the bottom 3, are, as you ^^ indicated. where the difference lies.

Unfortunately that can't be just ignored; it indicates a flaw in the tactics however much of the blame may be attributed to the unprecedented injury problems some key players have had this season.

It seems by design that Ange doesn't want that kind of player in the team. We had Hojbjerg last season who was suited to that role, Ange usually didn't start him and then willingly let him go in the summer. I'm willing to give any manager's vision a chance, but like you say there are too many tactical flaws that the manager either doesn't see, or does see them but doesn't think they're problems.

The more time has gone on the less confidence I have that this could still work out long term. There are too many things that happen over and over, which cost us matches, that no attempt is made to fix, or that the manager doesn't know how to fix even if he wanted to.

I was thinking of a couple more specific things to say, but I think I'd ramble on too much if I did so I'm gonna leave it there All I can hope for now is that we get three "stars aligning" performances in the Europa League and somehow, bizarrely, come away from our worst season in years with our first trophy in years!

Ideally, I'd like Arsenal to win tonight, Liverpool to draw against Spurs and Chelsea and hopefully a nice little guard of honour from Arsenal at Anfield.... oh no I've probably jinxed it all to ruins

So with Arsenal only drawing last night, that means you now need Spurs to win at Anfield to keep your ideal scenario alive...

I think you're probably going to have to settle for the fallback option of your team merely winning a record-tying 20th league title in front of their own fans. I know it's gonna be a tough one to take but you're just gonna have to put a brave face on it

[hudson]

Yes, I'm not sure now as the Spurs game is the last match I'll be attending this season (I share a season ticket), so, I kinda probably just want to win now. Be better to win it at home.

I know Tottenham have had a bit of a bumpy ride this season, but I'd say they're still a fairly unpredictable. You have some good players. Kulusevski being the biggest threat, I'd say - so should hopefully be a decent game.

[EJG1980]

I think unpredictable would be a fair thing to say about the first few months of the season. We beat Man Utd 3-0 then lost to Brighton after being 2-0 up, then we beat West Ham 4-1 but gave Palace their first win of the season in the next match, then beat Villa 4-1 but lost to Ipswich at home in the next match, then beat Man City 4-0...

But really, December onwards, we've been fairly predictable in that we usually just suck We've had five wins in the past five months, and three of them were against teams in the relegation zone. The injuries we had do take some of the blame, but even with that we shouldn't be so bad that we've got a real chance to finish 17th. And we've had no real upturn in form since the injured players returned either.

But apart from that, it's all going great

Gotta say that Slot has done an excellent job at Liverpool. The way Man Utd have struggled since Ferguson left, and Arsenal after Wenger left (until the upturn in the past couple of seasons) show that it isn't always easy to come into a club and replace a manager who was a long term success, but Slot has pretty much nailed it as Klopp's replacement. Not forgetting that it's also his first job outside of the Netherlands and in a "big" league.

[hudson]

Yeah the smooth transition has surprised everyone. He's levelled up certain players in subtle ways. Gravenberch, for example. Hey did you know Arne Slot tried this a few times in the Eredivisie

[fallenangle]

Rumours about players who Spurs are interested come summer have started but there is, apparently, serious talk of them thinking about Rashford.

I once thought he might be a good fit at Spurs long, long before Solanke was signed up but do we really need another striker now? Even if he can be had for £27m, MU's apparent asking price, it seems to be a lot to spend (and gamble) on a player who may or may not deliver for us when goal scoring is not the primary issue. I suppose if Son is thinking about leaving in the summer then it would have merit but otherwise.........................................

With Premiership clubs and some European big boys already sniffing around our best defenders I'd prefer to see those locked in and some serious news about buying quality defenders and midfielders of the type I suggested in the earlier post.

[EJG1980]

Hey did you know Arne Slot tried this a few times in the Eredivisie

I'd often kick off like that on World Wide Soccer 97 on the Saturn. Hold the C button, hold down on the d-pad. If you got just the right amount of time on holding C you could get the ball into the net, or at least make the dodgy WWS keepers palm it up in their air so your forwards had a chance to get there and head it into the net. Easier to pull off than in real life though

Rumours about players who Spurs are interested come summer have started but there is, apparently, serious talk of them thinking about Rashford.

I once thought he might be a good fit at Spurs long, long before Solanke was signed up but do we really need another striker now? Even if he can be had for £27m, MU's apparent asking price, it seems to be a lot to spend (and gamble) on a player who may or may not deliver for us when goal scoring is not the primary issue. I suppose if Son is thinking about leaving in the summer then it would have merit but otherwise.........................................

With Premiership clubs and some European big boys already sniffing around our best defenders I'd prefer to see those locked in and some serious news about buying quality defenders and midfielders of the type I suggested in the earlier post.

Rashford's wages make me doubt we'd go for him anyway, as he's on a huge weekly wage and we don't usually buy players who are already top earners. Our biggest earners generally tend to be players who have been here a while and have built up to that level, like Son.

Could be a very busy summer with lots of flux in both players and manager. It'd be such a big boost to win the Europa League, as whatever it is we want to do will be easier if we can offer players and managers Champions League football next season (not to mention the board being more willing to spend knowing we've got CL money coming our way).

[EJG1980]

Wellllllll bugger. Not too much to say really, pretty much the same problems as the 18 other defeats this season before we clocked up number 19 against Liverpool. Congrats to Liverpool on winning the title, well deserved, just wish we could have made them work a tad harder for it on the day.

With the way we've played in the Premier League matches around it, I'm starting to wonder if the style we played in the away match against Frankfurt was down to the players going against Ange's orders rather than him actually telling them to play differently.

All eyes on Thursday now. Bodo/Glimt are going to be missing four of five first choice players through injury and suspension for the first leg, so we really need to take advantage of that and give ourselves a cushion for the second leg. I don't care how they get it done as long as they get it done!

[fallenangle]

Good news yesterday Spurs drew 2 - 2 with Liverpool. Bad news yesterday was that this was in the WSL. Still a good result and the highlights I saw suggested it was a good match too.

The Premiership result......................predictable loss but losing 5 - 1 is bad by any measure and pretty much repeats what happened earlier in the season with the absurd 3 - 6 result against Liverpool just before Christmas. Indeed well done to them for winning the Premiership.

But, yes, lets forget about Spurs and their Premiership performances and look forward to the Bodo/Glimt game in the hope good Spurs turn up and bring us some joy for a change.

[hudson]

You guys looked decent in first 10 or so minutes, to be fair.