With the arrival of seven players over the summer transfer window, expectations were always going to be high around White Hart Lane. Those expectations are based largely on the fact that our transfer record was broken three times, first for Paulinho, then for Roberto Soldado and finally with the signing of Erik Lamela. The other […]
Sound of Settling
With the arrival of seven players over the summer transfer window, expectations were always going to be high around White Hart Lane. Those expectations are based largely on the fact that our transfer record was broken three times, first for Paulinho, then for Roberto Soldado and finally with the signing of Erik Lamela. The other four arrivals aren’t to-be-sniffed-at either Vlad Chiriches, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue and Christian Eriksen.
On top of that, you have returning loanees Danny Rose and Andros Townsend and the return from long term injury for Younes Kaboul and Sandro, as well as the hope that a summer’s rest has served Mousa Dembélé well. Finally, the departure of Gareth Bale has freed up space in the team for Lewis Holtby and Gylfi Sigurdsson to play in their more natural positions.
That’s a lot of players I’ve named. Fourteen players, as it happens. Fourteen players who we, in early September, had reason to believe would improve Tottenham Hotspur and would play the kind of football that entertains and electrifies, but also wins games and maybe even trophies.
Certain players have come back and done well: Dembélé, Sigurdsson, Sandro and Holtby have all made strong claims for first team football. Other players have come in with an immediate impact: Townsend, Rose, Paulinho and Eriksen can count themselves amongst these. Others are taking longer to impress: Soldado has come in for criticism because he hasn’t scored a Premier League goal from open play, while Chadli makes many Spurs fans scratch their heads at how his stats are that good when they’re certain he’s been a passenger in the game. Whilst Erik Lamela may yet be the biggest flop we have bought
However, to use words like ‘flop’ is probably too early, we must wait at least until Christmas, perhaps even longer for some before they’re settled. Fans are getting at Soldado for scoring no goals from open play and ignoring that he involves other players, distracts defenders with his movement and has the class of Dimitar Berbatov with the energy of Aaron Lennon.
People are showing signs of frustration at Chadli because he plays on the left and doesn’t have the pace or accuracy of Gareth Bale. The truth is that certain players will take a little time to show why we bought them. Both Holtby and Sigurdsson failed to settle quickly last season, but are now major parts of our team. The German has four assists in the last two games he’s played and the Icelander is our top Premier League goal scorer. We are suddenly a club that has a wealth of options across the pitch, barring perhaps at left-back and in goal. However, to get our players to be all they can be for Spurs, we have to show patience as they find their way.
Would you rather a team which grinds out 1-0 or 2-1 wins before a collapse midway through the season because nobody bedded in properly, or one which draws a few games they should’ve won now to win game after game in the future?
The best part is that we may not have to choose. We’ve started well despite our misfiring players and, given how the season is unfolding for the incumbent top three, it seems that the sky may be the limit. Audere est facere – well, doing is daring, too. We are the living embodiment our motto; on the pitch and off it, we are showing ambition, verve and foresight.
The rarely-mentioned truth, however, is that not all of these players will be successes. We have likely misspent some money this summer because some players aren’t right for the system, or will become injury worries or will simply never settle. You are never guaranteed success in football, therefore right now we should try and just enjoy having the strongest squad that many – myself included – have seen in their Spurs-supporting lifetime. We shouldn’t become too caught up with the issue of Soldado not scoring a meaningless goal against Tbilisi or Norwich. We should show how much we want this team to succeed by backing them. My own opinion is that our role in this is to support the team we love do as well as we can.
This year presents a unique opportunity; the teams around are stuttering as they attempt to adjust to a change in management. Jose Mourinho’s return to Chelsea has, so far, been less than emphatic. In Manchester Manuel Pelligrini struggles to find his best XI at City whilst at United David Moyes is not only having to handle an average squad, but also stepping into the shoes of Sir Alex Ferguson, a man famously given time, will Moyes be offered the same?
So the stage is set for a showdown between the South-of-the-Thames Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. We have the strongest squad and the best manager we’ve had in a long time. They are arguably at their weakest, papering over the cracks with an undoubtedly-world-class midfielder, while leaving their defence, goalkeeping and striking options threadbare.
Do we dare to dream that we could finish above them? Can we trust in our manager to make the right decisions with the options available not just for success this season, but for glory in the years to come?
Well, y’know. Audere est Facere.
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08/10/2013 @ 6:52 pm
He’s as good as Ramos
08/10/2013 @ 8:38 pm
I wish he was!
2011/12 we finish 4th.
2012/13 Bale has the season of his life but as a team AVB takes us backwards.
2013/14 We spend £100M+ on 6 quality players (and we also buy Chadli) and yet AVB somehow takes us another step backwards. He team selection is wrong every week (I wasn’t fooled by the penalties and last minute winners, our performances were very poor) and his subs worse. As for tactics and tempo, don’t. The sooner he goes to PSG the better and I just hope the players stay and we find a manager capable of the basics like trying to score a goal as opposed to just playing keep ball. Bearing in mind the quality that we now have at the club, AVB is without any doubt whatsoever the worst manager in our history (yep, including Gerry Francis).
08/10/2013 @ 7:53 pm
I have supported my beloved Spurs for more years than i cam remember and living near Liverpool in Rugby Town Widnes its been double hard especially the 7 =1 at Liverpool springs to mind. But after a good few years looking at the big gap to what i call he Cartel. This was Liverpool Utd Chelsea and Arsenal the protected four. This was till Liverpool got bought by the American Jekyll and Hyde this left a place for a new member. We had invested in some young kids who ha started to grow into a fantastic team Lennon Bale Dawson Huddlestone Modric came King gave us what was left of is knee and we played the Spurs way Talk of the League then along came City sugar daddys and we got pushed out one way or another Arsenals miracle 10 games two last day gifts one by our ex second string keeper with a grudge. The rest has they say is History every time we looked good we lost out talisman to other jealous teams Utd then Chelsea tapping followed by Madrid. It seems we are dining at a table we are not welcome at Harry’s England media frenzy followed by Chelsea winning against all odds and Harry’s sacking. Along came the young AVB sacked by ABV for trying to play a system with players who where to long in the tooth to start playing a high line. He arrived with what was left of Harry’s all action top four team and said he had learned is lesson he was true to is word but we ended up finishing 5th record points but not enough i blamed is obsession with Ufa with a revolving defense we conceded 46 goals not good enough for top 4. This year he has with the help of Baldini dismantled the record team and bought the magnificent seven well on you tube at least we will have to wait and see who makes the grade. We started well but i knew it would not last Arsenal could not by a player for any amount every player they went for they lost until we sold Bale then they got a World class player in Ozil for 45 Million they are top we are 6th. We all got sucked into this good start but i was never a West Ham disaster away from my mind not three nil more like the Fulham Wigan game one nil. When your team gets beat like ours did it causes all kinds of trouble when picking our next Team. Like who should play who needs dropping was it a mistake to start with Defoe is Dawson to slow is Lloris weak on crosses should Walker have been subbed after feeling ill should Holtby have played with Defoe. The answer to Walker was yes at half time he should been subbed Holtby should come on for him Chiriches who should took Naughton’s place from the off we could have gone three at the back then brought Soldado on 3 5 2. Now we face Defoe being upset after is long Russian trip and Saldado under more pressure to score Dawson worried about the high line i hate with a passion our under 21 showed it up to perfection letting 5 goals in and no Dawson it needs scrapping, So these next few games will need some tough decisions one being who plays in the Ufa games can we risk any players when teams are upping there work rate to double the amount to press any tired legs in our team. We will face this many times in the coming months and West Ham showed how tough it can be to break it down i hope AVB learns we are at our most vulnerable after Thursday games and i sadly forecast West Ham would exploit this but 3-0 was not the score more like Fulham and Wigan games. I hope we make it because we are a well run club and god noes we need some cheering up. Just like when Woody rose majestically and scored the winner and brought tears of happiness rolling down my cheek lets hope they flow again.
16/10/2013 @ 7:38 pm
I don’t think you understand the problem we faced from West Ham. They played without a striker to clog the midfield. 3-5-2 wouldn’t solve that problem. What we needed was better wing play to create width. Unfortunately, with Rose injured and Walker falling ill that was impossible. Naughton couldn’t provide that width on the left (but none of our players could) and Walker wasn’t in condition to do so on the right.
As for last year, if you can suggest a way that anyone else would have gotten better results with that team, I’d love to know who. Harry Redknapp showed consistently that he didn’t have a clue, and without Modric and Van der Vart to do all the creative work it’s not like he would have been getting saved by the players. We were a crippled team last year, completely unable to create decent scoring opportunities. We had Gareth Bale explode as a fairly miraculous work-around, but without that, as a unit, we could not produce.
Under AVB we have a system that can produce consistent results. The issue we currently face is integrating new players into the squad. It takes time to learn how to play in a new league with new teammates. Expecting instant results when many don’t even speak English is naive at best.