I think just Bale would have done the job. If only two of our losses were wins we'd be going into this weekends game only 4 points behind the Chavs at the top of the table. It's sickening, Norwich and Newcastle at the lane & it could have been so different.
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I think just Bale would have done the job. If only two of our losses were wins we'd be going into this weekends game only 4 points behind the Chavs at the top of the table. It's sickening, Norwich and Newcastle at the lane & it could have been so different.
What I am amazed about is that despite not playing very well and being lucky (I think Éperons suggested and somewhat proved this) we are only 6 points off Woolwich. This is a big if but IF we can win against Woolwich and chelsea we are right in the mix for top 4. Of course we won't win these games and if we do, we will lose against Southampton just to be spursy.
Definitely the point. I think often people prefer to have more players come in that could make Sherwood look better than a different manager that could fully utilise the talent in the team.
Most of all, I hope that whatever the case we keep Holtby as I think he's massively undervalued and underrated just because we paid naff all for him.
At the end of the day though, it wasn't that long ago that we were owned by Sugar and a bad season was fighting against relegation - these days a bad season is fighting for 4th and in 5th lol!
Unfortunately we end up saying "if only" every year..
Look at losses to Wigan, Norwich and Fulham at home in recent years
(and the rest)
We have talent all over. It's no coincidence that these players when they came to us started to look shit by comparison to their previous clubs. It's because we don't have a decent manager getting the most out of them. We need someone with experience and who the players can believe in and have confidence in when he tells them what to do - when things don't go their way and they look over to the touch line,this season they get no real help.
It's criminal the opportunities we have let pass us by in recent seasons and this season is no different. I'm so frustrated by our 'almost' status.
It's criminal the opportunities we have let pass us by in recent seasons and this season is no different. I'm so frustrated by our 'almost' status.
Ridiculous that people are saying we need to sign 3 or so new players. We just spent 100 million to build a squad, we've got two strikers, that both in form are surely 20+ goal a season strikers. Two of the biggest young prospects in world football that are like 20/21 years old. Sandro Capoue Paulinho and Dembele... what other teams in the league have FOUR centre mids that good? fighting for 2 places. Half our defence is injured and yet we still have Vertonghen and Dawson at CB.
The squad is there, We've probably got the third best squad in the league behind Chelsea and City, If we had a mourinho or a Ferguson, perhaps a Van Gaal... We'd almost certainly be 6+ points better off at this point.
So you are saying we don't need a left back and we don't need a goalkeeper? Oh and we are almost certain to lose at least one of Vertonghen and Kaboul so realistically we need 3 players.
Im saying with a different, more capable manager at the helm, what we have would/should easily have been enough.
Lets not forget, we do still BAE, him and Rose would probably have sufficed. especially considering Rose may not have even got injured if he was being rotated.
Keepers? Lloris, friedel, gomes, Archer... seems enough cover to me.
Why will we lose Kaboul? And yeah Vertonghen maybe.. but if we were even one place higher in the league right now, with a decent steady manager in charge... would he still be a miserable bastard?
Im not saying we should have paid 100 million to bring in Mourinho or someone like that... but our last 3 managers have been Tim Sherwood, who doesn't even have badges, AVB who was like 34 and only really been successful at Porto.. for one season.. a few years ago. and Redknapp... Who's hardly got a worldwide reputation.
Mate let's not beat around the bush BAE will not be playing for Spurs again, I think those bridges have been burnt. Rose is not good enough at left back but that is just a personal opinion.
In terms of goalkeepers Lloris is obviously quality, Friedel is 42, Gomes is on his way and there is nothing to suggest that Archer is anywhere near good enough.
Kaboul's contract expires in the summer and with all his injuries I think it is unlikely that we will renew his contract.
I stand by the fact that we need a left back (Ben Davies) a centre back (Dejan Lovren) and a goalkeeper (Jack Butland).
I think the answer is to bring in more players from the academy (Veljkovic (sp?), Coulthirst etc.) but to do it correctly.
I think AVB and Sherwood both misunderstand the concept of bedding players in, and have gone from Academy to First team with one foul swoop - Utd have had great success with home-growns, mainly because they slowly integrate players into the team and monitor their development, as opposed to throwing them into practically every game every week until they are ruined due to over confidence or under development.
I also think we'd do well with a disciplinarian in charge, but it has to be someone who everyone, including the players, respect.
You're missing my point. Had we had a different / more experienced manager, bae wouldn't have gone out on loan. He only went out because he didn't get on with AVB. And yeah, rose may be somewhat of a weak link in our squad, but he's hardly terrible. Didn't united win the league with buttner in the squad. The fact is, its a bit unrealistic to expect the whole squad To be world class... But with the depth we have and the amount of great players, we easily have a squad fighting for the top 4. I may be wrong but I think it's pretty safe to assume that we haven't had a manager get the best out of our squad since the first half of redknapps last season. And even then it wasn't a squad thing more a main core of about 13 players.
Rose is clearly a premier league quality left back. He did great at Sunderland. There's far more left backs that are worse, than there are that are better.
Gomes has been here for years picking up a wage, name me a 3rd choice keeper better? Yeah archer is young but Again as a 4th choice he's decent.
Kaboul's contract runs till 2015 I'm pretty sure he's said so himself.
I'm not saying the squad is perfect. Obviously. But we've definitely underachieved.
I think he burnt his bridges with AVB, not Spurs.
You seem to be missing or ignoring what I am saying. Gomes is out of contract in the summer and will be off, Freidel is too old so that would make Archer 2nd choice, he is nowhere near good enough to be 2nd choice.
Even if Kaboul's contract does expire in 2015 he is unlikely to play more than 10 games a season.
BAE might not have gone out on loan if we didn't have AVB but the fact is he did and although Roae isn't terrible he isn't good enough for a side with top four aspirations. He was a big fish in a small pond at Sunderland.
I agree about our managers to an extent but that is an entirely different debate. There are positions that aren't strong enough I we want to compete at the top level.
I'm sure BAE implied on Twitter in Jan that he's upset the club rather than just AVB?
As for Friedel, 42 or not I'd happily take him for another season over a prime Ian Walker anyday
I dont think age matters to him, he's like Benjamin Button - but we'll have to wait and see.
Shame Gomes hasn't been used as he's a good guy and a great keeper
As for Friedel, 42 or not I'd happily take him for another season over a prime Ian Walker anyday
I dont think age matters to him, he's like Benjamin Button - but we'll have to wait and see.
Shame Gomes hasn't been used as he's a good guy and a great keeper
Yeah but I'm saying we've underachieved this season and probably last season because we've had inexperienced managers. Even harrys last season we underachieved. We should have been nailed on for 3rd.
I agree with you mostly but what your saying is irrelevant. A better manager would have done better with our squad. Saying we need this and need that is just papering over the cracks. If we had bale Messi and Ronaldo up front it probably wouldn't matter who our manager was. We can sign and.sign and sign players every season...
Look at it this way. Would you rather have an average squad playing well above par.. Or a great squad well below par.
At the moment we're without doubt a great squad below par.
I think we have argued with each other over completely different points I got the impression from your post that you think we don't need to sign new players. I agree on the underachievement front but we do need to strengthen certain positions regardless of whether we get a new manager.
Theres always a need to sign new players. Players get older, weaker, out of form etc... but its something I've always found odd and pointless, to argue about halfway through a season. Of course there are weaknesses. There always will be. Like i said, no squad, no matter how great, is made up of 16 world class players.
The saying "you're only as strong as your weakest link" doesn't really apply to a premier league squad. The fact that, in our strongest starting 11 Danny Rose is our weak link... arguably the only one, certainly in my opinion anyway, says a lot for me. He's not awful by any means, he's injury prone which is a problem.
i honestly don't think, we need to sign a left back. i wouldn't be gutted if we did sign one, obviously. I just don't think we NEED one. We've got an incredible squad. Theres always going to be one position we're stronger in and one we're weaker in. Rose and Fryers seems to be our weakest just like centre mid is probably our strongest.
It just seems like such a cop out to every season to be saying "ah well we need a left back" or a striker or whoever, the squad we have is the squad we have. What is the point in having a massive squad of 25 + reserves and youth academies, if every season we're saying we need to sign more. It must just be something we've got used to as spurs fans, or maybe its a "modern football" thing. To me, it seems ridiculous. This isn't fifa or championship manager. We have a squad, thats our squad. We've placed our bets, and made our bed.
I think Levy has a lot to answer for.
I think Levy has a lot to answer for.
Rofl, I was with you all the way, and then I read the last part and I think the wheels came off.
Why? The levy bit? Levy is ultimately in charge. He has to take to blame for the managers that get appointed. AVB didn't work out. He made the choice to go with a young and relatively inexperienced manager and its backfired massively. We all have our opinions on managers etc, but ultimately they mean jack shit. But Dan, he gets paid millions to make those decisions.
And Sherwood? Thats like having an F1 car driven by a learner driver.