The players are average

[Dru]

Its about time people looked at the bigger picture and realised to get into that top 4, you need world class players in one or two positions. We have sold the only ones we had and havent replaced them. We cant pay these players the wages to attract them to the club.

The only player in that team tonight that would get anywhere near any of the current top 4 would be Lloris, Walker at a push, the rest are average players, who potentially, one or two may come good.

Its really that simple for me. You sell the likes of Modric and Bale (becuase we had to) and rather than bring in the likes of Moutinho, Villa etc that the manager wanted (even if they were pipe dreams) we bring in the likes of Siggy, Chadli etc, then a few others with very bright futures and then sack the manager after 16 games or whatever it was.

So, take away our best players, replace with average and then sack the manager when we arent performing even better than we were when we had the better players.

What a mess.

Yet sadly, thats what we are faced with, and thats the way it will continue to be until we are able to pay the top wages for the top players - if we ever will.

 

[Doom Funk]

The players may be average but we should not be losing at home to west ham twice in a few months. Something is seriously wrong imo

 

[Arjun]

Don't forget Vertonghen.

I think Gylfi and Chadli were two signings we didn't need. To think VDV left because (in part) his place was under threat by Gylfi saddens me. I'm still a fan of Gylfi but he is too much of a passenger for me.

Still a lot of quality in the team though, we just new to utilise it properly. Still think we have a great squad but agree that we are still missing that added pedigree of someone that is on the level of a Bale or a Modric.

Our best bet is to let Lamela/Eriksen/Holtby.. 3 young players grow here as I think they are special (especially the first two.. Holtby is disappointing me, thought he was awful when he came on today)

 

[LEGO Boy]

You paint a pretty bleak picture. We all know things are a bit of a mess and up in the air, but those teams above us are far from light years ahead of us, despite their greater financial muscle.

 

[Dru]

We shouldnt be losing to a West Ham team playing McCartney at CB - no we really fucking shouldnt. Ade and Defoe should be able to trouble that strting lineup -it was appalling.

Its just showing up players for the averagness they are.

Try to imagine some of our players playing for Villa/West Brom..any other average team. I bet you wouldnt want to sign them if that were the case.

 

[Drewinho]

Lloris and Vertonghen are both world class and Eriksen, Lamela, Chiriches etc could all become world class. What we need is a new striker as Defoe is cack now.

It's easy to be negative right now but with the right appointment we can actually still be challenging top 4 this season.

 

[Dru]

You paint a pretty bleak picture. We all know things are a bit of a mess and up in the air, but those teams above us are far from light years ahead of us, despite their greater financial muscle.

I know I do and I hate being negative but I have been thinking this since the start of the season. I called Soldado as a poor buy although I was desperate to be proved wrong - of course any fan would want him to be good but I asked when we signed him if he was so good, why couldnt he get in the Spain team when Torres was so shit? What was his game all about?
Capoue?Chiriches?Chadli? Who looked at them and thought, yea, they will step us up a level?

We have lost King, VDV, Modric and Bale in the last few years. Replacing none of them. Vertonghen is the only one that comes close but he isnt at the level King was, not yet.

Its not the players fault but for me, its clear as day, this squad everyone was raving about at the start of the season simply isnt better then any of the current top 4.

Maybe by the start of next season we may have seen real signs of progress had we stuck with a manager for a change, maybe we wouldnt, who knows. All I know if this group of players isnt good enuogh no matter who the maanger is? Who is our world class talent? Who are our leaders?

 

[Drewinho]

I know I do and I hate being negative but I have been thinking this since the start of the season. I called Soldado as a poor buy although I was desperate to be proved wrong - of course any fan would want him to be good but I asked when we signed him if he was so good, why couldnt he get in the Spain team when Torres was so shit? What was his game all about?
Capoue?Chiriches?Chadli? Who looked at them and thought, yea, they will step us up a level?

We have lost King, VDV, Modric and Bale in the last few years. Replacing none of them. Vertonghen is the only one that comes close but he isnt at the level King was, not yet.

Its not the players fault but for me, its clear as day, this squad everyone was raving about at the start of the season simply isnt better then any of the current top 4.

Maybe by the start of next season we may have seen real signs of progress had we stuck with a manager for a change, maybe we wouldnt, who knows. All I know if this group of players isnt good enuogh no matter who the maanger is? Who is our world class talent? Who are our leaders?

A. Spain don't play to Soldado's strengths.
B. Capoue was looking great until his injury then being moved to CB. Chiriches has looked good for the most part. Chadli was always going to be a squad player.

I will always regret not getting Moutinho though.

 

[skyfarer]

It's not so much about lacking world-class players, but about the balance. We have too many physical 'beasts' and fast runners but not enough Modrics - players who understand "pass and move", players with vision, players who can pass incisively and intelligently under pressure.

I don't think Everton have any world-class players, but they're not doing too badly, are they? I'm not convinced we're even as passing-oriented as Southampton with Lallana and Schneiderlin. And then when we do have some genuine thinkers and passers in the squad like Eriksen, we don't actually play them. Or we send them off to QPR (though I do understand that Carroll is nowhere near ready for a full campaign here).

 

[Dru]

A. Spain don't play to Soldado's strengths.
B. Capoue was looking great until his injury then being moved to CB. Chiriches has looked good for the most part. Chadli was always going to be a squad player.

Hence my question on Soldado, whats his game all about? If he was a real top player, he would get in the team, he would bring to our team. Your right, we dont play to his strengths, becasue the players around him arent good enough.
Capoue was looking good. Not great i'd say, but solid. Chiriches has again looked OK, nothing more in my eyes. He isnt a step up in class of player and gets dominated by any big pwerful striker.
Chadli may turn out to be incredible....in some paralel dimension, but has been seriously poor so far in this one.

Excuses. You cant have them if you want top 4.

 

[Gothamizm]

Let's go through it player by player then.

Gomes - no longer an option
Friedel - at odds with the system our coach wanted in place
Lloris - an undoubtedly world class player

Walker - a solid right back who has, this season, pressed on and become a real presence within the team
Rose - we gambled that he would continue his good form from Sunderland. He hasn't yet - due to injury.
Kaboul - a man who was built up to be godlike due to his injury layoff - now looks error-prone and rusty. Whether his skills will return, it's unclear.
Vertonghen - a player who, unless we have a meteoric rise in the next six months, is too good for us and will leave
Naughton - must I say anything?
Chiriches - a player who was bought for potential but has so far delivered. He could be in the Vertonghen bracket soon enough.
Dawson - a player ageing before our very eyes. As much as I love Dawson for his contributions to the club and his love for Spurs, he embodies most failings that can be levelled at English footballers in general.
Fryers - all potential and not yet ready for the big stage.

Lennon - has quietly developed over the past few seasons despite putting in relatively few games. Now looks like he may be regressing.
Paulinho - a big money outlay who embodied the problems in the AVB system - always playing with his back to goal and responsible for lateral distribution rather than moving it forwards
Lamela - frankly, we haven't got a good read on him because he's been under-utilised thus far. Could be worth all the hype or on the next ferry to Ajax but we just haven't seen him play enough.
Holtby - has come on leaps and bounds this season but remains a raw talent.
Capoue - looks better with every game he plays in midfield but is not a convincing defender
Townsend - a one trick pony that needs to develop down the left rather than everywhere else.
Dembele - has really picked up again this season but is a force to move the ball forwards, not win it back
Chadli - bought as the finished article at his age and has shown stability rather than outstanding ability.
Sigurdsson - has to go down as a big disappointment. Shows flashes of brilliance but is really competing for a number 10 role with at least three others that have him beat.
Eriksen - bought for potential and shows flashes of it. Very early to judge but when he is good, he's very very good
Sandro - the beast is back...except when he isn't. The injuries are beginning to rack up and I don't want him to be a sicknote player because he is someone we can build the team around. When he plays.

Soldado - difficult to judge because he can do great things but is often isolated. Increasingly looks like the wrong striker for the system AVB had but it's a question of, "What now?"
Defoe - when he does the non-Defoe things, he has a great game. When he concentrates on getting some space, turning and shooting...he's shit.
Adebayor - impossible to figure out which Adebayor is going to turn up. When he's motivated, he's great and when he's not, he's dead weight.


There you have it. Lengthy and brutal but a lot of potential waiting to show itself. We need to develop these players but I feel that, under AVB, the balance between development and victory was about right - it was at the cost of attacking football though.

Under a makeshift team and an as-yet undecided manager...who knows.

 

[Dru]

It's not so much about lacking world-class players, but about the balance. We have too many physical 'beasts' and fast runners but not enough Modrics - players who understand "pass and move", players with vision, players who can pass incisively and intelligently under pressure.

I don't think Everton have any world-class players, but they're not doing too badly, are they? I'm not convinced we're even as passing-oriented as Southampton with Lallana and Schneiderlin. And then when we do have some genuine thinkers and passers in the squad like Eriksen, we don't actually play them. Or we send them off to QPR (though I do understand that Carroll is nowhere near ready for a full campaign here).

Everton arent doing too badly no - but they wont finish in the top 4 either.

 

[Éperons]

We shoulda broke the bank.

 

[1882]

I forgot Defoe was playing tonight... I think that says it all! (and I wasn't even that pissed!)

 

[skyfarer]

Everton arent doing too badly no - but they wont finish in the top 4 either.

Oh, of course. But we're in the same position - we don't have the money to compete with the Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arse, or even Pool considering they've invested season on season. So I'm not sure where we're going to magically nab a world-class player from, so we had better figure out how to maximize the resources we do have - which is really the Ajax/Porto/Dortmund model of instilling a philosophy throughout the club and building a team through a real transfer strategy rather than just signing whoever's good and available out there and firing our managers until we strike gold.

 

[KeaneBean]

Let's go through it player by player then.

Gomes - no longer an option
Friedel - at odds with the system our coach wanted in place
Lloris - an undoubtedly world class player

Walker - a solid right back who has, this season, pressed on and become a real presence within the team
Rose - we gambled that he would continue his good form from Sunderland. He hasn't yet - due to injury.
Kaboul - a man who was built up to be godlike due to his injury layoff - now looks error-prone and rusty. Whether his skills will return, it's unclear.
Vertonghen - a player who, unless we have a meteoric rise in the next six months, is too good for us and will leave
Naughton - must I say anything?
Chiriches - a player who was bought for potential but has so far delivered. He could be in the Vertonghen bracket soon enough.
Dawson - a player ageing before our very eyes. As much as I love Dawson for his contributions to the club and his love for Spurs, he embodies most failings that can be levelled at English footballers in general.
Fryers - all potential and not yet ready for the big stage.

Lennon - has quietly developed over the past few seasons despite putting in relatively few games. Now looks like he may be regressing.
Paulinho - a big money outlay who embodied the problems in the AVB system - always playing with his back to goal and responsible for lateral distribution rather than moving it forwards
Lamela - frankly, we haven't got a good read on him because he's been under-utilised thus far. Could be worth all the hype or on the next ferry to Ajax but we just haven't seen him play enough.
Holtby - has come on leaps and bounds this season but remains a raw talent.
Capoue - looks better with every game he plays in midfield but is not a convincing defender
Townsend - a one trick pony that needs to develop down the left rather than everywhere else.
Dembele - has really picked up again this season but is a force to move the ball forwards, not win it back
Chadli - bought as the finished article at his age and has shown stability rather than outstanding ability.
Sigurdsson - has to go down as a big disappointment. Shows flashes of brilliance but is really competing for a number 10 role with at least three others that have him beat.
Eriksen - bought for potential and shows flashes of it. Very early to judge but when he is good, he's very very good
Sandro - the beast is back...except when he isn't. The injuries are beginning to rack up and I don't want him to be a sicknote player because he is someone we can build the team around. When he plays.

Soldado - difficult to judge because he can do great things but is often isolated. Increasingly looks like the wrong striker for the system AVB had but it's a question of, "What now?"
Defoe - when he does the non-Defoe things, he has a great game. When he concentrates on getting some space, turning and shooting...he's shit.
Adebayor - impossible to figure out which Adebayor is going to turn up. When he's motivated, he's great and when he's not, he's dead weight.


There you have it. Lengthy and brutal but a lot of potential waiting to show itself. We need to develop these players but I feel that, under AVB, the balance between development and victory was about right - it was at the cost of attacking football though.

Under a makeshift team and an as-yet undecided manager...who knows.

Agree, apart from Rose. I know he's been injured but when he has played, he's been very good.

I especially agree with the part about AVB having the balance right.

 

[LEGO Boy]

I forgot Defoe was playing tonight... I think that says it all! (and I wasn't even that pissed!)

What, you mean you didn't see him snatch at that shot in the first 5 mins and send it wide? It's still etched in my memory! (along with countless others recently)

 

[fuzzydunlop]

Cant understand what the fuck people see in Kyle Walker?!
Along with Defoe, he is the most Overrated player I have seen in a long long time at this club.
At fault for BOTH goals tonight.
Deadwood.

 

[Shnadsy]

I'm still a fan of Gylfi but he is too much of a passenger for me.

Feel sorry for Sigg though, he would come off the back of a good performance and a goal and then cop the bench.
Not to mention being played on the left wing!
Put the guy behind the striker, or in the middle like today. He is that guy you want on the edge of the box!

 

[Shnadsy]

Cant understand what the fuck people see in Kyle Walker?!
Along with Defoe, he is the most Overrated player I have seen in a long long time at this club.
At fault for BOTH goals tonight.
Deadwood.

How was Walker at fault for either of those?
Chiriches (1st goal), and Capoue (2nd) both failed to win headers.
If anything, Walker was one of the brighter aspects in the Spurs side.
He fucking legged it to try and block their 1st, some passion we have seen little of from most of our players.
I genuinely believe if he continues to develop and improve, he will be a captain of the future and a great player.