With the new season almost upon us the lack of transfer activity at Spurs has caused many to play down Tottenhams chances of reaching the top four. The general view seems to be that Liverpool with their new signings will push us out, that Man U. & Chelsea will fight for top spot and Arsenal & Man C. will be too strong. At best, the view is, Spurs will be looking at 6th place. Although there is still time for significant transfer moves from Spurs, Levy has a penchant for last minute deals, it is looking as though we will enter the fray with much the same squad as last season. Having said that the strengthening of the Goalkeeper options, Friedel, should not be ignored. A more confident and settled defence would make a huge difference to our chances of picking up points. Critics it would seem are not taking into account the value of our already strong squad improving their team performances just by virtue of the greater experience gained during the last couple of seasons. The CL journey, an awareness of the qualities of Van Der Vaart and what he brings to the squad. A maturing Bale working out new ways to deploy his talent, and the simple fact that so far at least we have managed to hang on to all our top players. Add to this Redknapps realisation that we need to concentrate on the league and use our younger players in the Euros even without any additions we should be stronger than last season. Teams need time to work together to achieve their optimum performances, Spurs have had this time, Liverpool, Man C., have not. Chelsea have a new manager with new ideas and players and Arsenal could well be weakened by the loss of key players. I don't think this new season is cut & dried, there is plenty of room for surprises and all this does not take into account teams like Stoke, Sunderland & Everton all whom could spring a few surprises. Our current strikers, even if they all stay without additions, will surely fair better than their poor return of last season. Creating chances has never been our problem just take a few more and the whole picture will change. Don't write Spurs off just yet!
Agreed. I don't care if the critics write us off, I think we have a chance of getting back into the top 4. I expect Bale to kick on again after last season and I think we'll also see VDV improve his consistency if he can leave his injury problems behind him. I'd be wary of assuming our strikers will do better though, a lot of Spurs fans also assumed last season that our game in hand, Blackpool away, meant we could add an extra 3 points to our total. Defoe was also expected to be back to his best after Wolves away and it neve materialised.
Well there's something to be said for 'same team', no wholesale changes to bed in, continuity isn't so bad. Compared to a couple of others around us I'm quite happy, can't believe the Goon implosion!...now they have got stuff to worry about. I'm quietly confident we'll be ok. Our forwards can't all be that bad again, I'd like to think the same on Gomes! , but with BF now not overly worried there either. The pressure is on the Goons, City and Pool to deliver, no one expects much from us...good!
Well written article. I would obviously love Spurs to do well as a supporter, but my desire is even greater because we have apparently already been consigned to 6th place by many "pundits" (which is also not fair on other teams that might sneak that place I might add). The media just love their Sky 4 and this has remained the case even with the demise of Liverpool, with talk of who will grab the "4th spot", again assuming other places are nailed on. I have nothing really against Liverpool other than the pundits assumptions that they are now reinvented as a force, ignoring how they tailed off after the (quite usual) new manager rally. I remember hearing how our match against them at the end of the season would be a comfortable win for Pool (heard it on TalkS***e so must be true) when in fact it highlighted rather a huge gap in class between the teams. The pundits also fail to realise that its probably more of a case that Spurs (with the current squad which is now one season more experienced I might add) gave away the CL place rather than others winning it. There were umpteen occasions where we gave away points and failed to score etc (of course this happens with all teams but I would argue far more than unexpected results we did get). There is a perception that if you don't buy big then you are weaker. This actually fails the logic test in that any big buy has to perform to their potential (Tores anyone) and be able to play in the team. I had a rant about Citeh yesterday so won't repeat it now, other than there is no evidence that all these signings can be kept happy and play in the same team effectively. It might happen but there is no certainty. Thus a settled team (where the strikers remember what the goal looks like) has a value that cannot be quantified as £ spent, but might just prove decisive. My bet is on 4th for us, but I'm not certain who the three ahead of us wiil be!
Very Good article. If you think about it do we really need Samba when Kaboul/Bassong are capable of stepping up to the plate if given enough game time. Is Diarra necessary when we have Sandro and Thudd as DM'S. Do we really need Rossi when we have Crou...okay we really need Rossi. At the end of the day if we get in one good striker i don't think too many can complain.
One thing that will help us greatly for this coming season - Alan Wiley isn't on the list of Premier League referees...
Fourth at best, for me, as things stand. We don't have the strike force to do much better - unless Defoe (who is our only class striker) wakes up and/or is played more regularly. We can also look all over the shop defensively, at times. Although, I think that's more down to organisation, and tactics, than personnel. I think it's also vitally important for us that Sandro stays fit - The team is so much better balanced when he is in there. Otherwise, we can look very vulnerable defensively in the middle of the park. If we can add, at least one, class striker, then, given the problems The Goons have, we could finish 3rd or 4th. Can I see us finishing ahead of Utd or Citeh? No!
I'd pick Spurs over Arsenal right now, and I've been saying that. Liverpool has so many new players it's really hard to tell what they'll amount to. There's also a reasonable hope that age will keep catching Chelsea's key players. Spurs missed fourth essentially because they couldn't win the games they should have won at the end of the season, which came down to strikers not scoring. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope the same group will do considerably better this season. I'm not so sure the key to that is a sure thing, which is to not start Crouch.
i think we have a good chance for 4th.liverpool have spent a lot but if you look at who they've brought,not really top class,and i don't think City will do as well this year,got the players but don't really play as a team,and they're too Negative
Re: Goon Implosion You've got to think that Wenger must have someone special lined up if he's willing to let both of those two go, hopefully not though, and he'll be forced to tempt Vieira out of retirement as an emergency 'solution' cf. Judas.
how much did you lot pay for Souleymane Coulibaly an absolute beast of a player if i do say so got yourselves a future mega star there like
Think it was about 1.5m, I'd keep tabs on him if I was the supporter of any other club, cos he'll be with us 2-3 seasons and do nowt, not even get near the first team, then he'll move on and be outstanding for someone else
In all honesty at the end of last season most of us inwardly thought we would lose at least one of Bale ,Modric or VdV so from that point of view things are good ( so far !).Hopefully Redknapp has learned how to deal with the "shut up shop " teams who will come to WHL this season and if any of our 3 strikers (bye bye Keano) catch fire this season I'd be confident we can get a top 4 spot .
Like any one of 20 or 30 others, more to the point, and if I remember correctly Azza and Hudd were pretty much in the first team squad from the get go, will he be?
The papers were talking about £5mill before we signed him weren't they? It's probably somewhere in between with performance clauses included. If he has the right attitude and continues to develop then I see no reason why he won't make it at Spurs.
Unfortunately, it appears to me that all these players that are touted as the next big thing before they come to Tottenham seem to go backwards whilst they are here.