Are we really good enough?
This topic contains 21 replies, has 12 voices, and was last updated by CFC1905 7 years, 2 months ago.
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December 13, 2016 at 4:07 am #1365667
Beginning to have serious doubts if we are good enough for the top 4. We seem to have to have lost that incisiveness, speed in attack and combativeness of last year. Admittedly this year Toby and Harry have had long absences through injury.Ali has been misfiring this year seeming to need far too many touches to get to the same objective as before- nowhere near as deadly; Eriksen has shown sporadic signs of form recovery but again nowhere near as good as he can be.Would like to see Dier back- he did contribute greater protection to the back four- though Wanyama has done very well.Another big difference this season is the form of the others: Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool way better than they were last year. City have been patchy but they have the class to come good.Even Man U are finally showing signs of some stability. Hate to be negative but thus far I am not optimistic.Thoughts anyone?
December 13, 2016 at 6:15 am #1365700It’s easy to be pessimistic when you’re a Spud-lover, the heavens know that we’ve had so many false dawns and delusions of grandeur and the few occasions we’ve somehow managed to get one or two half decent players over the last 35 odd years. However, to break those chains of the serotypical Spud, let’s look at the positives.
We’ve got one of the youngest, if not the youngest, squads and first 11 in the League. Maybe they over performed last year, they’re certainly not performing to last years high standards, but they are all still learning, certainly in the attack-minded side fo the team. We also have, arguably, the best defensive team in the League. As a unit, the stats’ speak for themselves. As the old saying goes, strikers win you games, defenses win you leagues.
We’re still 5th in the League while not playing to last year’s standards, we’ve only lost twice this season (both by very narrow margins!), once to a team that many think will win the whole thing, the other at Old Trafford, something of a bogey ground anyway. We have drawn a few too many games, but considering we haven’t been playing that well, is that really an issue?
There have been some signs of life over the last few weeks, ignoring the YooUtd game, patches of form reminiscent from last season, and we do have a nice Christmas period. Toby is back, Kane is firing, Erikson is showing some signs of life, I don’t think it’s too bad at all. Let’s see where we’re at by the time we play Chelsea again on the 4th Jan.
AS for the other teams, not a lot we can do about that, so I tend not to worry at them, unless it’s the week leading up to a game.
Will we get Top4? Maybe, maybe not, only another 23 games to go and we’re 3 points behind City and 4 points behind Pool, and they’re both hitting a wobbly patch just as we seem to be coming out of ours. Hardly out the races are we?
A nice little run over Christmas, something very possible indeed, and wait for the Chav’s!
December 13, 2016 at 9:08 am #1365865Of course we are good enough. We have the quality needed. A bit more ruthlessness in the final third will make it for us. The idea om moving Dembele forward instead of the weak Eriksen and Dier in the back with Wanyama is something that could provide more pondus in and around the box. Why are we not cashing more in on set pieces? Why are we not more threathening in this part of the game? Surely we have the manpower for it.
December 13, 2016 at 10:31 am #1366015I wouldn’t go writing off the season just yet. The top 5 is tight enough with a 10 point spread and we’re not even at the half way mark. There are some seemingly nice fixtures coming up and everyone else is dropping points too. If the lads get a bit of a run together, it’ll do their confidence a world of good.
December 13, 2016 at 11:48 am #1366144The top 3 teams all have better teams. You’re probably on par with Liverpool, but their defence has been weakened and will get tested. On the other hand you have Toby returning who was better in his previous season, but nevertheless be a big boost. Just pray that Harry doesn’t get a knock, Janssen is rubbish.
December 13, 2016 at 12:21 pm #1366234You’re definitely good enough, but as outsider looking in, the one area I think you still struggle in is with goals – and you still clearly need someone to share the burden with Harry Kane. Vincent Jansson looks nowhere near good enough to be that man!
December 13, 2016 at 1:47 pm #1366453I’m sure it will click eventually, we always seem to start slow, every season, and the simple fact we’ve had our best start in years seems to have escaped everybody. 6 points from the next two games before a tricky trip to Southampton will put us right back in the mix for the TOP 4, although I do think the title would be pushing it a bit too far.. 🙂
December 14, 2016 at 4:54 am #1368157Some interesting points from this discussion. Banjo you make a good case for the “glass being half full” and yes you are quite right:decades fo disappointment and frustrations tend to make the Spud fan more prone to pessimism at the first signs of faltering. I was just worried that our falling off this year seemed to co-incide with other teams improving on last year. But happily recent results show that the others are not immune to a loss of form either-City being brushed away by Leicester, Liverpool drawing with West Ham and above all the Gooners losing to Everton. Also as Poch pointed out, we are actually one point better off than at the same point last season, Also liked the suggestion of Dier coming back to DF with Mosussa moving further forward. Let’s see.
December 14, 2016 at 6:02 am #1368163Just to go all Scoffy (LOL, couldn’t resist!), we are actually 2 points worse of from the corresponding fixtures from last year….
December 14, 2016 at 7:35 am #1368193He He!
December 15, 2016 at 4:32 pm #1372603Banjo I think I may have been right after all .-From the Independent today ( and same statement in the Times:
“For all Tottenham’s difficulties in recent weeks, they now have four more points than at this stage last year”.
So it seems our problem is that the other teams have improved more than we have!! CheersDecember 15, 2016 at 5:49 pm #1372702And funnily enough, we’re still 2 points behind in the same fixtures from last season… 🙂
December 16, 2016 at 4:08 pm #1374322We are rubbish. CrotchettyNOOoo ! has ruined our wonderful midfield by buying Wanyama and Sissoko, meaning, for some outlandish reason, that Dier .. touted as a future England captain, no longer occupies the holding role he so excelled in last season. What a mess! What a waste! Of Dier, and 60m quid! The whole mishmash has ensured that Kane, Ali and Eriksen are shadows of their former selves (and I dont care how many goals eriksen and kane have scored.. erik has lost the ability to pass and score from free kicks, and Kane is a passenger!). And we seem to have no idea whatsoever what to do with the ball in the central advanced midfield area. Thank god for our star performers this season.. rose and walker. where would we be without them!!??. Its a shambles, and we are hapless, goal-less, useless,feckless, paceless, skilless.
December 17, 2016 at 5:58 am #1374715Hey come on Riddler, don’t mince words: tell it like it is!!!!
December 17, 2016 at 7:00 am #1374730Are we good enough? No. Would Chelsea be where they were if Costa were injured as Kane was? No. If Hazard had similar form to Eriksen, up until the last two weeks, wold they be up there? No. The other teams loitering are riddled with holes too. In that respect we are no different.
Wanyama has been a bargain for the level of protection he provides in midfield. Janssen, still early days. Sissoko must be sold along with Carroll.
I wonder if Bloggy will admit that we have seriously missed Lamela in recent weeks. Big bonus of the season is how easily Winks has slotted in. Reminds me of Modric in many ways.
December 19, 2016 at 1:22 pm #1379407Hey, come on guys, if you keep talking like this, Brazilspur will be back………….Hmmm, or is that want you want
December 19, 2016 at 5:14 pm #1379821Winks is looking like decent and tidy player, gives Poncho another headache when everybody is fit…..
December 23, 2016 at 10:51 pm #1385788The answer to this riddle is yes! Do you honestly think any group of supporters is totally happy with their team? Even Chelscum who are doing ok at the moment. OF course we are good enough to win it. Will we win it probably not. No team will ever again sweep all before them and win every game like the ManU or Arse of the past because the Prem is too strong from top to bottom hence how Leicester won it last year. But rest assured we are definitely in the mixer!
January 4, 2017 at 10:26 am #1402096As a fan of a rival competitor I would say that you are good enough and I believe that the purchases made in the Summer actually provide you with a stronger squad than last year. However, it does seem that some time was required for players to adapt and with the injuries goals were hard to come by – and yet you rarely lost just too many draws
Kane and Ali appear to have found their shooting boots (bad timing for me I am thinking…!!) and regardless of how poor some of you think you may have been, if you win tonight then you go 3rd on goal difference (I believe)
Yes you did not do well in the CL but I think taking on that added pressure is a battle we all have to face and while I expected you to qualify things do not always go to plan
As for tonight, it will be a tough game for sure with both sides having many different reasons to win. Just hope that it is not an officials mistake that dictates the outcome of the game as (on paper anyway) it should be special. KTBFFH
January 4, 2017 at 12:13 pm #1402321yes it will a toughie tonight for both teams to probably be decided by a moment of brilliance or a moment of sheer stupidity and hopefully not from the officials, seen enough of that in recent games.
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