Not the greatest result, but it’s better than a loss and it’s better than what I could have imagined happening under ‘Arry.
I’ve heard people say on the forums that we should have brought Defoe on once we equalised, and that we should have gone for the kill. I’m of the opinion that bringing Defoe on would have only led to one result: a big fat loss for us.
Granted, Defoe has scored consistently for us this season, but the man takes 5-7 chances to get that one in the back of the net. That’s something he would not have been afforded last night.
And who would we have taken off?
Adebayor? Who was in the middle of his best game of the season? Having scored one and set up the other? No.
Parker or Huddlestone? And get over run in midfield leading to a collapse and probably a loss? No.
I think AVB got his subs spot on and although we didn’t light the game up, we showed a lot of grit and determination to make sure that we came out of the game with at least a point.
I unfortunately didn’t watch the game as I was at work but my brother told me that both Souness and Hoddle said that we are worse than we were last year. I’ll leave the rest of this to my brother, who wrote this during his lunch break because his kindle’s battery died and he forgot his charger…
“Souness/Hoddle: Spurs worse than last year
Are we? If Spurs get 6 points from the last two games then it would be three points better off from last year – suggesting that perhaps Spurs have improved. But this got me thinking, have we improved, are we treading water in reality or, as suggested last night, taken a step backwards. Well let us have a look…
Goalkeepers
In – Lloris
Out – Cudicini
Clearly this is an improvement; Hugo is a world class keeper. Friedel was a good signing but really cannot play the sweeper keeper that AVB wants.
Verdict: Improved
Defence
In – Vertonghen
Out – Corluka, Nelson, Bassong, King (Retired)
King was irreplaceable even with only one knee. It would have been awesome to have seen him and Jan together but we may not have signed him if King had played on. Caulker could also be considered an ‘In’ as he came on the scene back from Swansea and I wish he would get more playing time while Kaboul is injured but he appears to be out of AVB’s plans for the time being. Dawson, while being a great servant of the club and consistently giving 110%, really does not fit with the managers defensive plans – If Kaboul had been fit then he would have been playing alongside Jan all season. I suppose the most telling point is that we have already conceded 5 more goals than last season with two games still to play. In terms of players actually sold, I think Corluka is probably the only one we may have missed. He would have been used when we needed a more solid back line perhaps…
Verdict: Treading water
Midfield
In – Sigurdsson, Dembele, Holtby
Out – Kranjcar, Pienaar, Modric, Van der Vaart, Jenas
Simply put, Bale moving to be basically a striker has made our midfield a lot weaker than the transfers may tell. Also I cannot help thinking that Pienaar would have been much better playing on the left (vacated by Bale) with AVB’s tactics rather than Harry’s. However, even if Bale had stayed left wing I still believe our midfield is weaker than last season. Holtby may yet prove to be as skilful as VdV, he tries a lot but doesn’t seem to get much done – to me it feels like he is running in thick mud, a little like VdV did. I don’t mean to be harsh, he will be a great player but when he has had the chance he hasn’t shown me that he is class – hopefully this is him just settling. Dembele is a very good player, exceptional at times but he is not Modric. Dembele is better at breaking up play but I would suggest Modric was better at this than given credit for. Sigurdsson is a skilful and goal scoring midfielder but seems to be a little out of his depth at Spurs, he lacks a little pace which doesn’t help – better than Kranjcar though. He is getting better and I was surprised to see him dropped recently to the bench. I like him a lot but can’t help feeling he is a player suited to a team finishing 6th – 10th.
Verdict: Weaker
Strikers
In – Dempsey
Out – Dos Santos, Saha
Lets face it, if Ade had played this year as he did last we would probably be second (or at least top 4 finish in our own hands). Defoe has made up for some of Ade’s shortfall but he frustrates, even more so since coming back from injury. Dos Santos never seemed to get it right at Spurs, always struck me as a little over confident while not being up for the battle. Clearly that is why Barca let us have him. Saha was a weird buy in the first place so no wonder he left. Dempsey suffers from not being the main man, he was a Fulham and therefore had licence to go missing every so often. Don’t get me wrong, he has not played terribly for Spurs just that he is not a Champions league player and that is the type of player we should have brought in. He has also been playing wide to accommodate Bale in the centre which has not helped his cause.
Verdict: Treading water (just)
So overall I think we are no better or worse than last year, improvements have been made but some areas have taken a step back. I think what Hoddle and Souness were really getting at is that Spurs are no longer the gung ho team they were under Harry, and to the pundit/neutral that would be considered as going backwards as it is not so entertaining to watch. We will wait until the end of the season before discussing how to improve the team, we may still finish third…”
So there you have it, even just one more win will put us level with our total from last year, so if we are to get Champions League football we are going to have to be better than we were last year. Even if we finish in 5th there is a chance that we can finish with a better point tally this year. So its all swings and roundabouts when you look at it like that. Are we any worse than we were last year? I don’t think so. Are we any better? I don’t think we are there as well. The only difference between this year and last for us is that Chelsea have been better in the league, as if it wasn’t for their return to form and the top four the top of the league would have a familiar look to it from last year as we go into the final two games of the season.
So with all to play for we have to get 6 points out of 6 and hope that one or both Chelsea and Arsenal drop points, which isn’t that unrealistic seeing as Arsenal haven’t been very consistent this season and Chelsea have a Europa League final sandwiched in between their remaining fixtures.
So let’s get behind the team and roar them to a better points tally than last year! COYS!
Follow me on twitter @chriswadds (my brothers handle is @waddiealex) and the blog @thfc1882dotcom. There is also a facebook page, why don’t you “like” it if you so wish at www.facebook.com/1882thfc




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