Good evening and welcome the Half Tenner.
No fun. A fun free experience. We’ve gone 4th. Admission to The Lane was probably worth about a fiver. I will be fascinated to hear the Arry Redschnapps apologistas bravado and bluster their way out of this one. Bottom line is the ‘in Arry We Trust’ mob called it wrong.
The theme of the season and specifically since the Court case has been the absentee landlord approach adopted by our evidently clueless forward slash Yes Men forward slash coaches that infest our club’s payroll.
I take no pleasure in repeating myself – although my spoken word is an aural delight to be savoured – what’s the story with our set pieces? Look I know we crumple and buckle like a paper mache bicycle wheel when other people take them against us, but what about when we’re supposedly in the old driving seat?
Mind the gap? Easily done. Don’t shine that ear torch you palmed from your GP in Arry’s shell like. Redschnapps out, Ian Dowie in and let’s at least give our talented squad some instruction.
Have to say I didn’t think we’d drop behind Arsenal after this run of fixtures, but whatever happens on Saturday, we’ll be ahead of Chelsea, and could maintain our lead on them. Then with 8 games left, and an easier run-in, we SHOULD qualify for the qualifying again. Thing is, it’s easy to say, but the way to win anything isn’t to crawl over the line, those games against the relegation battling sides could well be tough by that stage, the type of football Wigan and Blackburn are starting to play.
A good result for the season would be getting back into that top 4 and then really going for it in the summer window – We’ve all expected that before, and as good as Levy has been, he never went for as big a spend as we needed to cement that top 4 place last time, but the signs are that this time it could happen. Getting in a top striker and permanent replacement for Ledley, whose surname is unfortunately fast becoming ‘King, as well as the possibility of another wide flair player, in addition to the squad we have now, would do very very poorly not to finish ahead of our London rivals next year.
There is a general sense that we overachieved at the start of the season and that our expectations have been set too high, and to some extent that’s true since things are evening out now, but that avoids the fact that we were playing the best football in the league for 3 months, and that was on par with the football of the two Manchester clubs at the start of the season. The reason it hasn’t been maintained is a lack of experience, and lack of real squad depth. I don’t believe it has anything to do with tax or Capello, we simply don’t have quality backup, and still have mental weaknesses compared to Chelsea and even Arsenal, which is saying something. Coupled with a few errors on Redknapp’s part and a tough run of fixtures and that’s our malaise.
I would have expected us to get the win last night, but goals just aren’t going in at the moment. Call me out in this if you want, but a certain Roman Pavlyuchenko used to pop up and win the odd game around this time of year. We miss that.
Agreed…we miss Super Pav..straight swap with Saha?!?!?
Saha is not a target man. Neither was Pav. Even Zamora would have been a better replacement for Ade than either of those two. Two target men will be required in the summer.
We should have kept Peanut or sold him and signed a pacey winger. If (when) we don’t sign Hazard then maube Hoilett or Drenthe would be good squad signings to push Lennon/Bale.
Caulker needs to come back plus another centreback. Nelsen plus either King or Gallas need to be removed from the squad.
In the short term I’d think about playing 4-3-3 against Chelsea. Parker holding. Modric knitting the midfield together and VDV roaming in the final 3rd. Bale and Gio (can’t believe I’m saying that) supporting Ade hopefully, eithout too much defensive responsibility.
Has anyone else seen the little gem hidden away in the Sun today. J***s has signed a one year contract extension to keep him at the Lane until 2014. Oh my life, could it get any worse today?!
Hopefully that’s just to increase his sale value like we did with Pav before selling. Which will mean £1.99 instead of a pound.
What a sad lot us spurs fans. Last month King was the best thing since sliced bread. Now he’s Finished???? Its the same players that got us here. Do we really expect not to have a bad patch? Diff between a ‘top top’ squad is that they have reserves equally as good as the 1st 11. We dont.
Arsenal have had some incredible luck recently and have a full squad injury free. We are the opposite – dodgy goals, late goals, Muamba effect etc. Still, there is a long way to go so unlikely that will continue.
Main other difference is they have a good manager (ours is a mid table manager who has a top 5 squad) who has coaxed a determination from his team. Our manager cant seem to motivate the team any more and is tactically inept (as is the backroom team).
A manager needs to be one of two things (or both if possible). incredibly intelligent (football wise) and have a love for the club. Ours is neither.
I would take Martin O’neill over Harry any day but really we should be going all out for a ‘top top’ manager.
Martin O’Neil def has the tactical nouse and character to take us to the next level
I can live with the fact that Homosexuals openly walk hand in hand.
I can accept that Ginger people can roam the streets during daylight hours.
I can even reason that some clampetts will tow caravans through heavy traffic at peak times.
What i cannot accept is inept performances from the team i love and support.
Our manager is clueless, our team has no belief or desire, why is Levy putting up with this ?
Will any prospective investor continue with interest in a club with little ambition, will world class players even want to come here ?
Can`t believe we`ve capitulated again !
Bolton rematch on Tuesday could be a chance to get a win under our belt if we don’t manage it at Chelsea. Assume if we draw then it goes to a replay. Now that would be awful.
Bolton players will put in 100% for Muamba, what makes you think we could cope with that ? We are total crap, devoid of ideas,less creative than Blue Peter and the players just seem to be going through the motions, looking forward to the summer holidays,Olympics,Euro 2012 etc etc.
But the supporters, we just have to accept this crap, year in,year out. Fuck off Redknapp.