"Find a team for the next game" ?

[Kingellesar]

So Harry says he has to find a team amongst the group of players to go win the next game. Trouble is, with injuries and a failure to recruit back ups after letting numerous players go in January, where do we find these "players?".

I mean, goalkeeper we have Friedel again, let's be fair Harry is obsessed with Friedel carrying on his run, so keeper is sorted and Cudicini will drop back to bench. Right back, we have no cover I believe? What happened to that Corluka fella? Oh that is right, we let him go on loan despite not having a back up to Walker, Naughton? Season long loan, to be fair that probably did him good as at the time we had Walker and Corluka. Left back we have Ekotto and err Rose? Who seems to have been injured for most of the season anyway.

Now the interesting one, CB, Kaboul could be out for the rest of the season? Dawson is out for the rest of the season? Bassong loan, Caulker loan.....leaves us with Gallas, King and Nelsen? All of which are experienced yes but can these 3 manage to stay fit for five more games and put in a shift?

Midfield we have Parker, Livermore, Modric, Sandro. That is about it, for me Sandro and Parker would need to start every game together now, don't care if they are not as creative as Modric, what exactly has he created in the second half of the season? VdV to go infront of those two who will have to do the creativity from the middle.

Out wide we have errr Lennon and Bale, I believe we let the only "three" wide players we had in the squad go out on loan in January? Townsend, Pienaar and Falque? Bentley might be back fit but when was the last time he played a game? Kranjcar is also out for the rest of the season....I guess we have dos Santos but he has hardly ever done anything of note in a Spurs shirt has he, maybe he deserves a chance but not sure he is what we need.

Up top we have Adebayor and I have no problem with him, he needs to start as he can be key, his hold up play is vital especially against the relegation fighting teams we have to play. Saha looked decent back up until his last few performances where he seems to have slipped into his recent Everton form. Defoe can't lead the line and I would not sacrifice VdV and go to the dreaded "4-4-2" just to get him in the team.

So I would go for the remaining five games assuming everyone can stay fit:

Friedel, Walker, Gallas, King, Ekotto, Sandro, Parker, VdV, Bale, Lennon, Adebayor.

Now it is a pretty normal team isn't it? We can't really "change" it much because we simply do not have any options, we struggle to pick a bench week in week out and this is pathetic for a team who at Christmas were being touted as the "team" to challenge the two Manchester clubs to the title. How have we let ourselves get in this position?

I think Nelsen is the worst signing of all for me, nothing against him but when you have King and Gallas and recently Dawson at the club, you want a reliable defender who can stay fit and is hungry for games, why did we not get a CB in? The bollocks with Cahill in the summer, yeah he might be greedy but why did we not have a back up plan? Also, we have one on loan striker, a short striker who doesn't work in a 4-4-1-1/4-5-1/4-2-3-1 formation and a striker who signed on a 6 month deal, what the hell is going on? Unless we are saving for a world class striker I am failing to see the logic behind not having any strikers at the club. What happens in pre season? We are known for doing late deals, fucking shoot me if we go into the season with Defoe as the only striker.

 

[gilzeantheking]

I bet he's forgotten where he put that team he had earlier in the season.

 

[Kingellesar]

I bet he's forgotten where he put that team he had earlier in the season.

Now, I swear we had Crouchie around here somewhere.

 

[Kingellesar]

 

[hughy]

I have to agree with dropping Modric. He has been a liability for about the last 2 months. It's beyond a joke now. He wants out, so let's cash in on him while his stock is still reasonably high. If we don't respond against quipper I'll be positively disappointed.

 

[gilzeantheking]

No Kevin I said CROUCHIE

 

[hughy]

Ohh, and where did the news on Youndes being out for the season come from? If so, I think we might be fucked.

 

[carpediem991]

We will see if Nelsen get a chance.... I think he did well when we needed him so far. Very important to show Sandro some importance that we need him for our future starting XI. For him I would drop Luka.

 

[thinktank]

Imo we have to go with 4-2-3-1- and mix the two up between sandro/modders/liverboy.

Our confidence will be more shit than ever before now and we have to properly protect whichever two dodgy CBs we play, whoever we play for the remainder of our games.

Stick to that shape and grind grind grind out results.

Really guys, it's all about damage limitation from now on.

 

[shaqTHFC]

Friedel​

Walker Gallas King BAE​

Sandro Modric Parker​

VDV Adebayor Bale​

​

Just do this until the end of the season. We stopped the bad form using it and then stopped using this formation and we've lost the last 2 games. Livermore could replace Sandro and Kaboul must replace King when fit.

 

[stemark44]

“I’ve got to find a team amongst that group that are going to have the nerve, the willpower and the desire to get that fourth spot. We’ve got to go to QPR next week and show we can bounce back from today - it’s a test of character now.”

Harry absolves himself once again.

 

[Kingellesar]

I wonder if his team sheet does actually look like this (well obviously not with Crouchie now...) but yeah, man I am bored. No motivation to do any productive, too depressed.

Also the Kaboul thing was just something I read? Think it was on here? Might not be true, I hope it isn't but it doesn't look great.

 

[carpediem991]

What about Walker/ Assou?

Rose and Livermore possibly to show the others they arent playing whatever they do?

 

[Kingellesar]

As much as I think Walker and Ekotto have not performed well recently, I don't think we could risk Rose and Livermore in those positions. Is Rose really a LB? I got shouted down last time I said he wasn't good enough back up for a team with CL prospects but everyone seemed to think he was a fine choice for reserve LB but why have we not brought an experienced LB in who could provide back up? As for Livermore, I think he would be better to keep on the bench to bring on if we are in a winning position and tighten the midfield further, so Walker has to play RB because we let three RBs go on loan this season and sold one.

 

[hybridsoldier]

In the summer everyone was raving its the best squad in the league, now its the worst apparently?

For me the big cock up have been letting Bassong, Corluka and Pienaar go on loan, otherwise Harry/Levy have done quite well without spending a great deal of money. What the result has been though is that Bale/Parker/Modric/Kaboul/Walker/Ekotto....these guys have played a lot of football this season, in the modern game you need to rotate and keep people fresh.

The thing is we have been told that the new stadium stuff won't affect transfer but if thats the case then why has there been such a lack of investment since Jan/Summer 2009?

Today we were humiliated, you look at their squad they have people on the bench like Malouda who is probably earning more than our top earner. They have a £50m player on the bench. It's so frustrating for all of us because we can see the team is on the cusp of being a great side but is continually falling short in big games because we don't have the quality of our rivals who spend crazy money.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

In the summer everyone was raving its the best squad in the league, now its the worst apparently?

For me the big cock up have been letting Bassong, Corluka and Pienaar go on loan, otherwise Harry/Levy have done quite well without spending a great deal of money. What the result has been though is that Bale/Parker/Modric/Kaboul/Walker/Ekotto....these guys have played a lot of football this season, in the modern game you need to rotate and keep people fresh.

The thing is we have been told that the new stadium stuff won't affect transfer but if thats the case then why has there been such a lack of investment since Jan/Summer 2009?

Today we were humiliated, you look at their squad they have people on the bench like Malouda who is probably earning more than our top earner. They have a £50m player on the bench. It's so frustrating for all of us because we can see the team is on the cusp of being a great side but is continually falling short in big games because we don't have the quality of our rivals who spend crazy money.

I know they spend a lot but we can't just blame the money imo. We are ahead of Chelski after all despite all that they have spent. Today came down to 2 poor decisions really, the ghost goal and 4-4-2. Otherwise watching the game there was not a lot between the teams. It took a world class strike to open the scoring. At 2-1 there was not a lot in it till HR opened us up.

I don't blame him too much, he went for it, just went about it the only way he knows how, which unfortunately is the wrong way.

 

[Kingellesar]

Exactly the point I was making, January we shot ourselves in the foot. We went into the window full of confidence, challenging for the league, everyone playing well and finally looking like a side who could get that "ugly" result if needed. But we then let half the squad go on loan and panicked and got Nelsen and Saha in to provide cover. I mean fair enough prices in January get hiked up but surely we could've secured someone? Hoilett for a small fee like we did with Pienaar? If we really couldn't get anyone, don't let players go on loan!

 

[Kingstheman]

In the summer everyone was raving its the best squad in the league, now its the worst apparently?

For me the big cock up have been letting Bassong, Corluka and Pienaar go on loan, otherwise Harry/Levy have done quite well without spending a great deal of money. What the result has been though is that Bale/Parker/Modric/Kaboul/Walker/Ekotto....these guys have played a lot of football this season, in the modern game you need to rotate and keep people fresh.

The thing is we have been told that the new stadium stuff won't affect transfer but if thats the case then why has there been such a lack of investment since Jan/Summer 2009?

Today we were humiliated, you look at their squad they have people on the bench like Malouda who is probably earning more than our top earner. They have a £50m player on the bench. It's so frustrating for all of us because we can see the team is on the cusp of being a great side but is continually falling short in big games because we don't have the quality of our rivals who spend crazy money.

That is what does it for me.

If our near misses we victories, we'd be so far ahead.

The penalty not given for a hand ball against Newcastle by Dabizas, but given against Campbell in a semi final (final against Champions Man U would have been us in Europe the following season).

The Lasagne-gate match, which would have seen us 4th and Arsenal 5th in their new stadium's first season.

The match against Portsmouth 2 years ago. The last day of the season when we took our foot off the gas when 3rd was still on the cards.

The Final of the League Cup against Man U in which we dominate but lose on penalties.

The collapse last season...

The collapse this season, from 3rd and F.A Cup favourites...

Time to go to bed and hope Levy acts and gets the project back on track.

 

[sbrustad]

Find a group of players that wants to win the next game?

More like find a formation that can enable us to win the next game. Seriously, Redknapps attempts at evading blame for our recent slump defies belief.

 

[Kingellesar]

We could try an all defensive formation of like 6-3-1...but I don't think we have 6 defenders at the club who are fit