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Our Season So Far (part 1)

Paxtonite

Active Member
Nov 28, 2004
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25th August 2008

Guys, i thought i would try to start a regular "diary" column of our season, which i hope at least will be well received and promote some discussion. I similarly hope i don't make a pigs ear of it but here goes...

Our season is up and running and there are ominous signs of deja vu. Played two lost two and this time last year our manager's position was a topic of debate and back page sports headlines.

As usual the season start was greeted with much optimism. We have not lost a pre season game for four years (yes four years) and with the apparent demise of the north london tenants (NLT's) down the road (well they are south londoners really aren't they), as well as Liverpool's inconsistency, punditry forecasts that spurs (if any club) would threaten the top four was something that we as spurs fans are desperate to buy into.

It is clear though that pre season friendlies do not have any bearing for the real thing and once again it seems that we have struggled to up the pace for the commnencement of the regular season.

Mr Ramos has a style of play that was successful at Seville. Admittedly the pace of football in Spain is not as intense as in England, but it is a formula that can work as proved by the NLT's. That said, having had about 65% of the posession in our first two games has meant nothing because of deficiencies in other areas.

Once again we have had a summer of wholesale changes in the playing staff. The midfield has been significantly overhauled and we cannot doubt that the calibre of player in the spurs squad currently is not an improvement on the likes of Steed, Tainio, KPB, Ghaly et al. Making wholesale changes each summer however, is no way to build success as we are constantly having to restructure the team foundation. No matter how excitable we get as fans regarding another new addition to the squad, the volumes concerned each year have to be a worry.

This year this was aggravated still further because our forward line has been decimated. Something we were not counting on. The Keane transfer came out of nowhere and whilst there were rumblings of discontent regarding Berbatov since last summer, who did not feel that he might not just stay with us after the euphoria of the carling cup success last season?

The team "spine" has now been totally redesigned. From Robinson, King, Zokora and Berbatov, now read Gomes, Woodgate, Jenas and Bent.

The argument that we need a solid holdng midfield player is evident to all of us. Jenas and Modric are attacking players and Zokora has had to spend time filling in at right back, a job he has done very well in my opinion.

Keane should have been replaced by now and Arshavin would be deemed a good replacement. Doing a deal with Zenit has proved difficult and unnecessarily prolonged. Berbatov has been nothing short of a disgrace and whilst i considered him to be one of the best players to don our shirt when he first arrived i just want shot of him now.

We will all have to wonder how much "lasagnagate" cost us from a couple of seasons ago. Tying up that fourth spot would have meant we would have been able to compete better in the transfer market long before now. It would also have meant appeasing someone such as Berbatov. We tried to console ourselves in the fact that "we weren't ready for CL football" but the damage had been done methinks.

Back to the first couple of games.

The game against Boro had nil nil written all over it and yet we conspired to lose it and against Sunderland, whilst we had a poor first half, we did deserve to win. Lapses of concentration in defence cost us in both games as did a lack of balance in our play. Against Sunderland, it wasn't until the removal of Lennon and BAE and the introduction of Hudd and Gio that we really settled down. Bale who had looked lost at left midfield slotted in more comfortably at left back and Hudd gave us some solidity in midfield. Jenas was more effective at supporting Bent than Bentley was in the first half and the latter became more effective from droping deeper. The issue of Bent however is another matter. I am not his greatest fan, talented though he may be, but his game suits a style too different to that which Ramos is trying to promote. He is a counter attacking player that likes to run on to balls. We need a forward that can make intelligent runs and bring other players into the game from midfield.

Ramos must have seen this improvement in our balance against Sunderland too, but perhaps he has been trying to pick teams to match the opposition in the first two games rather than play to our own strengths. It was unfortunate that he was trying to make the changes just as Sunderland scored their first.

It is here that we must understand that goals generally come from mistakes. If every player in every team played the perfect game we would have to wonder at the outcome. Nevertheless the defensive lapses have to be ironed out at Spurs. Dawson was culpable against Boro, as were King and Gomes for Sunderlands second on Saturday (had it been Dawson instead of King i am sure we would have moaned more).

Where does this leave us? With a forthcoming game against Chelsea away and the need to buy even more players. Not a great place to be two weekends into a season. It is likely that we will be in the bottom three at the end of this month and playing catch up with the rest of the league once more.

We can only hope that Ramos and Poyet tweak the team as necessary to give us the performances we are looking for quickly, and that the players respond in the right way. We can expect that teams will be dropping points in the early weeks at least. Man Utd only drew with Newcastle and Fulham have beaten the NLT's. With this in mind, once August is out of the way, September will be the month in which we must try to make up the lost ground. Here's hoping.
 
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