Our Season summed up in 12 tweets

[absolute bobbins]

I thought I'd post this in Spurs chat because it's a very debate worthy article and may get glossed over elsewhere.

From: 101 Great Goals

Tottenham’s latest Top 4 thrashing to Liverpool on Sunday was arguably the nadir of the Lilywhites season.

With Tim Sherwood in the stands and a side that capitulated within two minutes at Anfield, there was little fight or determination from Spurs at Anfield.

So, where did it all go wrong for Tottenham after shelling out big money last summer, having received a major windfall for arguably the best player in their history?

Is it the seven new signings that have been the problem?

Or, perhaps, Daniel Levy should have held onto Andre Villas-Boas instead of sacking him after Tottenham’s first big defeat to Liverpool this season?

And, can Spurs be a force next season with Louis van Gaal or Frank De Boer in charge, what comes now is some pretty sensible reasoning and should give fans of the beleaguered north London side some hope!

Tor-Kristian Karlsen describes himself on his Twitter feed as follows: “In the football industry in various capacities (chief scout, sporting director, CEO) since 1996 – currently independent advisor and occasional writer.”

Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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Observations on Spurs (summer signings, coaching situation) coming up in multiple tweets, I apologise in advance for hijacking your feed

10:24 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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1) more than anything, there's been no basis for new (any) player to thrive this season. Unsettled environment, no clear structure post AVB

10:24 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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2) even players that performed well last season have had negative trend this term, which shows something's fundamentally wrong

10:25 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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3) which Spurs players have improved on last season? Townsend? Adebayor? Majority of the rest looking confused, unmotivated, out of sorts

10:25 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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4) in such a context, how can one expect any new signings to flourish? I'm sorry, but it doesn't work that way

10:26 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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5) from the summer signings, I've seen enough of Paulinho, Eriksen, Lamela (pre joining) to know that they'd strengthen Spurs significantly

10:27 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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6) I was unsure/unconvinced about Chadli and Capoue back then, but Chriches - if anything - has surprised me positively

10:27 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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7) Soldado has become a problem, starting to look like a lost cause, but he'd profit from clearer structure to the attacking game

10:28 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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8) but point is: with seemingly no clear plan, strategy or stability it's completely naive to expect new signings to prosper

10:28 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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9) as pointed out at the time of AVB sacking, why didn't Spurs go with a manager whose system would get the best out of the summer signings?

10:28 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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10) by appointing an inexperienced manager Spurs seemed to give up on £60-70 million worth of player investment after five months. Bizarre.

10:30 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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11) and finally, what's the point of appointing a technical director when he seemingly had no influence in appointment of new manager?

10:30 AM - 31 Mar 2014
Tor-Kristian Karlsen @karlsentk
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12) with all these factors in mind, there's no wonder why Spurs is having a disappointing season. Lack of coherent club strategy

10:31 AM - 31 Mar 2014

I can see very little here that I can disagree with, especially about the TS appointment.

Thoughts?

 

[WestBelfast Spurs]

cant argue with that

 

[Spurger King]

Wow. Some shockingly original observations there

 

[mpickard2087]

Replied to this earlier after it was posted in the Sherwood's a **** thread. I'll repost it here for further discussion...

Don't agree with some of that.

1) Partially agree, but there wasn't much clear structure under AVB either. And despite this, a quality player should still shine through at times... And there is no excuse for lack of effort, as in some cases.

2) Possibly but a lot of the same old faults happened last year. Vertonghen is the obvious with his demeanour but he had a bad winter last season too, Dembele is displaying the same faults he has shown throughout his time with us, they were just the golden boys last year. I don't think a huge amount has changed.

3) Agree, both Sherwood and AVB take the blame for this. From a tactical and coaching point of view we need better.

4) Possibly not but again some of them should be showing hints of quality and at least applying themselves properly and having some pride in their performance.

5) Yes but past form is just that, the past, and doesn't take into account whether they suit the league. Lamela has been injured since Xmas and it was AVB who didn't play him. Eriksen is a bit flimsy. Both need to adapt so its understandable they might be in and out of the team. As for Paulinho, he might have talent but its his effort that is letting him down.

6) Chiriches looked comfy when we just kept the ball. After AVB and called into doing some defending looked more ropey. Jury out on the other two I agree.

7) Possibly but sometimes it cant be handed to you on a plate. You have to go looking to create something yourself. And if it isn't going for you, run yourself into the ground for the team.

8) Yes, but see points 1 and 4.

9) Uhh because none of our preferred choices wanted to come mid-season? Sherwood is acting manager till the summer to tide us over.

10) No, not give up. See above point. Can easily turn that argument around and say taking our time and getting the right man in for the summer means we are trying our best to make sure we get best use of the£60-70m we brought in.

11) Because Sherwood is a temporary measure. Who is to say that Baldini hasn't had an impact on who is to come in during the summer?

An awful lot of trying to absolve the players of blame, disregarding that you expect minimum standards of things like effort and showing a bit of fight, and too often this season that has been lacking. Players and manager(s) both at fault.

 

[Gb160]

Wow. Some shockingly original observations there

Is this guy sponsored by hindsight, or does he just enjoy using their products?

 

[0-Tibsy-0]

Posted this in a couple of threads already.

Nothing mind boggling in his assessment particularly but hits the nail on the head with a few points.

 

[robin09]

People who think it's a new thing are wrong. We played as poorly at times last year. Struggled to win many of the games, performances papered over by results gained by Bale's last ditch efforts. Somehow we finished with record points, but I didn't feel we played a flowing, dominant 90 mins of football all season.

This year we've added hammerings to our repertoire.

 

[weststandvoice]

These "Twitter reaction to ..." things are a pile of old wank.

 

[weststandvoice]

https://vine.co/v/MeMjJhO2K0F

 

[faymantaray]

Jonny Wallace ‏@J_Wallace_84 Mar 31
Where Tim plans to watch how we play against Sunderland. #THFC #Sherwood pic.twitter.com/fAB69BiGpf





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[absolute bobbins]

These "Twitter reaction to ..." things are a pile of old wank.

This is a pragmatic view from a football administrator, hardly some post match meltdown

Jonny Wallace ‏@J_Wallace_84 Mar 31
Where Tim plans to watch how we play against Sunderland. #THFC #Sherwood pic.twitter.com/fAB69BiGpf





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Its a good vantage point but I'm furious that he has his back to the pitch

 

[Original # 10]

WALOB

 

[Misfit]

That's all fucking spot on. We are where we are essentially because of the high-ups. Yrs and yrs of incoherent, multiple voices bollocks has caught up with them and frankly, this isn't going to be as easy a fix as they think. They really need to hit it lucky this time, imo.

DL needs to either go with an old school manager and higher turnover of players or get a DoF he likes and fuck off and mind his business wrt the football operations. Stick to the money thing, it's his major strength after all.

But he won't. Same shit has happened for 13 yrs and it's got worse more recently if anything. So yeah. We're fuct.


















Fuck.