fatpiranha
dismember
- Jun 9, 2003
- 8,337
- 21,678
Since the West Ham debacle positives on this forum seem to be about as welcome as they would be for a HIV test. Are things really that bad? Now normally i'm a bit of a glass half empty man myself but the general attitude here seems to be that not only is the glass half empty but it's got a nasty chip and the liquid it contains is lukewarm piss. I'm just not feeling it myself so in the words of the late, lamented Ian Dury here's "Reasons to be cheerful, 1, 2, 3 ..."
1/ We're 4th in the Premiership and only separated from 2nd by goal difference. We've averaged 2 points per game. Are there seriously any of us who would have been disappointed by this return from our first 10 matches before the season started?
2/ We're in the quarterfinals of the Capital One Cup with arguably the best draw of any of the remaining teams and an opportunity to gain revenge for our worst performance of the season.
3/ We have maximum points from our Europa League fixtures and can play reserves and give youngsters opportunities for the remainder of our group matches.
4/ Our defence - We have 7 clean sheets from 10 premiership games despite rarely being able to field our 1st choice defensive line-up. We have conceded 1 goal away from home all season.
5/ Team stats - We are 2nd in possession, 1st in most shots, 2nd in fewest shots conceded, 4th in fewest fouls conceded, 2nd in fewest goals conceded, 1st in most successful dribbles per game and 1st in fewest times caught offside per game in the premiership.
6/ Hugo Lloris - We have a goalkeeper who is not only one of the best in the premiership but perfectly suited to our style of play. He's also brave which considering we not too long ago relied on a GK who would declare himself unfit if he had a hangnail is a welcome change.
7/ Our youth system - After a decade of producing nothing but dross we have finally started bringing through players who are making their presence felt for the 1st team. Townsend, Rose, Kane, Caulker and Livermore is as good a crop of home grown talent as any premiership team has produced in the same period. This will continue to either save or earn us £millions in coming seasons.
8/ Our injury list - Kaboul and Sandro back to fitness is like finding £40M down the back of the couch. Rose and Capoue will soon rejoin the ranks.
9/ £100M worth of new players - It's fair to say that of our expensive new signings only Capoue (before his injury) and Chiriches have really hit the ground running. The likes of Soldado, Eriksen, Lamela, Chadli and Paulinho are yet to fulfill their potential. Here's the thing though, usually it takes a while for players to find their feet at a new club in a new league. Here's a few other players who were a bit shit to start with - Bale, Suarez, Van Persie, Ramsey, Lucas, De Gea, Lukaku, Kaboul, Giroud, David Luiz & Walcott. Now obviously not all of that £100M will turn out to be money well spent but they haven't all become bad players overnight.
10/ AVB, Levy & Baldini - AVB has shown that he is a smart manager who is capable of changing tack when things aren't working. He needs to be because Levy has shown that he will make the tough decisions ruthlessly when required. Levy now seems to have found a manager in whom he has enough confidence to open his chequebook and let the moths breathe. In Baldini we have a DoF who has the reputation and charisma necessary to land the top signings.
11/ Our performances - I'm serious
. While we are yet to play to our potential we've had some good performances. In particular against Norwich at the Lane and at Cardiff away we've played some lovely football and could have racked up a cricket score if it hadn't been for Ruddy & Marshall having a worldy between the sticks against us. Cardiff fans described us as the best team ever to play against them. 'Ever' is a long time.
12/ Swindon - Some of you may not have noticed but Spurs B are doing better than expected in League 1. There's definitely something to be gained from having a pet club in the lower leagues. We have 3 players there on loan - Pritchard, Mason & Hall as well as a bunch of ex-Spurs academy graduates in Bartram, Byrne and Luongo who they paid us £400k for (which will keep Adebayor supplied with cushions for a full month). The main advantage is that the Spurs lads play every game unless injured so at least we won't have the situation where we send young players on loan to sit on somebody else's bench for 6 months. Swindon are brassic so we get to call the shots and that can only benefit our youngsters.
So there you are, a dirty dozen reasons to be cheerful and if that's not enough then this might help.
1/ We're 4th in the Premiership and only separated from 2nd by goal difference. We've averaged 2 points per game. Are there seriously any of us who would have been disappointed by this return from our first 10 matches before the season started?
2/ We're in the quarterfinals of the Capital One Cup with arguably the best draw of any of the remaining teams and an opportunity to gain revenge for our worst performance of the season.
3/ We have maximum points from our Europa League fixtures and can play reserves and give youngsters opportunities for the remainder of our group matches.
4/ Our defence - We have 7 clean sheets from 10 premiership games despite rarely being able to field our 1st choice defensive line-up. We have conceded 1 goal away from home all season.
5/ Team stats - We are 2nd in possession, 1st in most shots, 2nd in fewest shots conceded, 4th in fewest fouls conceded, 2nd in fewest goals conceded, 1st in most successful dribbles per game and 1st in fewest times caught offside per game in the premiership.
6/ Hugo Lloris - We have a goalkeeper who is not only one of the best in the premiership but perfectly suited to our style of play. He's also brave which considering we not too long ago relied on a GK who would declare himself unfit if he had a hangnail is a welcome change.
7/ Our youth system - After a decade of producing nothing but dross we have finally started bringing through players who are making their presence felt for the 1st team. Townsend, Rose, Kane, Caulker and Livermore is as good a crop of home grown talent as any premiership team has produced in the same period. This will continue to either save or earn us £millions in coming seasons.
8/ Our injury list - Kaboul and Sandro back to fitness is like finding £40M down the back of the couch. Rose and Capoue will soon rejoin the ranks.
9/ £100M worth of new players - It's fair to say that of our expensive new signings only Capoue (before his injury) and Chiriches have really hit the ground running. The likes of Soldado, Eriksen, Lamela, Chadli and Paulinho are yet to fulfill their potential. Here's the thing though, usually it takes a while for players to find their feet at a new club in a new league. Here's a few other players who were a bit shit to start with - Bale, Suarez, Van Persie, Ramsey, Lucas, De Gea, Lukaku, Kaboul, Giroud, David Luiz & Walcott. Now obviously not all of that £100M will turn out to be money well spent but they haven't all become bad players overnight.
10/ AVB, Levy & Baldini - AVB has shown that he is a smart manager who is capable of changing tack when things aren't working. He needs to be because Levy has shown that he will make the tough decisions ruthlessly when required. Levy now seems to have found a manager in whom he has enough confidence to open his chequebook and let the moths breathe. In Baldini we have a DoF who has the reputation and charisma necessary to land the top signings.
11/ Our performances - I'm serious
. While we are yet to play to our potential we've had some good performances. In particular against Norwich at the Lane and at Cardiff away we've played some lovely football and could have racked up a cricket score if it hadn't been for Ruddy & Marshall having a worldy between the sticks against us. Cardiff fans described us as the best team ever to play against them. 'Ever' is a long time.12/ Swindon - Some of you may not have noticed but Spurs B are doing better than expected in League 1. There's definitely something to be gained from having a pet club in the lower leagues. We have 3 players there on loan - Pritchard, Mason & Hall as well as a bunch of ex-Spurs academy graduates in Bartram, Byrne and Luongo who they paid us £400k for (which will keep Adebayor supplied with cushions for a full month
). The main advantage is that the Spurs lads play every game unless injured so at least we won't have the situation where we send young players on loan to sit on somebody else's bench for 6 months. Swindon are brassic so we get to call the shots and that can only benefit our youngsters.So there you are, a dirty dozen reasons to be cheerful and if that's not enough then this might help.
