Spurs Banter Archive April 11 2015

11 Apr 2015 17:09:44
Like other supporters, I would like to see Erikson play the 10 role. We had too many schoolboy offsides by players who should know better. We have an in form striker who cannot get any service, so much so he has to come deep to get the ball. Villa also have a in form striker and know how to get the ball to him, and that was the difference.
Whilst we play so compact and central, it is very easy for defences to contain.
The observations about players looking tired or not interested could be a direct result of being played out of position. Almost as if we are cobbling a team together for each game. If we can see some of these basic issues, surely someone on the coaching staff can see it!

COYS.

11 Apr 2015 17:30:56
Hopefully we will not get into europa league and hopefully we can get rid of all the donkeys, imo chiriches, paulinho, davies, stambouli, soldado, lamela, adebayor, chadli, walker, fazio, kaboul and anyother mercenary I've forgotten.

11 Apr 2015 18:28:06
Dominator , your list is nearly as long as mine but you forgot Rose!!

11 Apr 2015 22:08:37
You could add Capoue to that list . and then just about everyone Baldini has signed since arriving would be on the list, pretty impressive performance by Baldini really to get that many wrong.

12 Apr 2015 05:33:24
I'm not even going to bother guys. You all got what you wanted, a reason to moan. So enjoy it. Schoolboy errors followed by schoolboy comments. Enjoy your misery people I know you crave it.

12 Apr 2015 13:11:41
oh dear, 85 has gone home in a sulk. oh well, early to bed tonight - schools are back tomorrow.

12 Apr 2015 15:56:00
1985 - 7th is about what I expected. A trip to Wembley was a bonus.

But blind faith is not something I posess.

The emergence of Kane a real revelation, that I did not see coming I admit.

But do you really believe that what you see happening on the pitch is progress this season?

Our defense is a shambles, the midfield devoid of creativity and any ability to break teams down.

And I am starting to question MoPo in my own mind . Tactics, motivation all seem to be going awry, pressing for which his teams are supposedly famed is almost non existent.

I agree too soon to fully judge MoPo, but he'd better start demonstrating an ability to get the players he has performing at the start of next season . another 8-10 games of turgid performances to start next season will really bring the pressure on him.

12 Apr 2015 22:12:27
Mason and Bentaleb are being foundout recently. Teams are doing what we are supposed to do to them (Pochettino's pressing ) and closing them down quickly and they just can't handle it.

I want to say Pochettino hasn't got his players yet but he keeps playing the same players and tactics and is being foundout.

Southampton fans said he didn'thave a 'plan b' and I would agree. We have to give him another season though otherwise its just the same old story with managers. It is worrying though with him being so rigid in his high pressing tactics and strange team selections.

I do have faith in our scouting now though and think we will buy some good players.

13 Apr 2015 00:41:26
I'll reply to you yellowcard as atleast the comments have come from an adult unlike kristeva, as he clearly stated he/she had school in the morning.
I don't expect blind faith, the difference with me to most on here is I SUPPORT THFC I don't believe they owe me anything like most do. I enjoy seeing the team play, I enjoy the excitement of match days but I I'm not as fickle as most on this site.

Go back and read from when Mopo was signed, everyone giving it large saying this season is a transition season and the only thing the fans wanted to see is for the manager to be given a chance. The general idea was that even if we were to get 10th that would suffice as long as we kept faith in the manager, with me still?

Ok, so after the window slams shut everyone excited for the season ahead we have a bit of a slump, where the players are adapting to a new manager (yet again) and after 11 games people on here have forgotten the original plan of giving the manager time. Mentions of getting rid of Mopo at this point were already being muted, pathetic especially when at this point we were only 4 points form 4th. I said at the time patient it's still early everyone gave me abuse.

From then we went on a huge run, guess what "we are amazing, brilliant, we don't give up the fight, amazing etc etc. We then go on to beat Chelsea and Arsenal. That's it, "now we can win the league, it's possible let's go for it". Btw that was the way fans think. Instead of staying level headed and expecting dips in forms here and there the fans blow thier tops because we didn't continue to win.I told myself I'd be happy with 10th and upwards this Year. The cup final is a bonus.So yeah my positivty may look misguided to you lot but just remember your expectations of our team looks misguided to everyone else.

Being fickle,unrealistic, thinking we are better than we are and so on is why we are among the worst group of supporters in the country. We are not good enough for top four and even if we did make it we are not ready for CL anyway. Plus since when did we become Arsenal and Base our success on coming fourth? Sorry to break it to you guys but fourth is still failure.

13 Apr 2015 20:14:51
1985 - don't think you and I disagree on most of that, except .

I do not believe we are progressing as a team on the field. The quality of play, bad, has been fairly constant this season. A few highlights Chelsea, Arsenal, QPR and Newcastle . but generally we have been poor, scraping wins against teams we should not have that much trouble against.

It's not the results it's the lack of improvement that concerns me, we are making the same mistakes now as we did 7 months ago. Again I restate our defense is a shambles and midfield failing to create opportunities or protect the back 4.

60% posession, 4 shots on target is a constant this season, what are we doing with all that posession - passing sideways and backwards? And where is the pressing that the team has presumably spent almost a full season being coached in?

I understand why fans get frustrated . how they choose to voice that frustration is an individual's right . doesn't make them any less a fan. For some they choose to spend every spare piece of money they have to follow the team, are they not entitled to see effort, better attitude and at least some commitment to winning games from the players?

14 Apr 2015 12:04:00
Yellowcard, I agree with you. Some aspects of our game have been below acceptable. But do you not think these fans who are so fickle are acting prematurely? Like my previous example? after 11 games I got the same battering from the same fans on here until the results started to go our way. We went on a phenomenonal run by our standards over the past few years.
Consistentcy from fans would be enough to show they have a opinion not just blind rage following a poor result.If they were to stick to their opinions regardless of how the team is performing it wouldn't make my blood boil so bad. As it is with these guys, when we doing well we are amazing when doing poorly we are a shambles.

If Mopo is giving the time and support by the board and fans alike and still cannot move us forward as a team after a couple years then of course the comments would be founded, can you agree with so little time in charge he's been given adequate time for a reasonable judgement, good or bad? I'm not offering nothing but blind faith like you suggest I'm just going to stay relaxed and not expect fireworks until a fair amount of time has been given to our manager.

Two questions, do you think up until recently Man United were playing good football? Do you think they were playing like a team capable of being successful in anyway shape or form this season? Imo no, they were for man United standards poor! But they did enough to be where they are and now it's starting to click and they look fantastic Imo. Many pundits claimed we won't see Van gaal's vision until next season. Same maybe can be said for our team, can it not?
Secondly, do you not believe this whole tactic that Mopo has become known for has only started to show signs of weakness based on the fact our players are tired, overworked and hitting a brick wall as regards to fatigue? We have after all played more games than any other team this year. Next I'll hear "he has a big squad, why not use the other players as these ones are tired" well when he does he gets criticism for his team selection.

Is it a coincidence that the team that loses the league cup goes on a terribe run till the end of the season, on average winning only 2 of their remaining games? What makes our fans believe it was going to be any different for us? Why it happens I cannot explain but it does!

In summary, it's not blind faith it's patience. I don't want another manager coming into our team in the next two years because we've tried that countless times and it hasn't worked. If in a couple of years we still haven't seen any sign of progress or atleast have a team that shows desire and the will to win then I will sit back and let people say what they like without putting across my opinion as there's basis to thier argument.But whilst people are attacking the club, manager and players because of blind rage I will point out to these people what fools they are in the hope I can get atleast one person to see sense. Unfortunately I doubt that'll happen.

One last thing, is it not a positive that our weaknesses are so blatantly obvious to everyone? We are still going to come top 7 with such evident weaknesses, which shows me with the right signings our future is very exciting.

14 Apr 2015 18:58:32
Many positives I agree.

I still think Man U back line looks suspect, but going forward - with Moyes signings (Mata and Fellani) - they are very potent.

Squad size or more importantly quality of squad is not something easily fixed for us. Wee have accumulated one way or another a fair number of players unable to perfom to their supposed ability for us. I think as a club we have to decide what we want to focus on . Europa is a drain if one enters it to win (Which I happen to believe is the only reason to be in any competition). Then again how do you prepare players for CL if they have no experience of playing European teams competitevly

I haven't seen games/minutes played numbers for our team vs L'Arse/Man U who both seem to be improving as the season reaches the critical stretch. Utd I would guess to be lower - no cup runs and no Europe. L'Arse I would guess to be similar to ours. So maybe physical fatigue is an issue, but we've only played 4 games of decent quality all season - I lost count of how many times LLoris was man of the match even when we win, damn even Danny Rose is MoM the last few games what does that say about the rest of them even if Rose has improved this season.

I'll give MoPo the first half of next season, if he can't figure out his players and get them motivated to compete and play as a team I suspect his time will be short. Not sure how long one is supposed to give someone in that position to demonstrate they can get highly paid professionals to perform but i'd guess 3 transfer windows and 18(ish) months is sufficient time for signs of progress.

Then agaim, maybe we will always be between 5th and 7th, with the odd appearance in the Top 4 on the back of a newly discovered talent that is sold to a more successful club.

15 Apr 2015 03:01:38
Alot you say I agree with and as always a very good discussion yellowcard with good reasoning behind your arguments, which I find hard to come across on here most of the time.

I believe united have found it easier because of lack of games and Arsenal just show the benefits of backing your manager even when things look bleak.

That said on a whole we do agree with certain aspects of what the other is saying so it's hard to continue this discussion without it being face to face which I feel is unfortunate as I think a beer and a chat about spurs would be very interesting with you.

One last question before we finish though. Do you think we are one of the four best teams in the league? Do we deserve top four on the basis we are good enough? (ignoring how good/poor each respective team is playing this year) If not will you accept us coming 6th each year Aslong as we are playing well? What is mean is, how long will you give Mopo if we don't overachieve one year and we continue to get for example 5th?

15 Apr 2015 12:08:54
Are we one of the 4 best teams in the league . the simple answer is no.

As I've stated several times 7th was around what I expected, based on the games I've seen 7th flatters our performances. But then maybe the PL isn't as strong as we'd like to believe either - performances in Europe would suggest the quality has slipped.

I am of the opinion for a while now the Top 3 has pretty much been cast in stone, Chelsea, L'Arse and Man Utd most seasons, just play for finishing order . City has issues with a major rebuild to come due to age of players. Liverpool currently look the most likely to replace them in the Top 4. so I don't really expect us to feature in the Top 4.

But I think where you and I differ is I want to see a team that plays competent football and shows a will to win games and with a new coach improves over the course of the season. I don't believe we have improved this season,Too many of our players show little to no desire, an attribute that can make up for shortage of skill.

Loots of young potential . but you don't win trophies with potential.

11 Apr 2015 15:57:55
Pathetic first half. as bad as we were against Burnley last week.

I know let's through our great number 10 out on the wing where he is ineffective and play chadli through the middle when he is better coming in from the left.

Players look tired and not interested

Dont understand why he keeps playing erikson on the right

Fazio is awful. the way he turned his back on benteke for the goal is unacceptable