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Cann we make the top 4 or 5?

SpurMeUp said:
For me, the main concern is our forward play. Kane and Son were such clinical finishers. Atm we have several players who show nerves and inexperience in attack. We need to get into coldly slotting the ball into the corner of the net. Losing a goal against Palace is not an issue, failing to score 2-3 is.
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Transitioning from 2 strikers that regularly outperformed their expected goals xg was always going to be telling.

They were around for a long time (Sonny still is:)), so long we just got used to expert finishing being the norm.

What we don't know is the impact that two generational forwards (and not many clubs can claim they've had 1, let alone 2) had on our performance and league finishes. For all we know they might have gained us 2,3,4 places in the table every year? Alternatively, we may have wasted them, wasted the luck of having two at the same time?
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
Transitioning from 2 strikers that regularly outperformed their expected goals xg was always going to be telling.

They were around for a long time (Sonny still is:)), so long we just got used to expert finishing being the norm.

What we don't know is the impact that two generational forwards (and not many clubs can claim they've had 1, let alone 2) had on our performance and league finishes. For all we know they might have gained us 2,3,4 places in the table every year? Alternatively, we may have wasted them, wasted the luck of having two at the same time?
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But to get to where we want to be, we have to develop in the last third. It isn't just the XG of how clinical we are with shots. Its the build up too. Richi didn't even swing his leg to a cross where he should have been ready and primed against Palace. Then some of the hesitation, where forwards like Kane just pile through because they have focus, conviction and physical power.

We'll always concede goals, but we have to ensure we score. Against Palace that was the greatest issue. To state the obvious having assuredness in front of goal chances a game. Shuts up the crowd, takes away momentum from the opposition. The greatest issue for us is making more of promising attacks. Yes teams like to sit back against us, but we need to make more of our final third possession too, and take more from promising openings. Maybe we need a couple more attacking players as well. Werner is a stop gap. Players like Moore, Kulu, Johnson, Oderbert all pretty young with hopefully high celings.

The most frustrating thing to watch though is a lack of confidence. Werner's movement, approach play tends to be on point. But to give up those prime openings becuase he head isn't right...that is frustrating. If there is a criticism of Ange it is maybe that he isn't pychologist enough to prep our forward effectively. Idk if anyone can... But you get the impression the likes of Wenger would a. practice finishing into the corners and b. get players to park the emotion and the pressure, and just focus on passing the ball into the net. With Werner he can rifle a perfect accurate cross, but put him 1-1 with a keeper with X thousand watching and the cameras rolling, and he wilts. There should be low hanging fruit if Ange can get Werner set properly. The other thing he probably needs to do is play him. Johnson showed that with games players will often come good.
 
I still have faith în Ange, mostly because he changed the way we play and it is more enjoyable. I think Antonio Conte was not a bad coach for us, got us into the top 4 în the first year and left us around 6th, but we where not very spectacular. Ange has kept us în contention while playing spectacular football, he did well. So building on that 5th place with some great transfers and a year experience with the new tactics was what some fans expected. Unfortunately I think we made mistakes with our transfers this summer, mostly because Paratici is gone. He was the one that got us most of these great players for good prices these last few years. That being said, I am still hopeful we can turn this around. Apart from that last game at Palace, we have showed real glimpses even in defeat and have been spectacular in some wins.
Negatives: Corners haven't been really addressed, both in attack and in defence. Udogie has been lazy coming back, as he was at the end of last season. I think it is at a point that he should be benched for PL games. Maddison is not really în form atm. Werner is not at a level we want.
Positives: Johnson of course. He has found his feet and has been decisive for us. Bringing Kulusevski în the central midfield area, brought our game to life and if Maddison comes back to form, we will look good.
 
My thoughts
Strengths: Better squad depth than last season. Certain players are international class and play for their countries.

Weaknesses: Young squad thus expect inconsistency, Not enough high level goal threats. Very few players can do something out of nothing offensively. Not sure where overall squad ranks against top 6. Overall mentality when faced with adversity on the pitch.

Can we finish top 6? Perhaps. Depends on if the squad achieves their potential. I think we still overrate our squad capability in certain positions. I don't see a forward line of Richarlison, Johnson, and Werner scoring enough goals.
 
afsoc4life said:
My thoughts
Strengths: Better squad depth than last season. Certain players are international class and play for their countries.

Weaknesses: Young squad thus expect inconsistency, Not enough high level goal threats. Very few players can do something out of nothing offensively. Not sure where overall squad ranks against top 6. Overall mentality when faced with adversity on the pitch.

Can we finish top 6? Perhaps. Depends on if the squad achieves their potential. I think we still overrate our squad capability in certain positions. I don't see a forward line of Richarlison, Johnson, and Werner scoring enough goals.
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Agreed here. Johnson has nicely displayed his capability to score and assist on an adequate number of goals from his position. When fit, Richarlison can also be a strong contributor. But that's a big if because fitness runs to both physical and mental aspects and at the moment we can't be sure he's fully capable on both counts.

They say GHod loves a trier so Werner has his place in heaven well secured. Love all the work he does to advance the ball, hold up play, make good crosses and harass productively on the press. When he eventually does score - and he will - it'll either be a fluke off his ass or an absolute worldie.

Spurs need Son to get sorted and Solanke to start clicking regularly. No reason to doubt either can't.

Postecoglou says he wins trophies in his second season with a club. He might not with Spurs though there's three Cup competitions that offer a decent chance. But he has shown that he can build and develop the squad and the talent within and provide the level of entertaining football Spurs fans appreciate. Very much like Pochettino did.

Big question is; Can he develop himself to incorporate different tactics when necessary. And in the Premier League, tactical adaptability is absolutely essential to achieve greater success.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Who is stronger than us in that comp?
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At the end of the day anyone can beat anyone, and there are a handful of teams you could say are on our sort of level - Lazio, Bilbao, Man U etc but noone who you would look at and say if we are on it we can't beat. As said previously, being a Spurs fan I'm not expecting us to win it but if we take the tournament seriously for once we have the potential to go far. We are the bookies favourites for a reason.....
 
No we cant. both from a squad and management perspective.

Squad:
Not the best Summer window, rarely improved the Starting XI. We're dependent on our bench on choosing either Timo Werner or 2 teenagers. I wont go on much regarding the squad, i've mentioned it many a time the fact he keeps flip flopping midfielders because they are all so interchangeable, whether it's Bissouma, or Madders, or Sarr, or Bentancur. No stand out. Didn't improve it.

Manager:
I like Ange but his stubborn refusal to adapt is costing us. 3 wins away from home this year and it's nearly November. he "doesn't want to win if we dont deserve it". Yeh i'm sure Chelsea rue the fact they won the Champions League despite Munich deserving it.

Poor subs/in game management. He's a good guy and plays attacking football but he's not the messiah.

Doesn't adapt. Arsenal and City have shown more willingness to adapt in-game and go long if they need to (Arsenal especially). We don't change our principles. Admirable. Stupid though. Sometimes you do need to adjust, it was clear all game Palace had our number and we should have adapted (and we had Solanke and Richy on to do it), and we still didn't.
 
harr1984 said:
At the end of the day anyone can beat anyone, and there are a handful of teams you could say are on our sort of level - Lazio, Bilbao, Man U etc but noone who you would look at and say if we are on it we can't beat. As said previously, being a Spurs fan I'm not expecting us to win it but if we take the tournament seriously for once we have the potential to go far. We are the bookies favourites for a reason.....
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We have no excuses in that comp imo
We’re a CL level side (more so with the way the CL has been diminished with the new set up)
Your right it’s spurs
It’s cup football
It will come down to how seriously we take it mentality wise
 
I still think we can, but certainly not going to be easy.

Would have to find more consistency to go on a really strong run or two which probably would have to include some development in how the players respond to various difficult periods of games.

Perhaps also would need one or two of the younger players to make the next step at some point this season to make a regular positive impact in the PL as our squad still has shortcomings and imbalances.

I remain confident in the potential of this team under Ange. If we can see real results of that potential being realised and how long that will take are open questions. My feeling is that there's not a lot missing for us to click into the next gear and really get going, but that's more a feeling than anything rational.
 
afsoc4life said:
One cant definitely put hands on chest and say we are stronger than all the clubs. The like of Porto, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bilbao, the Roman clubs, Manchester United will want something to say about that.
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Really … I can
They are not strong sides
I mean we beat United and apparently it’s because they are crap
But now they are good??
Odd
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Really … I can
They are not strong sides
I mean we beat United and apparently it’s because they are crap
But now they are good??
Odd
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We are no stronger than the teams listed. We are all there or thereabouts. United are brick but I guess he's giving the new manager the benefit of the doubt.
 
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Bedfordspurs said:
Really … I can
They are not strong sides
I mean we beat United and apparently it’s because they are crap
But now they are good??
Odd
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Erm kindly point out where I have ever said the above this season. The City game is showing me why I dont think Spurs has the strongest team in the Europa League. Remove a few players from our first 11 and we drop a level.
 
afsoc4life said:
Erm kindly point out where I have ever said the above this season. The City game is showing me why I dont think Spurs has the strongest team in the Europa League. Remove a few players from our first 11 and we drop a level.
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But you don’t remove them for the big games
You said Man Utd will want something to say about that . That infers you think there is something there.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
But you don’t remove them for the big games
You said Man Utd will want something to say about that . That infers you think there is something there.
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Yes. I believe United were underperforming under Ten Hag. If we compare our squads, I believe they have more depth than ours. Also they have won trophies within the last few seasons.
 
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