I think what today highlighted was that we just aren't very good. The personnel isn't great when everyone is fit, and today when i saw the line up i was pretty disappointed, looked at the bench and din't see much better.
I think that was the weakest Spurs side on paper since Jol's first season. Even then we had passers like Carrick in the team with other technically proficient players like Reto Ziegler and Pedro Mendes. If we field anything resembling that line up against Chelsea or Pool they will brush it aside like the mid-table dross it is.
Even more importantly than results at this stage is the lack of game plan, philosophy, tactics and general intelligence/movement. i was discussing this in the other thread - is Raheem Sterling a more intelligent footballer than Lennon, or is he just better coached? I find it hard to believe that our players just lack footballing instinct of other teams players, but maybe they do?! Have we spent 100's of millions on a team full of players with all the gear but no idea? Have we assembled the thickest dressing room in the premier league? I'm not expecting our players to have side jobs as museum curators, but I mean in terms of footballing intelligence. I hope not.
We struggled today against the worst side in the division; if they could have mustered a final pass we were well in the shiit on numerous occasions.
In the summer we need to think about what were doing with the likes of Naughton, Fryers, Rose, Dawson, Holtby, Townsend, Lennon (maybe), Siggy, Chadli etc. These players look very mid-table, a few could be important players for lower half prem teams, but they're not going to take us where we need to go. Granted, some are young but the majority don't look up to it.
We have an overloaded squad with players too similiar in style and quality to establish a proper pecking order. Today proved again that our good strength in depth is a myth: those waiting in the wings aren't good enough.
I liked the idea of an internal appointment when Tim came in but we look almost as bad as we did under AVB. He's had long enough now to mould them into something resembling a decent outfit with a structure and definable playing style. Or has he? Are our better players actually craap? Is Dembele good enough? Paulinho?
It all looks a bit of a mess to me. It makes me sad that we're in this state for the Benfica match. I'm sure they are going to be technically sound and have tactics, shape and philosophy. We're going to have to try and stumble past them like we almost did against Basle last year. And thats really, really disappointing.
One positive to come out of today is that we can all finally give walker credit. He is certainly one of our better players - and importantly one that i think is unlikely to agitate for a move (yet, at least). The Summer was a total disaster and after investing 100 million we've gone backwards. We could have just spent 10 million on Eriksen and come out equally as strong. Put Holtby in the squad in place of Paulinho and we wouldn't be any worse off. Not many teams spend 100 million in order to regress. Welcome to Tottenham Hotspur.
Whats they way forwards? I honestly don't know. We weren't that much better than Cardiff today, after losing to Norwich last time out. Whats most disappointing is when you look at the side we field and the tactics we employ, were actually not that much better than those sides, hence losing/dropping points. Anyone who thinks we're going to come out of march with anything other than a series of crushing defeats must be an eternal optimist. I fear the worst.
We're going to have to have a good summer for a change, or I can only see us slipping further behind. That transfer policy has been woeful. If we had just maintained our level of the past 3 seasons or so we'd be challeging for the league now. Liverpool have just improved their weakest areas, implemented tactics and a philosophy and they are up there. I find it mind boggling how little they have had to do to achieve this. Here we are, totally disfunctional with a caretaker manager going into the business end of the season. I don't think we've played well more than three times in the entire season.
Its going to get worse for us before the shoots of recovery can be seen I'm afraid. How we are currently 5th is a complete mystery to me. The premier league must be as weak as it has been in a long while...
