Are we having our bad spell or are we running out of steam?

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

We've lost TWO games out of the last FIFTEEN. That's not a bad spell. That's called losing TWO games!

 

[Bus-Conductor]

We sorely missed Lennon. It's funny that whenever he's playing we win a lot of games but people still say "we need an upgrade on Lennon", and soon as he's not playing they say "omg we miss the pace of Lennon". It's not just Spurs fans, it's the media as well. I remember him being derided in the Guardian one week, and then when we played without him the Guardian ran an article on how we were a shadow of the team without, and without the width he provided we struggle.

Not quite a water tight theory. First two games (against ManU and Manc) Lennon plays, we get stuffed both games. Next five he doesn't and we go on a great run including getting results against Liverpool and Arsenal.

 

[Mr Pink]

]Not quite a water tight theory[/B]. First two games (against ManU and Manc) Lennon plays, we get stuffed both games. Next five he doesn't and we go on a great run including getting results against Liverpool and Arsenal.

Neither is your's though BC...Lennon played in those first two games yes, but as we all know circumstances, selection etc wern't the norm; the Modric situation, playing Kranjcar in central midfield, Parker and Adebayor not involved etc etc etc
(understand your point but there were multiple variables in play at that time, tricky to draw conclusions on that basis)

 

[JimmyG2]

The manner of our defeat against Arsenal is more worrying than just the three points in the context of this thread.
We can't even relax as Spurs fans when we go 2-0 up after half an hour; early goal, King and Kaboul in defence in front of the experienced Brad and with iron man Parker, England fans favourite in midfield, backed up by Sandro.
What could possibly go wrong?
I am very worried that our heads have dropped and with Harry leaving will anyone be listening? Or will Modric and Bale be thinking about their career paths?

I like to get my panic in early as a longstanding Spurs supporter.

 

[VincenzoCoccotti]

Way too much worrying here.

We caught maybe the best striker in the world on a day he was at his best, it is annoying but it happens, it is only a short time ago we put 5 past newcastle

 

[Stavrogin]

Neither is your's though BC...Lennon played in those first two games yes, but as we all know circumstances, selection etc wern't the norm; the Modric situation, playing Kranjcar in central midfield, Parker and Adebayor not involved etc etc etc
(understand your point but there were multiple variables in play at that time, tricky to draw conclusions on that basis)

And here's an interesting/tangential thing to consider, can you (sometimes) be misled by watching the match? What I mean is, I actually stopped watching the Arsenal match after they scored their first goal because it was obvious what was happening (I kept an eye on the score, hoping, but I knew there was none to be had)

Watching a man's body be hacked to pieces doesn't necessarily tell you a lot about how he was killed but it can probably cloud your perception.

For example, we have a systemic physical and mental deficiency compared to most teams - it's a plain fact - but at the same time this season has shown that it's not a catastrophic problem - yet the collapses against city, Utd and Arsenal have garnered a great deal of attention despite being outliers.

 

[vegassd]

And here's an interesting/tangential thing to consider, can you (sometimes) be misled by watching the match? What I mean is, I actually stopped watching the Arsenal match after they scored their first goal because it was obvious what was happening (I kept an eye on the score, hoping, but I knew there was none to be had)

That's a bit lame imo. I force myself to watch even when we're playing crap or it all seems a bit too much like glory hunting. No offence.

The more I think about our recent little spell I wonder if our lack of immediacy has come from a bit of caution over injuries & fatigue considering our squad was being stretched.

With Lennon, Sandro, Defoe and VdV all lacking fitness and with no great cover at either full back, maybe the first players were subconsciously playing under 100% in terms of defensive pressing because they knew that they would all probably be playing 90 minutes every week.

I know they shouldn't really be doing that as players but it's just a theory. :shrug:

 

[Mr Pink]

That's a bit lame imo. I force myself to watch even when we're playing crap or it all seems a bit too much like glory hunting. No offence.

The more I think about our recent little spell I wonder if our lack of immediacy has come from a bit of caution over injuries & fatigue considering our squad was being stretched.

With Lennon, Sandro, Defoe and VdV all lacking fitness and with no great cover at either full back, maybe the first players were subconsciously playing under 100% in terms of defensive pressing because they knew that they would all probably be playing 90 minutes every week.

I know they shouldn't really be doing that as players but it's just a theory. :shrug:

My take is that we could do with freshening it up a little. I know Saha has done that to a degree but it was exactly this time last season when the wheels firmly fell off for us. I know we havn't had a long run in Europe this time around but I was reading what Fergie has been saying today, and he emphasises the importance of being able to inject some freshness into his side at this stage of the season, he even held back the return of Jones and Smalling recently to give them a little break and now they're ready to be thrown back in with big parts to play.

I actually think Parker being suspended for this weekend isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's been huge for us this season but he's looked a little jaded recently and we could do with using Sandro more now I feel, he could have a big part to play in the last dozen or so games if his fitness issues are resolved.

Need to get Lennon back and flying, another important player we could do with being injury free and finding some good form.

Gallas has fantastic experience as well in these sort of situations, that could be very useful as well if we do find the pressure tricky to deal with.

It conceivable that Chelsea could be a point behind us by the time we play them, I don't think they will be but its possible. If that happens the pressure will be firmly on, lets hope we can pick up a few points before we play them so we can keep a little cushion at the very least.

 

[Stavrogin]

That's a bit lame imo. I force myself to watch even when we're playing crap or it all seems a bit too much like glory hunting. No offence.

The more I think about our recent little spell I wonder if our lack of immediacy has come from a bit of caution over injuries & fatigue considering our squad was being stretched.

With Lennon, Sandro, Defoe and VdV all lacking fitness and with no great cover at either full back, maybe the first players were subconsciously playing under 100% in terms of defensive pressing because they knew that they would all probably be playing 90 minutes every week.

I know they shouldn't really be doing that as players but it's just a theory. :shrug:

I know it's a bit lame but I knew what was going to happen and knew i'd get depressed (which was not expeditious at that moment) - you don't really want to watch us get thumped on MotD do you?

Anyhow, would the players have the strategic forethought to sit back because they'd believe they'd play a match a week? I think it's more to do with that we're easily cowed.

The stoke match should have been a landmark game - there's so much talk about players harassing referees and so on, but what about those that don't? That image of Adebayor sitting on the ground in utter despair after a blatent corner wasn't given said it all. The dog that doesn't bark is surely the most interesting?

 

[Mr Pink]

I know it's a bit lame but I knew what was going to happen and knew i'd get depressed (which was not expeditious at that moment) - you don't really want to watch us get thumped on MotD do you?

Anyhow, would the players have the strategic forethought to sit back because they'd believe they'd play a match a week? I think it's more to do with that we're easily cowed.

The stoke match should have been a landmark game - there's so much talk about players harassing referees and so on, but what about those that don't? That image of Adebayor sitting on the ground in utter despair after a blatent corner wasn't given said it all. The dog that doesn't bark is surely the most interesting?

It is an interesting point...

 

[hybridsoldier]

we have lost 1 game in the last 15, perspective needed

This can't be right? I'm not Mr Stats but I could swear we have lost 3 in the last 15 (Stoke, Man City, Arsenal)

More importantly in our last 6 games we have dropped 10 points. Admittedly its a tough run, but I think key points dropped were 2 vs Wolves at home and 2 away at Swansea (v tough game, take a draw most days but 1-0 up with 5 mins to go...points dropped)

Unfortunately the fixtures don't get easier, Man U (H), Everton (A), Stoke (H), Chelsea (A) is a really tough run and you can easily end up with just 3 points to show from a possibly 12. April is not much kinder, 3 away games.

It's a tough run in, the team is good enough its about fitness and mental strength.

 

[TheGreenLily]

I personally feel it is a same old problem. If we want to win anything, we have to treat every game like a cup final and give everything.

The other thing is that as soon as we start winning we get over confident and forget the reasons why we are winning. I.e. two wingers doing what wingers are supposed to do, DM's doing what defensive midfielders are supposed to do etc etc

Recently we have completely been losing our shape, the effort is not there, two many injuries to key and certain players. We have a great first team, but I don't think we have the proper natural cover for many players within our squad.... Lennon's cover/replacement to force Lennon to fight for his place as well as providing suitable cover in his absence.

The thing is, there is not any really big issues as such, just more like lots of little issues that combine together that end up causing us major issues. And these little issues really need to be resolved and in all honesty can be done fairly easily.

Every top team has a bad day at the office like ManU being beaten by Southampton 6-1 if I remember rightly. The problem is we seem to have far too many bad days at the office and far to many wins this season have not really be convincing.

 

[Spurger King]

I think Sandro getting back to full fitness and playing regularly could make a huge difference to how we end this season. VDV as well.

 

[Jay The Yid]

What pisses me off is that if we do miss out on CL because god forbid we go on a real bad run it will be the players fault. we have the talent but sometimes we don't look like we have the bollocks for it. Yet it will be these players who have let us fans down who will all want to jump ship and go to a CL club ( Bale, VDV, MOdric, Adebayor) it's what's wrong with football these days IMO

 

[Armstrong_11]

hopefully the team will rebound in our next match... realistically, we have 2 big obstacles, man utd this weekend and Chelsea at the end of the month.

frankly, the champions league spot is for us to lose.

fingers crossed for this weekend...

COYS!

 

[ajspurs]

I personally feel it is a same old problem. If we want to win anything, we have to treat every game like a cup final and give everything.

The other thing is that as soon as we start winning we get over confident and forget the reasons why we are winning. I.e. two wingers doing what wingers are supposed to do, DM's doing what defensive midfielders are supposed to do etc etc

Recently we have completely been losing our shape, the effort is not there, two many injuries to key and certain players. We have a great first team, but I don't think we have the proper natural cover for many players within our squad.... Lennon's cover/replacement to force Lennon to fight for his place as well as providing suitable cover in his absence.

The thing is, there is not any really big issues as such, just more like lots of little issues that combine together that end up causing us major issues. And these little issues really need to be resolved and in all honesty can be done fairly easily.

Every top team has a bad day at the office like ManU being beaten by Southampton 6-1 if I remember rightly. The problem is we seem to have far too many bad days at the office and far to many wins this season have not really be convincing.

Completely agree, especially with the Cup Final attitude, which we don't apply to every game. There is such an annoying naivety about us sometimes, we just have so much talent in the squad that we just get away with it from time to time. It's why United are where they are now, their attitude.

If I didn't know how either team performed as a group of players throughout a season and someone put out a sheet with our players on it and United's and asked me which I would prefer I'd choose ours, every time but we just don't have the mentality at the moment in my opinion.

I don't think we're running out of steam or having a bad spell, to be honest. If Bale and Defoe were on point at the end of the City game we would have won 3-2, if Bale converted his late chance against Liverpool that would have been 3 points at Anfield and after going 2-0 up at The Emirates we should have at least been leaving with a point but we collapsed. My main point though is that they've been tough games that we've had recently. Yes a few of them have been bad performances and we would have loved to have gotten more points from them but if someone told me at the start of the season that we were gonna lost away to Man City, draw at Liverpool and lose at Arsenal I wouldn't be surprised one bit and I'd just hope that we'd be getting points off of them at home and winning against the smaller teams, which we've been doing but we just have to make sure it continues. To beat the likes of Everton, QPR and Bolton away.

Like most people have said it's all about how we recover. I'm not bothered by this period at all in all honesty.

 

[BrenGun]

Playing Man U may just be what we need. Beat them on Sunday and it will again be all positive.

 

[Hitch]

That's the thing, he can't cross. But he passes it along the deck in the 18 yard box instead to negate his lack of crossing ability. His pace and control make him absolutely lethal on the break and creates a lot of space. I think he is highly underrated by many personally.

Probably one of the most underrated players in the league right now imo. Most non-Spurs completely underestimate what he brings.

 

[EastLondonYid]

Playing Man U may just be what we need. Beat them on Sunday and it will again be all positive.

I would sooner we were playing Blackburn with Hoilett, Yakubu,Dunn and Petersen all suspended but with Robbo fit and available.

 

[Mr Gamgee]

I don't think we are running out of steam or having a bad spell (in spurs terms) surely the results we've have we're expected to a certain degree

Everyone needs to bear in mind what a tough run of fixtures we have had.

Man city away - 100% home record, we weren't expected to win this game.
Liverpool away - yes we played poorly but got a point at anfield
Newcastle - smashed them 5-1
Stevenage away - match played out as expected, could have been a banana skin but got a home reply.
Arsenal away - form goes out the window for this. Wrong tactics IMO