I guess if we'd seen more of them, I'd agree. Not sure how many times they actually played together but it didn't seem like many.
That was our best in the top flight. Best in the Premiership was 2006/6 with 38 in 38 games.
Sorry to be a pedant, but we conceeded 33 that season, in 42 games.
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/TottenhamHotspurLeagueRecords1908-09to2008-09.html
I doubt very much Toby would still be hitting the long diagonals if he were aiming for Defoe, Lennon, Ade etc. When you are hitting a long ball to players that have either little hope or in Ade's case little inclination to win them they are pointless hit and hopes, that usually end up with us being under pressure again. It was always about him making the wrong choice when he did it imo. Toby looking for Kane, Alli, Dembele, Chadli(players that will out fight a full back) or our over lapping full backs is a completely different as we are seeing now.a bit harsh, imvho. even Dawson's most dedicated advocates will concede that he's not a fit for this system, but to suggest that his positional sense and reading of the game were 'glaring flaws' is a bit much. he was too slow for it, simple as.
it also strikes me as slightly odd - and this is not a complaint; these are good times and I'll never encourage bitching - that Toby knocks long diagonals left and right, and gets no flack for it, whatsoever. They are, admittedly, a bit better than Daws' were, but at least when Dawson did it, there was usually no one showing for the ball, whereas we currently have far greater ability to build from the back and less need for it when put under a bit of pressure. And while it's true that he wasn't as good on the ball as our current centerhalfs, Vertonghen was/is brilliant with it at his feet, yet he still made as many goal-costing errors under AVB/Tim as Dawson did.
Again, i'm not suggesting that either Toby or Verts now need criticism for such things, but it seemed to me that folks always felt (and apparently still do feel) oddly compelled to have a go at Michael Dawson.* I never quite got that.
*and, obviously, some still feel oddly compelled to defend him.
Agree with this, although sometimes I think one of the CB's or Lloris will hit it long regardless of who is there so that the ball is in the opposition half and we can start our press. I feel like we do this quite often in the early parts of games so that if the opposition aren't immediately on their game we can nick the ball high up the pitch.
You're getting your seasons mixed up. The incredible home defence was actually the year before we finished 4th - we were 8th and the defence was usually Woodgate and King. The following year our defence was great in general, and centre backs were Dawson with either King or Bassong depending on the obvious.
