Class of 2010-12

[sunnydelight786]

In recent weeks/months I have seen a growing number of people going on about our team from 2010-12. I'm sure we have all seen that screen shot pic of our midfield from then via twitter or on here., then go and hear fellow fans reminisce about the good old days. I'm sorry but I just don't buy it.

Our team of 2010-12 did indeed at times play some very easy on the eye football and pull off a few big wins, but for me I see that team/era as one of massive underachievement. That team should have secured CL football in each of the 2 seasons they were together, yet on both occasions a spectacular end of season collapse saw us miss out both times.

A weeks after beating Milan away we faced a Blackpool side who were in a shocking run of form in late Feb, yet we somehow managed to lose that game. I can remember being at that game and fuming at our failure to win it on my long journey home. Because of our euphoria of the away win against Milan the result was excused by most and with that we went on to win only 1 of our next 10 PL games. In other words we threw away a CL spot when it was there for the taking.

The following season after beating Newcastle 4-0 at home we faced Arsenal next in late Feb, we took a early 2-0 lead yet managed to get hammered 5-2. We were 10 points clear of AFC going into that game. we went on to win only 1 of our next 9 PL games after Newcastle, yet again throwing away a CL spot. It wasn't because Fulop threw 3 into his net or our failure to beat Villa when we was given a unexpected second bite of the cherry, but because of our collapse preceding that.

Back then a few of us, BC/Sloth/Arnoldlayne/etc, could clearly see the team we had should be doing so much better but our arguments were falling on deaf ears. Make no mistake about it that team underachieved in both League and domestic cups, it could/should have done so much better. Unlike others I look back at that period with regret knowing we really should have cemented our CL status and maybe reached a cup final between 2010-12....

 

[DaSpurs]

Gotta agree with you here. I see the reminiscing of that period and can't help but wonder how much of it has to do with recent struggles and the "Midnight in Paris nostalgia phenomenon." I think if Koscielny hadn't put that header in at Newcastle on the final day in 2013 or Bale had buried that last minute cross from Dempsey at Wigan, then those single events, those mere differences of physical inches, would have been the differences between the course of history and undoubtedly the way we view this time period. I say without doubt that it'd be viewed as a failure had we managed to secure CL the 2012-13 season.

Instead, that season seems to be viewed as more of the failure because of the subsequent Bale departure, and people view the more cataclysmic falls from high positions in previous years with rose-tinted glasses while overseeing the fact Woolwich somehow managed to go on title-winning form after we beat them at the Lane in 2013. That year wasn't just our faults for once, but it's the failure and other years are the "near successes." Just baffling IMO.

 

[Gbspurs]

In recent weeks/months I have seen a growing number of people going on about our team from 2010-12. I'm sure we have all seen that screen shot pic of our midfield from then via twitter or on here., then go and hear fellow fans reminisce about the good old days. I'm sorry but I just don't buy it.

Our team of 2010-12 did indeed at times play some very easy on the eye football and pull off a few big wins, but for me I see that team/era as one of massive underachievement. That team should have secured CL football in each of the 2 seasons they were together, yet on both occasions a spectacular end of season collapse saw us miss out both times.

A weeks after beating Milan away we faced a Blackpool side who were in a shocking run of form in late Feb, yet we somehow managed to lose that game. I can remember being at that game and fuming at our failure to win it on my long journey home. Because of our euphoria of the away win against Milan the result was excused by most and with that we went on to win only 1 of our next 10 PL games. In other words we threw away a CL spot when it was there for the taking.

The following season after beating Newcastle 4-0 at home we faced Arsenal next in late Feb, we took a early 2-0 lead yet managed to get hammered 5-2. We were 10 points clear of AFC going into that game. we went on to win only 1 of our next 9 PL games after Newcastle, yet again throwing away a CL spot. It wasn't because Cerny threw 3 into his net or our failure to beat Villa when we was given a unexpected second bite of the cherry, but because of our collapse preceding that.

Back then a few of us, BC/Sloth/Arnoldlayne/etc, could clearly see the team we had should be doing so much better but our arguments were falling on deaf ears. Make no mistake about it that team underachieved in both League and domestic cups, it could/should have done so much better. Unlike others I look back at that period with regret knowing we really should have cemented our CL status and maybe reached a cup final between 2010-12....

Let's not re-write history here, we were always a few players short (to ape Harry). That team played good football, but the squad wasn't the strongest and we desperately needed a proper forward to lead the line (what's new eh!).

No doubt that team had some of the best players in our recent history but I don't think we had a team good enough to "cement" our CL status, although we were unlucky not to qualify obviously.

Had we signed Suarez, kept all our players and still signed Eriksen, Lloris and Vertonghen however I suspect we could have won the league

 

[Blake Griffin]

don't think it's very fair to blame cerny for fulop being useless ...

as for the main point, yes they might have underachieved but it's still the best group of players we'd had in decades, we got to a champions league quarter final and played against real madrid for god's sake! i doubt we'll see us competing at that level again for a long time.

 

[sunnydelight786]

Let's not re-write history here, we were always a few players short (to ape Harry). That team played good football, but the squad wasn't the strongest and we desperately needed a proper forward to lead the line (what's new eh!).

No doubt that team had some of the best players in our recent history but I don't think we had a team good enough to "cement" our CL status, although we were unlucky not to qualify obviously.

Had we signed Suarez, kept all our players and still signed Eriksen, Lloris and Vertonghen however I suspect we could have won the league

Take a moment and have a look at our results/fixtures from late Feb onwards in the League for 2010-11 & 2011-12 and then try tell me we never threw away a CL spot......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010–11_Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C._season

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011–12_Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C._season

 

[sunnydelight786]

don't think it's very fair to blame cerny for fulop being useless ...

as for the main point, yes they might have underachieved but it's still the best group of players we'd had in decades, we got to a champions league quarter final and played against real madriid for god's sake! i doubt we'll see us competing at that level again for a long time.

My bad, you know what I meant.....

so you're happy that that team only got to play 1 season of CL footy together when in fact it should have been at least 2 if not 3...?

That team threw the spot away twice from near on exactly the same point in time onwards, Feb 22 2011 & Feb 25 2012, 2 years in a row....

 

[Gbspurs]

Take a moment and have a look at our results/fixtures from late Feb onwards in the League for 2010-11 & 2011-12 and then try tell me we never threw away a CL spot......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010–11_Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C._season

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011–12_Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C._season

I do agree we did throw it away but I think the biggest failing is not strengthening. Players got tired and the squad wasn't strong enough to cope.

 

[Blake Griffin]

My bad, you know what I meant.....

so you're happy that that team only got to play 1 season of CL footy together when in fact it should have been at least 2 if not 3...?

That team threw the spot away twice from near on exactly the same point in time onwards, Feb 22 2011 & Feb 25 2012, 2 years in a row....

there's always going to be a case of "what could have been" but what they didn't do isn't really all that relevant to me, all i know is it's the best spurs team i've seen and the current collection of players are a mile off. i don't see the point in looking at the low points from that era to make us feel better about what we have now.

 

[sunnydelight786]

I do agree we did throw it away but I think the biggest failing is not strengthening. Players got tired and the squad wasn't strong enough to cope.

Agree with that, our failure to sign a top striker cost as big time. Whoever made the decision not to sign Suarez needs to be banished from football forever!!!

 

[Spurs_Bear]

there's always going to be a case of "what could have been" but what they didn't do isn't really all that relevant to me, all i know is it's the best spurs team i've seen and the current collection of players are a mile off. i don't see the point in looking at the low points from that era to make us feel better about what we have now.

This is it for me too, could say we should have done better in the domestic cups, but overall the era is not one of underachieving.

 

[Sevens]

This is it for me too, could say we should have done better in the domestic cups, but overall the era is not one of underachieving.

Totally agree with this. Our team wasn't as good as Man Utd's, Man City's, Arsenal's or Chelsea's. If all teams played to their full potential then we were 5th or 6th. The fact we got top four twice was down to us playing so well and the fact that City and then Chelsea (especially Chelsea) underperformed.

 

[Sevens]

Agree with that, our failure to sign a top striker cost as big time. Whoever made the decision not to sign Suarez needs to be banished from football forever!!!

Personally I don't care how good Suarez is as a player. I am glad he never wore the Spurs shirt. He is easily in the top five most disgusting footballers I have seen in the last 30 years. An absolute horrid piece of ****.

 

[Vulcan10]

Part of the critism harry gets. With the side we had back then we should have won something for sure. He goes on about getting us CL etc but the year we blew that lead when he was flirting with england was shocking.
For me any nostalgia felt about that period was the thrill of watching a big match player like VDV more than what we actually achieved. Players we could associate with, which we havn't had since bale left (maybe hugo aside).
There were spells during that time that were fantastic, I remember being at the lane when walker scored the winner in a 2-1 win against arsenal & being a little disappointed as we were playing so well at the time and we were so much better than them I thought we could really batter them. There were spells of greatness but all in all we should have had at least 1 cup to show for it.

 

[Sevens]

I do agree we did throw it away but I think the biggest failing is not strengthening. Players got tired and the squad wasn't strong enough to cope.

Especially in the January windows. Considering how close we missed third place combined with that midfield we played against City I have often tortured myself wondering if we'd got Parker sooner would we have lost to City that day, let alone get thrashed. Delaying on that transfer may well have cost us the solitary point we required.

But the biggest mistake Redknapp made was not having natural cover for Lennon. It all fell to pieces whenever Lennon got injured because we had to start playing players out of position to accommodate.

 

[Sevens]

Part of the critism harry gets. With the side we had back then we should have won something for sure. He goes on about getting us CL etc but the year we blew that lead when he was flirting with england was shocking.
For me any nostalgia felt about that period was the thrill of watching a big match player like VDV more than what we actually achieved. Players we could associate with which we havn't had since bale left (maybe hugo aside).
There were spells during that time that were fantastic, I remember being at the lane when walker scored the winner in a 2-1 win against arsenal & being a little disappointed as we were playing so well at the time and were so much better than them I thought we could really batter them. There were spells of greatness but all in all we should have had at least 1 cup to show for it.

Unfortunately it's a sorry state of modern football but qualifying for the Champion's League is a bigger achievement than winning a domestic cup (or the Europa League back then). People often also forget that he was a penalty shootout away from winning the league cup.

 

[sunnydelight786]

Especially in the January windows. Considering how close we missed third place combined with that midfield we played against City I have often tortured myself wondering if we'd got Parker sooner would we have lost to City that day, let alone get thrashed. Delaying on that transfer may well have cost us the solitary point we required.

But the biggest mistake Redknapp made was not having natural cover for Lennon. It all fell to pieces whenever Lennon got injured because we had to start playing players out of position to accommodate.

The CL spot was lost because of our huge collapse from the Newcastle game onwards, not because Parker was missing from that City game. We won 1 of our next 9 PL games after thrashing Newcastle 4-0.

 

[Sevens]

The CL spot was lost because of our huge collapse from the Newcastle game onwards, not because Parker was missing from that City game. We won 1 of our next 9 PL games after thrashing Newcastle 4-0.

And that was when Lennon got injured and we switched to a 4-2-3-1. But the season is played over 38 games and results from any of those games will positively or negatively affect the final standings. The fact is we missed out by the narrowest of margins and a massive dose of ill luck. As a result of this it's quite easy to pick out the odd game here and there to justify where we failed (one game I remember was against Norwich when we played Livermore in the middle instead of Sandro). But the bottom line is had we signed Parker before the City game we'd have competed better and possibly got the point.

But for me it was the formation change and not being able to replace Lennon effectively (not that I am saying Lennon was the reason for our great season, and overall it was a great season in hindsight with great attractive football and actually being competitive in the league) and switch to 4-2-3-1 as a result. When Lennon returned and we switched back to a 4-4-2? We won 3 out of the last 4 matches. Too little too late unfortunately.

 

[mpickard2087]

09-10 was the best team. It achieved more than the sum of its parts. It was well balanced and made up for some (on paper, compared to the players of the next couple of years) less than stellar individuals.

The teams in the next two seasons definitely had more ability, but didn't seem to be able to grind it out when it mattered. I also think Redknapp didn't learn from 09-10... That year we were helped by players being fresh and coming into the team and having impact in the second half of the season when called upon (Modric back from injury, Bale, Pav(!), even Bentley you can make a case for). What happened after that was little rotation, mainly the same players (remember the likes of Kranjcar never being seen) and that group running out of steam. For it to happen two years in a row as well doesn't reflect well on the manager.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

I think people miss the players in the team more than the result of the season....if that makes sense

 

[Vulcan10]

Unfortunately it's a sorry state of modern football but qualifying for the Champion's League is a bigger achievement than winning a domestic cup (or the Europa League back then). People often also forget that he was a penalty shootout away from winning the league cup.

The fa cup semi against Portsmouth was the big chance, I remember the pitch/conditions being atrocious and it just not being our day. We bounced back well in the league but I would have loved to have seen us make that final, bałe was on fire & I'd have fancied us to beat chelsea.