Did yesterday's win.....

[buttons]

Make a very average start an acceptable start? All things considered, new manager, new players, new system.....just wondered what people's thoughts are?

When I saw the fixtures, I thought we should be looking at 12 points from our first five but weighing everything up, we aren't that badly off.....

 

[teok]

We are doing ok. Next up in the league is man utd so it was crucial we got the 3 points yesterday.

 

[sweyid]

8 points from 5 isn't ideal, but it isn't shitty either. We should have beat Norwich and WBA imo and the game against Newcastle should have been a draw. In an ideal world we would have picked up 4 wins and a draw, but this is football and not a game of wishing.

We were lucky to get a win yesterday and unlucky/sloppy to let in goals against Norwich and WBA, but all things considered 8 points isn't that bad. New system, new players, new everything. We'll gel soon enough and I have faith in AVB and the qualities of our team.

 

[buttons]

We are doing ok. Next up in the league is man utd so it was crucial we got the 3 points yesterday.

Sorry didn't mean to dislike! Agree entirely!

Reckon we'll get something next week

 

[dontcallme]

It's been about what I expected so far. A mixed bag of good and bad performances and a couple of games where we should have won but didn't.

Personally I believe in this project and think it was necessary to build something new than go down the Redknapp route. I accept there will be ups and downs along the way.

But there was a level of apprehension as well. AVB is not popular in the press and some Spurs' fans were bewildered as to why Redknapp was sacked. This didn't make for an easy start for the new manager so I'm glad we've put some points on the board at the same time as showing glimpses of the quality of football we are looking to play.

 

[Francis Gibbs]

I think the bigger question is did yesterdays win hide a multitude of sins ..........

Our points total is ok although we all appreciate we haven't had the most difficult of starts so should be at least 4 points higher but tbh our first half performance yesterday was woeful and the second half wasnt much better until the game started to get stretched. It was only our desire and determination that got us over the line.
We still have real issues to address....... Sigs form is woeful at present at yesterday was like playing with 10 men, we struggle to get the ball to him and he struggles when he has it. We have to address this role as it pivotal in how AVB wants to play.
Defoe is a dilemma/problem, whilst in some respects this is good as he is scoring in other respects its bad as he really cant play the lone striker role well in terms of holding the ball up playing to a pattern and bring others into the game.
Overall AVB got things wrong yesterday in terms of the starting shape but was quick to recognise it and change things at half time but we really do need to start playing with some fluidity in this new shape and at the moment its just not happening.

 

[holmesy]

my 2 cents... first half i was crying, I have not seen us play so bad in a long time...
2nd half we went 442 and played a lot better....the reason.....full backs and wingers are playing closer to each other and actualy pass to each other.... I know 442 has its critics and a lot of people say its outdated, but it done us OK last year... We have the problem that whenever our full back gets the ball the wingers are 50 yards ahead of them and we need the midfield player to act as the middle man to get the rball upto them. I think this is the main reason why our fullbacks have been dissapointing thus far this season... Last year walker was one of our best players cos he was linking up really well with lennon.

 

[stevespurs]

I think the bigger question is did yesterdays win hide a multitude of sins ..........

Our points total is ok although we all appreciate we haven't had the most difficult of starts so should be at least 4 points higher but tbh our first half performance yesterday was woeful and the second half wasnt much better until the game started to get stretched. It was only our desire and determination that got us over the line.
We still have real issues to address....... Sigs form is woeful at present at yesterday was like playing with 10 men, we struggle to get the ball to him and he struggles when he has it. We have to address this role as it pivotal in how AVB wants to play.
Defoe is a dilemma/problem, whilst in some respects this is good as he is scoring in other respects its bad as he really cant play the lone striker role well in terms of holding the ball up playing to a pattern and bring others into the game.
Overall AVB got things wrong yesterday in terms of the starting shape but was quick to recognise it and change things at half time but we really do need to start playing with some fluidity in this new shape and at the moment its just not happening.

I'm hearing you. I think Walker, Sandro, Dempsey, Bale are all in 'Sig form' too though.

The shape of the defence on both sides, looks to me as though the full backs are unsure whats going on. Early season form and "weaker" teams has meant we have got away with it so far, but it may come back to haunt us at the end of the season.

Freidel kept us in the game in the first half.

 

[jonnyp]

Make a very average start an acceptable start? All things considered, new manager, new players, new system.....just wondered what people's thoughts are?

When I saw the fixtures, I thought we should be looking at 12 points from our first five but weighing everything up, we aren't that badly off.....

The number of points is not good enough considering the opposition we've met so far - drawn two home games against poor teams.

But the thing that is worrying is our lack of and generally poor passing in midfield and lack of creativity in the final third against defensive-minded teams . This has been quite evident in our home games so far, while we've looked a bit better in the away games because we get a little more space because the other team is more attack-minded.

But that's what you get when you sell Modric and VdV and not adequately replace them. We'll get better I'm sure, but we'll still struggle until we can get at least one more skillful and creative player with good passing range in midfield. Sigurdsson and Dempsey are not good enough to be starters IMHO if we are to challenge for top 4.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

I'm more concerned with how we're playing than how many points we have on the board.
QPR havent won an away match since the Pyramids were built yet they made us look like lower league opposition in the first half.
I was also hugely concerned that at around 80 minutes we gave up hope of a third and were running the ball in to the corners most of the time. This may be acceptable if it wasnt for the fact we gave the ball away far too often all through the match and were literally trying to commit suicide.

I'm not writing AVB off at all but I think he needs to figure out some important things like our best form of defence is and always has been attack and that Gareth Bale is a poor left back and nulified as an attacking threat from that position.

 

[brasil_spur]

Overall AVB got things wrong yesterday in terms of the starting shape but was quick to recognise it and change things at half time but we really do need to start playing with some fluidity in this new shape and at the moment its just not happening.

I'm not sure he got it that wrong.

He had little options available to him at LB, with Vertonghen playing so well at CB you can see his hesitation to play him at LB. It would have also meant giving Caulker his first league start with us. Both those decisions can't be taken lightly.

So for me it was a toss up between starting with the line-up we did and the one we changed to. I don't think AVB made a wrong decision, he made a decision which turned out to be wrong - there's a difference.

Like you said he then went on to correct that decision, which ultimately won the game for us.

I was actually more impressed with AVB's management yesterday than i have been so far this season, i really didn't think he would be that flexible and that quick to react, he clearly has learned a lot from his time at Chelsea.

 

[joelstinton14]

You can't win every game comprehensively with style. The players eagerness to win drove us over that line - thats a good sign, its a start. To be honest the win yesterday was vital. If we had lost, with UTD next week we would have been in serious trouble. But now we are just behind a point behind City and Arsenal. I like to think a layer of pressure has been lifted and the anxiety of having to perform especially at home may have been lifted. I seen enough in a frustrating start to think we will be ok. It may not be top 4 this season, but i think we will compete for it.

We have shown glimpses of what we can do - the 4-2-3-1 seems to work really well away from home - and AVB showed yesterday he can be flexible to make changes early (not wait to the 60th minute) if things are not working out.

 

[Wirral Spurs]

We are playing like what we are, an average mid table team.

We have replaced our world class players with very good players but the net effect is mediocrity.

 

[gregga]

Selling VDV was quite simply a disastrous decision in my opinion. Sig is nowhere near his level and shows that mobility/stamina isn't the be all and all.

VDV often saw the ball more than any of our other players - can't see Sig doing the same at present.

I'm not worred though as when Ade comes in I think our play will improve greatly, and I think Dempsey will look good behind him and get a lot of goals. Sig can be his understudy for now.

Should either Lennon or Bale get injured we can put Dembele on the wing and have Hudd or Parker come into the middle.

 

[lillywhites61]

For me AVB is learning about his new players and they are learning about him and his ideas. I think we have bought players who have started well and others less so, but that doesn't mean they are any less capable and with the right coaching and as they learn and their confidence builds they will be a success.

To be honest we would all have expected better as a points total. However I am trying to be realistic and I think if we got top four this season it will be a bonus. I am more bothered about how the team starts to mould together. If he can get this team too click I can see it being very successful, although it does look like it needs more creativity, so I can see us needing to go for another player in January.

Th only silver lining is that teams will look at us as a scalp right now leaving them more open, we need to use our strengths and finish teams off, qpr showed this and we hit them on the break a few times but didn't make it pay. We must be more clinical

 

[lillywhites61]

We are playing like what we are, an average mid table team.

We have replaced our world class players with very good players but the net effect is mediocrity.

We do however have potential world class players as well. I think it is easy to put everything down to us selling two players. Although they made a big difference to our play they were not the only thing that made our side tick. The were a part if a team that had played together for some time. I think this is as big an issue. The team are gelling together slowly, as it does the wry good players confidence builds and we hopefully nurture them as we did with Modric into a world class one.

 

[neptunes]

We still are in need of 3 world class players to compete for top 4. A Centre half, given the injury prone WG and not playing Daws - a mid field maestro..you choose... and a top top centre forward.

 

[hellava_tough]

We still are in need of 3 world class players to compete for top 4. A Centre half, given the injury prone WG and not playing Daws - a mid field maestro..you choose... and a top top centre forward.

I agree with a midfielder and a striker, but I'd add to that a wide player that can play on both sides


Anyway, I think it would be interesting if we dropped Sig for a couple of matches and put Dembele in his place, with Huddlestone playing in midfield with Sandro

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

Did no one else think Siggurdsson played well against Reading in by far and away our best performance of the season?

Give the kid a chance. He's only 20 and only played in 5 games. You've had donkies years to figure out some other players in our squad are average yet call for their inclusion regularly.

 

[Riandor]

Ah hello all.. welcome to the Premier league, the league where all teams can pull off some truly remarkable results, the league that isn't won by the same two teams every year for infinity...

Let's examine the evidence...

QPR havent won an away match since the Pyramids were built yet they made us look like lower league opposition in the first half.

Hmm, the same QPR that almost denied Man City the league title at the Etihad.
The same QPR who lost 0-5 at home to Swansea
The same QPR that also held Chelsea t home to a 0-0 draw.

Some more...

The number of points is not good enough considering the opposition we've met so far - drawn two home games against poor teams.

WBA maybe? Hmm, how have they been doing?
3-0 vs Liverpool, ok...
2-0 vs Everton... oh the Same Everton that beat man Utd? Oh yes...
ah but lost to Fulham, ho hum..

Oh i could go on but i don't have the energy quite frankly... this is ludicrous. We overhauled the squad, brought in a new manager under a lot of intense pressure and this is the crap we get?!

Oh don't get me wrong, the performance yesterday wasn't good enough, but other times we have played some good stuff against teams that on their day can beat anyone. We got QPR on a good day and pulled through.

We are 2pts off third... quite frankly I could live with that stat most of if not all of the season.

Oh early days you say?! Well, then live by the sword, die by the sword, it's 5 games in. We have players to come back, others to make full debuts in the League. We are settling down and we are staying in the hunt in the mean time.

FFS if we get a draw or god forbid a win against United then everyone on here will say we are going to win the fecking league.

Man Utd were awful against Liverpool and still won, that's all that matters to them, the points.

That is all that should matter to us. Form will come.

R.