Posted January 2, 2012 IMO we need 1CB and 2FB (1 left foot, 1 right), 1CF to support van persie as he's not a classic CF (he's more of a SS) You reckon two full backs? So what do we do when Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs and Santos come back? We'll have 3 too many full backs. One on loan, imo should be enough. Sagna is reported to be back end of the month. Don't agree at all with centre back. Mertesacker and Koscielny have a good partnership. Vermaelen is our best defender and Djourou is sufficient 4th place cover. I agree we need another striker. However I think injuries have buggered us, if we had Diaby and Wilshere fit through the season we'd have seen more rotation and thus have fresher players. Injuries have buggered us again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) I know we've got a lot of full backs but we keep getting too many injuries, gibbs & diaby especially they come back, and get injured again. I guess I wasnt thinking properly enough after the defeat but I do think that 1 quality defender that could play in LB+CB would certainly help. but the problem is the prices will be higher as teams will not want to let go of their good defenders and other teams know that wenger wants a defender, prices will be artificially higher, but if we want to win something or even finish in the top 4 we need to spend! but that doesnt mean wastefully. I think koscielny & vermaelen is our best partnership, mertesacker is a good defender but I would match him against teams that play the direct game, with long balls, set pieces and 2 strikers upfront. djourou seems like he's got another injury, but i think its the same groin injury thats been niggling him for some time now. after re-thinking 1 DEF, 1 CF and in the summer perhaps another backup GK. as I dont believe that fabianski is good enough, almunia is hopeless and i've not seen much from vito. Edited January 2, 2012 by -Dem0- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 wenger: we have a lot of other problems. sky interviewer: what do you mean by that? wenger: nothing. sky interviewer: thanks, arsene. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 wenger: we have a lot of other problems.sky interviewer: what do you mean by that? wenger: nothing. sky interviewer: thanks, arsene. Did he not say "we have a lot of consistent problems", which I'm guessing is Wenger for "we've got a lot of inconsistent refs" and thus the "nothing" is him saying no more so he doesn't get in trouble. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 Did he not say "we have a lot of consistent problems", which I'm guessing is Wenger for "we've got a lot of inconsistent refs" and thus the "nothing" is him saying no more so he doesn't get in trouble. May have done; it was amusing nonetheless. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) well then looking forward to tomorrows games, this league is nothing short of amazing! in other news Georgie is leaving SSN only to move a few floors http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11979_7401201,00.html# also if anyones interested heres some nice stats from opta http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12028/2705370/Premier-League-stats Edited January 2, 2012 by -Dem0- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 Bloody hell I'm starting to think we can win the league... we have 3 home games coming up so surely 9 points there. We'll be streets clear of Chelsea Liverpool and Arsenal and AT THE MOST 3 points behind city and man u - if they drop any points then awesome. After that we have Man City away. A win could send us above them or at least level... MUST. STOP. DREAMING!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) as hard as it is to say I think Tottenham have a real shot at the league, they've had an absolutely fantastic season so far, this is probably the best squad they've had in the clubs history. but this is the BPL, and the 2nd half of the season has just kicked off, we'll find out soon enough. as Sir Alex say's; "Squeaky-Bum-Time!" but it's come a bit earlier this season. Edited January 2, 2012 by -Dem0- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 plus Harry's court case starts this month, so could be a distraction for the team but if they want to be classed as serious title contenders they have to win these 3 home games Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 2, 2012 Bloody hell I'm starting to think we can win the league... we have 3 home games coming up so surely 9 points there. We'll be streets clear of Chelsea Liverpool and Arsenal and AT THE MOST 3 points behind city and man u - if they drop any points then awesome. After that we have Man City away. A win could send us above them or at least level... MUST. STOP. DREAMING!!! I'm worried about the everton game tbh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 Spurs are never going to win the title this season. Their squad hasn't got enough depth, as much as 'arry says they do. This was their bench against Chelsea, who they would play their strongest side against. Gomes Kaboul Bassong Kranjcar Rose Livermore Pavlyuchenko Doesn't have much quality at all, and you need that to have a tiny chance of beating United and City in the long run. What happens if Bale and Modric get injured? Who's coming in to replace them? Whoever gets picked, Spurs are going to be miles worse, and that's with just 2 injuries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 Spurs are never going to win the title this season. Their squad hasn't got enough depth, as much as 'arry says they do. This was their bench against Chelsea, who they would play their strongest side against. Gomes Kaboul Bassong Kranjcar Rose Livermore Pavlyuchenko Doesn't have much quality at all, and you need that to have a tiny chance of beating United and City in the long run. What happens if Bale and Modric get injured? Who's coming in to replace them? Whoever gets picked, Spurs are going to be miles worse, and that's with just 2 injuries. That bench was AFTER injuries! Hence why there are 3 defenders on it! Also Modric, VDV, Bale, Lennon and all our defenders have been injured and we've replaced them and still won. Our first 11 is as good as any in the league Friedel, Walker, King, Kaboul, Ekotto, Lennon, Modric, Parker, Bale, VDV, Adebayor Our second 11 is Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Gallas, Rose, Pienaar, Huddlestone (injured all season), Sandro, Kranjcar, Defoe, Pavlyuchenko. If you thanks that's crap depth fair enough, but it isn't. I think Pavluchenko and Pienaar/Kranjcar need replacing (and over the summer Rose too) but that's still amazing depth! I'm worried about the everton game tbh. We have a habit of struggling against them, but they are AWFUL. And we are breaking all our bad habits this season. I think we'll do them with ease. Esepcially as our first team will have had 10 days rest (presuming harry plays our second string against Cheltenham - he better!) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 Our second 11 is Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Gallas, Rose, Pienaar, Huddlestone (injured all season), Sandro, Kranjcar, Defoe, Pavlyuchenko. If you thanks that's crap depth fair enough, but it isn't. I think Pavluchenko and Pienaar/Kranjcar need replacing (and over the summer Rose too) but that's still amazing depth! And yet couldn't get through the Europa League group stage with that squad pretty much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 Although Spurs have been doing really well, they haven't had any terrible injuries or squad dilemmas yet. Sure, some players have been injured for a short period of time, but they haven't had anything along the lines of a Wilshere/Vidic long layoff. That's the big test for them and that's only really when you can test the squad. Look at Newcastle, their defence was the best in the league for a long period of time. When they started to get some defensive injuries, it turned to shit. If somebody like Bale or Modric faced a 3 month layoff, I could easily see them sliding down the table. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 And yet couldn't get through the Europa League group stage with that squad pretty much. But we played our 3rd team with Cudinici, Falque, Carrol, Fredericks, Dos Santos, Kane etc etc. Although Spurs have been doing really well, they haven't had any terrible injuries or squad dilemmas yet. Sure, some players have been injured for a short period of time, but they haven't had anything along the lines of a Wilshere/Vidic long layoff. That's the big test for them and that's only really when you can test the squad. Look at Newcastle, their defence was the best in the league for a long period of time. When they started to get some defensive injuries, it turned to shit. If somebody like Bale or Modric faced a 3 month layoff, I could easily see them sliding down the table. So hasn't Huddlestone been out the whole of the season? Or Dawson the whole of the season who played pretty much every league game last year? That's a midfielder and a Defender (like Wilshiere and Vidic) who were starters last season and that's from one team. Oh and Gallas has only just come back from injury too the past few games (injured in preseason)... do these players not count? Also adding that King, although has played a lot this season (comparatively) has still missed a fair few games through his knee injury. I bet Spurs have had the most different centre back partnerships in the league!! Easily! Bassong, Kaboul, King, Dawson, Gallas and Livermore have all played. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 King is a perma-crock, I'm still surprised he hasn't retired. When he's 50 and can barely walk I wonder if he will regret it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 But we played our 3rd team with Cudinici, Falque, Carrol, Fredericks, Dos Santos, Kane etc etc. So hasn't Huddlestone been out the whole of the season? Or Dawson the whole of the season who played pretty much every league game last year? That's a midfielder and a Defender (like Wilshiere and Vidic) who were starters last season and that's from one team. Oh and Gallas has only just come back from injury too the past few games (injured in preseason)... do these players not count? Also adding that King, although has played a lot this season (comparatively) has still missed a fair few games through his knee injury. I bet Spurs have had the most different centre back partnerships in the league!! Easily! Bassong, Kaboul, King, Dawson, Gallas and Livermore have all played. Missing those players is big, but how would Spurs cope with a real injury crisis. Vidic is out for the season, Cleverley, Anderson and Fletcher have been out for long periods of time (Fletcher is most certainly out until the end of the season), Rio has only really just come back, Fabio and Rafael have been out, Owen has been out. That's a crisis, and I don't think Spurs are quite ready to cope with all of that plus compete for the league. It's almost an expected thing for United now to cope with this and still compete (we've had defensive problems like this at this point in the season for at least 2 years running, where even the fourth choices are out injured, hence why Carrick gets played at centre-back and Valencia at right back) They're doing well this season, Spurs. Realistically, they won't have the stamina to keep doing it until the end of the season, unless they get really, really lucky with injuries and scrape through without anything happening to one or two of Modric, Bale, Adebayor, VdV. Also, along the way, teams will understand how to defend against them and will try to frustrate them, the same way they do to United, City, Arsenal, so forth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 It showed last season. Spurs did really well in the UCL (by their standards) but couldn't maintain their league form. No matter what squad Spurs fielded in the Europa League, you should have still easily qualified. In my opinion it's pretty disrespectful to think you're way above that level of competition after one season in the top competition. A few years back, Spurs fans would have bit your hand off for any sort of European football. I can understand why Man Utd wouldn't care about it but I can't with Spurs, especially when you were in with a genuine chance of winning it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 I don't understand. Huddlestone IS out for the season NONE of the players you mention are. Dawson missed half a season, King will miss that, Gallas pretty much missed that. Sandro's been injured pretty much the whole season and has just go tinkered again which looks bad. How is this not a bad injury list? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 I don't understand. Huddlestone IS out for the season NONE of the players you mention are. Dawson missed half a season, King will miss that, Gallas pretty much missed that. Sandro's been injured pretty much the whole season and has just go tinkered again which looks bad. How is this not a bad injury list? What don't you understand about that? It's fairly simple...they're all much better players than Tom Huddlestone. Are we seriously debating that? (when you mentioned the players I mentioned, I take it you meant the Spurs players) It's not a very bad injury list anyway because Sandro wouldn't be counted as a first team player, in my opinion. Not first 11. Infact, those players you mentioned are all in that Spurs second 11 you posted earlier up the page. It's like me crying that Darron Gibson is out for the season. (slight exaggeration) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 It showed last season. Spurs did really well in the UCL (by their standards) but couldn't maintain their league form. No matter what squad Spurs fielded in the Europa League, you should have still easily qualified. In my opinion it's pretty disrespectful to think you're way above that level of competition after one season in the top competition. A few years back, Spurs fans would have bit your hand off for any sort of European football. I can understand why Man Utd wouldn't care about it but I can't with Spurs, especially when you were in with a genuine chance of winning it. I agree, I was disappointed with the teams we were putting out. But like you say, we should have gone through anyway. Thing is, would we be doing as well in the league if we put a strong team out. What don't you understand about that? It's fairly simple...they're all much better players than Tom Huddlestone. Are we seriously debating that? (when you mentioned the players I mentioned, I take it you meant the Spurs players) It's not a very bad injury list anyway because Sandro wouldn't be counted as a first team player, in my opinion. Not first 11. Infact, those players you mentioned are all in that Spurs second 11 you posted earlier up the page. It's like me crying that Darron Gibson is out for the season. (slight exaggeration) Huddlestone is better than Cleverley and Anderson and probably than Flecther (though very different). And Dawson I would put as a first choice CB, the reason i didn't is because he's been injured all season. You're putting qualifiers, one minute you're saying we don't have injuries then it's first teasers only (nowadays it's not about 11 players). We have still had the worst injuries to our defence than anyone in the league. Barring Kaboul (who has NEVER been a first choice and mainly played right back for us last season) is the only one who's been fit. Gallas and Dawson have missed most of the season so far and King half of it. Yet you seem to think this doesn't count. Oh look, Gallass gone off injured with what looks a bad injury. Good job we never get any injuries isn't it. We've been SO lucky this season! Livermore who came on for the injured Sandro has gone off injured. All 3 subs off through injury - you cursed us Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 We have still had the worst injuries to our defence than anyone in the league. Barring Kaboul (who has NEVER been a first choice and mainly played right back for us last season) is the only one who's been fit. Gallas and Dawson have missed most of the season so far and King half of it. Yet you seem to think this doesn't count. We currently have 4 full backs out injured. Vermaelen is injured at the minute, which is either his second or third injury this season. Djourou has had two small knocks. Squillaci was out for 3 months or so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 Huddlestone is better than Cleverley and Anderson and probably than Flecther (though very different). And Dawson I would put as a first choice CB, the reason i didn't is because he's been injured all season. You're putting qualifiers, one minute you're saying we don't have injuries then it's first teasers only (nowadays it's not about 11 players). Seriously? Fuck me, Spurs get into the Champions League one season, then they're suddenly full of Supermen. Let's put it into perspective, nobody has given a shit that Huddlestone hasn't been playing, yet there are dozens of Man Utd fans who are constantly depressed that Cleverley and Fletcher are not there. Huddlestone wouldn't even get into the team above Parker or Modric anyway. We have still had the worst injuries to our defence than anyone in the league. Barring Kaboul (who has NEVER been a first choice and mainly played right back for us last season) is the only one who's been fit. Gallas and Dawson have missed most of the season so far and King half of it. Yet you seem to think this doesn't count. Oh look, Gallass gone off injured with what looks a bad injury. Good job we never get any injuries isn't it. We've been SO lucky this season! Livermore who came on for the injured Sandro has gone off injured. All 3 subs off through injury - you cursed us Players get injured and take knocks in every game for every team. I'll be surprised if any of those face a long lay-off. Are you honestly comparing any of those injuries to what Vidic has, or what Fletcher has, etc? As for defensive injuries, we played Carrick at centre-back and Valencia at right back. Carrick and Jones. Jones, our supposedly fifth choice centre-back, after Vidic, Ferdinand, Evans and Smalling were unavailable. Even then, Jones has been playing most of the season in midfield and Smalling at right-back. And, even then, I wouldn't claim that this is the worst defensive crisis in the league. For a Spurs fan to claim that you have had a defensive problem is a bit of a joke, to be honest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 3, 2012 (edited) It showed last season. Spurs did really well in the UCL (by their standards) but couldn't maintain their league form. No matter what squad Spurs fielded in the Europa League, you should have still easily qualified. In my opinion it's pretty disrespectful to think you're way above that level of competition after one season in the top competition. A few years back, Spurs fans would have bit your hand off for any sort of European football. I can understand why Man Utd wouldn't care about it but I can't with Spurs, especially when you were in with a genuine chance of winning it. Europa League is a joke. We're supposed to send our players half way across the world midweek and sacrifice our chances of Champions League football - A knock-on effect that would certainly see us losing Modric and Bale - to win a trophy that requires a stupid number of games to win. Do me a favour chump. Also interested to hear MadDog's take on the Suarez ban now you've had a chance to read the report . First game back could be Man United away! Also, can I just reiterate the point that Spurs fans do not think we're going to win the league, just that we are title contenders at the moment (which is obvious). Some of you speak as if we think we're adamant going to top the table. Edited January 3, 2012 by spirited away Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
