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Alert Team
How much trouble are we really in?
Am I being too pessimistic, if I am, why?
If I'm not, the our season could be a slip into a pre-Poch era of average Spursiness...
When Victor and Dembele were in their prime just a couple of seasons ago, for much of that season we looked invulnerable in midfield.
Dier too played his part, even if his slow monotonous sideways – backwards passing when a chance for letting the ball run across his body to having face the opposition, which could have resulted in a telling forward pass - was missed by him. Eric had a presence, he covered ground, he stood strong at set-pieces.
Alas since then, all three have deteriorated; Victors injury issues still appear to on-going, Dembo is no better than a 1:5 player maybe even a 1:10 player now, he can’t seemingly last two games in a row or even 90 mins – he seems to know it too as he runs down his contract and looks to the Chinese league for one last big not too taxing payday.
Of course, many welcomed the acquisition of Sissoko – I wasn’t one of them – some thought he was the super box to box storming strong midfielder ‘a la Pogba’ we’d been missing, sadly ever criticism I had of him before he joined he seems to have fulfilled; touch can be poor, control poor, decision making poor – unable to jump – basically a large lump with little finesse or creative skills, at times accurate passing seems something he’s never apparently learned.
Why he is still with us, I will never know – except of course, someone you know might well be better than nothing….how much longer can we wait for some sort of major improvement in his performances?
Dier in my mind should and could have been the best English CB in the league, but he thinks he’s ‘better’ than that and it seems Poch reluctantly agrees. The disappointment I feel in his performances now, is match only by my despair at Dembele’s much prophesised decline.
Dier has at times looked dire, slow, ponderous, negative and even disinterested ever since his failed move to Manure – Poch has to somehow get him reanimated and brought back from the dead, he has to be shown how to make forward quick passes and how to run past an opposition and stretch their defence, in short, he has to take gambles and use his footballing intelligence which he showed when he first joined, or he too will risk becoming just another lumbering waste of space.
The one really bright spot for me was Winks, so much so I thought he was the best box to box midfielder we’d produced in living memory – or was going to be, then saldy for us after making a huge impact where it was clear he was on the upwards improve trajectory, he gota bad ankle injury, had it eventually operated on, but came back with still a big problem, no.2 has come and gone and now I along with every sensible Spurs fan I know are crossing their fingers that he can start getting back to somewhere near his best; we are desperate for his abilities, his deft touch, his forward passing range, his ability to run beyond a defence and make it tell..
All of the above, taken in the round convinced me our previous no.1 target for midfield would still be the one we’d look to for this summer to fill our painful Centre Midfield gaps – but alas he too suffered another injury and we apparently switched off, he’s now at Everton in some seemingly make-weight deal. If he plays as he can, Everton may have hit the jackpot.
In any event we’re left with a mess, and now have two kids Skippy and Amos who might be the ones who’ll have to fulfil the gaps we didn’t address.
We’ve got to see out half the season with a couple of crocks, a returnee and two of the most negatively minded Centre Midfielders we’ve had in the last couple of seasons.
I can only hope the kids seize their chance to impress and that even if they do come January we have at least one genuine top class CM’er addition – if we don’t, then I think even my highly negative forecast of a 6th place finish might be a stretch.
Am I being too pessimistic, if I am, why?
If I'm not, the our season could be a slip into a pre-Poch era of average Spursiness...
When Victor and Dembele were in their prime just a couple of seasons ago, for much of that season we looked invulnerable in midfield.
Dier too played his part, even if his slow monotonous sideways – backwards passing when a chance for letting the ball run across his body to having face the opposition, which could have resulted in a telling forward pass - was missed by him. Eric had a presence, he covered ground, he stood strong at set-pieces.
Alas since then, all three have deteriorated; Victors injury issues still appear to on-going, Dembo is no better than a 1:5 player maybe even a 1:10 player now, he can’t seemingly last two games in a row or even 90 mins – he seems to know it too as he runs down his contract and looks to the Chinese league for one last big not too taxing payday.
Of course, many welcomed the acquisition of Sissoko – I wasn’t one of them – some thought he was the super box to box storming strong midfielder ‘a la Pogba’ we’d been missing, sadly ever criticism I had of him before he joined he seems to have fulfilled; touch can be poor, control poor, decision making poor – unable to jump – basically a large lump with little finesse or creative skills, at times accurate passing seems something he’s never apparently learned.
Why he is still with us, I will never know – except of course, someone you know might well be better than nothing….how much longer can we wait for some sort of major improvement in his performances?
Dier in my mind should and could have been the best English CB in the league, but he thinks he’s ‘better’ than that and it seems Poch reluctantly agrees. The disappointment I feel in his performances now, is match only by my despair at Dembele’s much prophesised decline.
Dier has at times looked dire, slow, ponderous, negative and even disinterested ever since his failed move to Manure – Poch has to somehow get him reanimated and brought back from the dead, he has to be shown how to make forward quick passes and how to run past an opposition and stretch their defence, in short, he has to take gambles and use his footballing intelligence which he showed when he first joined, or he too will risk becoming just another lumbering waste of space.
The one really bright spot for me was Winks, so much so I thought he was the best box to box midfielder we’d produced in living memory – or was going to be, then saldy for us after making a huge impact where it was clear he was on the upwards improve trajectory, he gota bad ankle injury, had it eventually operated on, but came back with still a big problem, no.2 has come and gone and now I along with every sensible Spurs fan I know are crossing their fingers that he can start getting back to somewhere near his best; we are desperate for his abilities, his deft touch, his forward passing range, his ability to run beyond a defence and make it tell..
All of the above, taken in the round convinced me our previous no.1 target for midfield would still be the one we’d look to for this summer to fill our painful Centre Midfield gaps – but alas he too suffered another injury and we apparently switched off, he’s now at Everton in some seemingly make-weight deal. If he plays as he can, Everton may have hit the jackpot.
In any event we’re left with a mess, and now have two kids Skippy and Amos who might be the ones who’ll have to fulfil the gaps we didn’t address.
We’ve got to see out half the season with a couple of crocks, a returnee and two of the most negatively minded Centre Midfielders we’ve had in the last couple of seasons.
I can only hope the kids seize their chance to impress and that even if they do come January we have at least one genuine top class CM’er addition – if we don’t, then I think even my highly negative forecast of a 6th place finish might be a stretch.
