Playing well are we?
Looking like coming close to winning the league?
How’s the cl going?
They say that a sign of a good team/squad is winning when you're not playing well...(it's open to debate - but how often have we seen big teams play like crap, get dominated and still win, then eventually play like they are champions as the league unfurls?)
We've been playing at 50-75% (arguably) of our ability since the season started.
There are unquestionably key critical reasons (not excuses) for that; when you analyse out the PS (across almost all metrics that are tracked) there are some obvious reasons staring us in the face that are driven by our shape, our differing tactics, forced line-up changes and player well being/availability, as well as the time to return to form for returnees.
Interestingly, what it suggests at the moment is that what has been observed many times over i.e. squad stability and low player addition/turnover and slow introductions of no more than 2 possibly 3 players a year, rings true. The squad dynamic and togetherness is now looking quite remarkable and an agent friend of mine who is a regular visitor to the training ground has been blown away by it in recent times as he says 'it's never been as good as it is now' - which from him is incredible praise.
As for winning the league - apart from a 1:100 year anomaly - it is controlled and won by those who can spend the most - like it or not, that is a truism indisputably driven by financial facts.
Chelseas squad this weekend is over twice the cost of ours and their wage roll reflects it versus us, it simply shows the chasm that we financially have to close before we can carrying that set of fine margins onto the pitch.
I'm optimistic that as we move forward, we will be closing that gap, but I am aware I've seen financial projections that perhaps not too many have. That said, who knows what might happen in the short immeadiate future that might change our financial dynamics far faster than anyone currently outside of a small number of people can envisage?
I predicted that we wouldn't achieve top 4 this year, but I'm beginning to think I'm wrong and that they will surprise me (and Poch too it seems for that matter!).
As for the CL - it's a great flag waver for attracting the right sort of players, but we have about as much hope of winning it as me running a record marathon. Our ambition should be to drop down and put a real effort into winning or at least getting to the closing stages of the Europa - we need the experience of doing it before we fantasize about the CL.
Realism is a bitch at times and us Spurs supporters don't often get accused of having it; but everything about us, our progress and the huge hurdles we still have to climb over should be discussed in context..imho !
We can beat the chav's, but the one area where I think we're just too weak is midfield whereas theirs is pretty incredible.
I'm hoping for a dirty win, expect a draw, but wouldn't be surprised to see them turn us over at 'home'....
