A change in attitude needed at Tottenham
Forget about the biggest games of the year, those against the likes of the Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. If Tottenham Hotspur are serious about mounting a challenge for a top four finish this season, they must focus on getting wins against teams people expect them to sail past.
The greatest hindrance in Spurs’ action-packed 2010/11 season was their repeated failure to kill off the games in which they were heavy favourites. Against the bottom five teams last season – West Ham, Birmingham, Blackpool, Wigan and Wolves – Spurs took a miserable 11 points from 30. Contrast this against their form in matches with the other five highest finishers, from which Harry Redknapp’s men secured 13 points, and you’ll begin to see the problem.
Part of the issue can only be down to the playing personnel Spurs had to call on last season. Many fans would argue that the 2010/11 squad lacked the requisite mental strength to compete in games against more physical teams scrapping and fighting to retain Premier League status. We could try to delve deeper into this argument, but there is little point – the signing of Scott Parker in the summer can essentially be read as an admission by Redknapp that he needed more grit in the spine of his team. The veteran manager’s persistence in trying to restore Ledley King to full fitness is another indicator.
If they wish to succeed in their aim to return to the Champions’ League this term, Spurs must fashion a more robust attitude for matches against the trickier small teams this season. The three promoted teams bear certain similarities with those they replaced – Swansea share Blackpool’s unreservedly attacking approach, and QPR have fashioned an experienced squad with several similarities to the 2010/11 version of West Ham.
Without the distraction of the Champions’ League group stage clogging up their fixture list this season, Redknapp has trimmed some of the fat from his squad, and brought in quality players in Parker, Brad Friedel and Emmanuel Adebayor to strengthen some of its weaknesses. The most important change Redknapp has made, though, has been to change his formation.
Last season, Spurs operated an unpopular 4-5-1; the formation allowed Rafael van der Vaart to shine (which he did, with a team-high 15 goals) but limited the productiveness of some of Tottenham’s other stars and reduced the number of shots at goal they were able to create. In three victories so far in 2011/12, Redknapp has used Parker and Adebayor as the key components of a 4-4-2, utilising the creativity of Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Nico Krancjar while relying on Parker for solidarity and partnering Adebayor with a revitalised Jermain Defoe up front. The obvious problem with this formation, of course, is that it marginalises last year’s player of the year – van der Vaart.
The formation is one element of matching up to the surprise packages of the newly-promoted clubs. Another important factor will be the added mental strength Redknapp is endeavouring to instil among his troops. It remains to be seen whether he has found a winning formula – but with three wins in their last three games, and two of those coming against Wolves and Wigan, Spurs fans might be starting to believe again.
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Stating the obvious and an age old discussion had by the majority of Spurs fans (especially those of a certain age)
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This is sooooo last season. We made the quarter finals of the Champs League and finished in 5th place, beaten by those long established in the top 4 and those with billionaires to buy their way in.
As far as a learning curve goes we did admirably and it was one of the best seasons I’ve enjoyed in my 25 years as a fan.
Yes. We need to keep progressing, compete better against the big clubs and pick up wins against the rest.
Getting in a striker who can kick it further than 5 yards or put in effort for longer than 5 mins has already paid dividends.
Getting a central midfielder with a great work rate and the ability to pass looks good too.
Bringing back Walker and giving him game time is akin to signing England’s right back.
Getting a keeper who doesn’t flop around like a school girl is also helping out at the back.
Last and certainly not least, keeping our best players and giving this team time to learn together is the key.
They know it’s not good enough picking up so few points from the bottom half and now they have some strikers to set up we’re doing the business.
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jerkinmahjurgen Reply:
September 27th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
Top post. And I’m one who has to hold my hands up re Gomes. Friedel oozes calmness and it shouldn’t be underestimated (character assets), same as Parker and Ade, the social effect on the squad has been massive. Harry said all along we needed some characters. He knows what he’s doing.
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Having been at those games we failed to win against “lesser” teams – I should suggest that it wasn’t physicality we struggled with. It was breaking down teams who sat every deep and defended for 90 minutes. The same was true against better sides like City who did the same to us.
Hopefully we are learning to unlock those defences now.
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I distinctly recall us coming from behind in quite a few games and last minute winners or equalisers were far greater than in previous seasons. However you’re quite correct in suggesting our three acquisitions this summer have given the team another dimension and a far stronger spine, but Ledley’s return is a major factor also, and it’s high time we begin to ‘groom’ as suitable replacement for him.
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A bit old hat this discussion. I think it was covered plenty before.
Last season we lacked goals and steel and Adebayor and Parker go a long way to fixing that.
Against lesser teams last year we usually dominated and often battered opponents but we could not get the goals our play deserved because our strikers were donkeys.
Ade is top class and has given Defoe a new lease of life and VDV is good but I think we are still light up front with Pav and Gio a long way from first team quality.
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Colin SC Reply:
September 28th, 2011 at 1:36 am
I think it was a combination of the strikers being rubbish and the fact that they were usually lone strikers. Having a lone striker advertises where VDV was going to pass, so the defenders who as you say were deep made life impossible for our strikers. VDV on the other hand often had more space as the defenders were marking strikers as a result he scored more than them.. it isnt hard to work out. It is a bad and easily countered strategy having a loner striker unless you have a huge brilliant one, and even then its harder to defend against two guys.
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Nothing new here
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The critics have nowt left to say. It’s all dwindling down… Vital will implode, lol.
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An out of date article and wrong as the game against Wigan showed when we didn’t play 4-4-2.
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Colin SC Reply:
September 28th, 2011 at 1:41 am
We scored our goals in a 442 then VDV decided to move back and become playmaker again . So we have Modders and him and a blind Ade trying to score with no backup striker (which is what VDV was supposed to be doing that day) then he ran out of juice. It did start to get a little farcical after such a brilliant start.
Gio did a couple of quite good things hopefully he is building a bit of confidence and will show us the kind of form he does for Mexico soon.
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It goes further than just personnel on the field — rather an overall tendency to be dazzled by their own technical superiority. With Spurs’ near-best side on the field in the first half hour they were all over Wigan, should have scored a ton of goals. Then with Assou-Ekkoto leading the field in complacency — almost like they were bored — they let Wigan back into the game, and in the end were lucky to win against 10 men. Self-destruction for a party trick anyone? I’m middle-aged enough to remember the 1984-85 season, the last time Spurs were literally neck and neck for the championship with a few games to go — then seemed to engineer a total collapse out of nowhere. At times against Liverpool and against Wigan this Spurs side reminded me of the 1960-61 double side in its imperious superiority, even the Real Madrid of those days. Guys, don’t let it be another I-told-you-so season…
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