I am told that I am too negative and not supportive enough of the team (this is mainly on my tweets and Facebook posts during the game). Now I fully support my team and although I thought AVB was not the ideal candidate I have got behind him and supported him. However it is not the manager that is our issue, its the players again.
I will work from the front to the back here to make sure I don't miss anything.
Up front Defoe had seemed like a new player. Started off playing well and many of his doubters had changed their view of him. However if you look at the Chelsea game he was intent on getting his 200th goal, rather than helping the team. There were plenty of chances when other players were in acres of space and he took it upon himself to waste the chances! Same old same old here. An incomplete player that we are heavily relying on. He needs to be aware of the other 10 players on his side, rather than the narrow minded approach of "I want to score". Look at the shot that cannoned in off Caulker against Villa, right in front of goal and was blazing the ball way too wide for an international striker!
Adebayor then came on and looked completely out of sorts. There has been talks of injury, his head not being right, but I cannot remember seeing (arguably our best striker) look so lost. JD has been positioned as the lone striker and had not scored for the past 3 or 4 games! No wonder Ade is asking for talks with AVB.
Any other manager would have made the change sooner. So other than this we have no one else to fall back on, so the concern is obvious, no reliable strikers in the team. Or can we blame the supply?
Midfield is where the major issues now show. Dembele has now shown a recurrence of his hip injury and we definately missed him on Saturday! If Dembele is now out for a while who will fill the space? Parker is out until Christmas and Huddlestone and Sandro do not play well together (they both need a stronger head playing alongside them). Dempsey and Sigurdsson are not the players that was expected. Sigurdsson I had originally questioned as he had only made a half season appearence, but we went all out for him as a cheaper option. Dempsey is not really showing the composure or commitment in front of goal at all! He was a player that I hated playing against, but now he just doesn't seem the same since leaving Fulham. Bale has been inconsistent throughout and considering this guy is wanted by the biggest teams in the world, I have to ask; Has it all gone to his head or has it disrupted his performance? Personally I think its gone to his head and the diving shows it. Its all good and well sticking up for your player and being positive, but when they don't give you something to be positive about, they need a kick up the backside and knocked into touch. How else do the younger one's learn?
Defense is cracking rapidly now and the constant appearence of Gallas seems to be the catalyst. Chelsea showed that the player is either out of shape or too old. He has been play regularly, so it can only be that he is past it now?
So in summary it reiterates that Willian or Moutinho should have been bought and there is just no grit and flair in the midfield to truely challenge for a place. Is AVB to blame? No, he is working very well with what he has. Is Levy to blame? Maybe, but it seems that he tried to sign Moutinho (Porto were reluctant to lose Mountinho and Hulk without any replacements).
You could put it down to bad luck, but it really comes down to better preparation in transfer dealings on both sides of the fence.. us and other teams.
However we should see 12 points from our next 3 games as Norwich, Southampton and Wigan should not prove too difficult to walk away winners in all 3 games.
If you can't have faith in your team overall then you should ask if its time to switch teams? I hear Man City are willing to buy some more!
Although the issues are there and you can take the comments in away which way you want, but these are realistic comments about actual things happening in the team I support. I know that there are many fans that have the same concerns, but we all still bleed the same......White and Blue!
Come on you Spurs!!!!
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