tottenham hotspur

yabadabado

what do people think spurs chances are of breaking into the top 4 this season.they have some quality players and play attractive football or is their squad a bit light CM is prob their weakest area but if they cud buy an experienced mf they surly have a great opportunity especially with arsenal being quiet n the transfer market.

KdjaCL

The CM problem is their biggest i just dont rate Jenas when he doesnt have the ball, leaves Zokora open to much. But a lot of that is the pace they play the game at when they lose poss they are ripe for a counter attack.

They will score goals tho lots and lots of goals.

kdjac

invincibleirish

if their is ever a time for spurs to grab that 4th spot this is the season,arsenal are seemingly KOd by henry leaving,although in my humble opinion if they had kept carrick and had a fit king last season they would have taken it then!

Running Bing

Simple for me...if we sign a good left winger and CM we have as good a chance as Arsenal of top 4. If we dont we have very little chance.

yabadabado

i think bale will play left wing very good crosser of the ball and wud be sound defence wise think spurs wud be tore apart against the better sides if they play 2 out in out wingers coz zokora n jenas aint good enough imo.think they probably shud have spent the bent money on a top class cm rather than a striker.

PHB

People can write off Arsenal at their peril, anyone who does will be sorely, sorely, hurt by it. Personally I still rate Arsenal above Liverpool. IMO, Spurs have a great front 6, and their central midfield isn't half bad, where they fall down, and fall down massively, is their defence.

Bent makes their strikeforce top class. One world class player, in Berbatov, with other very good strikers feeding off him. Personally, I think Keane and Berbatov is as good as any premiership partnership (unless Rooney and Tevez happens)

Bale will help their defence, to make their first choice look like this:

Chimbonda-King-Dawson-Bale

Is that good enough for top 4? Not sure, depends on how Bale does. I really think they need a utility player like Neil or somebody to really spur them on, but if that back four can stay fit, they have a shout.

The key for them is to get a good start. If they can get ahead of either Arsenal or Liverpool, they have a shot.

yabadabado

if spurs buy a top class mf think they have a great chance, wonder do they have much money left.they r being linked with kevin - prince boateng highly rated in germany not far off making the senior squad his attitude isnt supposed to be the best.kaboul has played in midfield for auxerre and france youths so maybe hes an option for Jol this season

Running Bing

PHB wrote:

Chimbonda-King-Dawson-Bale

Is that good enough for top 4? Not sure, depends on how Bale does.

I personally think people underrate our defence(Rich, I know, given how many we conceded last year:) ). King is a top class defender and we are a completely different team defensively with him in there. He is the key as when he is there Dawson ups his game big time and the defence just works better together.

Granted last season with Ledley missing and a defence of:

Chimbo--Rocha--Dawson--Lee

We were poor but with Ledley fit it is a different story. Chimbo and Daws are adored by Spurs fans as well. I know a lot of people dont rate them that highly but imo they are quality. Will have to see how Bale gets on but we have bought Kaboul as well which should streghten us.

With Ledley in the team we have absolutely no problem with the back four imo, its the centre of midfield and to a lesser extent the lack of balance in the midfield where our problems lie. Neither Jenas or Zokora are anywhere near strong enough defensively and it leaves gaping holes in the centre of the ptich. I dont know how many goals we conceded from lon range strikes outside the box last season.:rolleyes:


Get the CM right and we have a quality team.

maxi-twist

If they flog off defoe that would free up a bit of cash. IMO they'd need king to stay injury free to have a good defence, which is highly unlikely. The Kaboul chap looks promising aswell. They also need a proper midfield. Zokora ventures too far forward to be a proper DM and Jenas does nothing off the ball.

Top quality attack partnership, keane and berbatov at the end of last season was easily the best in the premiership IMO.

KdjaCL

Babybing wrote:

.

With Ledley in the team we have absolutely no problem with the back four imo, its the centre of midfield and to a lesser extent the lack of balance in the midfield where our problems lie. Neither Jenas or Zokora are anywhere near strong enough defensively and it leaves gaping holes in the centre of the ptich. I dont know how many goals we conceded from lon range strikes outside the box last season.:rolleyes:

Bale attacking down left with Steed dropping inside would be the way forward to allow jenas to not tackle ever, Zokora is a decent DMF just gets left 2 v1 too many times, its the bent vs keane thing that would be the difference tbh keane does the job Jenas does but bent is a striker.

kdjac

yabadabado

therecklessone sent me a link to an old spurs discussions/general rumours thread so i have just posted in there its probably the handiest way.im not a spurs fan just like discussing football and i think a spurs thread will be fairly popular its one that kdjac started last year

eirebhoy

The defence isn't good enough I don't think. King could look top class beside a proven organiser but I'm not sure about him in that role.

jank

I think Arsenal will surprise some people this year, Not saying they will win the league but they will do better then last season in the league.
5th again for spurs im afraid

marco_polo

yabadabado wrote:

what do people think spurs chances are of breaking into the top 4 this season.they have some quality players and play attractive football or is their squad a bit light CM is prob their weakest area but if they cud buy an experienced mf they surly have a great opportunity especially with arsenal being quiet n the transfer market.

Excellent if they can stay off the lasagne for the season .

Seriously it will be difficult to break into the top four as it has been an exclusive club for a long time now, but they have a decent chance of fourth. At the very least fans should be expecting a signifigant points improvement over last season, after that it depends on how the clubs above them fare. Arsenal look the most vunerable of the current members at this moment in time.

I don't think Paul Robinson is a top four keeper however. While I think he is a good dependable keeper for me he is not agile enough to be considered in the same bracket as top class keepers like Given or a Cech.

Bubs101

I'd prefer to see them run with Huddlestone then buy a centre midfielder. He was very strong for them last year. IMO Parker would have been great for them but for now I'd leave it. I'd like to see them get rid of some of their useless players though.
As forArsenal being vulnerable, they did pretty well last season with an under strength Henry so I wouldn't write them off

GuanYin

I think on paper Spurs look good but they are certainly missing something, midfield ingenuity and graft most likely and they conceed some very soft goals at times. I think ther worst problem is they tendancy to upset their own players.

That said, I think they're away from Arsenal and Liverpool. Arsenal cantered to 4th place without their main strikeforce and missing key defenders. You take Van Persie and Henry from any team and they'll struggle. With strengthening of Eduardo, the return of VP and the emergence of young talent (notto mention the new players), I fancy Arsenal to take 2nd or 3rd this season. Liverpool should be second, but I think they have a better chance than Arsenal at the title. Chelsea, I think will falter.

I don't see Spurs as anywhere near the top four yet. They've taken Bent into an already convoluted front line and added an attacking full back to a defence that doesn't defend that well to begin with.

yabadabado

.think u cud be right PSI spurs mite have messed things up with their signing.dont think bent was needed ,bale is very attack minded they shud have bought a tough,grafting cm and left wing(maybe bale left wing).spurs have agreed a deal with hertha berlin 4 prince-boateng.20year old cm big things expected of him in germany not far off getting a call up to senior squad.maybe spurs will line up like this next season its the only way to have bent and keane playing and i doubt bent was bought to be a bench warmer.3-5-2 something like this bale and lennon as wing backs two centre mids sitting in front of the back 3 and keane in the hole behind the 2 strikers

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robinson

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kabool

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king

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dawson

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---lennon

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bale----

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zakora

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boeteng

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keane

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bent

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berbatov

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therecklessone

yabadabado wrote:

.think u cud be right PSI spurs mite have messed things up with their signing.dont think bent was needed

Depends on how Jol sends the team out to play.

Last two season we've often relied on punted balls from Robinson and the defence with nobody up front suited to playing that way. It made no sense, no that Bent has been added to the squad I think he can play off the shoulder of the last defender and run on to that type of ball.

Can be ugly, but very effective.

PHB

psi wrote:

That said, I think they're away from Arsenal and Liverpool. Arsenal cantered to 4th place without their main strikeforce and missing key defenders. You take Van Persie and Henry from any team and they'll struggle. With strengthening of Eduardo, the return of VP and the emergence of young talent (notto mention the new players), I fancy Arsenal to take 2nd or 3rd this season. Liverpool should be second, but I think they have a better chance than Arsenal at the title. Chelsea, I think will falter.

That's got to be the ballsyest prediction I've ever seen I like it