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Frustration

Recently I've noticed looking at stats after games that we seem to be having at least 20 shots a game, but then I think back to the match and try to remember when these clear cut chances were.

We are controlling games, even against United we had most of the ball, but there's definitely a lack of final ball. We'll have 20 or so shots on goal but only 3 or 4 are very real good opportunities. First reason I'd argue is down to our 'superstar' Gareth Bale. Don't get me wrong, I rate the guy and when he's on form we normally perform and win. I just think he needs to get his head out of his backside.

So often now he will just drift inside and shoot and more often than not it doesn't go in. It's as if now he only comes inside, and that maybe because he's shown inside but something against United last week really proves my pointRemember his outside of the boot curling effort? The Bale from a couple of years ago would've seen the space behind Rafael and just darted into it before flashing a ball across the 6 yard box. But not anymore, he decided to go for glory in what I believe was a stupid attempt.

I think recently its shown how we are missing Van der Vaart or Luka, just someone who can spot that pass, and that's why I'm hoping the Holtby deal is done before the deadline. Just so that we have that bit of creativity. Another way this can be done is if Bale and Lennon stay wide. I know Bale would hate playing this way, because when he doesn't get the ball much he comes wandering in to get involved, but often this just cramps up our midfield.

Even if he is double marked, if he just stays wide he takes 2 of their players out the game and we can just work either down the middle or with Lennon. If Lennon stays wide as well then we might actually have a space in the middle for somebody to find the killer ball. Which makes me wonder if Sigurdsson could be that man? I mean currently when he plays he gets barely any space because of how teams defend against us, but i just wonder that if our wingers stayed wide, teams would be more worried about Bale and Lennon that Siggy and he could finally have room to operate in and prove his worth. That's if the Holtby deal doesn't go through.

My final frustration is this striker issue. I can't understand why Levy will set all these high targets of champions league if he doesn't give the manager the players he needs. Selling VdV I think has turned out to be a mistake so he must now know he has to make up for it? I think if a striker does come in, then it will be someone like Hooper, not a world class striker who we all desire, but someone to come in when needed and be the back up striker, rather than making Defoe the back up. Which could be good as it doesn't upset the team, plus I think Hooper could be a decent signing so long as we don't stupidly over pay for him and I think Celtic will realise that we wouldn't pay over the odds for him, because if they ask for to much then we'd just look at more proven players, which leads me to believe the deal would be a reasonable fee and I think it will go through.

70 points is what we'll need for Champions league football next season, so hopefully our players can forget about the other teams and just keep going until we get to that magic mark. Arsenal have only just crossed the half way mark (35 points) which does suggest that they will struggle to get 70 points so we have to keep working to get there. We just need that something extra to give us that push and that's all down to levy, and hopefully losing to Leeds will spark him into action.

Written by craig spur

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Writer: craig spur

Date:Monday January 28 2013

Time: 8:28AM

Your Comments

Last nights match highlighted the fact we are in dire need for a striker! AVB would be stupid not to demand a striker or we could easily lose the plot. Every part of the team is covered reasonably well yet up front its a whirlwind of problems with glass flying around! FFS Levy buy a phucking striker!

Mix26

Again this has been our problem for the (at least ) 7 transfer windows . Even if we do get Hooper (a maybe above average plyr), i think the club should seriously think of using Bale upfront . I have read a few fans say this , and it makes sense really , make use of his speed/height/shooting ! it could give Townsend a couple of cameo's . But what do i know ....COYS... Agree with pole re AVB Levy !

jamesspur1

Have to agree with everyone demanding a striker (or two) but the same old Spurs seemed to be at Elland Road. We were over matched in the desire to win the match. I know a mistake led to the first goal but Leeds seemed way more interested in winning than we did.

Feel now though that with Ade returning ( and I do not rate him this season ) and just the Europa and League to play for Levy and AVB may well stick rather than twist for a new face.

It would be good also to see Holtby signed sooner rather than later, Hudd was not really that at the races, well imo none of the team were ... COYS

ro6ertj

Agree with Bale he believes his own hype, but major issue is the striker, not a rule but roughly every 3 shots you should have 1 on should be on target, then every 3 on target you should be scoring 1. I dont know what our current rate is but i would put money not being close to that ratio. I'm also hearing that Defoe may have an injury, if thats the case then I would expect plenty more draws in the upcoming games.

coys1717

Same issue different story. We need a striker. Was Siggurdson on the pitch yesterday?? Really poor performance yesterday. Huddlestone is just a poor player, getb rid for whatever we can get IMO. Friedel looks stupid on the pitch at his age. 4 days to go and th most we can hope for is Gary phucking Hooper. Niot a good day to be a spurs fan im affraid. The decline begins. on a different note, i take it the Defoe injury rumors were true. Even though he's $hit, he was an option. Im gonna go play with a fork and a toaster, yey..

hudderspur

We need a striker but it was our defence that was a shambles, Caulker highlighted his inexperience in a spurs shirt whilst Naughton played at right back for the first time and didnt convince. But as per usual we lost because we went up against a team that was up for it with two defencive midfielders, Hudd slowed the game down to snail pace and yet again showed that we are relying a lot on dembele - when he came on spurs played far better (if you can call it that, we just didnt look like conceding). We also seemed to be playing with 10 men, Sig yet again didnt turn up in the match and missed a sitter at the start of the game, heading a free header right at the goalie. I was one of those fans asking where the hell Tom Carroll was who has been playing well for us everytime he has played!!!

spursnoob

Good points Craig Spur. We really need a creative midfieder AS WELL AS A striker this window. One without the other won't help us. A creative midfielder will help create more clear cut chances for a striker and will also force teams to have to defend differently against us. However, if we don't buy a striker who is going to regularly put the ball in the net, what's the point? The opposite will also be true if we buy a striker without adding creativity to the midfield. I agree with you that the addition of Holtby in this window will help. Will it happen? Probably not as Levy will be loathed to spend aything on a player he's already guaranteed to get for free in the summer. The fact we're desperate for him now won't move Levy any - he doesn't care. As for a striker, it appears Norwich are increasing their bid for Hooper to £7.5m today. I don't see Levy paying this for him so, unless we've got something else lined up (and I don't believe we do), it could be long second half to the season. Levy / ENIC step up or step aside. We are a football club not an accounting exercise and land development opportunity. Lack of success on the pitch will result in the erosion of the Spurs brand and value of the club. It looks to me like ENIC don't really care about that too much as long as they're able to maximise their return at the point they bail out. The sooner the better for me and many others on here. COYS.

SpuriousLife

Jermain Defoe was not merely rested by Andre Villas-Boas for Tottenham Hotspur’s FA Cup defeat against Leeds United - rather the England international has been suffering from a pelvic injury that may even need surgery, the Daily Mirror has reported. -----Maybe this is the real reason he was not playing or on the bench nothing to do with being rested? who knows. Top performance yesterday everyone played a special part in us getting beat, you don't get many games when apart from Parker 7 for effort at least he tried, everyone else hit 4 or 5 in the ratings Dempsey might get a 6 for the goal Bale for the assist, AVB did mess up yesterday on a par with Benitiz, his better than that. So it's going to require a massive effort on wednesday to restore a lot of shell shocked supporters, me being one of them, time to stand up and be counted.

spu 4 life

spu 4 life - I posted yesterday that I've heard from a couple of different sources that Defoe is likely to be out for a fortnight. Great timing! It will make things interesting and most probably very depressing. "Still, who needs strikers anyway" (the Gospel accoring to Levy!)

SpuriousLife

AVB has been fantastic this season. He certainly wasn't yesterday though. First of all, he has to get the back 5 settled and stop this constant tinkering. We are missing Kaboul but he has to make some tough choices on the rest and get it settled. Secondly, our strength will always be our full back / wide player combinations. As Craig Spur says, let's get Bale back to doing what he does best and not going for glory all of the time. I would also add that he needs to start protecting his full back again.

My other concern is centre mid. We are one injury away with Dembele from having a very average midfield. Yesterday's lack of mobility, athleticism and pace from Parker and Hudd cost us dear. We never took control like we do when Dembele is in there, especially when Sandro is in there as well.

Finally, the striker situation. Obika showed everyone what we had been missing yesterday. He played off the last man, he scared them with his pace and nearly got the equaliser by playing like an orthodox striker. I'm not advocating he's the answer but it shows the type of striker we need to make our system work. In my mind Hooper will be more of the same as we get from Defoe.

muttley

SpuriousLife could be the icing on the cake? oh great NOT. How much is reported spend on a new stadium 450m, i would rather it is spent on roducing a top top football team, little point having a big stadium, when the team is not winning trophies, 56.000 at home, you can't park your car now, it's got worse over the years with resident parking. I really don't know what direction we are going, we or levy can't decide 1mEuros or 2mEuros for Holtby 1.5m£ joke.

spu 4 life

Spurious / Spu - He is injured, there’s no question about it. If he was fit he would have been on the bench, no question about it. I can see why it is been dealt with discretely, if we are tying to buy a striker there price has just doubled. Words cannot express how angry i am with this transfer dilly dallying, if Hooper is all we can hope for, them im afraid we better get used to the Europa League at best..

hudderspur

Tommy Hundred-Stone (best line of yesterday) was on his way to stoke on loan, but the ankle failed it's medical at the start of the season, he can pass with both feet standing still, he can also give the ball away with both feet, his movement is NIL. Him, Jenas, Bentley, Gomes, Siggy is the new jenas are not what we need anymore, wake up and smell the coffee Levy. Would Livermore been any better, maybe parking the bus and going for a draw was the answer, but we did not want a replay, so out we go.

spu 4 life

Spu / Hudders - I'm with you both. I hope our lack of faith is misplaced but I doubt it.

SpuriousLife

that something extra was the same last january and the one before that a proven goalscorer (it *****es me of to say this now but Sturridge would have been a very good signing)---Levy needs to back his man or i'm afraid we will miss out again

krafty007

hudderspur agree with your post, NO SHOW DEFOE !!!!!

spu 4 life

spu 4 life - if you spent money on team, and fail to get CL each year, then you will end up with no CL AND no stadium! No need to gamble from a position of security. We cannot spend more than we recoup from transfers or pay higher wages because our revenue is 100m less than then next richest club. Build stadium and revenue goes up... All we need to do is stay top 4 or 5 until the stadium comes... We are doing that. Chelsea spend bucketloads yet still lost Charity shield, got slaughtered in Super cup, lost World club cup final, got knocked out of League cup semi by Swansea, out of Champions league at group stage - the first champions to do that, they are only third in league and they nearly got knocked out of fa cup by minnows like us... Money guarantees nothing.

TonyRich

Firstly, a disappointing result against a team we should be winning. However, AVB is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. Rotating the squad if what everyone goes on about, AVB does this, loses and then in come the negatives. Clearly yesterday highlighted that we don't have strength in depth!

SpuriousLife - We have creative midfields only as mentioned in the article these individuals prefer to go for glory as opposed to creating a clearer chance. Bale is an unbelievable talent but if someone comes in with £50m then take it without hesitation.

I hate to bring this last point up but after watching Arsenal win 5-1 last Wednesday if you compare what Podolski did in the first 10 minutes of the second half to what Bale is doing for us, you will quickly see the reason why we are not scoring enough. It's a team game and the primary thing to achieve is a win, it doesn't matter who scores. That's the difference in German mentality and British. Hence why England always underachieve and Germany rarely disappoint!!

yiddyboy

Tony, i agree with you mate, we just look a lost leader at the moment, stadium talk, it's been going on for how long, they keep changing the plans, most likely they have agreed 500 toilets but levy will only pay for 400, new stadium, we will still be the everton of london, Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal; were do we fit in, we might sit 4th, i bet we don't finish 4th; 5th or 6th at best, we know a striker s needed, goals win games, not balance sheets.

spu 4 life

TonyRich - I appreciate your point. However I'm concerned. We won't regularly be in the top 6 over the next few seasons unless we strengthen key areas of the playing squad. We've needed to do it for a while now and the situation is gradually getting worse not better. I'm not advocating going mad and spending hundreds of millions of pounds because, as you rightly say, we can't afford it. We can afford £20m to £30m though and that is plenty enough for what we need. I agree about needing a bigger stadium to boost revenues but please don't lose sight of the fact that unless we're competing towards the top of the league, getting to the latter stages of domestic cup competititons and regularly in Europe, then you won't sell out a 56,000 seater stadium each week and thereofre it will be a bigger waste of money than that potentially wasted on a striker that doesn't 'deliver'.

SpuriousLife

One thing is certain we need 3pts wednesday and if we go about it in the right frame of mind we will get them.

spu 4 life

According to the the below website Defoe is injured with hip problem. No return date is mentioned although this probably not be received yet. More worrying is Sandro has a return date of October :-(

www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php

yiddyboy

Please lay off Bale. Last year he had VDV and Modric spraying passes all over the field to him and a fit and hungry Ade to find in the box. This year he has no-one really offering the ball, even Benni has been out so that combination hasn't been there either. If I put balls in the box only to find Defoe on the eighteen yard line and Ade nowhere near it I'd be shooting instead as well. As I said yesterday, the Leeds game really showed up how short we are in midfield. Holtby can help that, but I would be in for Diame and Hooper as well. I still feel Levy might pull a rabbit from the hat in Negredo. (Also, please can someone tell me how to do paragraphs?)

Sebthespur

I hope that AVB reads all those, mostly correct, posts. He is the only one who can take such decisions and make proposals to Levy. He is also well paid to do that!

Ioan X

Sebthespur - Enter

for a new paragraph

yiddyboy

:-)

yiddyboy

You need to enter 'br' between < >, twice. < >< > with br in between both brackets

yiddyboy

I don't get this aiming for a set amount of points everyone goes on about, you need one more point (or goal) than the team below you.

Tottenham Hotcore

Tottenham Hotcore - Surely your target is 114 points. 3 x 38 :-)

yiddyboy

Yeah, let's have some ambition!

Tottenham Hotcore

Christian Benteke to Spurs, new or old rumour the only player from villa worth having?

spu 4 life

not a fan of Benteke, I would take Steven Fletcher though, i think he's quite underrated.

coys1717

I said it on the other post re who should start and fans didn't agree. I said Defoe should start regardless of his lack of goals. People were saying Siggy and Dempsey andon of my arguments was what have they actually done to prove they were capable of doing a job. Dempsey has improved and Siggy to a certain degree but neither have done enough to suggest they were the answer up top. At least with Defoe you always have the threat that he may sneak one out of nothing yesterday we didn't have that threat. It is a bit like the Lennon situation he may not play well but just being on the pitch often has more positive effect than some fans realise. It is only when Lennon is out we see the difference.

Siggy was woeful and Dempsey was passable neither did much to make my heart beat. Couple with a dreadful back line performance and Bale having a bad game again and Hudd showing is days are numbered he is just not good enough. We were rubbish.

there is too much hype with Dembele he doesn't have the affect on the game like Modric did and Dempsey and Siggy don't have the effect on the game like VDV did regardless of his weaknesses.

i am getting fedup with Bale too greedy and is becoming too self obsessed with constantly roaming and being ineffective. When he gets marked out of the game on the wing he does't like it and so he roams but it doesn't help. He is not good enough to roam he is not a Ronaldo yet. He is best on the wing even if that means being marked out by two players, that gives space for others to exploit. He is becoming the super star status at Spurs and is getting away with poor performances because of it. He does't help out enough defensively. Our goal came when he stuck to the wing and put a cross in this has happened so many times and it is about time he got a kick up the bum and played for the team and did a job on the left.

We missed Dawson like it or not another player often slated but when he wasn't there we missed him. Caulker is good but inexperienced and he needs someone to guide him and Vert does not have that kind of voice or ability he is good at what he does which is look after his job not lead others.

Once again we have the striker issue but I still think we need a winger and midfielder but will we ever get the squad we want to take us from a nearly team to a team that can challenge, I don't know.

yesterday was by far one of the worse performances we have had for some time but it showed are weaknesses. Caulker not ready still learning, Naughton and Walker still learning, Hudd no good enough, Dembele not good enough as first choice, we missed Sandro, no strike force at the club at present are good enough including ADE. No cover for the wings and Bale is not performing as he should, has no discipline and is over rated. If he played for Fergie he would be subbed if he didn't perform. GK average. We are no where near CL team without a strike force and a creative midfielder and some back up for the wings minimum but AVB has done well with the tools he has at his disposal.

thfan

Spu......I also think Benteke would be a good buy but reports say he has already played for two teams this season and under leagure rules can't play for a third within the same season.

TQ2Spurs

TQ2Spurs oh that's not so good, his played for 2 teams, phuck me still waiting for Siggy to play for one US.

spu 4 life

Mr Levy you are a tool, spending 1.5m of our money on Holtby, when in the summer he comes for nothing, that's your trouble Levy you think money grows on trees.

spu 4 life

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