Really using 3 games in a week as an excuse for a goal keeper? Come on.
He was visibly tired mate, even on his "bad days" where he is actually having a bad game he still gets off his line quickly, this game he wasn't.
Come on, you can't use the excuse of Modric and VDV. You've had 3 windows to sort that out and you brought like a thousand midfielders in the last window so i'd say that they've been adequately replaced, at least numbers wise.
I could understand Lloris' slow start to the PL, he had Friedel in front of him who was still a decent player. I can't say i understand why he's doing the same with Lamela. Who's he got in front of him? Townsend and Sigurdson. Surely he couldn't do any worse than those two.
Along those lines, how come Chadli is starting games but Lamela isn't?
Calling him a turd is obviously a bit far. No doubt you've watched him more than I have, i've only seen a few of your games.
But surely, at 28 years old and 26 million pounds you'd be expecting more from him than what he's shown. I think you're being generous by calling his overall play excellent. Maybe you're used to watching Defoe cracking shots from all angles as soon as he receives the ball so your expectations might be a bit skewed but if you were looking for a striker who could link up play you could've found 4 or 5 strikers in the PL alone who are decent at linking play.
When you are a club like us that (until this season) can't really spend too much beyond its means, and misses out on players like Willian, losing Modric and VDV really hurt us keenly. You could see it last season as our attack stagnated, and even this season it isn't quite the same as it used to be. I have full confidence that the players will get there eventually, but it is going to take a while for them all to gel.
Spurs fans expected Lloris to start immediately last season, Friedel was playing well but as we've seen with Hugo, Friedel wasn't playing
that well to really keep him out. AVB just doesn't seem to stick our marquee players out the front end, especially when they've come in late in the window. I agree with you that I understood somewhat with Lloris, and I can also kind of see it with Lamela.
Chadli isn't a 26 million pound risk? Probably has to do with Chadli joining us early on, Lamela only joined the squad in the last few days of the window. Could also be a fitness issue or something. In reality, no one really knows, but regardless, if AVB was waiting for a game that wasn't "risky" to start him, West Ham was the one to do it against.
Really mate, Soldado has been a major part of our attack, and it is pretty obvious to me that having him on the bench was a major part in our stagnated attack. If I genuinely thought he was playing badly, I'd call him out for it in a heartbeat. Really though, it isn't the case. His strikes and everything have been good, having watched all of his games though you notice that he has bad luck with goalkeepers making some fantastic saves or defenders getting into great positions to stop them. His positioning has been far better than our other strikers, just lacking luck more than anything else. It's why I'm confident he will start banging them in soon.
Come on bud, he's a keeper. Fatigue shouldn't be an excuse. He would do more running at training than he would do during a game.
I think it's a bit harsh on him anyway if he's getting some of the blame for your loss. He didn't really have a chance for any of the goals. Reid gets a free header for the first and then is allowed to tap it in before any of the defenders even bothered to react, he was unlucky with the rebound for the second and your defenders should take more of the blame for letting Morrison jog past them for the third.
He definitely fckd up by not playing Lamela, I think he's not dealing with Lamela in the right way if I'm honest. I said earlier that while he was easing in Lloris he had a decent player in front of him, but Lamela only has to displace Townsend.
I doubt it would've made much difference. As critical of Soldado as I've been your wingers and midfield aren't doing your strikers any favors. You've got Townsend who shoots as soon as he's within 30 metres (he leads the league in total shots) and Paulinho (who is 5th in terms of shots per game). Combined they've got 1 goal all season and on Sunday they had 8 of your 14 shots, with only 1 being on target.
Stats taken from whoscored
Dawson's crap. Wasn't he close to being sold to QPR last season?
I don't understand the hype around Walker. He's pretty much Aaron Lennon played at FB.
I dunno mate, I wouldn't think so either but I watched the game and I noticed that something was up. For one of the latter two goals at least (memory is foggy now) he usually would have pounced on it quick smart. And overall he just didn't look as active as he usually does. It may have just been jet-lag.
I'm not blaming him at all, I didn't think he was bad or anything, he just didn't do what we've come to expect from him. He's stopped so many goals this season by getting off of his line like a speeding bullet (and been lucky not to be fouled on about two occasions) and he just wasn't doing it against West Ham. I'm blaming AVB for playing him three times in the same week as whether or not it should affect him, it really seems like it did.
I agree completely, I could maybe understand the first few weeks with Lamela by not playing him, but really he should have been played before the Chelsea game. That he wasn't meant that surely he had to start against West Ham, but apparently AVB thought differently. Complacency maybe? No idea, regardless, it was a massive screw up.
That's a big problem with our attack that is still being worked out and what I mentioned earlier. Soldado isn't getting fed nearly enough, it is a big reason of why he hasn't scored more than two penalties. Townsend and Sigurrdson should really be cutting inwards - as they are doing - and actually crossing or passing it inside - which they aren't doing. It is perplexing to say the least. The two are so darn selfish on the ball, Townsend in particular. While Townsend does look flashy and usually beats his man, which is great and all, he almost always screws up either by passing backwards, taking a shot or losing it. He can get into the final third easily enough, but he can't do anything when he gets there. With Siggy it is understandable as he actually does have a good shot on him, his problem is that, again, he often takes quite a few wasteful choices.
I'm thinking we need both Lamela and Chadli out there, fitness providing, instead of Siggy and Townsend. Hell, Lennon would be a miracle worker here, at least he knows how to pass the damn ball. From what I've seen, our major problem is our two current starting wingers hogging the ball. Paulinho takes a few wasteful shots but he's generally been great so I'm not too hard on him. If we can get Siggy and Townsend back on the bench where they really should be, we can finally get wingers out there who don't collapse in hives at the thought of passing or crossing the ball. Then, with Soldado out there, we might actually start scoring goals with more regularity. I pray that AVB realizes this.
I generally agree on Dawson, he makes so many mistakes and he isn't as quick as he really should be for a high line. However, he has been playing mostly good this season so I'm easing up on him. Sunday was not one of his brightest days though, that is for sure.
It comes from his first season where he was smarting up as one of the top three right full backs in the league, and you can look it up, a lot of people were in agreement on that. He's just stagnated from there though, I think it is the first season success that has got into his head. Now he is the right back equivalent of Dawson which, ironically, means the two play together. It sure leads to some heart-pumping moments
He will probably end up being a one season wonder but Spurs fans know he can do a lot better, and he usually does ok - aside from at least one colossal mistake each game - so I guess for now he is our best choice there.
