Approaching the end of yet another
promising-but-disappointing season in the world of Tottenham Hotspur, the
memory of making the Champions League quarter finals is becoming more distant
by the second.
I think there are a number of factors that are worth analysing
to give us the exact reasoning for the recent fall from grace, and in my
opinion, here are a few of them:
Emmanuel Adebayor
Undoubtedly one of the most frustrating players I’ve ever
seen. The ultimate enigma, and up there with the likes of Super Pav (who had a
superb run of form, which some might argue strongly contributed to our
qualification to the champions league. After that, he could barely hit a
barndoor) and Balotelli in terms of players that make me scream at my
television set.
I will admit to the naivety of being aware that he had ‘an
attitude problem’ at previous clubs, before being instantly won over by his
pace, power and, best of all, goals in his first few months. Once all that
dried up, we saw the ‘contract’ version of Adebayor; lazy, apathetic and
uninterested.
With Adebayor, his goal droughts have never been about form
or ability – and I think anyone who argues as such is clutching at straws. The
word ‘form’ suggests that they’ve been unlucky, and things aren’t really going
for them. That is far from the case, and hitting 17-odd goals every other
season suggests he certainly has it in him.
Adebayor played for Real Madrid. His ability suggests he
could’ve stayed in the big time, but his attitude has proved otherwise.
Luka Modric
So, just to think that it was only three years ago that
Spurs had a midfield pivot of Scott Parker and Luka Modric; with Bale, Lennon
and Rafa supporting a firing-on-all-cylinders Adebayor. Those were the days.
That was only three years ago – THREE. Needless to say it
feels like an eternity ago, now that we’re watching a young, promising side
struggling to a sixth, or even seventh place finish. Admittedly it’s still
hardly the mediocrity of the mid-90s or the mid-noughties, but it doesn’t feel
far off.
Luka Modric was different class. Even if Spurs had regained
their place in Europe’s elite competition, would he have stayed? Doubtful. A
player like Luka not only needs to be playing in the CL, but also needs to be
in with a chance of winning it; a prospect Spurs could never offer him. He was
a young man that knew how much he had to offer, and we can’t blame him for
jumping ship.
He was supposedly replaced by Gylfi Sigurdsson – who,
despite being a fantastic player in his own right, didn’t offer the services his
predecessor had.
2012/13 onwards
It seems pretty simple to say “don’t sell your best players”
but that’s something that seems to have never sunk in with Daniel Levy. Does he
care? We’ll never know, but an educated guess would tell us that his priorities
mainly lie with the clubs finances. Sure, this policy will never have us in
debt; but equally, it’ll never have us back in the top four either.
It’s nothing short of depressing to watch the current – all
be it very promising – spurs side, in yet ANOTHER ‘transitional’ season,
struggling to even finish in the top 6. Impressive wins over Chelsea and
Arsenal had the media suddenly involving us in the battle for fourth spot,
despite the fact that the team’s overall consistency makes this claim
laughable.
Yes, the top four would be nice, but it is an unrealistic
aim at the present time.
The fact is, we had chance after chance to finish in the top
four during the time when we actually had players that were good enough to keep
us there. Yeah, we were unlucky to be denied European football despite
finishing fourth in 2012, but equally, we had the chance to finish even higher
and bottled it big time.
Gareth Bale could’ve, and might’ve given us an extra season
had his boyhood club not come knocking.
Do I think Redknapp should’ve stayed? No – not a chance – although,
it would’ve been interesting to see how he’d performed after Modric’s
departure.
Harry Kane has been one of few positives to come out of this
season, and you’d have to hope that his love for the club will keep him here
for years to come.
On one hand, you can say Kane wouldn’t have been given his
chance if Soldado and Adebayor hadn’t been so, well, crap. But on the other
hand, can you imagine the result if all three of our strikers had been
bang-in-form and scoring goals the entire season? We’ve created chances –
Kane’s 30 goals prove that.
I only have positive words to say about Bobby Soldier. He’s
been unlucky, and his record at Valencia proves that, on his day, he would
comfortably live up to what now seems like an extortionate price tag. I fully
expect him to leave this summer and I’ll always be grateful for his effort and
work-rate, despite the lack of end product, during his time with us.
Even despite his lack of goals, I’d still rather see him busting
a gut for the team, over our Togolese frontman who seems content to pick up his
wage packet and go back home to watch television.
The future
But the future does look bright with our new midfield duo of
Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason; the former of which, a hugely promising
box-to-box midfielder who we’ve all grown to love over the last few months.
Admittedly it took him a while to win us over, largely due to previous gaffer,
Sherwood, electing to pick the young, unproven Algerian over the more senior players
in the squad.
But credit to the lad this season, he’s been superb and has
shown himself to be a star of the future.
Mason, however, I’m less excited about – but hear me out on
this one! My reluctance to give the lad too much praise is down to his age;
he’s already 23.
He’s clearly a talented player but had he been given his
first team opportunity before now, he might be even better. However, I’d
welcome him to prove me wrong as he has put on some excellent performances this
season.
But my concern is purely that the delay in his development
may have a considerable influence on his overall career, and I currently can’t
see him collecting too many more England caps. But I’ll emphasise that if I’m
eating my words in a year’s time, then that’s credit to Ryan.
The Gaffer
I was excited when Pochettino took over – finally, a proven
manager with Premier League experience. He got Southampton playing fantastic
football and putting big sides to the sword, in an incredibly short space of
time.
However, there are clearly gaps in his tactical ability.
But, credit to him, he has developed alternative ways of playing and getting
results during times when his preferred ‘pressing’ game isn’t having the
desired effect.
One aspect of his managerial ability that I respect is his
seemingly no-nonsense approach; if you don’t work hard, you won’t even make the
bench. He knows what he wants, and isn’t afraid to drop a player if they don’t
suit his style.
He has brought young players through and given them a chance.
If Poch is given his choice of signings this summer, I can
see Spurs pushing on and making progress to once again be up there with the big
boys, but it’s a big IF. We’ve had this situation what feels like a million times,
but hopefully this time Levy will back the manager and help him get us back up
the table.
But for now, only time will tell what the future may hold. Come
on you Spurs!
