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Unbeaten in three
games so far this year, but it has hardly been inspiring stuff. I
hear the arguments put forward by George Graham that injuries have
decimated the club, that the squad is not strong enough, that the EU
have still not made a decision about the transfer system and that until
ENIC take control of the club, there can be no decisions taken about
contracts of current players or about buying in new ones. However,
that doesn't excuse some of the decisions he has made.
The forward line has
been wiped out by injury during the last month. Rebrov has been
"rested" or playing with an injury; Ferdinand's regular
clashes of heads has rendered him senseless on more than a few
occasions; Armstrong either turned up late for the Newcastle game or has
a groin injury - believe what you will; McEwen has been out for 3 months
injured; Fenn just doesn't get a look in and Korsten must be injured ...
is there any other excuse for why he plays like that ?? So where
does the solution lie ?? Not in the 18 year old Scots lad - Steven
Ferguson - bought for a small fee from East Fife ... well, not in the
short term anyway. Doherty looked all at sea when he was picked to
play alongside Korsten up front at Ipswich and Korsten is supposed to be
a midfielder anyway.
The lack of available
strikers means that chances have been few and far between. That is
also down to the fact that the midfield have not been providing a
regular service to the forwards. Since Stephen Carr's injury, the
best attacking option has been severely missed down the right hand
side. Some might realise that and try even harder to stop Carr in
the future, meaning Spurs will have to have a Plan B, which they
obviously haven't got now. Sherwood has been well below par this
season, as has Leonhardsen with his regular visits to the treatment
room. Clemence has been playing better and King has been a breath
of fresh air, but the need for Anderton to become the main playmaker
hasn't been realised. His passing quality and crossing could be
the key to unlocking defences, but playing inside I feel makes it easier
for the opposition to nullify any threat he might pose to them.
Out wide, he becomes more dangerous as it is a position he can put balls
into the box which are going to hurt the other side. In the middle
of midfield, he is too narrow to produce a killer ball for our
strikers. The matches against Leyton Orient and Southampton away
showed how narrow the whole team played, losing the ability to pull
defenders out of the box with a wide man to bother them.
So, on the training
pitch during the week, it would be interesting to see just what they got
up to. It can't be all fitness work, because if it is, that is
what is killing our players. While you also wonder exactly what
they do about free-kicks, corners and throw-ins. Our set piece
manoeuvres are dreadful, even to the extent of not being able to play a
decent ball into the box.
These are some of the
reasons we are not scoring. My other problem with GG at the
moment, is that he insists on playing half fit players instead of
certain youngsters. I hold with the argument that you don't want
to play too many at once, but adding a few when regulars are injured and
suspended would not hurt. It's not going to be forever, is it
?? In the Southampton home game, we had Freund (supposedly out for
a month at least with an Achilles injury), Leonhardsen (out of form and
struggling since he came back from a hamstring injury), Sol (just back
from a hamstring pull), Les (just back from a hamstring pull, which went
within 20 minutes) with Sherwood and Sullivan suspended. What has
Simon Davies got to do to get a start ?? Does the plague have to
strike in N17 ?? Even Korsten didn't appear on the subs bench, so
what happened to him ?? Etherington could give us an attacking
option, but we will never know what sort of option while he is omitted
from the sixteen who could take part. There was no consideration
given to giving such players a run out, which is strange considering
that when GG has been forced to throw in the youngsters (King, Thelwell,
Doherty), they have done the side proud. I always think that they
are hungry and willing to impress, so would give more than some of the
established stars who are not having the best of times ... and it might
give those "big names" a kick up the backside to play better
in future if they know their is competition for their place, which GG
always says he wants.
I hope that something
changes, as there will be no great progression with the way we are
playing at the moment. Although we might pick up the odd point
away, we are dropping points at home now to the likes of Boro and
Southampton. We might only be eight points of a European place as
I speak, but the bottom of the table is almost the same distance
away. Here's to putting on a better show and pulling up the table.
Keep the faith.
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
AND THE SPURS GO MARCHING ON.
BRUCE
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