Monday, February 27, 2012

Painfully disinterested performance

In our most important game of the season where we had no excuse to lose to underachieving Arsenal, we came out looking like a better side, that is, till we scored in the 6th minute, when we decided its for the best if Arsenal controlled the tempo and game in general. Not sure if this was Harry's tactic or were we this disinterested in game.

In my opinion, Arsenal was much hungrier for a victory, which isn't a surprise and the only reason they snatched one is due to a lack of motivation among the team, who really should have preformed better, especially in defence. Our squad is undoubtedly better than theirs was, and witch such, you would expect a dominant display with a midfield with such creativity, yet Arsenal control the midfield battle where Parker seemed lost, Modric disinterested, Bale selfish and Kranjcar, well, simply not good enough.

We were able to take the lead, thanks to some horrific defending by Vermaelen which allowed Saha the position he got himself into when we took the lead. A magnificent start non the less, after that, things just got slower with our players with only Arsenal creating chances. After some time, Bale was apparently brought down by Szczesny and a penalty was given, but in all honesty, that was no penalty. Bale clearly took a dive, and a good one, as it fooled the referee quite easily. Anyway, Adebayor converted the penalty which saw us take a 2:0 lead in the 34th minute. Even though we were in the lead, I had a constant feeling Arsenal was close to scoring, which then happened, when Sagna outjumped our defenders and scored a header in the box. Shortly after that, Van Persie scored a goal when he was given space to shoot and Friedel couldn't do much about it. Marking tightly was a must for Van Persie, and it was obvious that Harry saw that, too in the second half, but it allowed Walcott a lot of space, and he sure took his chances.

While we still have 7 points ahead of London rivals, with the form shown against Arsenal, I fear we could repeat the last season, where we dropped in form and at the end of the season, barely got to a 5th place.

Friday, February 24, 2012

The finest football team London has to offer

On the 26th of February, our team is given a golden chance to do a double on Arsenal and practically kill their hopes of scrapping anything from this season. Current point gap is a massive one, 10 points with 13 games to go seems pretty big, but imagine a 13 point gap. It would clear up any doubt of us finishing above them or even qualifying for the Champions League. Even Arsenal's legend Thierry Henry himself has acknowledged us as a team 'miles ahead of Arsenal'.

As I mentioned before, at this very moment, we are undoubtedly the finest football team London has to offer, and not just form-wise and some would say Harry's project is complete. This was a project fueled by ambition and shrewd moves made by Harry himself along with Mr. Levy. In the last 18 months, or 3 transfer periods, if you will, we managed to profit on player sales without spending practically anything, and we got in players like Parker and Adebayor, while offloading a couple of 'bench warmers'. This summer, something else is expected. With our team undoubtedly marching towards the Champions League, we'll be looking for reinforcements in the summer, with a couple of top names being targeted.

Ledley King appears almost certain to miss the game, while Adebayor should be ready to face his former club, while Arsenal is missing Jenkinson, both Gibbs and Koscielny look set to be ready for the game, meaning both teams will be complete for the game.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Signing Hazard would be a massive statement, but where would he fit in?

We all know what the Belgian prodigy is capable of and that the £30M price tag is probably justified, but do we really need him? Newest sources suggested that Hazard has agreed to join Tottenham in summer, some went to say that he even signed a contract, but it was quickly revealed by 21 year old himself that no contract has been signed, yet Spurs remain one of his favorable destinations for the summer.

Lille are a big team, but not big enough to hold onto the names like Hazard is, so it is only natural for the player to seek a new club in the summer and I would honestly be shocked if we signed him, mostly due to the fact that we don't really need a player like him at the moment. Sure, he would instantly improve our squad, but in the attacking midfield department, we're pretty strong, I'll go as far as to say that we're the side with the best midfield in the EPL.

We are yet to sign that special player Harry's always mumbling about and Hazard is nothing less than a special player with a hefty price tag attached to his back. Signing him would not just improve our squad, but would also make a statement about our ambitions. With Remy being a long term target, it would be reasonable to expect at least one signing from French Ligue 1, perhaps even a goal machine Giroud, who is valued at €16M by his current employers Montpeiller.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Yet again, no significant signings were made

January transfer window is officially over for Tottenham and I must say I'm disappointed with our activity. Firstly, Harry claims he isn't interested in a single player, yet again, on a deadline day tries to sign a handful of them and only bags an injury-prone veteran who will be only serving on the bench, when both Defoe and Adebayor aren't ready.

I was happy to see Pavlyuchenko go out, especially pleased with the fee involved, yet again showed what business man our chairman really is, but when will they reinvest their money? There were talks of numerous signings this winter, yet only a free transfer was made, even though we still managed to offload some players.

We were linked with a couple of Brazilians, most notably Ganso, who was available for as much as €18M, not a high sum of money, considering the talent and potential that player has, and other Brazilian was a long-term target Leandro Damiao. Both players were linked with summer moves to Tottenham, but we never secured neither of their signatures. Bringing a player like Loic Remy to the squad, or even Papiss Demba Cisse could have increased our chances of silverware this term, but with the squad we currently have and being 5 points behind Manchester duo, I just don't see us as serious title contenders. Hopefully, we'll stick with the 3rd position and will have more willingness to improve in the winter.