Another season, another hurdle too high?

Article by Michael halepas

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After a humiliating showing at Old Trafford last weekend, Spurs are all but out of the running for the much coveted Champions League places. We’ve been playing catch up for most of the season and appear to be dropping off the teams in red following the weekend’s results. In truth, we’ve not looked like a top 4 team much of this season.

Experience tells us that each team will drop points in the weeks to come but Spurs are as good as 3 games behind 4th spot (taking into consideration goal difference) with 9 league games left. Somehow Spurs have to accrue a points tally of +7 more than Man Utd in the remaining fixtures just to finish above them.

Form says that won’t happen but if our chances are to improve, Spurs have to win the next 4 league games: Leicester (H), Burnley (A), Villa (H), Newcastle (A). On paper, this isn’t such a tall order but at least 3 of those teams are fighting relegation and will be battling to take whatever points they can. These teams will be more than pumped up for the task that faces them. Can the same so easily be said of a team of players who played so badly against a Man Utd side that had a kick up the backside only days before?

While the odds are we won’t be in the draw for next year’s Champions League, we still have to aim for maximum points in the remaining fixtures and shouldn’t expect to have to rely so much on the star performers (Lloris, Erikson and Kane) to drag us over the line. The wider worry over Lloris is that he may grow disheartened at having to bail out his lacklustre team mates so often. Were it not for the agile Frenchman in between the posts, it’s not worth thinking where the club might lie in the Premier League.

Even Harry Kane can’t be expected to be the only match winner in upcoming matches. Yes, he’s been brilliant so far but in recent matches teams have adopted similar defensive techniques to stifle him, limit his space and stop passes directly to his feet. The whole squad needs to improve their contribution in terms of assists, goals and points.

Whatever praise we can heap on Harry Kane, an equal amount of derision we can direct at Emmanuel Adebayor. Not only are his wages an insult to the poor but his effort and commitment are shameful. Added to that the sheer embarrassment felt for Soldado given his woeful match day contributions and in many respects it’s a miracle to think Spurs have been in contention for the top 4 spots so late on in the season.

Compounding MP’s difficulties this season is the point that our mega money signing, the Argentine ‘wonderkid’ solution to our creative problems, isn’t firing and hasn’t performed sufficiently or regularly to the level expected. While one may have a brighter future at WHL than the other, both Soldado and Lamela have been a huge let down this season.

I couldn’t mention the game at Old Trafford and fail to touch on Kyle Walker ‘performance’ which drew justified criticism. For an established first team player, England-capped professional, in peak physical condition, having prepared all week for this game, KW’s ‘contribution’ was unacceptable.

Too often KW gets away with costly slip-ups and errors of judgment because of the lack of qualified competition in his position. Disagree? Watch over the tapes of the three games immediately prior to the humbling at Old Trafford. I’d be the first to admit that his attacking game has improved slightly from previous seasons but his primary function is as a defender. I.e. to stop goal scoring chances for opposition teams rather than creating them! Even Lloris has had to give him a telling off on the pitch!

The impression I get is that he isn’t the sharpest tool in the box. Either that or he daydreams a lot. Making the situation worse is the fact that he seems to panic in pressure situations. It was a feature of his game the last couple of seasons and hasn’t been addressed since then.

If he weren’t the speediest right-back in the league, his shortcomings would only be more evident. More worrying is that a few PL managers have noticed the same thing about him and the sooner he gets his head right (if there is a solution for being a bit thick), the better.

Whatever assessment is made of Mauricio Pochettino’s first season at the helm, we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that he is a manager with two useless first team strikers at his disposal. How much better would any other manager have done with this attack?! How could we realistically expect to finish higher after 38 games than any of the teams boasting more proficient goal scorers?!

Had it not been for Kane and Erikson this season, our attack would be as blunt as a knife with no blade! To these individuals we should be thankful. They have time and again over this season, pulled something magical out the bag.

Harry Kane is of course the revelation of the season. If only we could tie him up for the long-term while complementing his services with the addition of even one other striker capable of racking up a minimum of 15 league goals a season - our fortunes would drastically improve. MP’s major tasks as concerns Kane are twofold: 1) Keep the kid fresh enough for the remaining league games, 2) Work out a way to maximise his influence on games now that he is being double-marked.

No doubt MP is working hard on the training field this week. Here’s hoping for a much improved cohesive team performance against rock bottom Leicester. COYS!

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