Water Cooler Talk: On Spurs' Many Isssues

The Corporate Office, in the midst of another lavish redecorating scheme
Photo by Romana Klee on Flickr

 

 

Heard around the office recently:

Ed: James...!  [eyes widen] To what do we owe this great pleasure....?! [Expresses shock, slaps his knee while doubling over with laughter]

James: I'm back in town, Ed.  [grimaces, folds arms in front of chest and leans on wall next to the water cooler] Spurs are struggling, and so are the Gators, but I can't keep hiding forever.  My family needs me. [shakes head dejectedly].

Ed: I'll bet..! [rolls eyes]. 

James: Hey, here's some gallow humor you'll appreciate.  I heard this on the radio yesterday: AV, no plan B. [looks at Ed hopefully for a sign of encouragement]

Ed:  [picks up the thread of the conversation and runs with it in earnest] You know Spurs' biggest problem is Roberto Soldado doesn’t score, James.  Worse, he isn’t even a threat to score.  He can’t beat anyone with the ball, doesn’t head them in, doesn’t kick them in.... Frankly, I'm not sure what his strength is....  Van Persie doesn’t dribble by people, but when he gets the ball up front he puts it in the back of the net.  Lewandowski's the same way.

James: While Soldado gets pretty much zero service with nary a cross from the two inverted wingers that AVnoplanB continually insists on playing, nor a through ball from our ineffectual number 10's caught in the middle of all that congestion, he is also inherently unsuited -- like Defoe -- to be a lone striker. That's what I really still don't understand about that acquisition. [scratches his head] The only one who is even theoretically suited for this system is...wait for it...wait for it.... Adebayor! Aaaarrrrrgghhh!!!!! [puts gun shaped finger to his head and pulls imaginary trigger]

Ed: [chuckles] I never watched Soldado in La Liga so I really don’t know what they did with him or what his strengths are.... But frankly I haven’t seen any strengths yet. [frowns and pauses] By the way, I think AVB agrees with you about Adebayor. Where’s that guy been, at the Russian affiliate?

 

James: [snickers] 

 

Ed: [light goes off inside his head] Hold on a minute: Did you just use the word "nary"?

 

Spurs on Wheels

Photo by Glen Martucci

Ed is happy, for now:

Ever since that game the week before this week I've been just too excited. . . . too excited . . . . but I don't totally wan't to say it because I may just jinx it, but it's my job, kinda, or sort of, or, well, I don't really get paid for it but regardless here it goes……

Spurs are pretty good.

Damnit!!  Can't believe I let it out.

Christian Erikson as a number 10 who's calm with the ball and gracefully creative?  Yep.  Changes the whole dynamic of these Spurs.  Tough in the holding two with Moussa Dembele and Paulinho (and Sandro and Capoue -- what is that depth?), and graceful and purposeful up front with Erikson and Roberto Soldado.  And while Andros Townsend takes too many bad shots -- too many!! -- at least he's not hurt all the time and appears the threat.  And he might not even have to start because Eric Llamela looks pretty darn good also.  And Nasir Chadli and even Gylfi Sigurdsson is in on the action freed up of some space with all these other playmakers.

Spurs are pretty good.

Last year they go into a game like Cardiff and Man City all over it losing that one after dominating and banging it off every part of the woodwork and every part of a ridiculously lucky/good goalkeeper.  But this year, this year they win it with a fancy flick in the 93rd minute.  And it wasn't even Bale!!

Spurs (and Such)

Ed Composing
photo by Max Braun	via PhotoRee

Ed's got more than a few thoughts on the young season:

o The loss of Willian to Chelsea didn't seem to affect Spurs that much against Swansea yesterday at White Hart Lane.  Unlike in their first game, Spurs out-athleted the Swans AND looked good on the ball.  Capoue was particularly good both on the ball and in defense, allowing Spurs to push both Dembele and Paulinho forward and to play with only one holder, in basically a 4-1-4-1.  This is close to the preferred lineup of AVB, and not surprisingly, of Jose Mourinho.  It simply takes the right person to be that holder, and with both Capoue and Sandro on the roster, Spurs should be able to field this lineup with regularity against teams other than the top four or five.

o For years American fans have questioned the athleticism of European soccer players, that is:  "Wouldn't it be better if the players were bigger and faster?"  Spurs are riding that experiment now, and after the smallest of samples the first reviews are positive.  Dembele, Paulinho, Chadli, Aboue, and Sandro are all big and fast.  They were able to completely stifle the Swansea passing game for most of the match.  Even though United beat this same Swansea team handily, United could barely touch the ball and had no answers to Swansea's position.  Indeed it was merely the supremely talented Van Persie that was the sole difference maker in the sides. Spurs, however, dominated the ball but both struggled to score and were somewhat unlucky to have not scored.  And this remains the deficiency of Spurs -- the lack of a true creative number ten.

o AVB is not unaware of this deficiency, attempting to pull in Willian for £30 million.  But the deal fell through at the last minute when Mourinho gleefully stole him out from under their noses at £32 million. It's fine for Spurs to be angry at Mourinho and Chelsea for this, but frankly they have no argument.  Even if the sole reason that Chelsea stole Willian from Spurs was to keep their rivals (okay too strong a word) from getting him -- as it has been reported that AVB and Mourinho seem to think -- that's still just a whine and not an argument.  If you want to keep Willian, either offer more or convince him that he's not going to play at Chelsea like he will at Spurs.  Or that with him, Spurs have a realistic chance of actually winning the league.  Are they really that far from Chelsea?  I'm starting to think not.  

o It seems now that Spurs are targeting a new number 10.  What's nice about this is that it's clear that AVB understands that Gilfy, though a nice player, is not the solution for a top-tier club at the number 10 position.  He is simply outshined from an athletic standpoint by so many of his teammates.  And while we are celebrating all of these new Spurs and the acumen it took to pick them up, we can't forget Holtby, who frankly has yet to impress and seems now more an extra than anything else.  That said, this transfer period has seemed miles and miles ahead of teams like United (they couldn't use Capoue or Paulinho?), or of course Arsenal, a team that annoys me more each year (there's nothing worse than arrogant mediocrity, it's so. . . . French).