Tottenham sit in sixth, ten points away from fourth place, just two points in front of Manchester United in seventh place. With six games left to play, it seeems unlikely the club will attain their Champions League target this year.
Nearly every game Tottenham have played against the top four, they have lost. They did manage to draw one game against Chelsea, but that single point is their only result against a top four club. This statistic sums up their season. Forever seeking a top four finish… yet still a fair distance away. How can a team be in the top four if they lose to all the teams that are already there? The answer of course is that they cannot.
So, who’s to blame for Tottenham not hitting targets this season?
Is Andre Villas-Boas to blame? He was sacked after a poor run of games, the last being the Liverpool game where his team lost 5-0 to Liverpool at home. Although, the Portuguese manager was in many fan’s eyes, a good manager. He got Spurs to fourth in 2011/2012 season and one point off 4th in the 2012/2013 season.
Villas-Boas did not preach the type of attacking football that we have seen in Tim Sherwood’s reign, but it was good possession based football. Sure, going all-out attack can get goals, but this method can lose to sacrificing a lot of possession and allows the opposition to get back into the game, or at least score anyway. Many fans have doubted his tactics and dismissed his tactics as boring and ineffective. Perhaps when Gareth Bale was playing for Tottenham, the tactics proved more fruitful than this season. The Welshman certainly got the club out of a lot of tricky situations.
Maybe that’s where the blame is on the board for selling Bale? No. Bale was always going to go. He clearly stated his dream boyhood club was Real Madrid, so how Spurs could stop him leaving, nobody knows. Luka Modric and Rafael Van der Vaart have left the club before him, Rafa in slightly different conditions to Luka and Gareth’s departure however.
Is Daniel Levy more interested in the money than what his team achieves? No again. The club has sold some of its greatest players in recent times, but to be a healthy club in financial terms is critical. Levy keeps things ticking over at the club. Perhaps he is more keen on getting a profit sometimes more than a better player, but he certainly hasn’t been the worst chairman. Twitter showcases many Spurs fan’s opinions, and many are negative about Levy. Some even call for him to be sacked.
How can they achieve top four if they have had so many injuries this season? This is the question. This is what is to blame. The squad is composed of some quality players. Some haven’t hit the ground running yet, mainly due to injury.
Erik Lamela, a very talented footballer with bags of potential simply hasn’t made an effect this season. Why? He’s been injured for most of it. (Plus it’s his first year in England). Lamela is a future top player at the club, when he comes into form, Spurs will reap the benefits for sure.
There’s not been a string of games where Tottenham have had the true real first team out. Danny Rose has been out, so Kyle Naughton fills in at left back which unbalances the side a bit. Then Sandro and Mousa Dembele get injured, two key parts of the midfield. Paulinho gets into some kind of form, then gets injured. Emmanuel Adebayor too, has missed a few games.
Injuries happen. They cannot be avoided in a season unless football becomes non-contact. Injuries are inevitable. It’s just about who fills the gap of the injured player. Spurs do have some good cover players, with a deep squad. Although many have been lacking when their time has come. It’s frustrating to see an in-form Andros Townsend ripping up the Premier League at the start of the season, popping a hamstring and then becoming a shadow of his former self.
The managers may be partly to blame. The board may be partly to blame. But, to put the blame on them would be a little unfair. How is it their fault that so many injuries have wrecked havoc on the squad? It isn’t.
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