Spurs have drawn 33% of their last 60 Premier League games, more than any other side.
Draws do not win titles. This season Chelsea have drawn 2 games, Arsenal 5 games, Liverpool 7 games, Manchester City 4, Spurs 8 and Manchester United have drawn 9. Why so many? We all rock up at the Lane for the Boro game knowing that nothing less than a win will do to stay 2nd. We should and could have closed the gap on Chelski on Tuesday and opened a lead over Pool and Woolwich. Twitter went hyper on Tuesday night and a certain Mr Daniel Levy was the main topic of conversation! Why did we have to keep Harry on for the full 90 minute? Because we have no game changer on the bench. We are unbeaten in the league since mid-December. We are on an eight-match run that has seen us take 20 out of a possible 24 points, but, out of the top 6, we do have the worst away record. We won 9 away games last season and drew 7, we’ve only won 4 this season and already drawn 6. It’s the draws that are the concern because it shows that we just don’t have anyone on the bench to turn them into wins. One of the comments in the press stated: Tottenham are on a par with Chelsea in terms of their defence but you look at their bench and you don’t see enough game changers there,’ ‘Chelsea can bring Pedro on, Liverpool can bring Sturridge, you look at Tottenham’s bench and you just wonder if they have enough.’ Sissoko and Janssen cost nearly £50million combined, but Pochettino won’t start them! Nkoudou cost us £9.5million and has made virtually no impact and is now injured. Harry Winks is a great prospect but not yet a game changer and as for Lamela! Who knows when he’ll be back? We can beat any team with our first eleven but when key players get injured our squad player replacements aren’t like for like.
When Harry is not firing or injured we have to rely on Eriksen, Alli or Son to find the goals and if they cannot get through a well drilled defence we don’t have another option. Only two of Spurs’ goals in the League this season have been scored by substitutes, i.e. Son. February is supposed to be a defining month for our season but with both Vert and now Rose out we need to rely on the squad players to step up to the plate. Will Poch still use a back three now Verts and Rose are out? Has Davies got the legs to do what Rose does? Has he got the speed to go wide to get around the back of a tight defence? We will face more defences that will sit back and hold their shape, Boro will do the same on Saturday, and after seeing the Sunderland game they will fancy this one. Boro have now drawn nine Premier League games this season, which is why we need to start aggressively. If we have 10 minutes left and we are locked in a draw with Boro what does Poch have on the bench to change the game? Son has 11 goals and 5 assists this season and is a very effective replacement but, if another attacking player is unavailable, as Rose will be for a month, he may have to start, unless Poch brings in Wimmer and plays 3 at the back. Son is better as an impact player than a starter, someone who can come on and add a different option. At Sunderland Son was far more dangerous than Harry Kane, Dele Alli or Eriksen but too often he made a poor decision or took a poor touch!
It’s difficult to understand how Sissoko is viewed as a fringe player and yet that is exactly what he has become. He should be one of the first names on the team sheet every week. Siss was signed for £30m to give Spurs speed and directness but even Wycombe`s 16-stone lump Adebayo Akinfenwa’s was able to track and tackle Sissoko on Saturday! We gambled that Sissoko’s lack of form at Newcastle was down to his situation and not his personality but it’s not happening for him and Poch needs to sort him out cos we are stuck with him now for the rest of the season. Dier still looks flaky at centre-back and Ben Davies is not an attacker like Rose. Do we now play our February fixtures short on attacking options with Rose out? Poch admits he has a problem, ‘It’s clear something is wrong from the very beginning in the last few games,’ he said. ‘At Sunderland, we competed for only the 45 minutes of the second half.’ ‘I’m disappointed, not frustrated,’ he said. ‘We’re on a good run at the moment, and it was a chance to cut the gap on Chelsea so when you drop two points like tonight then it’s difficult not to feel bad about it.’ ‘I thought we were poor in the first half and although we were better in the second, it wasn’t enough to win the game. “We weren’t aggressive enough – that was the problem and we can’t afford that. ‘We all need to learn and try to fix it.’ How do you fix something when your squad players aren’t good enough?
Middlesbrough are another club struggling in the Prem. No win in six Premier League games and they have not won away since the opening day of the season. They are strong at the back, hold their shape well, work hard in the centre of midfield and have a solid chance maker out wide in Adama Traore but, they remain the division’s lowest-scoring side with 18 goals. Negredo now has six of those after his penalty on Tuesday, but, like Spurs, they do not have another natural goal scorer in the team. So no prizes for guessing how Karanka will set Boro up! Karanka has strengthened his squad with the addition of Adlene Guedioura, Rudy Gestede and Patrick Bamford but they failed to make any impression against the Baggies on Tuesday. Poch was unhappy with how we started against City, Wycombe and Sunderland and his approach to this game will be to attack right from the start and get early goals. Boro have been vulnerable all season against the set piece so let`s hope Eriksen has a better game, his set pieces have been poor. If we are too casual again we will end up with a United/Hull result. I actually wonder if some of the team lose their sharpness after a week or more break. Well there won’t be any breaks this month; 6 matches in 22 days with 4 of them in 10 days so someone had better get Janssen, Wimmer, Lamela and Sissoko sorted out, we don’t have any room for passengers and certainly not anymore injuries.
COYS!
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