Blaming the manager is easy. While AVB should probably do better, the players at his disposal aren't nearly as good as people like to believe, much less the type of players that he needs. The only creative players on the pitch most of the time are Vertonghen and Bale and they're both on the left wing. The Center of the pitch is the place where speed and creativity go to die, and the right side isn't much better. THudd can pass well enough, but isn't anywhere near the quality of Modric in terms of movement or creativity, and neither Siggy or Dempsey come close to being adequate replacements for VdV
Without Moussa Dembele we have nobody who can come close to doing what Luka used to do and that is set a high tempo for our play. This means we struggle to create anything against well-drilled defensive teams. This is extremely evident in our results. The wins over Carlisle United and the Premier League's worst defence Southampton are the only games we've won where Moussa didn't play. Meanwhile, Moussa has yet to lose as a Spur (4w,3D,0L). Conversely, Jake Livermore's 27 min sub appearance against the Saints is the only game he's featured in that we won (W1,3D,3L); the Wigan game was our 1st loss that he didn't play in.
Hudd's passing yesterday was shocking. Agree with everything else. Losing Sandro was a turning point too, we became more vulnerable.
to be honest, i don't know that we can call most of them 'knee-jerk' at this point. we're ten games into the league - 15 in all comps - and there don't appear to be many signs of progress. we can salve ourselves with what is, admittedly, a decent league position; but it doesn't really appear representative, does it? i mean, we play well enough for a half, and rather rubbish for a half, and sometimes it's good enough for the result, and sometimes it isn't. on current form, we're nowhere near 4th, whatever the table says. we look just the same in the cups as in the league, and i suspect it's largely down to good fortune that we've gotten the better results in the latter. we certainly haven't looked any better. or worse, for that matter, so i suppose one could conversely say that we're a bit better than what our results in the europa & league cups imply ... but that's hardly much consolation, is it? anyway, the essence of it (to my mind, anyway - others may disagree) is that we've played 15 games, and allowing 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, etc. (which i know you can't really do, but we haven't [to AVB's credit, imvho] significantly deprioritized any of them, and again, the performances/results feel representative), we've taken from them 23 points. that works out to 1.53 points per game, which over the last five or so years, will get you about 7th place in the league. and that is very much what this team looks like to me. i picked us for 8th this year, and while we're obviously above that now, i can't really say that i've seen much to make me want to modify my prediction. this project is still a gamble that could yet pay off (i certainly hope it does), so i'm not suggesting AVB out, or anything like that. as i've said before, i've got a world of patience. but AVB came on board talking about 'winning things', and taking shots at redknapp for hinting at competing for the league title, but then backing down with every adverse result. frankly, if his implication was that we were too patient with harry, i'm not sure where the complaints can be that folks are expecting a bit more from his team.
We need Demeble, Parker, and I would love, love to see that kid Falque get more time then Dempsey as he and Sig just have not met the standard. Get Ade out there so more and I would even like to see that youngster Pritchard come out and make some moves. Would be amazing. Anyway that probably won't happen, but I can dream. Also I wouldn't mind see Demeble play behind the striker and Parker and Hudds/Sandro in the center.
I believe in AVB. I'm not to worried at all. We got players that aren't playing up to the standard and we have serious injury problems within the team. Once that gets sorted we will be alright.