By far our most eventful season in a long time as Mauricio Pochettino once again delivered CL qualification and guided the team to the CL Final, only to fall to a superior Liverpool side which finished 26 poinst ahead of us in the league. The PL campaign saw us stagger over the line for a 4th consecutive top 4 placing, thus guaranteeing CL football in the first full season at the new stadium. Despite the running gag of the new ground construction delays and the fans' Wembley fatigue, Spurs were bang in the title race 2/3 of the way through the season just 5 points behind Man City and Liverpool. On February 13th, Spurs kicked off at Burnley with a chance to close the gap to 2 points but lost 2-1, a defeat which saw us go on to lose 7 of our final 12 league fixtures and drop all the way to 4th. We also lost our last 6 away games in the league after winning 11 of the first 13 away from home. It was a mixed bag in the domestic cup competitions, as away wins at West Ham and Arsenal got us to the semi-finals of the League Cup before we lost out to Chelsea on penalties. In the FA Cup, we went out in the 4th round away to Crystal Palace in one of our more dismal performances of the season. But it was in the CL where we played our best football, surviving the group stage with late goals against PSV, Inter and Barcelona and continuing the trend in the quarters and semi-finals agains Man City and Ajax respectively. The Final was a disappointment, but this team had no business being there and showed a great deal of heart and courage to rescue hopeless situations. We have come a long way from the team that naively went out of the group stage 3 seasons ago. Among the playing squad, Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko emerged as an unlikely but effective midfield partnership, while Son, Moura and Kane led the attack, with Eriksen as usual our best play-maker. In defense, Danny Rose re-established himself as the first choice LB, while the Belgian duo of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld anchored central defense. Keiran Trippier had a poor season at RB and neither of his understudies, Serge Aurier or Kyle Walker-Peters, emerged to threaten his starting place. In goal, Hugo Lloris had an erratic season, but his 3 penalty saves are the reason we are back in the CL and got as far as the CL Final. Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama, who were attracting the eye of Manchester United not that long ago, are now well past their sell-by date. It is clear the squad needs to be refreshed and improved if we are to kick on and win some silverware next season. The underlying numbers give cause for concern. We only took 26 points from our final 19 league fixtures and lost a staggering 20 games in all competitions, while our goals scored, goals conceded and goal difference have all declined over the past 2 seasons. With all the cash flowing into the club's coffers from the new stadium revenues and the CL windfall, there is no excuse for Daniel Levy and Pochettino not to invest in the squad.
Kane's injury also hurt, though not as bad as Dembele. Interesting side note to that: Dembele, Lamela, and Wanyama all had lengthy injuries and did not come back as good/consistent as prior. Perhaps a residual of the WHL curse which will be changed with the new palace?
I thought one of the tell-tale signs was when we opened the new stadium vs. Crystal Palace and 9 of our starting 11 were the same as the team which had started the final game at WHL in May 2017, with the odd men out being Mousa Dembélé (sold) and Victor Wanyama (bench).
People are being very quick to write off Eric Dier. Injury and illness has messed with his season (and tbf he's looked awful since he came back) but he didn't get to be England's starting DM by accident. Wanyama I'm ready to give up on (sadly), but not Dier. Dier + Winks as two defensive options (albeit very different), Sissoko + A.N.Other as the box to box .
Dier is done. He is our version of Phil Jones. The game at Bournemouth was the final straw for me, when he was overrun by their midfield and should have been sent off twice. At all events, there are better options out there for defensive midfield that we should be exploring. If we are settling for players like Dier in the squad, we won't win anything.
I agree. Dier was good when he first got to DM, but he has since faded. I'm wondering, though, if Wanyama is sold will Dier become first choice and return to his old form?
There are plenty of games that don't need a specialist DM when we have Winks, to my mind he's becoming a Carrick type deep lying midfielder (as opposed to the Kante type of DM). I'd be perfectly happy with Dier as one of 4 for centre midfield, he plays when either Winks is unavailable or we feel the need to add in a more defensively minded player. Let him feel his way back to fitness and form - yes the Bournemouth game was a horrific performance (and it wasn't the only one), but he could still be an important player for us.
Why is everyone so smitten with Winks? No forward passing whatsoever, just backpasses or non dangerous passes sideways. No physical traits. Give me Sissoko and Ndombele in central midfield, or find a good passer next to Ndombele because Winks is not cutting it if you want to challenge for the title.