Tin Man Seeks Heart
Iron Man
Tottingham
Highly esteemed HH contributor TMWNN called it right last night.
'Three seasons, three managers, the same old problems'.
'It's no coincidence that the team continue to play inconsistently when the heart of the midfield has largely gone unchanged in three seasons.'
'Jol's first full season had the excellent Davids and Carrick to drive the team to 5th place. His next, and last, full season had the excellent partnership between Pointy and the Vulgarian to paper over the cracks (gaping chasm) the loss of the former two left in midfield. Their guile and goals alone gained us 5th once more; expectations reached fever pitch.'
A p*** poor start the following season saw off Jol and a change of manager, barring a short honeymoon period and a lucky cup run, didn't bring with it any real change in league performances, which has resulted in Harry's appointment.'
'Yet another honeymoon is over, but the same old problem persists, only this time we haven't got the talent upfront to be able to overlook the fact that Huddlestone, Lennon, Jenas and Zokora - in what ever combination - just doesn't work.'
I was banging on in the Pre Match Prattle how we'd miss Modric. The absence of Jenas obviously just made things worse.
Poor old Arry could have played Everton 'til three in the morning with an in exhaustable supply of striker substitutions and we still probably wouldn't have scored.
Defoe scored yet again yesterday. Mido would convert more at MFC if he laid off the KFC, the fat Pharaoh.
We are in dire need of either addressing the supply issues with the current players or biting the bullet and buying in guys who can reliably assist. Far too frequently we're using phrases like 'went missing' when we are describing the the players who ought be the very heart of our team.
At least Arry knows this. I was totally unconvinced Jol grasped the problem at all. As for Ramos, who cares what he knew - he was hell bent on taking his secrets to his grave. The last of the great communicators.
Is Arshavin the answer? If so what was the question?
I suggest we stop fannying around and nip out and get ourselves someone who plays in this league, can get stuck in, deliver the ball to the business end of our £30 odd million strikeforce ...and preferably do Malbranque impressions.
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Premier League 2008/2009
Darren Bent
Tottenham
.............hang on a minute, are my ears/eyes deceiving me or didnt we just string a run of games 75% of the league would die for....oh and did i imagine we had qualified for Uefa cup knock out stages?, oh and didnt we just beat the other scousers so overwhelmingly you'd have thought we were the defending champions????
bottom line, get over it, its pretty clear to me that Arry probably wanted to rest a few and bring in the KBP's of this world to rest our first choice lot but there isnt quite enough quality there ATM.
Our boys are playing game after game and somewhere it catches up with you; Citeh were exactly the same as us and Villa.......see a common theme guys??? Everton looked fresher and by a massive coincidence they are out of Carling and Uefa cups......
Relax, we will get back on it with who we have and Arry will strenghten the squad in a months time and all will be much healthier
OH MY GOD WE'RE SINKING!!!
Or alternatively - we played a bit shit (in front of one of the quietest WHL's I can remember) and lost 1-0. Not exactly the end of the world.
My only real concern is that after watching Everton win every long ball we out down the pitch, why the f*&k did we not try something different?
I also want to see Lennon and Bentley swapping sides as they see fit like Lennon used to with Steed...
COYS.
Argument 1: We still have the same recent form (last 8 games) as Chelscum who are still currently top.
Argument 2: AWOL and MIA are not uncommon terms
The first argument states that we're doing ok and have suffered a slip-up here. The 2nd argument is that there is still a glaring problem and that the team is not optimal.
My personal opinion on this issue sides with TMWNN and HH in that we are an incomplete team in terms of complete personnel. Some of our players are complete on some days, but most of the time they are still in development - this is why we lack the consistency of top teams. IFF everyone in the current squad played to their maximum potential then we could be realistic challengers, but I think if we all looked at the squad list and the relationships between their key team-mates, we all know its just not good enough.
Promising components for me include:
- The Corluka - Woodgate - King (when playing) - Gomes (now communication is getting better)
- The Modders & Bent Combo we saw before the injury
- The Pav & Frazier show when on form
- JoH and Bale down the left - I've said it many times before, but IMO they balance eachothers games nicely giving fluidity in attack and cover in defence.
For me the hole (without an ace in it) is the relationship between Bentley, Thudd, JJ, Zok. Can you pick a consistent 3 out of that 4 that work well together? They can all contribute something to the midfield, but just because you might like e.g chcocolate, capers, anchovies and mustard - it doesn't mean they're a tasty combo!
Individually we've got great ingredients, but we certainly need more minerals in the midfield for enough nutritional value to sustain our push for glory.
Solution is simple: Find and buy the right ingredients to complement the existing, and train to be a team. This doesn't happen overnight and usually takes a season or two. If you keep opening the oven when you're trying to make a delicate souffle, or nice cake even, it inevitably flops 
Reply to toddspur:
.............hang on a minute, are my ears/eyes deceiving me or didnt we just string a run of games 75% of the league would die for....oh and did i imagine we had qualified for Uefa cup knock out stages?, oh and didnt we just beat the other scousers so overwhelmingly you'd have thought we were the...
I totally agree. Although it's obviously annoying we didn't kick on up the league with another win, but I would rather drop points(which every side inevitably does from time to time, especially after Europe on Thursday when they'd had the week off, longest bracket in the world!)to a side like Everton, who you wouldn't expect us to beat every time. We only lost to a deflected goal. Gomes looked better again, the rest did look tired and lacking in ideas. After West Ham and Manure, we have a run of seven very winable games. Moders might be back by then, God we've missed him. Tinker with some additions in Jan when hopefully we'll be top half...possible cup wins...when Ramos went anyone of us would have paid for Prem survival, so lets get expectations to a realistic levels for the players we currently have.
Glory glory.
Reply to Trembly:
Argument 1: We still have the same recent form (last 8 games) as Chelscum who are still currently top.
Argument 2: AWOL and MIA are not uncommon terms
The first argument states that we're doing ok and have suffered a slip-up here. The 2nd argument is that there is still a glaring...
"Individually we've got great ingredients, but we certainly need more minerals in the midfield for enough nutritional value to sustain our push for glory.
Solution is simple: Find and buy the right ingredients to complement the existing, and train to be a team. This doesn't happen overnight and usually takes a season or two. If you keep opening the oven when you're trying to make a delicate souffle, or nice cake even, it inevitably flops"
Very very good. Lots of good ingredients but continuing your analogy perhaps missing 'the eggs that bind'....
Reply to Poshspur:
Reply to toddspur:.............hang on a minute, are my ears/eyes deceiving me or didnt we just string a run of games 75% of the league would die for....oh and did i imagine we had qualified for Uefa cup knock out stages?, oh and didnt we just beat the other scousers so overwhelmingly you'd have thought we were the...
I totally agree. Although it's obviously annoying we didn't kick on up the league with another win, but I would rather drop points(which every side inevitably does from time to time, especially after Europe on Thursday when they'd had the week off, longest bracket in the world!)to a side like...
agree we miss Modric if for his industry as for another option to rest other players; personally i wouldnt buy anyone for our midfield in January, i would buy a CB and a Striker, we have enough quality in that dept to string another 10 games together with 50% of them as wins, the rest as draws and defeats.............its called realism. We need to survive this year and maybe win a cup then go for it in the prem next season
Reply to dRb:
OH MY GOD WE'RE SINKING!!!
Or alternatively - we played a bit shit (in front of one of the quietest WHL's I can remember) and lost 1-0. Not exactly the end of the world.
My only real concern is that after watching Everton win every long ball we out down the pitch, why the...
As on the official site, the explanation was clear; we we're blocked out of the key midfield battles and had to revert to long balls. Azza was marked out of the game on both wings. Thudd tried to play the killer long ball too often and really should have passed to Bent when he had an eye on goal. We were a bit unlucky with the missed chances (in the way that Rude van horstelroy or Sammy Etoo or Da Villa would have put them away but can't complain otherwise...
As the one from celebrity master chef says in the opening sequence "Cooking metaphors, doesn't get tougher than this!"....well it's what he's trying to say.
) 
Thanks for cleaning up my abysmal grammar once again, although if Trembly is making grammar errors, there's hope for us all.
113 Comments
Hindsight is a glorious thing, but O'Hara was a must for a game against everton. Big Toms silky passing is all very well when he is given space, but everton knew that when he is closed down he panics. Like to see his pass rate yesterday.
Did someone say Zokora played yesterday?
Totally agree with you, I've been going on about our lack of guts in midfield since Gazza left. And each season we buy another player who sleeps for most of the match. The problem isn't our strikers or the defence, it never totally has been, it's been our lack of true grit in the center. At least listnig to 'Arry yesterday, he not only knows what the problem is, but will also address it, lets hope Daniel's listening.