GG's End of Season Round Up!

Well the curtain is finally down and another season is over for Spurs.

So how do I view our performances and players over the 10 months?

Highlights are few indeed: Eriksen is obviously one & of course winning at Old Trafford after so many years is another.

Lowlights: Phew, where do I begin? Obviously the big one was losing GB, virtually impossible to replace even by 7 players!

The sacking of AVB in December, I think he should have been given until the end of the season & it made little sense to me. TS did okay but his obvious lack of experience & tactical awareness was there for all to see.

Losing heavily to City & Liverpool hurt, as did our losses to Arsenal & West Ham. The latter 3 times, this to a team that finished 29 points behind us in the table

I don't think Liverpool had a better squad than us, however they had a better team, more settled and a fantastic strike force & also bought into their managers style & philosophy on how to play

Player reviews: Lloris was brilliant at times and is certainly a World Class goal keeper.

Walker was beginning to look very good until he got injured.

Naughton, able deputy at right back but will never be more than that.

Kaboul looked great when he came back from injury, his performances dropped off though as season went on.

Verthongen seems to be dispirited for whatever reason. Very good player who dropped his head since Christmas.

Rose, frankly a liability & not good enough!

Dawson, too exposed when faced with pace. No doubting his commitment though!

Sandro, on song he is as good as anyone in the PL. Just needs to avoid injury!

Lennon has been a big disappointment for me. Should be continually looking to get to by line and cross instead of constantly stopping and going backwards.

Townsend obviously believed all the hype, he is not as good as he thinks he is. Too predictable and his shots to goals ration is appalling. Mainly because he always shoots from outside the box instead of looking for the better option. He is also way too predictable & good full backs manage him comfortably.

Ade showed what he can do once he was back in the team, however his form did drop off after a few months.

Now for the new guys:

Eriksen, we should build the team around this guy

Paulinho........Potentially a top player & showed it on occasions but too infrequently.

Chadli...Under rated & certainly better than Lennon & Townsend

Capoue....Another under rated player who is also very versatile.

Chiriches.....Classy footballer who just needs to know when to try clever things and when to hit row z with a clearance!

Soldado.....We never played to his strengths and he is more suited to either 4-3-3 or 4-4-2, not as a lone player up front.

Lamela..........Has all the ability in the World & has not suddenly lost that. Has had problems adjusting over here. Even when he has played outstandingly, he has been benched next game

Integrating new players is always difficult, especially from abroad, however to try and do it with 7 new players was obviously a step too far.

We should also take heart, that whilst a lot of them have not performed to our expectations it often takes a season or so to adjust to the PL.

Remember Yaya Toure was laughed at by City fans in his first 6-8 months at the club, look at him now

Also Coutinho has been one of Liverpool's best players this year & yet he had a poor first season. Ozil at Arsenal, who is a great player, has also struggled. Several of Chelsea's new signings have struggled and taken a while to adjust to the rigours of the PL.

So with a new manager coming in, a possible change of style of play plus 2-3 new players 2014/2015 should at least be very interesting.

My managerial shortlist: De Boer, Pochettino & Benitez

New players in short list: Lukaku (if Paulinho goes to Chelsea) Benteke, Bony (would love him) Shawcross (vastly under rated) Coentro (or someone similar) Lallana (If Pochettino comes, a possibility) Begovic or Krul if Lloris leaves.

Obviously any new arrivals are dependent on who the new man in charge is. In retrospect 6th is not bad, however we also have to be realistic. Until we get a new bigger ground our limitations in terms of wages etc will always restrict our capabilities to consistently challenge for top 4.

So as all Spurs fans do, I am looking forward optimistically to the new season & hopefully the roller coaster ride will give us a better ride next time