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So, your final thoughts 2011-2012 season?

Lows

Arsenal away. A real chance to lay down a marker and put a nail into their coffin. Instead it was one of the most useless displays I have ever seen at their place - and there have been a few. Also nobody has still given a reason why Lennon was not picked for this game.
- City 3-2
- Chelsea 5-1
- The Sunderland, Norwich and QPR games



Highs

The pre-crimbo unbeaten run
Liverpool 4-0
Saudi Sportswashing Machine 5-0
Arse 2-1 at home

The overiding sense is one of frustration knowing it should have been so much better. We should have had 3rd sown up by Mid-April, instead we are now clinging to the hope that Bayern beat Chelsea to get CL football (which they won't). The Football gods are all Gooners, that I am sure of.
 
Since it has been - repeatedly - mentioned, that an assessment on Spurs shouldn't be until the end of the season, i.e. until 38 games have been played, I'll oblige. Over the full season. Fair enough.

Between August 2011 and Mid-February 2012

Spurs played 25 league games and got 53 points. Thats an average of 2.12 points per game.

We were cruising, and SAF said we were playing the best football. We were, and looked like beating anyone. Challenging for the title was mentioned by 'the pundits' and a top 3 finish was expected by the same, let alone fans. Qualification for the CL was my pre-season expectation, with the squad we have. After the shocking form of Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, I and many fans expected that end result moreso. At least.

Then......

Between 26th February 2012 and 21st April 2012

Spurs played 9 league games and got 6 points. Thats an average of 0.67 points per game.

The collapse. Appalling. Disastrous. Way clear of Arsenal. Clear daylight. Utter capitulation and nose-dive (for the second season running). Remarkable coincidence is that the England manager job becomes available, at precisely the start of that period, and our manager is a virtual cert for the job, not least due to help from his media mates. In fact Capello has the common decency to resign on the same day that Redknapp is 'cleared' from court, for tax evasion, too. Nice timing for the FA, that! Numerous press utterings by our manager over the next few weeks near sever Redknapp's ties with Spurs. Extraordinary dis-loyalty. Time for a change? But no.


Between Late April and End of Season May 2012

Spurs played 4 league games and got 10 points. Thats an average of 2.50 points per game.

A late rally of sorts, remarkably timed following Redknapp not getting the England job, and an enforced stay at Spurs. Three wins and a draw. Sounds good, except that four wins were needed (as said Redknapp himself) to secure 3rd. Which by then was looking a neccessity to secure CL. Spurs draw at an appaling Aston Villa, who shortly after sack their manager after one year, for poor performance. A win against Fulham in the last game allows a thankful Arsenal to finish in 3rd, as they too win. Turning a 10 point gap (with them behind Spurs), to being 1 point ahead. Spurs now have to rely on arch-enemy Chelsea to lose in the CL Final, to allow Spurs to get CL football next season.

Conclusion

This isn't a report, but more of a horror story! We should have WALKED 3rd place this season, with the Goons, Chelsea and Liverpool being in such a state. To blow up, again, for the second season running, points the finger at the management.

If we replace the 0.67 points per game collapse period (9 games) of February to April as per above, and use the average points per game of the earlier season (2.12 points per game) instead, we find that Spurs would have finished solidly in 3rd, with 82 points, not 69. And would have finished way above Arsenal. Which is what many of us expected. Not the abject collapse and 4th place finish by the skin of our teeth that we have had, with red faces (again).

Not good enough.
New manager needed.
New investment needed.

If the Spurs board allow Redknapp anywhere near large transfer funds, I worry. Saha and Nelsen is about his level.

Sorry mate, but that's a load of brick. If the scum had taken the points earned between late Feb and early April, and averaged it out over a season then they would have got 114 points. It stands to reason that if you look at the average points per game during your best period of the season it would be way higher than the end of season points per game average. Blips will happen, and it's generally the team that is the most consistent that wins the league.
 
Low - losing to the scum after being 2-0 up. I've left their ground gutted on many times over the years but this one hurt more than ever

High - beating the scum at the lane
 
The season just gone:

Chelsea had a manager who didn't work, and it showed in results.

Arsenal? Take RVP out this season, and they would have been mid table. That was a known quantity in advance too.

Emirates Marketing Project. Early days for them as a real force, but continued investment over the next few seasons, with more experience, will see them up with Barca, IMHO.

Man Utd. The consistent threat. One always to fear.

We could and should have got another 10 points last season:

Drawing at home to Stoke, and Wolves. Losing at home to Norwich. Losing at QPR. There is 10 points for starters. We should have won all those. Lets not even mention the Villa fiasco a week ago.And if Redknapp was/is England manager material, he certainly should have been capable of that level and standard.

BUt what about the Fulham away game, when they absolutely battered us, but we somehow robbed them and came away with three points. It's swings and roundabouts, sometimes you win games you don't deserve to and vice verca. We definitely need to work on converting our massively superior possession into more wins, as it is frustrating have 70% of the ball and all the chances but not scoring, such as the Stoke game at home, and the Chelsea game away. We need better striking options to convert the chances our midfield create, that is what the difference is. The scum don't create as many chances as we do, but they have a man up top who converts a much higher percentage of them than our strikers do. It's not rocket science. If RVP had been playing for us this season we may well have won the league. That is why it is vital we sign two top class strikers this year.
 
@WhoScored (http://www.whoscored.com) with some interesting facts from the season:

Angel Rangel: Had more touches of the ball than any other player in the Premier League this season, with 3231 touches

Grant Holt: Committed 89 fouls this season - more than any other player in the Premier League this season (Fellaini 88, Song 73)

QPR: Completed just 86 passes in their final game of the season (vs Emirates Marketing Project) - the fewest by a team in a Premier League game this season

Yohan Cabaye: Made the most tackles in Premier League games this season, with 117. (Dembele 113, Allen 110, Parker/Figueroa 107)

Luka Modric: Completed more passes in the PL this season (2215) than any other player.

Joey Barton: @Joey7Barton made 490 inaccurate passes in the opposition half of the pitch this season - the most of all outfielders in the PL

Stewart Downing: Had the most shots (72) without scoring & made the most key passes (55) without getting an assist in the PL this season

Victor Moses: Completed more successful dribbles than any other player in the Premier League this season, with 95 (Hoilett 2nd most with 87)

Liverpool: Scored with just 6% of their shots on goal (incl. blocked) this season - the worst conversion rate in the Premier League

Emirates Marketing Project & Blackburn: Scored the joint most goals from set piece situations in the PL this season (19), while Villa scored the fewest (3)

Alex McLeish: Drew 42% of matches in the last 2 seasons, scoring 0.97 goals per game - the highest draw rate & lowest goal rate of PL teams

Emirates Marketing Project 3-2 QPR: City had 44 attempts at goal - 4 more than any other team in a single game in Europe's top 5 leagues this season

Andy Carroll: Has had more headed attempts (41) than any other player in the Premier League this season, yet only scored 1 headed goal

Fulham and Liverpool: Have each had 5 own goals scored in their favour this season - more than any other side in Europe's top 5 leagues

Best PL shot on target conversion rates 2011/12: Stoke 38%, Emirates Marketing Project 37%, Man Utd 36%, Saudi Sportswashing Machine 34%, Norwich 32%, Sunderland/Blackburn 31%

Worst PL shot on target conversion rates 2011/12: Liverpool 21%, Fulham 23%, Wigan/Bolton 25%, West Brom/Wolves 26%, QPR 27%

Clint Dempsey: Only Robin van Persie (56%) has scored or assisted a higher proportion of his side's PL goals this season than Dempsey's 53%

Djibril Cisse: Has played 8 games since moving to QPR and has either scored (6 times) or been sent off (2 times) in each of those games

Best conversion rates in Europe's top 5 leagues (min. 15 goals): Higuain 37%, Milito 35%, Huntelaar 30%, Harnik 28%, Palacio 27%, Gomez 26%

Worst conversion rates in Europe's top 5 leagues (15+ goals): Giovinco 11%, Dempsey 12%, Di Natale 13.6%, Giroud 14%, Miccoli 14.4%, Ba 15%

Most 'diving catches' by goalkeepers in Europe's top 5 leagues this season: Iraizoz 24, Foster/Ramirez 23, Boruc/Roberto/Szczesny 20

Jonas Olsson: The West Brom defender has blocked more shots than any other outfielder in the Premier League this season, with 39 blocks

John Terry: Has made 3 goal line clearances this season (joint 3rd most in the PL) but also 3 errors leading to a goal (most of outfielders)

Saudi Sportswashing Machine: Have been saved by goal line clearances on 12 occasions this season - more than any other team in Europe's top 5 leagues



PL Team of the Season:
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Lowest point: Easily the loss to Chelsea in the cup semi-final. That was painful, It's never taken me so long to get over a loss like that one.

High point: Probably That great run we had at the beginning of the season after Adebayor and Parker signed.

I was more disappointed with the Emirates Marketing Project game than the Chelsea semi final. Maybe because we've lost so many times in semi finals in the last two decades, I just expect us to lose them now, no matter who the opponent is.

My high points:

Beating Arsenal
Smashing Liverpool
Smashing Saudi Sportswashing Machine

Low points:
Losing at Emirates Marketing Project, easily the most disappointed I've been after a game for years!
Getting gubbed by the scum after leading 2-0
Getting robbed at Stoke
Pretty much our form from end of Feb to April
Watching Arsenal get so many late goals coming back to win seemingly every week
Seeing Chelsea get twice as much as luck as any 4 teams since Di Matteo was installed as manager
 
But he deserves to be over Arteta, so it should probably be Toure and Modric in the middle. I'd also have Dempsey playing off of van Persie.

Modric is definitely a better player than Arteta, but Arteta did pop up with some important goals in big games, notably when they beat Emirates Marketing Project.
 
it was hard to take Arse and Chelsea defeats, but the one that really got to me was the 1-0 loss to QPR that late in the season. And it had to be Taraabt, with as usual an untypical goal to rub it in.
 
So why would you drop a 30 goal a seaon striker then?

Because I think Dempsey's been better and more consistent over the course of the season. Not his biggest fan, but I think Aguero even deserves a place over Rooney in the team.
 
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