Accentuating the positive
I thought that as a few days have passed since our last game, I would accentuate the positve comments offered on this week's Spurs Odyssey survey.
First and foremost, goalkeeper Brad Friedel was the out and out Spurs man of the match, with a score of 8.3 out of 10. Brad was our man of the match three times last season. The last occasion was really for being the least worse player in the home defeat against Norwich, but he got his highest "Spursometer" score of 8.7 in a Spurs win at Fulham last November. New signing Hugo Lloris has to win his place in the side, and there have already been one or two rumblings from La France about his status in the Spurs goalkeeping pecking order.
Comments about Friedel were "outstanding saves", "it's as if he wanted to show AVB he's still got it with the arrival of Lloris", and "Friedel cannot be dropped after that performance".
Mousa Dembele made a positive impression on his debut, helped of course by that superb goal. After Friedel, he was also head and shoulders above your assessment of the rest of the team. "Dembele brought pace", and "Dembele looks to be a class player" were comments offered here.
Okay, I've got to be honest. That's all the positive comments I have to offer you. AVB scored an overall 4.6 for his team selection, tactics and substitutions, and most people are on his back already. One respondent did assure us that AVB is "...just starting, he'll get better, much better".
Let's hope so!
· This week's "spursometer" in full
Results 01-02.09.12
West Ham 3-0 Fulham
Swansea 2-2 S'derland
Spurs 1-1 Norwich
West Brom 2-0 Everton
Wigan 2-2 Stoke
Man City 3-1 QPR
Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal
Newcastle 1-1 A. Villa
S'hampton 2-3 Man Utd
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD PTS
1. Chelsea 3 3 0 0 8-2 6 9
2. Swansea 3 2 1 0 10-2 8 7
3. West Brom 3 2 1 0 6-1 5 7
4. Man City 3 2 1 0 8-5 3 7
5. Man Utd 3 2 0 1 6-5 1 6
6. Everton 3 2 0 1 4-3 1 6
7. West Ham 3 2 0 1 4-3 1 6
8. Arsenal 3 1 2 0 2-0 2 5
9. Wigan 3 1 1 1 4-4 0 4
10. Newcastle 3 1 1 1 3-4 -1 4
11. Fulham 3 1 0 2 7-6 1 3
12. Stoke 3 0 3 0 3-3 0 3
13. S'derland 2 0 2 0 2-2 0 2
14. Spurs 3 0 2 1 3-4 -1 2
15. Norwich 3 0 2 1 2-7 -5 2
16. Reading 2 0 1 1 3-5 -2 1
17. A. Villa 3 0 1 2 2-5 -3 1
18. Liverpool 3 0 1 2 2-7 -5 1
19. QPR 3 0 1 2 2-9 -7 1
20. S'hampton 3 0 0 3 4-8 -4 0
