I tweeted this thread back in November. We're halfway through the season now so it seems a good idea to revisit it and do something similar. https://twitter.com/WindyCOYS/status/1324628896176869378

Where I am with 2020/21 Spurs:

- We've got a really good team; like, 2nd or 3rd best in the PL good.
- We've got the deepest squad we've ever had in terms of quality.
- We're still in all of the cups, which is good, but naturally will put enormous pressure on our schedule.

- We're at a point now, I think, where the bad performances outnumber the good performances. There are lots of 'indifferent' or 'one good half' performances too.
- The 'if we'd beaten West Ham we'd be...' is as much 'If we'd not scored a late set piece against Burnley...'.

- The FiveThirtyEight league projections do not make happy reading.
- The Understat Expected Points table even less so.
- Caveat: Mourinho teams can be xG busters (as, as we've seen, they basically stop trying to score once ahead).

- Our schedule over the next two months is absolutely unrelenting.
- Many of the teams we play are of the 'type' we've struggled against under JM.
- Potentially we'll be playing a good number of these without key players, including Kane.

- Until now we'd been fortunate with injuries/COVID outbreaks compared to our rivals.
- I expected muscular injuries due to a lack of rotation of key players (Hojbjerg, Kane, Son).
- I can't comment on whether over-exertion would have put Kane's ankles more at risk; I don't know.

- Our style is such that we are heavily reliant on individual brilliance; we don't really use possession structures or counter-pressing.
- This means that without Kane, Son, Ndombele (and Reguilón IMO) our route to goal is heavily diminished.
- This was a known calculated gamble.

- We've chosen to go down a route of an 'A' team & a 'B' team in terms of rotation.
- My preference would always be to have a group of 16/17/18 players that can be used interchangeably in a system that they all understand. But this is *even more important* IMO this season.

- We've not improved over time as I hoped we would.
- We've failed to integrate squad players into the team & have become reliant on a small core. E.g. Vinícius has played 24 minutes in the PL.
- We've now got to deal with injuries to key players whilst on a downturn in form.

- This is a critical moment in the season. If we don't address form & find a sustainable way to win, we could plummet.
- I've been upsetting my friends in the TFC WhatsApp group by speculating that West Ham or even Arsenal could finish above us. I don't think this is unrealistic.

Then there's all the other stuff:
- The style of play. Some fans will accept this when we win... it's less acceptable when we don't.
- The Dele situation (a mess), now an Aurier/Lloris incident. Increasing division amongst fans/friendship groups.

- I've spoken about my disconnection to Spurs over the past year. I'm finding that I'm getting dozens of tweets, DMs, emails from other Spurs fans increasingly feeling the same. Partly lockdown, partly the style of football, partly the Dele situation. It's difficult to deal with.

This is a very downbeat thread but there's still lots to be happy about!
- We have some genuinely elite players - Kane, Son, Ndombele, Reguilón. Plus Hojbjerg, Alderweireld, Lloris are all amongst the best in the PL in their positions too. I also like Lo Celso/Bergwijn *a lot*.

- We're a couple of players away from being seriously good.
- We could still win multiple trophies!
- We have some high quality young players out on loan and in the academy to bolster us over the coming years.
- This situation can easily be a lot better, very quickly.
- Ndombele!