Always good to hear different opinions, but in my view we dont have a prayer of making the top 4 this year. I think 6th will be a challenge given we look mentally and physically tired already and its only January
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OMT - Tottenham Hotspur vs Smoggies in FA Cup
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Always good to hear different opinions, but in my view we dont have a prayer of making the top 4 this year. I think 6th will be a challenge given we look mentally and physically tired already and its only January
I think you need to look at 'net' goals! ie goals assisted/scored minus oppostion goals which he was responsible for!
Agreed , Write top 4 off . Would be a miracle to get there.We will be lucky to finish 7-10.
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Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
If I wasn't Poch and his team who brought in these players, who was it? Do you really think Levy spends his time sourcing players ? Why would he even contemplating buying players without the managers sanction? That would just lead to the manager not playing them! The N'twins are baffling - perhaps Poch thought he could turn them into Thierry Henry!
That unbalanced squad lucked out big time on the way to the CL final. Top 4 was only achieved by our good start to the season - and then by the inexplicable failure of all our main rivals to capitalize on our implosion in 2019.
I am not saying Poch was the only one responsible for our current situation, but I do think he bears a fair proportion of the blame.
Bedfordspurs
Mark Falco
He has only played 20 games for us??
Just wiki him and it’s 41 games, 2 goals, 2 red cards, 3 foul throws in one game, 4 penalties against and 1 own goal that I can remember
And to knock the assignment stat KWP got 3 in one half didn’t he?
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
Poch called for a rebuild that never came for 2 years. I’m not saying he was perfect, but he’s the last person that wanted this squad to stagnate to the extent that it has done. That’s the key issue for me, the stagnation, and any other issue around certain players not performing is a consequence of that - in my view.
a spur from swansea
Naybet
I thought of this aswell,i think its going to be a bit lower,i think it be around 62/65 points,all the sides around us are a bit of a hit and miss really and at the moment Chelsea aren't much better than us but if we keep slipping up we're making it easy for them.
We need to win a minimum of 11 games and a couple draws ,but we got to play every single side around us,starting with Liverpool next Saturday,we can't lose more than 4 games,so we either scrape in n the last game or our heads will drop around end of March when we realize we've missed out on top 4 and out of the FA Cup,then the stories players who want out will start to appear....Kane and Alli...its going to be a very bumpy journey from now till May,it wold help our cause if we bought one or two players now because we need something to freshen things up desperately.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
And to add:
Trippier was signed for 3.5M and had last season injured
Dier unproven at 4M and was key in 86 points
Wanyama lost his knees but was signed for 11M
Dele - 5M from League 1
Rose - inconsistent before turning into the best left back in the country at his peak
Jan - inconsistent before becoming one of the best in the country
Toby - signed for 10M
Are you not surprised that so many players that were signed for relative pittance in this day and age all suddenly turned into some of the best players in their position in the country / the world all at the same time? What do you think the common denominator there was? To blame Poch for the stagnation of players that probably thought that playing in the CL final was something they’d achieve if they were extremely lucky at best in most cases is just not fair in my view.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think the run there was without it’s share of luck, or some massively secret tactical genius he unleashed. But I do think the spirit through his time there and the culture he created played its part.
The squad we have is not the squad Poch wanted if he had it his way. He was saying for 2 years to start shifting players before stagnation sets in. This is Levy’s squad. I don’t know how Poch gets blame for this squad when he’s on record saying he wanted changes...he only ‘left us’ with it in the sense he was the Manager until he was sacked (‘he was only homeless in the sense he had no home’ for you Thick Of It fans!) but to make out this is what he wanted to build is just wilful ignorance. He wanted the rebuild started long ago. Levy thought these players had more to give / didn’t want to take any hit on fees / probably both - and we are where we are.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I’ve never been a ‘spend some fudgein’ money’ anti ENIC fan and I’ve always defended Levy but I’ve come to see the world more through the fact that he had a strategic choice, or choices, and while I’ve always thought he’s done the best thing for us over the long term, now I’m not sure he has.
It will have been a discussion between football expertise and financial expertise. Football’s job will have been to convince finance that taking the decisions their way will mean that the finances ultimately benefit (through continued success, less dips). Finance’s job, because they make the decisions, was to either see that point of view or decide their way is better.
I think what happened is Football didn’t win. The trust broke down, and that’s why we are where we are. We could have begun shifting players for slightly less than the max rate in order to begin to rebuild quicker, but we didn’t do it. Unless Poch was asking for 5 players at 60M+, which we know he doesn’t do, I don’t really blame him. I think he lost an argument and Levy gets to wear the success or failure having won it.
It will have been a discussion between football expertise and financial expertise. Football’s job will have been to convince finance that taking the decisions their way will mean that the finances ultimately benefit (through continued success, less dips). Finance’s job, because they make the decisions, was to either see that point of view or decide their way is better.
I think what happened is Football didn’t win. The trust broke down, and that’s why we are where we are. We could have begun shifting players for slightly less than the max rate in order to begin to rebuild quicker, but we didn’t do it. Unless Poch was asking for 5 players at 60M+, which we know he doesn’t do, I don’t really blame him. I think he lost an argument and Levy gets to wear the success or failure having won it.
wiziwig
Steed Malbranque
It's certainly looking a big ask from the position we find ourselves. I think the top 3 places are done and if after the Liverpool game we're 9 points behind 4th, then it's probably as you say a miracle for us..
We will have to keep believing until it's mathematically impossible but I do feel that we as fans should refrain from entitlement tantrums and be preparing ourselves for the most likely outcome, which is no CL football for us next season...
wiziwig
Steed Malbranque
It's looking that way, fingers crossed, that the points tally needed for CL will be unusually low..
If just one team , especially if it be Chelsea go on a winning streak then it could dishearten the chasing pack, us included and as you say, around March time, all the 'time to jump ship' stories will ensue.
I think while the stadium build was ongoing finance was always going to win out any argument and it's hard to argue against that being the correct outcome in the circumstances however the trouble is with better planning and foresight we could have handled the squad rebuild without having to push boundaries financially.
We could have appointed a DoF to take the burden of transfers away from Levy while he had his hands full with stadium related business and had him work on the remit of a break even basis and we could have moved on Eriksen and Alderweireld when their contract issues became apparent and used the proceeds to begin the rebuild. Though i did think at the time sticking with a squad that had done so well for us also had it's plus points it has to be said and so i think there was logic in that thinking too but ultimately the years since have shown that to be the wrong decision.
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wiziwig
Steed Malbranque
The FA Cup is the third priority - I get that... But losing to a bottom half championship team when we're at near full strength, cannot in anyway be of help with our CL & PL goals as far as I'm concerned..Bring on the extra game and let's see if we can get some decent form going..
Having said that... I may just totally agree with you if we are drawn away to Liverpool in the 4th round...
Kandi1977
Garth Crooks
20 games this season.
Bedfordspurs
Mark Falco
Yeah I think you have to really look at his whole time here otherwise the stats get skewed
He has never looked competent as a defender and is ok at best as an attacking FB
parklane1
Tony Galvin
Fenwick, Statham and VDH. In fact ( imo) FB is the posistion where we have had the most crap over the years after CB's.
Finney Is Back
Luka Modric
As expected Whoscored player ratings for the game show Aurier with highest rating across the two teams and Dele the lowest rating for a Spurs player and second lowest across the two teams.
glorygloryeze
Tom Huddlestone
Reality bites, eventually...
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I agree - there was definitely logic in how we did it and I think the ‘no signings in or out’ summer probably helped contribute to a spirit and togetherness that got us to the CL final. Regardless it was justifiable, and with a stadium build, tough to balance.
It’s just for me, Levy’s in the hot seat. He could have made different decisions, and as he’s a sporting executive the success or otherwise of those decisions will be based on results. We could have shifted Eriksen and Toby earlier as you say, we could have hired a DOF, we could have done other things that meant we operated at break even but just sold off players. Because, and even loads of fans said this at the time in summer 2018, we were just storing up problems in the rebuild to further down the line, given us more work to do in more concentrated windows. This was something that was a factor, and we had a choice as to whether we wanted to go that way.
Legohamster
Ian Walker
If you dont think that lot are worse than Serge you are being overly bias.
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