Serious relegation fears

[glasgowspur]

A point made in my paper today was that the Leicester team responded to the pressure of being bottom last year, and that makes them likely to laugh in the face of pressure to win the title.

Not sure I'd agree with that, relegation fight can be all about not getting beat , and you're competing against teams low in confidence. to win the league they will need to win games.

 

[paxtonwolf]

Man Utd are going to be key to the remainder of this season. Leicester and Arsenal both need to go to Old Trafford, whereas us and City will be playing them at home. Their record in the big league games under Van Gaal is actually pretty good, bar their spanking at the Emirates earlier in the season.

Really need Chelsea to do us a favour this afternoon. If United win today and then beat Sunderland at home on a weekend that the top four are all playing each other they'll be right back in the mix. But if they lose today the likelihood is they'll be seven points off a top four spot and their best chance of CL football will be through winning the Europa League. With any luck, that will certainly be the case by the time we play them so they'll be resting players at White Hart Lane, as that game falls either side of the two EL quarter-finals.

You just know if we are both still in it, that will be the Quarter-final draw. You can see it coming 3 consecutive games v them in 8 days

 

[Jordinho]

You just know if we are both still in it, that will be the Quarter-final draw. You can see it coming 3 consecutive games v them in 8 days

FA cup semi final 10 days after that.

 

[johnola]

Not sure I'd agree with that, relegation fight can be all about not getting beat , and you're competing against teams low in confidence. to win the league they will need to win games.

I don't see them failing for lack of nerve. Nor us come to that.

 

[paxtonwolf]

FA cup semi final 10 days after that.

If we get to the semis even though we play Chelsea the following weekend, I have this feeling we will draw Arsenal once more.

And if we do somebody needs a word with Mr 'law of averages' because it's our turn next after the last two semi defeats against them, and definitely after losing the last six, but...that's way off we need to beat Palace first. A game we will need to score at least 2, because we all know Adebayor is bagging one for them

 

[alekaras]

Good result for us today with Manure drawing. They're now 7+1 pts behind us and 6+1 behind City. However, I was a bit amused when I heard Lee Dixon and Graeme LeSaux say after the match today that Manure will most likely make the top 4. Good for them. I'm wondering at whose expense they think they'll make it. They probably didn't think that part through.

 

[SteveAWOL]

Nice 7 point cushion on 5th plus we're as close to the top at this late stage of a season as we've been in decades but I still won't be counting my badgers just yet...

 

[SUIYHA]

Nice 7 point cushion on 5th plus we're as close to the top at this late stage of a season as we've been in decades but I still won't be counting my roostererels just yet...

25 games - at this stage of that season we just spanked Saudi Sportswashing Machine 5-0 even though they were supposed to be one of the Champions League challengers. The entire crowd was singing "Harry Redknapp, we want you to stay".

We all know what happened next. 9 points from the next 9 games, with a team that was ten points below us at this stage finishing ahead of us.

Emirates Marketing Project - L
Swansea - D
West Ham - L
Arsenal - L
Aston Villa - D
Bournemouth - W
Liverpool - L
Man Utd - D
Stoke - L

West Ham are gonna finish above us while Liverpool get into the CL by winning the Europa League. Poch is gonna be sacked for the capitulation and we will replace him with Brendan Rodgers, who will have no choice but to sell Kane to Real Madrid and replace him with the £30m signing of Troy Deeney. Start preparing yourselves mentally for it now and it'll be easier to take.

 

[billyiddo]

As good as it gets

 

[NYSpur]

25 games - at this stage of that season we just spanked Saudi Sportswashing Machine 5-0 even though they were supposed to be one of the Champions League challengers. The entire crowd was singing "Harry Redknapp, we want you to stay".

We all know what happened next. 9 points from the next 9 games, with a team that was ten points below us at this stage finishing ahead of us.

Emirates Marketing Project - L
Swansea - D
West Ham - L
Arsenal - L
Aston Villa - D
Bournemouth - W
Liverpool - L
Man Utd - D
Stoke - L

West Ham are gonna finish above us while Liverpool get into the CL by winning the Europa League. Poch is gonna be sacked for the capitulation and we will replace him with Brendan Rodgers, who will have no choice but to sell Kane to Real Madrid and replace him with the £30m signing of Troy Deeney. Start preparing yourselves mentally for it now and it'll be easier to take.

It is interesting to note that there are only two players left at Spurs from the squad at the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game:

TOTTENHAM: Friedel 7, Walker 7, Dawson 7, King 7 (Nelsen 6),Assou-Ekotto 7, Modric 7, Parker 8, Kranjcar 7, Bale 8 (Lennon 6), Adebayor 9, Saha 8 (Defoe 6). Subs not used: Cudicini, Rose,Livermore, Khumalo. Booked: Parker, Walker.

I find it extraordinary the turnover in the 4 years since. With our current team ethos, will we be able to look back in 4 years time and still have the same nucleus or will there be wholeale changes?

 

[SUIYHA]

It is interesting to note that there are only two players left at Spurs from the squad at the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game:

TOTTENHAM: Friedel 7, Walker 7, Dawson 7, King 7 (Nelsen 6),Assou-Ekotto 7, Modric 7, Parker 8, Kranjcar 7, Bale 8 (Lennon 6), Adebayor 9, Saha 8 (Defoe 6). Subs not used: Cudicini, Rose,Livermore, Khumalo. Booked: Parker, Walker.

I find it extraordinary the turnover in the 4 years since. With our current team ethos, will we be able to look back in 4 years time and still have the same nucleus or will there be wholeale changes?

I think a lot of squads outside of the big teams are generally overhauled a fair bit. If you look at how many of the players from that Saudi Sportswashing Machine game had featured in the Carling Cup final four years earlier - King and Lennon were the only ones. Then going four years before that, how many of the Carling Cup winners bar King and Keane had witnessed the David Pleat season?

 

[paxtonwolf]

Nice 7 point cushion on 5th plus we're as close to the top at this late stage of a season as we've been in decades but I still won't be counting my roostererels just yet...

Heartbreaking seeing the gap expressed like that. I will continue to say forever and a day, had the FA told Redknapp straight away, Hodgson's got the job you haven't, that capitulation would not have happened.
That team with a fully-focused management team, no distractions, would have finished 3rd at the very least

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

I'm still a little concerned about our fixtures in April.

Agree a run in both cups would really test us, and I believe it would be too much for us.

 

[paxtonwolf]

Just checked out Arsenals remaining fixtures after next weekend when we all have 6 home 6 away to go. We thought we had a tough set of away games.
United
Tottenham
Everton
West Ham
Sunderland
Emirates Marketing Project (penultimate match, how important could that be for all of us)

Granted it probably means they will pick up 16 maybe even 18 from the home fixtures are pretty straightforward. But next months NLD is massive. Gutted I am not going now. My NLD record at the Lane 4 visits - 4 2-1 wins

 

[alekaras]

Just checked out Arsenals remaining fixtures after next weekend when we all have 6 home 6 away to go. We thought we had a tough set of away games.
United
Tottenham
Everton
West Ham
Sunderland
Emirates Marketing Project (penultimate match, how important could that be for all of us)

Granted it probably means they will pick up 16 maybe even 18 from the home fixtures are pretty straightforward. But next months NLD is massive. Gutted I am not going now. My NLD record at the Lane 4 visits - 4 2-1 wins

Get this man a ticket, stat!

 

[Bullet]

If you look at how many of the players from that Saudi Sportswashing Machine game had featured in the Carling Cup final four years earlier - King and Lennon were the only ones. Then going four years before that, how many of the Carling Cup winners bar King and Keane had witnessed the David Pleat season?

Indeed, people are hoping this team will stick together for eleventy years, but for one reason or another it will continue churning and burning. Someone will get crocked, someone will move to a better club, someone will move to a worse club, someone will be deemed too old, someone will become a Buddhist monk, someone will stop trying, someone will get done for drugs, someone will come out as a lady, and before you know it...

 

[alekaras]

Indeed, people are hoping this team will stick together for eleventy years, but for one reason or another it will continue churning and burning. Someone will get crocked, someone will move to a better club, someone will move to a worse club, someone will be deemed too old, someone will become a Buddhist monk, someone will stop trying, someone will get done for drugs, someone will come out as a lady, and before you know it...

That's fine, though. If it's 1-2 players each season, that's pretty stable. As long as it's not wholesale, there will always be some degree of churn. But because this team isn't so overly reliant on one player and because Poch seems to be quite good at bringing in the next crop of players, I'm hoping we'll see a consistency as long as Poch is the coach.

 

[braineclipse]

Indeed, people are hoping this team will stick together for eleventy years, but for one reason or another it will continue churning and burning. Someone will get crocked, someone will move to a better club, someone will move to a worse club, someone will be deemed too old, someone will become a Buddhist monk, someone will stop trying, someone will get done for drugs, someone will come out as a lady, and before you know it...

There are a lot of differences from those teams SUIYA mentioned though. Both in age and in overall quality in different positions on the pitch.

 

[afsoc4life]

Heartbreaking seeing the gap expressed like that. I will continue to say forever and a day, had the FA told Redknapp straight away, Hodgson's got the job you haven't, that capitulation would not have happened.
That team with a fully-focused management team, no distractions, would have finished 3rd at the very least

I am still haunted by that year. It is the one reason I am not going to count my eggs before they hatch. Redknapp killed our morale that year.

 

[Gutter Boy]

I find it extraordinary the turnover in the 4 years since. With our current team ethos, will we be able to look back in 4 years time and still have the same nucleus or will there be wholeale changes?

We've churned far too many players over the years. I'm sure I read a while ago that more than 200 players had featured for us during ENIC's 15 years or something? Too much wheeler-dealering for the sake of it with little improvement in quality

I can see this team being together for a while. I think it is being designed to peak in 2 or 3 seasons' time. The things that make me think this are:
- No one in our squad is old enough to retire or be considered old in their position in the next 3 years
- I'm not sure anyone is of the profile to be on the radar of Barca, Madrid or Bayern, while we are no longer fair game for United or Chelsea.
- The morale and togetherness of the squad is a big binding factor
- Appointing McDermott as DoF suggests we won't be busy in the transfer market and that the production line will be the focus going forwards
- I don't see any weaknesses in the squad or positions that could easily be upgraded. All this squad needs is time to grow together.