It was the nature of the defeat that hurt, some of our team are starting to look like flat track bullies who show up in the easy games and go missing when it gets tough.I'm amazed at the reaction to the game.
We were away from home to a team that has spent about £200 million (twice?) and can pay some players £250k per week. We were most definitely 2nd best but the bottom line is we gave a Mourinho team a head start and when you do that you are likely to be stifled out. Had we kept the 0-0 they would have had to come out and really go for it which would have played into our hands. As it was they were able to sit back and absorb what we had (which wasn't a lot!).
I've seen teams compiled on a shoe string stifle us out so I'm not going to lose any sleep on this one. It's 90 minutes of football where we weren't 100% and they were probably better than they have been for most of the season.
We are 3 points behind City and 4 points behind Liverpoool, one has Pep and was tipped by nearly everyone to win league and the other is supposedly playing the best football in the league and hasn't had European football to contend with.
The games that are most important for me are the next 2, 6 pts is a must and then things will look different again.
I think people are buying into this media thing that we are title contenders again. Things are a lot different to last year when teams were falling over their own feet. Top 4 is the aim again, and 2 wins in the next week will see us in a decent position.
Chill out!
Eriksen , son, dele, Lamela
All inconsistent players that can't take the game by the scruff of the neck. This is where we need to add some real quality.
I'm amazed at the reaction to the game.
We were away from home to a team that has spent about £200 million (twice?) and can pay some players £250k per week. We were most definitely 2nd best but the bottom line is we gave a Mourinho team a head start and when you do that you are likely to be stifled out. Had we kept the 0-0 they would have had to come out and really go for it which would have played into our hands. As it was they were able to sit back and absorb what we had (which wasn't a lot!).
I've seen teams compiled on a shoe string stifle us out so I'm not going to lose any sleep on this one. It's 90 minutes of football where we weren't 100% and they were probably better than they have been for most of the season.
We are 3 points behind City and 4 points behind Liverpoool, one has Pep and was tipped by nearly everyone to win league and the other is supposedly playing the best football in the league and hasn't had European football to contend with.
The games that are most important for me are the next 2, 6 pts is a must and then things will look different again.
I think people are buying into this media thing that we are title contenders again. Things are a lot different to last year when teams were falling over their own feet. Top 4 is the aim again, and 2 wins in the next week will see us in a decent position.
Chill out!
Also, how did NKoudou do when he came on? Did he worry them unduly?
Didn't see any of the game as i was out xmas shopping (thank GHod, eh).
Don't know why anyone was surprised, when it comes to the crunch we often still don't turn up away at the biggest grounds and the crunch situations. Oh well. I'll be much more worried if we don't collect 6 points from our next two home games vs Hull and Burnley.
In the meantime, i would like it explained (if it is true) why we played as though it was US that had played on Thursday far away in the Ukraine..
Agree with pretty much all of this. They're a good side, and a little slip-up from us made them score. It wasn't like we were thrashed by them by any means. I personally just thought we lacked a bit of effort, and didn't look quite up for it somehow, but that's just some lazy ass analysis from someone who doesn't really know too much about football.
Yep. Not sure why I thought we would win this .
A total of 4 wins in the PL era at OT, Anfield, Arsenal and Chelsea. That's pretty shambolic when you consider we have been in the PL for every season. It's a big reason why we're still some way off winning the league. We are top 4 challengers IMO, not title challengers.
Have we only won once at Anfield in the Prem
I knew historically our record was bad there but wow
One thing I would say is in the past we were outplayed by those sides but we have been better than all of them on plenty of jccasions in the head to heads in the last 5 season even if we haven't won (lots of draws in there) so there has been an improvement
The Etihad was phenomenal - it was the culmination of a full-throated repudiation of our Spursiness for two glorious months. We looked to all the world like we would go 'sexy' again after folding and losing to f*Cking Popmpey in the FA Cup semi...our season was over, with Arsenal, Chelsea, United and City yet to play in the final few games.
But my GHod, how we fought, how we battled, how we won!
Same thing with 2012-2013 - unlike in 09/10, we didn't get the reward at the end, but GHod did we keep the race running all the way through to the end. Ultimately, it wasn't us who faltered, it was just Arsenal who went on an unreal run of form to deny us. But we ground out result after result after result, in a phenomenally consistent season. That sort of consistency in the face of adversity also felt very un-Spurslike to me.
It's why I'm so fond of AVB and (to a lesser extent) Harry - they repudiated our sexy nature, if only for a limited time.
For all of Poch's good work, he hasn't done so yet. Thus, I'm still looking at him through a pair of relatively unemotional lens.
Anyway, if you mention that we're genetically predisposed to horribly crumbling under pressure, you'll get a lot of disagreement from posters who earnestly believe that we shouldn't talk about it for whatever reason - so there's that to look forward to.
I believe so.
Our record at Chelsea is even worse. They had some absolute pony teams in the early to mid 90s. To not have won there even once is pathetic.
Have we only won once at Anfield in the Prem
I knew historically our record was bad there but wow
One thing I would say is in the past we were outplayed by those sides but we have been better than all of them on plenty of jccasions in the head to heads in the last 5 season even if we haven't won (lots of draws in there) so there has been an improvement
Either that or we smell the coffee and seek to improve. No point burying our head in the sand and pretending everything is hunky-dory.Yesterday was disappointing, but as both @SUIYHA and @Benny_Lad said so well, we must get some perspective here.
We move on.