VDV

[Jurgen the German]

Best team, yes - obviously not comparable to United with a manager like SAF - just imagine what he would have done with that team we had

I disagree. City had more world class players than we did including a striker who is and was one of the best in the world and a much better defence with arguably the best CB in the world at that time. Even their 2nd and 3rd choice strikers were arguably better than our first choice.

3rd should have been a given, but that's about it.

 

[Baleforce]

Best team, yes - obviously not comparable to United with a manager like SAF - just imagine what he would have done with that team we had

with that squad, fudge the invincibles, Fergie would have had the unstoppables, we'd have won every single game

 

[billyiddo]

I disagree. City had more world class players than we did including a striker who is and was one of the best in the world and a much better defence with arguably the best CB in the world at that time. Even their 2nd and 3rd choice strikers were arguably better than our first choice.

3rd should have been a given, but that's about it.

I'm not saying we should have won the league - experience and mentality plays a big part in that, which we obviously lacked. But I genuinely believe (as posted at the time) we were the best 'team' that season - fantastic time to be a Spurs fan and It'll be a long time before I get over the way we threw it away

 

[Jurgen the German]

I don't think we were generally better than those two but in Bale we had the best player in the league, also, January, the half way point, transfer window still open, we were a handful of points off top, we were very unlucky to lose to City despite being the better side and wasting ample chances to win the game, we finished 20 points off top, we all know how it played out

Mate, there's just no way that Gareth Bale was the best player in the league at that time, he was too inconsistent to be given that tag.

Aguero
Van Persie
Drogba
Silva
Modric
Rooney

All of the above were better than Bale at that point in his career.

I remember the Defoe chance in that game and us being robbed by refeering decisions, but I recall the game being quite even.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Best team, yes - obviously not comparable to United with a manager like SAF - just imagine what he would have done with that team we had

He probably would have won the league with any of the top 3, let's face it, Mancini even scraped it with City's ridiculous squad so Fergie would have tinkled it by 10 points.

 

[Jurgen the German]

I'm not saying we should have won the league - experience and mentality plays a big part in that, which we obviously lacked. But I genuinely believe (as posted at the time) we were the best 'team' that season - fantastic time to be a Spurs fan and It'll be a long time before I get over the way we threw it away

We'll have to agree to differ. City should have won it by an even bigger margin given how much firepower they had and how good their defence was. They also had the best keeper in the league at the time, easily the best spine. It's only down to Mancini's ineptness that they didn't runaway with it.

 

[scaramanga]

We'll have to agree to differ. City should have won it by an even bigger margin given how much firepower they had and how good their defence was. They also had the best keeper in the league at the time, easily the best spine. It's only down to Mancini's ineptness that they didn't runaway with it.

The "what ifs" of other teams don't come into it. City performed as they performed, Chelsea performed as they did.

The point in hand is (all other things staying static) where would/could/should we have finished had we performed to that team's potential? I think that SAF might well have won the league with that team. I think any competent manager would have finished a very clear 3rd and pressed at least close to the top 2 with that team.

 

[billyiddo]

Well put Scara - although I don't think it's fair to imply Redknapp wasn't a competent manager, there was obviously outside influences which effected us/him in the second half of the season and I have no doubt he would have had us in a title challenge had they not occurred.

i think a simple way to gauge what we were on course for would be to take our ppg leading in to the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game in Feb and extrapolate it across the remaining games of the season. Obviously not an exact science but would give an indication of where we were heading with two thirds of the season gone (more or less?)

 

[scaramanga]

Well put Scara - although I don't think it's fair to imply Redknapp wasn't a competent manager, there was obviously outside influences which effected us/him in the second half of the season and I have no doubt he would have had us in a title challenge had they not occurred.

i think a simple way to gauge what we were on course for would be to take our ppg leading in to the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game in Feb and extrapolate it across the remaining games of the season. Obviously not an exact science but would give an indication of where we were heading with two thirds of the season gone (more or less?)

I think settling for an (admittedly poorly worded by Levy) 4th place bonus instead of taking a very small risk to take 3rd as the season closed is incompetent.

 

[Jurgen the German]

The "what ifs" of other teams don't come into it. City performed as they performed, Chel53a performed as they did.

The point in hand is (all other things staying static) where would/could/should we have finished had we performed to that team's potential? I think that SAF might well have won the league with that team. I think any competent manager would have finished a very clear 3rd and pressed at least close to the top 2 with that team.

I would still say that 3rd was our ceiling given the quality of our squad compared to City's and also with United's manager and winning mentality. Goes without saying Fergie would have had us higher up the league, but I don't think there's any other manager that could have got us higher than City.

 

[scaramanga]

I would still say that 3rd was our ceiling given the quality of our squad compared to City's and also with United's manager and winning mentality. Goes without saying Fergie would have had us higher up the league, but I don't think there's any other manager that could have got us higher than City.

Do you think that we should have been that distant from the top 2 come the end of the season? I think we should at least have been able to compete.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Well put Scara - although I don't think it's fair to imply Redknapp wasn't a competent manager, there was obviously outside influences which effected us/him in the second half of the season and I have no doubt he would have had us in a title challenge had they not occurred.

i think a simple way to gauge what we were on course for would be to take our ppg leading in to the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game in Feb and extrapolate it across the remaining games of the season. Obviously not an exact science but would give an indication of where we were heading with two thirds of the season gone (more or less?)

He fudged up royally I don't think many people would dispute that, but we did have some outrageous bad luck also; Redknapp's heart surgery, a player almost dying on our pitch, the riots that led to our first home game being cancelled which meant our first two games of the season were against the Manchester clubs and disrupted our start.

None of which excuses our collapse.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Do you think that we should have been that distant from the top 2 come the end of the season? I think we should at least have been able to compete.

No I don't, we should have been closer to them, say maybe 7 or 8 points behind 2nd place instead of 19 or whatever it was.

 

[Daisuk]

Just saw a few Youtube vids of VDV while at Spurs, and goddamn, I miss the guy. I wish we'd have gotten him on a free this summer. What a player he was for us. Legend.

 

[thfcsteff]

Thing is, regardless of his eye of the prize and everything we agree on, lets never forget that he got 3rd back into our own hands with two games left. Against a tinkle-poor Aston Villa and Fulham at home. Two wins and we are third. No question. He blew it. I actually think he got as far as he could go and knew it. He knew what Modric was to us, to this team, and I don't believe he had the courage to take on a rebuild because his idea of a rebuild is to go and sign a bunch of 'on the bubble' late-20s/early 30s overrated big-earners and get a short-term charge from them. Let's all face facts, he nearly sold Bale. Twice. If people don't believe me, or the countless other folks who have pointed it out, read this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...uperstar-The-facts-seem-to-say-otherwise.html

I never like to revisit the past, but seeing as it was revisited, I cannot sit and watch ...great days, some amazing football, some fun times but he was a lucky, lucky manager who despite ALL that luck could STILL have won a title if he'd just kept his eye on the job.

 

[thfcsteff]

The "what ifs" of other teams don't come into it. City performed as they performed, Chel53a performed as they did.

The point in hand is (all other things staying static) where would/could/should we have finished had we performed to that team's potential? I think that SAF might well have won the league with that team. I think any competent manager would have finished a very clear 3rd and pressed at least close to the top 2 with that team.

Again, and to reinforce a point I made above...even the wildly erratic and 'job-gazing' Redknapp could've finished a comfortable third with TWO GAMES TO GO! Anyone who was at Villa that day will know what a total, and utter, clusterfudge he made of it. His bewilderment in the face of a moment needing courage was pathetic.

 

[parklane1]

Again, and to reinforce a point I made above...even the wildly erratic and 'job-gazing' Redknapp could've finished a comfortable third with TWO GAMES TO GO! Anyone who was at Villa that day will know what a total, and utter, clusterfudge he made of it. His bewilderment in the face of a moment needing courage was pathetic.

Without a doubt I agree, I was there and it was a stupid decision by " rent a quote and it cost us.

 

[billyiddo]

Steff did you notice those posts were several months old?

 

[Raziel]

So, had an interesting conversation with an ex player who was part of that squad.

His comment .. we didn't know what our own potential was .. i.e. they knew they were good, but how good?

very interesting to think about ..

 

[thfcsteff]

Steff did you notice those posts were several months old?

...OUCH! hahahahaha, I did NOT! Apologies for possibly reigniting all this gonads. I will hold myself responsible!