***OMT - Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds United, Mon May 11th, 8pm, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium***

[Bishop]

I’m behind them all until the final whistle goes against Everton. After that, stay up or go down, we need the mother of all clear outs. Few should be spared over the course of a couple of windows.

I just find this crazy, we have been so poor this season and last and yet you still have this guys essentially arguing that all these players are great and everything is fine.

We need to find that head in the sand meme, it's so appropriate for our fan base. We absolutely fudging love mediocrity. If Tel has done exactly as he has done here so far at another PL team, no one and I mean absolutely fudging no one would watch him and think "yes, we must sign that guy and make him out starting LWF for next season.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

I just find this crazy, we have been so poor this season and last and yet you still have this guys essentially arguing that all these players are great and everything is fine.

We need to find that head in the sand meme, it's so appropriate for our fan base. We absolutely fudging love mediocrity. If Tel has done exactly as he has done here so far at another PL team, no one and I mean absolutely fudging no one would watch him and think "yes, we must sign that guy and make him out starting LWF for next season.

No, obviously not, but Tel has been part of a team that has overall been terrible, yes he’s a part of that, but it doesn’t mean it’s his level.

And I just go back to…this isn’t an 18th placed squad. It just isn’t. I don’t know how else to say it.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

Yep, and have we considered the ref's predicament?
It's all very well saying that 'once he didn't give it on the field we were toast'. However...

Given where it happened, was he particularly close to it? Was his angle ideal? The touch on the ball by the opponent (if there was one) was heading away from the ref, and thereafter his limited view was blocked by the two players themselves. I would imagine it wasn't an easy call for a ref to make 'live' (to give a penalty) in a slit second. Its not a stretch for me to imagine it may have been inconclusive to him. So, what should he do? Should he be thinking 'Well, if I don't give it, then VAR won't either...so I'd better give it even though I have some doubt'?

Everyone will have an opinion, and that's fine. About the only one I'd disagree with is that on the field it was/is a 'stonewall' penalty. Because to me, it wasn't. It was a closer call than that. Maybe we need to re-consider (re-define?) what 'stonewall' actually means? At the very least, it surely brings the variance and meaning of 'stonewall' in to play. As in, some are more - or less - stonewall than others.

If that’s the concern I think they need to review how the whole thing works. Surely the whole point is getting the calls right, while allowing the game to flow as freely as possible.

So whatever the mechanism needs to be to get it right, just get it right. Next time the ball goes out, review that penalty claim. It shouldn’t matter whether the ref called for it or let it play on. Get it right.

 

[Bishop]

No, obviously not, but Tel has been part of a team that has overall been terrible, yes he’s a part of that, but it doesn’t mean it’s his level.

And I just go back to…this isn’t an 18th placed squad. It just isn’t. I don’t know how else to say it.

Its a top 10 squad, but with our circumstances 10th to 17th or 18th is not hard to achieve.

We don't know what Tel's level is beyond what hes shown so far, he hasn't shown that hes a higher level and he hasn't shown that he should be our flipping starting LWF. If you want to keep struggling then yes lets make that decision.

Now me, i'd rather we just recruit quality. I don't mind if we want to give Tel the chance to develop, but that should be under someone of quality because he isn't the quality we require unless you want to stay down at the bottom.

 

[thfcsteff]

We need better than him mate. He has some potential but c'mon are our standards so low that he is someone you actually want to give the starting berth too? fudge that, let's get an actual starting quality LWF in and Tel can be the competition for him. Tel has done nothing as yet that suggests he should be an automatic starter in our first 11.

That's fair, and maybe it is years of seeing us go for potential over ready-made which has ground me down. I'd also love to see us sign genuine ready-baked quality, but I absolutely stand by my assertion that with the right coach and confidence, we will see Tel develop into a very, very, very good player. In fact, given that we finally have a manager who believes in passing and actively wants a Maddison/Maddison style ballers in the side, we might see Tel floruish hugely. Like it or not he has a lot of talent. Your judgement has been coloured by our brick season and the terrible tenure of Thomas Frank.

 

[thfcsteff]

I just find this crazy, we have been so poor this season and last and yet you still have this guys essentially arguing that all these players are great and everything is fine.

We need to find that head in the sand meme, it's so appropriate for our fan base. We absolutely fudging love mediocrity. If Tel has done exactly as he has done here so far at another PL team, no one and I mean absolutely fudging no one would watch him and think "yes, we must sign that guy and make him out starting LWF for next season.

Nobody is saying 'all these players are great and everything is fine' that's just you doing your flouncy thing whenever anyone remotely says anything positive about our current squad LOL.
These players are BETTER than you think AND we need to do some serious work in the summer if we want to compete properly over a sustained period of time.
And no, no-one needs to find that 'head in the sand' meme, albeit if we do, perhaps we can find one which is a 'zero to sixty' one which would equally reflect the extreme judgements of many of ourfanbase!

 

[thfcsteff]

Problem is you have different types of human beings. You can just tell by the PGMOL selection process that they aren't picking the right characters for the job in hand. We've had so many arrogant, egotistical, attention seeking pricks being selected in these roles that nobody should be surprised on the outcome. If I think back to everyone from Howard Webb himself through to guys like Mike Dean all along to the current idiots like Taylor and Jones. You can just tell that the recruitment process is flawed. They need to be looking for Collina's.

Very happy though that our manager is finally doing his bit to put these guys back in their box. Telling the world that the referee was anything but calm in an important match was spot on. It was almost telling Webb that he's expecting a Collina on the pitch next time, not a Mike Dean or Rob Jones.

The net is circling on Howard Webb's team in my opinion. It will absolutely explode soon, but I have a feeling that is not going to help THFC. They could easily go down because of PGMOL. I called it months ago.

You absolutely did and have been cohesively consistent in articulating it. I think many of us are angry about decisions but you have always framed the bigger picture view. Put it this way, one of us or WH will be saying it. In oiur case, there's at least 8 points cost.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

This collection of players showed in this game and the previous they finally know how to defend
That’s a big uptick for me

 

[metalgear]

Its a top 10 squad, but with our circumstances 10th to 17th or 18th is not hard to achieve.

We don't know what Tel's level is beyond what hes shown so far, he hasn't shown that hes a higher level and he hasn't shown that he should be our flipping starting LWF. If you want to keep struggling then yes lets make that decision.

Now me, i'd rather we just recruit quality. I don't mind if we want to give Tel the chance to develop, but that should be under someone of quality because he isn't the quality we require unless you want to stay down at the bottom.

its a top 10 squad when fully fit.
bottom 10 with the available players now

 

[El Dante]

I just find this crazy, we have been so poor this season and last and yet you still have this guys essentially arguing that all these players are great and everything is fine.

We need to find that head in the sand meme, it's so appropriate for our fan base. We absolutely fudging love mediocrity. If Tel has done exactly as he has done here so far at another PL team, no one and I mean absolutely fudging no one would watch him and think "yes, we must sign that guy and make him out starting LWF for next season.

The attackers were have playing are not even close to good enough at this moment. That’s the biggest problem right now.

If we were to have Kudus, Kulusevski, Simons Maddison all fit and playing regularly we would look a LOT better. Same with if Romero were starting. That they’re not and haven’t been for all season or significant part of it is what makes the real difference.

 

[DubSpur]

This collection of players showed in this game and the previous they finally know how to defend
That’s a big uptick for me

Wouldn't even say it's the defending, we've actually kept possession and used the ball better. Pressing has been better so we are winning the ball higher up the pitch as well. That results in less pressure on the defence.

 

[Legohamster]

The idea we could get relegated because of officiating is utter nonsense. We have had some terrible decisions against us, so have other teams. West Ham fans were whinging the other week that they keep getting decisions going against them because the PL doesn't want Spurs to go down - All clubs are experiencing the same poor officiating, it's not some secret little club plotting our downfall.

Some of these incidents have not helped us whatsover, but we are where we are because we have been brick. And it's no coincidence that the worse we have become, the more Victim FC it has got on here....

Ive seen people blame us not beating Leeds on the Ref, not the idiotic overhead kick in our area, Richi sitter, Pal missing from 5 yards in the first half..... Its just an easy way out to blame the ref

 

[BrentwoodSpur]

@thfcsteff it must be time for the Chelsea OMT no? Don’t be slacking now, final push is on

 

[DeanoAustin]

Ive seen people blame us not beating Leeds on the Ref, not the idiotic overhead kick in our area, Richi sitter, Pal missing from 5 yards in the first half..... Its just an easy way out to blame the ref

Exactly. Even if the officials made a mistake, and I'm not sure they did, it's nowhere near as bad as the mistakes you mention from our players. That's not to hammer the players but there are many reasons we are where we are. They're all internal to our club and nothing to do with officiating IMO.

 

[clownfoot]

This collection of players showed in this game and the previous they finally know how to defend
That’s a big uptick for me

Of the 4 goals we’ve conceded under RDZ one has been a pen, one a massive deflection and Mitouma’s goal is world class.

Hopefully not too little too late but the team as a whole are preventing goals much better