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Serious relegation fears

Let's hope the West Ham boys want a win more than stopping us winning the league. Southampton players looked like they had given up in the second half against Leicester. It's a tough one but I will be supporting the spammers twice before the end of the season.

Is it too much to ask that they draw due to food poisoning from a dodgy lasagne and then don't recover until the end of the season so they both have to field youth teams?
 
I can see the sense of a winter break. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of foreign players and managers whinging about the number of games and trying to dictate the structure of the league.

I don't think it's a case of foreign players and managers dictating the rules of the league. Sure, some foreign players and managers have asked for it but most of the calls for a winter break have come from the English press for benefit of the national team.

Sometimes there's some very good ideas we can take from abroad. Besides winning the league cup, Ramos only other notable achievement during his time with us was asking why he could only name 5 subs for league matches and the rule ended up being unanimously changed to 7 as a result.

Besides, I think I'd much rather have foreign players and managers dictate structure changes than Richard Scudamore with his game 39 & penalties after draws...
 
Now you've got my attention.
Except our U21s will be (a) on our bench (b) on West Brom's bench (c) playing for England in a competition (d) on loan at Rangers (e) playing in the U21 Champion's League (f) playing in the Nordstrom Aviva Cup against Dortmund Real and Atleti in Australia (g) hamster baiting
 
I like the general idea but would go about it differently, I'd scrap the FA cup use the free weekends to make room for a winter break

maybe make the league cup optional or put in a rule that top level clubs have to field 5 under 21's at all times
You're thinking about it backwards galeforce.

The problem is NOT that the top teams play too many games.
The problem is that the rubbish teams play too infrequently.

We should crack on with Spurs playing twice a week, I love it... and make all the rubbish teams play each other too with some horrific consequence if they lose, such as having to play 3 times a week.
 
I know some have been advocates of scrapping the FA Cup for a while but the general odour is of a little hypocrisy.

The outrage when the big boys want to go off and form a super league that we aren't invited to compared to us wanting to drop competitions which aren't of such importance to us any more but are to 100s of other clubs. It may serve the EPL to drop the FA Cup but the lower leagues and grassroots football get a lot (Inc. the occasional financial bonus) from the FA Cup and the chance for a game against a big boy or be on telly.

Get rid of the FA Cup and you start stripping meaningful layers off the pyramid. It may be an inconvenience to us 'now' but English football is healthier for it.

You want a winter break? Drop the EPL down by 2 teams and simplify or scrap the League Cup (if a cup has to go)
 
Just ran through a final season predictor.
I have Leicester 9pts clear of us by the time we play away to Chelsea on the Monday night (our 36th game).

So essentially anything but a Spurs win would hand the title to Ranieri.
Not sure I can stomach their fans lauding up how they helped an ex-boss win the league at our expense!
How is it that even when we do manage to finish above Chelsea in the league, they still have such a say in our season (thinking of our 4th place loss / Champs League win).
 
The Tottenham old boys that can deny Leicester their title dreams
By Pete Hall
Last Updated: 06/04/16 6:11pm


In a very unexpected title race, we look at five former Tottenham stars who can do their former club a huge favour.

League leaders Leicester are on the verge of making history, but they are anything but over the line yet, as Manchester United fans will testify, having seen their side incredibly chased down by Emirates Marketing Project in 2012.

Spurs lead the chasing pack, and with a seven-point gap to make up, they'll need all the help they can get in their quest for a first Premier League crown themselves.

Gylfi Sigurdsson

After impressing on-loan with Swansea in 2011/12, Iceland international Gylfi Sigurdsson looked set to make his stay in south Wales permanent, before Spurs swooped in with a last-gasp bid of around £9m to secure his services.

The move didn't really pay off, and the attacking midfielder was soon back where his Premier League story started, and is arguably the Swans' most pivotal component in their fight for survival.

And, in helping his current side stay afloat, Sigurdsson could make his biggest contribution to Spurs - attempting to beat Leicester when Swansea travel to the King Power Stadium on April 24, live on Sky Sports.
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...s-wolfsburg-issues-will-the-menace-ever-learn
The match is most likely one of Leicester's more winnable games, but until safety is mathematically certain, the Swans will not be pushovers, especially with Sigurdsson in their arsenal.

Jermain Defoe

Sunderland's hopes of survival rest with Jermain Defoe. He has scored four times as many goals as anyone else in the Black Cats' squad, but the former Spurs striker can do serious damage to his former side's rivals simultaneously.

Sam Allardyce's side host Leicester on Super Sunday, where even a point will do Sunderland the world of good, and give the chasing pack hope that all is not lost.

Then, with Arsenal needing to earn maximum points to close the imposing gap at the top, Sunderland could effectively end Arsene Wenger's hopes of a late title tilt - pleasing Spurs fans in more ways than one - when the Black Cats welcome the Gunners to the Stadium of Light on April 24.

Michael Carrick

It is easy to forget that Michael Carrick played for two other top flight clubs before Manchester United, having plied his trade at Old Trafford for so long, but Carrick made the jump from promising youngster to potential Roy Keane successor while at White Hart Lane.

With Bastian Schweinsteiger injured, the United veteran is likely to be Louis van Gaal's midfield anchor as United toil for a top four spot.

And, in a strange turn of events, rather than being the team chasing the title, United welcome Leicester to Old Trafford on May 1, live on Sky Sports, with the visitors the ones gunning for the Premier League crown.

The Foxes have thrived through playing counter-attacking football, and Carrick's main task will be to dictate tempo so that Claudio Ranieri's side are stifled, thus opening the door for Spurs, should they still be in the race at that point.

Emmanuel Adebayor

In a colourful career, Emmanuel Adebayor enjoyed some of his most fruitful years at White Hart Lane, before falling out of favour and being released in September.

Adebayor is now with struggling Crystal Palace, looking to resurrect his career, and having a notoriously fractious relationship with Arsenal fans since his departure in 2009, the enigmatic striker would love nothing more than to end the Gunners' title hopes.

He will get an opportunity to do just that when Palace travel to Arsenal on May 17, live on Sky Sports, helping the Eagles steer clear of the bottom three in the process.

Aaron Lennon

Having spent ten years in north London, falling out of favour at Spurs must have knocked Aaron Lennon's confidence a great deal, but he has done a fine job of rejuvenating himself at Everton.

With some talented attacking players at his disposal, Roberto Martinez's persistence with Lennon is testament to the England international's ability, and such quality could have a big say in the title race.

Leicester host the Toffees on May 7, live on Sky Sports, and with only two games to go after the King Power encounter, the fixture could well be make or break for the Foxes.

Everton have previous in this scenario, coming back from the dead to draw 4-4 at Old Trafford, paving the way for City to overtake their rivals, and Lennon's pace on the counter could help instigate a similar late revival for his former club.

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ys-that-can-deny-leicester-their-title-dreams

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We will need all the help we can get. Hope Defoe, Sigurdsson and Lennon can do us a favour by helping to beat Leicester.
 
I think we're clutching at straws. I don't think the fudging peasants are gonna be letting this 7 point lead slip.

Total embarrassment for the Premier League. fudging Leicester it's laughable.
 
Quite the opposite. I think its exactly what the Premier League needed. You couldn't write this sort of story.

Nor should you be able to. It's a total disgrace that over 31/2 games Leicester City can finish above all 19 teams including clubs spending the sort of money that Leicester have never seen in their entire existence.

Could you imagine Vallecano finishing above Real or Barcelona? No. They never would those two are too strong. A one off cup tie yes maybe. Over the course of a season it shouldn't happen and only shows me just how poor our domestic teams have been.

You may or may not be happy to finish second to these peasants but I'll tell you this. If we finish second to them I will be totally and utterly devastated.
 
I kinda agree with @Roy1983

It's not Leicesters fault, but there has been a breakdown in order, it's anarchy, I don't understand how people can celebrate that.

Absence of logic terrifies me.
 
Nor should you be able to. It's a total disgrace that over 31/2 games Leicester City can finish above all 19 teams including clubs spending the sort of money that Leicester have never seen in their entire existence.

Could you imagine Vallecano finishing above Real or Barcelona? No. They never would those two are too strong. A one off cup tie yes maybe. Over the course of a season it shouldn't happen and only shows me just how poor our domestic teams have been.

You may or may not be happy to finish second to these peasants but I'll tell you this. If we finish second to them I will be totally and utterly devastated.

It will be gutting to finish above all the usual suspects and lose out to the freak show (no significant injuries, several players having ridonculous seasons, donkeys like Huth and Morgan scoring match-winning goals, more 1-0 wins than any other team in the history of the universe) that is Leicester. BUT we will have the foundations to move forwards next year IF Levy and Poch strengthen, and (please Hodd) there is no way Leicester can get close to their results of this season.
 
Nor should you be able to. It's a total disgrace that over 31/2 games Leicester City can finish above all 19 teams including clubs spending the sort of money that Leicester have never seen in their entire existence.

Could you imagine Vallecano finishing above Real or Barcelona? No. They never would those two are too strong. A one off cup tie yes maybe. Over the course of a season it shouldn't happen and only shows me just how poor our domestic teams have been.

You may or may not be happy to finish second to these peasants but I'll tell you this. If we finish second to them I will be totally and utterly devastated.

No, I can't imagine Vallecano ever finishing above Real or Barca as the difference between the resources of those teams is much larger than the difference between any two teams in the Premier League.

You're comparing the two biggest clubs in world football to teams that would finish midtable in the Championship at best. Not to mention Real & Barca each have one of the greatest players to ever grace a football pitch in their locker.

I agree with you that the regular top teams have been below par this season, and I think it's got a lot to do with why Leciester are where they are. BUT don't forget that counts for us as well. We have been fantastic for such a young side this season but the only team we've played this season who really have a grip on things has been Dortmund and they played us off the park. If you can say Leciester might not be where they are if the regulars were functioning at optimum levels you can say we might not be in second right now either. It works both ways.

I kinda agree with @Roy1983

It's not Leicesters fault, but there has been a breakdown in order, it's anarchy, I don't understand how people can celebrate that.

Absence of logic terrifies me.

I don't see why anyone wouldn't celebrate that?

Haven't we, as supporters of a team that has to play to a strict budget, been saying for the past decade that the revenue's generated by Champions League football have created a stranglehold on the top four positions?

We've been patiently waiting for a team in the top four to slip up so we can capitalise, get through as many rounds in the Champions League as possible, reinvest the cash, then look to qualify AGAIN so we can start to get a bit of a monopoly of our own going.

This season all the top sides are slipping quite a bit and the leagues looking by far the most competitive it has ever looked in my life time and now we're complaining?

I think this season will be a one off in that we won't see so many of the top sides slip up all at once ever again. But personally I think it's great that in the Premier League if the top sides slip up you at least have a chance of over taking them. In Spain the top sides are so far ahead of the rest of the pack that even when Barca or Real do slip they're not going to drop below 4th.

But if I was offered every season being the same top four with us 5th and occasionally slipping into the Champions League or every season being more open and competitive I'd pick the later all the time as I think it benefits clubs like us a lot more and benefits the league a lot, lot, more.
 
Nor should you be able to. It's a total disgrace that over 31/2 games Leicester City can finish above all 19 teams including clubs spending the sort of money that Leicester have never seen in their entire existence.

Could you imagine Vallecano finishing above Real or Barcelona? No. They never would those two are too strong. A one off cup tie yes maybe. Over the course of a season it shouldn't happen and only shows me just how poor our domestic teams have been.

You may or may not be happy to finish second to these peasants but I'll tell you this. If we finish second to them I will be totally and utterly devastated.

Your views stink of arrogance. How is saying, what right do Leicester have to finish above the likes of City, Chelsea etc any different to someone saying what right to Spurs have to finish above the the five or six clubs that spend more than we do on wages/transfers. Reason we are second and Chelsea are tenth is that we have played substantially better than they have all season. Same explanation for why Leicester are top.
 
Your views stink of arrogance. How is saying, what right do Leicester have to finish above the likes of City, Chelsea etc any different to someone saying what right to Spurs have to finish above the the five or six clubs that spend more than we do on wages/transfers. Reason we are second and Chelsea are tenth is that we have played substantially better than they have all season. Same explanation for why Leicester are top.
I think the point is that Leicester don't deserve their position based on their performances. They have been the inferior side most of the time and gotten more lucky breaks in one season than most teams would get in ten. Spurs, on the other hand, have been the better side in almost all their games and deservedly sit second. They have upset the status quo by being better, not by being lucky. If Leicester had done the same, I'd celebrate them too. But they haven't, so I won't.
 
I think the point is that Leicester don't deserve their position based on their performances. They have been the inferior side most of the time and gotten more lucky breaks in one season than most teams would get in ten. Spurs, on the other hand, have been the better side in almost all their games and deservedly sit second. They have upset the status quo by being better, not by being lucky. If Leicester had done the same, I'd celebrate them too. But they haven't, so I won't.

Yet more absolute BS.

The league doesn't lie over the course of a season.
 
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