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Serious relegation fears

Ade's folks are ok really said:
Interesting. I genuinely thought the response would be "save it for Europa Final", based on the idea that being in a European Cup Final is far more prestigious than an away tie in Saudi Sportswashing Machine for 4th or 3rd place. Shows how much the game has changed I guess that CL qualification can be deemed more important than a European trophy. o_O

For the record, I also agree with the spin the wheel approach. Wouldn't have a clue how to play this scenario out. But then that's what Poch and his team are paid to solve!
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I'd just want to get it done, if we can secure CL through the league then we can enjoy (the hypothetical) EL final without the result mattering that much, it would obviously be nice to win it but being in the CL is the most important thing, the only important thing.
 
galeforce said:
I'd just want to get it done, if we can secure CL through the league then we can enjoy (the hypothetical) EL final without the result mattering that much, it would obviously be nice to win it but being in the CL is the most important thing, the only important thing.
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Hi Arsene; what are you doing on a Spurs message board?
;)
 
There's not been a lot of happiness for gooners from this years CL campaign eh? If they had to remove from their history, that or the FA Cup win, what do you think they'd keep?
 
Ade's folks are ok really said:
On the topic of resting players / squad rotation, here's a hypothetical (or perhaps pipe dream!!?)…

Supposing we approach the final weekend of the season needing a win to secure CL via league, away to a Saudi Sportswashing Machine team who also need a result to stay up. But just a few days later we find ourselves gearing up for the Europa League final in Basel, in an arguably far more difficult game against say Dortmund, Napoli or Seville.

Which players do you prioritise for which game? Knowing a defeat in both would leave us empty handed after an entire season of promise!
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Talk about first World problems....

We go as strong as possible for the league game. If we win it and CL qualification is then in the bag we ask our best team of pretty much the same players for one last push to secure their place in THFC history. If we don't get the result we want in the league game then we still use our best team of pretty much the same players to try to get a result in the Europa League final, asking them to use the hurt they experienced a few days ago as a positive and make sure that the season doesn't end in failure.
 
parklane1 said:
Trophy every time for me, its all about the glory and winning things not finishing among the losers.
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Totally agree trophy every time, but we aren't currently strong enough to compete for 4 competitions and should have a prime target with a possible fall back option. I believe we were aiming to qualify for CL either through league position or winning EL, being in the running for winning league is an unforeseen bonus, the domestic cups do not appear to have been our main objectives, this is a pity because they are both easier to win and I'm sure if they were our main targets we would have fielded stronger teams.
 
Finney Is Back said:
Talk about first World problems....

We go as strong as possible for the league game. If we win it and CL qualification is then in the bag we ask our best team of pretty much the same players for one last push to secure their place in THFC history. If we don't get the result we want in the league game then we still use our best team of pretty much the same players to try to get a result in the Europa League final, asking them to use the hurt they experienced a few days ago as a positive and make sure that the season doesn't end in failure.
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Would be the way I would go as well.
 
braineclipse said:
We've put ourselves in a position where going out against Fiorentina isn't going to sting as much as it would have done in a more disappointing league season.

Still want us to go through, still want us to win. But I won't care quite as much as I would have in previous seasons.

I really think Pochettino is getting his rotation for these 3 cup games pretty much spot on. I imagine we'll play a somewhat changed team again against Fiorentina to be ready for the Swansea game.
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I'm sure Poch wants us to win the Europa and the Premier League, but the extra incentive of a CL place for winning the Europa hopefully doesn't really apply to us now, I say that as we are 10 points clear of 5th place with a better goal difference.
 
LemonadeMoney said:
Let's get knocked out of Europe so that we can get CL.
Then next season, let's get knocked out of Europe so that we can get CL...
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The league should always be the first priority unless you are in a position where you cannot achieve a top 4 finish/win the league/avoid relegation/insert target here.

We don't want to turn into a team that chases CL football and that's it, but regular CL football would bring us more revenue and exposure, which gives us the tools to sign better players and hopefully, will put us in a better position to win trophies than we are now.

The Europa League is kind of similar to purgatory and is almost designed to keep teams in it, see Tottenham Hotspur.
 
spurspinter1 said:
Acting as if we have already qualified for the CL is unwise if you ask me.
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I am aware of our recent history, but we have a focused manager and a team playing better than the sum of its parts. If we don't get at least top 4 from this position given how poor United are at the moment it would be a shocker.
 
So Dembele out for 10days to 2 weeks (possibly missing the West Ham AND Arsenal games).
Harry Kane not available to be on the bench for Thursday's 2nd leg vs Fiorentina (even if we wanted him not to start, having him as an option on the bench could have been crucial).

In my opinion, it is now that we'll get to REALLY find out what we our squad and management team are made of...

COYS
 
Jurgen the German said:
I am aware of our recent history, but we have a focused manager and a team playing better than the sum of its parts. If we don't get at least top 4 from this position given how poor United are at the moment it would be a shocker.
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Excelent way to curse it even further! We've still got to play United as well.....

The United we have seen is a shambles with a dead man walking in charge so we hear, but if you include their game against us it'll only take 2/3 games and they'll be right back in the mix.

To put ourselves in the position we are in league wise has been been a positive sign, but to maintain it through the last stretch of the season is what really matters. We are seeing injuries creep in to key areas and one poor performance tomorrow and we will have lost all chance of silverware bar winning the title.

I'm not trying to encourage negativity here but if we're looking at CL as already done and dusted, I think it will be taking the shine away from quite an achievement. I'm seeing some quite odd views pop up here, and I would put thinking the top four pace being sewn up is certainly one of them. Remember not so long ago when it seemed impossible that we'd finish below Arsenal?

I'm enjoying this season as much as anyone, as someone who has always had a keen eye on youth and the players coming through it's been great to watch, but in terms of end results/expectations it is best to hold off counting chickens and sucking each other off (as mentioned) for the time being, nothing has been achieved until we achieve it.
 
Ade's folks are ok really said:
Interesting. I genuinely thought the response would be "save it for Europa Final", based on the idea that being in a European Cup Final is far more prestigious than an away tie in Saudi Sportswashing Machine for 4th or 3rd place. Shows how much the game has changed I guess that CL qualification can be deemed more important than a European trophy. o_O

For the record, I also agree with the spin the wheel approach. Wouldn't have a clue how to play this scenario out. But then that's what Poch and his team are paid to solve!
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If the Europa League final took place first, I'd want us to prioritise that. It's the one game at a time cliche which actually serves us well and is sensible.
 
spurspinter1 said:
Excelent way to curse it even further! We've still got to play United as well.....

The United we have seen is a shambles with a dead man walking in charge so we hear, but if you include their game against us it'll only take 2/3 games and they'll be right back in the mix.

To put ourselves in the position we are in league wise has been been a positive sign, but to maintain it through the last stretch of the season is what really matters. We are seeing injuries creep in to key areas and one poor performance tomorrow and we will have lost all chance of silverware bar winning the title.

I'm not trying to encourage negativity here but if we're looking at CL as already done and dusted, I think it will be taking the shine away from quite an achievement. I'm seeing some quite odd views pop up here, and I would put thinking the top four pace being sewn up is certainly one of them. Remember not so long ago when it seemed impossible that we'd finish below Arsenal?

I'm enjoying this season as much as anyone, as someone who has always had a keen eye on youth and the players coming through it's been great to watch, but in terms of end results/expectations it is best to hold off counting chickens and sucking each other off (as mentioned) for the time being, nothing has been achieved until we achieve it.
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Exactly why nothing is cut and dried right now. If we were to lose at home the gap is down to 7pts effectively. Throw in the 3 away matches in April at Liverpool,Stoke and Chelsea, plus a double-header of tough London derbies next week, that gap could disappear in the blink of an eye.

This weekend could go a long way to helping though. There is a decent chance we could go 13pts ahead of United by Sunday night, then just avoiding defeat at West Ham and at home to United should give us a good banker of being to afford 3 defeats in the other 9 matches and still be ahead.
We are in a great position but nothing can be taken for granted just yet
 
If we don't get at least top 4 from this position given how poor United are at the moment it would be a shocker.
Completely agree with the caution expressed... injuries and bad luck could cost us, we have a really tough run-in. Somehow we have to forget the media hype and focus one game at a time, hoping that ManU and WHam continue to drop points and make 4th that bit easier, and that the team continues to surprise us with its resilience.
 
galeforce said:
yep, we were in a better position then than we are now, it was effectively 13 points at one stage
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I see this posted a lot and although it was 13pts, they had a game in hand at Bolton which they drew making it 12pts level games,(that was as good as it got) as they then won again on the Saturday before we drew at anfield on the Monday night bringing it back to 10pts.
The killer was always not hanging on at their place to go 13 clear, or even coming away with a draw.

If that wasnt bad enough they then won at Anfield and we folded. The fact they only won 1 in the final 5 games and we got 10pts from our final 4 and still finished a point ahead shows what a collapse we had from after we beat Saudi Sportswashing Machine 5-0. A 17pts swing between us in 2 months
 
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