The alternative argument is that it would be a monstrous psychological blow. If we can't finish ahead of Arsenal after the season we've had, we *never* will. The 'S.p.u.r.s.y.' effect will never, ever die if that is the case, and this team and manager would be painted as being as mentally fragile and prone to bottling and utterly collapsing as any of the others we've had.
No, there are no positives to finishing behind Arsenal this season. Believe me, I've tried to find them.
We have to finish ahead of them.
it won't be a regress, the worst they can say is, "lads it Tottenham"
I think you underestimate the effect bottling of those proportions would have on the mental legend surrounding our club. We're already more likely to bottle it than most by virtue of this insidious recent history of failure from promising positions, IMO; that sort of thing would just crush the mentality of a lot of the young players we have at the club, and the fans as well.
No question of the importance of finishing ahead of them. It doesn't matter if we finish behind City in 3rd, but not *them*.
I'm in a funk at the moment and only a City win would cheer me up.HT 1-1
we bottle it every year, this is nothing new
Not always. When there's no pressure on us, we are gritty and determined as all hell. I like that, and we had that all of last season and most of this one as well. It's just that when things are riding on results, we tend to stumble and fall.
It's why that beautiful run in 2009-2010 was so inspiring and memorable -we'd bottled it in the FA Cup semi against Portsmouth, losing it in extra time, and now we looked done, even our league season under threat. But we came back almost unbelievably to win the NLD 2-1 (by itself, an unbelievable moment, given how we'd been unable to do that for like a decade prior to that day), then went on to even more unbelievably beat Chelsea 2-1 (the champions that year) and City 1-0.
And, just like that, we secured CL football for the first time in our history.
That run stands out because it was so memorable. Similarly, people underestimate AVB criminally, but the 2012-2013 season was a textbook example of us pushing right to the end, never bottling it. 3-2 win at OT for the fiest time in yonks, Dempsey scoring against United at the death at the Lane, and then the late series of wins driven by Bale and a gritty team grinding out wins where it mattered. We finished with a points total that didn't get us CL, but which even this team now looks like it will not surpass.
We don't bottle it every season, that's an exaggeration. But we tend to do so more often than not, which is what makes the moments when we don't more memorable. This season, I suppose you could argue that getting into this brilliant position is itself not bottling...but it will be hard indeed to make that argument if we finish behind Arsenal.
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