Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
So went from 4 straight CL qualifications to 1 in (what will likely be) 4…. and that’s before you consider some of the consistently most turgid football played in our history since he left.
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The Immense Struggle to avoid the European Conference League
- Thread starter Grays_1890
- Start date
Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
You’re not wrong….. that’s why we won’t get there with us striving to be the 4th best.
Just because we've been locked in the fight for top 4 for the last few seasons doesn't mean it's limit of our ambitions
parklane1
Tony Galvin
Do not let facts get in the way of yet another moan.
Completely agree. People seem to now want to create a - “oh you just want to beat Sheff Utd” as though it’s beneath us and we should be constantly thinking league pos, league pos and league pos to justify progress.
Most on here are sensible enough to realise we will continue to need to push for where the revenue is (top 4) to keep the wheels turning - but that doesn’t mean we can’t go full strength in a game in the main domestic cup competition, where we were 4 wins away from lifting it, and 3 games away from our first final in 32 years. I don’t think it’s too much to ask - and I think some of the players maybe came away feeling the same.
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Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
Massively
It broke any confidence and sent the wrong message
And also cost us momentum
Was plain daft imo
alekaras
The ITK of IDK
If we were playing a full strength ManU and we fielded the team we did, I would agree. But we were playing the Sheffield reserves. We still fielded 7 starters, a kid that had done great in a CL tie against Milan, Brazil's #9 (yeah yeah, I know), and granted two donkeys in Sanchez and Moura. And brought in Kane, Deki, and Skipp before Sheffield scored. So when we went 1-0 down we were essentially playing our first XI bar Romero. Now if the manager can't figure out a game plan with these players on the pitch to create more than 0.78 xG against that Sheffield team, it doesn't mean that we are throwing away the cup games.
doesn't that reflect the true nature of the team's issues, now and for some time? Confidence is clearly vital in football, but the idea that one result can derail the side to the extent that we are now all over the place, unable to beat lower league teams, average Milan sides and teams in the EPL relegation zone is at the crux of all our issues surely? Can you imagine a Ferguson side doing that?
There needs to be a psychological assessment of the entire playing and backroom staff (not the coaches this week - the whole non playing side) to establish how we break this "It's Tottenham" hoodoo - we need to put an end to the mentality issues before we seek to just throw money at the problem.
And for those who just throw everything at Levy - you might be right - his approach might be the defining thing here - who knows?
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
Of course
If you have a coach that you know as a team isn’t valuing the next game you possibly step off the gas yourself
Then picking yourself up for the next one suddenly is harder
And again… another cup game where we don’t start well and all the momentum is gone
It’s a culture thing for sure
glasgowspur
Andy Thompson
Personally if i put in some of the performances that our team has over the past six years I'd be busting a gut in the next game, if only for my own personal pride.
Its pretty damming on the club that this has been going on for so long over so many changes.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
100%
But it starts at the top imo
It starts with the manager. The board doesn't (or shouldn't) interact with the players in any way that impacts the culture or mentality of the team.
It's up to the manager (and to a lesser extent the DoF) to implement a culture and sort out the mentality of the team and get rid of anyone that is impacting that negatively.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
a lot depends on how the board incentivises the managers and the team
I don’t believe, looking at how we haven’t given the cups the respect, that we have anyone incentivised to win them
They'll be incentivised the same as any team, a sliding scale from CL, League, to the smaller cups.
If we haven't given the cups respect then how come we've been in so many semi-finals? We're poor at the moment in both the league and the cups.
When a team is good they're normally good in both the league and the cups.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
How come we don’t win semis ?
We haven’t been getting knocked out by good teams either generally
Getting to late rounds in cups can be down to luck or the draw but we have generally gone out against our first half decent opposition and rarely get it’s any fight
Generally, we haven't been good enough. We have been in 3 League Cup finals since winning it in 2008 and those runs each involved beating at least one top opponent.
We lost in the finals because we were playing against better teams.
Bedfordspurs
Chris Waddle
Did we really meet better teams… or did we fudge up
city were a better team but we would ahead won with a decent ref … the guy who should have been sent off scored
Chelsea… Poch got done by mourinho man marking eriksen
United …. Penalties is a lottery
and then all the fa cups semis
Did we ever lose to a team above us in the league in this long, batten run? Don’t think so
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Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
The board sacked a manager with an incredible record in Cup finals just a few days before a Cup final. It absolutely starts at the top.