We blew it!

[indianspur]

'The most vocal?' There were others. But that's OK, I am proud to be associated with that statement!:lol:

Disappointment is with all of us. You. Me. Everyone. But if you want to know specifically what I think is sad, it's the fact that some people turn onto the negative/what we did wrong/where we fudged up/how's this an improvement over last year and deride those who don't agree. As I have said in reply to a few people, fine, let's agree to disagree, but that simply isn't good enough for a few people, who want to hammer home some invisible point of 'truth'.

What made ME believe it was 'so possible'? The fact that I genuinely believed anywhere from 70 points on would be enough to make top 4 this season. And the fact that our THIRTY SIX year old manager has shown a willingness to learn from mistakes, adapt to situations and work with injuries in a fashion which suggested we would find a way.

Don't worry, I understand that some cannot wait to carve a negative angle when (frankly) the fact we didn't make the top 4 is the ONLY negative in a season when only Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder 'might' fail to see the immense progress on and off the pitch. When Bale is confirmed as staying for another season at least, will you believe it then?

i believe!!!!!

how old is AVB by the way? THIRTY SIX you say? THREE SIX? THREE DOZEN? 36? not bad for a nipper

 

[Spursalot]

'The most vocal?' There were others. But that's OK, I am proud to be associated with that statement!:lol:

Disappointment is with all of us. You. Me. Everyone. But if you want to know specifically what I think is sad, it's the fact that some people turn onto the negative/what we did wrong/where we fudged up/how's this an improvement over last year and deride those who don't agree. As I have said in reply to a few people, fine, let's agree to disagree, but that simply isn't good enough for a few people, who want to hammer home some invisible point of 'truth'.

What made ME believe it was 'so possible'? The fact that I genuinely believed anywhere from 70 points on would be enough to make top 4 this season. And the fact that our THIRTY SIX year old manager has shown a willingness to learn from mistakes, adapt to situations and work with injuries in a fashion which suggested we would find a way.

Don't worry, I understand that some cannot wait to carve a negative angle when (frankly) the fact we didn't make the top 4 is the ONLY negative in a season when only Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder 'might' fail to see the immense progress on and off the pitch. When Bale is confirmed as staying for another season at least, will you believe it then?

=D>

Agree with everything there.

 

[thfcsteff]

There's a slight difference believing it possible and expecting it.

Trust me Jordy, some people here just want to land a 'win' even if they're loose with the facts...

 

[indianspur]

Whatever.

I whole-heartedly believed we could do it. I did not sit grumpily 'expecting' us to do it and considering failure to do it a 'failure' or 'blowing it'...you obviously are one of the few poor souls who reads what I post. if this is the case, you will recognize how much I figure context into everything. And the context of all that happened this season on the pitch and behind the scenes delights me except for the failure to get top 4. Again, most people would've expected 70 points to have secured that, even with 5 games to go. I certainly did not expect Man Utd to lie down like a bunch of tossers for the remaining 4 or 5 games of the season...

And here's one for your pipe (and a few others I'd imagine)...I am delighted that the schematic of our coaching and management set-up has changed to the current situation. Anything but the miserable shower of bricky excuses we had to listen to from the manager last season. At least this manager cops to it and DEMANDS more of HIMSELF and others. He is PROGRESSIVE not PROTECTIVE of his own 'legacy'...

an absolute blessing

 

[indianspur]

we need a new home shirt with p!ss stains and im sure next season we will not blow the CL race....know yer history Levy!!!!

 

[thfcsteff]

i believe!!!!!

how old is AVB by the way? THIRTY SIX you say? THREE SIX? THREE DOZEN? 36? not bad for a nipper

:lol:

I think he's only 36. Someone said 35. I refuse to believe that LOL...

Seriously though, when you look at the situation next season, with three new managers in the top 5, it is going to be a more open race than this season by some distance...I just hope Levy gets AVB's business done early!

 

[Jersey Mike]

Hello, everyone. I'll try to take the high road here.

If this were the old league format...

1. League Champion advances to the European Cup
2. Qualifies for UEFA Cup
3. Qualifies for UEFA Cup
4. Qualifies for UEFA Cup
5. Qualifies for UEFA Cup

It would be a very different situation. Tottenham had a decent shot at 3rd, so under those circumstances the difference between 4th and 5th, or even 2nd (had such a finish been possible, and for a brief time it was) and 5th, would not have been that big an issue. It was the tweaking of the situation, so that dropping from 4th to 5th became, in effect, relegation (especially for a team that regularly gets up there, like Arsenal or Chelsea, or used to, like Liverpool), is emotionally crushing, if not competitively devastating. If that had been the case, then half the problem would be gone.

Of course, there's still the other half of the problem: Finishing behind Arsenal.

And now, you've finished behind Arsenal for... How long, Colin Firth? "Eighteen f***ing years!"

Last year, when there were 10 Tottenham points in the gap, I said it wouldn't hold, and that Arsenal would top you, and they did. This year, it was "only" 7 points. I knew it wouldn't hold -- again.

Now, it can be argued that you were victims not of your own ineptitude, or insufficient character (I believe the people of England call that "bottling it"), but, rather, a surge by Arsenal.

But what this means, basically, is that, even when you're good, Arsenal are better. Any Arsenal fan who says your team stinks, or sucks, or is crap (or any variation on that word), is wrong. But Arsenal are still better.

Nothing lasts forever. Surely, one of these seasons, Tottenham will finish above Arsenal. It's bound to happen someday.

But since the arrival of Sir Harry, Earl of Bankruptcy, lord of Relegation Manor, landlord of Twitchshire, the vast majority of you have been presuming that your club will be, or already are, better than Arsenal. And it just hasn't happened.

Whatever the virtues of your club, and individuals therein, you have been guilty of what the ancient Greeks called hubris. Arrogance has to be earned, and you haven't. Perhaps Arsenal aren't earning nearly as much as they used to, but they're still in the highest league of all, the Champions League, and you've been there twice since the competition began under the European Cup name in 1955: 1961-62, and 2010-11, and that's it. Twice in 58 years -- twice in 53, if you take out the Heysel ban. Arsenal have qualified for the 16th season in a row.

I'm not going to say that Tottenham is "not a big club." A team that regularly finishes in the top 30 percent of the most highly-regarded league on the planet is a big club. But you've been acting like you're a much bigger one, one the size of Arsenal. You've set yourself up for such disappointment, time after time, and you never learn.

None of us knows what is going to happen next season. Much depends on which players are sold and purchased by the various clubs, which players are injured, and especially on what happens to the Trafford club now that Sir Gumchomper is gone (perhaps one step ahead of the law). Certainly, with or without Gareth Bale, Tottenham have a bit of talent, and a young manager who knows how to win.

But let this be your one and only warning: If Tottenham are ahead of Arsenal at any time during the 2013-14 season, I don't care how big "the gap" is: Never assume that Arsenal won't knock those points down. There's just too much experience to know that it can happen.

This in Uncle Mike, the Gooner from New Jersey, U.S.A., reporting. Ta-ra, and see you in August.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Whatever.

I whole-heartedly believed we could do it. I did not sit grumpily 'expecting' us to do it and considering failure to do it a 'failure' or 'blowing it'...you obviously are one of the few poor souls who reads what I post. if this is the case, you will recognize how much I figure context into everything. And the context of all that happened this season on the pitch and behind the scenes delights me except for the failure to get top 4. Again, most people would've expected 70 points to have secured that, even with 5 games to go. I certainly did not expect Man Utd to lie down like a bunch of tossers for the remaining 4 or 5 games of the season...

And here's one for your pipe (and a few others I'd imagine)...I am delighted that the schematic of our coaching and management set-up has changed to the current situation. Anything but the miserable shower of bricky excuses we had to listen to from the manager last season. At least this manager cops to it and DEMANDS more of HIMSELF and others. He is PROGRESSIVE not PROTECTIVE of his own 'legacy'...

What is it with you and capital letters?

I don't see many people blaming AVB, most people are angry at Levy. Most people assumed the new manager would get Levy's full backing in the transferr market.

 

[Jordinho]

 

[Spursalot]

This in Uncle Mike, the Gooner from New Jersey, U.S.A., reporting. Ta-ra, and see you in August.

Cut short to avoid it taking up too much space.


It's not arrogance to believe in our team. That's just the nature of being a supporter. If you go on any forums, from 1st place to 20th at the start of the season you will see everyone believing they can achieve their goals.


Arsenal were better yes. However the gap has diminished over the past five years. If i were an Arsenal supporter i would be extremely concerned about how things are going, the fact that we have pushed you until the final day on this season and last is in part a growth in our club, but also a serious demise within your own squad.

To put it short. I would rather be a Spurs supporter looking up and pushing for a higher finish, than an Arsenal fan looking down and worrying about who is chasing them.

 

[skyfarer]

It has very little to do with hubris or mentality or experience, and everything to do with actual quality. Arsenal are more creative than us. They have better one-touch passing and movement than us, they are faster and more fluid in attack, they sign more 'team' players rather than individualists and as such they consistently destroy the bottom half sides while we struggle all the way to the last minute to break them down, ultimately relying on a Gareth Bale Special. Their superiority in playing as a team has been the case for years, and it was only exacerbated this season after losing our most creative players. We keep going on and on about how their and Man Utd's squads are 'average' and that is patently not the case, not when you consider the squad as a whole rather than each player in isolation (and frankly I think they are underrated when it comes to intelligence and technical ability).

The Top Four campaign (or rather, the two-follically-challenged-North-Londoners-bickering-over-a-comb fest) doesn't start in January or some bricky Fulham game we manage to fudge up at home, it starts right now - in the summer. Stick or twist, Uncle Joe.

 

[SpursForLife92]

We'll never be as big of a club like the arse. They're usually one step ahead, trophies we can't catch, new stadium, money, now the best (taco) manager in the PL.
But we're moving forward quickly and that is good enough for me. City will never be United but they still give them competition

 

[Spursalot]

It has very little to do with hubris or mentality or experience, and everything to do with actual quality. Arsenal are more creative than us. They have better one-touch passing and movement than us, they are faster and more fluid in attack, they sign more 'team' players rather than individualists and as such they consistently destroy the bottom half sides while we struggle all the way to the last minute to break them down, ultimately relying on a Gareth Bale Special. Their superiority in playing as a team has been the case for years, and it was only exacerbated this season after losing our most creative players. We keep going on and on about how their and Man Utd's squads are 'average' and that is patently not the case, not when you consider the squad as a whole rather than each player in isolation (and frankly I think they are underrated when it comes to intelligence and technical ability).

The Top Four campaign (or rather, the two-follically-challenged-North-Londoners-bickering-over-a-comb fest) doesn't start in January or some bricky Fulham game we manage to fudge up at home, it starts right now - in the summer. Stick or twist, Uncle Joe.

If they are so utterly superior, how did they only finish one point above us?

It baffles the mind.

 

[SpursForLife92]

Just like if City aren't so far behind united why did they finish 11points behind??

As spurs fans we gotta be realistic.

 

[Pirate55]

There's no question that we handed it on a plate to Arsenal last season. But they did actually go on a great run of form also last campaign, the turning point was beating us, they managed to overturn a 10 point lead in something like 5 games. And I am not denying they went on a great run of form towards the end of this season, but I can't help but think we played a part in them getting 4th by dropping points we shouldn't have.

I really don't want to be pained by a doom and gloom merchant (not by you especially), I like to think I am realistic about Spurs. I would have taken 5th from the start of the season, but your goals do change as the season progresses. There are positive signs:

Our away form
Bale's transformation into one of the most influential players in the world
The likes of Vertonghen and Lloris settling into the league so easily
Our spirit to come back from losing positions and to get late goals

If we had been behind Arsenal all season, then I wouldn't be disappointed, but it's yet another good position we've put ourselves in only to come up short at the end.

I agree with all the points you have made in this thread Jurgen. It really isnt about what happened last season. Last season WAS our own fault. Less so this season. But while there are indeed the positives you posted above - there are also the negatives that AVB needs to urgently address for next season:

1. More adventurous at home - not sitting on single goal leads, not starting two DMs against poorer sides, getting the midfield to pass forward and run in behind the forwards, make the strikers run around more and look like they want to score goals by attacking the space.

2. Improve dead balls. We dont score enough from corners (more aggression needed and players given specified roles) and conceding less from corners (again players given specific tasks)

3. Bring in some real quality talent - especially a top Striker and creative AM at the very least.

Small margins can make a really big difference come the end of the season IMO.

 

[Roy1983]

Cut short to avoid it taking up too much space.


It's not arrogance to believe in our team. That's just the nature of being a supporter. If you go on any forums, from 1st place to 20th at the start of the season you will see everyone believing they can achieve their goals.


Arsenal were better yes. However the gap has diminished over the past five years. If i were an Arsenal supporter i would be extremely concerned about how things are going, the fact that we have pushed you until the final day on this season and last is in part a growth in our club, but also a serious demise within your own squad.

To put it short. I would rather be a Spurs supporter looking up and pushing for a higher finish, than an Arsenal fan looking down and worrying about who is chasing them.

Didn't realise he was an armchair fan either. Explains a lot.

Anyway, the arrogance of the filth remains which will make it all the more sweeter when we finish above them. As you say we're on the way up and they're on the way down no doubt.

 

[thfcsteff]

What is it with you and capital letters?

I don't see many people blaming AVB, most people are angry at Levy. Most people assumed the new manager would get Levy's full backing in the transferr market.

:lol:
Occasionally I like to use them.

Why be angry at anyone Jurgen? THAT'S lol my question. What is the point of being 'angry' at people, especially when not all the facts are available?
Levy answers to Lewis BTW.

As for january window signings, we did not have much money. We had enough to go in for a couple of mid-range strikers with lots of instant gratification but not much longevity. One of those was Demba Ba. As I have said before, I thought the reason we did not go for him was insurance/lack of. I was told a couple of months ago that the manager felt he would rather put the (eventual) 20 million (fee plus wages) towards a proper, quality summer signing. This window will show us whether that holds any truth or not.

I personally find it astonishing that even with UA's help, we can afford to pay Gareth Bale 135k a week or whatever. Looking at our means, our income and our stadium size, it is phenomenal that we can keep players like this.

I genuninely believe that AVB came in with a 3 year plan, and that the first phase has gone largely to plan. This is where Lewis and Levy have to back him, now, because if we get our business done early and allow him a proper pre-season, we will push for the title IMO...

 

[metalgear]

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/315884/

Dembele's review of our season:

MOUSA DEMBELE: TOTTENHAM MUST DO BETTER
ABOVE: Mousa Dembele reckons Tottenham can make a title bid next season
“
If there is a bottom team here, maybe we are too relaxed and think, ‘OK, we are going to win
”

Mousa Dembele
22nd May 2013
By Adrian Kajumba

MOUSA DEMBELE says Tottenham won’t return to the Champions League until they start beating the smaller teams on a regular basis.

Spurs are licking their wounds after being pipped to the final top-four spot by their fiercest rivals Arsenal.

Midfielder Dembele has no doubts about why Spurs missed out on a return to Europe’s top competition.

He said: “We dropped a lot of points against the bottom teams. Against the good teams we can make the difference.

“So maybe we have to be aware next year as well, these are the games for us that are very difficult – the small games.

“That’s the thing maybe we have to look out for. Of course, that’s the sign of a strong side. That’s something that comes with experience as well.

“If there is a bottom team here, maybe we are too relaxed and think, ‘OK, we are going to win’.

“Maybe that’s the reason (we didn’t make the top four). The thing is, we are close because against the top teams we are good. I think, ‘They are not better than us’.

“But against the small teams, it’s like, ‘OK, the top teams would finish this’.”

Dembele reckons Spurs can get over this year’s disappointment and launch a serious title bid next season with a few additions – providing they keep star man Gareth Bale.

He said: “I’m never shy to say that I believe in everything. So if we start well next year, you never know.

“Maybe if some good players come in, then it’s a different season. There’s a chance, why not?”

The Belgian also thinks Spurs fans will see the best of him next season after his injury-hit debut campaign at White Hart Lane.

He added: “My season was okay, not bad, could be better. I will try next year to have more success and be better than this year.”

 

[raboner]

Must learn to treat lesser teams with contempt and just beat them, by any means possible. Rather than not showing up and getting rolled over by the likes of Wigan, Norwich and Fulham.. perhaps the the most obvious area in which we need improvement.. That and set pieces, both defending them and making them dangerous offensively.

 

[Baleforce]

Must learn to treat lesser teams with contempt and just beat them, by any means possible. Rather than not showing up and getting rolled over by the likes of Wigan, Norwich and Fulham.. perhaps the the most obvious area in which we need improvement.. That and set pieces, both defending them and making them dangerous offensively.

agreed, we need to have an arrogance about us that destroys the confidence of those teams, you see them turn up at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and the like and they are beaten before they have even left the dressing room