Need to catch up on thread so apologies if repeating but I knew we were going to struggle. Kane needs to get fit...I said when he was not playing that our 3 attack mids seemed to have a new found freedom. Now they are back to always looking for Kane but he's not responding. Poch making me raise my eyebrow once again
agreed but I think the frustration is that there is comes from us potentially throwing away a 10 point lead over 5th spot in just 4 matches. Every team has a dodgy run and this is our second one of the season. We lost to City, drew with Brighton, lost in the FA Cup, beat Watford and lost yesterday...that's just 4 points from 4 matches but the more worrying thing is that we are not playing well at all. We do not look like scoring more than 1 per game or keeping a clean sheet. At the beginning of the season we'd all have accepted this position but we are in danger of throwing away a 10 point lead for 4th in just 6 matches. Because of our lack of form (not results) I am very nervous about the next 2 matches.
Fine margins win and lose games. Poch messes the fine lines up too much for my liking. Generally speaking, his subs are minimal when it comes to impact. Mainly because they don't get enough time to influence a game, instead we are always hoping for a Super sub 'Roy of the Rovers' impact due to the little time left. He won't change tactics in game. I even knew WBA were going to hit us on counters...Poch still set up like we are playing Liverpool. Fine lines matter in sport. Levy needs to back the team with money for players that will make an immediate impact. Can't dine at the top for ever without that quality. I'm afraid we might not get that long term success we are hoping for with our 'Golden generation' because I just don't think this team and manager has the balls to get over the line. Even Fergies young team needed a Cantona, we need inspiration too
I do think we would enormously benefit from a older head around the squad such as Nurabet, David's back in 2004-06. I think that Milner has played that role at Liverpool.
The thing is that, a couple of seasons ago, Son was the super sub - but he's now a starter and who's the super sub in his place? Yes, we all know Moura's the obvious answer, but it's hard to be a super sub when he's rarely subbed on in the first place...
Yes we've won a hell of a lot of games and yes we've won some matches against excellent opposition but we seem to always lose in games that really matter - often when we're in a position of being favourites. This has been a problem for Spurs for a number of years but even in Poch's tenure so far: League Cup final against Chelsea - lost FA Cup semi final against Chelsea - lost 1-0 up at home against Juve to progress through to next round of CL - lost. FA Cup semi final against Utd - lost. Chance to all but secure top four yesterday against bottom of the league - lost. We have a shocking mentality in crunch matches. The game yesterday was just a clusterfuck of poor management - poor formation, poor tactics, poor timing of substitutions - how many times has the latter been said this season alone? I love Poch, as I'm sure everyone here does but it doesn't mean he should be exempt from criticism. As for talk of squad changes, I feel a fair bit is needed and have said this for weeks/ months, even when form was good. Dembele is done. Rose been useless all season - did he manage one good cross yesterday? Toby wants out. While the likes of Llorente, Sissoko, GKN, Janssen and Aurier just aren't good enough or suited to what we need. First XI with the exception of a Dembele replacement doesn't need to be tinkered with, maybe a <insert marquee signing here> would be nice but the squad definitely needs improving if we're to push on. Otherwise all the hard work Poch has done over the years will begin to be for nothing and we'll constantly be the "nearly men", our golden generation of players will end up being like the England team that had Beckham, Rio, Terry, Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney etc of being all hype and no substance.
Do we really want a draw??!! That puts Chelsea 4 points behind us with 6 points remaining. If they lose, they remain 5 points behind us with 6 remaining. Therefore, due to our goal difference, we’d need 1 point from our last 2 games. If they draw today, we’d still need to find a win. I appreciate we still have 2 home games left, but with the way we’ve played recently, I would prefer us to only need to find 1 point from 6, rather than 3!
No, that's clearly not the case, just in the matches you choose to mention. I could just as easily make a list of important matches we've won. For example, we won away at Chelski this season - when was the last time that happened? - and given the current situation that result really matters.
Even better, why don’t we just go and beat Newcastle and Leicester? That way it doesn’t matter what the Chavs do! Neither team has anything much to play for and they’re both home games for us. If we can’t even manage that, then maybe we don’t deserve top 4?
The Chelsea game was a matter of pride. That never sealed top four nor has it actually brought us something. The pressure wasn’t on us in that game.
Great analogy I would add ‘poor individual performances’ to your list of reasons for yesterday’s debacle. - Lamela showed (to me at least) that he just doesn’t have enough. We cannot continue making the ‘he’s been out for a year’ excuse for him. - Love Big Dave but he’s got to start dominating. My hearts in my mouth every time there’s a one or one long ball heading his way - Rose as you say, despite his obvious weight improvement, his end product was dreadful given the space and the amount of possession in the final third he had. His temperament was also found wanting and he played a role in setting up the attack from which they ultimately scored. - Dele was largely anonymous and shirking challenges although I appreciate he may have been more mindful of who we were playing (McLean, Brunt etc) - Harry is just not at the races, not chasing or challenging, a yard off the pace. Why Poch can’t see this is beyond me. Mind you, having listed all that I suppose it was a good performance to only lose to a 90th minute goal was an achievement
Sod deserving it...you could argue the goons didn't deserve in in 2006, or coming third in 2012 or coming second in 2016. you could argue Toon deserved the title in 1996. Derserved means sod all...if we qualify cos Chelsea fail to capitalise then I will take that.
Mate, those two teams have **** all to play for. We do! If we can’t raise ourselves enough to beat two bang average sides, both at home, then we can only blame ourselves if the Chavs overtake us!
I agree completely...no excuse will be acceptable if we blow a 10 point lead in just 6 matches. I am worried as that is exactly what I see happening. I was at Wembley on Monday and the atmosphere was a weird mix of bored, toxic and dead. It did nothing to lift the players. Am going on Wednesday and Sunday...and am not optimistic in the slightest. Will continue to scream my heart out supporting the team but ain't feeling positive and that will be way way worse if Chelsea win today imho.
They deserved 3rd in 2012 because of the run of form that they put together. Anyway, Arry played pretty much the same style in every match and I think that's one of the main reasons he won more often than we used to.
If you are faced with a problem on week 36 that you first saw on week 6, and struggled to deal with then, do you think suitable solutions should be devised by now ?? And if so, do you think the play yesterday was indeed the solution to that problem ?? "And the assumption that the players are not trying their best also seems wrong." Were the players overwhelmed by an opponent with so much at stake that each of them played for 90 mins like a man possessed ?? Did Spurs similarly play as if a non-win meant no CL next season ?? And if not, for which of the remaining matches do you believe that they should start playing so ??
5-1 to relegated Newcastle and now 1-0 to (almost) relegated WBA. Were our players at a strip club the night before?
