Quite sad that the measures/stats are coming in from all directions now, and none of them offer comfort or support.
I don’t think predicting us to beat wolves at home is particularly outlandish. Sometimes predictions are wrong though especially in the premier league! Looking at the predictions league thread, I wasn’t the only one wrong today.
normally I’d agree with you, but at the moment I wouldn’t predict us to beat anyone! Tamworth is an absolute banana skin waiting to happen. The next 4 games are terrifying.
Dont think so ....Think they have beaten us three times before this draw. But they caused us problems under Conte and JM too. Bizarrely Nuno beat them with us
Not yet but you would have been able to say the same about City before we beat them. If equivalent results from past seasons were definitive from season to season then it would get very repetitive!
Since we like ‘calendar year’ stats: Tottenham are the first team in PL history to fall behind 1-0 in 15 home games in a single calendar year.
I don't, but have at it. "Tottenham are the first team in PL history to fall behind 1-0 in 15 home games in a single calendar year." ok ...
Think only Brentford lost more PL games than Spurs in 2024 too. Ange better hope Levy isn’t checking out that table. Other than goals scored stat (think Spurs are 5th), every other stat is pretty grim.
I think three of the next four games will define our season and Ange's future. Heavy defeats to the Toon and Scum are not all that unlikely and could leave us firmly rooted in the bottom half with a decimated GD. Liverpool could have the cup tie done and dusted in the first leg if they turn up for it. If the above happens, I don't think the Tamworth game will be enough to save him if we win tbh. Any caretaker manager would be expected to progress past that tie without much difficulty. That's my prediction fwiw. He needs to pull a rabbit out of a hat for Toon, Woolwich and Liverpool to survive. If not, he'll be gone straight after the NLD, leaving the next gullible mug with just under half the window to work with.
This is harsh imo. Dragusin isn't perfect but he's performing exactly to the level I'd expect from a 22 year old CB playing in a high risk system to perform. Even Romero, who is supposedly one of the best CBs in world football and coveted by Real Madrid will often be made to look like an absolute clown by the system. Thanks to injuries, he's played twice a week every week since the beginning of November (including intl duty with Romania), which is simply a madness. Ange confirmed he was only 70% fit yesterday and probably shouldn't have played but we have no other options (apparently Alfie Dorrington doesn't exist again). He's far from perfect but we'd struggle finding better as a back up CB.
As you state, it looked pretty obvious yesterday to me that Dragusin was nowhere near full fitness. With the Udogie injury and Bentancurs really stupid booking we are staring down the barrel against the Toon this weekend. A nice 12:30 KO as well, and you know we NEVER go well with those....
Harsh maybe but I’ve seen nothing from him so far to suggest he was worth buying. Fit or not he hasn’t shown anything that makes him stand out. Like I said, might as well have kept Eric Dier and used the money he cost elsewhere.
In all honesty as much as I wanted Dier gone from the club, never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd sell two CBs (him and Sanchez) and replace them with one. It would be funny if it wasn't so dumb.
This is the first serious test of the club's ambition imo. The injury problem has been headline news for over a month now. A sensible club would have already identified targets, spoken to all relevant parties, agreed terms and at midnight tomorrow night fly the player in for a medical and contract signing, ready to join training on Thursday. There is very little reason why this can't be done in time for the Toon game. Yang and NEW CB or LB should be in the match day squad.
