Because certain Spudlings were extremely arrogant before this day so it's nice to see them taken down a peg or two.
Last time you had easy fixtures and were playing the likes of Bolton, Wolves and Wigan at home. Your now playing difficult teams away from home and as predicted being found out 3 of your next 5 games are away to Everton, Chelsea and Sunderland and the other at home to Man Utd and Swansea. Meanwhile ours are against WBA, Stoke, Spurs, Villa and Wigan (assuming we beat Birmingham in FA Cup). As SW6 says I don't want to tempt fate particularly as we are in a poor run of form but I'd be very surprised if we didn't make up ground given those fixtures. We're at home to 3 sides that have never won at SW6 in the PL era and playing two teams that are poor at home. We'll need a helping hand from Sunderland, Everton, QPR etc but it's more than possible. I was laughed at a month ago for saying you weren't genuine title contenders and now you can see why, you've played City, Liverpool and Arsenal away and been outplayed in all 3 games and walked out with a point Because it means we are now 7 points behind you and if we can beat WBA on Saturday it will be 4 points with a home game against you to come up, with you of course having some difficult away trips to come up. I for one am glad we have QPR, Sunderland and Everton out of the way
And I am glad we have liverpool, arsenal and man city out of the way And there are no 'easy' fixtures in this league...
Of course you are glad. Your team are proven big game bottlers especially away from home. I would fancy our chances far more in the big games than the ones I mentioned. Historically we have always done better against the top sides and faltered against the lesser ones. City aside I have no reason to believe we don't have a chance of winning those away games. Liverpool couldn't beat an egg at Anfield these days and Arsenal at the Emirates are hit and miss, I'd much rather play them there than at the Bridge, we wouldn't mess up such a healthy advantage as Spurs did I agree though, no fixture is easy but the momentum for now is certainly not with Spurs, it's probably with Arsenal and to a lesser extent Liverpool and Chelsea
lets say for arguments sake that after the next 3 games you are level or at best 2 points above us, we would have then played Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Everton and Chelsea home and away. Our last 8-9 games are ones that you would fancy us getting a large points haul from, you would have to go on a run of wins that quite franckly at the moment you dont look likely doing. I am not saying that we are not keeping an eye on Chelsea and Arsenal but the form shown by both teams doesnt suggest you will overtake us in the league and stay there. If you think you will you are being very optimisic.
Fair point SSA. But with Walker and Parker out, the injuries could pile up... and tottering may begin.
Form is temporary, class is permenant. Now the Winter months are over this is peak time for us and the likes of Chelsea, United and now City traditionally come good this time of year whilst the rest falter. The best team doesn't always win. Spurs have the ability but they don't have the know-how or bottle IMO which will play into our hands. You did well from about September - December but had a good run of fixtures at the time, now you are having to play some hard games as Chelsea and Arsenal did at that time you are being duly found out. I think you will probably get top 4 at either ours or Arsenal's expense but you are by no means guaranteed 3rd or even 4th IMO. Since December, with the exception of the Newcastle game you haven't been anywhere near as good and are beginning to lose form. Adebayor is starting to look disinterested and Bale, Parker and Modric look half the players they were a few months ago.
Bottling implies that we have the talent but not the nerve. We've never had the talent before this season so it's not appropriate. If we finish below third this year it will be fair comment. Did you see our match at City by the way: we outplayed them and would have won if either Defoe's leg was an inch longer or Webb had seen the Ballotelli stamp.
Bottling it doesn't imply anything of the sort! What it implies is that given an opportunity you will shoot yourselves in the foot/Commit Hari-Kari/Throw a wobbly/Chuck a sick-note/Go missing/Bottle-it. please log in to view this image
If the goal had been an inch wider at Moscow we would have been European champions. And don't delude yourselves you didn't outplay them. Bar a 20 minute spell City were vastly superior to you in every aspect. The only team to outplay City this season has been Chelsea
. In away games to the top 6, Spurs have conceded 13 goals in 4 games. That is shocking and isn't "title winning" or even "title contending" form
For now anyway, but if being above us ranks as some kind of achievement then fair do's. You are being found out and I expect that to continue on Sunday and in your upcoming games
I used this definition: "When someone decides to opt out of a rather nerve racking task, instead of just growing some gonads and doing it." We've never had any chance of being the PL champions before this season - so we've hardly bottled it. Chelsea, on the other hand, were the best team in Europe a couple of seasons ago and your captain only had to score a penalty to win the Champions League. A better example of 'bottling it' could hardly be found
Falling over and bottling it are two entirely different things...and actually it was Anelka who indeed bottled it at the end.
