Why? Spurs have never finished 3rd before so why would it be failure? 4th under the circumstances would be successful and would pick up where Harry left off. Spurs have assembled a quality squad on a good budget but The big 4 financially could blow you guys out the water. I think but for the CL final you'd be in a much healthier position whereby 3rd or higher was not only realistic, but achievable. I'm not carried away at all, we've made an okay start. Nothing special. Still a side in transition and problems round the corner IMO. As for early pacemakers, 2 of the last 3 years the early pacemakers have won the league. These days you can I'll afford to start badly. Still think City will have too much for everybody else
4th. We're better than Newcastle, Spurs, Everton, Villa etc but as of now not as good as United and City, we've not gelled as much as Arsenal have either so 3rd/4th is probably about where we are at in league format. I think we're better suited to Cup competitions, we're a cup team now and it's pretty much been that way since Mourinho left
Because we finished 4th last season. Finishing lower than that this season is not a sign of progression to me, thus makes finishing 5th an unsuccessful campaign. Plus, our team/ squad is just as good as yours and Arsenal's and therefore we need to be aiming to beat you to a top 3/4 position.
I also feel Arsenal are a little underrated. Chelsea as well to a lesser extent. Season after season were told how **** Arsenal are and going to be after flogging a key player to City/United/Barca but outside the Manchester clubs they are easily the best/2nd best side in the league. This is the first season where I'm certain they will make top 4 (although I was confident last tbh). I think the turning points for all the London clubs were how they responded to the pressure, a lot of it was experience. When Spurs started to believe they're own hype after one bad result things didn't go to plan, there were things outside the control of the club such as the Court Case, Capello sacking etc in fairness. Chelsea and Arsenal were written off by everybody and went into the closing months of the season with a siege mentality and wanting to prove everybody wrong. It cannot be stressed enough how important experience is in league format
I disagree, I think Chelsea and Arsenal have better squads and more depth but in a one off game Spurs are more than capable of beating both. It will take time for AVB to really stamp his authority on the Spurs side. He needed a proper transfer window. It's a shame you didn't get Moutinho as that would put a different outlook on things, I can't help but think if you had Modric and VDV along with the quality you've added in Dembele and to a lesser extent Adebayor how good you'd be. Given financial constraints I think 4th would be good for Spurs, once again Spurs have been written off for 4th so. Good chance to prove everybody wrong
9 times out of 10 your team eventually loses star players. Over the years we've lost Berba, Carrick, Luka and now Rafa. Fact is we move on and adapt. We've replaced both players with great quality, Dempsey scored more than Rafa last year and Dembele has started like a man possessed for us, plus we've also got Sigurdsson who's a fantastic talent. You guys lost Ronaldo, replaced him with an inferior player in Valencia and yet still managed to win the league. Teams/ players can adapt with and without key players. Chelsea and Arsenal have looked better over the first 4 games, that's mainly due to having a more settled squad/ staff. We saw signs at Reading that we're getting into gear now and it's down to the players and AVB to push on and make our challenge. 3rd/ 4th is fully achievable with the squad we have. City are your rivals for the title, if you come second to them again you'll see it as a disappointment and failure to achieve your title winning target. For us, Chelsea and Arsenal are our rivals for the remaning top 4 positons, finishing below them is a failure.
Chelsea got worse in the league after Villas-Boas left though, DL. I don't see how that fits into your hypothesis about a siege mentality. Redknapp may have been distracted by the England job and court case, but I don't think that they were the major reasons that our form went to ****e. Lennon was missing through injury and our manager decided to pick what he felt was our best XI available, which altered our system and ruined our fluidity and momentum. When Parker subsequently got injured too, we reverted to a more attacking formation and totally outplayed our remaining four opponents, though they we failed to beat Villa with 10 men. Villas-Boas started off with two holding midfielders this season and we couldn't win a game playing that way. He switches to a more positive style and we walk all over our next opponent. I don't think that's a coincidence.
More depth? I disagree. We have fantastic strength in depth. Admittedly it was a huge shame we couldn't bring in Moutinho but the way Sandro, Dembele and Sigurdsson played Sunday, I didn't see a "Moutinho shaped hole" anywhere. The financial constraints mean nothing between now and January, right now, we have teams/ squads of similar standards, each team has players better than the opposition in different positions. I relish the challenge of trying to beat you and Arsenal to a top 4 position, I'm confident in my team as I'm sure you are in yours
I don't think you can look at it as subjectively as that PNP. When Di Matteo took over Chelsea he was left having to play City (midweek) Arsenal and Liverpool away (midweek) in the midst of juggling two other competitions. I have no doubt we'd have performed better in the league had we not been involved in the FA Cup and CL. United took 4 points from those fixtures, Spurs 1, Newcastle 0. It would be hard to expect a man 2 months into the job to be able to do better under the circumstances. I'm sure if RDM had fixtures like Bolton, Wolves or Fulham at home as AVB had or even some of those tricky fixtures at home he'd have fared a lot better. Judging RDM on his league form then is like judging Nigel Adkins as a PL manager now, can only really judge after a 38 game season
on paper i think Chelsea and Tottenham squads are fairly evenly matched. However, Chelsea have players that have a better winning mentality and that is the difference for me. As much as you may hate Terry/Cole/Lampard/Cech and a few others there is no doubting that they are WINNERS. In the Spurs squad we are lacking that. I'm not sure we really have anybody that matches the winning mentality of the 4 i mentioned. Dempsey is probably our best.
It's good to see you with confidence in your side. I'm sure there will be many twists and turns and nothing is set in stone. Very much looking forward to the derbies between us three this year + West Ham of course
I tell you what really grinds on me till this day was when Redknapp said that we are 'punching above our weight'. I think that was his wheeler dealer way of saying that he can't take us any further in all reality...even with what people claim to be our best squad for decades. For me that is one of a few reasons he had to be replaced. Levy got in AVB for us to go in 'new direction' to me this implies that he was probably sick and tired of the bullshit Redknapp spouted constantly to cover his own back. Sometimes decisions are made for non football reasons....in Harry's case it was both. Redknapp and what he did with Spurs prior to his selfish interests pressing the self destruct button for our team last January, should not be a noose around AVB's neck. I feel confident that Levy does not see it like that either and seems to be working in tandem with the new manager in establishing this 'new direction' I'm not going to say that AVB was brought in to better Redknapp as the sole reason for his appointment. Many factors were involved. Plus many are asking the question as to why was HR sacked and also admit that we had a better squad last year than this year.... Yet heap the pressure on AVB to match last year. Quite frankly if Redknapp is going to be brought up everytime AVB is analysed then for me Redknapp Ballsd it up royally and we should have been sat in 3rd challenging for 2nd.
For me, City are the only team I think that are guaranteed to finish in the top 4. For all United's strength in attack, their midfield options are worse than anyother side aiming for top 4 and their centre backs are constantly getting injured. Chelsea lack depth and quality upfront, they also don't have great depth in defence and if they got hit by injuries at the back they will find their squad stretched as they compete in all competitions. Arsenal don't have great depth in defence either but are very strong in midfield, once they get Wilshere back they'll have a lot of quality options, upfront they will need players to step up. Podolski has started well but they will need at least 2 of Gervinho, Giroud and Walcott to be consistently very good if they're going to challenge right up at the top. As for us, in squad depth we will be relying on Dembele staying fit to be up there, Huddlestone may improve as the season goes on but it'd be a big ask if he had to fill in for Dembele for a long period. Defensively we need to improve but we have good depth and having Parker back will help us with closing out games. Upfront, I look at our depth and feel we're still perhaps missing someone, especially if Townsend doesn't step up. Dempsey was a great addition but he's pretty much got to be able to cover all of the roles in the front 4. Overall I think injuries, or lack of, could play a big part this season. I'm not saying that the 4 I've mentioned will be closely bunched, just pointing out that there are vulnerabilities in each squad and if the likes of United and Chelsea start to waver, an inform Arsenal or Tottenham would be there to take advantage. This is also not to dismiss Everton, who look good so far and may force their way up into the reckoning. Liverpool, Newcastle and Fulham to a lesser extent.
But he may well have lost all of those games. We have no way of knowing. In the only league games where Villas-Boas and Di Matteo had the same players available, the Italian won less points per game. Chelsea clearly didn't create a siege mentality and prove people wrong in the league, which is what you claimed happened. Cup runs took on more importance, understandably, but your league form didn't improve or even stay the same.
We have the talent in our squad. Of that I have little doubt. All will depend on if the squad plays to it's full potential, if AVB can make them perform in the manner that it has been publicised that he can do, and how our luck runs with injuries. The intangible is how those that we see as our main rivals perform over a whole season too.
I see what you're saying mate, I just don't buy it. Managerial change - how many have Chelsea had? don't recall their fans accepting transition during those changes where new players and tactics have been brought in. United lost Ronaldo, the Goons constant shedding of best players, they've all had similar, and not dropped standards or expectation. Liverpool you could say are a classic example of taking your foot off the gas for a season and how quickly it can go horribly wrong if you do. Who is going to sign for us next summer if we 'accept' 6th?
