I'm of two minds on this. First, credit to Arsenal and Chelsea for playing very well in the stretch run (though in Arsenal's case it's been more grinding out the points). Spurs haven't done too badly (in terms of points) but both Chelsea and Arsenal are on great runs. But...I've put the figure of points gifted to Arsenal at 4 in the last few games. The goal against Man U was offside, and then there was the corner farce. We still haven't had a penalty all year. If the games had been officiated fairly, we'd either be in a commanding position for a CL spot, or have it locked up already. So I think both things are true: Arsenal and Chelsea deserve credit for doing extremely well down the stretch. In the real world, they've gotten the points they need. But: officials do determine the outcome of many games and seasons, and right now they're on track to screw Spurs. Again.
Levy , Lewis thought of Harry as a liability . He mouthed to the press and wanted quality signings to move on , which at the last hurdle were not provided. AVB plays the Levy stance. No great pressure on signings and Levy happily can provide him with cheap alternatives. No top club in the Premier would have touched him after the bulls up at the chav's. He gave him a chance , under certain conditions. They all sing from the same hymn sheet . Don't expect any change of ethos as Levy/Lewis have never backed any manager as they always sell our best players eventually.
Today comes to mind. It's been a strange team in a strange year. I think AVB had just worked out a kind tough, shoot first and ask questions later team when he lost the heart of it with Sandro gone for the season and Dembele with a succession of injuries. Since then it's been huff, puff, whirl the dice, hope--and frequently enough get Baled out. Except there have been a brief few stretches when we look absolutely superb. So do we deserve a CL spot? It's a little hard to say: grabbing points late you don't deserve is the mark of a winning team. But in terms of average level of play, Arsenal have been better.
I dunno, he has almost achieved what we did last year, minus VDV and ratboy. If it IS a project then even Levy must see we have to kick on!
Why do you think that, Lenny. Levy certainly negotiates the deals but why do you think he chooses the players? It would be crazy if he did.
Better journey home than the way there!!! God, we were **** today - well, actually until Ade came on!! No joke, he showed more intent than the rest of the lethargic bunch put together and should take some credit for kicking us into life. Bale saved our bacon (again), but I can't remember another half decent chance.Dempsey was an embarrassment and Southampton bossed us for 80 minutes - CL my arse!!! But we won - somehow - and if we can actually get something midweek then this win will be very significant. Now, where did I put my glass......
Agreed. A shocking journey to the ground made me grizzly from the start. A couple of players were clearly less than fully fit and several others were distinctly crap. Plus we have a manager whose tactics are now really driving me nuts. Yet again I lost count of the number of "moves" which involve 10 passes only to end up back where we started. Lloris's save from Lamberts excellent free kick was a genuine top class save and Bales's goal was real out of your seat stuff. Other than that, an afternoon to forget.
The number of times we pissed about playing across the back line was embarrassing - especially as we almost always ended up passing it back to Lloris and him humping the ball down the pitch to.... No-one!! Lets move on!!
We can count ourselves very lucky indeed to have gone home with all three points today. Once again, a wonder-strike by Gareth Bale saved the day.
It's always a positive to keep a clean sheet at any level. I did think Lloris, Dawson and Verts deserved their clean sheet today.
Yeah, it was really good to see Lloris make that save from their freekick. As good as he's been for us this season I don't think he's pulled off that many brilliant saves for how highly some people have rated him. Long me he continue to shut me up
Actually this is wrong - we beat Fulham on 1 December and Swansea on 30 March - unless you meant a home game
He means a home game. Because of today's delayed kick off, we will have gone through this season without a home win in a game starting at 3 o'clock. However, on a far more positive note, for the first time in PL history, we have completed the double over all the 3 promoted clubs.
There seems to be ample evidence. This last summer wasn't Verts signed whilst we were between managers? And I think the "interest" in one or two others was around before AVB and we signed them. Plus the VDV deal was an obvious example of a deal coming from Levy to the manager rather than the other way round.
We'd been linked with Vertonghen long before and AVB had obviously been lined up well in advance but couldn't be announced because of his terms for leaving Chelsea so I'd be amazed if he wasn't consulted. In any case there were other football staff still there after Harry left - surely you don't think we should just stop transfer activity during an inter-regnum when players like Jan are available. When we signed VdV didn't Harry say that Levy said to him 'I've been offered Van der Vaart if you want him'? All the evidence actually points to the manager having the say on the purchases. The right way to do this is for the Manager to specify the value of the players he wants and Levy to try to get them for no more than that. The other way around on sales. I've always imagined we never sold Bentley because Harry though he was worth more than Levy could get for him
Catch 22 for a Spurs manager. He may name players he wants but Levy comes back with his own names (cheaper alternatives) . Levy may strike lucky or most times supply mediocrity (Siggy) or plain pound-land crap like Dempsey. The manager can take it or leave it but as this is the best he is going to be offered he has to go with it. I am sure Levy behind close doors has briefed any manager coming in and if they didn't realise this policy already they would be plain stupid.
