Well the clumsy reference to Chelsea in the first tweet leads me to believe that it's a Chelsea fan on the wind up. However, the fact that: A) He knows how to switch on a computer or similar electronic device B) He can spell makes me doubt this theory.
I've said for awhile that our finishing 4th requires an element of luck to it. We've established ourselves over recent years as the next best so when a side that usually finishes top 4 slips up we have to be there to take advantage. That's not trying to do down Redknapp or anyone elses achievements but I don't think you can ignore the part that Liverpool's demise played in our first top 4 finish, or Chelsea's in our second. I don't expect that a side will slip up every year so all I expect is that we put ourselves in the position to be able to take advantage each season. As it turns out, this season is starting to look like one of those opportunities so unless Chelsea pull it out of the bag, or another side has an extraordinary season, we should be there to take the vacant 4th spot. Me and Boss seem to agree on that! I agree with what others are saying too though, we are still punching up. As much as people can say that the likes of Liverpool are wasting their extra financial clout it might not be as much wasted as it appears to us now. I mean it's taken Ozil and Lamela over 2 seasons to look like they're worth anything like what was paid for them.
Excellent points YV. I've said elsewhere that at the beginning of this season I didn't think we'd a hope of getting top 4 - not necessarily due to our own incompetence, rather more down to my belief that Chelsea, Liverpool and United would be far better than they have been so far this year. With a third of the season gone, I see nothing from any of those teams that scares me. We are to an extent reliant on the financial giants slipping up in order to make room for little old us in the top 4, but it would seem that the majority of the past 6-7 years has seen a pattern emerge in that at least one of them has had a relativity crap season, and we have or haven't (usually the latter) taken advantage of it. Liverpool have had 3 such seasons, United have had 2 possibly 3 with this season, Chelsea have had 1 possibly 2 with this season. As much as it pains me to say it, City and Arsenal are the only 2 teams who haven't had truly shocking seasons in recent years.
Once again people set their sites low, which is perfectly reasonable given our financial clout and our history but having just watched us run rings around Arsenal I think we can be a little more confident than we were at the beginning of the season. For me MP is growing in stature and confidence quite quickly and the feelings I am getting from this season are similar to those with BMJ. One of growing excitement and a growing belief that we really can make a mark, that we really are getting somewhere. Dier & Ali in midfield and Kane up front have really added to the quality of this Spurs team and don't forget that Eriksen is considered by many to be our most accomplished player. All over the pitch we have quality and commitment even Dembele looks as though he is very comfortable (at last).
I am so impressed by this week...3 games in 6 days and only 66 hours rest between the EL match and the gooner game and we played so well. All the talk is of unlucky injuries for arsenal (I'd suggest that muscle pulls within minutes of coming on suggest very poor warm ups rather than bad luck...and the fact it happened to 2 players in the same match suggests they were almost unprofessional in their preparations) but there was hardly a mention of us missing Bentaleb, Njie and Chadli while Son and Mason have only just returned from injuries this week. The way we have coped with injuries has been good this season. No Eriksen for the first 4 games, without son since the city game, without mason since the sunderland match, Bentaleb since the last international break, Chadli since Liverpool match. Dembele missed a few matches after getting injured v Everton. Rose has also been injured. 11 unbeaten is a fantastic run and could be a great foundation to a memorable season. Here's hoping! By the way ... I am not the miserable bugger that made up the poch out twitter account...even I ain't bloody glass half empty
Me and Roo are still gloating to this day, I've even got "I told you so" tattooed on me just because I'm a smug bastard who knew the Great Dane would be a hit
Realistically, the only players that would have started were Bellerin and Ramsey/Walcott. Cazorla went off and perhaps some of the others would have played as they were second choice centre mids or right wingers. We had Son and Mason on the bench who were coming back from injury having been starters before they got injured. Bentaleb was also a regular starter, as was Chadli, who was our second top scorer last season. N'Jie and Pritchard are like half of Arsenal's injuries in that they probably would have made the bench, if fit. Arsenal had it worse in numbers but it really wasn't as bad as has been made out, especially since you can expect Walcott, Wilshere and Rosicky to be injured on any day that ends in a 'y'. You have squads for a reason, Arsenal had to use a £14mill international right back and an international with as many World Cup goals as Rooney. Boo-hoo, poor them.
To be fair to both of you, i'd say the injury front was pretty similar. Would Mason or Bentaleb really get in front of Dembele Dier and Alli who have all shone recently. Only Son for me really gets into your first team although you could argue that you're lacking that depth and rotational squad. For Arse they have the same ish problems whereas i would rate Ramsay and Bellerin as first choice players. Overall though i think Poch is doing a good job. Good to See Harry back on the goal trail, coming straight into my FF team
At this point there’s no denying we have quite a good group of players who are remarkably young, or that Pochettino has done well to mold them into an effective team. One note of caution is whether we can avoid running down from all the hard work. It’s been a characteristic of Pochettino’s teams. A second is that we’ve dropped something like seven or nine points compared to the points we should have had, by the yard stick of good chances created. We have arguably created the better chances in every game this year, with Sunderland perhaps Man City being the most debatable. To only be in fifth after playing that well, albeit still near the top, is not the mark of a team that is going to reach its objectives. Still, I’d rather be where we are, still within touching distance but not getting an enormous amount of attention, than where the 2011-12 team was. In a very unpredictable close-run year, the teams that will be successful are the ones who do well down the stretch. We’ve got good depth in most areas, and some very lively competition for places which is helping us. I hope Pochettino translates that into resting everyone sufficiently, and that we shell out some cash for a striker and a right footed CB. One thing going for us is a top heavy fixture list.
{One note of caution is whether we can avoid running down from all the hard work. It’s been a characteristic of Pochettino’s teams.} Are you saying that Pocettino's teams run out of steam or that he has avoided his teams running out of steam? {To only be in fifth after playing that well, albeit still near the top, is not the mark of a team that is going to reach its objectives} It's not the position that counts so much as the points and we are only 5 points off top which is a whole different ball game.
Certain positions are likely to burn out more than others. The centre halves should be ok whereas full backs need resting due to their role in the system. It makes another forward to help Harry absolutely essential and blooding Onomah more and more advisable. Barring really bad midfield injuries we should cope in that department. Do we want to throw resource at the EL given what is possible domestically? It's Levy's job to set Pochettino specific targets and get him what he needs to meet them. It's not acceptable for the man at the top to complain that we have failed when we don't do right by the Manager and give him the tools to succeed. We need a striker and the cost of failure is the same as in 2010-11 when we failed to upgrade on Crouch. Daniel it's time to show what you can do...
We've played seven teams in the top half of the league (including all of the top 4) and only five in the bottom half. So our next seven matches are two from the top half (both below us) and five from the bottom half. So we should do better just based on poorer quality opposition.
I think that one of our problems with killing teams off and holding onto winning positions is our lack of attacking options. We've got no real backup to Kane, N'Jie and Son have both had fitness problems and our non-starting wingers have all had problems, too. Chadli's injured, Pritchard's been out for months, Townsend's out of favour and form and others are probably too young. If we sort a few things out in the January window, then we might improve on this front. Replacing Townsend from within and bringing in a couple of goalscorers might be the way to go. Berahino and Austin would probably be the expensive way to go, but they'd have an advantage on anyone brought in from abroad. Fulham's Moussa Dembele could be a cheaper option than the West Brom man, as he's out of contract and the end of the season. Big step up for him, though.
I was really only trying to compare them to show that the difference wasn't huge as it's been made out to be. Arsenal's injury list is only really remarkable by number, rather than actually missing a lot of important players. To go back to the point on Alli, Dier and Dembele doing well in the other's absence, I don't think it makes a difference to the argument. It's no one but Arsenal's fault that Debuchy and Campbell haven't been able to come into the side and perform as well as Alli and Dembele have. The funny thing is the player Arsenal missed most was on the pitch. Sanchez has been their best player by a distance since arriving but gave them nothing when they really needed a big performance on Sunday. Take Sanchez out of the side, or keep him out of the game as Spurs did, and Arsenal are not so intimidating.
