These lads will be fired up like never before, because they can scent the title, and the lasting glory that will go with it - the first Spurs side to win the title since 61/62! Everyone of them will become instant legends! If that doesn't stir the blood, nothing ever will. It means that every team we come up against is going to be pummelled. We already have some of the slickest, fastest, most skilful players in the division, and to have them looking to score - at pace - at every opportunity, with the element of desperation increasing exponentially should we happen to go behind, must be utterly terrifying for opposition defences!
In addition to the KPIs I monitor on the "Stock taking" article, these are just more telling PL stats about the squad (points claimed from losing positions, return on set pieces, goal scorer diversity across the squad) .
"B-b-b-but the pundits say that, if Kane got injured, nobody will score goals!" Without even seeing a Spurs PL game in 2015-16 and knowing how they play, you can forensically look at these stats and immediately see that the Spurs squad is very good (a meh squad could not top all of the measures) .
The games just keep getting bigger..and I wonder if I can stand it. With three or four teams in the hunt at the beginning of the week, then a sizable gap to the fifth place team, it was very likely that the three or four would become two or perhaps three fairly soon. I was wondering why it took so long for Pochettino to take my suggestion to play Erikson deeper. It might be best to rest Alli for West Ham, as little as we might want to. For the first time he looked a little tired, I thought. Given his ankle problem, it might be wise to play Chadli, Erikson and Lamela in front of Mason and Dier, with Mason and Erikson swapping spots frequently. I still think Son will be a top player for us, but he needs to better integrate what he can do to what the teams does. He tends to dribble first. But he plays on a team which has been successful passing as a first option and shooting quickly. One of Chadli’s virtues on a talented team is that he doesn’t need that much of the ball. Of course, scoring with one touch goes over pretty well pretty much everywhere. I was astonished to see players who had played this much find the energy for the all out assault which ended with our win. There can’t have been many teams who had more shots on target than we did Sunday. Well, the games just keep getting bigger. And yet even so, this one was particularly huge. We simply could not have afforded to drop points in a game which looked about as well set up for a win as possible.
Next Saturday is the real big one!....assuming we don't **** up against the Spammers. If we beat The Goons we'll be 6 points clear of them...
The important thing is that we have momentum going into the last 11 games, which is something we've never had before. I don't buy into all that "the pressure is on" bollocks! I'd much rather be considered the favourites to take the title off the back of a good run, at this late stage of the season, than to simply be "potential" top 4 contenders, having had a few ups and downs, Look at where we are, lads, ffs! We're getting cautious about our chances of winning the title - an experience that probably most of us have never had in all our years of supporting the club. In past seasons, we were biting our nails over whether or not we'd make top 4 (and usually failing), when that looks practically nailed-on this season.
Playing Eriksen in the deep role was a massive risk that until half time didn't look like it would reap any dividends. He was largely ineffective until Lamela and Son switched sides which meant that Lamela was able to cut inside on his left far more often and help out in central areas. I said earlier that throughout the game I couldn't fathom what the Swansea midfield was supposed to be doing but they really did play into our hands in terms of making the all-out assault an inevitably rather than a hard-earned possibility. Against better sides I wouldn't dare risk Eriksen there again as his long range passing isn't good enough and he can't carry the ball as well as Dembele or Alli. I also think he happens to read the game better further up the pitch. I agree Re Son...especially given that he has played less games than most so should be fresher, he was very disappointing yesterday. Clearly a talent with bags of confidence and determination, but lacks the discipline to make the right decisions consistently. He reminds me a lot of Lamela in his early days here, constantly trying to be too intricate and dribbling into a melee of players when better options were open to him. To my mind, he's been better than Lamela was in his first season because he is far more two-footed and has that little bit more height and pace. That said, I've seen more than enough to suggest that he'll be an amazing success. I'm just mind-blown by all these stats that are being marched out one after the other. Completely agree with HIAG: I've never seen a spurs side show such relentlessness. Not even Harry's lads at their peak matched the intensity we now see. And I think that's down to the personality and philosophy of the manager tbh.
"I don't buy into all that "the pressure is on" bollocks!" The "pressure is on" for all the current PL top 5. We are only arguing over the degree of pressure + price of failure (which at the moment seems to be inversely proportional to the current table standings) .
After their result yesterday he could probably slip under the radar. Let's face it, the ball slipped under their keeper easily enough.
They wont have our intensity against Swansea, hopefully the Swans will press them more than they did us. If so, they have dangerous players. Go Siggy!
