I get why people here are disappointed by today's result but is it really a suprise? Wigan are renowned battlers at this time of the season and they recently battered Everton (the only team to really paste them at home this season). All things considered I'd have taken a draw at 3pm. Swansea won't be a push over for Everton ... and nor will Man utd for Arsenal. Since we lost to Liverpool and Fulham we have shown some real fight at times... We went to Swansea and won; we drew with Everton with a last minute goal; we came back from 2 nil down v Basle in the 1st leg of Europa tie; We scored a late goal to make it 2 all in the 2nd leg; we had the late come back v city to win and we had the late come back today. Tomorrow will show whether this is a good point or not but even then there are some tough games coming up...Arsenal chelsea spurs and everton are separated by just 3 points...Chelsea have to play Everton and us; arsenal have to play man utd and wigan...I suspect Everton are back in the hunt and there will be a lot more twists and turns.
There are no easy matches at this stage of the season. I have to say the Liverpool result came as a big surprise and I'd say is an exception but normally all matches are difficult. Stoke are back to winning ways at the wrong time for us but I'm happy to see Saints lose so heavily. Which leaves Sunderland and Chelsea. We beat the former earlier so should win at home but with a new coach who knows? I cannot predict the Chelsea match,I just don't know.
We can't keep coming from behind Everton tend to only do well against London and Manchester clubs so their performance against Wigan means nothing We need to win against Southampton/Stoke/Sunderland and hope for Man Utd to beat Chelsea/Arsenal
It's not the result which disappointed me about today, it was our utter toothlessness. It's all very well saying it was a good point, it probably was, but on the evidence of today's overall performance we are really pissing into the wind with talk about top 4. The good news is Lennon is back which will hopefully liven the team up a bit and give us some bloody width.
Wigan were there for the taking in the first half but we didn't take our chances and gave them a stupid goal. Frustrating but I can take that. What I couldn't take was in the second half how we crumbled under a bit of pressure from Wigan closing us down and the frankly embarrassing passing we showed in that half too, even the passes that were "successful" often ended up behind the player forcing them back to get it. Yesterday, I said we'd look on the result more favourably if Arsenal or Chelsea drop points today but frankly we shouldn't be looking at these games today, having to rely on what might not actually happen and ultimately I think it will still look like 2 points lost even if the results do go our way.
All very reasonable points, yet RCL's interpretation of events is just as valid as those that say "we have no chance" (or "we don't deserve it") while looking at only the negative aspects. Yet it is the negative sentiment that clearly prevails on this forum. And that seems to be based on not whether 5th would be a reasonable placing for us given our financial strength, new manager and many parts of a new team, but based mainly on the chasing of an artificially created "4th place success / 5th place failure" culture that has seen the EPL become little more than a qualifying competition for the CL. Compared to the wilderness we inhabited pre-Jol, I assure you we are doing a lot better now, but we have no "right" to 4th place - how soon people forget! Probably also forgotten that we are competing against a couple of clubs that don't seem to have any sort of financial constraint and have been more or less built on massive injections of non-earned money.
vim,all's fair in love and war and if good fortune smiles on certain clubs when a billionaire rides by there's nothing to stop it happening is there? I've always maintained that supporters shouldn't expect too much from a new coach in the first year after all Ferguson was at Man U for 5 years before he won anything. There is a culture of 'instant success' at clubs these days which imo ruins the stability of those clubs and puts enormous pressure on coaches,more so than players. It was Jol who started the improvement and then came a little setback in the form of Ramos before the nudge nudge wink wink character of Harry arrived. To me he was never as good as the very best of coaches in English football and would not have taken us up another level. I said that I would have preferred Blanc,Klopp or Loewe to take over at Spurs as I didn't (and still don't fully) see AVB as a Spurs type of manager. Anyway with him we are fifth in the table and are more or less certain to qualify for European football next season and EL football is better than no European football I think we'd all agree. The EL had some good teams in it albeit on past glories ie Lyon and Inter who we were good enough to get passed. This season we have beaten Man U,City and Arsenal and are only one win away from third spot which can only be called a good achievement. Andre wants to buy a Spaniard who has scored 70 goals in 105 matches which is the sort of goal scorer Spurs used to have and need now. Each time I look at Andre he seems more like a winner and needs to rebuild the squad to make a challenge. He's given us the foundations to go on and put a good team together. I want to wait and see where we are at the end of the season because that's the best line where to judge Andre for the future. i think he'll be okay,given time.
I said as much on another thread. Expecting 6 points from games v the reigning champs and away to renowned battlers like Wigan, who can play decent football too was greedy. Spurs have three winnable games and possibly a winner takes all game v Chelsea. Top four is very much in your hands, so I can't understand the negativity.
Luke,Stoke are on the winning path again and our performance second half was bad yesterday and could be repeated at Stoke. The Fulham match has rocked our confidence a bit and from being 1-2 up at Pool to lose it stupidly is another factor. New coach Sunderland??????? and as you say hot and cold Chelsea has made me a touch cautious.
Even with 4 games remaining, there's a long way to go. As someone else has rightly said, 4 points out of 6 against city and Wigan is actually very good and we'd have taken that prior to the 2 games. As I have said, I'm confident united will be too much for arsenal today, which could leave us 1 point behind with a game in hand. This game against Chelsea is going to be the one. It's strange how things happen in football. Perhaps we might see a bit of karma, by where we beat Chelsea and get revenge for last year? Who knows, but it's a funny old game.
We are ahead of where I thought we would have been prior to the City game. Form told us they would utterly destroy us, but that was obviously not the case. A Wigan, battling for their lives have beaten better teams than ours to survive season after season. If yesterday's fixture was at home, I think we would have put them away; But it was always going to be a big ask. Bottle is not the issue it used to be with us; Guile enough to break down resolute defences is and the lack of a top striker. Until we invest in one we are going to come up short. Simple as.
Stoke are safe now Thor, and Sunderland are all but. I hope the smell of Ambre Solaire is heavy in their nostrils by the time they get to us.
some interesting and valid points....but... we have coped and NOT collapsed with the loss of lennon; defoe; sandro and bale at various points in the last few months. We are week in some areas but for the past 2 years we have imploded whenever we've lost 1 or 2 players. We've been without Kaboul all season too. At the beginning of the season no one would have given us a hope in hell of being in this position...it's even more impressive when you consider our consistant injury problems this season. Bale is getting fitter as is defoe and hopefully lennon will be ready to start v southampton next weekend
Stoke might be safe now Chirpy but they could still throw a spanner in our works which concerns me more than their safety. Sunderland are 16th and as their Mafioso boss says they are still not totally safe. It's wait and see for me. Agree with all you posted Colin.
some interesting and valid points....but... we have coped and NOT collapsed with the loss of lennon; defoe; sandro and bale at various points in the last few months. We are week in some areas but for the past 2 years we have imploded whenever we've lost 1 or 2 players. We've been without Kaboul all season too. At the beginning of the season no one would have given us a hope in hell of being in this position...it's even more impressive when you consider our consistant injury problems this season. Bale is getting fitter as is defoe and hopefully lennon will be ready to start v southampton next weekend
I think it'll go down to the wire. It wouldn't surprise me if we turned Chelski over and lost to Stoke. Being a Spurs supporter is never boring, that's as true now as ever.
I think our real rival for top 4 is Chelsea. Once again Arsenal will get third and if we draw at worst at S.B. then my prediction is that we will get 4th and Chelsea 5th. please log in to view this image
