Having flushed the anger of the manner of yesterday's capitulation out of my system, I've come to realise that my feelings yesterday at White Hart Lane were actually quite similar to how I felt after quite a few games last season. Charlton away, in particular comes to mind. The frailties of last season though were overwritten by the play off performances. The reasons for them though are clearly still present. Identifying them is another matter and I just hope that the Board, Management & Club can do just that and eradicate the issues. I won't speculate on what they are because we all need to try and support the club and team in a positive way, but I just hope they know what they're doing as yesterday's performance cannot be repeated. Saturdays game against Sunderland is crucial to the rest of our season.
Taking into account also we were winless pre season against Orient, Southend and PAOK and defeats at home to Hull (where we were far from good in my opinion) and a shambles of a performance at Spurs, Saturday almost feels like a must win game (and we are only in August). I agree going into the 2 week break we need a win on the board and above all our highly paid players need to start showing us what they do all week in training.
Lets hope that the Spurs performance will act as a wake up call for all and sundry. Hopefully there is a collective realisation now that a ferocious workrate is required if we are to survive. I think last season's players deserve their chance first and the new players introduced gradually.
Sunderland could be as big a challenge as Spurs. They certainly looked up for it against Man U. Let's hope they're not against little ole QPR.
Im starting to believe that we didnt learn anything during the year in the championship......We still play too slowly, we are outmusceled by almost everyone and still nobody seems to know what do on the pitch. After we go out of the cup by mighty Burton the only way to escape from relegation is sack arry and his last century style football. We need a foreign manager who knows how to play the modern football. We got the players for that but not the manager and the coachingteam. We needt act now and not just before christmas when we are 10 points from the 17th place.
Really? Harry did an amazing job to get us promoted. There was a greater chance that we would do a Wolves. We need to hold our nerve. I would be extremely disappointed if we don't see a reaction against Sunderland.
Some people leave me absolutely shocked at their lack of knowledge or realism when it comes to football. We've played 2 games with half a new team, playing a new system and got beaten by a team that has spent around 150 million pounds in the last 18 months! Were you all expecting us to do them 6-0? Ffs get your heads out the dirt and stop worrying, it's going to take a few weeks to get things right, but we will still sow games, that's football. But to slag everyone off and talk in such negative terms after 2 games screams of armchair support of the worst kind. If you love the club then support the club, come what may. If we lose we lose, learn to deal with it and enjoy the game for what it is. But I'm sick of the knee jerk reactions from our fans, it's been going on too long, if it continues it will spread to the team and club as a whole. So what if the team played bad, I've supported the club for 40 years and I can count the number of good seasons we've had on one hand. If you can't deal with the reality, that we are a small club trying to establish ourselves in the toughest league in they the world, them I really think you should save your money and stay in your armchair. Supporting a team is about getting behind them, even when they play ****, especially when they play ****! Cause it's then that they need the support more than ever. I get some don't like rednapp, he's not everyone's cup if tea, but he's our manager and it seems the only people who don't rate him are a lot of our fans, well that's just superb! But if people stop whinging for a few weeks you might be pleasantly surprised, oh and you won't sound like a parody of flyer!
Yes. That is a big if. This not panic , this is just experience.... Now i really hope our team and Arry show me how wrong i were.
In response to the OP by SussexR, after the Spurs game I also had the same feelings and thoughts of "here we go again" and "I recall this feeling". Let's hope that Sunday was a reality check and will get the correct response and not develop into a trend. Last night I watched in the City and Liverpool match in awe. The technical prowness and smooth nature of the play game was extremely impressive, and a slight shock compared to our bedraggled performance of last Sunday. However there is a wide gulf in this league and I for one now will not be suprised to loose 20 matches this season. The key is to get about 40 points from the remaining 18, which means to win around 12 games. Let's hope!
I've got the clap ... and I'm not happy. ... but I do agree with LR. After the Hughes debacle Harry was brought in to do a job. It seemed he was too late to do anything with the crowd that were there and we were relegated. The next job was to have a clear out - which was done. The next important job was to get promoted. This was essential because of the financial state of affairs. So Harry assembled a group of players - many loans and pensioners so it seemed - to do the job. They made it, by the skin of their teeth. Now he has to build a proper team of younger players to provide some stability. This seems like putting the cart before the horse. We really should have had the new team built, with the younger players, before we were promoted. However, I believe that if we had started the rebuilding last season we would not have had access to the better players and would have not reached the playoffs. It would have meant several years in the Championship to get it right. As I have said before, we could not do this. We HAD to get promotion or financially we would have been in a real mess. We are building a new side whilst in the Prem. That is a very difficult task. The players are fighting for their Premiership survival from day 1. It is imperative that we stay up. If we go down then we will lose a whole raft of players who have relegation clauses in their contracts and could be hit with a transfer ban by the league for our overspending last year. Then what do we have left? The prospect of doing a Fulham and playing the kids is unimaginable. I think that we do have the players to keep us up, but they need to step up to the plate, pull their sleeves and socks up and get stuck in. Otherwise we are in deep sh!t.
I think most of us had the same feeling after the abject display against Spurs, oh no not again, another bunch of mercenaries who couldn't give a toss. The performance against Hull, apart from the last 10 minutes, lacked passion. But this can come from a lack of confidence. Once you win a couple of games, suddenly everybody wants the ball. We do need to win and quick. My first reaction to the performance was anger but now I have calmed down and started being a bit more philisophical about it. I do think that we were unlucky in playing the 2 teams in the Europa League. They were always going to be a couple of weeks better off at the start of the season and have that match sharpness and this may have made a difference. The truth is we don't know. I imagine another 5 or 6 games down the line we might well have a much better idea of how our season is going to pan out. That's a bit different to what I was going to post if I had done on Sunday, which would have started....Useless tossers.
The point of my post was to say that it appears we still have the same problems as last season. Supporting the club and team is a given as far as I'm concerned (thats why I spent £150 going to spurs) but that support doesnt mean I have to agree with the way the clubs management goes about its business, on or off the pitch. And it doesnt mean those concerns shouldnt be aired, this is a message board for opinions.
Great post and lots of food for thought. You've hit one nail on the head with the phrase which I've highlighted in bold. We are a small club (at present) but we do have a big talking Chairman. That is absolutely not a criticism but he does tend to get expectation way up there and the reality is lagging somewhat. Inevitably that leads to disappointment.
Saturday's game IMO will be what it will be and is not crucial yet. I never gave up under Hughes as we in fact looked a lot better as a team. This will be a very interesting time on here as people giving us no chance after two games is shameful … we could still win the bloody league we are very quickly getting worse than Villa supporters .. take stock lads. I refuse to allow the papers etc to spoil my football. It's Chelsea or City today well not in my world. A complete nation of brainwashed. Why watch football if it's already decided. It's not clever to agree. I saw enough against Hull to tell me that there is potential to play against anyone in this league Let it grow at least a bit before you apply the agent orange
DT, you certainly kept the faith until the last gasp last time around. Thankfully we are no where near that now. Some of the bookies even reckon we are going to win on Saturday!
Dont get totally wrong because im hoping for this to be so much different season than the last one in the prem. One part of me is certain that it will be but the performance at White Hart Lane shokced me big time. I know it is just 2/38 played but in that spurs match were all the same symptoms that two year ago. There for it was just not the result that get me horryfied it was the wholeness and the body language of certain players. After. Sunderland match there hopefully is another tune in my posts but right now im bit worried.
Totally agree, just watched it again (recorded sat night on SKY) and the way we let them play was actually quite shocking especially in 1st half. Hoddle in now for me as watching Harry and his two sidekicks without any passion sending them out like that has already piss.. me off. HR talking in the third person again "WE started badly etc etc etc. Thats you Harry thats your job!................................
