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5th in any league should never qualify for the Champions league anyway. It’s a farce they’re giving extra spots to nations with multiple teams in it already. Makes it closer and closer to a super league
Surely it should have the best teams in it irrespective of location? They should have changed the name years ago though.
 
Not sure we 'blew it'. We just aren't good enough for this level yet, which is understandable. It's our first CL campaign for 7 years & first CL QF for 14 years.

You are not a CL "pedigree" club.
Nobody expects you to reach the SFs or final
(as they would with the Poool, or in recent times -
sadly - the PL Sugga Daddy FCs) .

You are trying to get at least back to end era Wenger levels
(continual CL qualification via finishing PL top 4) .
That you have actually been in the title fight at the
business end of the season for two seasons running, is a bonus.
 
I think Spurs will win the NLD (and similarly give
Citeh and the Poool a real game) .

Sadly, after the Fulham/Toon results I also think
that Spurs will fold against vermin FC and the
two relegation candidates.
Could be right. It is hard to gauge our real level at the moment. We go from fast exciting football to toothless unadventurous games week by week.
 
I've been keeping the faith for 70 years!

I few months before I became a regular Spurs fan as a 12 year old,I had to go the childrens dentist on Park Lane,Tottenham and had 5 teeth filled with no anasthetic!After,the dentist told me to get up walk to the open window and take a deep breath.I did...and collapsed.My mum heard my head hit the floor in the next room.I've been scared of the dentist ever since.I have all my teeth (shining white) except for that five! Anyway,at the top of the road Spurs were beating Tranmere in a FA Cup replay 9-1. Some things you never forget do you?
 
Not sure we 'blew it'. We just aren't good enough for this level yet, which is understandable. It's our first CL campaign for 7 years & first CL QF for 14 years. Getting to the semis would have been a huge achievement after such a long time away. Bayern Munich have had a poor domestic season, but they still have tremendous experience & quality within their squad.

I'm disappointed with the way we get KO'd, but it was hardly a European campaign you can say was a bottle job - which, bizarrely, seems to be the narrative every time we lose.
Oh, come on, man. Bayern are crap at the moment.
They've lost to Heidenheim, Lazio and Bochum in recent weeks, plus Dortmund at home.

The bottling comments are more to do with the performance than the result, anyway.
Getting eliminated by one of the regulars isn't that bad.
Utterly failing to turn up for the 2nd leg is, though. Did Neuer make a save in the 2nd half?
This sums it up, really: https://streamin.me/v/47d76b6b
 
Oh, come on, man. Bayern are crap at the moment.
They've lost to Heidenheim, Lazio and Bochum in recent weeks, plus Dortmund at home.

The bottling comments are more to do with the performance than the result, anyway.
Getting eliminated by one of the regulars isn't that bad.
Utterly failing to turn up for the 2nd leg is, though. Did Neuer make a save in the 2nd half?
This sums it up, really: https://streamin.me/v/47d76b6b

As we have seen many times over the years, your domestic form does not always translate to other cup competitions. Think about how many times big teams have struggled in their league yet have done well in Europe. It happens.

Look, I’m not saying we don’t deserve criticism or that we didn’t let the nerves/occasion get to us. We clearly did. And Arteta is culpable for a lot of things that went wrong. But a slender loss over two legs to a Bayern team that have been CL regulars, still have CL winners from their 2020 squad and still have lots of talent isn’t as big a disgrace as people seem to be making it out to be.

The second half performance yesterday was terrible, I’m not denying it. But I don’t think it’s because we bottled it.

I think a lot of the core players clearly were tiring and the manager didn’t utilise the squad properly until right toward the end. If he’d worked on keeping the squad fresh and giving opportunities to others on the bench, maybe we’d have seen a different story. But the lack of intensity the 2nd half was clearly due to fatigue.

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As we have seen many times over the years, your domestic form does not always translate to other cup competitions. Think about how many times big teams have struggled in their league yet have done well in Europe. It happens.

Look, I’m not saying we don’t deserve criticism or that we didn’t let the nerves/occasion get to us. We clearly did. And Arteta is culpable for a lot of things that went wrong. But a slender loss over two legs to a Bayern team that have been CL regulars, still have CL winners from their 2020 squad and still have lots of talent isn’t as big a disgrace as people seem to be making it out to be.

The second half performance yesterday was terrible, I’m not denying it. But I don’t think it’s because we bottled it.

I think a lot of the core players clearly were tiring and the manager didn’t utilise the squad properly until right toward the end. If he’d worked on keeping the squad fresh and giving opportunities to others on the bench, maybe we’d have seen a different story. But the lack of intensity the 2nd half was clearly due to fatigue.

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That's something that we've both talked about it the past, though.
It's predictable. It's avoidable. It's a fault of the manager.
Half of those players have obvious rotation options, too.

Smith-Rowe's had something like 4 starts this season.
He gets a few minutes here and there from the bench otherwise.
There's no need to run Odegaard into the ground every week.
 
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That's something that we've both talked about it the past, though.
It's predictable. It's avoidable. It's a fault of the manager.
Half of those players have obvious rotation options, too.

Smith-Rowe's had something like 4 starts this season.
He gets a few minutes here and there from the bench otherwise.
There's no need to run Odegaard into the ground every week.

Yeah I know we have and, regarding your post, you’re preaching to the converted there lol. But I’m just saying it all plays a part in the decline in our recent performances and results.

It’s also why I’m really not confident playing Wolves away this weekend and think there’s a big chance that we drop points because a lot of these same players Arteta overworks are gassed out. Unless he freshens it up, our season could deteriorate pretty rapidly.

Until he learns to trust his entire squad and not overuse the same 11-13 players every week, we’re going to be facing the same dilemma at the same stage of every season. He has to learn his lesson.

If he doesn’t, the only person he’s making life difficult for is himself.

It’d also help if he recruited better. He said to CBS yesterday that ‘we don’t have a 30-40 goal a season striker’. Maybe we could have got one if you didn’t spend £115m on **** attackers from Chelsea and City? This is the consequence of his own transfer decisions.
 
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Yeah I know we have and, regarding your post, you’re preaching to the converted there lol. But I’m just saying it all plays a part in the decline in our recent performances and results.

It’s also why I’m really not confident playing Wolves away this weekend and think there’s a big chance that we drop points because a lot of these same players Arteta overworks are gassed out. Unless he freshens it up, our season could deteriorate pretty rapidly.

Until he learns to trust his entire squad and not overuse the same 11-13 players every week, we’re going to be facing the same dilemma at the same stage of every season. He has to learn his lesson.

If he doesn’t, the only person he’s making life difficult for is himself.

It’d also help if he recruited better. He said to CBS yesterday that ‘we don’t have a 30-40 goal a season striker’. Maybe we could have got one if you didn’t spend £115m on **** attackers from Chelsea and City? This is the consequence of his own transfer decisions.
He'd burn out that striker too, though.

Where did he think that this 30-40 goal striker was coming from?
I think Kane's the only player currently hitting those numbers.
You've bought nobody with that profile or anyone showing that potential.
Jesus is a good player and his overall contribution is very useful.
He's not clinical, though. It's not his strength.
 
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Yeah I know we have and, regarding your post, you’re preaching to the converted there lol. But I’m just saying it all plays a part in the decline in our recent performances and results.

A manager who wants to fight for the PL while being in the CL has to master this.

Fergie is a big benchmark. Klopp does quite well currently.
The false messiah we ignore as Sugga Daddy FC squads do not count.


"It’d also help if he recruited better. He said to CBS yesterday that ‘we don’t have a 30-40 goal a season striker’.
Maybe we could have got one if you didn’t spend £115m on **** attackers from Chelsea and City?"

Who does !!?? :)
Only 10 have done so in the PL era.

One who can get 20+ per season is a start. Two would be great,
Three who get 10-15 would be very useful.
 
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Martinez booked for timewasting in the 39th minute when they're losing.
That just about sums up this first half from Villa, so far. Dreadful performance.
That card would simply not get given in the Premier League, though.
 
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Lille 2-0 Villa. Midget scores a header.
Not having a good ebening, so far. Still in this, despite playing badly.