I don't think I am contradicting myself...I disagreed with Redknapp doing it and I disagreed with MP doing it. The only difference was I was prepared to give Redknapp a break cos; he had given us 2 years of great football and excitement Redknapp used the excuse that we were in the CL (and I am in a tiny minority of fans that would prefer a trophy to top 4) and had matches against milan and werder breman etc. coming up. Most fans agreed with his logic...I didn't but could see there was some kind of logic involved...I have no idea what logic was involved about Wednesday's team choice. goons were piss poor but his team choices won them the game imo. To be clear ...If we had a cup final a few days after a NLD then it would be sensible to protect /rest players for the final as trophies are everything in football for fans...as far as I am concerned resting players for a match v man city does not count...in fact, it is a stupid decision...playing Fazio was unforgivable
Just gonna leave this here again as i think some people could benefit from it. I'm pretty zen about this result now. Ommmmmmmmm.
Cudicini was the best keeper in the league at Chelsea before Cech arrived. He was superb for a few seasons if I recall. Why on earth he didn't leave Chelsea at that point I will never understand, he stayed as number 2 for the best years of his career.
A lot of the gripes seem to be based around the position that we were playing Arsenal and that makes it inexcusable to field anything but our strongest team. The fans were mugged off said one of our posters, yep I think the whole League Cup is a mug off. I can understand people going to the game because it can be very difficult to get to see your team and also very expensive but I treat the League Cup much like I treat a friendly and don't get too worked up about it. In any case I don't really know what people are moaning about (Fazio excepted) our performance was good the difference between winning and losing was very marginal. Two years of exciting football from Redknapp RCL? Did you borrow some glasses from Wenger? Yes those were some of the best times in recent years but, come on, there were plenty of boring games where we all screaming about Harry's selection or his tactics or his lack of them. BMJ also provided us with excitement and the return of optimism. I am still onside with MP.
Could only have been money SD he will no doubt regret the decision in years to come when he looks back. He could have had a much bigger career football wise but I suppose when he looks around his big house in some beautiful part of Italy he wont be too sorry.
The most simple guess would be he had far more protection from the Mbia/Carrico midfield partnership then he ever got from Mason/Bentaleb last season. Similar can be said for several other centre backs with little pace: in 2007-8 plenty of Old606 posters were singling out Dawson time and time again - yet once he was given adequate protection in midfield (which coincided with Zokora getting replaced with Palacios, later Sandro and Parker) those same posters were singing his praises. Similar can be said for John Terry: immense for Chelsea with one of Makalele, Essien or Matic protecting him, but frequently found out for England when playing behind the Gerrard/Lampard idiocy.
2 deserved wins over chelsea, the first prem win over the goons in 11 yrs, a league start of 6 without loss including a 5 nil home win and 5-1 away win, a 9-1 win, 4 -2 win over liverpool, 4 all at the goons...that is off the top of my head in the 18 months before that gooner match...thats a fair share of excitement and I said that imo this is why fans gave him the benefit of the doubt...i did say several times that I did not agree with redknapp doing it. Anyway its history now ... until i next have an old bastard hissy fit
There's something else I don't get about the reaction: people saying the COC was our best chance of winning a trophy this season. Seriously, how did people come to this conclusion? It's just as feasible for us to win the FA Cup when you consider... i.) The teams in both competitions are more or less the same - and by "more or less" I mean there's non-league teams in the FA Cup draw ii.) Winning either cup requires us to win six games iii.) Plenty of sides field weakened teams as they focus on their league position - not just the Sky Five, but teams battling relegation or chasing promotion Unless I missed it where Galndalf does the sixth round draw and yells "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!" when Spurs' number is drawn, why do people believe one trophy is more attainable than the other?
I would concede that there is a argument that the COC is the best chance we have of a trophy but I still think that is irrelevant because it does nothing for our long term plans. No top player is going to want to join (or even stay with) us because we won that while winning the EL puts us in a completely different place. And the stuff about Fazio's selection is totally unfair. He wasn't a good signing but he is our best available back up if we have major injury issues at centre back and if he ever needs to come in for a really important match then he will be better for having played. Same with Vorm. In most parallel universes neither mistake would have ended up anywhere near Flamini and if they did he wouldn't have scored. Arsenal's 'weak' team on Wednesday cost twice what our's did and we had the better of the game.
Coaches are supposed to be smarter than fans. That’s why they get paid. So they shouldn’t try to bend to every surge in fans’ opinion. But it’s a fine line. The fans pay the bills in the end, and meeting their reasonable desires for the club as well as possible is one of the keys, if not the key, to being successful. Winning any and every NLD is very high on the list of things I want from Spurs each season, and most of the things that are higher ain’t gonna happen, period, or barring remarkable luck. So I don’t understand not prioritizing this game, nor for that matter playing Alderweireld and Dier against Qarabag. I think I was as disappointed with the starting lineup as with losing the game. I said before the game we fielded a defense designed to let in goals. It wasn’t just Fazio, though that was my biggest worry. It was also a new partnership with Wimmer, two CBs (one of whom I rate, tbf) who’d made awful blunders the week before (still preferrable, in retrospect to playing someone who hadn’t had a blunder all season because he hadn’t played a minute) and someone other than the keeper who’s been able to keep a lot of shots out when all else failed. Arsenal started a more solid team overall and a much less dodgy group of defenders. I think Pochettino did a real disservice to the fans with his choice of players. The best defense I can find for it is that others, including Wenger Thursday, have also failed to make every derby the big occasion that fans IMO have a right to expect. I remain hopeful Pochettino will be successful, however. While I think the way he treated the NLD was awful, I still rate him overall so far. There are a lot of ups and downs in a season, and every disappointment is likely to be the coach’s fault to some degree. As disappointing as this particular decision was, I’m less concerned that he didn’t see things the way most fans did as the harm he may have done to his own cause. We need a coach who is going to stay for years, if that coach is reasonably proficient. I’m seeing benefits from a year of relative continuity already and hope to see more.
No fa cup finals in 24 years No european final in 31 yrs no league title in 54 yrs 6 league cup finals in 16 yrs These are the reasons for me
Spot on RCL. Beating Chelsea in the League cup final a few years ago was one of the highlights of my time supporting Spurs. I would have thought it would rank amongst Spurs fans as the highlight of the last 20 years which says it all.
