I have rarely heard such negativity - for goodness sake Palace scraped their way out of the Championship and are the sort of side we sholud beat - and beat easily. If we struggle against the lesser teams then forget any decent finish at all. We are much stronger than two years ago - 3rd at least - and maybe a Cup thrown in for good measure
The fact we scored two in that game is overlooked. Monaco are pretty good defensively, with Toulalan in midfield a defensive pairing of Carvalho and Abidal. That a scratch team could score twice against them without Bale, Paulinho or Soldado deserves to be recognised.
Keep Bale and I think we have a good chance to challenge for the league. Why not? We only finished 6 points off 2nd and only Man U were miles ahead of the rest of us. It all depends how they transition under Moyes. We have strengthened well with only our defence looking a bit weak however this looks like it is being sorted in time for the beginning of the season. I can't understand the negativity on here of people thinking we will finish 6th. If that happens then we will have seriously under performed.
Hi CJ, if you can't understand it, that's up to you, I've posted my reasons at length more than once, so I won't post them all again. But I guess you don't agree with them, which is fair enough. As I say, I may well be 'upgrading to 5th' today, if Capoue signs. But ATM, both 'on paper' and recent performance, our defence looks an absolute shambles.
You have started early this Friday, just remember at least 12 hours between your last drink and stepping into the car tomorrow.
Fourth or a cup, for me. But it's how it's done, it's not just what is done. Last year's glorious failure did it for me, if only because I decided I'd be happy with the year if we could win our last games and draw against Chelsea, and I stuck to my bargain. Also, yes, we didn't reach our benchmarks, but it was a wild, electric year. If we keep Bale we should push for third, maybe second--if we didn't need time, maybe very considerable time, to gel. This year a key may not doing too badly in the beginning
Minimum of 4th place must be achieved. We've massively strengthened our squad, last year we finished 5th and point behind Arsenal. This summer, we've signed the 3rd best player from the Confed Cup which also resulted in breaking our transfer record, then came a Belgium international winger who'd just finished as Twente's top scorer that season, then we smashed our new transfer record with a proven goal scorer and Spanish international and now reports are claiming we're going to be signing a French tank who can operate at CB too. We've spent money now and we've spent money well, we haven't added squad players or youngsters who'll develop with time, we've added 4 (Capoue seems nigh on done so I'm saying 4, would love it to be announced at the match today) players who all will want first team football and have therefore added some great quality to what was already an impressive squad. Not achieving 4th or above will wash away even the slightest of possibilities of keeping Bale for another season and then there's also a good chance of some of our other first teamers being snatched away by bigger clubs. I'd also expect us to give ALL the cups a good go too, we surely must be favourites for Europa now, we were one of them last year but this year, as I've mentioned with the new additions, they really look like they can take us to a new level and for the first time in ages, I feel confident saying that we're the team to beat in Europa providing we take it seriously, which I think AVB will. So in a nutshell, I think we should aim for 3rd or even 2nd (would even say 1st but that'd leave a que of WUM's I can't be arsed to deal with) but naturally if we finish 4th then it's still a successful campaign, while bringing home a trophy would be a magnificent bonus. I still remember the buzz at Wembley for the Carling Cup so if we can repeat that or get another trophy, I'd be over the moon.
There's no doubt about it, AVB isn't justputting together a side that he thinks can finish 4th; he's putting one together that he thinks can challenge for the title. 4 great additions so far, and who knows, there may be more to come. finishing 5th would be gutting, but if we win Europa it won't be a complete disappointment, IMO. it is just so hard to be a top 4 club with so much strength in premier league. As things stand, i think we can finish above Arsenal.
With the new signings you have made and if you keep Bale and Arsenal don't make at least 3 , major signings, I think top 4, is guarenteed for you lot this season, possibly even third place.
I think you're right Roo. The club have changed their aspirations - If you aim for top 4 there's every chance you might miss out, if you aim for the title there's an equal chance you'll miss out, but top 4 is at least nailed on.
Nothing's ever guaranteed at Spurs. If it's not dodgy Lasagne or Arsenal hitting title winning form in the run in, it's Chelsea winning the CL and our manager taking his eye off the ball dreaming of getting the England job. We're looking in great shape for this season it has to be said. Us and Arsenal will probably be battling it out again regardless of what happens in the rest of the transfer window though.
I'm feeling a lot better now that Daws, Kab and Sandro are playing again Even if we don't sign Capoue, I'm upping my prediction to 5th, if we sign him and keep Bale, I'm going 4th.
Spurs have hovered around 70 points for the past few seasons. The 15-20 improvement needed to win the title is not realistic. So success is getting into the CL places rather than missing out, but it might take a few more than 70 points this year.
