A dose of reality

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SchmoodSpur2013

SchmoodSpur2013

wrong nearly always
Yes, yesterday's performance was shite. But there is no need to melt. If you look deeper than a single result we have a hell of a lot still to play for this season. One that, I think, will still produce a cup (or two) and our highest Premier League finish.

Firstly, we have lost 3 times in the League this year. Away to City, Liverpool and Chelsea. There is no shame in that. Those are 3 good sides and albeit disappointing, the fact of football is you have to lose sometimes.

Now, looking at the immediate future we have Gent, Fulham and Gent again to progress in our 2 cup competitions. We should, and will, progress in those bringing us closer to cup glory. I imagine we'll put out strong sides on Thursday and Sunday using the following Thursday as an opportunity to rest players with, what I suspect, will be a comfortable lead from the 1st leg.

Following these games our League fixtures until the middle of April look like this:

Stoke (H)
Everton (H)
Palace (A)
Soton (H)
Burnley (A)
Swansea (A)
Watford (H)
Bournemouth (H)
Leicester (A)

Now, if we take into consideration our season so far, and our only losses are to 3 of the top 6 away from WHL, it is not happy clappy to suggest we will go unbeaten in this period. Also, taking our home form into account we can expect to win the majority, if not all, of those games. In recent times we have all 5 of those sides numbers as well.

A conservative points haul estimate: 23 (I expect more)

During this same period are the following fixtures:

Liverpool v. Woolwich
Woolwich v. City
City v. Liverpool
Chelsea v. City
United v. Chelsea

That means, every one of our rivals will be dropping points over this same period. Probably twice.

If you look at Chelsea's fixtures, I don't think we were ever catching them. Again, I think it's a case of a side winning the League, rather than us losing it. The only games I can see them potentially dropping points are the games above, which wouldn't be enough for anyone to catch anyway.

With Jan potentially back before our next League I think there are many reasons to be positive. I know the melters don't like to look deeper than the most recent result before declaring how shit we are or our season over but you must.

We are in prime position and it's not a mad thing to say that by the end of said period we will have a gap to the sides around us before a huge final NLD @ WHL. Fuck the negativity and get behind the club. These next two months are massive and we all need to pull in the same direction.

Come On You Fucking Spurs!

wmc12.jpg
 
The team has been progressing in a positive direction since Poch had taken over.

We do need to strengthen in the summer, and resist poaching attempts from others e.g. Pep breaking the bank for Dele Alli.
 
Yesterday was a disaster but it happens, wish it wasn't against those lot though.

Next window we need to close the gap between our 1st 11 and the rest of the squad , strength-wise. It won't be easy though as a lot of that type of player could probably be starters for many clubs.
 
SchmoodSpur said:
Yes, yesterday's performance was shite. But there is no need to melt. If you look deeper than a single result we have a hell of a lot still to play for this season. One that, I think, will still produce a cup (or two) and our highest Premier League finish.

Firstly, we have lost 3 times in the League this year. Away to City, Liverpool and Chelsea. There is no shame in that. Those are 3 good sides and albeit disappointing, the fact of football is you have to lose sometimes.

Now, looking at the immediate future we have Gent, Fulham and Gent again to progress in our 2 cup competitions. We should, and will, progress in those bringing us closer to cup glory. I imagine we'll put out strong sides on Thursday and Sunday using the following Thursday as an opportunity to rest players with, what I suspect, will be a comfortable lead from the 1st leg.

Following these games our League fixtures until the middle of April look like this:

Stoke (H)
Everton (H)
Palace (A)
Soton (H)
Burnley (A)
Swansea (A)
Watford (H)
Bournemouth (H)
Leicester (A)

Now, if we take into consideration our season so far, and our only losses are to 3 of the top 6 away from WHL, it is not happy clappy to suggest we will go unbeaten in this period. Also, taking our home form into account we can expect to win the majority, if not all, of those games. In recent times we have all 5 of those sides numbers as well.

A conservative points haul estimate: 23 (I expect more)

During this same period are the following fixtures:

Liverpool v. Woolwich
Woolwich v. City
City v. Liverpool
Chelsea v. City
United v. Chelsea

That means, every one of our rivals will be dropping points over this same period. Probably twice.

If you look at Chelsea's fixtures, I don't think we were ever catching them. Again, I think it's a case of a side winning the League, rather than us losing it. The only games I can see them potentially dropping points are the games above, which wouldn't be enough for anyone to catch anyway.

With Jan potentially back before our next League I think there are many reasons to be positive. I know the melters don't like to look deeper than the most recent result before declaring how shit we are or our season over but you must.

We are in prime position and it's not a mad thing to say that by the end of said period we will have a gap to the sides around us before a huge final NLD @ WHL. Fuck the negativity and get behind the club. These next two months are massive and we all need to pull in the same direction.

Come On You Fucking Spurs!

wmc12.jpg
Click to expand...
Agreed. Any spurs fan of the last 10 years can look back at previous years and acknowledge that this is still shaping up to be one of our best seasons ever. Keep believing in Poch and the players he removes and brings in. We "should" get CL next year but regardless we are high profile enough to allow us to do as we have been doing the last 2.5 seasons under Poch and improve. The stat provided of who we have lost to at home will give any supporter confidence in the fact that we are on an upwards trajectory. Just remember life 5-6 years ago lads, we are going places! COYS
 
The last poor performance was united away, after that we put a great unbeaten run together. We can do the same again, we also have key players coming back from injury in the next couple of weeks. I hope the club takes the cups seriously and we play a strong as team as possible.

These guys are professional athletes and if they want to win things then they are going to have to get used to playing more than once a week, all winning sides do it, united did it for years under Fergie with only minimal rotation.
 
bonaspur23 said:
We need some depth. The drop off to Wimmer, Davies, Dier at CB is huge. Winks is the only sub I have faith in. And Dier if he is on the bench.
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yes we need depth, but we spent £60m on 3 players that can't get into the team, and if everyone was fit they wouldn't get in the match day squad, so lets not talk as if we haven't spent money
Poches use of squad players is poor, how often has he got Wimmer on for 20mins in EPL game or Davies/tripper
If I was training all week and not getting any playing time I would get fed up, yes the moneys good, but after a few weeks of getting that money, you forget it, and its all about playing time
yes winks looks ok, but he plays in an easier position, he knows if they pass him its unlikely they will get a shot at goal, if they pass Wimmer or Davies they are in on goal
 
B-0-Sspurs said:
The last poor performance was united away, after that we put a great unbeaten run together. We can do the same again, we also have key players coming back from injury in the next couple of weeks. I hope the club takes the cups seriously and we play a strong as team as possible.

These guys are professional athletes and if they want to win things then they are going to have to get used to playing more than once a week, all winning sides do it, united did it for years under Fergie with only minimal rotation.
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So did the chavs with Mourinho
And Leicester with Ranieri last year even
We haven't had the spine of our team together all season. At some point, one or more of Lloris, Rose, Verts, Toby, Walker, Lamela, Dembele & Kane have been sidelined. I would argue that, if all fit/available, every single one of the above would be in Poch's "best" starting XI. I'm not making excuses for yesterday btw- even with injuries that was a toothless performance by our standards.
I'm just a believer in rotation when it's necessary, & never wholesale changes. We have been very unlucky with injuries to key players this season & our squad players haven't slotted in at all seamlessly. It's not been so much rotating a couple of players into & around a settled spine. Squad players have had to fill in for several weeks at a time-& none of them have performed at a consistent level, save for Winks.

That said, our 3 losses have come away, against teams that we have struggled against for years.

Let's hope that we can start fielding our best XI soon, because it would be a tragedy to have a full season plagued by injuries in our last season at the Lane.
 
SchmoodSpur said:
our only losses (3) have come away to top sides.
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Its a good point. We are complaining about our away form against the big boys.

What a step forward that is though. Lost away to Chelsea, Pool and Utd. Thats it all season.
Now look at the teams Liverpool have lost to all season.

We have a lot less to work on than we might think. The table is so tight now from 2nd to 6th, but our biggest problem is not just away form. We waste too many chances generally.

Too many draws where we dominated teams, had 26 shots but drew. Imagine if in two of those games, out of the combined 50 odd shots, two had gone in. Not so way beyond the realms of reality is it.
We'd be sitting here on 54 points.

Now, I KNOW you cant go back and judge a season and say "if we won every game we be champions"......and thats not what Im saying.

But lacking two or three goals over 25 games is not cause to start questioning the entire phylosophy of the club, and all the signings, and every transfer window etc etc etc.

If those things are all such massive issues, then they were issues when we beat Chelsea. They were issues when we won 6 on the spin.

But everyone was just talking titles wasnt they........
 
Take a couple of key players out of the team away to a top six side, and we are generally poor.
Unfortunately we cannot have game changers on the bench with our present status. Perhaps the new stadium will change this, but I don't go into these games with much confidence.
OT Anfield and Stamford bridge, continue to be graveyards for us.
 
Arthur Wensleydale said:
Take a couple of key players out of the team away to a top six side, and we are generally poor.
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You can say that for every team in the League. Hazard and Costa were nowhere last season and Chelsea struggled. Take Ibra and De Gea out of United, they'd be nowhere. Take Sanchez and Ozil out of Woolwich, nowhere. Take De Bruyne and Silva from City, same thing. Coutinho and Mane from Liverpool, same.
 
Arthur Wensleydale said:
OT Anfield and Stamford bridge, continue to be graveyards for us.
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You can lose to the rest of the top teams twice over, each and still win the league.
Do that with the rest though.

Come the end of the season, Id be happy if we could look back and see that after defeat to Utd away, we took 23 points from a possible 27 before our next loss, and be able to see a similar tally after defeat at Anfield.

Much rather that, than turn up for the big boys, claim a few scalps in a few cup finals but then get turned over by Watford, WBA and Stoke etc, as as been the case on the past, and is the case for Liverpool.

Or do people want it all......just beat everyone, every week? Yeah, that would be nice too in Cloud Lalaa Land.

Yesterday was all about the manner of the defeat for me. That was the disgrace, not losing the game.
 
sammyspurs said:
You can lose to the rest of the top teams twice over, each and still win the league.
Do that with the rest though.

Come the end of the season, Id be happy if we could look back and see that after defeat to Utd away, we took 23 points from a possible 27 before our next loss, and be able to see a similar tally after defeat at Anfield.

Much rather that, than turn up for the big boys, claim a few scalps in a few cup finals but then get turned over by Watford, WBA and Stoke etc, as as been the case on the past, and is the case for Liverpool.

Or do people want it all......just beat everyone, every week? Yeah, that would be nice too in Cloud Lalaa Land.

Yesterday was all about the manner of the defeat for me. That was the disgrace, not losing the game.
Click to expand...

I honestly think that some on here genuinely expect us to win every game. It's Utd under Ferguson levels of expectation, and they couldn't do it - not even close.
 
sammyspurs said:
You can lose to the rest of the top teams home twice over, each and still win the league.
Do that with the rest though.

Come the end of the season, Id be happy if we could look back and see that after defeat to Utd away, we took 23 points from a possible 27 before our next loss, and be able to see a similar tally after defeat at Anfield.

Much rather that, than turn up for the big boys, claim a few scalps in a few cup finals but then get turned over by Watford, WBA and Stoke etc, as as been the case on the past, and is the case for Liverpool.

Or do people want it all......just beat everyone, every week? Yeah, that would be nice too in Cloud Lalaa Land.

Yesterday was all about the manner of the defeat for me. That was the disgrace, not losing the game.
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These are 3 grounds where we have always struggled throughout our history. Sorry to keep repeating myself here, but we have won at Anfield 8 times in our club's history. 8 bloody times in god knows how many trips up there!

Couldn't agree more about the manner of the defeat yesterday. It wasn't even a tepid performance. We were outgunned from the off & that's rare to see in a Poch team.

Frankly, we aren't used to seeing that these days & when it happens, it's a dick punch.

Hate seeing us lose. Hate seeing us lose like that. And hate seeing us lose like that to the scousers. It was horrible. But I'd be surprised if we played as badly again all year, regardless of who plays or who we play against. And as you say sammyspurs sammyspurs we took 23/27 points between losses. That isn't at all bad.
 
Joe Clash said:
I honestly think that some on here genuinely expect us to win every game. It's Utd under Ferguson levels of expectation, and they couldn't do it - not even close.
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Win every match 4-0 while playing attacking fluid football, only having English players from the academy, and an English manager and a chairman that is willing to lose all his savings but is not a money man like the Sheikhs or Abrahamovich. If you disagree with any of that it is because you are just not as much of a fan
 
Joe Clash said:
I honestly think that some on here genuinely expect us to win every game. It's Utd under Ferguson levels of expectation, and they couldn't do it - not even close.
Click to expand...

Mate, when we are on a role, its all about how we are unbeaten in 9 games or whatever......then we lose, and its that game in isolation to the rest of the season.
It was the same after Utd.....people talking about finishing 13th etc. 5 weeks later, they were all over our title bid.

Now we're shite, our transfers are shite, our away form is shite, our tactics are shite, in two weeks we'll be 6th, we'll be lucky to finish 6th.

I dont get it.....people thinking all these things, yet expecting a title.
 
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