great stuff mateWe are 2nd best team in the League, 3rd best last year best over the two year by some margin too. A squad of players that the core of has been around for some time now, all understand their role and many know more than one role. They are excellent in at least 4 formations making them the most tactically astute team in the League, that can morph into any of these formations during a game. They, despite there young age have a fair number of European games under their belts.
Heading into pre-season next year all the players will have the expectation for winning the league, name one reason why they wouldn't think this. It's not a mind trick either it will be genuine belief. We've had many games at Wembley, so there are no surprises and our last 3 games there were all good performances without the results that we deserved. In fact I thought that we deserved to win against Monaco in the first game, it wasn't classic Tottenham but we were still the better side (familiar story of they had 2 shots and scored 2 goals, everyone has seen how good they are now!). So for all those banging on about Wembley gloom we have only played poorly (deserved to lose) there once, against Bayer Leverkusen.
I'm bored of the West Ham struggled to adjust to a new stadium, so that means we will. Fuck Off! West Ham struggled because they are shit. We are not shit, we are 2nd best team in the league. If reporting was balanced then why focus on how West Ham have copied with their move, why not also mention Juve. When they moved stadium they we unbeaten at home and won the League!Q: How were they able to do this? A: They were are good team!
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great stuff mate
We have the best team in the league. Not second best IMO. What we don't have is the best squad in the league. What I mean by that is I think that Chelsea have the edge on us in terms of depth. Players who can come on as subs and change a game. But overall I think our first team exceeds the sum of it's parts in many respects and can play better football than any other team in the league. If we do have any issues with Wembley, I think those issues will be purely psychological, and I think it's something that Poch & Co might want to explore over the summer.
Perhaps although I certainly think Poch is the best manager in the league, his ability to improve players is remarkable. At Saints Shaw, Lallana, Schneiderlin, Clyne became the players they are now and look at ours.
Rose: A mess under AVB
Dele: changed his position
Walker: flakey before Poch came
Trippier: technically good but now so much stronger and fitter
Dembele: frustrating as fuck before Poch
Waynama: been brilliant for us
Dier: so versatile now
All the above are twice the players they were before, that's why I am not concerned we are linked with Barkley, Zaha etc. Zaha this season has been performing better than most of the players above prior to Poch coming in, just think what's a Poch could do with him.
Our first 11 is great don't get me wrong and you kind of feel Kane would have come good anyway because of his work ethic but a lot of them are 2-3 levels above what they where before. Just imagine Hazard, Kante, Costa under Pochettino.
I agree that yours is probably the best, most rounded 1st XI in the league. Along with Manchester City yours is the most fluid, dynamic attacking formation and this season it's games against you both that I've gulped in dread beforehand and hoped for the best. Fortunately, both figuratively and actively, we (Chelsea) have managed 4 wins out of those 5 games but I'm not sure how. Naturally, playing far fewer games has been an enormous help but I still think, given the personnel at Conte's disposal, we've actually over-achieved this season. However, my personal target for us at the start was top 4 and much less than that would have been disappointing, given no European competition.
You should all be proud of your mob this season. They've been brilliant and that is not meant condescendingly or patronisingly at all (we haven't won it yet). As a saver I've stuck 20 quid on Befair at 160-1, just in case we massively implode, to assuage any calamitous outcome.
I absolutely can't. They would be shipped out by Pochettino; Costa with extreme prejudice.
Well, that's pretty much what I'm getting at and why I say we are the best team rather than squad. The example you show of good management and improved players helps to illustrate how our squad has been used effectively. On paper, Chelsea, Man U and Shitty all have much better squads. But it is a testament to Poch and his team ethic that our first team excels all of them on the pitch considerably. Clearly he knows what even Pep and the Not So Special One do not.
I'm not so sure that's true. I think one of the problems is that there is a culture at Chelsea. I think if those players had come here instead of going to Chelsea when they did. Well, ones like Willian & Hazard anyhow. Then they would be different players with different attitudes. I think the attitude of the Chelsea players reflects an attitude that has long existed in their club and predates many of the current squad, and will continue after they leave. I think part of it is a reflection of the owner. An owner has has year in, year out undermined the role of manager/head coach by showing how tenuous the role is at their club, and the effect of this has been to increase player power within the club with highly paid young men knowing they can pretty much get a manager sacked if they want to, or go on strike for more money if they want it because the manager's head will go before their own.
You're absolutely right about the Chelsea culture, however I didn't really read it as if they had hypothetically been managed by Poch early on. Hazard just basically downed tools for an entire season to force Jose out. That says a lot, but I'm really no aware of what his personal reputation was like at Lille.
Costa just seems to be a fucking headcase by nature. Not sure there's much there for Poch to work with.
Bit harsh to pin that on Hazard. If it were just him he could've simply been dropped. Instead the whole lot of them downed tools. It was disgrace to the game.
Remember how annoyed Rose used to look under AVB/Sherwood and How disinterested Verts used to look. I remember discussions on this forum about the attitude of our players during that period. Yes some players are not solveable but then like Ade we kick them out.
I get where you are coming from and a view I share, however we are 2nd and that's it over a 38 (soon to be) game season it's the measure of how good you are. I'd also say that our squad depth has been tested this year with long term injuries to Kane (3 months), Rose (+3 months), Lamela (+5 months), Toby (3 months), Vertonghen (2 months), Dembele (6 weeks), Dier (3 weeks), Lloris (1 month) and a handful of games with Son and a couple of games missed with Wanyama and Dele.
Chelsea have had fuck all, a couple of missed games here and there at most. I'd argue if they had experienced the same level of injuries as us I can't see how that would have coped. Don't see Terry coming in for 3 months for any of the CB's, in fact had they had an injury to any of them they would have had to have gone to a back 4, and they didn't look too hot with this formation. If they lost Costa for as long as we lost Kane I don't see Batshuawi (??) as the answer (although they do possess goals from their midfield, and it was likely Conte would play Hazard as a false 9 which he has done before).
The psychological issues you speak of re Wembley are with the fans, they are the one's who need the therapy not the players.
Regarding Injuries we have been very unlucky although Chelsea not having European football has been as big if not a bigger factor this season. Thankfully it looks like everyone big will have European football next season so we won't have to deal with a Chelsea or Liverpool free from European action.
Wembley is a new environment and i am sure we will overcome it although hopefully we get into our grove early. WHL is the smallest pitch in the Prem where as Wembley is pretty much the same size as our new stadium so we need to get used to it anyway. When Poch first came to us he moaned at how small our pitch was and how it affect his tactics (obviously we learned to cope), well now we will have what he originally requested.
I don't see you as over achieving at all. I think Conte is a great manager, his record can't be disputed but you lot took a year off last year and prior to that you won the league where bookies were paying out at Christmas! The team bar a couple of players is exactly the same, so Conte inherited a championship winning side that had a complete year off and had them win the league without the distraction of European football. For me the real judge is next season when you are in Europe, actually all the top 6 are in Europe, so things should be more equal, or at least a season without excuses.
What's your thoughts on Cuadrado, surely Conte is going to bring him back?
Conte has done very well but given the depth and experience of your squad, lack of injuries and no European football you always had massive advantages over us.
The bigger issue was not us overachieving or you playing more to your potential but rather the likes of Woolwich, Liverpool, City and Man United doing so poorly considering their resources, City and United in particular.
Chelsea have performed where you would roughly expect with given resources, we have overachieved probably because of our manager, the others have underachieved.
Pogba for £90 million sums up this whole affair while we got Dele for £5 million and you got Kante for £30 million which are
Far better buys.
Chelsea have been massively financially doped for years, whilst Spurs are one of two or three sides that live within their means. So for us to be anywhere near you is astonishing really.
I like Cuadrado, but he's probably playing in the right league for him now - slower pace etc. In his short stint with us he looked cripplingly short on confidence, then again our recent record of turning world beaters into pub players is well documented.
Spurs were sensational this year, but after last year you would have thought the experience would have helped them do even better this time round. Yeah they are unlucky, Leicester over achieved last year and now Chelsea have overachieved (who would have reckoned on Moses, Alonso (who?) and Loony Luiz being ever presents in a champion team?), but that's not enough of an excuse. People go on about Chelsea and Europe but seriously, how long were Spurs in Europe? (Don't go there - ed). So how come Spurs have been left behind twice in a row? It must be a head thing. Next year it's a bullish Mourinho, Pep with a year under his belt and Wembley - bit worrying?
That 3-1 against City was the turning point of the season. De Bruyne hitting the bar at 1-0 up from point-blank range... if that had gone in, you'd have to say that City would have won that match and things could have turned out very differently
So many things wrong with this post, you're probably just trolling. But anyway, I'll bite...
"You would have thought the experience would have helped them do even better this time round". Well, we have done better. We have 7 more points from 35 matches this season than we got from 38 matches last season, and one more win will give us our best ever league performance in the 3 points for a win era.
"But seriously, how long were Spurs in Europe?" We played 8 midweek European games, which is definitely a significant number. That's 8 league matches where we might not have been playing at the same level we could have been had we not been in Europe. Amongst the 8 matches that followed the 8 European matches were draws away at Bournemouth and Woolwich, and defeats at Chelsea and Man U.
"So how come Spurs have been left behind twice in a row?" This season we've left Man City, Liverpool, Woolwich and Man United behind. All of whom have vastly more expensive and more experienced squads. Yes you could argue that Chelsea have left us behind, but we've still out-performed 4 of the 5 teams that would have been expected to do better than us considering their finances.
"Next year it's a bullish Mourinho and Pep with a year under his belt - bit worrying?" At the start of the season the talk was about a bullish Mourinho with lots of new signings, Pep potentially leading City to win the league at a canter, and Klopp supposedly having fully shaped his squad how he wanted it. Clearly pre-season worries aren't necessarily a problem.
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