Chelsea v Tottenham. 2nd leg

[Mensa]

I feel like we do need to win a trophy though, even a pretty meaningless cup, it would just help to keep the team together.

Obviously not at the expense of CL qualification though.

Yeah I don’t even know if that’s the case these days, a Caribou cup won’t keep Eriksen at the club but Champions league football, working with Poch and a boat load of money might help

It’s all changed mate, Ronaldo walked away from Man U And Fergie, everyone has a price and ambitions in the end, may be nothing we can do

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Guido 🇺🇦

This thing with corners


Im sick and fucking tired from conceding from them!!!


Ffs !!!!

Thanks for letting me know what's on your mind.

 

[skywalker68]

No argument from me. Chelsea £ >>> Spurs £. We have a very solid 12-13, as good as anyone in the league. However, when things get tight due to injury, etc, it feels like we’re going to a gun fight with a knife.

I suppose the answer should be who do we compare ourselves too Everton, west ham or Leicester in terms of spending power nothing else springs to mind.

 

[Hrytn]

A Cup would be nice but becoming a more consistent team is far more important for the trajectory of the club

Consistent team in not winning a trophy?! Or
Do you mean consistent team in top 4 CL place is more important than a trophy?!

I would prefer trophy, I want a trophy.

 

[1882]

I'm not being salty... but seriously, why DID they do away with the Away goals rule... was it SOLEY dependant on the scrapping of extra time??

 

[Hrytn]

I'm not being salty... but seriously, why DID they do away with the Away goals rule... was it SOLEY dependant on the scrapping of extra time??

Drop that one, they changed the rule for everyone. ch*lsi's approach would have been totally different if the away goal rule was still there and we will never know the outcome but it is not relevant. We didn't lose SF because of that, it is an excuse. End of.

 

[Airfixx]

I'm not being salty... but seriously, why DID they do away with the Away goals rule... was it SOLEY dependant on the scrapping of extra time??

One could easily argue that over two legs home/away advantage is negated on the straight forwards basis of 180mins anyway. No 'away goal rule' for goals scored DURING extra time would be logically sound in sense of increasing a balance of fairness. Penalty shoot out at an away ground is draw derived. C'est la vie on that front.

Rather than last night's circumstances being 'unfair', I think what stings most is it being another case of us suffering "first time syndrome" see CL'12 etc.

 

[Hrytn]

Our bread and butter whilst trying to stay within touching distance has to be Champions League qualification. UEFA Revenue compared to domestic Cup runs totally eclipses is which, in the harsh reality of modern day football is more important than a piece of silverware.

If you offered me Top 4 at the start of the season and no Cup, I'd take it. I'd love a cup but with the delicate situation we are in with the new build financial clout, global exposure and the extra revenue we are able to obtain through our commercial dealings and enhanced profile make it the lifeblood of keeping with the pack until everything settles down. 1/8th of our revenue for top 4, roughly 0.5%-1% of our revenue for a domestic spell

OK for you it is money, revenue, financials, graphs, percentages but no mention of spending on new players ...... for me it is trophies and signings.

 

[Park Lane Mark Twain]

OK for you it is money, revenue, financials, graphs, percentages but no mention of spending on new players ...... for me it is trophies and signings.

Very difficult to win the trophies and make the signings without revenue streams.

For me it's all about the glory and onfield success but I value how important the global brand and stature of the club is in order to get there and compete consistently, continually.

It's a growth phase at the moment and it's nearing the end of that cycle. We just have to hold strong, ensure the business side is run with shrewd diligence and to allow the club to organically grow. The trophies and success will come, we'll soon become a very attractive pull for many involved in football

 

[78Spur]

OK for you it is money, revenue, financials, graphs, percentages but no mention of spending on new players ...... for me it is trophies and signings.

But that defines it perfectly, you can't have one without the other.

You can't buy players or sustain wages without the money you don't have, no one wants us to be the 'nearly' side, it is just a much longer term project for Spurs because it's being ran like a sane business and not like other football clubs.

Of course it's frustrating, but that's Tottenham.

 

[Archie]

South Korea lost 1-0. Son should be back for Watford game

 

[Murphy]

I presume fitness - he played a full 90 on Sunday

Debatable

 

[ElTel]

Agreed but it should also be noted that it was Guardiolas first season in charge and the Man City team that finished that game was as follows:

Bravo
Navas
Kompany
Otamendi
Clichy
Reges
Toure
De Bruyne
Iheanacho
Sane
Delph

Nowhere near as strong as they are now. They also had a fair bit of luck against City that day with this little favour from the officials:



The point I'm making is when you look at every one of our losses over the past 10 years, bar the Portsmouth game where even if we had won we'd have faced Chelsea in the final, we've had an uphill task. Yes nothings dropped but we've never been favourites so we can never really be seen to have choked. Random wins can happen they just haven't happened for us yet

Man City's starting line up was strong enough to swat away that Arse side. Guardiola had enough to outwit Wenger. It was a shock result as was the final victory over Conte's PL winning Chelsea

An uphill task is a bit strong to say because we are not inferior to the majority of rivals. I could understand it if we were a top 8 team pushing for Europa League football but we are no longer that team. Look at our players, our results, our performances over the last 3 or 4 years

If we keep coming up with excuses then I don't believe anything will change. We are better than hoping for "random wins"

Its very frustrating, even more so for the management and players I guess

 

[Don Giovanni]

So if Newcastle had won an FA Cup in 1995 they would now be challenging every year ?

No, they had a decent team but failed to capitalize on that.

 

[Wellsey]

The other advantage they had was being a regular Thursday night team!!

 

[Duckling]

Welcome to football...

I sadly think it was the Trophy to keep the team together after the summer transfer.
Sure theres a chance of winning the Premier and a chance of winning the Champions League, I just don't see it happening this year.
Which is why I hoped I had forgotten about a competetion to possibly gain a trophy.

 

[Airfixx]

I sadly think it was the Trophy to keep the team together after the summer transfer.
Sure theres a chance of winning the Premier and a chance of winning the Champions League, I just don't see it happening this year.
Which is why I hoped I had forgotten about a competetion to possibly gain a trophy.

...And apparently you have.

Any idea who we play at the weekend or why? ...Or are you more bothered about transfer-related doom?

 

[stevee]

This is an interesting way to go about this issue, but how often is the center ref in a position to judge an offsides call?

Agree with the refs position but that is exactly the way it worked in the the first leg for Harry's penalty.

After the 1 st leg the "experts" were saying that is how the refs had been advised. (I think).

 

[Airfixx]

If any players are wanting to leave, I don’t believe the league cup would have changed their mind.

Exactly. Much like Signing Zaha & Grielish isn't gonna make Eriksen think "Phwooooar! Big time... I'm staying!".

 

[Eli]

For me; to play more consistently over the course of a season... To see more of our A-game.

Finding our best in a few more games would have made all the difference to our trophy cabinet in recent reasons... Even when we went unbeaten in the EPL all year at The Lane we still stank up Europe and the domestic cups. Beat Leicester & West Ham in 15/16 and we're champs... Cup knock outs may have gone differently (Never mind Juve at Wembley... Away, as heroic as it was, we annihilated them and still only got the draw)... United, Chavs in domestic cups.

How do we achieve this within our current available means?

In short, I'll be fucked if I know.

We've gradually amassed world cup winners, experience, chemistry, camaraderie and all the other things we've rued not having over the years; the things alleged to be what we needed to get over a line (even if that's 'just' a league cup)... Here we are, this last 2 years, no home, money-mania is in full swing all around us, yet again against the odds, we're showing formidable form, but somehow still struggling in key moments.

I concede there's very little in terms of perceivable options for us to take the fabled 'final step'... Does a £250m war-chest (lets call it Plan B*) solve this in the short-term? No guarantees, but it might... I won't argue otherwise.

However, project to a state of affairs where Plan B hasn't worked and we've in turn 'wasted' our one big roll of the dice (that the stadium is apparently geared to provide)... We'd be looking at plan C at this point. What would Plan C constitute? If we could work that out; in accepting that we don't have that kind of dosh for Plan B in the immediate term, maybe we could/should be employing some 'Plan C' strategy in the interim.

Elephant in the room being that I think if we manage to take this squad in to NHWL; Poch spends bigger, yet still no pots; I think he'll feel his time is up regardless of the chairman/board's viewpoint.

(*I cite this amount as it will take this or thereabouts to buy & pay 3 players of significant quality; capable of immediately bringing our squad options up to the quality of genuine starters... Josh King, Wilf Zaha, Isco, VVD, Alison, Kovacic, Jorgino, Keita, N'Dombele, Malcom... Even kids like DeLigt & De Jong... Some rumoured, some coveted; all will/would have cost upwards of £60m... Sessengon & Grielish - even at £40m each - were never gonna lead to trophies in the here and now.... Nor convince Eriksen that Barca ain't shit.)

Can any of those mentioned kick a football from 12yards and aim roughly away from a goalkeeper yet keep the ball within the confines of the goal......