The Next Month Is Crucial

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cahspur

cahspur

Let's have a look at the schedule over the next month:

Jan 19th @ Swansea
Jan 29th Man City
Feb 1st @ Hull
Feb 9th Everton
Feb 12th @ Newcastle

As of this weekend, each of these teams is in the top half of the table, except for Swansea which is just outside of it. Sherwood took us through the holiday schedule unbeaten, with the West Brom home draw seen as the lone blip in the run. We're now allotted a time of "rest," with only one game (today's) being played in the two weeks between the FA Cup third round and next weekend's visit to Wales.

In the context of this rest, and Sherwood's reign of a month including time to implement and reinforcement his ideas to the first team, it is now a pivotal time for him and the team to perform. It could solidify our plight for the top four and thereby possibly Sherwood's hold on his job, or potentially cast us back into a rebuilding phase and reassessing plans for the summer.

Looking forward to it. As of this moment, I'm feeling much better about it than I would've after Liverpool. IMO, we've made the right decision going forward.
 
As long as they TRY!! Something plainly missing in the first half yesterday. As someone alluded to in another thread..as fans we cannot abide them not trying. I worry about morale in the dressing room..yes we are winning but we have been a tad fortunate to be honest. Body language of Bobby isn't the best and then there's Lamela if what we read is true. The break should do us good, in getting players back fit but maybe more importantly Sherwood can get to work. I would love to see us finish in the top four of course but the EUFA cup (i am oldspur) would be a coup...i was at the home leg v Wolves in 72 as an 11 year old and remember the euphoria of 54,000 at the lane. Was at both legs of the Anderlecht final but was so drunk at both i have to rely on the video to remind me. I do remember trying to turn left out of the shelf that night but was carried by a sea of jubilant fans towards Northumberland park via the Olive Branch so missed my lift home. I was so happy I couldn't care less. Winning trophies does that to you..finishing top four isn't quite the same.
 
We need at least 10-12 points out of those games to still have hopes for a top four spot. Obviously not impossible, but we need to up our game in order to achieve that and even more importantly, maintain a good rhythm for a full 90 minutes and not allow any blips.

We will still have tough matches left after this, Woolwich and Chelski come to mind, but this is the time when we can start building some form especially since some vital players will be returning from injury. We have 40 points so far, that's one better than at this stage last season (when we achieved our record points tally). That's right, we played some dire football at times this season, but we are better than last year. I am not getting over excited, but the season is far from over and we can still get a CL spot.
 
They are all crucial. If we completely fuck up in any of the following months the chances are that we will not be where we want to be. We need to be consistently picking up points no matter what month it is
 
cahspur said:
Let's have a look at the schedule over the next month:

Jan 19th @ Swansea
Jan 29th Man City
Feb 1st @ Hull
Feb 9th Everton
Feb 12th @ Newcastle

As of this weekend, each of these teams is in the top half of the table, except for Swansea which is just outside of it. Sherwood took us through the holiday schedule unbeaten, with the West Brom home draw seen as the lone blip in the run. We're now allotted a time of "rest," with only one game (today's) being played in the two weeks between the FA Cup third round and next weekend's visit to Wales.

In the context of this rest, and Sherwood's reign of a month including time to implement and reinforcement his ideas to the first team, it is now a pivotal time for him and the team to perform. It could solidify our plight for the top four and thereby possibly Sherwood's hold on his job, or potentially cast us back into a rebuilding phase and reassessing plans for the summer.

Looking forward to it. As of this moment, I'm feeling much better about it than I would've after Liverpool. IMO, we've made the right decision going forward.
Click to expand...

We can win them all, top of the league by Easter mark my words.

Timmy Sherwood's Blue White Army, all the way. COYS
 
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Just as a nice boost, next week we supposedly have Lamela, Sigurdsson, Sandro, Townsend, Kaboul and Vertonghen all coming back.

Me likey :levylol:

On a side note though, who the feck will be dropped?!? I guess we will be forced into loaning out a few younger players e.g. Bentaleb just to keep everyone happy,
 
Reckon we can go undefeated, but it's important we don't lose to Everton as I regard them as one of our Main competitors for a top 4 finish. The title is Man city's so I won't be too upset if we lose to them, especially considering what they've been doing to teams at their home stadium, however their Away form isn't the best so I think we could capitalize.

Looking at the other teams' fixtures:

Woolwich:
  • Fulham (H)
  • Southampton (A)
  • Crystal Palace (H)
  • Liverpool (A)
  • Man utd (H)
  • Sunderland (H)
I expect them to win all of them with maybe points dropped away at Anfield and possibly to Man United. Southampton could also cause an upset but with their form dropping of late, I would be surprised if Woolwich didn't win there. They also have a game against Bayern Munich sandwiched between Man utd and Sunderland and will send out a very strong squad so will hopefully face some fitness problems.

Chelsea:

  • Man Utd (H)
  • West ham (H)
  • Man City (A)
  • Newcastle (H)
  • West brom (A)
  • Everton (H)
They have the hardest fixtures of the lot, in my opinion. They play the 2 Manchester clubs and will probably pick up 3 at home to United but a loss away to Man city seems very likely given the way they have been playing at home. Newcastle and West brom do occassionally cause an upset when playing Chelsea so I wouldn't bet against either of those 2 teams either. They finish the month at home to Everton which I predict will end in a draw...

Everton:

  • West brom (A)
  • Liverpool (A)
  • Aston Villa (H)
  • TOTTENHAM (A)
  • Crystal Palace (H)
  • Chelsea (A)
Pretty tough fixtures for the Blue scousers, with Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool the teams which stick out. Mersey side derby can really go either way, but I fancy Liverpool for that one, especially if Suarez is on his A-Game. I don't see them dropping points to any of the other teams, perhaps the unfortunate draw which I see West Brom managing.. The games against Chelsea and us will be very important though to see how serious their Champions league ambitions really are.

Liverpool :
  • Aston Villa (H)
  • Everton (H)
  • West brom (A)
  • Woolwich (H)
  • Fulham (A)
  • Swansea (H)
Liverpool are unpredictable. One week they lose 3-1 to Hull, despite sending out their strongest side. But then score 14 in their next 3 games. With their losses against Chelsea and Man city in late December, they have shown they may not have the best squad among the top 4 contenders, however with Suarez in their side, anything is possible. I personally see them only losing one or two of their fixtures listed above with Woolwich and Everton obviously being the hardest ones.

Was going to post Man city and Man utd but I'll let someone else do that because I can't be asked..
 
Greaves357_bestever said:
I'll be furious if we loan out Bentaleb. We need our best players, and he's one of them.

Also won't he be a 'free pick' for the Prem/EL squads, I honestly don't know as I don't know the rules re this and also Nabil's status re 'homegrown/U21/whatever', but IF he is a 'free squad place' another key reason not to loan him out.

Re the next month, it's also crucial, because we need to another striker in, a back up GK, and another defender.

We might scrape top 4/EL trophy without additions, but I doubt it, and we fail on those two objectives it'll be another season where it'll probably be 'good' but not the 'excellent' that would shift us up the 'global brand rankings' or whatever it is that ENIC are aspiring to :)
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Bentaleb will be officially a homegrown as of next January. This combined with his age certainly contributes to his value to the club.
 
We need to maintain our current form no matter who we play. Losing to Citeh would be acceptable, but the others should be possible to get something. The games against the two Liverpool teams are key - they are both consistently good this season and we need to see these games as six pointers.
 
I'll be furious if we loan out Bentaleb. We need our best players, and he's one of them.

Also won't he be a 'free pick' for the Prem/EL squads, I honestly don't know as I don't know the rules re this and also Nabil's status re 'homegrown/U21/whatever', but IF he is a 'free squad place' another key reason not to loan him out.

Re the next month, it's also crucial, because we need to another striker in, a back up GK, and another defender.

We might scrape top 4/EL trophy without additions, but I doubt it, and we fail on those two objectives it'll be another season where it'll probably be 'good' but not the 'excellent' that would shift us up the 'global brand rankings' or whatever it is that ENIC are aspiring to :)
 
all training games for our assault on the Europa league.. stick 4th place up your arse... = losers championship.

football is genuinely fucked if you believe the race for £ notes comes before winning a trophy
 
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OldSpur said:
As long as they TRY!! Something plainly missing in the first half yesterday. As someone alluded to in another thread..as fans we cannot abide them not trying. I worry about morale in the dressing room..yes we are winning but we have been a tad fortunate to be honest. Body language of Bobby isn't the best and then there's Lamela if what we read is true. The break should do us good, in getting players back fit but maybe more importantly Sherwood can get to work. I would love to see us finish in the top four of course but the EUFA cup (i am oldspur) would be a coup...i was at the home leg v Wolves in 72 as an 11 year old and remember the euphoria of 54,000 at the lane. Was at both legs of the Anderlecht final but was so drunk at both i have to rely on the video to remind me. I do remember trying to turn left out of the shelf that night but was carried by a sea of jubilant fans towards Northumberland park via the Olive Branch so missed my lift home. I was so happy I couldn't care less. Winning trophies does that to you..finishing top four isn't quite the same.
Click to expand...
From one Old Spur to another, I would like to have rated this triple agree ..... I forgive a lot when I feel a player plays his heart out.
(I was 15 for the Wolves game and it was my first experience of seeing a final live, and I also went to the two Anderlecht games but I was sober.... no need for alcohol to get any higher!)
 
Mrs P...I always want to triple agree your posts. We are of a similar mind. My drunkeness at the 84 away game was shared by 14,000 others I reckon! The home leg was all for your husband (on a ban for the youngsters ) and Keith Burkinshaw of course. I was at every game home and away from 1976 to 1985 so have a huge affinity to Keith. He loved Tottenham Hotspur the same way we do. Great days with players that played for the shirt. Too many to cite here but honourable mentions to Terry Naylor, Johnny Pratt, and Gerry Armstrong etc etc. I could go on forever about my love of Spurs!
 
Greaves357_bestever said:
HI CS - I mean - doesn't use up a squad place. It's all abit baffling to old 'un like me. But there are 'A' lists @B' lists, home grown, whatever.

But what I do know, I think, is that in the Prem/EL you can only have so many squad players, however you can have others as well, if they fulfill certain criteria.
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OH gotcha. Yeah, just like with Eriksen and Lamela, we don't have to put them on the first team roster because of their age. So yes, he's a "freebie," and will count as homegrown very soon.

Ftr, a player counts as homegrown once they're registered with an FA-affiliated association for a total of three years before the season they turn 21. He arrived at Spurs in January 2012, so as of January 2015 he will qualify at 20 years old.
 
cahspur said:
OH gotcha. Yeah, just like with Eriksen and Lamela, we don't have to put them on the first team roster because of their age. So yes, he's a "freebie," and will count as homegrown very soon.

Ftr, a player counts as homegrown once they're registered with an FA-affiliated association for a total of three years before the season they turn 21. He arrived at Spurs in January 2012, so as of January 2015 he will qualify at 20 years old.
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Cheers CS.
 
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