We've gone forwards

[White Van Jan]

Definitely gone forwards this season.

Our performances in the CL last 2 seasons were chalk and cheese, I think we can all agree on that. Last year we finished nowhere, literally as well as metaph. This season we finished top of a difficult group, and when we went out it was very narrowly to a top notch team with masses of experience of CL.

Now, the PL. Just looked at Betexplorer stats. Last season we finished 5th in the away league. This season, we're at 2nd. And only one team has taken us to the cleaners in that time - City. I havent checked our away form going back 30 years, but I'd happily bet we've never been 2nd.

We're 5th at the mo for "home" matches, ie Wembley. I'm not surprised, is anyone? WHL was one of the smallest PL pitches around, Wembley the largest (?). The crowd at WHL was right next to the pitch, at Wembley it's miles back. And atmosphere? For the bulk of the matches against the likes of Palace, B'mouth, Burnley, Swansea - it's been cack. Last year even against West Brom it was rocking. If we finish top 4 in a season when we've played every match away from WHL, that's pretty damn good imo. Top 3 would be 9/10.

Yesterday was horrible. But we didnt choke, we just got bested by fucking Maureen who is a past master at this shit. He's won the CL with a crap Inter Milan team ffs. It's what he does. They were shit last year and still won 2 cups.

And injuries - we've had long term to Toby, Rose, Vic, Lamela. Kane out for spells and still not fit imo.

Keep the faith guys. We're still going forwards. We're now used to playing home matches on a big pitch. With the bear pit atmosphere at a WHL with 58,000 Spurs fans, we'll get enough points at home to challenge for the league again. A couple of years of CL and big WHL crowds, and we'll have overtaken Dippers in dosh.

Yesterday was gutting, but it's absolutely not the right time to press the panic button or throw toys out of prams.

 

[Totti]

Let's get top four secured first.

 

[Ossie Wembley]

 

[pipes]

I think we’ve consolidated. The fact that we will finish in a lower league position suggests we are poorer, but if you take into account the Wembley move, I’d say it is the best we could have hoped for.

The first team now looks weaker with no Walker or Toby in it, but the bench looks better this season. My hope is that with many of our players going to Russia, we can hit the ground running in August and not find outprselves miles behind like usual after a few weeks.

 

[sammyspurs]

Wembley seems to be a factor when it suits us.
Wasn’t a factor against Liverpool, Utd, Woolwich, Real and Dortmund though.

In the beginning of the season it undoubtedly had an effect, but that ship sailed. I can’t stand the place one bit, but it’s not the reason anymore.

 

[BernardMatthews]

Wembley seems to be a factor when it suits us.
Wasn’t a factor against Liverpool, Utd, Woolwich, Real and Dortmund though.

In the beginning of the season it undoubtedly had an effect, but that ship sailed. I can’t stand the place one bit, but it’s the reason anymore.

When it’s rocking it’s great.

But most of the time it’s not. Day trippers, families, football tourists and away fans mixed in with home have been my experience this season.

I think on those shitty days it’s impossible to get any type of atmosphere going.

The games you mention we were well up for it and Liverpool and United early goals set the tone for the fans as well.

It has been absolutely awful most matches though. Just a blur of noises and I sit relatively near the noisy part of the ground.

 

[White Van Jan]

Wembley seems to be a factor when it suits us.
Wasn’t a factor against Liverpool, Utd, Woolwich, Real and Dortmund though.

In the beginning of the season it undoubtedly had an effect, but that ship sailed. I can’t stand the place one bit, but it’s the reason anymore.

But the points we lost in the first part of the season - you can't make that back. They're lost for ever.

First 7 PL matches at home - 9 pts worse off than last year.

Chavs - 3 pts
Swans - 2
Burnley - 2
West Brom - 2

Even some of the ones we won - Palace 1-0 and B'mouth 1-0, we were very average.

A draw v Chavs, say, and wins against the other 3, puts us a point ahead of United in 2nd. At WHL, and in any normal season without a City doing what they've done, I think we would have again competed for the PL title as we have for the last 2 seasons.

 

[Airfixx]

Wembley seems to be a factor when it suits us.
Wasn’t a factor against Liverpool, Utd, Woolwich, Real and Dortmund though.

In the beginning of the season it undoubtedly had an effect, but that ship sailed. I can’t stand the place one bit, but it’s not the reason anymore.

...That early spell still plays a part in our final finish tho, no?

Vs our predictions and realistic hopes at the begining of the season i doubt we genuinely rank as underacheiving for many.

 

[Fattynomates]

Wembley seems to be a factor when it suits us.
Wasn’t a factor against Liverpool, Utd, Woolwich, Real and Dortmund though.

In the beginning of the season it undoubtedly had an effect, but that ship sailed. I can’t stand the place one bit, but it’s not the reason anymore.

For th big games, or Dortmund, Madrid, Liverpool Wembley is rocking, but when we are playing the less glamorous games, the place is dead, I notice this as a fan, not sure how much it effects the players......

 

[SausageVince]

Definitely gone forwards this season.

Our performances in the CL last 2 seasons were chalk and cheese, I think we can all agree on that. Last year we finished nowhere, literally as well as metaph. This season we finished top of a difficult group, and when we went out it was very narrowly to a top notch team with masses of experience of CL.

Now, the PL. Just looked at Betexplorer stats. Last season we finished 5th in the away league. This season, we're at 2nd. And only one team has taken us to the cleaners in that time - City. I havent checked our away form going back 30 years, but I'd happily bet we've never been 2nd.

We're 5th at the mo for "home" matches, ie Wembley. I'm not surprised, is anyone? WHL was one of the smallest PL pitches around, Wembley the largest (?). The crowd at WHL was right next to the pitch, at Wembley it's miles back. And atmosphere? For the bulk of the matches against the likes of Palace, B'mouth, Burnley, Swansea - it's been cack. Last year even against West Brom it was rocking. If we finish top 4 in a season when we've played every match away from WHL, that's pretty damn good imo. Top 3 would be 9/10.

Yesterday was horrible. But we didnt choke, we just got bested by fucking Maureen who is a past master at this shit. He's won the CL with a crap Inter Milan team ffs. It's what he does. They were shit last year and still won 2 cups.

And injuries - we've had long term to Toby, Rose, Vic, Lamela. Kane out for spells and still not fit imo.

Keep the faith guys. We're still going forwards. We're now used to playing home matches on a big pitch. With the bear pit atmosphere at a WHL with 58,000 Spurs fans, we'll get enough points at home to challenge for the league again. A couple of years of CL and big WHL crowds, and we'll have overtaken Dippers in dosh.

Yesterday was gutting, but it's absolutely not the right time to press the panic button or throw toys out of prams.

We choked yesterday and we choked against Juventus. When victory is close, the pressure breaks us. It's a club culture. The winners leave.

 

[slickz]

I think we choked for sure second half. Watched it again sober this morning and we just ran out of ideas, we forgot how to play and where the hell was Harry? Quietest player on the pitch.

 

[Totti]

I think we choked for sure second half. Watched it again sober this morning and we just ran out of ideas, we forgot how to play and where the hell was Harry? Quietest player on the pitch.

Another reason why it was stupid to give him the armband over Vertonghen who looked like he gave a shit.

 

[Airfixx]

For th big games, or Dortmund, Madrid, Liverpool Wembley is rocking, but when we are playing the less glamorous games, the place is dead, I notice this as a fan, not sure how much it effects the players......

Granted i had a TV- perspective yesterday, but every time the camera panned to our support we were met with vacuous faces and no visible suggestion that they were rallying the team.

Thought both sides were deathly silent for chunks of the game.

 

[LeeMcl]

But the points we lost in the first part of the season - you can't make that back. They're lost for ever.

First 7 PL matches at home - 9 pts worse off than last year.

Chavs - 3 pts
Swans - 2
Burnley - 2
West Brom - 2

Even some of the ones we won - Palace 1-0 and B'mouth 1-0, we were very average.

A draw v Chavs, say, and wins against the other 3, puts us a point ahead of United in 2nd. At WHL, and in any normal season without a City doing what they've done, I think we would have again competed for the PL title as we have for the last 2 seasons.

Actually got to say, this is a realistic and well thought out comparison and probably brings a lot of balance to the feeling of misery we all have today. Things are not “normal” this year, but the margins between good to excellent are not massive. Things are far from bad - but the consistency’s been missing for periods around the excellent runs.

 

[LeeMcl]

Granted i had a TV- perspective yesterday, but every time the camera panned to our support we were met with vacuous faces and no visible suggestion that they were rallying the team.

Thought both sides were deathly silent for chunks of the game.

Nothing wrong with the support from the fans yesterday, all that happened was that when the team fell away the fans reacted. That’s normal.

 

[Notabadsquad]

Wembley seems to be a factor when it suits us.
Wasn’t a factor against Liverpool, Utd, Woolwich, Real and Dortmund though.

In the beginning of the season it undoubtedly had an effect, but that ship sailed. I can’t stand the place one bit, but it’s not the reason anymore.

Don't quite agree.

However we view it, it is not our ground but a venue we have become acquainted to.

But opposing sides can get inspired and I think if you look at United and Juventus, their players rose to the occasion bolstered by managers of experience and quality. The West Ham loss was our arrogance and complacency.

So not an excuse per se but an explanation.

 

[Notabadsquad]

And all the other top teams would love Pochettino to leave. Would make their jobs easier for sure.

We are getting better each season but we cannot maybe buy the 3 or 4 big players that would propel us to the top of the pack as oposed to being amongst them.

 

[Mensa]

What we actually need on the forum is another 10 or 20 knee jerk threads like we have every season once we are out of every competition! I only see 5 started yesterday all saying same thing, we can do much better

THAT would be progress

 

[John Thomas]

For th big games, or Dortmund, Madrid, Liverpool Wembley is rocking, but when we are playing the less glamorous games, the place is dead, I notice this as a fan, not sure how much it effects the players......

Although the same can be said for Anfield, The Etihad, The Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford and so on.
I don't quite get why people expect all our home games to have this non stop cauldron of noise that no other PL club manages to sustain.
On the contrary, considering all our fans being spread out and so far from the pitch we've put all the above clubs to shame really

 

[John Thomas]

We are getting better each season but we cannot maybe buy the 3 or 4 big players that would propel us to the top of the pack as oposed to being amongst them.

Can't or Won't?