Saints win needed to avoid being cut adrift.

As Spurs return to action after a welcome and longer rest than usual over Xmas, they head to St Mary's tomorrow night needing three points to stay in touch with the top 4. United are starting to win and score and are currently on the same points as ourselves albeit with us having tomorrow's game in hand. Arsenal managed a win against West Brom although they were again pretty poor and Chelsea and City both won to make the gap at the top start to move away.
Nothing less than 3 points is good enough for Spurs on the South Coast.

Southampton have been up and down this season and struggled to find consistency but they are a very good team and capable of beating anyone on their day.

Spurs have flattered to deceive this far. Against Man City they looked every bit a team capable of challenging for the title but since then have drawn too many games and at times been lacklustre. Against the weaker teams in the league we have managed to score goals but there have been too many occasions where we have failed to create enough chances and when we have created, failed to take those chances.

Rose and Walker have been in good form and they add the width and pace that Spurs really do need.

This game and Watford away on New Year's Day is a great chance for Spurs to cut the gap before we entertain the Chavs from the Bridge at White Hart Lane. The last time that we will face them at the current White Hart Lane.

9 points? Let's hope so. It would really put Spurs back amongst the title challengers.

As ever, come on you Spurs!!!!!

 

The next match is like a cup final! In order to keep alive our hopes (to reach a champions league spot) we must beat the saints! I hope we recover Erik Lamela as soon as possible (it is an important weapon for us...) and Levy will buy a Striker to add to Kane in January market session. At the moment i don' t see us like title contenders; i hope wrong about this matter! As ever coys!

 

U guys still dreaming about top 4?

Every other side barring Scum and us have improved, our best signing was a DCM that's how much we wanted to kick on in what should've been a season we really laid a marker down.

Utd look a much stronger bet for Top 4 than us, we never finish above Scum, Chavs n City r pulling away and Liverpool look a better side also.

We won't be in the top 4 come end of season unless there is some serious investment in attacking talent in January which we all know won't happen!

Besides wots the point of being in the top 4 when we were so abysmal in the CL and don't use it as a platform to improve?

Its Ground Hog day at Spurs again the cycle has begun.

 

So the turkey is done & dusted for another year , it's back to reality again ... All around us have deff put the pressure on over the last few days so it's an even more crucial game tomorrow ... Looks a tricky fixture , they can be very good at the back and we all know our failings by now so it could be a difficult night ... Hopefully we come out the right side of it but I can see another draw here ... Tough start to a crucial week , 2 away games followed by Chavski at home ... 9 points one suggests , it's a big ask me thinks but you never know ..... C.O.Y.S .....

 

Have to agree Felon; unfortunately I am starting to fear the worst too. I reckon Utd will pinch 4th ahead of us and the shower down the road. Zlatan et al provide that much needed quality that we don't have in the final third and it will cost us come May.

We must take 6 points from the next 2 fixtures. Everyone around us has taken 3 points from this round of PL fixtures and it would be all too Spursy to drop points tomorrow.

Live in hope. COYS - don't let us down!

 

So much for never-ending WHL optimism... That, and no starting XI predictions? Here is mine:

Lloris
Walker, Toby, Vert, Davies
Wanyama, Dembele
Eriksen, Dele, Sissoco
Kane

COYS!!!

 

Might be time to stop looking at what others are doing and concentrate on our own destiny. The object is to get as many points as possible, regardless. It is possible to not lose one game in a season and get relegated and also possible to lose about 24 games and stay up. Other teams (Chelski in particular) are not playing that great but picking up three points nearly every game. Our mentality needs to change - draws are virtually worthless and when we are 3-0 up we need to stop thinking 'game over', but go on and win 5-0.
The Guardian made the point that we are not as fluent with Wanyama in midfield as with Dier last season - I have to agree. Poch has to stop having his 'golden boys' who are guaranteed a starting place.

 

Not sure I agree with the Guardian , Ali Erikson , Lamela and Dembele haven't hit the same hights as last year and if someone thinks all that is down to Victor starting instead of Dier then maybe it's time for them to start writing about cricket instead of football .... Just my opinion of course .... C.O.Y.S .....

 

I'm sorry to say that this season is panning-out pretty much as I (and I daresay many others) expected and feared - we blew the glorious once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented by last season's collapse of the big boys, and now they're back, either well and truly like Chelsea, patchily like City and Arsenal, slowly but inexorably like United, and excitingly like Liverpool. And us? We've gone backwards, with none of last year's standouts maintaining form, and none of the new buys stepping up, and yet still the accepted wisdom is that Pochettino has transformed the club. Did the string of fifths and fourths under Jol. Redknapp and AVB from 2006 on never happen? Was our CL run in 2010/11 a fantasy? No - Spurs under Pochettino have suffered a succession of failures in the cups (Arsenal, Palace and Dortmund in last year's wonder season) and have pretty much trodden water in the PL, and I wouldn't put a brass farthing on a top four finish this time, so we'll probably end up matching 2006 and 2007 - that's not 'progress' in my book.

 

It's not that Wanyama is a bad player, just that he is purely a midfielder, whereas Dier can drop back from central midfield to form a back three with Rose and Walker getting forward giving us the width that we have so clearly lacked this season.

 

At exactly 20:50 tonight I sent this to my kids ....
" If we win this it will be a fecking miracle".

At 21:27 I sent them a message that said "What do I know"....

It's a funny old game.

COYS

PS.....they were on live pause....15 minutes behind. Oops.

 

Was a good performance in a tricky fixture , bar the first 10 mins we were well on top .. Got a couple of breaks with the goals , couple of of wicked deflections put the ball in the right place to be finished brilliantly by Ali and Son but they were well deserved ... Was just thinking to myself , jeez Kane is annonamous tonight when he scored from the corner , what a header that was , like a bullet it was so all in all a good team performance and could easily have scored a couple more ... Still plenty of scope for improvement , if we can get Toby back in top form and get Harry firing on all cylinders , that will be a massive boost to the team , also when everyones fit the bench looks a lot stronger .. Couple of suspensions in defense for the next one , Jan was looking for trouble last night from early on I taught and was lucky not too see red ... Hopefully Toby will be ready for action at the weekend , I wouldn't like to be starting without either of them but we might get away with it against Watford ... We're hanging in there , and while we do that we have a chance ... Onto the next one ... C.O.Y.S .....

 

Wanyama was great at St. Mary's. Sissoco was MOM, IMHO, not Dele, although his header was something to remember. Dier was adequate in Toby's shoes, yet did not exercise (since he does not possess) the required first pass ability of Toby, resulted in chaos for the first 10 min. Eriksen was almost non-existent, that is something of concern, although opposition might have had a plan against him.

 

Thoughts....

- last night really was a funny old game, lots of luck for us, but what goes around comes around I guess.

- until Harry scored I thought we were average and he was also....never seems to be in the box enough for me.

- goals from Alli a real bonus, more please.

- full backs again very effective, so let's hope Trippier gets off to a good start on Sunday.

The next two games will define our season and whilst we've all said that before, two wins are a must for me.

COYS

 

An important 3 points for sure and well deserved in the end.

I felt we were quite poor until we levelled against the run of play, lots of stray passes and late tackles etc. We then got a grip and took control; good shifts from Rose, Walker, Wanyama, Sissoko and Dele. Glad to see Kane put one away too and very unlucky with the pen!

Slightly frustrated by Jan last night - needless grappling with Jay Rod, at fault for the goal (didn't attack the ball at all) and picked up an unnecessary late booking after getting involved with a petty off the ball incident with Long - bloody idiot and out for Sunday.

Now onto the Hornets. We MUST come away with 3 points and put some pressure on that lot down the road.

COYS set us up nicely for Chelski!

 

Pleasantly surprised we didn't go spursy still there'll be much bigger occasions later on in the season for us to put that straight.

Still I saw a shooting star last night or it cudv been kanes penalty heading into orbit, either way I wished us all a happy new year anyway and 3 points at Watford.

COYS

 

On current form I still believe top four is very achievable as long as we can have better luck with injuries. Fully fit we are a match for anyone in this league if we play to our Max. It will depend on getting Toby back fit and in the team asap.. Costa will destroy dier easily. We need Kane to stay fit for the entire remaining campaign and step up a knotch.
And third and foremost we need a player in the final third who can change and win games on their own as do all the teams that win titles. Such as an hazard Silva de bruyne etc. But where do you find these players at a price we can afford. Their in the problem lies.
Zaha Max Meyer and Barclay all linked but all rookies tbf. I'd take a punt on Ross Barclay if we could get him on a reduced fee with only 18 months to run on his deal and koeman seemingly willing for offers. I think the kid is a real talent but needs his talent harnessing by a coach who likes working with young talent.
The next two fixtures are great given Watford are down to the bones and out of form. OK we will have a few changes to the back line due to Jan and walkers suspensions that they probably picked up on purpose as Poch usually freshens up with so many games in close proximity then a tasty chance at home to a Chelsea side that's been fortunate with injuries and results of late giving us chance to cut thier lead.