The Level that separates the nearly men from the Winners

Discussion in 'Tottenham forum' started by Felon82, April 24, 2017.

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  1. Felon82 Well-Known Member

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    We all hate Chelsea and losing to them even more so, but to lose to them when you've been the better side and by a 4-2 scoreline is deflating for me.

    It was the same at the Bridge earlier this season when we bossed them for 40 odd minutes of the first half only to concede before and straight after half time basically handing them the win.

    Saturdays game started with strange team selection in the form of putting Son at LWB, it was a gamble that didn't pay off and actually helped bring about our downfall.

    Then we have Eriksen 'the dead ball specialist' that can't take a corner properly thus wasting every chance we have from those situations, but never seems to be changed/worked on/improved?

    Limited options on the bench as is always the way at Spurs.

    And some shocking uncharacteristic defending/keeping.

    'We played well' I hear some cry but the fact remains we lost and not just lost we were sent home having conceded 4 and yet again are not by the looks of it (barring a lot of luck) going to be bringing home any silverware again this year.

    We are a much more serious outfit as of late we have a collective of top quality players some bordering on world class level, our stats/workrate/goals/defence are again right up there if not best.

    But despite all this, yet again, it's someone else that will be reaping rewards not us.

    I'm sure many will remark on here that we are building etc but you have to look at where we are right now and the overall situation externally especially.
    The top 4 has never been so open - City, UTD, Scum are nowhere near what they have been in recent years, neither are Liverpool, we've steadily bridged the gap and have even surpassed some. Like I said earlier, we have a strong collective of players currently and we need to make this situation count, because the others will not be in disarray for too long (make hay and all that).

    So what do we need to do to go that 1 better?

    Sit around and hope the team learns and improves?
    Is some better investment needed?
    Do we need better directives/objectives?
    Is it a mental block?

    This is not a rant, as I feel we are in the best shape we've been in a long time, but I worry the nearly men tag will not be enough to keep our best players or to sustain where we are at present.

    I'm just wondering what we need to do as a club to make that next step. We are on paper as good as Chelsea yet they look to be cleaning up while we're again wondering what if.

    The trophy wait continues......
     
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  2. Nomadico Well-Known Member

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    Very easy to sit with a wish list when you have a limitless bucket of cash. City,Chelski,Manure all have the ability to splash the cash while we have to watch what we spend. I fear that we will lose some of our best if nothing happens to improve the team.
    Without doubt we have improved and continue to do so under Poch even if he at time's screws up, if we buy a top name with the wage demands ect, then the others will want the same and then we will be in a mess. So it is a very fine line that Levy has to walk, we do have a few young kids on there way up like Winks and a few we can get rid of for a little cash.
    Until the stadium is up and running and the cash flow gets better we have no option but continue with what we have and hope Poch can keep the team fresh and hungry...COYS..
     
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  3. Spurporter Well-Known Member

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    Spurs could not stop thinking about Wed game against Palace. Poch needed to rotate wingbacks. Hence Trippier started, but there was none to start in Davies stead. It wasn't a bad choice from Poch, whilst penalty was not only harsh, it was a clear mistake of quite experienced referee. Moses clearly dived and must have been carded for it. The bad decision was to play Lloris, but no one knew ...
     
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  4. graham Guest

    Moses looked for the penalty but there was contact and I would have demanded a penalty if it happened the other end . Chelsea are clinical and punished every small error . On another day Hugo makes a save from the free kick - I have seen him save those before . Hence we are 1 up not level and then the penalty may not have happened . I sort of understand why he played Son at LWB to keep Moses pinned back . Son is not defensively street wise and IMO we lost his attacking strength . We keep having to learn on the journey including the manager .
     
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  5. Bazza47

    Bazza47 Well-Known Member

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    Interesting thoughts, as we look for answers to the forever question asking why we always fall short.

    In part it has to do with the fact that, having not got a vast squad, with an impressive bench, our options to rotate are limited, not helped by the poor summer investments.

    In big games you need to have some share of the breaks that are going.....we didn't get any.

    So whilst the pain of losing is still very much there, we have at least achieved much this year on limited resources and no net investment in players over the past 5 years, with many of our rivals spending up to £400m + in that time.

    We've been knocking on the door for 5 years now and perhaps given our careful approach to funding the club, that actually means we've over achieved in that time.

    And we're up there with no team better than us in truth. It's a game of fine margins at this level, where you can leave nothing to chance. When you fail, like Saturday, you just have to learn, understand, reformulate your plan, and come again. On Wednesday.

    To Dare Is To Do. COYS
     
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  6. Cheshuntboy Guest

    I've read a few Spurs blogs recently where it's been said that winning trophies is somehow irrelevant, something that shouldn't concern our pure footballing 'project' - leave it to vulgar upstarts like Chelsea and City, and their johnny-come-lately pot-hunting supporters. I can only assume that the authors were fully paid-up members of the Pochettino fan club getting their excuses in early, because we all know that a trophy-less season is ultimately a wasted one, whether we finish second from the top or fourth from bottom (and we can't sneer at Arsenal's endless run of CL qualifications, and then claim that a top four finish is some sort of triumph, particularly after the shambles of this season's European double debacle).
    We used to be the 'relentless devourer of trophies' (to quote Brian Glanville's Sunday Times report of our dire 1973 League Cup final win against Norwich, our third trophy in as many years, and our eighth in twelve from 1961), but now we're setting records for failure, and the problem of hanging on to our best players is being made worse by Pochettino's weird use of his squad - Son, Davies and Walker must be seriously demoralised after Saturday's game, while several others are the subject of persistent transfer rumours, and who can blame them for wanting more than we seem to be capable of offering, on and off the pitch? The next few games will show whether we really have acquired the mental strength clearly lacking last year - thrashing the minnows but losing to the sharks just isn't good enough, and Arsenal and United aren't likely to roll over for us, unless they've got bigger fish to fry, of course (like winning the cups that eluded us).
     
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  7. Thfc001thfc New Member

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    As soon as I saw the selection it left me wondering why tinker with a winning formula ? Son may not have been going to be outpaced by Moses but he was always going to be outhought ! He is not a defensive player for heaven's sake. What is with Eriksen that apart from the rare 25 yarder he is hopeless with a dead ball - corners pathetic, free kicks wasted. He is great at assists in open play and covers acres of ground. The team played quite well but rarely tested Courtois - Chelsea 4 shots 4 goals! Let's hope that we don't internally combust like last year. Lastly I think Poch owes the fans a comment on his selection. Oh and I didn't even mention Walker ! What's going on there.
     
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