HaHa, good one Rez. 5th! 6th! EUROPE! NO fucking chance. I know what you're getting at mate but it's more likely to make the difference between 12th and 13th.
We've got no chance of Europe via the League. That ship has sailed.
I think the image of Rennie grinning like an idiot when they scored their winner is going to remain fixed in my memory for days. Surprised he restrained himself from hugging the Brum coaching staff.
I can tell from most of your posts that you didn't follow us closely under Jol. If you think 2 5th place finishes is under performing then you need to do a little research in to where we were before Martin Jol took over. You realise we need decent CBs, but I get the impression you'll be shocked to hear that for the last 2 seasons when King has been fit, under Martin Jol, we earned more points per game than Arsenal. Last season when King was fit we earned more points per game than Liverpool. Jol basciallly took Benitez, two time La Liga winner, to school. I hardly think that is under achieving. It is massively over achieving and giving a clear indication of what the man could achieve if given the right players, somehting you even acknowlegde are missing from our squad.
I'm sure we wont keep under performing as well, but we are losing in the same unfortuante manner in which we dropped points under Jol. I respect your opinion as concerns Ramos and am always interested to hear what you have to say. But you clearly don't have the first clue about Martin Jol. Judging him on his results this season is like judging Ramos on his results he had at Seville this season. It gives a totally false impression.
Spurs had easily the fith best squad in the League. Martin Jol in terms of League position did just ok, but was poor in the Cups.
I am basing my opinion on how his team played the times I watched them full games, generally against the top sides. I rememeber one game against Liverpool (2-2 at Anfield) where Xabi Alonso was left completely unmarked to do what he pleased during the whole game. That was very poor coaching. The back line under Jol was too deep. The team physical fitness was not that impressive, as well as their agression and mentality. You may rate Jol because he was the best coach you had in a lot of time, but Juande Ramos is better IMO and results will prove it.
People only claim we had the 5th best squad with hindsight. I assure you we weren't 5th favourites going into the 2005/6 season. And last year, even if you say we had the 5th best squad, our first team played comparitively less games than those of our rivals. For example check out how many games each of Blackburns favoured 1st 11 played compared to ours. Then see how many of those players would get into our 1st team last season. Yet we still finished 8 pts clear of them and played far more games, thanks to Jols poor cup performances (2 1/4 finals and a 1/2 final). As for the Liverpool game, we came within seconds of beating them, which means we are the team that has come closets to beating the at home this season, so if Jol was so poor with his coaching, what does that say about the other coaches (such as Wenger and Mourinho) who have taken teams to Anfield?
You say the physical fitness wasn't that impressive but how if this is the case we managed such impressive statistics? If we weren't agressive enough how come we were the second highest tackling team in the Prem last season and upto the point Jol left the top this season. When players like Steed Malbranque and JJ head the entire Prem tackling stats, as they did a month ago, it really shows that steel has been instilled in them. They are hardly players known for their aggressive nature, yet they were putting in more challenges than any other players in the whole league. To claim we lacked aggression is simply not true.
I don't think you are right to say "results will prove it," as I've said before this isn't fair on Ramos. To achieve 65 pts next season is going to be very difficult and if people start judging him in terms of results compare with Jols it will only be to the detriment of the club. If Ramos doesn't achieve the same results as Jol (which I doubt he will), it doesn't mean he isn't as good a coach. To me it means that there is something wrong at this club that isn't to do with the way the team is coached.
our luck has to chance soom there is no way we can go on like this much longer with the team we have
Angst filled ref decisions...
I don't want this locked, but that red card was a farce.
Juve was investigated and Serie A was found guilty of widespread match fixing. Match fixing is not unheard of in the Premiership (remember Bruce Grobbelar?). Organized crime casts a wide net, particularly from Asia and Eastern Europe...
Is it possible that that referee's crew had undue pressure to give the Brummie's a hand?... Bittertness from today's loss is driving my post here, but can we discuss if this is possible without locking this thread?
That call was that bad. :violin:
this was a thread I tried to start, but it was closed...
P.S. can someone revoke Kaboul's passport?...
Dead easy. With two CBs different from Dawson and Kabul and a new quick goalkeeper to allow the back four to play a high line Spurs will easily get that amount of points.
And Blackburn are nowhere near Spurs quality wise.
Spurs had easily the fith best squad in the League. Martin Jol in terms of League position did just ok, but was poor in the Cups.
I am basing my opinion on how his team played the times I watched them full games, generally against the top sides. I rememeber one game against Liverpool (2-2 at Anfield) where Xabi Alonso was left completely unmarked to do what he pleased during the whole game. That was very poor coaching. The back line under Jol was too deep. The team physical fitness was not that impressive, as well as their agression and mentality. You may rate Jol because he was the best coach you had in a lot of time, but Juande Ramos is better IMO and results will prove it.
When Jol had quality at CB (ie King was fit), we won 49 pts from 26 games in 2005/6 and 39 pts from 21 games last season. This means we averaged 1.9 pts in 2005/6 and 1.85 pts in 2006/7. This give season totals of 72 pts and 70pts. Both seasons running this is a higher total than Wenger managed and Arsenal didn't play a single game in either season without a top class CB similar to King. Last season it means we averaged more pts per game than Liverpool. To say it will be dead easy even if get 2 different CBs is just proof you have little knowledge of the Premiership.