Race for the Top 4 - 2017/18

WiganSpur · Jan 21, 2018

Too many pedestrian displays against poor teams is what will likely cost us this time around.

I appreciate it's not always easy against these teams when they put 10 men behind the ball but Pochettino has to find better solutions in these games.

St José Dominguez · Jan 21, 2018

talkshowhost86 said:
I think you've literally named three very good reasons why we're not where you want us to be.

To say you are ignoring those factors is odd.

I'm not ignoring them, I'm just not blaming them. I think we've simply collectively as a team not performed well enough in the PL this season. We're much better than this but for whatever reason we just haven't really been 'at it' enough this season in the league.

lukespurs7 · Jan 21, 2018

WiganSpur said:
Too many pedestrian displays against poor teams is what will likely cost us this time around.

I appreciate it's not always easy against these teams when they put 10 men behind the ball but Pochettino has to find better solutions in these games.

Southampton didn’t just put 10 men behind the ball at all they had a lot of chances

dontcallme · Jan 21, 2018

Still believe we can do it but we need to go on a run.

Last season we paced ourselves well and had a very strong end to the league campaign. Unfortunately I think participation in CL might help that falter.

14 games to go with a CL campaign, FA Cup to challenge for and top four in our sights means there is much to play for.

WiganSpur · Jan 21, 2018

lukespurs7 said:
Southampton didn’t just put 10 men behind the ball at all they had a lot of chances

Not this game tonight has cost us.

But draws against Burnley, Swansea, WBA and West Ham at home is just not good enough.

aliyid · Jan 21, 2018

There are 14 games still to go... people are reacting like we’re 3 games from the end of the season.

Lots of ups and downs still to come and teams will drop a lot of points over the rest of the season. I know people like to knee jerk after a draw away from home but relax, we’re still in January...

Johnny J · Jan 21, 2018

lukespurs7 said:
Southampton didn’t just put 10 men behind the ball at all they had a lot of chances

This. They were poor defensively but didn't park the bus. Could easily have won had they taken their chances.

WiganSpur · Jan 21, 2018

I'd take us missing out on the top 4 if it meant we won the cup.

But no trophy and no top 4 would be difficult to take considering that we've shot ourselves in the foot in my view.

St José Dominguez · Jan 21, 2018

People will be concerned about losing players but the way they've been this season (Kane is unsellable) I don't think there's any chance whatsoever anyone is leaving even if finish 5th/6th. The market is now absurd, our price tags are a million miles above what anyone would value them at currently performance wise. I don't even think Rose will go, not sure how interested Utd are anymore, been injured, not in form, really not sure I can see them dropping £45m on him anymore.

We never sign the level of player that would care if we're in the CL so it won't affect incomings.

All it really means is we won't get to play the top European teams for a year which I can cope with.

So even if we didn't get top 4 we'll be going into new stadium with exactly same squad as this season, so let's not fuck up recruitment in summer and try to do it properly next season.

Let's win the FA cup though so this season can at least mean something (unless we're about to win the CL).

Lighty64 · Jan 21, 2018

spursfan77 said:
Based on last season’s results we are on course for 75 points, which I think is a big ask.

4th place the last few seasons:

2017 - 76 points
2016 - 66 points
2015 - 70 points
2014 - 79 points
2013 - 73 points
2012 - 69 points
2011 - 68 points
2010 - 70 points

An average over that period of 71 points. So really we can’t get below that else we’ve no chance. I think though because of the weakness of the other teams in the league the season will be more like 2016/17 and 2013/14 so we will need to better our results from the corresponding games last season to get top 4.

Sorry, when I looked this up I thought it was going to produce some good news for us, when in fact it’s the opposite but football isn’t that predictable else we wouldnt bother to watch it would we?

in our 14 games left, we have to still play the other 5 of the top 6, 3 of them at home. out of the other 9 games we had 3 draws against them last season which I hope we can turn into wins. what will be important is to win those 9 games and grab at least 4 v the rest, or at least hopefully pinch draws at worst off the top 5 others, though we really do need to win them against the 1's above us as 3 of those matches are 6 pointers.

bomberH · Jan 21, 2018

Top 4 very difficult but doable. It wouldn’t actually surprise me if we only got between 2-4 points out of our next 3 games but beat Juventus over 2 legs.

Colonel Dax · Jan 21, 2018

St José Dominguez said:
All it really means is we won't get to play the top European teams for a year which I can cope with.

It’s not that simple IMO. No CL would hit revenues and more importantly could effect the naming rights deal for the new stadium. Hopefully Levy can line up a great deal before season’s end but if not, no CL possibly makes it more difficult.

St José Dominguez · Jan 22, 2018

Colonel Dax said:
It’s not that simple IMO. No CL would hit revenues and more importantly could effect the naming rights deal for the new stadium. Hopefully Levy can line up a great deal but no CL possibly makes it more difficult.

The naming rights deal will surely be agreed before May won't it? I'm sure financially we can cope for one year without CL. If we didn't qualify next year either then there's issues that might need to be balanced by selling one of our players.

bubble07 · Jan 22, 2018

The game against liverpool that looks like being our biggest game of the season. We must not get beat

tiger666 · Jan 22, 2018

We're not going to be basing our spending on the assumption we'll get Champions League revenue.

Colonel Dax · Jan 22, 2018

St José Dominguez said:
The naming rights deal will surely be agreed before May won't it? I'm sure financially we can cope for one year without CL. If we didn't qualify next year either then there's issues that might need to be balanced by selling one of our players.

Hopefully the naming rights deal gets sorted before May, yes.

Lighty64 · Jan 22, 2018

dontcallme said:
Still believe we can do it but we need to go on a run.

Last season we paced ourselves well and had a very strong end to the league campaign. Unfortunately I think participation in CL might help that falter.

14 games to go with a CL campaign, FA Cup to challenge for and top four in our sights means there is much to play for.

this time last year at this time of the year we still had 16 league matches to play, we got to the semi's of the FA Cup, and lost in the 1st knock out stage of the Europa. The only real differences are 1, we are playing at Wembley and 2, we will put a much stronger team out for the CL, and finally Man C +14 & U +8, and Liverpool +4 (providing that they definitely beat Swansea tomorrow) have got more points now than they did after 24 games

Spursh · Jan 22, 2018

We’ve made it difficult for ourselves, no question. However, it’s an opportunity for Poch to improve his record vs our rivals in genuine do-or-die games. Yes we’ve done well against the ‘top 6’ at home in recent years, but away we’ve been poor.

If we can’t get good results away at Chelsea or Liverpool, and pick up 4/6 points against Utd and Arsenal at home, then we can’t complain if we miss out on the CL spots.

I do feel for our management and players though. We are often put in the same bracket as our rivals, and as such, have similar expectations. But we are comfortably levels below financially. Liverpool for example, spend twice as much on wages.

Yakflange · Jan 22, 2018

Colonel Dax said:
It’s not that simple IMO. No CL would hit revenues and more importantly could effect the naming rights deal for the new stadium. Hopefully Levy can line up a great deal before season’s end but if not, no CL possibly makes it more difficult.

... and probably also affect our ability to retain players or sign new ones.

DCSPUR · Jan 22, 2018

it's strange the obsession with top 4....getting top 4 seems to be more important than actually doing something in the CL!
We were top of our CL group and got the most points of any team in the group stage + have an amazing glamor tie against Juve but people are worried about top 4 for NEXT years CL....very strange to be honest

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