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2023/24 - The Race For..................

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    312
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coy-spurs1882

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
4,023
10,553
I don’t think any club has ever experienced such a mega screwed by footballing gods in one match, definitely don’t rem in our past 20 years for sure

it’s like toby n jan n walker n eriksen all out; and wimmer sanchez naughton winks are the replacements ….. and kane was unavailable to begin with

but if we are 4th after 12 games and just 1 point behind fools n arse; I’d say we are still in the mix…. But once u realise how pivotal VdV and Madders are to how we play… 😭

So now it’s all about whether we can be within 4-6 points of 4th come end Jan (when vdv n madders are back)
we are championship level without the core players. it is going to be a freefall until they return
 

coy-spurs1882

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
4,023
10,553
We’re doing the same now with the
VDV, Udogie, Sarr and Johnson.

All those players you mentioned from the Poch era had a decent amount of men’s football under their belt. Donley and Dorrington haven’t made a single appearance between them and Phillips has 18 championship appearances and wasn’t even first choice for Blackburn.

Wolves are a powerful athletic team and we couldn’t cope yesterday. No way was that a game for chucking in such young and inexperienced players IMO.

It was pretty clear that we wanted to move on from the old guard in the summer. None of them are part of the new leadership group and they probably won’t be here much longer. I wish we didn’t have to rely on them but that’s the risk we took and we need to see if we can muddle through until January.
we are going to lose with Dier/Davies/Hojbjerg anyway so why not let the younger, hungrier ones to get minutes
 

spurs mental

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2007
25,607
50,564
we are championship level without the core players. it is going to be a freefall until they return
20210617_161814.jpg
 

bomberH

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2005
28,472
168,312
Funny old game innit.

After the 10 minute spell against Chelsea that ruined everything, I thought we’d need a miracle to even challenge for top 4. Then by the end of the game, despite losing 4-1, I was quietly confident we’d be ok and definitely challenge for top 4. Then after the Wolves match I couldn’t even see where our next win is coming from looking at the fixtures.

I’m still on number 3. I’m not usually this pessimistic but the Wolves performance really made me think we just haven’t got the players to replace the injured ones, particularly under Ange’s tactics. Just one win will make me believe again - a win against a very in form Villa would be massive and potentially start an upturn in fortunes again.

I still quite like the individual players that have come in, they all had decent games (Dier was ok until the goals) but as a collective it just doesn’t work. We badly need to buy in Jan but we’ll see. All our injuries bar Peresic could be back by Jan which might stop us buying big, but if they get injured again in Feb then we’re shagged. That’s without 3 very good players leaving for the internationals in Jan too. I certainly don’t think we’re championship level players but we’re also not challengers with our squad depth.

4th in November in a season where we’re supposed to be fighting relegation…. I’d have taken that in heartbeat but the injuries and the Wolves game has made it seem so depressing. A win against Villa is much needed. Then I’ll be all happy again. Yay.
 

rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
22,425
80,794
I think most could do with realising that it ISN'T just about this season.

We all want to get top 4 again.

But we are at the very beginning of something and we are well on track (ahead even).

After this season has finished Ange will have identified those who absolutely need upgrading (Richy, Solomon) and those who should have left last summer (Davies, Dier, Hojbjerg) will almost have certainly gone.

This season was about establishing his core. Van De Ven, Vicario, Romero, Maddison, Bissouma, Bentancur, Son have probably all laid down their marker going forward. Whereas Porro, Udogie and Deki have certainly shown they are going to be part of the 11 or squad goign forward.

If you compare with Arteta when he went in at Arsenal, we have got their MUCH MUCH faster than he did.

Of course, expectation will rise but we will have a more capable squad.
 

WiganSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
16,068
32,865
Funny old game innit.

After the 10 minute spell against Chelsea that ruined everything, I thought we’d need a miracle to even challenge for top 4. Then by the end of the game, despite losing 4-1, I was quietly confident we’d be ok and definitely challenge for top 4. Then after the Wolves match I couldn’t even see where our next win is coming from looking at the fixtures.

I’m still on number 3. I’m not usually this pessimistic but the Wolves performance really made me think we just haven’t got the players to replace the injured ones, particularly under Ange’s tactics. Just one win will make me believe again - a win against a very in form Villa would be massive and potentially start an upturn in fortunes again.

I still quite like the individual players that have come in, they all had decent games (Dier was ok until the goals) but as a collective it just doesn’t work. We badly need to buy in Jan but we’ll see. All our injuries bar Peresic could be back by Jan which might stop us buying big, but if they get injured again in Feb then we’re shagged. That’s without 3 very good players leaving for the internationals in Jan too. I certainly don’t think we’re championship level players but we’re also not challengers with our squad depth.

4th in November in a season where we’re supposed to be fighting relegation…. I’d have taken that in heartbeat but the injuries and the Wolves game has made it seem so depressing. A win against Villa is much needed. Then I’ll be all happy again. Yay.
Whilst the Chelsea game fucked us there is a case to suggest that Ange somewhat compounded the problems by leaving out our only natural Maddison replacement and wasn't bold enough to throw in one of the kids at CB who's a better fit for the tactics. With Bentancur you could argue he wasn't quite ready to start games. But in spite of the injuries we can still put out a better team against Villa than we did against Wolves. The CB debate has been done to death but I think most would agree it's time for GLC and Bentancur to come in, and Udogie will be back from suspension. That will give us a better balance.
 

Ghost Hardware

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
18,664
64,633
I think most could do with realising that it ISN'T just about this season.

We all want to get top 4 again.

But we are at the very beginning of something and we are well on track (ahead even).

After this season has finished Ange will have identified those who absolutely need upgrading (Richy, Solomon) and those who should have left last summer (Davies, Dier, Hojbjerg) will almost have certainly gone.

This season was about establishing his core. Van De Ven, Vicario, Romero, Maddison, Bissouma, Bentancur, Son have probably all laid down their marker going forward. Whereas Porro, Udogie and Deki have certainly shown they are going to be part of the 11 or squad goign forward.

If you compare with Arteta when he went in at Arsenal, we have got their MUCH MUCH faster than he did.

Of course, expectation will rise but we will have a more capable squad.
Without a large budget and aggressive owners who will make strong moves in Jan I think being realistic even getting top 4 will be a hard fight and one we should be incredibly proud of if we pull it off with our current squad. Reality is our first 11 is very good but not without it's weaknesses and our depth is downright awful. Once the fixtures pile up and with the Afcon and the Asian Cup we could well have to dig into the youth team at some point. Fact is we could drop quite a few points over the coming weeks with our current back line being what it is and thats with only one game a week currently.

Not that we wont make moves in Jan, im sure we will get a CB and also replace any players that leave such as PEH, Lo Celso, Richy or Dier. But I still don't see us spending large amounts regardless. Equally I could see all those players still being here in Feb and us having only bought a CB.
 

mattstev2000

Well-Known Member
Aug 15, 2007
2,809
5,604
Can't see us getting much from the next three games and not confident long term about top four - think we'll probably end up in the top six and be back in Europe, which if it happens I'm not too unhappy about considering the obvious deficiencies in the squad still and the transformation in playing style and level of entertainment.
 
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