Race for the Top 4 - 2017/18

[spursfan77]

Sorry but winning the bloody Carabao cup will not convince anyone, all it's gonna do is to allow people to move the goalposts, yeah they won the Carabao Cup but they really need to win a top trophy, fine they won the League Cup but Kane and co are want to be winning the Prem etc...it's not going to convince our players that we're going places nor is it going to convince any prospective players that this is the team to be at.

I'd enjoy it and the day out though

(but I agree in terms of players nowadays it doesn't matter. They only want more money)

 

[ClintEastwould]

Gonna say it one last time. We still have to play city twice. That is our last hope. Match their other results and then the gap is down to 5 if we can win those two. By then hopefully our injuries and form clears up.

 

[SpursDave88]

Gonna say it one last time. We still have to play city twice. That is our last hope. Match their other results and then the gap is down to 5 if we can win those two. By then hopefully our injuries and form clears up.

We live in hope!

 

[shelfboy68]

Gonna say it one last time. We still have to play city twice. That is our last hope. Match their other results and then the gap is down to 5 if we can win those two. By then hopefully our injuries and form clears up.

Your going to give yourself cramp in the hand clutching at straws that tightly it's a brave thought but we are not catching or overhauling that lead.

 

[RichieS]

Nice use of selective memory there, if you're going to go back to 2014/15...God knows why you'd do that seeing as we weren't really considered a top team in that season but okay...fine:

We beat Chelsea 5-3 in 2014/15 when they were flying at the top of the table.
We beat Man City 4-1 in 2015/16 when they won 5/6 and flying at the top of the table.
We beat Man City 2-0 last season when they had won 6 matches in a row and were flying at the top of the table.
We beat Chelsea 2-0 last season when they were going for a Premiership record of wins and were flying at the top of the table.
And as @Lighty64 said Dortmund were top of the Bundesliga and there we on form when we played them.

And those stats particularly from the last two season contradict your argument about our defence, we've been the best defensive team in the last two season conceding the least amount of goals, that's a fact you can't argue with. I don't understand why you'd make a point about our defence not being able to hold out particularly when we demonstrated this against Real Madrid in 180 mins of football, and this is without Wanyama who was arguably the best DMF in the league last season or a fully fit Dembele, not to mention Toby going down with an injury as well.

Yeah, but all of those games (and the numerous other examples of us beating Man U and Arsenal in recent years) don't support his point so why include them? The fact of the matter is that when any of the top teams (and that includes us) play each other the most likely result is "Home win". That's because we're all bloody good sides (as this year's CL is showing) and home advantage makes the difference.

Also, the various people that are saying that Chelsea have a better/deeper squad than us need to look theirs up. The media continually peddling such nonsense is bad enough, but I'd expect our own fans to know better.

 

[lol]

if im a top player, i will only stay if 1. i get paid a fuck load of money ( which pretty much means its not tottenham or 2. challenge for PL and CL.

Fans might love the league cup or FA cup, but to be honest most players would give a rat ass about it.

top 4 + CL over cup wins anyday. by being involve in the biggest competiton in the world takes ur club to the next level. winning some domestic cup wont.

of course i would love to win some cups, but not in the expense of our PL or CL opportunity. it should only be a bonus but never the main goal, UNLESS our depth or luck allows

 

[shelfboy68]

if im a top player, i will only stay if 1. i get paid a fuck load of money ( which pretty much means its not tottenham or 2. challenge for PL and CL.

Fans might love the league cup or FA cup, but to be honest most players would give a rat ass about it.

top 4 + CL over cup wins anyday. by being involve in the biggest competiton in the world takes ur club to the next level. winning some domestic cup wont.

of course i would love to win some cups, but not in the expense of our PL or CL opportunity. it should only be a bonus but never the main goal, UNLESS our depth or luck allows

Our depth and luck doesn't allow.

 

[Shadydan]

Yeah, but all of those games (and the numerous other examples of us beating Man U and Arsenal in recent years) don't support his point so why include them? The fact of the matter is that when any of the top teams (and that includes us) play each other the most likely result is "Home win". That's because we're all bloody good sides (as this year's CL is showing) and home advantage makes the difference.

Also, the various people that are saying that Chelsea have a better/deeper squad than us need to look theirs up. The media continually peddling such nonsense is bad enough, but I'd expect our own fans to know better.

Because his point was about turning up when it matters most and those examples I gave has contradicted his point.

 

[RichieS]

Because his point was about turning up when it matters most and those examples I gave has contradicted his point.

I was (seemingly clumsily) agreeing with you.

 

[fletch82]

Sorry pep just saying is all

 

[WiganSpur]

Yeah, but all of those games (and the numerous other examples of us beating Man U and Arsenal in recent years) don't support his point so why include them? The fact of the matter is that when any of the top teams (and that includes us) play each other the most likely result is "Home win". That's because we're all bloody good sides (as this year's CL is showing) and home advantage makes the difference.

Also, the various people that are saying that Chelsea have a better/deeper squad than us need to look theirs up. The media continually peddling such nonsense is bad enough, but I'd expect our own fans to know better.

Squad players not in the first XI:

Us:
Vorm, Gazzaniga
Aurier, Davies, Dier, Foyth, Walker-Peters
Dembele, Sissoko
Nkoudou, Lamela, Son
Llorente

Arsenal:
Ospina
Debuchy, Mertesacker, Chambers, Holding
Wilshere, Elneny, Coquelin
Walcott, Iwobi, Nelson
Giroud, Welbeck

Liverpool:
Karius, Ward
Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Klavan, Flanagan, Lovren
Milner, Wijnaldum, Lallana, Grujic
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Woodburn
Sturridge, Solanke

Chelsea:
Caballero, Eduardo
Christensen, Rudiger, Zappacosta, Baba Rahman
Drinkwater, Fabregas
Willian, Musonda, Kenedy
Batshuayi

United:
Romero, Pereira
Lindelof, Rojo, Smalling, Shaw, Blind, Tuanzebe
Carrick, Herrera, McTominay, Fellaini
Mata, Martial, Lingard
Ibrahimovic

City:
Bravo
Danilo, Otamendi, Mangala, Delph
Gundogan, Yaya Toure,
Bernardo Silva
Jesus


Comparing us to other teams here, it's obvious we have great depth at full back, and Dier is a great option too. Our biggest weakness is centre forward. Our rivals have both more and better options to us. Quality wise, with a declining Dembele, I think we are relatively weak in midfield depth too. With Lamela back, we are not too bad creativity wise, but I think we can improve by replacing Nkoudou.

It's funny because City don't have great depth in defence, but that doesn't matter so much with a Guardiola team. They will quite simply outscore you with the quality they have in other areas. For instance, Gundogan, Toure, Silva and Jesus on the bench.

 

[SugarRay]

Fuck me, it’s amazing how one result can change people’s opinions.

Apparently, turning over a very lacklustre and mediocre Southampton side has made Liverpool the talk of the land! I’d be amazed if City can somehow fend off their challenge!!!

 

[SugarRay]

When it comes to needing to get a result in a big game that matters, I'd back united over us any day of the week sadly. They know how to win ugly, they do it most weeks and it's why they won 2 trophies last season.

I suspect we’d have won the Europa league if we had been given their fixtures and had been at The Lane, but I understand why you would think that. It’s probably correct.
I can see us still finding excuses to lose big games instead of just getting on with it and winning them. Hopefully it changes. It took Fergie’s United a few years to get over the hurdle of winning the big games. We can’t just buy a whole host of players who’ve won everything before so they’ve been there and done it time and again, so know how to handle such games.

 

[SugarRay]

Definitely needs the title changed on this one now!

10 points behind City already and they have a game in hand.

This is very much a race for 4th for us now. We’ve stood still, which means we’ve been nudged back a little bit.

 

[Blue]

Definitely needs the title changed on this one now!

10 points behind City already and they have a game in hand.

This is very much a race for 4th for us now. We’ve stood still, which means we’ve been nudged back a little bit.

But are we stable enough to get that 4th spot? Seems like we are incapable of playing to games a week.

 

[thinktank]

This was never on. anyway. with the resources City has and the way they are playing.

Just let it go, folks.

 

[felmani26]

Stick a fork in this - we're done

 

[SugarRay]

This was never on. anyway. with the resources City has and the way they are playing.

Just let it go, folks.

Throw in Wembley and our bottling of big away games, it was always a tad unlikely!

 

[glacierSpurs]

Really self entitlement to think Citeh is our only rivals to the title, if any it is still on. At our current league form, a Citeh implosion will still have some shitty luck stuck to the chelscums' or united's boots that will carry them over to the title instead of us.

 

[thinktank]

Throw in Wembley and our bottling of big away games, it was always a tad unlikely!

Just a tad.