Race for the Top 4 - 2018/19

[ardiles]

We need players with huge BALLS next Saturday!!!

Not sure if the FA will allow our players to use not standard sized balls.

 

[guiltyparty]

And yet that doesn't refute my post.

I don’t understand what point your post was making then

 

[DiscoD1882]

Why can’t we have nice things

We’ve pissed the god of football off Somewhere along the line.

 

[dannythomas]

Yeah I can’t believe he scored that own goal last night or got picked to play in that position.

No transfer spend in past 2 windows despite our players coming back from the World Cup exhausted total screw up over stadium. If we’d bought better RBs and replaced Dembele and the diminished Wanyama as a minimum then maybe we would have gone up another level. Otherwise he’s doing great.

 

[shelfboy68]

Eight defeats so far isn't a blip or unlucky that is entering mid table Territory fortunately no draws and along with chelsea, utd and Woolwich not being at their best we to date have got away with it next year we won't be as fortunate.

 

[SpartanSpur]

Eight defeats so far isn't a blip or unlucky that is entering mid table Territory fortunately no draws and along with chelsea, utd and Woolwich not being at their best we to date have got away with it next year we won't be as fortunate.

It really is a telling stat. It's more than last season and it's only February. We could easily lose 3-4 more before the end of the season, which is crazy.

It proves what we all know deep down, that CM and FB are a big problem. PLus Lloris having his most erratic season yet. Yes we've had bad luck with Dier's problems (and to a lesser extent Wanyama) but the decision to sell Dembele was our own, as was not buying a single player in 2 windows.

The way you avoid defeat is being solid defensively and we've been far from it all season. This top 4 race is far from over. Saturday is so important now.

 

[worcestersauce]

I don’t understand what point your post was making then

It was prompted by a bunch of pessimistic posts on the previous page or two, not reflecting the poll at the top of the thread.

 

[djee]

it has been an awful 5/6 days for sure. I also get that we have been fortunate in the various fixtures pre Burnley having to rely on some very late winners to bail us out. Reality is that we are in a spot of bother now. Fortunately, however, it is very much all to play for and perhaps a NLD on Saturday represents a wonderful opportunity to wrest momentum back in our favor. It will be tight for sure going into the last 10 games as we battle for top 4 but it also important to keep relative calm and perspective. 6 more wins will almost certainly guarantee we finish in a CL spot and although we will likely lose away at LFC and City there are a clutch of very winnable fixtures. With Dele back and I would be surprised if we can't get maximum points from at least 5 of Brighton, Huddersfield, Palace, WHU, Everton at home and Southampton and Bournemouth away; Arsenal at Wembley can go either way.

I have mentioned a few times but the others don't have a cakewalk to the end of the season either. AFC had two 'gimme's' in succession that rather masks some of their issues - away trips to us, Utd, Watford, LCFC, Wolves, Everton will provide a closer examination of their top 4 credentials.

A win or even a draw on Saturday and things will feel better.

 

[guiltyparty]

It was prompted by a bunch of pessimistic posts on the previous page or two, not reflecting the poll at the top of the thread.

So a much smaller sample then? Why do we in the modern world focus on the tiny minority making a big noise? Rather than the wider sample that is actually more thorough, balanced and representative?

 

[worcestersauce]

So a much smaller sample then? Why do we in the modern world focus on the tiny minority making a big noise? Rather than the wider sample that is actually more thorough, balanced and representative?

More a sample in time, reflecting a mood at the current time, which if markedly different to what it was a month ago is worthy of note don't you think.

 

[DiscoD1882]

Dele really needs to be back in this team for the NLD. at least off the bench. We really are missing some fizz out there. its all too functional and predictable at the moment. Its like watching the old template England. move it across the park. go back to defenders. move ball forward. get it wide. Cross. And nothing comes of it. teams have worked us out big time. Dele adds an X factor and also frees up Eriksen. Its no coincidence that he has gone off the boil since Dele's injury. sad times we have blown it big time. I actually woke up angry this morning. Normally I can shake it off pretty quickly having seen it all before. but this feels different. If we don't get a big result Saturday we are looking over the abyss.

 

[teok]

It's the burnley result I'm regretting the most honestly.

 

[Kiedis]

Home: Arsenal, Palace, Brighton, Huddersfield, Everton, West Ham
Away: Southampton, Liverpool, City, Bournemouth

Will Arsenal, Man United and/or Chelsea get 4, 5 or 7 points more than us from here and and the end of the season? Wouldn't think so.
Even though I am annoyed at what we did against Burnley and then against a Chelsea side that actually looked worse than Burnley.

Any hopes of staying in the mix for the title is obviously out of the question, but all emotion aside, I still think it'll be a case of clinging on for third, and not about clinging on for fourth.

 

[Dzejkob]

Our transfer strategy will kill us. Too many average players. We are putting ourselves in a situation where we should shift 5-6 players and we all now that would never happen. You can't win the title with Winks-Sissoko midfield and 1 good but irregular and 3 average fullbacks. Winks and Sissoko should be our second midfield choice. Remember Dembele-Wanyama duo? That was two years ago. Since that we are struggling in midfield. Remember Rose and Walker? That was two years ago. Walker is sold, Rose can't get proper run of games since that.

The great work Poch is doing and other players improvements (Kane, Alli, Son, Sanchez) allowed us to still be such high in the table. But this team capabilities, potential is weaker than the team we had two years ago. Imagine where we would be if we would react properly to those team weaknesses.

People will say that a lot of fans is overreacting because of two bad games. I don't agree. It is now pretty clear that we will not win the Premier League. We were afraid that one of the best team we had for ages will not win anything. And it is slowly happening. Toby and Vert after 30s and both 1 year of contract. Eriksen also running out of contract, Kane is 26, Son 27, Rose 29, Lloris 33. It's still not too late, I know, but we have to react now. Unless we make great investment (3 first team players next window) we will end with Curling Cup at best. And we won't spend cause we are broke (stadium...).

Isn't that full Tottenham? You are building one of the best stadium in the world, but at that time you are (un)lucky to create one of the best team you have in ages. You just need 1-2 transfers to win the title or even CL. You can't do that cause you are spending everything on new stadium. Now you have your great stadium, but your team is gone...

 

[coys200]

Beat Arsenal and we should be fine. Could all look very different this time next week. Could be 3rd with 7 pt gap to 5th and in CL 1/4 final.

Chelsea have Europa and have to go to Liverpool United Leicester Everton.

United have Arsenal City Chelsea.

The Arsenal/United and Chelsea/United weekends are almost 2 free hits for us.

 

[Deleted member 27995]

These last two games are galling like the Wolves and Watford games, all four have the same thing in common, we mugged ourselves off. We didn't even get outplayed we just screwed the pooch.

NLD are always big games, but given the current climate this has more significance than ever. Can't even be bothered to think about the CL game.

 

[shelfboy68]

It really is a telling stat. It's more than last season and it's only February. We could easily lose 3-4 more before the end of the season, which is crazy.

It proves what we all know deep down, that CM and FB are a big problem. PLus Lloris having his most erratic season yet. Yes we've had bad luck with Dier's problems (and to a lesser extent Wanyama) but the decision to sell Dembele was our own, as was not buying a single player in 2 windows.

The way you avoid defeat is being solid defensively and we've been far from it all season. This top 4 race is far from over. Saturday is so important now.

We could quite easily win on Saturday and probably will but we are also as likely to fold up again who knows but we have to improve for the remainder of this season and be even better next year because even mid table teams will spend and improve

 

[rossdapep]

Beat Arsenal and we should be fine. Could all look very different this time next week. Could be 3rd with 7 pt gap to 5th and in CL 1/4 final.

Chelsea have Europa and have to go to Liverpool United Leicester Everton.

United have Arsenal City Chelsea.

The Arsenal/United and Chelsea/United weekends are almost 2 free hits for us.

Hope so. Just remember we have City and Liverpool away. I have a feeling we will need to win one of those which I can't see happening.

Absolutely have to win our next two, we need that extra cushion back.

 

[evoid]

Slight positive going into Saturday, I don't think we've ever lost 3 in a row in the league under Poch...

 

[Japhet]

It's the burnley result I'm regretting the most honestly.

The worst thing about that result is that it gives Chelsea, Utd and Arsenal all the encouragement they need to believe they can catch us. We've made our CL spot a very attractive target.