I think the majority of fans considered a top four finish to be nothing but a dream before the season started. With many people saying a top six finish would be a good season.

We're now more than a third of the way through the season, having been without Modric for many of the games as well as losing Defoe and Lennon for a few games and having a seemingly different centre back partnership with each game at the start of the season.

And with all that, we're currently sitting in third place. Not only that, but we're also playing some fantastic football that is a joy to watch. Contrast that to our rivals in Liverpool, Man City and Villa who I think have played terrible football this year, even if they have been picking up points as they do it.

So even if Spurs do fade away as the season goes on and slip down a couple of league places, I'll still be very happy at going to watch my team play some wonderful, attacking football.

typical spurs' fan..... There is no reason, but only excuse for not making the top four this season. !!!! Comon my team.... :clap::clap::clap:

Yes, things are looking good at the moment, and apart from the Stoke game we've had good results overall. I don't think there are too many disgruntled fans out there, and I too will happily watch my team playing exciting football no matter where we finish.

Lets not forget one thing though: We are only in our current league position because Liverpool, and arguably City, have underperformed so far this season -and not because we are suddenly playing to a different level. We have improved greatly, and should enjoy the quality of the squad and the football we play, but should Liverpool recapture their form from last term we will probably have to settle for less than fourth.

the last few season though we have finished the second half strong we can still put a good run together we should be aiming for 3rd not for 4th, sounds ambitious i know but we are 3rd at the moment and if Chelsea & Everton win today we are sitting pretty.

also we have something that i have not seen at Spurs in a long while not since the almost 4th season, we harry and husttle and work out nutts off, we are getting a bit dirty and synical which is a good thing. also we have a squad Liverphool dont they have 2 strikers and no money, Arsenal are with out Van persie for 5 months. after watching Villa hold on for 60 minutes against us we should be aiming high, we might fail but hey least lets have a crack.

I don't agree with that. Part of Liverpool's "underperformance", three points worth, to be precise, is a result of us beating them, which also helped to set the tone for their season so far. They haven't underperformed, they just haven't played well enough to win many matches as a result of their squad having some problems of balance and being too reliant on a small number of irreplaceable "star" players.

As for Man City, they are merely continuing to demonstrate what Spurs showed last season, which is that it is extremely difficult to carry out a total overhaul of a football squad and then expect it to go straight out onto the pitch and start performing as a well-drilled unit. Hughes bought fancier players than Comolli could buy, so they haven't started with 2 points from their first 8 matches, but 7 draws in succession shows exactly the kind of mental weakness that comes with a newly-assembled squad under pressure.

And finally: we are indeed "playing to a different level". It's visible all over the pitch. We don't usually do it for 90 minutes, but when we do it for 45-60 minutes, we rip teams apart. Defensively, we have been a bit better than adequate this season, mainly because of injuries and instability, but also because our playing style leaves us open to counter-attacks, as we have only one midfielder protecting the defence, even away from home, and we play with an attacking block of five players, plus overlapping fullbacks. Other than defensively, our team football this season, even when we don't get three points, such as the Villa and Stoke matches, is on a different level to what I have seen before.

I have to agree with your post D.M. I'm usually extremely cautious when predicting any success with THFC but now I think we are very close, and, as 'Legacy' notes above, the style of football we are playing is a joy to watch.
For me though, we still need to do just a little more - if possible - in the January transfer window. An out and out attacking left-sided midfielder would take some of the pressure off of Lennon and maybe another young centre- back to groom and form part of a younger trio back there for when Woody and King are missing. That, i think could just give us that insurance if things start to go wrong injury-wise.

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I think the main signing we need to make in January is a backup or alternative to Palacios - and it sounds as if Sandro has been identified as that player. I can't see why we need another left-sided midfielder when we have the two Croatians and also Danny Rose (on the bench yesterday). And Lennon can play there too.

You are normally very precise, but playing down Liverpool's underperformance to "three points to be precise" makes no sense to me. As I recall they lost two games all season last term, and came within a whisker of beating United to the title. Yes they let Alonso go without replacing him, and are too reliant on two players, but their current setup, Alonso aside, nearly won them the title last season. All I'm saying is that if the top four teams had played to last season's levels our current point tally wouldn't warrant a Champions League play-off place. Now, I really do hope that Liverpool stay unbalanced, even after the January window and not having the CL to worry about. But, I can't help worrying about them making a last gasp run like the one the Gooners made before serving up some dodgy lasagna, when they had "underperformed" for much of the season - leaving us with a real hope of listening to the CL tune inside our own ground.

As for City I totally agree on your assessment - hence the "arguably" on their underperformance. May they keep drawing every home game for the rest of the season.

Regarding the different level of football I do think it varies, but that is a very subjective matter, and I'm not going to dispute your opinion here although I thought we were also quite great going forward in Jol's second full season. Before we lost Luka we looked a real class act in the making, but the fantastic Wigan game aside I think we have struggled to find our shape without him.

With Luka back and at least one of Woody and Ledley in the frame we have a good chance of grabbing fourth this season the way the league is currently looking, and how great would that be? I apologize to everyone if I come across as overly traumatized by Lasagna-gate or shell-shocked by every false dawn since Ossie's Dream.

Fourth place? Yes we can!

The "two Croatians" you mention D.M. never play left-side; they only start there then play most of matches more in the middle. Also, if Danny Rose can do a job there...great. But right now I'm not sure that he would be the sort of attacking left-sided midfielder who could really stretch defenders and give opposition teams both sides of our formation to worry about....hence my comments.

I wouldn't mind signing another player with pace, possibly a striker but we would have to sell Pav. I just think pace is an attribue we don't have strength and depth in

Gio could fill this void but I'm not convinced he's going to get much playing time

You misunderstood what I wrote, partly because it was a slightly tortuous sentence. I said/meant that, out of their chronic "underperformance" throughout this season, three-points'-worth of it was as a result of us beating them.

My point was that they aren't "underperforming", they just aren't as good as we are (having beaten them just underlines the point): because their squad isn't as strong or balanced as ours, because our ability to play as a team has largely caught up with theirs and because they have not coped as well with their injuries as we have with ours.

That's not "underperformance", it's just "not being a brilliant football team"- they aren't one. "Underperformance" was what we did early last season, ending up bottom of the table with a Europa-League-standard squad.

Liverpool have been pretty good this season, but we've been better: more brilliant when we've been good and no worse when we've been bad.

Now watch them go on another 10 match winning run... :roll:

- Beginning with a 2-0 derby win at Goodison... I'm worried sick alreadyEek

Agree with your comments. Would only like to point out that we already have a good attacking left footed midfielder who can play on both sides and provide another fast and skillful outlet on the wing to turn defence into attack so we don't have to rely solely on Lennon for that: Gio.

Liverphool can put a run on yes but Everton were all over them today they were lucky to come away with a win. We are improving game on game, and still have 3 of our best if not best players to come back.

How can 'getting a bit dirty and cynical' be a good thing?
'Harry and hustle' :yes.
'Work our nuts off': yes.
But 'dirty and cynical'? Who precisely? Palacios presumably. I am not his biggest fan but I think that that is very unfair if you have him in mind. Otherwise I'm not sure who you mean.

Whilst we should always be optimistic, it always worries me when either
a. Our own fans and/or b. Our own players and/or c. Our own manager and/or d. The media start talking up out chances of a Top 4 finish, its always tempting fate and we have been there far to many times only to open ourselves up to ridicule from other supporters and those tv pundits when it all goes t*ts up.

It would be nice but its too early days to be talking about that, we have not even got to the end of December. Good start were up with the pace but I know its an old cliche 'one game at a time".

Hi 'spurs_viola'...just read your post regarding Gio. playing on the left side. You know my friend, if he could really set our left side alight there would not be anyone more pleased than myself, but so far he has not done that (or been given the chance to do it).
Now I don't want to open a 'pandora's box' here (but I suspect I am doing this), but if there is some sort of reason why he is not playing there then I don't know what it is....but it just doesn't look like it is going to happen and the January window might give the club a chance to take on someone else. That's all I really have to say on this subject...but then of course I'm not stopping you from further comments.