The Non-kneejerk, Kneejerk Thread

[nialsy2005]

Morning all.

So, it happened. We lost. Away to a team that if we genuinely have title hunting ambitions, perhaps we should have won against. Now, there are few things in life that i have genuine affection for. Spurs, food, the Mrs (normally) and you lot on here. Genuinely. Nowhere else do i actually get more excited reading about ITK, transfer gossip and listening to opinions other than from you fine bunch of SC'ers.

Now, in most cases, things that you have fuzzy feelings for tend to cheer you up when you're feeling down. Unfortunately, this place isnt one of them. This place after a loss is a pit of dispair and depression, full of scapegoats and blame. I dont have a problem with this. Everyone is entitled to air their own opinions, and thats what makes this place so great.

But the aim of this thread is to provide a little haven for people to say some positive things to make people feel a little better about a crap result, and try and make the "day after a loss syndrome" feel a little better. Because, and i promise you this, we will lose again. I dont know when it will be, but it will happen. It happens to all teams, no matter how good they are. It certainly doesnt mean we shouldnt feel bad about it because we all love this club, and when bad things happen to those we love, its only natural to feel terrible.

So lets have some reassuring words, a group hug, and appreciate the glory days that are coming to the fine institution and life partner that is Tottenham Hotspur football club.

Much Love x

 

[mil1lion]

All I really care about is where we currently lie.

We're in 4th, we're in the knock out stage of the Champions League, and the FA Cup starts on Sunday. I really fancy us to go all the way in the FA Cup aswell.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Bad result, by all accounts a bad performance and all in all a big disappointment.

However the two teams above us drew and the team below us lost so we haven't lost much ground.

We now have an FA cup game where we should be able to rest some players who were clearly tired last night before a massive game with United where we can bounce back in the most emphatic fashion.

Plus it's now January meaning we can strengthen the squad and get rid of some of the deadwood (deadwood which again by all accounts didn't perform when asked to last night).

That positive enough for you? Well? Is it?!!!!

 

[nialsy2005]

Bad result, by all accounts a bad performance and all in all a big disappointment.

However the two teams above us drew and the team below us lost so we haven't lost much ground.

We now have an FA cup game where we should be able to rest some players who were clearly tired last night before a massive game with United where we can bounce back in the most emphatic fashion.

Plus it's now January meaning we can strengthen the squad and get rid of some of the deadwood (deadwood which again by all accounts didn't perform when asked to last night).

That positive enough for you? Well? Is it?!!!!

Thats the spirit!

 

[mattyspurs]

I actually don't feel too bad this morning.

Yes, I hate it when we loose, but we have had a gruelling 3 games, where 2 of those were played with 10 men. We got all nine points, and prior to tonights loss we had been unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions.

Chelsea lost so we stay in 4th place, The gypsies and the Arabs drew so we only actually lost ground by 1 point.

We now have the FA cup, so hopefuly we can rest some players and give them a much needed rest before we Spank Man Utd at the Lane.

As BBLG's excellent column earlier said, "Don't stop believing", I haven't and I won't. This is the best Spurs team for me since the '87 seasonand I am enjoying every minute of watching them grow.

Something special is happening here, despite last nights performance.

Good thread mate and much love back to you.

 

[StanSpur]

To be fair we weren't convincing against Newcastle, were lucky to get 3 points agains Fulham and deserved to lose last night. It's been a steady decline over the past 3-4 games and is most likely down to fatigue from the tight fixture list. We still picked up 9 from 12 points, went 11 games unbeaten and sit 4th in the league so things are fine. I think Harry is somewhat reluctant to rotate the squad, and to be fair has been limited in doing so through injuries this year, but next weeks game is a great opportunity to give some of the players a rest. Charlton are not in a good position and the likes of Kranky, Bassong and Pav should be fairly fresh (and good enough to see off Charlton). Hopefully with a 10 day break the lads will come back up for the challenge of Utd at the lane - a team not the best away from home - and we'll be back on track.

As for the game last night, let's not take anything away from Everton. They are a decent team who work hard. Their league position is lower than their true value and they will probably end up challenging Bolton and Sunderland for the 6th spot this season so it isn't a disaster - it's not like losing to bottom club Wolves is it?!!

 

[Azrael]

What fucks me off is that there a section of the fanbase that slates you as negative if you sit around and speculate on a fifth placed finish based on table position. Yet when there is a loss, which happens to even Man U from time to time, there is panic of 9/11 proportions. It's pathetic. It's one loss. To be honest there should have been a great deal more losses do far when you look at the League 2 level goal return from our strikers, so all this does is further confirm that we are not yet the finished article and need signins. It does not confirm that all is lost.

Some maturity is needed.

 

[archiewasking]

Funny feeling this morning. Last night I was really ticked off. Not because we lost, but because I'd after all these years expected us to beat Everton. Doing so well has made me to start to believe, for the first time ever, that we can and will win every game. And if eternal sceptic me can feel that way, something must be seriously right at our club.

And since I expected Chelsea to win and us to possibly then be fifth today, what a pleasant surprise to still be top four. And does anyone else get tingles down the spine from the Sky Sports title race trailer - that WE - the mighty Tottenham Hotspur Eek - are featured in??

 

[EastLondonYid]

I actually don't feel too bad this morning.

Yes, I hate it when we loose, but we have had a gruelling 3 games, where 2 of those were played with 10 men. We got all nine points, and prior to tonights loss we had been unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions.

Chelsea lost so we stay in 4th place, The gypsies and the Arabs drew so we only actually lost ground by 1 point.

We now have the FA cup, so hopefuly we can rest some players and give them a much needed rest before we Spank Man Utd at the Lane.

As BBLG's excellent column earlier said, "Don't stop believing", I haven't and I won't. This is the best Spurs team for me since the '87 seasonand I am enjoying every minute of watching them grow.

Something special is happening here, despite last nights performance.

Good thread mate and much love back to you.

^ this...spot on matty.

We are in the middle of something great.....in years to come we might be saying ..' remember that side with bale,azza,luka, vdv,defoe,hudd, etc '

ENJOY!!

P.S. football is such a thin dividing line...vdv puts it away on 72mins we win and everyone is happy and no one talks about us playing poorly..ala fulham.

 

[nialsy2005]

I couldnt agree with you more ELY. There really is such a fine line in football between success and failure. And its what makes it the best sport in the world!

 

[DEFchenkOE]

To quote Al Pacino from Any Given Sunday:

You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half step too late or to early
you don’t quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don’t quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

Football is always about if's and but's, if Crouch would have stayed on side, if VdV would have finished the chance. Anyway our good run came to an end so the team need to pick themselves up and try and go on another good run in all comps starting with Charlton. I genuinely believe we can beat Man Utd at home too so I hope the players also believe and the fans get behind the team as we will do well if we can keep on going on little unbeaten runs and only losing the odd game here and there.

 

[JonnySpurs]

To quote Al Pacino from Any Given Sunday:

You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half step too late or to early
you don’t quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don’t quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

Football is always about if's and but's, if Crouch would have stayed on side, if VdV would have finished the chance. Anyway our good run came to an end so the team need to pick themselves up and try and go on another good run in all comps starting with Charlton. I genuinely believe we can beat Man Utd at home too so I hope the players also believe and the fans get behind the team as we will do well if we can keep on going on little unbeaten runs and only losing the odd game here and there.

Well said!

Easily one of the greatest movie speeches of all time, gives me goosebumps every time! Great movie too!

 

[NEVILLEB]

Why don't the mods create a LOCKED post match knee jerk thread.

That way everyone who wants to bitch can let off steam without all the stiffs complaining

 

[Gilzeanking]

Yes , ELY we played as badly against Fulham..stayed lucky and noone cared
about how bad we were , this happens a lot...

...so when we do lose a match like yesterday people complaining are
told not to react to one match ...but this mini slump is mebbe as long as 3 matches now .

Anyway all to play for ,still 4th and in 11 days Harry can turn this around and work out a good team selection for Utd .

 

[worcestersauce]

I don't actually hold with the premise that Everton are a team that title chasers would expect to beat, I'm not sure any of the current top five clubs start the season looking at Everton away as a certain three points banked, I suspect none of them would in fact.

Our last nine games have been won 6, drawn 2 lost 1 giving us 20 pts from a possible 27 if we do that in our next two blocks of 9 games we have 76pts which would give us a CL position every year for the last ten and usually with plenty to spare.
Things are still plenty positive as long as we don't take our eye off the Premiership ball.

 

[brasil_spur]

It was a bad game, that really highlighted our key weaknesses:

Slightly iffy goalie (Gomes)

Lack of steel in the middle of the park (Jenas)

Lack of quality strikers (Crouch/Keane/Pav)

I'm fairly sure that if we had addressed just one of those positions we would have won last night.

But we got lucky as Arsenal and City drew and Chelsea lost. So we're really in no worse position than when the night started.

 

[dontcallme]

I'm not too pissed about the result.

If VDV took his chance we probably would have won and none of this OTT negativity would have taken place.

There is a fine line in football between winning and losing but some only see positives when we win and negatives when we lose.

Is it just me or is ranting on an internet board a really weird place to let off steam? Women and alcohol work but feeling pissed off and writing words on a message board is an odd way to do it imo.

 

[Monkey Bastard Hands]

Last night was the last game in a very tightly packed Christmas Schedule. Let's see how we did:

26/12 V Aston Villia - Won 2-1
28/12 V Newcastle - Won 2-0
1/1 V Fulham - Won 1-0
5/1 V Everton - Lost 2-1

9 points from 12. If you'd asked me before that run of games if i'd take 3 wins from 4 games, i'd have said yes definitely. A draw last night would have been the icing on the cake, but i'm happy with what we've achieved in what has been a busy and tiring couple of weeks.

We're currently joint 3rd in the form table from the last 6 games, with 11 points from a possible 18. Arsenal also have 11 points from 18, Man City have 13 and Man U 16. (see here: http://www.premierleague.com/page/FormGuide)

Hopefully Harry will rest the core players for Sundays game so we can have some fresh legs for the Man U on the 16th.

Last night was a disappointment but by no means does it represent a failure, we've done well in what is traditionally a pretty poor time of the season for us. The loss should knock us down a peg or two and hopefully we'll come back with a strong will to get back on track in the coming weeks.

 

[tRiKS]

our title chances were damaged. our top 4 ambition was not and we got a timely reminder that we don't have a devine right to win games. we're not bullet proof and I expect renewd vigor and application over the next few games.

 

[StanSpur]

I'm not too pissed about the result.

If VDV took his chance we probably would have won and none of this OTT negativity would have taken place.

There is a fine line in football between winning and losing but some only see positives when we win and negatives when we lose.

Is it just me or is ranting on an internet board a really weird place to let off steam? Women and alcohol work but feeling pissed off and writing words on a message board is an odd way to do it imo.

I think if you read this thread all the people posting are not ranting or OTT. All are saying "we played poor but look where we are!". Everyone on here seems to accept that it wasn't a great performance and we are looking a little lacking in energy etc but we are still in a strong position for CL and that is frankly amazing.