The Race for 4th

[Timberwolf]

Whilst having to bring son and Kane on to rescue the game thereby tiring them out unnecessarily! It’s like people haven’t watched any of our European games in these competitions!

Not having the extra games is a good thing. People complain we never take the cup competitions seriously enough. If playing No Europe increases the chance of winning a domestic cup then I’m all for that. Plus look at teams this season like newcastle and Brighton who it has helped with it being so long. Next year the league is going to be as competitive as it has ever been and we are going to need that preparation time to be as good as we can be.

But it's great for their goal tallies! Nothing builds pre-season confidence like a hat trick against *checks notes* CS Petrocub

(I was being 100% serious in my previous post - no sarcasm whatsoever)

 

[THE SPURSBOY]

Whilst having to bring son and Kane on to rescue the game thereby tiring them out unnecessarily! It’s like people haven’t watched any of our European games in these competitions!

Not having the extra games is a good thing. People complain we never take the cup competitions seriously enough. If playing No Europe increases the chance of winning a domestic cup then I’m all for that. Plus look at teams this season like newcastle and Brighton who it has helped with it being so long. Next year the league is going to be as competitive as it has ever been and we are going to need that preparation time to be as good as we can be.

and what level do you think the squad is going to be at if no european football, you think levy is going to invest in the squad with less revenue coming in from the games the midweek matchday generates, do you think he is going to choose the manager that is gonna work with all the loanees coming back (cause we have proven we struggle selling players as he seems to want top dollar for average players) we're gonna have a load to shift before we bring any one in first and making the squad bigger thats without Kane going and having to attract and replace the assists and goals he generates its a mess and will be a long summer the sooner he appoints a DOF and a manger the more time they have to start to work on evrything cause you know the Kane saga is gonna roll on all summer

 

[mil1lion]

I don't buy into the idea we will be better with no extra European games. There's really no proof that we would do better. We've been poor since we went out of the CL anyway, the 1 game a week thing soon got debunked when we were still losing and playing poorly. We get this idea the players are run into the ground yet the intensity is slow from August when there was no CL football, again either side of the world cup between CL knock outs (in which there was only 2 games that followed) and now since we went out.

We just need to rotate the squad and actually use players available to us more. A less stubborn manager will help with that. You look at arsenal doing way better this season with Europe and did worse last season without it. There's nothing to suggest we can't jump up the table next season if we're in Europe. We did it last season, went from finishing 7th to then 4th the following season. We're well used to the European fixtures now and have still finished top 4 multiple times when we get our shit together.

 

[chas vs dave]

The teams in the CL have really struggled this season, bar city.

This cannot be a coincidence.

The europa and conference do give you the ability to rotate the squad, and give playing time to non starters.

I just think our "serial winning manager" haven't done it well , or used it to their advantage.

 

[mil1lion]

The teams in the CL have really struggled this season, bar city.

This cannot be a coincidence.

The europa and conference do give you the ability to rotate the squad, and give playing time to non starters.

I just think our "serial winning manager" haven't done it well , or used it to their advantage.

I think the world cup has made this season different. There's been more injuries it seems as a result of the congestion. I don't by any means think Liverpool and Chelsea will struggle as much next season. Liverpool could finish 4th still this season and have looked good with injured players back. Besides 3 of the top 5 played in europe. We ourselves were well in the race until Conte left. I think we would be well in the race if he just stayed put the season and didn't throw the players under a bus. I think generally the teams in Europe are still at the top. Brighton and Newcastle have looked good but there's always the odd teams who join the fold. The top teams are used to juggling Europe so I don't think it impacts them as much. Newcastle and Brighton (possibly Villa) might have more trouble as they're not used to it. We've played enough in Europe for it not to impact us.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

You can only judge teams like Brighton and Newcastle when the pressure is on. Newcastle failed to turn up in lge cup final but then beat Utd easily in a lge game shortly after. Brighton lost in the cup semi but then won last night. Eddie Howe has never experienced the pressure he will get next season. They will be in pot 4 in the champ lge so could get a nightmare draw. Then 3 days later they will be expected to beat whoever is next. Not saying he won’t cope but the Geordies can be fickle if things go wrong.

 

[hughy]

You can only judge teams like Brighton and Newcastle when the pressure is on. Newcastle failed to turn up in lge cup final but then beat Utd easily in a lge game shortly after. Brighton lost in the cup semi but then won last night. Eddie Howe has never experienced the pressure he will get next season. They will be in pot 4 in the champ lge so could get a nightmare draw. Then 3 days later they will be expected to beat whoever is next. Not saying he won’t cope but the Geordies can be fickle if things go wrong.

Brighton I'd agree with, but Newcastle have the money to be able to effectively buy 4/5 more starters and a few more squad players in the Summer, and as long as Howe is smart about it and doesn't upset the squad dynamic they can rotate in a similar way City do (without the same level of talent, obviously).

Sadly I think by achieving CL qualification Newcastle are well ahead of where they expected to be in the long-term plan. Can't see them dropping away any time soon, if ever.

 

[robhumphreys]

I'd have no issue with us being in the Europa or Conference as long as it gives some of the young players a chance to play. I think we should look to rotate 3/4 players each time for the league games. Not have a 1st eleven and a Europa eleven. That way the fringe players get a chance to be with most of the first 11

 

[Sloop]

You can only judge teams like Brighton and Newcastle when the pressure is on. Newcastle failed to turn up in lge cup final but then beat Utd easily in a lge game shortly after. Brighton lost in the cup semi but then won last night. Eddie Howe has never experienced the pressure he will get next season. They will be in pot 4 in the champ lge so could get a nightmare draw. Then 3 days later they will be expected to beat whoever is next. Not saying he won’t cope but the Geordies can be fickle if things go wrong.

Brighton may feel a bit of pressure over the last couple of weeks of the season. They've got five matches in fifteen days, including trips to Arsenal and Newcastle and hosting Man City.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Spurs Race for 4th:

 

[septicsac]

New manager and hopefully plenty of new players for next season surely benefit from not playing in the Conference farmers league. Possibly the Europa League is worth a bash, the problem is when we rotate our second string they are not good enough to beat so called lesser teams.
I do wonder if any our proposed new managers are waiting to see if they would have any European football next year and if it has any impact on their decision to join us?

 

[bomberH]

Liverpool now one point behind Utd. Part of me wants Utd to miss out on 4th so Kane isn’t tempted by CL football there, but a lot of me hates Liverpool/Klopp with all my might that I’d love them to miss out on CL.

The Kane thing edges it though so go on West Ham, get something from the game tomorrow. Ugh.

 

[1882andallthat]

The issue with the Europa Conference League which is where we most likely could end up next season is that there may well be pressure on us to do at least as well as the Spamners did in it. I mean, they've got to the Semi final with relative ease. They look well placed to get in the final and to win it.

It then in many people's eyes seriously devalues it if a relegation hovering team like the Spamners can pretty much win it at a canter.

If we end up in it and don't at least match what they do we will be in for even more ridicule from the usual suspects especially them. If we did match them, and they won it and we follow suit we will equally still have the tag of, well they can only win a pot that pretty much most Premier League teams can win with relative ease even a lower bottom tier PL side.

 

[CookieYiddo]

Conference League looking likely. Unless Brighton have a mare. Their fixtures do look tough though no doubt.

 

[Beefyboy]

I'd much rather get Conference than nothing. We've got a massive squad and I honestly don't know what the likes of Skipp Sarr Spence udogie and whoever else of the loan army we keep are going to do of we have one game a week.

Even throw in the likes of Richi/kulu or Bissouma, where are they going to get their minutes other than a 20 mins here and there off the bench.

Ideally we would get Europa and really focus on it this time. But Conference would be fine for me. It's a trophy, it wouldn't actually be that hard to get very far in it either. Let's just do it.

 

[Oscar22]

If it’s the Conference league, try and win it.
Use the new feeling of winning to try and take the Europa league the following season.

It’s called building the winning mentality everyone says we need.

Fed up of people talking about how we don’t win anything, then talking like competitions are below us - we win fuck all. It’s been that way since 2008.

You can say ‘farmers league’ all you want, all it proves is we can’t even win a trophy contested by ‘farmers’.

This crappy mentality of it somehow meaning more to go out in the knockout stages of the champions league than winning things is why we never get anywhere.

Try and win the conference league, try and win the Europa league, maybe the mentality it builds will finally get us over the line in one of our domestic cups rather than not turning up in a final like we’ve done for the last ten plus years.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

If it’s the Conference league, try and win it.
Use the new feeling of winning to try and take the Europa league the following season.

It’s called building the winning mentality everyone says we need.

Fed up of people talking about how we don’t win anything, then talking like competitions are below us - we win fuck all. It’s been that way since 2008.

You can say ‘farmers league’ all you want, all it proves is we can’t even win a trophy contested by ‘farmers’.

This crappy mentality of it somehow meaning more to go out in the knockout stages of the champions league than winning things is why we never get anywhere.

Try and win the conference league, try and win the Europa league, maybe the mentality it builds will finally get us over the line in one of our domestic cups rather than not turning up in a final like we’ve done for the last ten plus years.

Try and win anything that isn’t a pre-season trophy in my opinion, and build from there.

I couldn’t be arsed what other fans say about the trophies we win as long as we’re winning them I’ll be happy.

 

[Oscar22]

The issue with the Europa Conference League which is where we most likely could end up next season is that there may well be pressure on us to do at least as well as the Spamners did in it. I mean, they've got to the Semi final with relative ease. They look well placed to get in the final and to win it.

It then in many people's eyes seriously devalues it if a relegation hovering team like the Spamners can pretty much win it at a canter.

If we end up in it and don't at least match what they do we will be in for even more ridicule from the usual suspects especially them. If we did match them, and they won it and we follow suit we will equally still have the tag of, well they can only win a pot that pretty much most Premier League teams can win with relative ease even a lower bottom tier PL side.

Conte and numerous others have spoken about this squad not wanting and not being able, to play under pressure.

If any of our players can’t handle the ‘pressure’ of trying to replicate the success of West fucking ham … then they need to be shown the door immediately.

 

[Oscar22]

Try and win anything that isn’t a pre-season trophy in my opinion, and build from there.

I couldn’t be arsed what other fans say about the trophies we win as long as we’re winning them I’ll be happy.

Exactly, West Ham fans will love winning the ECL. They won’t care about us snarkily saying “it’s a farmers competition, anyone could win it” because all they simply need to reply is “you couldn’t.”

So bored of this club thinking it’s too good for some of these competitions, because it would rather talk about the time we played a quarter final in Milan or somewhere similar.

Fourth isn’t a trophy.
The money from CL qualification doesn’t get spent on big time players to make finishing fourth a success.

Go. Win. Something.

 

[RosieFTL]

We're one win from Europe after yesterday's results (even if we lose at Villa they will lose at Anfield the week after and we have a better goal difference than Villa). 60 points is always the marker and will be again. I expect that win to be at home to Brentford.

What I'm not sure about is how many points we will need to be in the EL rather than ECL as it's difficult to predict what Brighton will get - but I don't think 1 win will be enough for us so we will need to win one of our two away games (at least).