The Race to the Title

[Shanks]

So important to not get carried away. We are just about to head into March. If we're were in mid April then maybe I would start to believe but until that point anything is possible.

The season we dropped a 11 point lead over Arsenal, how many points were we ahead of them at this point? More than 3 I suspect.

Goal is still to finish top 4 and even that isn't nailed on yet. You can assume at some point our winning streak stops and its how we react to that.

This to be honest, 11 games to go, thats 33 points up for grabs.

Long, long way to go.

March being a bloody tough month with some bloody tough games, starting this wednesday and saturday.

 

[Sweech]

What I absolutely hate is seeing, reading and hearing Spurs fans talk about how we can win certain games. Games that to me are nowhere near certainties to win. Its amazing how over-confident fans and fickle fans somehow intertwine....
Last year we beat Arsenal to overtake them and you had all these Spurs fans saying how we would get top 4 and overtake Arse...then literally the NEXT game we lost and they won and they went straight back above us. Some fans but Arse and Spurs and any other teams' never learn or think they'll lose. And its those that usually look a bit silly when their team loses the next game or so and end up lower than where they were. Its the same with Arse fans. Just cos they lost at United they say the title is over. Rubbish. I would love and wish that to be true but the simple fact is the title is decided after 38 games, not 27, or 28.
Bottom line is we can only start believing when we are only 1 or 2 games away from the last game with advantage in our favour - not before then.

Even IF we beat Spam and Arse - which is a massive IF (cos i think we could actually only get 1 point from those 2 games) I still dont see us being able to win the league cos as I've said before our April fixtures are the hardest of all our rivals'.
There was even a list of top 4 teams' remaining run-ins and ours was the hardest as all our opponents had opposition that were lower in the league than ourselves on aggregate. So as I've said, the next 2 games wont decide if we are true title contenders if we win them. Moreover, if we only got a draw against Spam and lost to Arse and they win their next 2 games they go above us and we could be back down to 4th.

So, yes its nice to see us pushing on and fighting in March but it means nothing if we lose games that will impact our challenge.So we have to take 1 game at a time and hope the players and Poch treat each game as a cup final to stand a chance.
I'm the eternal pessimist and no way can i see us win the league with our remaining fixtures. We all just need to keep calm and carry on. Now more than ever!

I think there's a major difference between this season and those previous.

That difference is because supporters are confidant because of performances instead of confident because of results and there's a humongous difference between the two.

 

[Garageman]

Checked the scores on 70 mins and saw Leicester 0-0 and Chelsea losing, checked back 20 mins later and they're both winning. Great. Not that Chelsea are anywhere near the title but always want them to lose.

Worth pointing out that since Mourinho's departure, Spurs have increased the points gap over Chelsea. They're drawing too many games. I don't think they're much of a threat to us this season. Next year, maybe.

 

[Garageman]

Poch was saying post match today that some of our players are complaining of tiredness, I imagine we will see quite a few rotated midweek.

Let's hope that's a bit of kidology. Was it Sun Tzu who said, when you're strong tell your opponents you're weak? And when you're weak, tell them you're strong. Players complaining of tiredness? I don't believe it. But if our opponents do, all the better.

 

[Dharmabum]

http://talksport.com/football/brad-...ague-title-bid-looking-stronger-and-stronger?

Brad Friedel has warned Tottenham's rivals they will only get stronger and stronger as they continue their push for a first Premier League title.

Second-placed Spurs reduced Leicester’s lead at the top to just two points with a 2-1 comeback victory over Swansea City on Sunday, as they took advantage of Arsenal's surprise defeat to Manchester United.

The north London outfit have a big test in front of them with consecutive fixtures against London rivals West Ham and Arsenal in the coming weeks, where dropped points could throw the race wide open once again.

But ex-Tottenham goalkeeper Friedel believes his former side now have the mental strength to get over their tag of perennial chokers and claim the crown – thanks to manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Speaking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, Friedel said: “Who would have thought that it would be Leicester and Tottenham at the top with this many games to go?

“And I would hate to jinx it, but Tottenham look really strong for it [the Premier League title] at the moment.

“They look strong every time they play. If they go a goal a goal down they have no problem in their confidence of coming back.

“Those West Ham and Arsenal games are going to be enormous, and don’t think Manchester City will go away either, but I’m pulling for Tottenham in this one.”

Asked about Pochettino’s title credentials as a manager, he added: “Oh, he definitely has what it takes.

“When you see him work on and off the field, he’s a very cool customer. He knows exactly what he wants to do and how he’s going to do it.

“One of the main things he’s done is he has changed the mentality of the players.

“For many years Tottenham were seen as a bit of a soft touch. Playing on the Thursday and the Sunday because of Europe was seen as a very difficult thing.

“I know he worked really hard to improve the players’ physical and mental fitness. ‘Tired’ doesn’t seem to be a word in Spurs’ vocabulary; fatigue doesn’t seem to ever phase them. Whenever I watch this Tottenham team they just get stronger and stronger.

“They’ve come back to claim the most points from losing positions in the Premier league this season, and I think that says a lot about what the players and the staff have done over these past 18 months or so.

“Mauricio’s not going to change his way from here until the end of the season, no way.”


Read more at http://talksport.com/football/brad-...ing-stronger-and-stronger#PP3gseeP4LxFgJKg.99

 

[mightyspur]

So important to not get carried away. We are just about to head into March. If we're were in mid April then maybe I would start to believe but until that point anything is possible.

The season we dropped a 11 point lead over Arsenal, how many points were we ahead of them at this point? More than 3 I suspect.

Goal is still to finish top 4 and even that isn't nailed on yet. You can assume at some point our winning streak stops and its how we react to that.

We beat Arse at the start of March and we were 7 points clear.
By the end of Mar that was reduced to 4 and by the end of April they were 2 ahead.

A lot of that was down to their unbelievable run because after losing to us they dropped only 4 points (2 draws) from the remaining 10 games, where as we lost 2 on the bounce, drew a few and dropped 12 points

 

[voxy28]

Let us not get carried away, one match at a time and we just need to stay in top 3 for UCL slot..... I think the fans will be very important for the lads..... Supporting them all the way will boost their form.

 

[waresy]

With 11 games left we can push all the way, not going to get carried away as others have pointed out we have dropped away from March through to May for the top 4 spots so we can only keep going a game at a time.

The form element of the league table does make for impressive reading at the moment though - W8, D1, L1:

Can we continue this level until the end of the season? Would be very impressive if so.

COYS - do something amazing this year

 

[Spurs 1961]

A long way to go but so far this season we have looked stronger and stronger. If you break down the 27 games played so far you see we took 15pts from the first nine, 18pts from the next nine and 22pts from the last nine ... 40 from the last 18 games (51 from the last 23 ever since the summer transfer window closed) and I think a similar ratio from our last eleven games will see us no worse than in second place

So although a lifetime of support makes me a pessimist on our chances I have to stay the statistics suggest we can do it

 

[Sweech]

With 11 games left we can push all the way, not going to get carried away as others have pointed out we have dropped away from March through to May for the top 4 spots so we can only keep going a game at a time.

The form element of the league table does make for impressive reading at the moment though - W8, D1, L1:

View attachment 22243

Can we continue this level until the end of the season? Would be very impressive if so.

COYS - do something amazing this year

I liked looking at United's form. They never seem to get the same result twice in a row recently.

 

[Basil Brush]

To get at least 4 points from our next 2 games is pretty important (nearly said crucial)

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I hope WBA can be a very though opponent this round. They've taken huge steps away from relegation over two last rounds, and that must have put some fight and belief into them. I hope they will feel motivated to put in a good day at the office, they have a rejuvenated reason to fight, along with only needing margins to really feel safe.

 

[WalkerboyUK]

I'm not going to get carried away until we are still in with a shot with 5 games to go.

That said, if results over next 6 days go well, we could be 9 ahead of Arsenal.
It's a pipe dream, but I think it's the sort of lead we need looking at the fixtures that follow!

 

[Drink!Drink!]

Two tough games this week. We might suffer a set back in the next six days. But before battle commences again, just a little wallowing in our recent form. Just lovely winning 6 leagues games in a row. I had a look at how the table looked before those games, wow, just wow, what a transformation!

 

[Real_madyidd]

I still think our fixture list fucks us. Arsenal and Leicester have a way easier run in.

 

[Lo Amo Speroni]

Since the summer transfer window closed.

 

[Lo Amo Speroni]

Two tough games this week. We might suffer a set back in the next six days. But before battle commences again, just a little wallowing in our recent form. Just lovely winning 6 leagues games in a row. I had a look at how the table looked before those games, wow, just wow, what a transformation!

View attachment 22246

That is a pleasant sight.

 

[wishkah]

I think there's a major difference between this season and those previous.

That difference is because supporters are confidant because of performances instead of confident because of results and there's a humongous difference between the two.

I'd almost say that prior season it felt like Leicester must feel. Every game is won due to that magic OMG feeling. Not because we consistently kicked arse like now

 

[WalkerboyUK]

The good thing is that the media still don't seem to have us with any hope of maintaining a challenge.
Sky Sports reporting cock all and just covering City's trophy win and the Utd v Arsenal game.
BBC Sport pretty similar and, in standard fashion, Daily Mail don't have anything about us until you scroll two thirds of the way down the sports page.

 

[Real_madyidd]

Since the summer transfer window closed. View attachment 22247

Do you know that if you exclude the losses and draws from our record then we have only won games?

It's true.