The Race to the Title

[greaves]

Think we will beat united, hope defoe scores the winner against Leicester

He will do. And Leicester will succumb to a catalogue of injuries/sickness. Tripping up over performance-enhancing drug paraphernalia some idiot left on the floor, swallowing the wrong pills (mammoth laxative pills taken in error. Mahrez and Vardy are colour blind - 'I thought they were the blue ones?' They will literally 'slide' down the PL table). And then they'll all be caught on video having sex with a llama, that they didn't realise till later was foreign. All these things will come to pass.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

He will do. And Leicester will succumb to a catalogue of injuries/sickness. Tripping up over performance-enhancing drug paraphernalia some idiot left on the floor, swallowing the wrong pills (mammoth laxative pills taken in error. Mahrez and Vardy are colour blind - 'I thought they were the blue ones?' They will literally 'slide' down the PL table). And then they'll all be caught on video having sex with a llama, that they didn't realise till later was foreign. All these things will come to pass.

So there's still a chance, then?

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Hope.

(only thing is that City still needed to play United, but let's ignore that...)

 

[kungfugrip]

Don't want to seem negative (honest!!), but I reckon we'll finish third....behind you know who.

 

[SugarRay]

I have a sneaky feeling that the club that loves to hate us from East London are about to do us a great big favour.

People are talking about how Arsenal are back etc, let's see how they go in their next game at Upton Park. West Ham are flying, especially at home and Arsenal will do very well to come away with 3 points there.
More importantly, West Ham are due up Leciester soon.

It's not over. All we can do is win very game and then hope someone does us a favour against Leicester. Just for once I want to see them go behind and have to chase it. I think they will crumble if that happens.

 

[steve]

Yes, I did after both the Leicester and Forentina games, we only managed to avoid going out of the first round of the FA Cup by the virtue of an incorrect referee decision and we fortunate to still be in tie after the first Forentina game. My position on this has never changed, we should always play our strongest eleven against PL and top European sides.

We were always going to be found out eventually adopting this approach, we did last season in the Forentina fixture (he played a second string side in the first leg which ultimately lead to us going out) and again with the Dortmund game (which in turned into a complete embarrassment for the club).

It's not a question of learning, the lessons where already there from last season, it's more down to attitude, I just don't think he values this, his selection and repeated comments on the tournament demonstrate that so I really don't see why he should be given a a free pass on this.

As for the club underachieving in the league, well it hasn't done that for 8 years, relative to it's resources ( which has a consistent baring on league placings) it has actually overachieved in that period, it's only finished below it's natural position (6th) twice in the last decade .

And that is what makes our approach to the cup tournaments all the more irritating because there is a clear disconnect between the two, the club is consistently overachieving in the league but consistently underachieving in cups.

There is no excuse for this, when a club like Sevilla (whose resources are far less than ours) can win 4 UEFA Cups in the last decade when we cannot get past the quarter final in the same period then serious questions need to be asked about the strategy we have adopted. It's also begs the question that if cup tournaments such as this have so little value then why do the Spanish side take it so seriously? Why do their sides virtually hold a monopoly over this?

Finishing 2nd in the league actually means very little, no one uses this as a measure of success, it did nothing for Liverpool in the 2009 season and it did nothing for them in 2012. In both instances they lost their best player, firstly with Alonso and then with Suarez. The simple reality is that we are not one of the elite clubs, our current capacity is way below those clubs, and until the NDP and FPP are fully realised then I think it is wrong to to think that clubs like United and City don't pose a threat to us with respect to taking our best players. Their capacity is far greater than ourselves and players know that.

Football is a business, no one can dispute, clubs are commercial entities but supporters are not stockholders, our focus should be on silverware not on percentage increases in our revenues streams which in effect is what CL football is.

They lost 2 Hispanic players to the two biggest and most successful clubs in the world currently both Spanish - do you think city or united will take any of our players in the summer? United definitely want Kane for example. They'll always pose a threat but much less of one if we're competitive on a regular basis, something Liverpool didn't manage.

The Europa League is as devalued as are all the other cup competitions, I'm not gonna go over the Dortmund game again as we agree, the Fiorentina game I do not agree about. I could also argue that our league position in recent years has benefitted from our approach to the cups.

Our focus should be on both I would argue and I think the manager had his focus on the league title when he ballsed up the Dortmund match. We all know he got it wrong. Up until this season finishing top 4 gave greater rewards than winning the Europa League and I suspect the club including the chairman prioritize the league as is the same at every other club. What Seville achieved means very little outside of Seville I expect and it comes back to only two competitions really maintaining any value or worth which is the Prem and the CL.

I'd love a return to the days of 81 and 84 when winning a cup meant so much but sadly it's gone and it's not coming back.

 

[Spurslove]

Over the past few weeks, I have grown to really dislike Leicester and the way they go about winning. It's anti football. Score a goal and retreat back into your own box, defend for your lives and hit the opposition at great speed on the break.

Don't get me wrong here, those that know me also know I have a pathological semi-psychotic loathing of West Ham, Arsenal and Chelsea and that will never change, but I can't stand Leicester and the idea of them stopping us from becoming deserved Premiership champions is really going to stick in my craw.

One of my co-contributors on another message board quite brilliantly said it was like watching Greece win the Euros all those years ago by boring the crud out of everyone (except the Greek fans of course).

They may win the Premiership title, they will never win my respect as a football fan.

If Spurs ever won the title the way they're playing, yes I'd be ecstatically happy to be finally hailed as Champions, but also with a tinge of embarrassment when an anyone asked me who I support, but that's just me.

 

[Lilbaz]

Over the past few weeks, I have grown to really dislike Leicester and the way they go about winning. It's anti football. Score a goal and retreat back into your own box, defend for your lives and hit the opposition at great speed on the break.

Don't get me wrong here, those that know me also know I have a pathological semi-psychotic loathing of West Ham, Arsenal and Chelsea and that will never change, but I can't stand Leicester and the idea of them stopping us from becoming deserved Premiership champions is really going to stick in my craw.

One of my co-contributors on another message board quite brilliantly said it was like watching Greece win the Euros all those years ago by boring the crud out of everyone (except the Greek fans of course).

They may win the Premiership title, they will never win my respect as a football fan.

If Spurs ever won the title the way they're playing, yes I'd be ecstatically happy to be finally hailed as Champions, but also with a tinge of embarrassment when an anyone asked me who I support, but that's just me.

Defending is a part of the game. If you find it boring don't watch but they have the points so if they win it will be deserved champions.

 

[Dougal]

Did one of those online predictor things. Had Tottenham winning the league on the last day from Leicester on goal difference, 2 points ahead of Arsenal.

Then realised I hadn't included Arsenal's game in hand.




Luckily they lost that.

 

[TropicalYid]

How come theres no "team v Man U"-thread???

 

[thinktank]

How come theres no "team v Man U"-thread???

gimme a sec....

 

[Garageman]

View attachment 22679

#believe

I'll take any bit of hope I can. It's still possible we can be champions.

 

[stormfly]

If we have any hope of winning this league we need to be ahead of Leicester before the last game. There is no way Chelsea will do us a favour on the last game!!

 

[oskathegobshite]

I can still just about make a scenario work in my head where we can finish top on GD but it would require the following to happen -

We only drop 6 points (lose at Chelsea and draw with Stoke and Newcastle)
Leicester lose at Sunderland and Man Utd, draw with Chelsea, Everton and West Ham!

You never know but it seems very, very optimistic with the way they are playing. One plus is they are not scoring a lot of goals and they have to play some teams with some quality attacking players. Not prepared to completely rule it out just yet...

*Edit - ignore me as the above still leaves us two points adrift (poor at maths!). I cannot see a way we win this league without winning every game now. Massive ask given our run in*

 

[Matrix]

If some how we are within 2/3 points with 2 games to go I think we will do it. It's a big ask leading into that but in optimistic.
One thing I can see is Leicester seem like they have it in their heads that they have won it already after watching the celebrations at end of the match yesterday.
Hopefully they will get complacent against the wrong teams and trip up in a few matches.

 

[freeeki]

Leicester won't fuck it up now. Some of their showboaters would, but Ranieri won't let them.

They play ridiculously well considering they are a team of average/sub-par players with a couple of excellent ones.

Fair play to them, as much as I'd love us to do it, they deserve it if they win it.

(and if it was anyone else in second place other than us, we'd all be rooting for them)

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Over the past few weeks, I have grown to really dislike Leicester and the way they go about winning. It's anti football. Score a goal and retreat back into your own box, defend for your lives and hit the opposition at great speed on the break.

But they didn't do that. I watched the whole game. They continued to pass and move, controlled a fair amount of possession in midfield and broke threateningly whenever they had the opportunity. At no point did they put 10 men behind the ball and drop the midfield back. It just didn't happen.

Most notably, for the bulk of the last 5 minutes (plus 5 minutes of added time), they held the ball high up the pitch, in the final third, for 2 or more minutes at time, completely preventing Southampton from mounting any meaningful threat. It was the opposite of "retreat back into your own box, defend for your lives"; it could not have been more different. The young substitute Demarai Gray was particularly effective in enforcing this tactic.

 

[Lighty64]

Yedlin could be a spurs legend if he helps Sunderland beat Leicester

and Defoe will just stay a legend if he does some damage

If we want a slim chance then they simply have to lose against Sunderland next week and we have to win.

Maybe the pressure will start to get to them in that case, but I think what's most likely is that they end up widening the gap further. Our home game against Utd will be tougher than people think.

I think its more of a case that we need Sunderland to either win or draw, a Leicester win would be very damaging, and would mean needing a win v Man U more important as it would mean winning our last 5 if we draw v United.

@oskathegobshite to have a chance we have to do 1 of 2 1stly win all 6, or at worst win 5 draw 1, if it's 5 & 1 that = 78 which would mean Leicester only getting a maximum 9pts in the remaining 6. that doesn't mean they have to lose 3, it would mean them not winning 4 of their remaining 6, 3 draws and 1 lose can = the same 78pts, and the only 2 games on paper they will be clear favourites to win will be Sunderland and Swansea.

if we manage to get 80pts then we can afford Leicester to get 3 wins 2 draws and a loss. I can see Leicester losing 1 of Sunderland, West Ham or Man U.

what I think will happen though is we will only get 76pts 4 wins 2 draws which won't be enough, but I won't give up until its impossible

Absolute huge pressure on us Sunday. Not only is the title dream over if we fail to win, but our top four position will come under serious threat if we lose. Play like we can and we should beat Man Utd, but make no mistake this will be a very hard game.

its always a hard game on paper, the most important thing is to not lose in the top 4 run. if it was a draw Man U would need us to drop 7-10pts in our remaining 5

 

[Spurslove]

But they didn't do that. I watched the whole game. They continued to pass and move, controlled a fair amount of possession in midfield and broke threateningly whenever they had the opportunity. At no point did they put 10 men behind the ball and drop the midfield back. It just didn't happen.

Most notably, for the bulk of the last 5 minutes (plus 5 minutes of added time), they held the ball high up the pitch, in the final third, for 2 or more minutes at time, completely preventing Southampton from mounting any meaningful threat. It was the opposite of "retreat back into your own box, defend for your lives"; it could not have been more different. The young substitute Demarai Gray was particularly effective in enforcing this tactic.

I only caught a few glimpses of the match yesterday, including the last few minutes when they did nothing but run the ball into the corner flag. You say you watched the whole game and that's fair enough, but my general impression of Leicester over the past few weeks has not been great and this, added to some of the comments I've been reading of late have led me to my view.

Whilst I'm at it, I have to say from what I saw of Southampton, they didn't look great either.

 

[Drink!Drink!]

I only caught a few glimpses of the match yesterday, including the last few minutes when they did nothing but run the ball into the corner flag. You say you watched the whole game and that's fair enough, but my general impression of Leicester over the past few weeks has not been great and this, added to some of the comments I've been reading of late have led me to my view.

Whilst I'm at it, I have to say from what I saw of Southampton, they didn't look great either.

it's a fair criticism, they are a boring team to watch. They are only "interesting" because they are underdogs about to pull something off.

If any other team, even an everton or west ham, let alone bigger clubs played football like that everyone, including many of their own fans, would be very critical...nay scathing about their playing style.

If they win the league of course they will have deserved it, but just as with mourinho's chelsea teams, doesn't mean we have to pretend it's entertaining to watch