The Race to the Title

[JollyHappy]

If you want to remember the points dropped, then remember the points gained, especially Watford's corner that was an inch from going over the line then we go up the other end and score.

 

[Flashspur]

Don't worry lads. I have just put the black eye on Leicester. It starts to go to shite for them from this moment on. You can all thank me later..

 

[jurgen]

I think without a shadow of a doubt, our game at Stamford Bridge will be the closest thing to a cup final for Chelsea this season. I'm not saying they will play a bunch of demotivated 16yo's against Leicester and try and overtly throw that game, but I would be amazed if the intensity level for any Chelsea game left this season will match their desire to beat us.

It was the same against West Ham. I have not seen them play that well - with that intensity - in any game all season, and they have played well most of the season.

Comes back to a point made more than once by another poster (sorry whoever it was) about how many derbies we play comparatively to Leicester. Six games of which are against teams that absolutely hate us. Also regarding Europa, our record after matches may be ok, but the general fatigue of playing another 15-20% more games than Leicester surely contributes in some way even if direct poor results are harder to pick out.

I do think their fixtures look quite tricky for the last five, hopefully MoTD and the like have well and truly jumped the gun.

 

[Garageman]

Lloris to come up for a corner and bury a header in the dying seconds

Andros Townsend - own goal from the halfway line.

 

[yiddopaul]

I do get the feeling that if they lose or draw and we win this weekend, the pressure may very well get to them and I can see them start to unravel, they could implode. Mind you, we've been saying that for most of the season, that they're not going to last.
Really, it's the only thing we have to hold onto, that they spectacularly fall apart because of the pressure.

 

[worcestersauce]

I don't see Hiddink, or Bilic allowing anything less than their best against Leicester.

 

[yiddopaul]

I don't see Hiddink, or Bilic allowing anything less than their best against Leicester.

True, I also don't think the players would want to lose ANY football match, everyone wants to win. It's only the fans of rival clubs that hate us that wouldn't mind.

 

[NEVILLEB]

Leicester have the fourth highest long balls per game in the Premier League this season, combined with the third lowest short passes per game. Long ball team.

Where's your reference?

Toby plays a lot of long balls but they are accurate and usually into feet/space.

"Long ball" as a criticism is used for teams that lump a ball up to a tall CF and try to score off the knock downs.

If you can send a long ball straight through to a striker to score off then fantastic! it must be an incredible pass.

 

[Riandor]

I don't see Hiddink, or Bilic allowing anything less than their best against Leicester.

Plus why shouldn't West Ham believe that they can still catch us!! Come on you spammers, #BELIEVE!!

 

[Mr Pink]

It's enough time if the fitness bods aren't telling you that some of the most played players weren't entering the red zone, which we'll never know. We'd played a lot of games in a short space of time.

Pochettino has even admitted since that he got the line up wrong, no where did he allude to the fact that his hands were tied because of fatigue issues resulting from the two derbies the week before.

I might be in the minority but had we not been playing Villa three days later, off the back of points dropped in said Derby's which made Poch nervous of dropping more points in the League IMHO, we would of seen our strongest side out.

I can certainly understand why he got a bit nervous and overzealous with the changes because of the points dropped as we were in such an excellent position in the League and he didn't want to jeopardize that.

 

[Time for Heroes]

Andros Townsend - own goal from the halfway line.

The only chance of this happening is if it was unintentional!

If Andros tried such a thing deliberately it would end up in Row Z.

 

[nightgoat]

Where's your reference?

Toby plays a lot of long balls but they are accurate and usually into feet/space.

"Long ball" as a criticism is used for teams that lump a ball up to a tall CF and try to score off the knock downs.

If you can send a long ball straight through to a striker to score off then fantastic! it must be an incredible pass.

whoscored

The fact they make so many long passes, combined with so few short passes suggests they actively look to play it long. Everton actually make the same number of long passes per game as Leicester, yet their pass completion percentage is the fourth highest in the league, whereas Leicester's is the joint worst.

Call it whatever you like, route one, long ball. It's basically bypassing the midfield to get closer to the opponent's goal quicker. The fact that Leicester do it so often, yet complete fewer passes than every other team in the league except West Brom (managed by anti-football hoofball exponent extraordinaire Tony Pulis) implies that is their main tactic.

This is also backed up by the fact that if you rank Premier League players by pass completion (going on a minimum 10 games played) Leicester have three players in the top 200 - Kante (120th), Drinkwater (192nd) and King (199th). Alderweireld, who probably makes more long passes than any of our other players, is one of ten Spurs players in that list (and Walker is 201st.)

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I don't see Hiddink, or Bilic allowing anything less than their best against Leicester.

Hush ... statements like that go against all our ability to read the minds of our opponent's players.

 

[Lighty64]

It really isn't. Granted we played West Ham mid week before Arsenal on the Saturday lunch time, but that's four clear days before the Dortmund game on Thursday evening. That's sufficient recovery time to field your best eleven again unless, of course, you've got your eye on the game three days after on the Sunday - which he clearly did.

Had he viewed the Dortmund game as the priority, or at least equal in terms of importance, we would of seen a much stronger team selection against Dortmund and would of risked the makeshift selection against a vastly inferior Villa side three days later instead.

the games v West Ham, and Arsenal where played in very heavy rain over the whole 90mins, and with the West Ham game the pitch wasn't very good at all, so even with 4 days 1 of which was taken up with traveling and settling in to a hotel, with training in the evening is quit a tiring schedule.

myself I think Poch hoped he could sneak a draw, but at the same time prioritised the Villa game, making sure the main spine was rested enough

edit: and we had had a hectic fortnight before 2 EL matches, an FA Cup match and a game v Swansea

 

[Shea]

the games v West Ham, and Arsenal where played in very heavy rain over the whole 90mins, and with the West Ham game the pitch wasn't very good at all, so even with 4 days 1 of which was taken up with traveling and settling in to a hotel, with training in the evening is quit a tiring schedule.

myself I think Poch hoped he could sneak a draw, but at the same time prioritised the Villa game, making sure the main spine was rested enough

I think Poch was mindful of the league on the back of dropping points in successive games so wanted to make sure he got a win against Villa and this took priority over the EL

I also agree that he thought his weakened team could get a result out in Dortmund and he miscalculated in that respect

I assume he knew the diminished team would be up against it but didn't expect to get as badly beaten as we were and was expecting to come away with a narrow defeat and an away goal at worst - leaving us with something to fight for in the home leg

 

[Wirral Spurs]

They will get 5 points before the last game, we will get 9. Then who knows.

 

[Adam456]

What do we want in tonight's FAC replay between Spammers and ManU ? I would hope for a good Spammers performance but losing unluckily/at hands of ref within 90 mins. Have them nice and angry and up for their game with Leicester

 

[edgey]

What do we want in tonight's FAC replay between Spammers and ManU ? I would hope for a good Spammers performance but losing unluckily/at hands of ref within 90 mins. Have them nice and angry and up for their game with Leicester

I was kind of thinking along these lines. Spammers lose then it's all or nothing for top 4 finish. If they win they may still be buzzing and go into Leicester with confidence OR buzzing and take the foot of the gas a little? Hard to judge

 

[Adam456]

Yeah but I think on balance having their season dependent on next 5 games rather than rescuable via cup is better. So long as they are not whacked (which doesn't seem likely) them they can go into Sunday with confidence. What we don't want is extra time

 

[stevenurse]

Its likely we would need to win all of our remaining games to have a realistic chance but the far better goal difference means that they only need to lose one and draw two in order for us to make the gap (proving we win of course). They have some tricky games to come and I feel like their run in, especially the next 5 has been greatly underestimated.