Deleted member 13260
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I often wonder about this. I try to be objective and not succumb to the tin foil hat idea that “everyone hates us” But time and again we appear to be cast as the villains of the league. I can accept Woolwich’s loathing for us (even though their geographical provenance and therefore claim to be our local rivals is arguable). But it doesn’t explain why other teams - especially the Dippers - get their knickers in such a twist about us. Talk about living rent free in others’ heads.
It can’t be because we are seen as a genuine rival: other than the freak Leicester year when convention went out the window, we haven’t really been seen as title contenders since the mid eighties (and even then, only very briefly). We’ve only beaten Liverpool once in the last 18 games - so they can’t honestly see us as an imminent threat.
Yes, there is the scouse loathing for HK which seems to get ever more bitter every time he is fouled, falls over, or makes a (horror!) tackle. But is this enough to justify the obsession?
The only conclusion I can really come to is that we’ve always been seen as a flashy London club that has historically been supported, run and owned largely by people of a certain ethno-religious group. I don’t think people do it consciously (except for the Chavs), but I think subliminally we are on the end of a load of stick because of deeply rooted prejudice against the Jewish community.
I’m very happy to play the role of the pantomime villain, and there’s certainly a lot worse things in the world than being unloved by others sets of fans, but I do agree with the view expressed elsewhere that we should just embrace the hate and channel it constructively on the pitch and on the terraces.
COYS - “No one likes us, we don’t care !”
To be honest I think it's more that we finished above Liverpool 8 times over a 9 year period.
09/10 - 17/18;
Tottenham av points: 71
Liverpool av points: 65.66*
We broke up the "big 4" party with City, although we did it legitimately.
Liverpool spent 6 seasons over a 7 season period without Champions League football, with that 1 season they did qualify being dumped out to the Europa League failing in the group stage.
During this period we enjoyed a decent spell in the Champions League. Given how they consider themselves, I imagine watching us dining at the top table hurt them a lot. They couldn't even blame it on oil money. The lads from the little 36,000 lane were simply and consistently better than they were.
They were still paying far higher salaries than us, being able to take players from under our noses ultimately being the bigger team - yet they had very limited on field success for such a long time given their history. We had no right to be better than them for so long - but we were, and that must have hurt.
Now we are all supposed to think of them as the greatest team the universe has ever known - but honestly I think their current position is a lot more fragile than they or the media seem to realise.
Maybe they are back at the top to stay.. but during their 6? years of Klopp 'the 2nd coming' they have "only" won 2 proper big trophies.. 1 Premier League & the European Cup.
... but who am I as a Spurs fan to criticise trophies? Well, they want to compare themselves with the absolute elite. We all know that isn't our level so at a glance over the period of time Klopp has been in charge;
Barcelona 3 league titles
Real Madrid 2 league titles
Juventus 5 league titles
Bayern Munich 6 league titles
Man City 3 league titles
Liverpool just the 1 league title. Chelsea & Leicester winning the other 2 when City haven't.
They proved last season (having dropped 30 points from the year before) their squad is incredibly reliant on a few individuals. But this is an ageing squad too;
Milner, 36 in a couple of weeks
Henderson, 32 come the summer
Thiago, 31 in a few months
VVD, 31 in the summer
Matip, 31 by next season
Firmino, 30 a couple of months ago
Mane, 30 in a few months
Salah, 30 in the summer
Robertson, 28 in March (actually thought he was about 24)
Their pace and pressing will drop off. Some of these players they simply wont be able to replace.
It's going to be impossible to replace the quality of some of those players. For me they are on the decline, which is currently being masked by good form early on in the season.