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Crisis?

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Tottenham from December onwards last year...
:avbpray:

We have to remember this! People see 7th and panic way too much.

League position isn't important right now, its important in May. What is important is that we start winning games again. Good performances will breed more good performances and hence more wins, in December we have a great chance to play ourselves into form.

We shouldn't be worried about being 7th, however we should be focused on making sure our next couple of months bring good performances and a run of wins, if we do that, we wont even remember the couple of days we spent in 7th.

To even think this is a crisis, is a very Woolwich mentality to supporting a football club.
 
Not all of our rivals are in good form though. There is a difference between performance and results.

Our results have been woeful but we have deserved so much more from every game. Our rivals have all picked up points in games where they didn't have the chances that we have created lately, some have been last kick of the game (City vs Southampton), others have been last min penalties (from dives too I might add Woolwich vs Burnley), others have been last min flukes (Sterling vs Huddersfield), some have been huge deflections and own goals (Utd vs Brighton).

Even at Woolwich, where they did play better than us, their goal was their first effort on target and we all know that it wasn't a free-kick and it was offside, their 2nd was also offside. They were better than us in the game, played with more intensity and pressed us very well, but despite all this we kept our shape well and restricted them to little. Remember the Dortmund game at Wembley? Dortmund were superb in that game too but we kept our shape and made them pay, we did the same at City away last year. I'm bringing up these other two games merely to point out that even when we've been the 2nd best on the pitch we stay in the game and can get something out of it if decisions don't go against us (The one thing I really grinds my gears about Chelsea is how fucking good they are at doing this, many, many times they have been totally outplayed but they always remain in the game and often take a point or all three).

Everything is magnified beyond what it should be right now, the feeling is shit because we haven't got out of the game what we have deserved, yet our rivals have all taken points from games that they didn't deserve or took points from games where they were also struggling to break down team camped on their penalty box but got the luck that we didn't. The margins in games are tiny. The pain felt is huge now (for me at least) because something feels unjust. It's so much easier to accept if we have been shit and our rivals brilliant, City have been brilliant but have also got the brakes that we haven't.
The league is a long slog, and with playing in Europe as well, you need to grind out results, and also get some luck. To be fair we did both these things against Palace after the Real Madrid game. We were lucky in that game but also showed that strength/ability to stay in the game you talk about. We've been unlucky in other games since then.

I agree with what you wrote, but there is such a difference between our performances in the CL and league, that makes me think that the players are prioritising those games. Probably because they are hungry for silverware and the league is gone. It's so exciting when you are going for a trophy and must be so dispiriting when you've become used to that excitement and then it's gone. This makes me worry though, because- although I would also now put the CL as priority number one- the players also need to play with greater hunger, motivation and intensity in the league games...otherwise top four is at serious risk. I also worry that some of them are thinking about leaving, rather than thinking "we need to get top four for the future of the club", though possibly some paranoia on my part there.

I think for the average player, they think differently about things to us. They clearly don't feel the Woolwich rivalry as we do. As reflected in the performance. They may also be struggling to get motivated for a battle for the top four because it's less exciting than a title challenge. If that is true I really hope it changes once we get a couple of wins.

But right now it's far short of a crisis.
 
I think the state the world is in At the moment... the word 'crisis' (even a 'mini' one) is wholly innapropriate...

But it merely shows the great strides we've taken since the dark days of two decades ago...
JakeYIDDO JakeYIDDO , I see you were born in the middle of the shitstorm that was the mid-'90s (yeah, I checked, in case you were a middle-aged Bandwagon jumper who only started taking an interest in Spurs in 2010+) ... but it seems you were too young to remember that the '90s for us weren't just a 4 game blip... from around '93-'98 they were pretty much a disaster and time of great famine!

Losing to ARSEANAL was the bi-annual NORM, not a once in 6 games rare occurrence... finishing anywhere NEAR 7th would prompt an open top bus parade!
...Gerry Francis, Christian Gross, George Graham... Paulo Tramnezanni... Gary Doherty, Andy Sinton, Andy Gray (notvthat one, the other one) Ruel Fox, Andy Booth... I'll let some of those names sink in before Danny Rose has to Google them!

Yes, we're in a rut... but sometimes, getting OUT of that rut together can be the making of a team, and something that defines their togetherness...

We sit it out, we ride the storm, and, as Maximus once said;
"At my signal, unleash hell!"
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Ruel Fox was one of our stars around then
 
Crisis? Kinell. 50% of the spine of our best team last season is out injured. Most teams would struggle with the loss of Wanyama and Alderweireld. We're also playing every game away from home.

If we were in Palace, West Ham or Everton's position then crisis would be the word.
 
Is this for real?? CRISIS?

Fuck me some of you obviously weren't about when the likes of Sheff Utd and Leeds were banging 6 past us.
I would have loved to see this place when we were 3-0 up against 10 men Man City and lost 4-3.

We have had a few bad results but among those bad results we were caning Real Madrid and Dortmund.

Get a grip FFS.
 
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The league is a long slog, and with playing in Europe as well, you need to grind out results, and also get some luck. To be fair we did both these things against Palace after the Real Madrid game. We were lucky in that game but also showed that strength/ability to stay in the game you talk about. We've been unlucky in other games since then.

I agree with what you wrote, but there is such a difference between our performances in the CL and league, that makes me think that the players are prioritising those games. Probably because they are hungry for silverware and the league is gone. It's so exciting when you are going for a trophy and must be so dispiriting when you've become used to that excitement and then it's gone. This makes me worry though, because- although I would also now put the CL as priority number one- the players also need to play with greater hunger, motivation and intensity in the league games...otherwise top four is at serious risk. I also worry that some of them are thinking about leaving, rather than thinking "we need to get top four for the future of the club", though possibly some paranoia on my part there.

I think for the average player, they think differently about things to us. They clearly don't feel the Woolwich rivalry as we do. As reflected in the performance. They may also be struggling to get motivated for a battle for the top four because it's less exciting than a title challenge. If that is true I really hope it changes once we get a couple of wins.

But right now it's far short of a crisis.
I'd say you are being a tad paranoid.

Whilst our performance against the scum was poor (not being at it, not competing) this was the first time we have seen that in the derby from this group of players. So I think it unfair to accuse the players of not caring, they have shown us for more than two years that they do. They just were not at the level of their opponent, that's it.

I used the example of the Dortmund game by way of comparison, there is no way you could describe our performance against Dortmund (Wembley) as us being at it, we were played off the park. But the whole narrative is different because we won. We hung in there, we were smart and kept our shape and were ruthless on the counter. I'd say Dortmund were by far a more formidable opponent than Woolwich. We had a couple of wonderful chances before Woolwich even had a shot on target. If we had not taken our chances on the counter against Dortmund we would have lost. We would have been accusing our players of not being up for it, I can absolutely guarantee that would have been what we and press would have said.

No one can deny Woolwich were better but I am convinced had the ref not given the free kick, lino saw that it was offside (both goals) I don't think they would have scored. Absolutely no idea if we would have scored but who knows. I do know we would have created some more chances.

Even when we don't play well we are still a hard side to beat, we don't get turned over, the opponent has to be giving their best if they are to win. Woolwich's best performance of the season was against us. Leicesters best performance of the season is against us. WBA's best performance of the season was against us. West Ham's best performance of the season was against us. Swansea's best performance was against us (they have only won 2 games this season against 2 poor sides, so assuming getting a draw against us was a bigger result and performance).

In short I don't see the difference in our performance in CL any different to those in PL, results are different not the performance. The difference has been taking or not taking the chances. Real Madrid away we could have been 3-0 down in the first 10 mins had they taken their chances, they didn't we hung in there and rode our luck, by FT it was a great result and fair on the balance of play across the 90mins, but were we to be 3-0 down after 10 mins then that could have gone on to be a cricket score, who knows.

I fully concede out attitude is different this year, but that is when you compare the performances this season against our best last year and the year before. BUT compare the performances against the games over the same period and they are remarkably similar. I don't know what this means, I don't know if this is good or bad. Only time will tell.

But there is always a bad feeling when you lose and a good feeling when you win, regardless of the performance, regardless if you were lucky that your opponent didn't take their chances or unlucky that we didn't take ours. This gets amplified when your rivals take points and you don't. This is happening right now, all our rivals got their luck and their breaks needed to win (just as we did against Dortmund & Madrid) the breaks that we didn't get. Our rivals all now think they are going to win the league (or 2nd) and we think we are getting relegated.
 
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If the title was gone and players thought they were underpaid, they should still be aiming for the top 3 and trigger the CL group stage money.
Also we were losing sight of the league even before the fixture pileup: City and Utd were gunning ahead on goal difference as well as wins, and blasting teams 5-0 while we struggled to 1-0 or 1-1.
As for the Wembley effect, well Old Trafford has a "Theatre of Dreams" effect on some teams well, they raise their game for it but Utd seems to manage them.
The pitch size shouldn't matter, as others said it's the standard pitch size now, and our tactics should always have prioritised that pitch size instead of being specific to WHL.
 
I'd say you are being a tad paranoid.

Whilst our performance against the scum was poor (not being at it, not competing) this was the first time we have seen that in the derby from this group of players. So I think it unfair to accuse the players of not caring, they have shown us for more than two years that they do. They just were not at the level of their opponent, that's it.

I used the example of the Dortmund game by way of comparison, there is no way you could describe our performance against Dortmund (Wembley) as us being at it, we were played off the park. But the whole narrative is different because we won. We hung in there, we were smart and kept our shape and were ruthless on the counter. I'd say Dortmund were by far a more formidable opponent than Woolwich. We had a couple of wonderful chances before Woolwich even had a shot on target. If we had not taken our chances on the counter against Dortmund we would have lost. We would have been accusing our players of not being up for it, I can absolutely guarantee that would have been what we and press would have said.

No one can deny Woolwich were better but I am convinced had the ref not given the free kick, lino saw that it was offside (both goals) I don't think they would have scored. Absolutely no idea if we would have scored but who knows. I do know we would have created some more chances.

Even when we don't play well we are still a hard side to beat, we don't get turned over, the opponent has to be giving their best if they are to win. Woolwich's best performance of the season was against us. Leicesters best performance of the season is against us. WBA's best performance of the season was against us. West Ham's best performance of the season was against us. Swansea's best performance was against us (they have only won 2 games this season against 2 poor sides, so assuming getting a draw against us was a bigger result and performance).

In short I don't see the difference in our performance in CL any different to those in PL, results are different not the performance. The difference has been taking or not taking the chances. Real Madrid away we could have been 3-0 down in the first 10 mins had they taken their chances, they didn't we hung in there and rode our luck, by FT it was a great result and fair on the balance of play across the 90mins, but were we to be 3-0 down after 10 mins then that could have gone on to be a cricket score, who knows.

I fully concede out attitude is different this year, but that is when you compare the performances this season against our best last year and the year before. BUT compare the performances against the games over the same period and they are remarkably similar. I don't know what this means, I don't know if this is good or bad. Only time will tell.

But there is always a bad feeling when you lose and a good feeling when you win, regardless of the performance, regardless if you were lucky that your opponent didn't take their chances or unlucky that we didn't take ours. This gets amplified when your rivals take points and you don't. This is happening right now, all our rivals got their luck and their breaks needed to win (just as we did against Dortmund & Madrid) the breaks that we didn't get. Our rivals all now think they are going to win the league (or 2nd) and we think we are getting relegated.
I feel that the Dortmund game, and Madrid first half, we were outplayed, but the intensity/desire was there. It was a case of being up against better players. I feel also that we are a better side than Woolwich, but in that game they were first to every ball. You could see the intensity rise when we equalised against Leicester, there was a brief period when it looked like we would win the game 4-2 because we were so up for it. That's how we've played in the CL. Not in most PL games, or not for long enough.

I think tiredness, injuries and possibly the effect of the heavy Wembley pitch are factors in terms of the intensity, but it still hurts me that they didn't appear to play with as much commitment in the Woolwich game as at Dortmund away. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I saw anyway...must admit I do like reading your posts and getting a more positive perspective on this kind of thing!
 
Blimey.

My first aim in the 90,s was to reach a point where it was impossible to get relegated lol

For me this isn't a crisis, we are just a bit shit at the moment.

Although I'm a bit odd, I preferred it when we were shit
 
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