Great article about Spurs this season

[sammyspurs]

Good article.....hadnt thought of us being unbeaten a WHL. Thats definitely a hoodoo I dont want broken and think it would become the stuff of legend if come May, it were still intact, in our very last season there.

People sometimes scoff at Levy and throw the toys about spending....however we just spent 60M trying to strengthen our position. If signings dont hit the ground running, it doesnt mean he hasnt spent.

In 50 years, Levy will have status right up there, reserved for the likes of true legends of this club.
Todays whiners will be long gone, or in their 80s and tomorrows fans will read about the chairman who took on the government for 15 years and delivered.......DELIVERED what he promised, while running us debt free.

Amazing that Palace and Spam have higher earners than our top players....and just goes to show how not to do it.
Championship football in half filled grounds cannot afford 120grand a week players. Ask Leeds.
The lure of this club is that good....our players are not just there for the money, and we have created a group that believe in the club and the manager.

Gone are the days of Modric and Bale begging to fulfill their "dreams".......our players dream of silverwear here at Spurs now.

Last year, as the article says, was a one off. This year will show where we are, and from where Im sitting, we're right in it.

 

[sammyspurs]

We've won the title twice. We all know when the last one was.....Spurs should be challenging for titles every year, yes.....so should Hull though. Thats the point, win every game.

The reality is a tad different though. Historically we are a cup team, and we became world famous for it, so trying to measure progress by title challenges is off the mark. Last year was our first for 30 years.

Id like to see us challenge, and I dont think we're far off, but Id happily prioritise the cups now.

As Guido pointed out, we are becoming more flexible with systems...also, if we had these injuries last year we would have finished mid table, but now, that extra depth has kept us right in it for months, despite the expected flaws.....so have the signings been so bad? Really?

If people stop looking at last season and this, as if football ends forever in May, then they will see how irrelevent the whole "gone backwards" argument really is. Everyone screams about longevity, but not everyone can see the building blocks for the next decade are being put down.

 

[palmers_green_yid]

Hull latest side to suffer as Tottenham keep punching above weight

Comments?

 

[Juicy Sushi]

"There is only one club in the top six punching above their weight, and it is Tottenham-Other clubs crave such consistency." .....and the five above just laugh at us?

Hate us, mostly. They can't poach our players, and losing to us is a badge of shame for them, but many of them consistently struggle against us anyway. We're a long way behind them in resources, yet still finish above at least one of them every year. That's a pretty impressive track record, and the fact remains that we are the only club in the last 25 years to fight our way into the top 6 on a consistent basis without using massive over-spending to do it.

 

[Rosie47]

1882 Did you actually read the article?

 

[Colonel_K]

I'm in agreement with the article, we are punching above our weight. In terms of finances we just cannot complete with Utd, Chavs, City, Woolwich and Dippers. Two out of those three are financially doped. The other three are the most successful clubs in the history of English football. We have been lucky in the last 10 years in that Levy/ENIC have started to get things in order. Our improvement really began under Martin Jol, Levy has still sacked 4 managers in that time, but over that time we have gradually improved. Now we have one of the best young squads in the league, we have Pochettino, we have a new identity, we have a new stadium, our future is bright.

 

[sammyspurs]

See current support of both clubs

Last year Chelsea fans wanted a new squad....just like that "gimme gimme gimme", "sack the rats"....they "betrayed Jose".....fast forward 12 months and they cant prize their heads out of Costa's lap

 

[Colonel_K]

Can I point out this bit of the article...

Alli also looked dejected as he left the ground after the match but there were encouraging words from Rose. The defender said: “It is his second season and people aren’t giving him as much time as they did last season, but Dele is still our most dangerous player. It is true that he is not doing as well as last season, but I always tell him that I wish I was where he is.

“Look at how well he has done — and he is still only 20. He is working under the best manager and come the end of the season, the manager will have brought the best from him.”

English football moves at breakneck speed, both on and off the pitch. Sometimes, though, it pays to stand back for a second and realise that whatever the disappointments of this season, Tottenham are still performing pretty well.

Danny Rose has become the voice of reason and clearly a senior member of the squad. My son was clearly on to something picking Danny as his favourite player all those years ago.

 

[Mick Cooper]

. Everyone screams about longevity, but not everyone can see the building blocks for the next decade are being put down.

The stadium should last longer than that - surely?

 

[palmers_green_yid]

Spot on in my opinion. We are punching a bit - in terms of finance we shouldn't be top 4 so if we finish Top 4 this does represent massive achievement. Perhaps our par is about 6th?!
I'm pretty well grounded in this having seen many seasons in the 90s where we finished bottom half - which was gross underacheivement
1997–98 FA Premier League - Wikipedia

What's interesting is that, as the article says, other clubs such as Palace and West Ham pay their top players more, and our net spend is generally one of the lowest in the league too.

The article helped to remind me that we are doing very well under Poch, in the grand scheme of things, and not to get too down about a few recent performances.

 

[palmers_green_yid]

I found the article positive, patronising ,embarrassing and pointless-a shite sandwich. .
Punching above our weight?

I saw it in a different way; I thought it was complimentary. How well do you think we should be doing as a club?

 

[palmers_green_yid]

It was complementary in a, your fat but have a bubbly personality, your crap as a football club but are doing well considering-be grateful. Who is he preaching too?
Its nice to hear but really-I want to hear, we must do better. football is competitive and no room for niceness.
If someone spoke tome like this in life,I wouldn't accept it and would want strive for more.

I feel we should be competing, as last season and on a regular basis-why not. Winning some silver now and then and creating some real moments of achievement. Look how we finished at the end last season, shameful.

Why should we be competing for the league on a regular basis? Because we're Spurs? Because we won trophies in the 70s and 80s? Everton could say the same thing.

We are doing tremendously well to compete with clubs who have every advantage over us. That doesn't mean settling for being second best, or not being competitive, it just means being pleased with what we've achieved, whilst still hoping to overcome the odds even more by doing even better.

BTW I totally agree about the end of last season being shameful. At the final whistle of the Newcastle game when the players came over to us I was shouting at them and giving them the wanker sign. They let us down that day by not caring enough about the rivalry with Woolwich or 2nd place. (But I see this as a separate issue, and also more to do with most modern footballers in general rather than these specific players).

 

[Fidel Castro]

It's bit like saying your children have done
OK , but because they don't go to some
privalliged posh private school they are never going to be as good.

 

[Mensa]

We've won the title twice. We all know when the last one was.....Spurs should be challenging for titles every year, yes.....so should Hull though. Thats the point, win every game.

The reality is a tad different though. Historically we are a cup team, and we became world famous for it, so trying to measure progress by title challenges is off the mark. Last year was our first for 30 years.

Id like to see us challenge, and I dont think we're far off, but Id happily prioritise the cups now.

As Guido pointed out, we are becoming more flexible with systems...also, if we had these injuries last year we would have finished mid table, but now, that extra depth has kept us right in it for months, despite the expected flaws.....so have the signings been so bad? Really?

If people stop looking at last season and this, as if football ends forever in May, then they will see how irrelevent the whole "gone backwards" argument really is. Everyone screams about longevity, but not everyone can see the building blocks for the next decade are being put down.

People need to realise us trying to win the top 6 league is like Bournemouth finishing 7th and winning the "rest of the league" as there are many other teams with much more resources than us, like Bournemouth we rely on philosophy, management, youth and hunger to compete

 

[Biff]

-------------

I refuse to accept that finance is the only common denominator, and if I ever do accept it I will stop following football. Leicester did it last year, so there is no reason why we can't do it one day. That said, I genuinely don't think we have the manager to get us where we need to be, even if the squad stays relatively injury free. For me it's 5th or 6th this season, which in actual fact disappointingly proves YOUR point that money is a key denominator. It's easier than some people may think to win the league. All we have to do is beet the teams below us and get a few draws and the occasional win against the top sides. Spurs problem is dropping far to many points against poor sides, and that's because of a bad mental attitude. We have dropped a total of 6 very easy points so far, which in turn means we are sitting 5th instead of 2nd. Just one season when we don't do this and there is out title

We're taking about under and over achievement here. Of course Leicester won the league but it wasn't expected... that's why it was 5000/1. It was OVER-achievement - probably on the greatest scale ever seen. Beyond a once-in-a-lifetime event in my opinion.

Throughout the 90s we were large UNDER-achievers. That's why we changed manager ever year or so, struggling to finish mid-table.

Judging a manager properly is on the basis of your own clubs realistic expectations - in comparison to the resources (obviously finance, current squad, strength of other clubs). If you want to look at current under-achievers then Manchester United are an obvious candidate - one of the very biggest clubs in the world now 6th in the league with that severely damaged soul in charge.

Every team is going to drop "easy" points throughout a year. But we have only lost twice this year (at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge)... unbeaten at home, and on the back of 3 easy straight home wins against Swansea, Hull and Burnley. Teams of the past would have struggled to get maximum points from those 3 "easy" games as we all know.

There is no UNDER-achievement at Tottenham right now, in the league. We are punching our weight and higher. Obviously the Champions League performances are different but even then remember that we came out of seed Pot 3, and finished 3rd.

 

[palmers_green_yid]

We're taking about under and over achievement here. Of course Leicester won the league but it wasn't expected... that's why it was 5000/1. It was OVER-achievement - probably on the greatest scale ever seen. Beyond a once-in-a-lifetime event in my opinion.

Throughout the 90s we were large UNDER-achievers. That's why we changed manager ever year or so, struggling to finish mid-table.

Judging a manager properly is on the basis of your own clubs realistic expectations - in comparison to the resources (obviously finance, current squad, strength of other clubs). If you want to look at current under-achievers then Manchester United are an obvious candidate - one of the very biggest clubs in the world now 6th in the league with that severely damaged soul in charge.

Every team is going to drop "easy" points throughout a year. But we have only lost twice this year (at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge)... unbeaten at home, and on the back of 3 easy straight home wins against Swansea, Hull and Burnley. Teams of the past would have struggled to get maximum points from those 3 "easy" games as we all know.

There is no UNDER-achievement at Tottenham right now, in the league. We are punching our weight and higher. Obviously the Champions League performances are different but even then remember that we came out of seed Pot 3, and finished 3rd.

Spot on.

Of course finance is not the only common denominator. But if a manager is achieving or exceeding realistic expectations based on those factors that you mention (finance, current squad, strength of other clubs, maybe in the long term also youth setup) then they need to be backed by us, the fans.

 

[Biff]

Spot on in my opinion. We are punching a bit - in terms of finance we shouldn't be top 4 so if we finish Top 4 this does represent massive achievement. Perhaps our par is about 6th?!
I'm pretty well grounded in this having seen many seasons in the 90s where we finished bottom half - which was gross underacheivement
1997–98 FA Premier League - Wikipedia

 

[sammyspurs]

"There is only one club in the top six punching above their weight, and it is Tottenham-Other clubs crave such consistency." .....and the five above just laugh at us?

Well one of those teams finished 10th and another 8th last year so let them laugh...

 

[DeeGee]

Except for the ' when again we will ever see Liverpool finish outside the top4'
When in fact they have finished outside the top 4 5 times in the last 6 seasons

 

[Mr S Pippo]

Why should we be competing for the league on a regular basis? Because we're Spurs?

Yes.

That doesn't mean settling for being second best, or not being competitive, it just means being pleased with what we've achieved, whilst still hoping to overcome the odds even more by doing even better.

What have we really achieved=we should be top 4 more often, at least (this would have brought its own rewards)?

They let us down that day by not caring enough about the rivalry with Woolwich or 2nd place.

The very same players, who supposedly was going to win us the PL.

I get the loyalty and agree with you that we are trying to compete with the money clubs but we are THFC and just by natural progress and luck should stumble onto a decent side now and then just as the 70s and 80s.