-
The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...
Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports
I’m giving this a little bump.
What’s interesting is not one person said Leicester would be in the top 4 hunt (again) and if anyone body would have said West Ham could be up there then I think they would have been laughed off the forum.
So before we began a massive 55 votes (40%) had us finishing top 4. And 21 votes (15%) 6th or lower.
As we cross the halfway line and move into the cups again what are people saying now?
I’m changing my vote to 6th or lower. Think our dropped points have fucked top 4 tbh.
I’m really hoping I’m wrong but not going to sit on the fence. Also I think at this point Jose may use the EL as the back door to the CL next year.
Anyone else changing their minds??
“Champions” people you optimistic bastards I’m definitely looking at you.......
What’s interesting is not one person said Leicester would be in the top 4 hunt (again) and if anyone body would have said West Ham could be up there then I think they would have been laughed off the forum.
So before we began a massive 55 votes (40%) had us finishing top 4. And 21 votes (15%) 6th or lower.
As we cross the halfway line and move into the cups again what are people saying now?
I’m changing my vote to 6th or lower. Think our dropped points have fucked top 4 tbh.
I’m really hoping I’m wrong but not going to sit on the fence. Also I think at this point Jose may use the EL as the back door to the CL next year.
Anyone else changing their minds??
“Champions” people you optimistic bastards I’m definitely looking at you.......
I had 6th or lower originally and will stay with that.
Top 4 is still possible technically but without Kane and with at least 4 teams that are flat out better than us (City, Liverpool, United, Leicester) and have more points plus another 3 teams Chelsea, Everton, WH that are either ahead or right around us with similar level teams it is hard to see us beating out all of them for 4th.
Add on that we are looking worse as the season is going on and there are starting to appear to me issues with Jose and the players and it seems far more likely this goes off the rails rather than turning around.
I know that the Europa League doesn't have some of the powerhouses it usually does but we better hope we keep getting sweetheart draws because I am not sure I am confident that if we match up with Napoli/United/Roma/Leicester/Milan/BL that we would be favored let alone having to beat 2 or 3 of those guys in a row.
Top 4 is still possible technically but without Kane and with at least 4 teams that are flat out better than us (City, Liverpool, United, Leicester) and have more points plus another 3 teams Chelsea, Everton, WH that are either ahead or right around us with similar level teams it is hard to see us beating out all of them for 4th.
Add on that we are looking worse as the season is going on and there are starting to appear to me issues with Jose and the players and it seems far more likely this goes off the rails rather than turning around.
I know that the Europa League doesn't have some of the powerhouses it usually does but we better hope we keep getting sweetheart draws because I am not sure I am confident that if we match up with Napoli/United/Roma/Leicester/Milan/BL that we would be favored let alone having to beat 2 or 3 of those guys in a row.
I think this proves that the expectations for the season was top 4. Because I saw some Jose apologists claiming how no one expected us to finish top 4 lol.
I would also wonder how many of the votes below top 4 were in part because Jose was the manager.
If we had a competent manager, with this squad, I would have easily said top 4. I dropped us a couple of spots because of what I saw from Jose last season.
A squad consisting of our defenders is not an easy top 4.
Defenses around the league are not that great right now anywhere. I would say City and Liverpool- although with injuries and TAA regressing it is not as impressive as it was- are really the only two with solid back lines. Leicester probably close to that.
Chelsea probably more solid that us but Zouma/Rudiger isn't much better than Dier/Rodon and Reguilon is much better than Chillwell has been this year. Plus, Lloris is a massive upgrade on Kepa/Mendy.
United is probably better with how well Shaw is playing this year, but he has been terrible before that so if he regresses that is a problem and Baily/Lindelof is a very weak 2nd choice CB. Plus, Ole does them no favors with how clueless he is. DDG also is a liability this year and not close to Lloris.
I could be missing someone but don't see anyone else having a better backline than us.
So the 6th best backline is really not that big a hinderance to finishing top 4, especially when you have arguably the best two attacking threat in the league with Kane/Son.
Yep.
Pretty sure levy would have wanted top 4 for his £15million salary investment.
Still seeing people saying we are in top 4 contention.
To put some context on that you have to go back to 2013 to the last time a team outside the Top 5 on game 22 finished in the top 4.
That was Woolwich. who were 6th with a game in hand when AVB famously mentioned his negative spiral which went tits up for him (and for us).
So to expect us to magically find form and 5 or 6 teams around us to lose their form is a bit fanciful to say the least.
We are not on our way up this table......
To put some context on that you have to go back to 2013 to the last time a team outside the Top 5 on game 22 finished in the top 4.
That was Woolwich. who were 6th with a game in hand when AVB famously mentioned his negative spiral which went tits up for him (and for us).
So to expect us to magically find form and 5 or 6 teams around us to lose their form is a bit fanciful to say the least.
We are not on our way up this table......
Still seeing people saying we are in top 4 contention after last nights result.
To put some context on that you have to go back to 2013 to the last time a team outside the Top 5 on game 22 finished in the top 4.
That was Woolwich. who were 6th, 6 points off 4th place (although they had actually played 21 with a game in hand which they won 5-1, so you could say they were 3 points off Top 4)
The season when AVB famously mentioned his negative spiral which went tits up for him.
So to expect us to magically find form and 5 or 6 teams around us to lose theirs is just not going to happen.
Wake up and smell the coffee people. We are currently moving down this table at a steady pace. Not up it. Negative spiral you know.
To put some context on that you have to go back to 2013 to the last time a team outside the Top 5 on game 22 finished in the top 4.
That was Woolwich. who were 6th, 6 points off 4th place (although they had actually played 21 with a game in hand which they won 5-1, so you could say they were 3 points off Top 4)
The season when AVB famously mentioned his negative spiral which went tits up for him.
So to expect us to magically find form and 5 or 6 teams around us to lose theirs is just not going to happen.
Wake up and smell the coffee people. We are currently moving down this table at a steady pace. Not up it. Negative spiral you know.
You seem resigned to the fact that our teams fortunes will continue to slump given the recent run of results.Still seeing people saying we are in top 4 contention after last nights result.
To put some context on that you have to go back to 2013 to the last time a team outside the Top 5 on game 22 finished in the top 4.
That was Woolwich. who were 6th, 6 points off 4th place (although they had actually played 21 with a game in hand which they won 5-1, so you could say they were 3 points off Top 4)
The season when AVB famously mentioned his negative spiral which went tits up for him.
So to expect us to magically find form and 5 or 6 teams around us to lose theirs is just not going to happen.
Wake up and smell the coffee people. We are currently moving down this table at a steady pace. Not up it. Negative spiral you know.
One thing we can take from this season is that nothing can be taken for granted (City aside).
6/7 weeks ago we were top.
The low block needs to be deployed when needed, not used in every single game.
It's a good thing our form fell off a cliff when we had some points in the bag. We could still turn this around but egos will have to be sacrificed, none more than Jose's.
He needs to change his tactics and start man managing instead of throwing confidence shattering grenades into the dressing room.
We give him the rest of the season to sort this mess out. Changing managers now would be catastrophic in my opinion.
We are still only just over half way through the season, still in contention on 3 fronts, league is gone, but top 4 is still possible mathmatically. As long as it is we should treat it as such.
Main thing I got from last night is that players seem to be scared to commit. They either sit back and defend but they are in two minds whether to press. By the time they make a decision to press the moment has gone, we are out of position and ultimately under pressure. Confidence is shattered at the moment, we need a good old fashioned Spurs high tempo attacking masterclass on Sunday to get the confidence back up. If we play the same cards on Sunday as we did last night then I really don't know what else this squad can do going forward.
I don’t see this team getting near Top 4, same as last season with Pochs start, something is wrong.
This is an unusual season but coming up we have 3 cup matches when other teams around us will have zero or 1.
Personally I think Jose will prioritise the cups over the league now.
Generally speaking football is a pretty simple game. Jose’s tactics over two decades haven’t shifted that much. Problem is our players - he probably needs Lo celso, Kane and reggie back. But by the time that happens I think top 4 while mathematically possible will be a pipe dream.
Nearly every year the teams top 5 now will make the Top 4. And every year it’s mathematically possible teams below can make it.
But they almost never do.... and those dropped points will hurt us cone the end of the season. 100% That’s the difference right there.
Giving this a bump as I think City will walk the league at this point and there's about 9 teams competing for 3 spots. For reference, here are the 538 odds which are pretty similar to betting odds give or take money being placed on the usual suspects.
So there's a pretty clear delineation between the top 5 and the other 4 in terms of odds, which makes sense given the current table. Looking at our schedule, 7/16 matches are against one of the above teams + Woolwich away. 3/7 are against the top 5 (at City, v. United, at Leicester to end the season).
Assuming 4th is 70 points, we need 34 points from 16 matches (2.125 ppm), which is a 81 point pace. That may be a bit much to ask unless we work out some of our offensive issues and go on a real run.
Depending on how things go the next 4 weeks, I could easily see Mou doing what he did at United - pulling the plug on the league and focusing 100% on the cups, especially if we beat Everton on Wednesday. I'd put the odds of that happening higher than us finishing top 4, but given the compact schedule and sheer number of matches, I think it would be more than understandable if we are in 3 cups come March (Final, QF and R16).
So there's a pretty clear delineation between the top 5 and the other 4 in terms of odds, which makes sense given the current table. Looking at our schedule, 7/16 matches are against one of the above teams + Woolwich away. 3/7 are against the top 5 (at City, v. United, at Leicester to end the season).
Assuming 4th is 70 points, we need 34 points from 16 matches (2.125 ppm), which is a 81 point pace. That may be a bit much to ask unless we work out some of our offensive issues and go on a real run.
Depending on how things go the next 4 weeks, I could easily see Mou doing what he did at United - pulling the plug on the league and focusing 100% on the cups, especially if we beat Everton on Wednesday. I'd put the odds of that happening higher than us finishing top 4, but given the compact schedule and sheer number of matches, I think it would be more than understandable if we are in 3 cups come March (Final, QF and R16).
Man City are winning the league and Man Utd look like they have figured out how to score enough goals to probably finish second.
After that Leicester probably look the best of a fairly average bunch of teams, but we have a pretty good run of fixtures after next weeks game.
Put together a good run and top four is doable.
After that Leicester probably look the best of a fairly average bunch of teams, but we have a pretty good run of fixtures after next weeks game.
Put together a good run and top four is doable.
If we match our form from the first 11 matches the rest of the way, we will end on 69 (nice) points.
It's going to be tight regardless.