Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[TonyDA]

Thanks for the comments re Poch on MOTD2 - will watch that later.

If we're going to get ourselves in the title mix, we have to win those next three games - and hope for a couple of losses/draws for the others. Possible, although how much rotation we'll be able to do is debatable. Makes me wonder whether going for it in the league, and then really rotating for the FA Cup tie at Tranmere - even to the point of resting so many players we increase the chance of a Cupset.

[EJG1980]

^^ What makes the next three matches extra important is that on the third match day, Man City play Liverpool, so a guarantee that at least one of them and possibly both will be dropping points. If we can get 9/9 from the next three matches then we definitely gain on one or both of them.

Having Sanchez and Foyth back is a bonus as you can now rotate between them as Toby's partner, then give Toby a rest by playing both together against Tranmere in the cup (as we did against West Ham in the league cup).

That frees up Davies from emergency centre back duties so he and Rose can rotate at left back, and I wouldn't be surprised if KWP came in for at least one match to give Trippier a rest.

Plenty of rotation options up front with Dele (assuming not injured), Eriksen, Son, Lamela and Moura able to rotate in the three behind the striker, and Son can play up front to give Harry a rest if needs be.

The only place we're a bit light is central midfield with Winks and Sissoko being the only experienced fit options. Could mean another game or two for Skipp, and as he did well when he started against Burnley I don't think Poch would be afraid to start him again.

[fallenangle]

Not counting any of our chickens yet but going 'quite' well today, only 4-0 so far. They're slacking.

BTW Happy Xmas and New Year to everyone here, Spurs supporters or not of course.

EDIT

5-0 but even better news MC are losing at Leicester so even if they grab a draw Spurs will end up today on the same points as MC. Liverpool winning comfortably though.

[EJG1980]

Up to second! Merry Xmas

Very good again today, although Bournemouth did have two good chances before we got our opening goal and I was surprised at least one of them didn’t end up in the back of the net. Then we got that lovely deflection for our first and didn’t look back.

Can we pay off a doctor to say that Son has suddenly developed chronic fear of overseas travel and has to stay in England? He’s on FIRE at the moment! Real shame we have to lose him for the Asian Cup after the Man U match.

Foyth and KWP were a very inexperienced right side of our back four today, but they both did brilliantly, especially KWP. Three assists! Okay, the first one was a five yard simple pass, but the second two were superb examples of attacking full back play. I can’t remember him putting a foot wrong at the back either.

Add in goals for all the attackers who started, another bit of experience for Skipp when he came on, a nice result in Leicester, and it was a very satisfying day

Liverpool are going to take some catching and I wouldn’t bet against Man City turning around their form with a long winning run, but all we can do is concentrate on ourselves, keep doing what we’re doing, and see where we end up.

[Mayhem]

Foxes being Foxes heh...!

[fallenangle]

KWP indeed looked to have had a really good game but it was helped by a very porous Bournemouth defence and midfield often giving Spurs far too much time and space in the final third, in fact all over the pitch going by MotD's highlights.

[EJG1980]

As the saying goes, you can only beat what's in front of you. Although, granted, Bournemouth didn't do the best job of "getting in front" of us

We've activated an option on Alderweireld's contract to extend it from June 2019 to June 2020. Unfortunately it has a release clause of £25 million for the summer transfer window, but it was either he definitely leaves for free in the summer, or he probably leaves for £25 million, so it was a no brainer to trigger the extension.

I'm not expecting it to happen, but there's always an outside chance we could negotiate a new contract with him before the summer with no release clause.

[fallenangle]

.....................and now we have the all too familiar Spurs let down in a match which, on paper, they should have banked the points. 1-0 up, all seems solid and then they blow it big time. ARGHHHHH!

It is the sort of result that could cost us the genuine chance of winning the Premiership.

[Mayhem]

Spurs and Leicester with similar performance and result there, typical! Liverpool are currently 3-1 up so the gap grows...

[TonyDA]

Was at the game today and, apart from a 10-15 minute spell in the first half, the team was rather flat. They played within themselves, looked in no danger at all really and then, as the game passed the hour mark it all went wrong. Passes went astray - there was one comical (at the time, at least, as it's certainly not so comical after a 3-1 loss) when Winks passed to an empty space and then went to fetch the ball as if treading through mud - balls were given away, much of the passing was lumped up field and there was no cutting edge whatsoever. Wolves made a couple of changes and grabbed control of the game, and 3-1 in the end wasn't exactly unfair, even if it was still a bit 'WTF just happened?'

Tired minds, tired legs, and absolutely nothing on the bench to grab control of the game back really. With the benefit of massive hindsight (i.e. I spent most of a 2-hr journey home dwelling on it ) switching Davies to be one of three centre-backs, bringing Rose & KWP on to give more energy on the wings, and Moura on for Dele was probably the only attacking set of changes Poch could have made. And Poch doesn't do three subs in one with 25 minutes to go..

And that's what we lack, in comparison to City/Liverpool, at the moment - the depth of squad due to injuries and lack of quality options in an attacking sense.. The only centre-midfield options really are Winks/Sissoko - no Dier, Wanyama, Dembele - and Son, Eriksen and Kane are playing every game at the moment.

Frustratingly, you could say the same kind of thing now as we did about the challenge to Leicester three years ago and Chelsea two - we're playing catch-up by Xmas to a team that simply is not dropping points regularly enough and we're doing it with the best team we've had for years, but a squad of players that (whether due to injury or comparitive lack of investment) isn't quite there.

[EJG1980]

Maybe the team had what I had, I was sick as a dog yesterday and didn't even get to the match, but I watched on a stream and their second half performance seemed to mirror how I felt! I can't remember the last time I'd seen up misplace so many passes and play with such a slow tempo. Not just one or two players either, everyone seemed equally off colour.

Can't complain about the result, Wolves dominated the second half and fully deserved the win. I don't know if we started trying to conserve too much energy and then couldn't turn it back on when Wolves got on top, but it was a real shame after we'd worked our way up to second place.

Hopefully we can bounce back straight away from this loss with a win at Cardiff. We've generally reacted well to setbacks this season, gotta do so again and go on another run of wins.

[fallenangle]

That Leicester result yesterday I hope Spurs take as warning that Cardiff are quite capable of getting a result even when the team they're playing is by any measure better and not even really under-performing on the day. Judging by the MotD highlights, which have been criticised by some Cardiff fans as being unrepresentative in not showing how well their team played, Leicester did not play that badly yet they lost.

As pointed out on MotD no team has won the Premiership with more than six loses and Spurs are now on five - not impossible but with Liverpool so far ahead that is an increasingly distant possibility.

[EJG1980]

Hopefully we can bounce back straight away from this loss with a win at Cardiff.

That'll do

[Mayhem]

Half makes me wonder how we lost to them! Still... Everton heh...

[fallenangle]

Back to winning ways, yay!

Now we need..........................what from the Liverpool v. MC game? Really unsure what would be the best result for us. A draw would put MC above Spurs on goal difference and Liverpool seven points ahead. A win for Liverpool would also be bad but any gap between Spurs and MC is welcome when their goal difference is virtually unmatchable. I think a win for MC is probably the best result but when you think where we might have been if the Wolves match had turned out differently....................it could have cost us the Premiership.

There's plenty of time for the wheels to come off Klopps and Guardiola buses too but only time will tell. It is still just about in our hands but a few hiccups in the others results would be very helpful.