Jurgen the German
David Ginola
Agreed. just sounds like an excuse.
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Is it more difficult for us to win the league than any other team?
- Thread starter Pirate55
- Start date
Agreed. just sounds like an excuse.
parklane1
Vic Buckingham
Indeed, fans are the same everywhere.
Grays_1890
Colin Calderwood
I think no fans has helped us, we just go about our business and one Benefit of Jose is this win game, store, move on mentality which helps us in beating these teams that raise against us.
We should come close this year....really close
We should come close this year....really close
Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
Don't agree. How many other clubs can count as direct " enemies " Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, Liverpool, Man U, Emirates Marketing Project, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Southampton and Leicester. I make that 10 teams that really, really want to beat us.
Is there any other team that has so many direct challenges to overcome?
@parklane1 and @Pirate55
Not sure if we have it worse than everyone else, but I will bet no one will very have as easy a ride as Leicester did. Never would I expect an opposition manager before a game against a team on the top of the table to actually say, "well, we wouldn't mind if the opposition goes on to win the league" ... before the fudging game .. then their side rolls over and gets fudged ..
Not sure if we have it worse than everyone else, but I will bet no one will very have as easy a ride as Leicester did. Never would I expect an opposition manager before a game against a team on the top of the table to actually say, "well, we wouldn't mind if the opposition goes on to win the league" ... before the fudging game .. then their side rolls over and gets fudged ..
Jurgen the German
David Ginola
I will give you Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham. Maybe Leicester at a push but I’m not having the others. Liverpool? Only on this forum are they such a huge rival to us. United have more enemies than we do. Emirates Marketing Project? Their fans don’t like us but the rivalry doesn’t transmit to the players. Ditto for Southampton.
Crystal Palace and Fulham? Palace hate Millwall, Charlton and Brighton. Do Fulham hate anybody? If they lose a game they just jump on their yachts after.
United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Leeds arguably have more rivals or teams who hate them than we do. Really don’t buy that Liverpool, United or Emirates Marketing Project wanna beat us any more than they want to beat the other big 6 sides.
Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
So you agree with 4 - Arsenal, West Ham, Chelsea and Leicester.
The other top 6 sides, Liverpool, Man. u, Man c want to beat us more than other clubs because we are direct competitors to them. I didn't say more than their other big six rivals, but more than standard games. Although the frisson for United and Chelsea for getting one over their old boss should not be undersestimated !
Southampton still have a sense of grievance towards us for Poch, Wanyama, Toby and now PEH.
We may not be Palace or Fulham's main rivals. but they still see them as " derby" games and want to win them a tad more than other normal fixtures .
Can you list 10 teams that raise their game ( beforehand) against any of the others you mention?
MKSpur
Christian Ziege
You’re forgetting Hoddle going back to SCBC for Dean Richards!
MKSpur
Christian Ziege
We also had the scenario where West Ham had a cup final the following week and open ty treated stopping is getting top 4 as a bigger priority in their final game beforehand.
MKSpur
Christian Ziege
We can look at it as an opportunity, the team should start treating the niggly fixtures with more focus, take more pleasure in the victory. We may not get the 5-0 walkovers some other teams get but it should also mean we are more battle hardened for the tough games that may ultimately determine silverware.
As time goes on, the harder we become to beat the less teams will feel like we are a potential scalp. In the same way Old Trafford does not strike fear into teams but some are beaten before they step foot onto Anfield. The issue we had for years was we had the scalp of a big club but also teams had the feeling we had a soft underbelly and could be got at. Then we did get consistent in the league, it was the bug matches where we came up short, this is why we need Mourinho who looks to be conditioning our players to treat ever game like a cup final.
As time goes on, the harder we become to beat the less teams will feel like we are a potential scalp. In the same way Old Trafford does not strike fear into teams but some are beaten before they step foot onto Anfield. The issue we had for years was we had the scalp of a big club but also teams had the feeling we had a soft underbelly and could be got at. Then we did get consistent in the league, it was the bug matches where we came up short, this is why we need Mourinho who looks to be conditioning our players to treat ever game like a cup final.
fernadez
Jonathan Woodgate
Pep has said many times we're the team he dislikes/respects playing against the most, and we have an annoying habit of doing alright against them. Add to that the Champion's League saga and we're up there on their list.
Lost Mango
Goran Bunjevcevic
I think for some reason we are everyone's 2nd least favourite team. They have their proper enemy and then they dislike us. That might be paranoia but everyone was happy and 'liked' us when we played pretty "the Tottenham way" mid-table football and gave them the occasional giggle when we flirted with relegation.
I work in a school and the vast majority of 11 to 18 year olds dislike us no matter what their first choice team is. Brighton, Southampton, Palace fans - no reason to dislike us but they do. They don't care about the Big 4 or 5 because they see them as out of reach or accept them as being 'the best' but not us. Not yet.
The genuine big boys fans (United, Liverpool, Chelsea and City) fans don't like us because we are uppity and threaten their rightful places.
Our former mid-table rivals envy us because we have left them behind.
Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham don't like us because of the London thing.
The media promote this attitude because we obviously don't know our rightful place.
Does it make it any harder to win things? Don't think so. We like to think playing us is West Ham's Cup final. To the fans it is, to the players is it? Don't think the players at these clubs actually give a damn unless they are fans of a genuine rival themselves.
I work in a school and the vast majority of 11 to 18 year olds dislike us no matter what their first choice team is. Brighton, Southampton, Palace fans - no reason to dislike us but they do. They don't care about the Big 4 or 5 because they see them as out of reach or accept them as being 'the best' but not us. Not yet.
The genuine big boys fans (United, Liverpool, Chelsea and City) fans don't like us because we are uppity and threaten their rightful places.
Our former mid-table rivals envy us because we have left them behind.
Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham don't like us because of the London thing.
The media promote this attitude because we obviously don't know our rightful place.
Does it make it any harder to win things? Don't think so. We like to think playing us is West Ham's Cup final. To the fans it is, to the players is it? Don't think the players at these clubs actually give a damn unless they are fans of a genuine rival themselves.
fernadez
Jonathan Woodgate
We represent what everyone outside the top 4 aspires to. From the outside there is no reason we should have the training ground, stadium, players, recent form. If you are a supporter of any club outside that 4 you look at us and can't see the difference between Tottenham and your own team. Our continued rise just shines the light brighter on their 'failures', so our failures are reassuring to them about the status quo and thus crab bucket mentality can continue.
It's no different in real life.
It's no different in real life.
Come on mate, this really is reaching
I guess Liverpool will always find it oh so tough against Soton aswell due to all the players they've stolen from there?Facts are it is harder for a London club than a northern club in terms of rivalries etc But Arsenal and Chelsea have done it, so if we are good enough we would do it too - every game is a massive battle to a team eyeing up winning the league, not just particular games because the opposition dont like us that little bit more than other teams.
But we need to have the right mentality for it to match the quality of the team if you want to win the league, and that is something we haven't had in previous seasons.....
Jurgen the German
David Ginola
Not sure I overly agree re Leicester either. Their fans don’t like us but that’s only very recent. And the rivalry if you can even call it that doesn’t resonate with their players, I never hear Vardy or Brendan say “I hope we beat spurs” more than anyone else. Arsenal, West Ham and Chelsea hate spurs and take pleasure in stopping us, we can all agree on those three.
Soton is similar to Leicester. Their fans don’t care for us but do the players really care? Do they put in more effort against us than against say United?
Palace and Fulham I just completely disagree with. Yes it’s tough for London teams given there are so many derbies but a lot of the derbies are really quite mild and are played in good spirit. Certainly can’t compare Spurs v Fulham to Spurs v Chelsea. It is what it is but arsenal and Chelsea have managed to win the league so why can’t we? I just think it’s an excuse to say we have it harder than anyone else.
I would say United without question have it harder than we do. Everyone hates United and wants to beat them. Every northern club hate them, southern teams hate them. Same for Liverpool too. No one likes Chelsea either.
Bottom line is if we are good enough and perhaps get some luck too then we can/will win the league.
Jurgen the German
David Ginola
We’re a nuisance to them and no doubt he wants to beat us but no more than they wanna beat Liverpool or united. I’m not saying it’s not hard for us but I’m not having it that it’s harder for us than for any other side to win the league.
Was with you up until the last part, West Ham players most definitely raise their game against us - it'll be the same attitude there as is at Spurs when we play Arsenal.
Spurs are unique in that we are 3 teams main rival (Ars Che WH) I'm not sure any others can say that. As for the other teams that Pirate mentions i think the Saints thing has well and truly passed and i don't think there's ever been a thing with Palace, at least not on the pitch. Probably fair to say Leicester would count us as a rival above most others in the league but games v United/Liverpool/City are just big games v league rivals that all top teams have to contend with.
As a general point not aimed at you, I don’t know why anyone worries about what the media says regarding us. If they don’t talk about us then great, no added pressure. And when they do hype us up they are only doing so to knock us down when we fail. Either way I couldn’t give a monkeys what is printed, I use my own eyes to see the value of our coaching,players etc Results do the talking, from what I’ve seen the media’s praise has little benefits....