Are you confident that we can finish above L'Arse?

[zin]

We haven't won away since December

You make it sound worse than it is. In fact we beat Watford away in the cup at the end of January but if you are just referring to league games we only played City in January followed by Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton. So 4 league games away in total. In one we should have been the only team to take points off City this season where a player who shouldn't have been on the pitch won a penalty - regardless it was a good performance. A decent result against Liverpool - they played better but we performed well in our defensive duties - good result. A capitulation against Arsenal which we all agree was our worst performance in a while, and a game against Everton where we should have come away with something. Oh and we have Chelsea away next. Hardly a kind list of away fixtures is it! Yet only against Arsenal we didn't perform.

Have looked brick since then apart from the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game

I think I can pick out a few games in there where we didn't look brick.

Dec 31 FT Swansea City 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur 20,393 Premier League
Jan 3 FT Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 West Bromwich Albion 36,062 Premier League
Jan 7 FT Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Cheltenham Town 35,672 FA Cup (Round 3)
Jan 11 FT Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Everton 36,132 Premier League
Jan 14 FT Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 36,194 Premier League
Jan 22 FT Emirates Marketing Project 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur 47,422 Premier League
Jan 27 FT Watford 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur 15,384 FA Cup (Round 4)
Jan 31 FT Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Wigan Athletic 35,801 Premier League
Feb 6 FT Liverpool 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur 44,461 Premier League
Feb 11 FT Tottenham Hotspur 5-0 Saudi Sportswashing Machine 36,176 Premier League
Feb 19 FT Stevenage 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur 6,332 FA Cup (Round 5)
Feb 26 FT Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur 60,106 Premier League
Mar 4 FT Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Manchester United 36,034 Premier League
Mar 7 FT Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Stevenage 35,757 FA Cup (Round 5)
Mar 10 FT Everton 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur 34,992 Premier League

 

[elyid]

We haven't won away since December
We have only played 4 away games in that time! City, Liverpool, Arsenal & Everton.
Yes it sucks, but we were unlucky in 50% of those games.

Have looked brick since then apart from the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game
No team looks good every game of the season, also 10/15 points in Jan would give a total of 75 points - hardly brick.

Worst PL team on form since 14 February - 0 points and 9 goals conceded
Simply due to bad luck of having 3 hard fixtures in a row.

First time we've lost 3 in a row under Arry
Simply due to bad luck of having 3 hard fixtures in a row.

Rock bottom confidence
I'll give you this one.

Blew a 9 point lead on our rivals in our best and their worst season in 100 years
I don't get this argument. RVP has already scored 50% more goals than any other season for Arsenal and has already scored more (with 10 games to go) than Henry finished with in all but one season. Don't be fooled, they are having a good season, just we are better.

Not a fcuking chance

Not to diss you Arcspace, but everything is relative depending on how you look at it.
I have given counter arguments to all of the above - we can still do this!

 

[indianspur]

after the Blackpool away defeat last season, we picked up 15 points from 11 games.

W 3, D 6, L 2

the Blackpool defeat last season was on the 22nd of Feb, the Arse defeat this season was on the 26th of Feb

Its not looking too good. End of season meltdown, part 2

 

[africanspurs]

Simple poll, Vote now!

this is vintage you, you do realise that.

would this poll have come if they drew

 

[elyid]

I dont understand this mentality that we lost 3 v tough games, 2 unluckily, therefore we'll lose them all. gonad*s to that.

Out of the ten games remaining, Arsenal have easy-ish games other than;

Everton away
Emirates Marketing Project home
Chelsea home
Stoke away

We have easy-ish games other than;
Chelsea away
Sunderland away
Villa away

I'm not saying we'll definitely do it, but still v much all to play for.
Unfortunately they don't just give out 3rd for playing 3/4 of the season, but win our 5 home games (Stoke, Swansea, Norwich, Fulham) and 2 of the away games (QPR, Bolton) and we'll be OK.

 

[glorygloryeze]

this is vintage you, you do realise that.

would this poll have come if they drew

LOL, possibly not. Again just trying to guage how peeps feel and compare with how I feel (I can't decide I see reasons for why we could collapse and also equal reasons why we can still keep ahead).

What do you think?

 

[indianspur]

Are our players 'hungry' for it.........can you see king or kaboul do a vanmarlan and charge up the pitch in the 95th min and score.........me neither..........at the moment our players aren't up for it

i was thinking this too.

they seem well up for it, like their pride has been hurt by such a brick season, like tigers backed into a corner and now they are coming out fighting

RVP even winding up his Dutch team-mate, fcuk nationality, its all about the scum and the 3 points and smashing their way past their bitterest rivals

we need some of this heart from our boys. its time for King, Kaboul, Parker, VDV etc to really go deep one last time and find that inner monster that wont lie down and be beaten by that lot down the road

COYMFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ArcspacE]

We haven't won away since December
We have only played 4 away games in that time! City, Liverpool, Arsenal & Everton.
Yes it sucks, but we were unlucky in 50% of those games.

A big team competing with the big boys needs to be able to deliver in those type of games. At the very least 40-50% of the points should be what we're looking to secure every time

Have looked brick since then apart from the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game
No team looks good every game of the season, also 10/15 points in Jan would give a total of 75 points - hardly brick.

You mean 10/15 points in April/May?

Worst PL team on form since 14 February - 0 points and 9 goals conceded
Simply due to bad luck of having 3 hard fixtures in a row.

Again, personally I don't think we can use the fixture list as an excuse. At least half of those points were attainable, imv and we NEED TO be winning this kind of games if we want to even be mentioned as title contenders beyond the mathematical possibility

First time we've lost 3 in a row under Arry
Simply due to bad luck of having 3 hard fixtures in a row.

As above

I simply feel unless a major turnaround occurs in the next 10 games (both in terms of ours and our direct opponents results) we would have blown what was a fantastic start to the season and all that hard work now seems meaningless. It's a funny old game

 

[ArcspacE]

I think I can pick out a few games in there where we didn't look brick.

Dec 31 FT Swansea City 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur 20,393 Premier League

They dominated us in the second half and we folded, surrendering what should have been a win

Jan 3 FT Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 West Bromwich Albion 36,062 Premier League

Hard fought and nervy in the end. 50 / 50

Jan 7 FT Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Cheltenham Town 35,672 FA Cup (Round 3)

Low opponent quality - anyway I was referring to the PL

Jan 11 FT Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Everton 36,132 Premier League

Ok

Jan 14 FT Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 36,194 Premier League

We drew to a relegation fodder team at home (again) and couldn't break them down for 85 mins. Vintage

Jan 22 FT Emirates Marketing Project 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur 47,422 Premier League

They were the better team overall on that day, imv.

Jan 27 FT Watford 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur 15,384 FA Cup (Round 4)

We were poor that game

Jan 31 FT Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Wigan Athletic 35,801 Premier League

Solid performace against the bottom team in the league

Feb 6 FT Liverpool 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur 44,461 Premier League

We were defending for the entire game and held on for a draw.

Feb 11 FT Tottenham Hotspur 5-0 Saudi Sportswashing Machine 36,176 Premier League

The one stand-out - granted

Feb 19 FT Stevenage 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur 6,332 FA Cup (Round 5)

Shockorama

Feb 26 FT Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur 60,106 Premier League

Shockorama

Mar 4 FT Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Manchester United 36,034 Premier League

Shockorama

Mar 7 FT Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Stevenage 35,757 FA Cup (Round 5)

Worked very, very hard to beat a team 60 places below us. Again, not a PL game

Mar 10 FT Everton 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur 34,992 Premier League

Lapse in defensive concentration made our task nearly impossible and again we couldn't find an end product to all that possession

My view

 

[diego_maradona]

Not far off with that assessment Arc.

What do you think the problem has been in these months?

 

[elyid]

A big team competing with the big boys needs to be able to deliver in those type of games. At the very least 40-50% of the points should be what we're looking to secure every time

Fair enough if that's how you see it. My point was that to say "we haven't haven't won away since Dec" sounds much worse than "we lost against City, Arse & Everton away but drew at Anfield". Considering we only lost 2 away games prior to that, I don't think it's the end of season meltdown everyone says.

You mean 10/15 points in April/May?

Ah, I didn't explain that too well. In Jan we picked up 10 points from 15, over a whole season that form would be 75 points. So, you say we looked _brick_ but were still on track to get more points than we have ever achieved in the history of the Premier League. If that's brick then sign me up to scatloversmonthly.com :lol:

Again, personally I don't think we can use the fixture list as an excuse. At least half of those points were attainable, imv and we NEED TO be winning this kind of games if we want to even be mentioned as title contenders beyond the mathematical possibility

If you are considering us as serious title contenders then you're right and I I can't dance.
Realistically, to even be involved in the title was a bonus, we need to aim for 3rd and then push on next year.

I simply feel unless a major turnaround occurs in the next 10 games (both in terms of ours and our direct opponents results) we would have blown what was a fantastic start to the season and all that hard work now seems meaningless. It's a funny old game

Why won't a turnaround occur? In our next 5 games we have Stoke, Swansea and Norwich at home, so I would say a turnaround is guaranteed.
If we do badly in those i'd start to agree we're having a meltdown - but 9 points from those and another point from Chelsea / Sunderland and we are back in the game!

COYS!!

 

[ArcspacE]

Not far off with that assessment Arc.

What do you think the problem has been in these months?

Apart from the default injuries - many of those teams have by now figured out what appears to be our only game plan - i.e. no Plan B

We keep possession in the middle of the park (most of the time) but struggle to find that incisive touch in the final third - i.e. the clinical finish. Ade has looked attrocious since the Chelsea game (Toon aside) and simply doesn't appear involved enough - poor first touch, misses easy chances, drifts out of the game, becomes isolated, etc. - in other words - exactly what he's been doing at previous clubs in the past. So unless Arry sorts him out we're in the bricker because Defoe would not be able to carry our season on his own and Ade (early season) was one of the main reasons for the results we managed - he WAS the missing piece up front, the quality striker, etc.

Our defense has also looked dodgy and I'm pretty sure teams are set out intentionally to target King. And of course - we've missed Lennon immensely

Not to mention the constant England job reference every 10 minutes.

 

[yiddo2786]

After the Milan 4-0 game, when we had just beaten Saudi Sportswashing Machine 5-0, Arsenal fans were positive that we would finish way above them and trounce them in the NLD because they had zero confidence. Fortunes change.

 

[PochettinoPochettinoPochettino]

Guys, put it into perspective.

They just about beat Saudi Sportswashing Machine 2-1 , who we spanked 5-0, spanked. Ok they beat us, and they beat Liverpool where we drew at Anfield. But had Bale had been slightly more composed we would have won there.

We havent got the luck at the moment, but it will come. Starting at Bolton where we should win. Stoke will be tough, but I fancy us at home to anyone, other than United.

Arsenal will lose again, as will we most likely. but I think we will come out all guns blazing from saturday onwards and go on another good run.

 

[mudshark]

Confident we can? Sure, there's still 30 points to play for; confident we will? Not so much. It's all about character now, though; we'll have to see whether enough of them have got the strength of mind.

 

[Southcote Spur]

LOVE IT!! I voted "yes", because I am the eternal optimist!

 

[Little Luka]

Of course we will. We are the better team.

 

[clevelandspur]

I think it will be close we both have an easy(ish) run in. The thing that worries me is the scum always find a way to get a late goal against teams that park the bus to save points where as we struggle to do so

 

[clevelandspur]

We need someone on GG to go Tonya Harding on RVP's knee that will do them

 

[ArcspacE]

We need someone on GG to go Tonya Harding on RVP's knee that will do them

Parker had a golden opportunity in the England - Holland friendly