Some refreshing honesty finally coming out of Tottenham
Football FanCast guest columnist Ray Mitchell is glad to see some honesty coming from Spurs fans about their top four credentials.
Being a Tottenham fan is very much a Jekyll and Hyde experience where you go from a tremendous high, right down to a tremendous low and in many ways the pain we put ourselves through is a self inflicted one. We build ourselves right up; only to then knock ourselves right down.
Unfortunately we are our own worst enemies at times and we get caught up by what our players, manager and some pundits say about us, without realising that we haven’t actually got the tools to fulfil it. We are not a top four team at present, as we haven’t got the quality in reserve when the likes of Defoe, Lennon and Modric are out of the team, therefore to think we are is ludicrous.
I think yesterday’s defeat was the first time that supporters finally woke up and smelt the coffee. Perhaps we needed that sort of result to give us a sort of grounding and reading some message boards there seems to be the general feeling that this game has provided us with the realisation of how far we are behind the top teams in the country. Supporters were finally being honest about our current situation and understand that as much as we want it to, our hopes of breaching the top four isn’t going to happen overnight.
Harry Redknapp has done a fantastic job at the football club and results and performances this season have certainly shown we are improving, but a top six finish was always going to be our likely marker for this year. You don’t become a mid-table side to a top four one overnight and even Man City with all their wealth will be unable to achieve that this season. What Tottenham needed this year was a season of consolidation, a foundation on which to build from and this year will provide that and show Harry what areas of the squad need improving.
Yesterday was disappointing, a bitter pill considering it was against the scum, but I genuinely believe it was the result we needed to give us all a reality check and stop all this talk of being a top four team. We are making giant strides to get there and are not so far away, but we are certainly not there yet; I’m glad to see supporters now waking up to this, I guess we can only hope that certain players at the football club now start to as well.
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I agree almost 100% with what has been said here. We do need to realise that we are not as good as we had hoped, simply because we don’t have enough quality in reserve, especially when we lose our pace and creativity from the first team. I think that a change in mentality is required throughout the club and fans if we are to reach the promised land of the Top 4. By doing stupid things like referring to Arsenal as Ar5ena1 after one admittedly great result a couple of years ago, not to mention promoting DVDs when we beat the likes of Chelsea, just marks us out as a small team. We need to accept our true position, which is a solid mid table team with higher aspirations than most. We then need to keep our mouths shut until we have actually achieved something. For Robbie Keane to put us on a par with Arsenal on the eve of yesterday’s match was just asking for trouble!
Having said that, the Top 4 might yet be achievable in the very near future. Liverpool look to struggle even more than Spurs do when they are short of their best players and Man City, Villa, Everton and Sunderland could all compete along with us for that covetred 4th spot. My money is on City, but I hope that we can continue to move in the right direction.
COYS
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Top four was always optimistic at best but with Liverpool looking increasingly like also rans too, who else out there is really that much better equipped than Spurs or Man CIry to take that final top four place?
Early days yet, but it’s there for the taking more than ever before just a case of stepping up and believing rather than backing off with heads bowed.
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hang on a minute there is another team which is “top four” that has crumbled lately and they go by the name of liverpool. They are actually worse off than us when it comes to “good players in the reserve” the game against Arsenal was unlucky for us because of two costly mistakes which turnt the game on its head. Next time round at our place when we got modric lennon and defoe we will give them the game they deserve. Have faith
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we are top four this year due to the other teams cancelling other results……in january will be time when we can evaluate our position…..
if we had scored in the first 40 mins then arsenal may have panicked …we let in three sloppy goals.
definately missing modric ,defoe….
the lack of movement of the midfield was evident
we shot ourselves in the foot ….
as far as being in the top four we will be there or near….there is some way to go to make the team really top draw …but throwing in the towel is not right after 11 games…
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Yeah ok, lets lay down and die.
The bindippers are on a downward spiral, a further injury to Gerrard of Torres would see them struggle even more so to find the net and results. There are four teams that can take that fourth spot, Villa, Citeh, Poo and including us.
It`s not going to be easy, and the reality of losing that golden ticket to the CL will see the bindippers invest in the January window and step up a gear and everything is back to the norm.
Lets wait until January, see where we stand and what quality we have purchased, and what waste we managed to offload.
Pav, Keane, Jenas, Hudds & Bentley would be out of the door ASAP if I had anything to say about it.
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I aggree with EngNor as far as getting rid of Pav Keane,Hudds,andBentley are concerned.Possibly Jenas should be given a little more time.Making Keane captain was one of the worst decisions.It has allowed him to have an inflated idea of his own ability and importance.His rantings before the Arsenal game were embarrasssing.He cannot score against the better clubs and seems to run around the grounds like a headless chicken.Pav has only recently been given the chance to be a regular player and I fear that the time he has spent warming the bench has soured his resolve.
The continual fight to remain at the top is
going to take a lot from Harry.Let’s hope he can do it.
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well, who said we are a top 4 team?? Why people can even think of top 4 with a couple of good wins against the mighty Hull and Burnley? People are so naive and optimistic like a little child see a xmas tree and believe Santa exist.
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EngNor, i really really wish i can share the faith u have. Some fans can really make themselves feel good. A lucky win turns out to be a fully deserved hard worked win. A draw turns out to be: “good result, last year we will roll on the floor and die”. A lost turns out to be: It is a one-off, Harry will sort it out.
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Top four is not unrealistic and it is fair to say that Man Utd and Chelsea are ahaed of the pack. There’ll be a pack of 5 or 6 hunting for 2 spots…Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Villa and Spurs…Everton have not had a good start so they will probably not get there. My take on Spurs is that we do not play well against a side that are able to play a quick inter-passing game sans Man Utd and Arsenal however teams that play the slow build-up like we do most of the times, suits our style of play. We do however require one more enforcer in the midfield to give our team a better balance AND I’m not one for shouting that we sell off players because we’ve more or less cut our the dead wood.I do howeverget absolutely mad at Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s awful mistakes and dwelling on the ball as he’s done in the last 4 games.He needs to jack up his game or Harry needs to get Bale in there quickly…
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