I think we finally have a team

Dublin Spur

that can sustain a challenge on champions league qualification and maybe even sneek a domestic cup.

Other teams genuinely fear us. You can see it in their play, even away from home. Villa yesterday was a great example of this. It's great to see.

Exciting (and nervy) times ahead.

RichMc70

Let's just hope the Board keep the players we have and not cash in on the stars e.g. Defoe, Lennon, Modric etc.

Maybe if we're lucky Harry might do another bit a clever business come January. I reckon a goalkeeper will be a deffo but now we're being seen as a team that can challenge, we might also attract other top players. Fingers crossed.

whitey21

RichMc70 wrote: »

Let's just hope the Board keep the players we have and not cash in on the stars e.g. Defoe, Lennon, Modric etc.

Maybe if we're lucky Harry might do another bit a clever business come January. I reckon a goalkeeper will be a deffo but now we're being seen as a team that can challenge, we might also attract other top players. Fingers crossed.

Absolutely agree, think we took a good step on saturday and long may it continue! and hope we hang on to our better players...especially after reading this
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11675_5731282,00.html

mickman

our big players wont be sold unless they demand to leave. levy wants success

Mullo76

Dublin Spur wrote: »

that can sustain a challenge on champions league qualification and maybe even sneek a domestic cup.

Other teams genuinely fear us. You can see it in their play, even away from home. Villa yesterday was a great example of this. It's great to see.

Exciting (and nervy) times ahead.

Agree with you that we have a team to challenge Shane but the one thing we need to do is finish the games that matter. We dominated Villa in the second half so much that nothing less than 3 points should have done. Looking at the league table 3 points last sat would have made a huge difference and begun to lift us out of the mix. Hopefully we are sitting here in a few weeks after beating Everton, wolves and city. Other results have gone our way a lot this season, that wont keep happening.

Hatch99

Mullo76 wrote: »

Agree with you that we have a team to challenge Shane but the one thing we need to do is finish the games that matter. We dominated Villa in the second half so much that nothing less than 3 points should have done. Looking at the league table 3 points last sat would have made a huge difference and begun to lift us out of the mix. Hopefully we are sitting here in a few weeks after beating Everton, wolves and city. Other results have gone our way a lot this season, that wont keep happening.

Spot On. As happy as I was with our performance, and as well as we played, we really should have picked up the 3 points. With Liverpool struggling, and the goons getting stuffed, it would have been a great weekend if we had of won.

Everton becomes an even bigger game now, they are really struggling, if we get the first goal, id fancy us bigtime.

But I agree with the OP, we are worrying teams a lot more than we have done in a long time.

mickman

guys - i cant believe the pessimism here. a draw at villa park was a great result. end of story

Hatch99

mickman wrote: »

guys - i cant believe the pessimism here. a draw at villa park was a great result. end of story

Your right, no pleasing me

Probably would have taken a point before the game, but having dominated it for long spells, we were very unfortunate not to have come away with 3pts.

mickman

yes we were the better team and murdered them but this time last year we woudlnt have even got the draw

harry was saying afterwards how good the team spirit is now. when villa scored robbie jumped off the bench saying i want to come on etc. this time last year harry said he wasnt sure if the subs were even watching the game :-)

everdead.ie

The only games I have to say that i have been dissapointed with is villa for not picking up the three points when we where by far the better side and stoke when the game should of been dead and buried by the time lennon went off injured but those games apart i think the team is playing well and its fantastic to see

mickman

the stoke one was a sickenere. i think it could haunt us yet

golfball37

Liverpool are having their worst run of form in 50 years lads and are only 3 points behind us. Lets not get carried away.

mushykeogh

golfball37 wrote: »

Liverpool are having their worst run of form in 50 years lads and are only 3 points behind us. Lets not get carried away.

True, and arsenal, utd and chelsea all gave us a good going over with little fuss.

yiddo

mickman wrote: »

our big players wont be sold unless they demand to leave. levy wants success

I wish I had your faith in him. When Man U comew calling for Modric or whoever he'll cave in just he always does.

mickman wrote: »

guys - i cant believe the pessimism here. a draw at villa park was a great result. end of story

spot on. we'd all have been happy before the game with a point and thats what we got.

ohnoigotsick

i think we need to calm things down ourselves here. for every good result we've had this season, we've had others which have been equally dissapointing.

there is nothing worse , i'd follow the dubs each year and its a horrible feeling when the media build us up year on year after a few good results , when those in the know or follow the team, cringe when when this happens and then it all blows up in our faces.

a fellow yid where i work was saying that we were level on points with arsenal last week and everyone is banging on about their start to the season , i said let them go on about arsenal all day long, i'll gladly stay in 3rd or 4th till the end of the seaon with no one mentioning us

mickman

yiddo - levy has only cashed in when it made business sense. 35 million for berba was a great deal as was 18 for keane. i would have agreed with these sales at the time. if we got 40 million for modric then i would also sell him but only if the money was given to harry then of course.

ohnoigotsick

mickman wrote: »

yiddo - levy has only cashed in when it made business sense. 35 million for berba was a great deal as was 18 for keane. i would have agreed with these sales at the time. if we got 40 million for modric then i would also sell him but only if the money was given to harry then of course.

i think any player we have sold - carrick keane berba - were sold cos they wanted to go and levy cashed in as it was the sellers market for these players.

40 million for modric - while i dont see it happening would be good money but disasterous for the team and the club longer term

yiddo

mickman wrote: »

yiddo - levy has only cashed in when it made business sense. 35 million for berba was a great deal as was 18 for keane. i would have agreed with these sales at the time. if we got 40 million for modric then i would also sell him but only if the money was given to harry then of course.

he sells berba and keane and we end up with pav and fraser campbell! Levy should grow a pair of balls and act like Lerner did with Gareth Barry at Villa. Tell them they're conracted and that they stay put til we have a proper replacement lined up. Levy did another great deal in getting 18m for Carrick but again while it was a good move money wise it was a bad one football wise!

mickman

i agree that we ended up with terrible players to replace keane and berba. he made a mistake here by drawing out the transfers. commoli was also at fault there in fairness, he probably told levy that he had adequate replacements lined up.

gerkeo

says it all really...

http://www.studs-up.com/2009/11/the-waking-nightmare/

whitey21

yiddo wrote: »

he sells berba and keane and we end up with pav and fraser campbell! Levy should grow a pair of balls and act like Lerner did with Gareth Barry at Villa. Tell them they're conracted and that they stay put til we have a proper replacement lined up. Levy did another great deal in getting 18m for Carrick but again while it was a good move money wise it was a bad one football wise!

What would have been Comolli's role though in all of these transfer though! Was it all levy???

yiddo

whitey21 wrote: »

What would have been Comolli's role though in all of these transfer though! Was it all levy???

Levy has the ultimate yes/no on transfers. I'd say the only one Comolli was heavily involved in was Carrick one. He told Levy he had a quality replacement lined up in Zokora! By the time Berbs/Keane were leaving Comolli was a minor figure.

whitey21

yiddo wrote: »

Levy has the ultimate yes/no on transfers. I'd say the only one Comolli was heavily involved in was Carrick one. He told Levy he had a quality replacement lined up in Zokora! By the time Berbs/Keane were leaving Comolli was a minor figure.

A minor figure??? He was still the director football though...responsible for the transfer of players!
i know levy is the man doin the bargaining over the price etc but i still think comolli had a bigger role and it was him, who saw how much money he could make from them so he could 'make the bigger signings' from that money made...

mickman

i would think that levy does all the hard dealing over money etc but he dosent know anything about players and i wouldnt say he thinks he does either. commolli would have been his adviser and levy did the rest but he was going to listen to commollis advice about players

StillRickyVilla

Dublin Spur wrote: »

that can sustain a challenge on champions league qualification and maybe even sneek a domestic cup.

Other teams genuinely fear us. You can see it in their play, even away from home. Villa yesterday was a great example of this. It's great to see.

Exciting (and nervy) times ahead.

Yes I believe this too. If anything the Villa performance was more pivotal than the Wigan one.

To go to Villa Park and completely play them off the park takes some doing and shows we are much tougher mentally these days and have great confidence in our ability.

Hope it continues like it is. We are now into December after-all!

yiddo

whitey21 wrote: »

A minor figure??? He was still the director football though...responsible for the transfer of players!
i know levy is the man doin the bargaining over the price etc but i still think comolli had a bigger role and it was him, who saw how much money he could make from them so he could 'make the bigger signings' from that money made...

by the time Berbs went Comolli had been sidelined. Levy had seen through him and had taken charge himself.

mickman wrote: »

i would think that levy does all the hard dealing over money etc but he dosent know anything about players and i wouldnt say he thinks he does either. commolli would have been his adviser and levy did the rest but he was going to listen to commollis advice about players

berbs leaving on the last day and being replaced by fraser campbell wasn't down to commolli.

everdead.ie

I think Campbell was down to the fact they didn't think the transfer would go through untill the last minute

yiddo

everdead.ie wrote: »

I think Campbell was down to the fact they didn't think the transfer would go through untill the last minute

Levy's fault. he should have done the deal earlier in the window or else make Berbs stay just like Villa done with Barry.

mickman

gareth barry was / is a lot more professional than berbatov. if we had made him stay then he would have gone on strike and would be just costing us money while sitting on the bench drawing his wages

therecklessone

mickman wrote: »

yes we were the better team and murdered them but this time last year we woudlnt have even got the draw

Last year we beat them at Villa Park...just sayin'

yiddo wrote: »

he sells berba and keane and we end up with pav and fraser campbell! Levy should grow a pair of balls and act like Lerner did with Gareth Barry at Villa. Tell them they're conracted and that they stay put til we have a proper replacement lined up.

Here here Pat, I might finally start to believe we are going places if that were to happen.

mickman wrote: »

i would think that levy does all the hard dealing over money etc but he dosent know anything about players and i wouldnt say he thinks he does either. commolli would have been his adviser and levy did the rest but he was going to listen to commollis advice about players

Comolli was middle management, and like all middle management he would have been given a brief by his superior (Levy). Comolli's brief was to generate cash through player trading, he would not have sold any of our big names off his own bat without general approval from the board.

yiddo wrote: »

by the time Berbs went Comolli had been sidelined. Levy had seen through him and had taken charge himself.

everdead.ie wrote: »

I think Campbell was down to the fact they didn't think the transfer would go through untill the last minute

Not so sure about that chaps, Comolli was instructed to have alternatives lined up in case the Berbatov deal went ahead, and he had made contact with Wigan and Reading re. Heskey and Doyle respectively. Levy closed the Berbatov deal late in the evening but when Comolli tried to open up negotiations with the other clubs Steve Bruce refused to talk and Reading DOF Nicky Hammond told him he was taking the piss renewing contact so late in the window (publicly confirmed by Hammond)

therecklessone

mickman wrote: »

gareth barry was / is a lot more professional than berbatov. if we had made him stay then he would have gone on strike and would be just costing us money while sitting on the bench drawing his wages

We replaced him with Campbell...other than the wages would it have made a difference?

We should have laid down a marker, we should not be a selling club.

yiddo

mickman wrote: »

gareth barry was / is a lot more professional than berbatov. if we had made him stay then he would have gone on strike and would be just costing us money while sitting on the bench drawing his wages

Is that you Daniel?

mickman

yiddo wrote: »

Is that you Daniel?

ha ha very funny

i know we beat villa last year at villa park but at that stage villa were in freefall and we were lucky enough. in my opinion we played a stronger villa side on saturday and played better against them then when we wont at villa park last season

mickman

oh and thank god we didnt buy kevin doyle. he would have been like chris armstrong or gary doherty up front for us. i just cant rate the man at all

therecklessone

Anyway, back on topic...

Dublin Spur wrote: »

that can sustain a challenge on champions league qualification and maybe even sneek a domestic cup.

Lots of positives Shane, Lennon had a relatively quiet game but it's a measure of the player he is that MON sent Ashley Young out as a 2nd full back because of Lennon's threat.

Modric coming back, and King/Woody fully fit will give us a few decent options, if Harry gets to spend in January (someone decent for the centre alongside Wilson) I think we'll be there or there abouts.

everdead.ie

Next few games are massive for us and 3 points a must against a depleted everton and a free falling wolves I really fancy our chances against wolves because they like to get the ball down and move it around which is ideal for us City is a huge game and so is Blackburn and there physicality
I'd like the club to hit the mid 70's points wise this season don't know if that possible but i hope

Emoran

really do believe this is the year we WILL do it, liverpool are a complete different team to what they were last year, there isnt a game in the next 6 league matches which i dont see us winning theres a really good chance to knock United out considering they wont have there starting 11 and there manager to back them up:D
the only thing im worried about is near the end when we have aresenal chelsea and united in succession:mad: which means we have to keep ahead of the others trying to compete for 4th place in case we lose all 3 hopefully we could snatch 4 points since we have 2 of them at home!
so far this has been spurs' most exciting year we look very strong even without one of are best players and for the majority of the year are two main CBs
we need to focus on the next 6 try not to make many mistakes and we should get at least 12 points:D

COYS

awkwardboy

Looks like Pav is off to Roma now which is good, never really rated him anyway. Will be interesting to see who Harry brings in to replace him. Think we really need a proper partner for Palacios in the centre to make us real challengers but otherwise we have never had a stronger team in living memory. Future is looking very rosy! COYS!

mickman

id take 8 mill for pav in fairness. dont think we need any players in january

everdead.ie

Jenas and palacios have a lot of yellows so I'd like Yaya Toure or if this Sandros guy really is that good i'd be delighted to have him too:D

curraghyid

Dublin Spur wrote: »

that can sustain a challenge on champions league qualification and maybe even sneek a domestic cup.

Other teams genuinely fear us. You can see it in their play, even away from home. Villa yesterday was a great example of this. It's great to see.

Exciting (and nervy) times ahead.

i agree completely i genuinely believe we have a real chance this season,injuries is the only factor that will really hamper progress hopefully after the glut of injuries we can keep at least two centre halves off the physios table and we are still short of a consistent midfielder who can do the simple stuff right every time.

ohnoigotsick

mickman wrote: »

id take 8 mill for pav in fairness. dont think we need any players in january

think we need a top up in jan - our great bench had to be used against arsenal and they were brutal (bentley pav) we should replace what we sell in january. i think we could do with a left back

everdead.ie

I was thinking about it and Redknapp earlier in the year asked for five years at the club to really cement us in the top 4 Now i'm a huge Redknapp fan almost as big as I was a martin Jol fan but i'd love to see him here for 5 years and if we are to become a great team again It is going to hinge on Redknapps ability to keep our top players I really hope to see us take our place amongst Europes elite sooner rather then later.

mickman

i dont think harry would take any crap from levy. if levy wanted to sell modric then harry would just say if you do then im gone. i dont think levy can risk that considering the turn around harry has brought

everdead.ie

mickman wrote: »

i dont think harry would take any crap from levy. if levy wanted to sell modric then harry would just say if you do then im gone. i dont think levy can risk that considering the turn around harry has brought

Your at the desk at work again today:)

I really hope so and I hope we can start bringing our own players through the academy that said if we make the top four Levy will back harry in the market in the summer to insure we have the quality and the numbers to challenge in all competitions.

I think if this sandro guy doesn't turn into another Lucas then the only thing we need is a better partner for Defoe up front our own Torres/Drogba an all rounder

mickman

reports today say that roma dont want a cash deal for pav, they want to give us baptista ...aaghh

everdead.ie

mickman wrote: »

reports today say that roma dont want a cash deal for pav, they want to give us baptista ...aaghh

Don't know anything about him except did he not play for Arsenal?

everdead.ie

http://www.itv.com/sport/football/news/premierleague/generalnews/redknapp-eyes-top-four-breakthrough-776080557.html
Redknapp says Dos Santos isn't going anywhere he wants him to stay at the club, Modric back in a few weeks on the Sandro deal "levy is well down the road on that one" and he's looking for another keeper