Is a Top Four Finish still on ???

RichMc70

We seem to have thrown away a lot of points in recent games, when our performances deserved more.

Liverpool have now overtaken us and Villa and City are still breathing down our necks.

Do we have the nerve and drive to step up to the mark and maintain a 'top four challenge' ?

I've felt all along that there was going to be a stage where we have to grind out results, but I don't think this team is mentally capable of grinding out a result in Chelsea/Liverpool style.

The loss of Lennon to injury has had a massive effect on our attacking play, whilst Liverpool have been picking up results even without star players such as Torres.

At this stage, my money would be on Liverpool getting fourth.

Opinions ?

el diablo

I reckon the Pool have 4th place (or maybe even 3rd place) wrapped up. We had our chance and blew it by dropping too many unnecessary points.
We really need to win the next three games (Wolves (A), Wigan (A), Everton (H)) if we're to have any chance.
Looks like a battle for 6th with the Villa... :rolleyes:

You not voting, Rich?

SuprSi

No chance now, I reckon. As mentioned, we've had many chances to pull away from the rest and haven't taken them. Whatever about Liverpool's next couple of fixtures being difficult, even if we overtake them we still have to play 3 of the top 4 in April. Top 6 will be good at this stage.

Emoran

yes it is unlikely that we will finish in the top 4 but there's still a chance and a decent one at that theres no point in giving up all hope!
like the contenders for 4th place all have tough games coming up not just spurs like pool could lose on wednesday and we win and suddenly were in a good position again?
its not just us that cant get on a decent run
look at city they lost against hull and we domolished them here we looked a far better side
look at villa... a top 4 side? not a chance we have a much better chance i know we only got 2 points from them but we ran amock against them and should have done better they bairly had a shot when we played them!
pool are still our main rivals and its theres to lose now
i really hope we get a top 4 position and go on a good cup run
although you can already see what 'Arry will say when we come 5th/6th...

"we've had a triffic season look were we where when i took over we were bottom of the table and we finished in 8th a point off a europe spot. next season we where 4th for a good 2/3rds of the season and missed off the 4th place late on against some triffic teams, we'll be back better than ever next season and hopefully get 4th then" and to be honest no spurs fan will deny that he's done a fantastic job!

COYS:D

RichMc70

For me, the loss of Lennon has been pivotal in the change of direction we are going in.

I'll give you an example of how important he's been. He has been missing for the last five league games and during that time our record has been......

1 win...3 draws...1 loss - Total of 6 points from 15

In the five previous games that he did play our record was......

3 wins...1 draw...1 loss - Total of 10 points from 15

He really does make such a difference and without him there's no real match winners on the pitch.

keane=cock

anyone else think defoe needs too many chance to score lately?

i know he got 3 against leeds but he could have got 10!

lennon has been a massive loss. he makes things happen out of nothing. when he gets the ball i get a little tingle and expect something to happen

Hatch99

Lads, we cant use the loss of Lennon as the main excuse .Whilst I agree he is a massive loss, we have to be able to cope better with such an injury.

In saying that, I personally dont think we would get 4th even with him fit. I obviously hope to be wrong, but I just dont think we are up to it.

I have said it before in other threads over the last 3/4 months, but I just dont think our manager in tacticaly astute enough to get us there. Saturday was the 4th or 5th time this season he failed to change the game from the dugout to gain the 3 points. I dont want to be over negative on him, as he has done a very good job over the last 12 months, but as for top 4, not just yet for me. I hope Im proved wrong.


I dont want to start too big a debate over it now as I think its too early, and things could change very quickly, so I'll leave it at that for the minute.

curraghyid

the test was at anfield beaten 2-0 by a liverpool team less their two star performers that was were 4th place was relinquished,best of the rest 5th is most likely now.

mushykeogh

Not likely, had a chance to push on and didnt take it. Seems like not so long ago we were 7 points ahead of liverpool. Still 3 or 4 players short of breaking into the top 4.

golfball37

On ability alone 4th should be a straight fight between ourselves and City, for me Spurs are streets ahead in player terms than any of the 4 clubs vying for this spot. Put it like this when Spurs click they are far more deadly than an of the other pretenders.
Unfortunately achieving means having bottle aligned with ability and I would say ourselves and City would lag well behind Liverpool and Vila in this facet of the game. We have been mentally weak for decades now, it’s a cultural thing at the club and not necessarily the current crop of players fault. I just wouldn’t trust Spurs to go anywhere and win a match where their life depended on it.
If you ask me we are only 2 signings away from having a league winning squad, we are light years away however from having a squad that are mentally capable of such a challenge.
In short the battle for 4th will go down to the wire and we’ll be involved to the death, we have too much ability not to be up there especially when the rest of them are so ordinary. If only we had a born winner at the club or a few of them it can be oh so different. Realistically 4th spot should not be an issue, we should be challenging the Goons for 3rd. Neck on the block time- We’ll miss out but only just.

golfball37

Despite last nights result I still think we'll finish 5th. City are poor away form home, even as bad as us but we have better players imo.
Villa are just rubbish, a hoofing team who will be found out.

Liverpool are a Villa who know how to get the job done which is the big difference and worth about 10 points.

tomo75

golfball37 wrote: »

Villa are just rubbish, a hoofing team who will be found out.

When Crouch is playing we are not too far from the same...:rolleyes:

el diablo

golfball37 wrote: »

Despite last nights result I still think we'll finish 5th. City are poor away form home, even as bad as us but we have better players imo.

I reckon we're looking at 7th (at best) and wouldn't be surprised if teams like Everton and Birmingham overtake us (especially after the three consecutive games against the top four in April). And I'm not too optimistic about the home game v Everton either.

Harry's tactics have been found out and he has no idea what to do about it.

Anto12

Think we will really struggle to even make 5th .. We would have needed to be at least 5 or 6 points clear of the chasing pack in April as we have Utd,Chelsea & the gunners - 3 weeks in a row and I cant really see us picking up 6 points there .. Losing last night was a real killer because they were going to play the same way as the did at the Lane - not getting any points off Wolves is not top 4 material .. Gudjohnssen miles off the pace !!

awkwardboy

The fact is, losing to Wolves home and away, we simply don't deserve fourth.
Same old problems come up again and again. Jenas and some others simply not up to the standard required. Am quite depressed really at how we have just handed it back to Liverpool without even a fight.

Columbo

5th or 6th is the best i think we can attain. Shame coz I think we have played some nice football but losing to teams like Wolves & Stoke has been painful. Top 4 teams will not drop 9 points to these teams

Glenster

I dont know if we'll get fourth, City are dangerous-looking, I dont know how liverpool will throw it away but they will, hopefully Villa will trail off a bit now.

imo Lennon was a huge loss but in the only area of the pitch we can afford a long term injury, Bentley's been good and has been sending some vicious crosses, it's a just a shame defoe and crouch seem incapable of doing anything with a high ball in the box.

MrKingsley

Before the match yesterday i said to my brother that we had to win in order to keep my in anyway convinced about a top 4 challenge. Harry obviously had them well prepped for it. Weve gone to a struggling team and beat them comfortably, defended well and scored a few goals.

If we can keep ticking over for the next 2/3 games when weve lennon back and hopefully either pav or eidur get in ahead of crouch then theres no reason we cant be challenging with 2/3 matches to go

therecklessone

There is a parallel discussion of sorts taking place on the soccer forum for those of you with access:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055824879

note: don't start commenting on posts from that thread here, please.

ruiseal

therecklessone wrote: »

There is a parallel discussion of sorts taking place on the soccer forum for those of you with access:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055824879

note: don't start commenting on posts from that thread here, please.

Looks like nobody apart from ourselves gives Spurs any chance of finishing in the top four (or even top six, for that matter!).

mickman

the four guys on sky sat tipped villa and the pool to get 4th. spurs werent mentioned at all. thats fine with me , we can start to win away quietly now.

lennon broke down in training yesterday and not his groin looks like its "compeltely gone" so he will be out for ages

Hatch99

mickman wrote: »

lennon broke down in training yesterday and not his groin looks like its "compeltely gone" so he will be out for ages

Can anyone confirm this ?

el diablo

Hatch99 wrote: »

Can anyone confirm this ?

From Teamtalk:

Lennon groin injury flares up again

Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon is waiting for scan results after feeling discomfort in his injured groin while training at the weekend.
Lennon: Groin causing concern


The 22-year-old had been recovering well from the problem he picked up in December but this setback could mean more time on the sidelines depending on the assessment of the complaint, which is due on Tuesday.
It means he is a huge concern ahead of England's friendly against Egypt a week on Wednesday, the last chance to impress boss Fabio Capello before the domestic season finishes and the focus switches to the World Cup.
Lennon appeared to be leading the race to be Capello's first-choice right winger when he started the final three qualifiers, with Theo Walcott, David Beckham and Shaun Wright-Phillips also looking to board the plane to South Africa.
Since featuring in the win over Belarus, Lennon suffered an ankle problem against Stoke - when he took himself off despite boss Harry Redknapp wanting him to continue - then injured his groin two months ago against West Ham.
Spurs have been inconsistent in his absence but are still in the hunt for a Champions League place after their win over Wigan at the weekend.
"It will go down to the last day," said centre-back Michael Dawson. "There is one point separating four teams, so we are all in with a shout and hopefully we will finish there at the end of the season.
"If people no longer thought we were part of the race, let's hope they keep thinking like that.
"We'll just keep going about our job as we know we can, and as we did at Wigan. Reaching the Champions League would be fantastic.
"We lost out on the last day of the season four years ago and it was devastating. We want to play against the best players and teams in the world."

tippspur

That's bad news lads.

kakee

A top four finish is still on for sure. We Spurs fans have been programmed from an early age to accept that Spurs teams will let you down if you have too much belief in them. We almost qualified for the champions league before and this season we have better players and a stronger squad.COYS.

mickman

kakee wrote: »

A top four finish is still on for sure. We Spurs fans have been programmed from an early age to accept that Spurs teams will let you down if you have too much belief in them. We almost qualified for the champions league before and this season we have better players and a stronger squad.COYS.

yes we have a stronger squad in every way except for CM. we have no cover. i was hoping for a top four finish but i think we wont make it now. our midfield has gone from

modric palacious hudd lennon

to

bale palacious (until suspended) modric kranjcar

we cant cope with all the midfield injuries and will tell in our results

RichMc70

Well I just came across this Sky Sports poll in which public voting puts us way behind City and Liverpool

http://www.skysports.com/poll/results/0,19911,11061_101325,00.html

Man City 35.3%
Liverpool 34.4%
Spurs 18.1%
Villa 10.3%
Other 2% (I guess a few people see Birmingham, Fulham or Everton making a late surge for fourth spot )

el diablo

RichMc70 wrote: »

Well I just came across this Sky Sports poll in which public voting puts us way behind City and Liverpool

http://www.skysports.com/poll/results/0,19911,11061_101325,00.html

Man City 35.3%
Liverpool 34.4%
Spurs 18.1%
Villa 10.3%
Other 2% (I guess a few people see Birmingham, Fulham or Everton making a late surge for fourth spot )

It's very close between City and Pool there but I think Pool will get there by grinding out results with their negative football. :mad: City still look a bit inconsistent and Spurs missing too many important players. Villa have no chance. They'll fade away now.