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A Realistic Perspective

cider spurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
9,399
23,731
Great article. I'd certainly take where we are today as a club as opposed to 10 years ago.

That's the thing, we are close, some want it now (society seems to breed this mentality all too often these days it seems)

I too would love to see success through titles and trophies.

But it's going to take time, we're improving, laying some hoodoo's to rest along the way.

Patience grasshopper...patience.
 

Gaz_Gammon

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2005
16,047
18,013
Great article. I'd certainly take where we are today as a club as opposed to 10 years ago.

That's the thing, we are close, some want it now (society seems to breed this mentality all too often these days it seems)

I too would love to see success through titles and trophies.

But it's going to take time, we're improving, laying some hoodoo's to rest along the way.

Patience grasshopper...patience.


Poch has accepted (and i think he understood this when taking the job) that we simply will not compete in the transfer market with four of the so called top six clubs.

I think he's trying to get the fans to realise that fact, and see that not unlike Burnley as an example we are punching well above our weight, and in doing so have a punchers chance of knocking out a better, more skilled fighter.

That's how (as far as the domestic Cups are concerned) Wigan, Portsmouth and Swansea (of the current era) won Silverware. It's a case of on any given day anyone can win a game of football.

Skill, bottle, talent, reputation, and odds, can count for very little on the odd, one off occasion especially in the World of sport.
 

rocklink

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2013
1,613
2,558
We must be very harsh when we analyse our performance in the cups this season.

League Cup: Threw away a winning position at home
European Cup: Threw away a winning position at home
FA Cup: Threw away a winning position at home

It’s not about this or that player, as a team we have a very dangerous combination of complacency/sloppiness that has seen us exit three different competitions in exactly the same way. When a team with the quality we have gets into a winning position, we should see it through. There are no more excuses, aside from City our squad is as good as anybody else in the league. Dele doing that stupid dance after he scored is a good summary of our attitude problems. There were still 80 minutes to go against a team that is above us in the league table. It was not time to dance, save the dancing for the final whistle.
 

SPURSLIFE

Well-Known Member
Jul 21, 2011
1,578
2,132
The problem is even if the fans have the patience to wait for say another 2 or 3 years the players wont. We all know the Levy situation regarding buying, selling and wages and that isn't going to change. Does anybody actually believe that our main players like Eriksen, Ali, Kane, Toby and Rose wont want to leave for trophies and money if the big clubs come calling and I'm sure they will. Who would blame them? With the exception of Ali they are all in there mid to late 20's and may feel if they don't go now then it might be to late. Personally I think this was for many a defining season and they were looking to win something. It hasn't happened and I think there will be a few talking to their agents. That semi defeat could have bigger repercussions than we actually know.
 

Gassin's finest

C'est diabolique
May 12, 2010
37,352
87,815
We must be very harsh when we analyse our performance in the cups this season.

League Cup: Threw away a winning position at home
European Cup: Threw away a winning position at home
FA Cup: Threw away a winning position at home

It’s not about this or that player, as a team we have a very dangerous combination of complacency/sloppiness that has seen us exit three different competitions in exactly the same way. When a team with the quality we have gets into a winning position, we should see it through. There are no more excuses, aside from City our squad is as good as anybody else in the league. Dele doing that stupid dance after he scored is a good summary of our attitude problems. There were still 80 minutes to go against a team that is above us in the league table. It was not time to dance, save the dancing for the final whistle.
We weren't at home...
 

rocklink

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2013
1,613
2,558
Chelsea through to the fa cup final.. City won the league.. Man United in the fa cup final. Liverpool semi of champions league, Even arsenal in the semi of the Europa and here we are :3

FB_IMG_1524451998747.jpg
 
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D

Deleted member 27995

Chelsea through to the fa cup final.. City won the league.. Man United in the fa cup final. Liverpool semi of champions league, Even arsenal in the semi of the Europa and here we are :3

View attachment 37669
What has this got to do with this thread?

You're clearly not a Spurs fan ...

Every fucking thread I walk into and there you are either talking utter fucking bollocks or posting utter fucking bollocks memes.
 

dk-yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2011
4,489
8,020
Good article.

We may be the 'nearly men' but rather that than the 'nowhere near men' or the 'once in a blue moon men'.

We came up short but we have competed well in the three most important competitions at once which we couldn't just a few short years ago.
 

sxboy

Well-Known Member
Jul 24, 2005
326
269
I always said this season didnt count, anything we got out of this was a bonus lets not forget after the chelsea game at home everyone was writing us off.

If we get CL going into the new ground for me its been a good season. Next season however i want more and i will be disappointed if we sell good players and dont bring in better.
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,389
Seems like the progress we've made in the past 4 years isn't enough for some. We've punched well above our weight and made consistent progress after years and years of stagnation. We've overcome some major hurdles and dealt with bullshit like the 'Wembley Hoodoo' to finish the season in the mix for a CL place, and I'd have had your arm off for that in September. I expect that if some on here got given a Ferrari for their birthday, they'd have a whinge and ask why they weren't getting a Lambourghini too.
 

cider spurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2016
9,399
23,731
Without wishing to bang on about the money side of things...it can't be ignored.

The realism surely has to be that those who can afford more regarding wages and signings tend to win the Prem league or FA cup more often than not. Coincidence...I think not.

FA Cup wins since 1996...

CHELSEA. 6
ARSENAL. 6
MAN UTD. 4
LIVERPOOL 2
MAN CITY. 1
WIGAN. 1
PORTSMOUTH. 1

It's clear to see that the teams that tend to spend more on wages and signings than us feature the most.

We can argue that City have only won it once in this period, but that's easily countered by the fact they've won the league 3 times in the past Seven seasons.

In fact, I can only add Everton to the above list as an alternative to the usual suspects since we last won the FA cup in 1991. Yes, Wigan and Portsmouth won it once also, but plain to see usual suspects far outweigh these one off wins.

Right...the Premier league since Premier league started.

Winners...

MAN UTD. 13
CHELSEA. 5
MAN CITY. 3
ARSENAL. 3
BLACKBURN. 1
LEICESTER. 1

Again, clear to see that apart from the odd rare occasion the usual suspects feature greatly.

So whilst the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal may not spend like the Manchester clubs and Chelsea on player transfers, they have and do often snaffle top talents through the lure of better wages than we can afford to offer.

We are doing well against these teams, and hopefully we'll pick up a trophy here and there, it happens.

But the realistic perspective surely has to be, that until we can reach something resembling, a somewhat more equal financial playing field, the usual suspects will always be lurking in the fore.

Sorry, but at present in football, money really does usually win out.
 

PeeEyeEmPee

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
1,925
3,125
the problem with your argument is that, when names like Wigan. Portsmouth and Leicester make it onto your lists, we can't then pretend that we have had no chance. so why have we not been able to take our chances, and other far inferior clubs have? especially when we were directly competing against two of those clubs. they should've been the ones with all the excuses, not us.

the main problem, amongst others, is our mentality, and that proved the case again on Saturday.
 

PeeEyeEmPee

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
1,925
3,125
as for that article, we've played AFC Wimbledon, Newport, Rochdale, Swansea, Villa, Wycombe, Fulham and Millwall to get to two semi-finals, and then lost against the first good opposition we've come up against both times. spinning that as putting ourselves in a position to fail, and that being an achievement in itself is some pretty creative accounting.
 

Graysonti

Well-Known Member
May 8, 2011
3,904
5,823
Without wishing to bang on about the money side of things...it can't be ignored.

The realism surely has to be that those who can afford more regarding wages and signings tend to win the Prem league or FA cup more often than not. Coincidence...I think not.

FA Cup wins since 1996...

CHELSEA. 6
ARSENAL. 6
MAN UTD. 4
LIVERPOOL 2
MAN CITY. 1
WIGAN. 1
PORTSMOUTH. 1

It's clear to see that the teams that tend to spend more on wages and signings than us feature the most.

We can argue that City have only won it once in this period, but that's easily countered by the fact they've won the league 3 times in the past Seven seasons.

In fact, I can only add Everton to the above list as an alternative to the usual suspects since we last won the FA cup in 1991. Yes, Wigan and Portsmouth won it once also, but plain to see usual suspects far outweigh these one off wins.

Right...the Premier league since Premier league started.

Winners...

MAN UTD. 13
CHELSEA. 5
MAN CITY. 3
ARSENAL. 3
BLACKBURN. 1
LEICESTER. 1

Again, clear to see that apart from the odd rare occasion the usual suspects feature greatly.

So whilst the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal may not spend like the Manchester clubs and Chelsea on player transfers, they have and do often snaffle top talents through the lure of better wages than we can afford to offer.

We are doing well against these teams, and hopefully we'll pick up a trophy here and there, it happens.

But the realistic perspective surely has to be, that until we can reach something resembling, a somewhat more equal financial playing field, the usual suspects will always be lurking in the fore.

Sorry, but at present in football, money really does usually win out.


Exactly - and our revenue generating assets (stadium and training ground) will bring us ball park to all of those clubs excluding Manchester clubs*

This year we will be c £400m

*Chelsea I think are changing under Roman with less money in from owner.
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,389
the problem with your argument is that, when names like Wigan. Portsmouth and Leicester make it onto your lists, we can't then pretend that we have had no chance. so why have we not been able to take our chances, and other far inferior clubs have? especially when we were directly competing against two of those clubs. they should've been the ones with all the excuses, not us.

the main problem, amongst others, is our mentality, and that proved the case again on Saturday.


The FA Cup has indeed been won by some 'little' teams, but that was at a time when the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea saw the competition as beneath them. They now find themselves in a situation where they have failed to make CL (something which was automatic for them before), and they now treat domestic Cups as something worth winning. Bigger clubs are once again treating it a bit more seriously.
 

WalkerboyUK

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2009
21,658
23,476
the problem with your argument is that, when names like Wigan. Portsmouth and Leicester make it onto your lists, we can't then pretend that we have had no chance. so why have we not been able to take our chances, and other far inferior clubs have? especially when we were directly competing against two of those clubs. they should've been the ones with all the excuses, not us.

the main problem, amongst others, is our mentality, and that proved the case again on Saturday.

And where are two of those three now??
Relegations, administration and so on...
I'd wager most of their fans have long forgotten the joy of those cup wins, just like we've forgotten the joy of that League Cup win.

That said, in the same way that Liverpool had a piss easy run through the CL so far, we had it easy in the FA Cup, until it mattered most.
The players choked...
 

PeeEyeEmPee

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
1,925
3,125
The FA Cup has indeed been won by some 'little' teams, but that was at a time when the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea saw the competition as beneath them. They now find themselves in a situation where they have failed to make CL (something which was automatic for them before), and they now treat domestic Cups as something worth winning. Bigger clubs are once again treating it a bit more seriously.

I don't get how that stops us from winning it though. we didn't lose on Saturday because of anything to do with money or Man U taking the competition any more seriously. we lost because we weren't good enough. last season Chelsea already had the league wrapped up, so nothing to do with not making the CL.

what about Leicester winning the Premier League?

we always seem to have a bunch of excuses for failure, whether it's against a bigger club or a smaller one.
 
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