Kane admits Spurs must get over the finishing line

[Gaz_Gammon]

Harry Kane has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur must prove they can get over the finishing line and win a trophy.

Read the full article at The Telegraph

 

[shelfmonkey]

I hope Poch doesn't make ridiculous changes in the line up, like he did on Saturday.

 

[Jenko]

The changes he made Saturday didn't work out but I'm sure he'll learn from it, he always has. I'm still proud of everything Tottenham, more than I've ever been in 38 years supporting them.

 

[bigspurs]

Conte was almost arrogant in not starting Hazard or Costa, yet it somehow paid off in the end. Why do our players and manager always have to learn the hard way, it's sickening, time after time, after disappointing time. This was our only realistic chance to win something and once again, we threw it down the drain. Next season will probably be a bit of a write off, due to the stadium factor. At least we'll all know where the F we're supposed to be playing our home games this week.

 

[dontcallme]

Must be a difficult thing for Kane to admit.

 

[shelfmonkey]

Conte was almost arrogant in not starting Hazard or Costa, yet it somehow paid off in the end. Why do our players and manager always have to learn the hard way, it's sickening, time after time, after disappointing time. This was our only realistic chance to win something and once again, we threw it down the drain. Next season will probably be a bit of a write off, due to the stadium factor. At least we'll all know where the F we're supposed to be playing our home games this week.

I'm a bit fed up with this 'stadium factor' thinking, it's a football pitch, the same as any other, a different stadium doesn't stop a team playing the way it normally would, it's a pathetic excuse.

 

[dontcallme]

I'm a bit fed up with this 'stadium factor' thinking, it's a football pitch, the same as any other, a different stadium doesn't stop a team playing the way it normally would, it's a pathetic excuse.

You've never noticed that teams have a better home record than away record or that teams in a new stadium usually have a worse home record in their first season to normal?

If something consistently happens then it is not an excuse.

 

[shelfmonkey]

You've never noticed that teams have a better home record than away record or that teams in a new stadium usually have a worse home record in their first season to normal?

If something consistently happens then it is not an excuse.

Well it will become an excuse next season if we're shit in our home games. We've played there enough this season and it didn't seem to bother the Chavs that much Saturday. The management and coaching staff should be able to get it into the players heads that the stands surrounding the pitch are inconsequential to the way they play on the pitch. It never bothered me whether I was playing at Pymmes Park, Enfield Playing Fields, Ponders End Rec, Albany Park, Broadwater Farm, or any other playing field, I was playing football!

 

[hutchiniho]

Our game plan just needs a bit of tweaking. For me the bigger pitch lead to a larger than normal gap between midfield and defence, with slightly wider channels. This may have been how Poch wanted to play Saturday. But we took a while to settle into the game and there seemed to be much more space for the oppo attackers than normal.
The other thing Of course is that it's much harder to press comprehensively over a bigger space. This is our game but not chelseas so there is an obvious difference there.
Other than that. It's just a football pitch and our game should adapt.
Atmosphere wise, that would be different for home games but a cup semi final the players should be pumped already. And they were to be fair. Come back to equalise twice.
For me it was more silly mistakes cost us Saturday.
Wembley Should be different next season. Might even help us in next years final

 

[dontcallme]

Well it will become an excuse next season if we're shit in our home games. We've played there enough this season and it didn't seem to bother the Chavs that much Saturday. The management and coaching staff should be able to get it into the players heads that the stands surrounding the pitch are inconsequential to the way they play on the pitch. It never bothered me whether I was playing at Pymmes Park, Enfield Playing Fields, Ponders End Rec, Albany Park, Broadwater Farm, or any other playing field, I was playing football!

But that has never been the case for any club. I doubt any team in history has an away record as good or better than their home.

The crowd do make a difference and I imagine the atmosphere away at Stamford Bridge is more intimidating and difficult than Broadwater Farm.

 

[shelfmonkey]

But that has never been the case for any club. I doubt any team in history has an away record as good or better than their home.

The crowd do make a difference and I imagine the atmosphere away at Stamford Bridge is more intimidating and difficult than Broadwater Farm.

There you said it, it is the home crowd that makes the difference when a team plays away, Wembley will be our home ground next season and at least 90% of the fans will Spurs, so to me the actual stadium is not a valid excuse for not playing to the standards we've set ourselves in the past two seasons.

 

[dontcallme]

There you said it, it is the home crowd that makes the difference when a team plays away, Wembley will be our home ground next season and at least 90% of the fans will Spurs, so to me the actual stadium is not a valid excuse for not playing to the standards we've set ourselves in the past two seasons.

I have only said the crowd is one aspect.

We have seen time after time that teams playing at a new ground have a dip in home form in their first season. It happens pretty much every time.

It is a real issue and I expect our home form to be worse next season than it has been this year.

 

[shelfmonkey]

I have only said the crowd is one aspect.

We have seen time after time that teams playing at a new ground have a dip in home form in their first season. It happens pretty much every time.

It is a real issue and I expect our home form to be worse next season than it has been this year.

I expect Poch to drill it into their heads that he will not accept a dip and to use past examples as an incentive to buck that trend and prove it wrong.

 

[bigspurs]

I expect Poch to drill it into their heads that he will not accept a dip and to use past examples as an incentive to buck that trend and prove it wrong.

You're kidding yourself if you think it won't make a difference. One of the issues with playing at Wembley, is that teams are turning up especially to 'win at Wembley', just for the novelty of it. I think one or two of our Champions League opponents said as much. This, coupled with the fact that our hardcore fans will be spread far and thin around a huge stadium, will create an atmosphere similar to that seen at West Ham games this season I reckon.

 

[shelfmonkey]

You're kidding yourself if you think it won't make a difference. One of the issues with playing at Wembley, is that teams are turning up especially to 'win at Wembley', just for the novelty of it. I think one or two of our Champions League opponents said as much. This, coupled with the fact that our hardcore fans will be spread far and thin around a huge stadium, will create an atmosphere similar to that seen at West Ham games this season I reckon.

In that case Poch and the team know what's coming and he should be preparing them accordingly during pre-season. Poch has to stress to the players that playing away from the Lane will not be an excuse for failure and get them mentally prepared.

 

[mackay78]

There you said it, it is the home crowd that makes the difference when a team plays away, Wembley will be our home ground next season and at least 90% of the fans will Spurs, so to me the actual stadium is not a valid excuse for not playing to the standards we've set ourselves in the past two seasons.

Danny Murphy said something on Saturday which I think is also significant.

Home crowd is obviously a factor, but the pitch itself is also part of the difference.

Everyone knows that Rafa Nadal plays better on clay than on grass. The other top-3 players have a preferred surface too. Their style of play suits a certain surface.

Murphy talked about the difference in the pitch between Wembley and WHL. His description was that the Wembley grass is longer than WHL and the pitch is spongier underfoot. When you're playing a high-tempo, pressing game, like Spurs do, the shorter grass and firmer surface will lend itself to that style of play. We've discussed Wembley pitch-size for months on this forum, but I've rarely heard the actual turf come up as a topic.

There was some speculation during the match about whether Tottenham could enforce marking out a smaller pitch at Wembley for next season (they speculated that they could). I'm not so sure about how quickly and easily they could change the grass and turf to be closer to the WHL texture and feel.

Earlier in the thread you talked about the different pitches you've played on and them not making a difference. You're probably right. That's because people like us aren't elite sportspeople. British cycling dominated their sport for years because they learned that tiny margins make a difference at the elite level.

At the very highest level, home advantage is not just about having 90% of the fans shouting for you. It's about their experience in the changing room, the feeling they get walk to the pitch, the size and dimensions of the pitch and the speed of the ball and the player on the grass/turf.

If we have a drop in form during the Wembley year, it's not an "excuse," it's an understandable reason. I don't believe in "curses" for a minute. That's a pile of BS. But I do think that both the psychological or sub-conscious experience of a playing a venue, combined with the physical pitch itself have small influences on a performance.

If you think about Saturday, we lost based on tiny margins. Toby and Son were a yard too slow and took rash actions to defend. On a different pitch or if they were in a different mind-set, they might have been closer, faster, more responsive. Elite-level football matches, just like any other sport, are won on tiny, tiny margins.

 

[mawspurs]

The worst thing is we will go through those issues two season on the trot, once at Wembley and once at the new stadium. The players are going to have to learn to adapt quickly.