Optimism over next season ? Careful now...

[Adam456]

Seen a number of threads on whether this was a successful season and many peope saying yes in that we brought in the right man and have team spirit and our Tottenham back etc. etc. and now on to next year

Well I'm always a glass half full type of person but really the big battle we now face isn't on the pitch it's off it - not getting too far ahead of ourselves and potentially being gutted by middle of October if another crack at the top four slips away and if finishing 5th or 6th looks unlikely.

I'm the first one to say that under 'Arry we've been in top-4 form and we've only lost to one team in top 4 all season. And we've got a much stronger squad than we had before Christmas and have young players knocking on the door and players returning from loans. So we have good reason to be optimistic.....

....but we seem to defy logic at the Lane and we do this to ourselves nearly every season so let's try really hard not to create a runaway train of expectancy just in case it derails in the Autumn

(e.g. King might not play and we could suddenly start defending badly and leaking goals. People will be saying our defenders are not good enough and 'Arry should have known blah blah - you know how it is)

 

[Stoof]

I agree with the idea of not building our expectations up beyond their means. It definitely makes for a much more enjoyable supporting experience.

But you can't stop some getting ridiculously carried away and caught up in the positivity, in the same way you can't stop the "we're going down brigade" - the brigade that encapsulated a good majority about 3 months ago.

Trust me, I've tried!!

 

[steve]

Seen a number of threads on whether this was a successful season and many peope saying yes in that we brought in the right man and have team spirit and our Tottenham back etc. etc. and now on to next year

Well I'm always a glass half full type of person but really the big battle we now face isn't on the pitch it's off it - not getting too far ahead of ourselves and potentially being gutted by middle of October if another crack at the top four slips away and if finishing 5th or 6th looks unlikely.

I'm the first one to say that under 'Arry we've been in top-4 form and we've only lost to one team in top 4 all season. And we've got a much stronger squad than we had before Christmas and have young players knocking on the door and players returning from loans. So we have good reason to be optimistic.....

....but we seem to defy logic at the Lane and we do this to ourselves nearly every season so let's try really hard not to create a runaway train of expectancy just in case it derails in the Autumn

(e.g. King might not play and we could suddenly start defending badly and leaking goals. People will be saying our defenders are not good enough and 'Arry should have known blah blah - you know how it is)

Good point well made.

Out of interest what do people think is a reasonable expectation for next season? If we hang onto our current players and add a couple more I think top 6 is not unreasonable. But then I've thought that for the last couple of years....

 

[lishiyo]

I'm not expecting anything until I see what we've done this summer. I do hope for a top 6 season next year, though I imagine it'll be very difficult since the 5 of those places are basically already taken (unless Everton does much more poorly than I expect which I can't see happening).

 

[hughy]

I think if we keep the base of the team we have, but with very few alterations, and we produce a solid start in the League, we could be in for a fair season. No summer clearout, no concentrating on Cup competitions, just keep the spine of our squad fit for the League games. We can build on from there.

 

[animal]

Wipe away the first 8 games and we'd be sitting in fifth right now. Our squad and first team is I think as good as Villa and Everton's, arguably better, arguably worse.

Keep the current set of players for next season and we should be expecting to finish fifth and should be disappointed if we don't (just like one of the top four start the season expecting that they can win the league and disappointed when they don't).

Maybe with a few sensible transfers we could achieve a higher points total, but realistically still finish fifth.

 

[dontcallme]

We all know injuries can really harm your chances at success and I won't be setting a target of top six or anything like that as life and football is simply too unpredictable.

What I do and always will expect is the team putting in 100% and being well trained and prepared by the manger and coaching team. If this isn't evident then I won't be happy and is the reason I was happy Ramos was shown the exit door.

I want to see us competing, playing good football and playing to our potential.

 

[Mullers]

I really feel that our squad is better than Villa's or Everton's so I want to be at least matching them next season. In a one off game we can match any of the top four but we can't match them over the season.

 

[soup]

I do have big expectations for the next couple of seasons if I'm honest and for some pretty solid reasons.

1. I think Levy has learnt his lessons now in regard to selling our best players, in short it doesn't work. I think he'll be a lot more possessive our squad now and the merits of keeping them all together. He'll be a lot more reluctant to let them go and will see the benefits of a team that is familiar with each other.

2. He's ditched the continental system, meaning there is less confusion among the management when signing players or bringing players in from the youth set-up. In turn this makes it easier for the players to know where they stand and how their future is looking, therefore bringing in a stronger sense of stability among them.

3. We're getting a new and pretty bloody impressive stadium. Gate receipts will obviously increase over the next couple of years meaning an even stronger financial grounding. In this sense we will make a small bit of ground up on the top 4 and make a little distance between us an the others such as Villa and Everton. Only on paper, granted, but it'll definitely help in the long run. It will also raise our stock internationally, again, only on paper, but it's a massive sign of ambition.

4. We already have, in my eyes, a very, very good squad of players to build on and I sometimes think we forget how young the average age of our squad is. They've now all had a good share of ups and downs, being off form and bang in form, and it now looks to me like they are starting to realise some of the talent they have. They're maturing as a squad and as individuals and in my eyes can only get better together.

5. The manager. Instead of flash ideas, complicated infrastructures and quango coaches we now have a no nonsense approach to the management and coaching side of things. Redknapp seems, from what the players have said to be a very likeable character who does things simply and understandably. He knows exactly what he wants and how to get the ideas over to the squad, he's simply an English manager who knows how to handle the premiership. He knows every opponent inside and out is is gradually adapting us to face them.

He's got us playing very well against the top four and I'm sure he'll crack our demons about facing the so called 'lesser' clubs.

5. This one might be the most important of the lot. We're not softies anymore. We've lost the reputation of being a team that with a small bit of graft you can push about. We're eventually getting a reputation of a team which can stifle out most oppostition gameplans and then have the ammunition to go on and punish whoever we're playing.

We've also got a better attitude when it come to our bogey teams now, we're no longer hopeless when it comes to facing Chelsea or looking forward to our annual losses to Newcastle. This breeds a better attitude amongst the players and the fans as we now go into every game looking for three points, not to survive or celebrate a draw against teams we've been crap against in the past.

Every one of the points above point towards us actually becoming a proper football team again, playing for a no-nonsense club. The media don't have any ammunition anymore to fire at us and we're a long way from the 'laughing stock' a lot of Spurs fans used to think we were (as I've never gone along with that way of thinking, tbh), as even that is a self generated notion, and if we don't think that way then how can anyone else?

Of course, people will always be able to come back at me with a negative for every positive I've mentioned above, but I've got a feeling that there is even a lot less of that about these days, and I'm starting to notice that more people are talking about how we can improve and what we CAN do in the future, rather than discussing ongoing failures and continuing deficencies, and that's the general point I think I'm trying to make - at last we're ALL looking up, and at last we've all got a lot less to moan about.

 

[tottenham_4_life]

my heart says we will finish 7th this season and that would make this season more than successful (even with the cup loss!), but i think we will mess up in our HOME games (i know im wierd) i think we can beat man utd n liverpool (ok maybe not both - say, 4 points) but like, draw v everton and lse v man city. i have had a very good season though to be fair to spurs! it was shit as fuck till about jan, well, we did beat liverpool and drew 4-4 v arsenal but we were just doing so crap, spurs near bottom - not good...spurs 10th (last season) - not good, but we won the cup!! then 2 previous 5ths!! jol rules!! i have very high expectations next season, i really think we can do a villa but better!! but then again i always do!! probably so do most of you lot, especially since levy n things. i think we'll win the fa cup every season lol!!

p.s. dont blame you if you didnt read that!!

 

[tottenham_4_life]

lol i thought mine was long!! thanks soup!!

 

[DC_Boy]

one thing that will be crucial is our crowd

they have to get behind the team much much more

especially against the 'lesser teams'

I remember the early games of this season when both fans and team seemed just to accept home defeats v sunderland and hull - wasted points that hurt us so much now

sunderland were well physical - but instead of the crowd going mental against them - it was almost as if they didn't mind the kicking our players were getting

 

[Rocksuperstar]

See, when i was young, th... *glances up and sees that soup has already used up the epic post*

shit... erm... dammit, i'm gonna have to abbreviate, huh?

As long as we don't make too many changes during the close season, short of filling gaps in the squad, i would think we'll do alright. Back up for left wing (or better, and play Modric in the middle) if Dosser isn't going to stick around, move out the dead wood and see what youngsters we can promote to the bench where possible.

 

[lishiyo]

one thing that will be crucial is our crowd

they have to get behind the team much much more

especially against the 'lesser teams'

I remember the early games of this season when both fans and team seemed just to accept home defeats v sunderland and hull - wasted points that hurt us so much now

sunderland were well physical - but instead of the crowd going mental against them - it was almost as if they didn't mind the kicking our players were getting

against hull i think we were just unlucky. we completely dominated the match, hit the post several times and their goalkeeper played a blinder, while they never threatened except for a brilliant free kick by geovanni when he was on great form. very disappointing to lose that one

 

[Rocksuperstar]

against hull i think we were just unlucky. we completely dominated the match, hit the post several times and their goalkeeper played a blinder, while they never threatened except for a brilliant free kick by geovanni when he was on great form. very disappointing to lose that one

Yeah, we might not have been great, but their keeper was on fire that night.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

I like to think I am a fairly measured person who can take a step back and see things for what they are.

When things go badly I try to see the bright side and figure out how we might remedy things.

However, when things go well, I make no secret of my overwhelming faith that we are going to reach the giddiest of giddy heights. For me, part of loving Spurs is wearing my heart completely on sleeve and getting carried away with my every emotion, and I'm proud of it.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

Were gona win the fuckin league coys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gibbs131]

Every damn season I think this is the year we take it up a notch. I am never going to do it again.

Apart from this season...With the right striker and another top defensive midfielder/backup for Modric on the left we will be KINGS.

Ooops I did it again. The funny thing is, I TRULY believe we will be top 4 next season if we make 2 signings and have a fit squad. It is like a brain disease involving denial.

I KNOW IT>>>>>But STILL am in denial? How is that possible?

Football.

 

[am_yisrael_chai]

I'm not getting carried away I'm just totally confident we'll get 4th and the team we'll replace will be the gooner scum. Simple. :wink:

 

[CaYid]

We're Tottenham, it's what we do. Embrace it and then bask in the glorious moaning when we have 3 points come next November.