What's new

Poch: Spurs are the side everyone wants to beat

mawspurs

Staff
Jun 29, 2003
35,066
17,740
Mauricio Pochettino has claimed Tottenham are the team everyone wants to beat in the Premier League title race, describing his side as a target.

Source: Evening Standard
 

JC-Rule

Well-Known Member
Dec 14, 2005
1,993
1,285
The perception of Spurs has changed, we are seen as one the top teams to beat, also playing at Wembley is still a draw for several players, so they put in more effort.

It's a credit to us that, that our card is marked, and i doubt Poch will allow his players to drop off mentally.

All we need to do is keep our heads down and keep grinding out the wins
 

FibreOpticJesus

Well-Known Member
Aug 14, 2005
2,789
4,991
He ain't wrong, you know!

We need to get us to the level that teams like Wolves are defeated before they turn up. Not that everyone wants to beat us. Probably his point is lost in his translation or use of English. We want teams to be shit scars of playing us. Not with them thinking that they stand a chance.
 

JAYSTAR

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2012
3,316
3,800
I honestly think we are getting there. Apart from City and Liverpool, teams are very worried about playing us, now that we have such quick transition and relentless attack. These are the same two reasons everyone's been worried about playing City and Liverpool or course. It's good to have that psychological edge over teams. We only lost to Wolves due to exaustion and a totally unfair scheduling of our games. 'Normally' we would have pressed on and scored more and had enough energy to track back and deal with their counter attacks.
 

yiddopaul

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2005
3,418
6,654
We need to get us to the level that teams like Wolves are defeated before they turn up. Not that everyone wants to beat us. Probably his point is lost in his translation or use of English. We want teams to be shit scars of playing us. Not with them thinking that they stand a chance.
I don’t think any team (bar Liverpool and City) think that about us anymore. All the big teams will lose those kinds of games sometimes. It very rare (compared to 10 years ago, say) that we lose those games now. No-one will enjoy playing us. The fact is, against Wolves we were knackered.
 

yiddopaul

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2005
3,418
6,654
The perception of Spurs has changed, we are seen as one the top teams to beat, also playing at Wembley is still a draw for several players, so they put in more effort.

It's a credit to us that, that our card is marked, and i doubt Poch will allow his players to drop off mentally.

All we need to do is keep our heads down and keep grinding out the wins
We also have tougher London derbies than others as for some weird perverse reason, Chelsea and West Ham view us as their natural rivals, always a cup final with them. Plus the obvious Arsenal games.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,346
129,921
The problem is we’re not seen as unbeatable. Catch us on the right day and we’re there for the taking. That day doesn’t come too often thankfully. We don’t seem to just lose at the death in a close game, when we lose our performance reflects it, maybe Man City at home being the exception.
 

newbie

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2004
6,051
6,342
The problem is we’re not seen as unbeatable. Catch us on the right day and we’re there for the taking. That day doesn’t come too often thankfully. We don’t seem to just lose at the death in a close game, when we lose our performance reflects it, maybe Man City at home being the exception.

we are just a couple of players away from the next level sadly if we loose Toby and Eriksen we will be even further away.
 

JC-Rule

Well-Known Member
Dec 14, 2005
1,993
1,285
The problem is we’re not seen as unbeatable. Catch us on the right day and we’re there for the taking. That day doesn’t come too often thankfully. We don’t seem to just lose at the death in a close game, when we lose our performance reflects it, maybe Man City at home being the exception.

To be honest i like it when teams like Bournemouth come, play without fear and open up themselves for a drumming.

The ones that come with fear like Burnley, stink the place out.
 

jolsnogross

Well-Known Member
May 17, 2005
3,729
5,431
I think some teams in the mid and lower reaches of the league show up at Anfield or the Etihad and treat it as a day out - they won't lose their Premier league status on the back of results against them. Newcstle's recent trip to Liverpool was a classic of the genre - simply didn't bother to pick a first team and were abysmal in a low-energy game.

These sides show up at Spurs with a similar attitude but with more of a hint of hope and optimism that we could be beaten. That there's something to be gained from it. That they won't rest key players for the next match against a direct lower table rival. Same goes for Arsenal. And increasingly the same is true for Chelsea, which wasn't the case in recent seasons.

That's why the Wolves result sticks in the craw. It reinforces that disparity between us and Liverpool/City. You can have a early season loss at Watford, and lose by the odd goal against our direct rivals. But losing at home to Wolves when we seemed to be in control underscores why teams don't have that same level of 'fear'. Poch's right that they want to beat us, but only becasue they think we're eminently beatable. Maybe City will lose that fear factor with another Palace-type result. But the Wolves game was quite damaging (more so than Watford) and the Cardiff away game quite valuable to us in response.

The next one should be a belter.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,346
129,921
To be honest i like it when teams like Bournemouth come, play without fear and open up themselves for a drumming.

The ones that come with fear like Burnley, stink the place out.
Yeah, I prefer winning 5-0 to 1-0 too :)
 

deadlight

Well-Known Member
Dec 14, 2006
1,361
788
I can't remember the last time, in January, we still had so many cup competitions going!
 

guate

Well-Known Member
May 12, 2005
3,270
1,486
Everyone wants to beat us because we're a class act thanks to Mauricio molding us into a top class Premier league team. However as other have said we still succumb to the odd day off (knackered, not sufficient pre season etc) which makes us an interesting challege for opposing teams. However until we eliminate this blip we're really not likely to be Premiership winners.
 

eddiebailey

Well-Known Member
Oct 12, 2004
7,452
6,672
I like how he manages to be disrespectful to Wolves by being even more disrespectful to Palace.
 

fluffybunnyuk

Well-Known Member
Oct 16, 2017
2,210
2,473
I think there gonna be a stormer draw for the 4th rnd. Either Man City v Liverpool , or liverpool v spurs or man city v spurs. Something outrageous in the draw is long overdue in the 4th round.
 
Top