The Race for 4th

[wrd]

It's honestly mad when you sit back and think about it. Given how bad we have apparently been on and off the pitch, we are still 4th and could still get 3rd.

I'm curious what makes you feel it is only apparent that we have been bad, I will say before you answer that bad is a word that means different things for different people but I'm still curious.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Yup…. What if conte gets us 3rd

Prize money for 3rd is approx. £2 million pounds more than 4th , it will pay almost 2/3rds of Levy's wages

 

[bubble07]

If only wolves got do us a favour

 

[Westmorlandspur]

Casemiro banned from United next 3 games. They are not the same team without him.
Liverpool next 3 fixtures, they don’t play again till after international break, City and Chelsea away then Arse at home.
Newcastle wobbling, hopefully don’t win this afternoon. If we can start performing there is every chance of third , never mind 4th. Lloris may be back after international break, poss Sessegnon also.
whether we will perform is another matter but the opportunity is there.

 

[noiseboy55]

We're going to finish third aren't we

 

[cjsimba]

Us finishing 3rd and Arsenal 2nd would be a pretty funny end to the season

 

[easley91]

I'm curious what makes you feel it is only apparent that we have been bad, I will say before you answer that bad is a word that means different things for different people but I'm still curious.

I personally don't think we have been terrible. But large parts of our fanbase talk as if we're in relegation form, which we're not. Prior to Sheffield United we had beaten City, West Ham and Chelsea keeping clean sheets in all three. We smashed Palace away, a notoriously tough place under the lights.

Even Wolves last week we weren't bad, Wolves just took one of their chances, while we didn't finish ours. Though we created enough to get something out of that game.

I really don't think we have been awful and I don't think our players are s***. They have been out of form or playing within themselves. Take Son for example. If he was on last season's form we could well be 3rd.

Our attack hasn't really clicked all year aside from Kane. Yesterday was the first time in a while I saw really good link up play between the front three.

Leicester aside our defence has actually been much better and made far fewer errors (Romero's stupid tackles v Milan aside).

Forster has been in top form in place of Lloris, who let's be honest we haven't missed. We also haven't necessarily missed Bentancur and Bissouma, thanks to Skipp stepping up. Emerson has been consistent since end of January. Porro is starting to find his feet.

Honestly not all bad and not at all terrible. Yes going out in the cups in the last week hurt, but we can still finish 3rd. So maybe it's not been a terrible season in the league at least.

 

[knowlespurs]

Just the barcodes not to win and a very very decent weekend for us

 

[Ron Burgundy]

We're going to finish third aren't we

No

 

[easley91]

No

We're two points behind United who have to come to us and our home form is decent, while they have two cups they're still in. Yes they have a game in hand, but they could very well drop points in that like they did to Southampton today.

So why a blunt no?

 

[wrd]

I personally don't think we have been terrible. But large parts of our fanbase talk as if we're in relegation form, which we're not. Prior to Sheffield United we had beaten City, West Ham and Chelsea keeping clean sheets in all three. We smashed Palace away, a notoriously tough place under the lights.

Even Wolves last week we weren't bad, Wolves just took one of their chances, while we didn't finish ours. Though we created enough to get something out of that game.

I really don't think we have been awful and I don't think our players are s***. They have been out of form or playing within themselves. Take Son for example. If he was on last season's form we could well be 3rd.

Our attack hasn't really clicked all year aside from Kane. Yesterday was the first time in a while I saw really good link up play between the front three.

Leicester aside our defence has actually been much better and made far fewer errors (Romero's stupid tackles v Milan aside).

Forster has been in top form in place of Lloris, who let's be honest we haven't missed. We also haven't necessarily missed Bentancur and Bissouma, thanks to Skipp stepping up. Emerson has been consistent since end of January. Porro is starting to find his feet.

Honestly not all bad and not at all terrible. Yes going out in the cups in the last week hurt, but we can still finish 3rd. So maybe it's not been a terrible season in the league at least.

Yeah appreciate the response, I try and account for exaggeration admittedly as I certainly agree our players are not shit, actually that's where my frustration lies. I'd say we have been underperforming. I think especially so in the cups as you mentioned but for me, the biggest gripe is our inability to build upon what we showed last season and we have gone backwards in all areas, our defence is not as solid as last season, our wing back's have underperformed and I feel we haven't seen a wing back pairing where the level is as good as Sessegnon and Doherty did produce last season for a period. Our midfield is fine and our attack as you said hasn't clicked. So when you consider the investment we made, then that's where the question of whether the word "bad" fits, I would say yes because I don't use it as an extreme, not terrible or horrific, in the cups woeful though. I'd say 4-5/10 so sometimes we do go through patches of hitting our average but I hoped our baseline would be our strong form last season, that that would become the average performance, it hasn't happened though. So I think the disappointment is the lack of progression, relative to the foundations and then investment made.

I think positionally I hope it's a consolidation season but I don't think in terms of squad development, of cohesiveness unit or of individuals, we have had much consolidation of what we showed we could do under Conte.

 

[mil1lion]

If 4th is like a title for Spurs what does that make 3rd? Cup double?

 

[tevezito]

Yup…. What if conte gets us 3rd

Then we'll need time and patience and a Conte extension to get second next season.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Who are Newcastle’s games in hand against?

 

[Bruts]

Who are Newcastle’s games in hand against?

Brighton at home and West Ham away

 

[cozzo]

I am not too worried about Newcastle to be honest. They are pretty much like us,. Its still Liverpool who are the danger. But the next 4 or 5 games could put them out of it

 

[GioW]

I still think 5th/6th is more likely than 4th but I'm a negative Nigel when it comes to Tottenham.

 

[Mr Pink]

Next mini run of games could well be the most significant period.

Southampton away
Everton away
Brighton home
Bournemouth home

Now nothing is ever certain in this league, especially this season but we need to be taking close to maximimum points from that.

Newcastle and Liverpool away will be ridiculously tough given what's at stake and both of them beat us at home....

But we take a very good points haul from the next four and I'm pretty certain we'll have breaking space that takes some of the pressure off going into the business end of the season.

 

[Flobadob]

Brighton at home and West Ham away

Certainly not the easiest fixtures then

 

[Cavehillspur]

Yet we could have score 5 more…. We missed huge chances.

And were robbed with Richarlisons goal