The Rest of the Season 2014-15 Thread

[Damian99]

And you just know timmy will turn us over

 

[carpediem991]

Wont happen but every game one u21 player on the bench. Give them minutes. Hurts nobody

 

[ShaunL84]

It's still there for us but we need 9 wins from the last 12 to get CL football IMO

Kane will have to be at his best, a must win on Wednesday vs Swansea.

 

[Larryjanta]

Wont happen but every game one u21 player on the bench. Give them minutes. Hurts nobody

Agree. Would like Poch to turn around to the 6/7 players who have no future and just freeze them out. Have the likes of Onomah, Winks and even Azzouai etc. on the bench rather than players like Capoue, Paulinho and Ade wig have ZERO future with us

 

[Spursidol]

It's a very good run in. However, and I hope I'm wrong, I think that some of the predictions above are wildly optimistic. I think we will lose quite a few of these games. We look knackered and don't have great depth of squad.

After the next 2 games v Swansea we are playing once a week. So provided we do not get injuries, we'll have plenty of rest between games

 

[JohannTHFC]

Just want to see young players like Onomah in the squad instead of the likes of Paulinho. Need to start preparing for next season and there is no point in playing players who we don't want to be here then. Would also like to see more Stambouli to get a better picture of what he can offer.

 

[Knarf44]

Even with sufficient rest between games, all of those teams will be viewing us as a potential 3 points as they know our players can't handle being pressured and are always liable to make mistakes. Chelsea showed them today, stop Eriksen, crowd out Kane and we lack other potential match winners. Defend deep crowd our box at set pieces and wait for our defenders to give them the chance. Can't see us getting more than 16 points out of those remaining games.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

We'll end 5th, margins off top 4. Exactly as I said before the season starts (I said 70% chance for 5th, 30% for 4th, margins will decide).

 

[Larryjanta]

Even with sufficient rest between games, all of those teams will be viewing us as a potential 3 points as they know our players can't handle being pressured and are always liable to make mistakes. Chelsea showed them today, stop Eriksen, crowd out Kane and we lack other potential match winners. Defend deep crowd our box at set pieces and wait for our defenders to give them the chance. Can't see us getting more than 16 points out of those remaining games.

Difference being, other sides don't have the likes of Zouma, Cahill, Terry, Azpuliceta and Ivanovic to stifle us. Arsenal played in exactly the same way as Chelsea but didn't have the players to do it. I'm confident any other team, without that defence and without the incredible Hazard and Costa as out balls, can be beaten by our side.

 

[Knarf44]

Difference being, other sides don't have the likes of Zouma, Cahill, Terry, Azpuliceta and Ivanovic to stifle us. Arsenal played in exactly the same way as Chelsea but didn't have the players to do it. I'm confident any other team, without that defence and without the incredible Hazard and Costa as out balls, can be beaten by our side.

So, why do we always struggle against supposedly inferior teams? Our toughest games during a season are always against teams that many of our fans think will be easy victories. Perhaps they've deluded themselves by playing too much Football Manager or perhaps they simply can't see that outside the top 3/4 teams the difference between the teams in terms of quality are actually much smaller than they think and on any given weekend all are capable of beating each other depending on who wants it more on that particular day.

 

[Larryjanta]

So, why do we always struggle against supposedly inferior teams? Our toughest games during a season are always against teams that many of our fans think will be easy victories. Perhaps they've deluded themselves by playing too much Football Manager or perhaps they simply can't see that outside the top 3/4 teams the difference between the teams in terms of quality are actually much smaller than they think and on any given weekend all are capable of beating each other depending on who wants it more on that particular day.

Start of the season aside, I don't think we've struggled as much as you're making out. Palace I think was a hangover from Chelsea and we should have scored more when on top and West Ham we played too weak a side. I think, generally speaking, we've created a lot more chances against the poorer teams this season. I do agree, however, that there are no easy games in the prem and we shouldn't just roll teams Over, however, play like we did today against park the bus sides and we will beat all the bottom half teams IMO. Whether we play like today against them, of course, is up for debate.

 

[guy]

Well there's no excuses anymore this season. 1 game each week, fully fit squad, we couldn't ask to be in a better situation heading into the final dozen or so games.

Let's see if the squad has the mentality to go on a run and really challenge for 4th

 

[chinaman]

Just take it one match at a time and go for a win every time.

 

[sebcole]

All we need to do in win the next two winnable games, and we will be right up in the mixer. Then we'll be proper up for Trafford as per usual.... one game at a time.

 

[Spursidol]

After Sunday we are concentrating on PL. The remaining fixtures are once a week (except for the first game against Swansea played on a Wednesday) so plenty of time for rst and coaching.

Below are the fixtures and my guesses on results.

Swansea City - Home (Win)
Queens Park Rangers - Away (Win)
Manchester United A (Draw)
Leicester City H (Win)
Burnley A (Win)
Aston Villa H (Win)
Newcastle United A (Draw)
Southampton A (Draw)
Manchester City H (Loss)
Stoke City A (Win)
Hull City H (Win)
Everton A (Draw)

That would take us to 69 points - which might get us anywhere between 3rd and 7th!

It's going to be interesting which players Poch uses - the key players will probably be Lloris, Vorm, Walker, Rose, Davies, Vertonghen, Fazio, Dier, Mason, Bentaleb, Stambouli, Dembele, Eriksen, Chadli, Lamela, Townsend, Kane and Yedlin(18 players)

So will he use Paulhino, Soldado, Chirches or indeed Adebayor, Kaboul and Capoue ?

Will he give bench time and minutes to youngsters such as Winks, Onomah or others ?

Well we got the first 2 games right - 2 wins - now its one game a week, which means :

1. All the players have a fiull week rest between games (except for anu international call ups)

2. Poch has a full week to prepare for a match - and to coach the players. IMO Poch has had almost no coaching time this season as its been weekend/mid-week games pretty much all season. Lets hope it makes a difference.

Am looking forward to seeing a youngster or 2 on the bench for a few of the remaining games as well.

 

[chinaman]

Well we got the first 2 games right - 2 wins - now its one game a week, which means :

1. All the players have a fiull week rest between games (except for anu international call ups)

2. Poch has a full week to prepare for a match - and to coach the players. IMO Poch has had almost no coaching time this season as its been weekend/mid-week games pretty much all season. Lets hope it makes a difference.

Am looking forward to seeing a youngster or 2 on the bench for a few of the remaining games as well.

I don't think Poch will have youngsters on the bench when we can still make top 4 mathematically. He might do so if we drop another 5 or 6 points.

 

[whatislifewithoutspurs]

Quite optimistic for the rest of season. I remember us having really good spells when there was no europa games on thursdays. Now that we are out of it, the rest of the season could be a pretty interesting one!

 

[nicdic]

Stop this "rest" thing. The benefit of one game a week isn't that we get to take it easy, it's that we can better prepare. More time to prepare, not rest. You rest at the end of the season.

 

[carpediem991]

Can't afford really to lose at Old Trafford. Pool and Arse are too good at the moment. Important game!

 

[thinktank]

Stop this "rest" thing. The benefit of one game a week isn't that we get to take it easy, it's that we can better prepare. More time to prepare, not rest. You rest at the end of the season.

The benefit of this coming week is we don't have a game midweek which is a 'rest' from another intense 90mins before another game at the weekend, especially after our recent programme.

I don't think anyone envisaged our players at a spa all week.