Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[fallenangle]

Third place is certainly still doable, Liverpool can only end up with a maximum of 75 points now, Spurs with a game in hand 'only' need to win both their remaining two matches to finish third. Definitely COYS.

Apparently Spurs are interested again in MU's Martial. As I've said before here I think they could have picked him up at a snip of his actual value back at the start of 2017 when he was even more out of favour at MU. But now he's likely to be a high price purchase and we'll lose out to Premiership or European clubs with more spare cash available.

09.05.18 EDIT

Doesn't sound like it was a convincing win over Newcastle today but I'll take it.

Fourth place at least secure so CL next season for sure and pressure now on Liverpool as they have to win their final game to beat us into third place and if we win against Leicester all their efforts will be in vain.

Even an outside chance of second place if Spurs beat Leicester by at least three goals and MU mess up against both West Ham and Watford...................hmmmmmm, I don't think so.

10.05.18

Oops, my bad maths, EJG1980 has it right, we only need to beat Leicester 1-0 if MU lose both their matches by one goal.

That's definitely going to happen.

[EJG1980]

09.05.18 EDIT

Doesn't sound like it was a convincing win over Newcastle today but I'll take it.

Fourth place at least secure so CL next season for sure and pressure now on Liverpool as they have to win their final game to beat us into third place and if we win against Leicester all their efforts will be in vain.

Qualified for the CL with a match to spare; piece of cake

Nope, not a great performance, Newcastle had plenty of chances to get a draw but thankfully they didn't take them, and we got the win we needed. The most surprising thing of the night for me was hearing that there was six minutes injury time in the Chelsea vs Huddersfield match and Chelsea DIDN'T get a sneaky last minute winner!

Brilliant achievement by the team though, three seasons of Champions League football in a row, fantastic. CL football in our new stadium next season is massive. And managing it when we weren't playing at our own home ground this season. I've got a few saved texts messages me "You're useless at Wembley, top six at best for you this season, hard luck, ha ha ha" that I can reply to now

Even an outside chance of second place if Spurs beat Leicester by at least three goals and MU mess up against both West Ham and Watford...................hmmmmmm, I don't think so.

Actually, we'd only need to beat Leicester 1-0 and Man Utd lose both matches 1-0. That would put their goal diff down to 37 and ours up to 38. Not that I think even that will happen, but it's still a tiny bit more feasible!

Liverpool have a bit more pressure than just trying to finish above us in third, they're still only two points ahead of Chelsea so if they lose on the final day... can't see Liverpool messing it up though.

Hopefully with the pressure of qualification for the CL off our shoulders, the players can play with a bit of freedom and end the season with a really good performance and win against Leicester, sign off from Wembley in style. Fingers crossed and COYS

Edit: and well done Huddersfield; a lot of people (myself included) thought they would go down with their final three matches being against Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal, but a draw at City and Chelsea and they're safe. A brilliant achievement. And I'm glad they stayed up, gives me another chance to go to their stadium after I missed out this season!

[TonyDA]

Have to say that, despite the disappointment of not wining the FA Cup, that is a great season for us. At the start of the season, I thought we’d finish 5th or 6th due to the lack of a proper home. Interesting to hear both Lloris & Pochettino say last night that we’ve played 38 games away from home this season - if that’s their true feeling then it shows how tricky managing the season was for all concerned.

Three consecutive seasons in the UCL - who’d have thought that was possible five years ago?

[EJG1980]

Have to say that, despite the disappointment of not wining the FA Cup, that is a great season for us. At the start of the season, I thought we’d finish 5th or 6th due to the lack of a proper home. Interesting to hear both Lloris & Pochettino say last night that we’ve played 38 games away from home this season - if that’s their true feeling then it shows how tricky managing the season was for all concerned.

Three consecutive seasons in the UCL - who’d have thought that was possible five years ago?

I remember after we qualified in 2009/10, Daniel Levy said that it was a great achievement but not something we should expect every season, because there are five clubs who have much more money than we do so outperforming two of them every single year would be a very tough ask, and thinking that we could qualify once every few years was more realistic.

I agreed with that and thought it was a sensible outlook, so massive massive credit must go to Poch for getting three qualifications in a row. I really, really hope he stays around for a good long while yet.

[EJG1980]

Ah well, the second place dream didn't last too long! Man Utd managed to get the nil but unfortunately West Ham couldn't get the one.

I came across a great photo of the new stadium taken by the company installing the panels on the roof. It's really big so I'll just post a link to it here rather than embedding it.

https://image-store.slidesharecdn.com/fa448b47-eff4-4ad8-af7d-76ab9efedd0e-original.jpeg

Gotta say, nerves of steel needed for that job, I'd be barely able to move let alone do a complicated job of installing roof panels!

[fallenangle]

Well that's one strange and very Spurs like way of of securing third place.

WTF was going on?

5-4, great that we scored so many but letting in 4 - bonkers. Sounded like an entertaining game and looking forward to seeing the highlights on MotD.

'Interesting' end to the season and great to see Spurs up there in the top three again but you're left feeling we've actually under-performed in the Premiership this year and not as consistent or confident as in previous seasons.

The Wembley effect as Poch seemed to be referring too?

[EJG1980]

Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, I don't think I can summarise that, just watch the highlights! Bloody hell

We were a little bit down performance wise compared to last season, I don't think we managed to hit our very best as often as we did last year. Wembley did have a bit of an effect, it's not our proper home so it was bound to, but we did well there after taking a few matches to find our feet. Man City got 50 points at home this season and we managed 43, we weren't a million miles off.

But I think it can be easy to overanalyse things sometimes; no team is ever going to have the exact same level of performance every single season, there will always be little ups and downs from one season to the next (for the players and the team as a whole). I think what matters is that you're in generally the same area each season and Poch is delivering that. First time since the 1960-1963 that we've had three top three finishes in a row. This is the most consistent we've been for decades.

For me it was a great season, some fantastic moments and matches, the win against Madrid and away against Chelsea probably my two faves off the top of my head.

Not quite enough for the golden boot (hats off to Salah) but 30 in the league for the first time for Harry. Just a four season wonder now! Phenomenal player.

Jan Vertonghen won the fans player of the year award, which was the correct decision as that’s who I voted for

And our little excursion to Wembley is over, so next season, we’re going home, we're going home, Tottenham’s going home Can't wait for next season and Champions League nights at our new home.

[TonyDA]

I’ve finally seen Spurs win ‘live’ at Wembley - what a game to go to, even if I was Billy no mates having gone on my own!

Completely bonkers match, end to end. Leicester played their part, and I thought Vardy was outstanding, a real threat. Brilliant game to win in the sun!

Roll on next season in our new home. Can’t wait. Just hoping for a summer with some good moves in, and hopefully just Sissoko out!

[Mayhem]

No idea how Leicester threw that one away... c'est la vie! Still, at least it shows they can play...

[EJG1980]

No idea how Leicester threw that one away... c'est la vie! Still, at least it shows they can play...

Yup, we rode our luck at times in that match, you missed a few good chances in the first half to go in at the break with more than a one goal lead. Could have been different too if you'd kept it tight for a bit after going 3-1 up instead of us getting back into it straight away.

Off the top of my head I can't recall a match I've been to with such a quick turnaround, to be lamenting a final day damp squib on 48 minutes and then jumping for joy at taking the lead on 60 minutes. And there was still more to come!

What's the consensus on Claude Puel among the Leicester fans? From the outside looking in he seems to have been hard done by the past couple of seasons: 8th place and a cup final for Southampton, gets the sack. Takes over a struggling Leicester side and finishes 9th, likely to get sacked again.

Boring football has been cited in both cases as the reason for getting rid of him. I don't (and didn't) watch much of either team unless they were playing Spurs, so is his brand of football as dull as is made out?

[EJG1980]

Always enjoy this guy's (or gal's) end of season videos, another good one this year:

[EJG1980]

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/club-agrees-new-contracts-with-mauricio-and-coaching-staff-240518/

[fallenangle]

I saw that yesterday myself and was very pleased with the news.

After all the speculation about Poch being poached by a 'bigger' side I am glad it is sorted for the time being. I've never understood why a manager of a side they have spent several years building and unquestionably improved (3 x top 3 Premiership places, 2 x FA Cup semi-finals, good CL run this season too) would want to leave with the job still in progress.

Looks like MU want Toby Alderweireld and what I'm hoping is that maybe Spurs can do a swap deal involving Anthony Martial. I've just done a quick search and in fact the Metro newspaper is claiming just today that sort of deal is on the cards. Although MU said earlier they did not want him to go to another Premiership club it sounds like a fair and logical exchange if, of course, AM is happy to come to Spurs.

[EJG1980]

Got the big two tied down to new contracts now, a new 6 year deal for Kane announced today

If you believe the papers, he'll be on £200K per week, so it looks like we're moving our wage ceiling up thanks to the new stadium.

I remember a couple of years ago all our main first team players signed new contracts and they announced them one after the other, so hopefully we'll be getting the same again and the likes of Eriksen, Dele, Son, Lloris, Vertonghen, etc., being announced one by one over the coming days.

[fallenangle]

Yes, very good news.

Seems Dembele may be on the move along with Alderweireld but in both cases the interested clubs are not willing to pay what Spurs are asking. No more mention of that possible part-exchange Martial deal for Alderweireld with MU that I've seen either.