Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Well done guys. Can you please beat them in the league this weekend?

Hmm... if we beat or draw with Man City this weekend, you agree to lose to us in the event of a Liverpool vs Spurs CL final. Fair exchange, right?

[hudson]

No deal lol.

Just realised, we've made our league run-in harder by adding a Barca two-legged tie in there. Man City can just concentrate on the league

[fallenangle]

Well done guys. Can you please beat them in the league this weekend?

Thanks EJG180 for those highlight. I'm just going to watch them now, a nice lunchtime treat.
Edit: That was good, really good.

I think beating MC in the Premiership or at least drawing with them is arguably more important than the CL match.

If we win the CL, which is now a genuine possibility but still the less likely scenario, all will be good. But not getting through to the CL next season is also a genuine possibility too.

A CL semi-final but a Premiership 5th position is not going to be enough of an improvement to stop Poch seriously considering whether he will stay at Spurs. If he goes that will raise similar questions about Toby Alderweireld, Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertongen and HK leaving too.

Christian Eriksen is said to be wanted by Real Madrid and everyone from MU, MC and all the usual big spending EU clubs have consistently expressed interest in the three others.

So a CL spot next season is pretty much vital and a top four place in the Premiership or the, far, far harder route: a CL win are the only ways of doing that. Even if Liverpool win the CL 5th place apparently still 'only' qualifies for the Europa League with the spare CL slot going to the top Austrian side according to the information on the BBC sports' web site.

[TonyDA]

Thanks for those vids - I think I'm on my sixth viewing of the highlights today, so far, and i'm likely to view it again...and again.

I can't seem to find a link, apart from through Instagram & Facebook, but there is a 40-odd second video taken from the dressing room. It's absolutely hilarious (for a Spurs fan) to see what it means to Pochettino. If you're on either platform, it's been posted by 'Tottenham Hotspur Funnies' and is worth looking for.

I'm not sure how important a game Saturday is, as such, but lose and we'll probably have to win the remaining four games to finish in the top four - and that puts loads of pressure on those games, given they'll be fitted around the two legs against Ajax.

[EJG1980]

Yeah, every half an hour it's "Well, I should really make sure I finish thi... okay, just one more watch of the highlights!"

That dressing room video is fantastic, although what could Poch's hand gestures possibly mean?

I copied it to YouTube to make it easy to share around:



Normally I'm the pragmatic type who accepts the modern realities of the game, money and being in the CL is what counts. So when it's say, 5th + FA Cup vs 4th and no cup, I reluctantly accept that the latter is likely to do more for the club long term. Just make sure you're qualified for the CL and anything more is a bonus

But...

This is the Champions League, and we're two games away from the final, and three games away from possibly (as tough as it will be) winning it. When you're in such a position I think you just have to go for it, even if it means resting players for league matches and taking more of a risk with our league position. I think we just have to go for the CL, who knows when we'll get this close again?

Having said that, with our injury list, we might not be able to rotate that much anyway!

[TonyDA]

That dressing room video is fantastic, although what could Poch's hand gestures possibly mean?

Hilarious hand gestures, I'll leave them at that! As is the way he goes and bashes the whiteboard...

Love him. As fallenangle says, I just hope whatever combination of events at the end of the season - money, new players, not seeing the likes of Eriksen & Toby leave, finishing in the top four, winning the Champions League - is what it takes to make sure he feels there are more nights like these coming next season and doesn't think about leaving. We won't find anyone better.

[EJG1980]

Shame, thought we deserved a point from that game. Give Son the chances he had today (especially the three in the first half) and most of the time he'd put at least one of them away. Perhaps the main downside was in the second half, with Man City's nerves clearly frayed, we should have created two or three more chances than we did in the final half an hour or so.

We did have more clear cut chances than them though (in the second half I can only remember Gazza's save with his leg from Sterling as a really good City chance) so it is a shame we didn't get at least a draw. Thought Juan Foyth did very well in an unfamiliar position, coped very well with both Sterling and then Sane.

I'm not 100% sure about the penalty shout, as Walker's arm was by his side, but he is running towards the ball to make contact with it so... all three commentators thought it was a definite penalty, so I'll go with them! Where's VAR when you need it?

This was the kind of match that was going to be very hard to win no matter what, so I'm not too down about the loss. Even if everyone around us wins their game in hand, we won't drop out of the top four* so our destiny is still in our own hands with three of the four remaining matches at home. Hopefully we can get one or two back from injury too, with a bit of luck. Brighton up next on Tuesday!

Edit: * unless Man Utd win their next match by ten goals

[fallenangle]

Yep, a big pity losing today but indeed we do have that better GD than MU as a last fallback if they end up on the same points. However we do need to give Brighton a good thumping and as that will almost certainly relegate them they're not going to go easily.

[EJG1980]

I wouldn't like to bet either way on who goes down between Brighton and Cardiff.

Brighton have Spurs, Arsenal, Newcastle, Man City. On paper you wouldn't give them much chance except against Newcastle.

Cardiff have Liverpool, Palace, Fulham, Man Utd. Two matches you wouldn't expect a win from, but Palace are similar to Newcastle and then they have a massive chance with the Fulham match.

The point (they're currently getting) against Wolves today might just about keep Brighton up by the skin of their teeth, gives them a three point gap and a much better GD.

I don't want to see Chris Hughton go down so hopefully Brighton lose to us, then bounce back with a win against Arsenal, but get a last day scare with Cardiff beating Man Utd

[fallenangle]

Cardiff beating MU.........that would be very helpful. But I'm not counting on it.

I too have sympathy for Brighton's predicament, particularly with their manger being a respected Spurs old boy who has been trying to do a tough job with considerably less resources than many of the bigger clubs.

[TonyDA]

As I live in Brighton, I don't want them to go down....but I do want them to lose on Tuesday!

More concerning is our injury list - hoping Winks/Sissoko are back for Ajax, but two tough league games against Brighton/West Ham before then and we need to win both. Squad looks a bit bare right now, although at least Son will get an enforced rest in the first leg against Ajax.

[EJG1980]

Nice result for us up at Goodison Park today (still a minute left, but I'm fairly confident Everton won't let in five ).

I know he doesn't score many goals, but I really like Dominic Calvert-Lewin as a player. Whenever I've watched Everton play his holdup work, winning flick ons to put in other players, creating space for other players, etc., has been really good. Plus he's still fairly young so good coaching could add more goals to his game.

I think he'd be a good squad option to have and could be a decent foil to Kane if they played together. He plays pretty much every week at Everton though and he may prefer that to having to fight for appearances at Spurs (not that we've ever even been linked with a move for him, just a random thought while watching the match).

Edit: Nice one Palace

[TonyDA]

I'm glad Palace picked the Emirates as the North London ground to put in a performance in April!

What a couple of results today! Had been looking at this weekend as a pivotal one in the top four race and, to be honest, expected to be coming out of it in 5th place and with Man U on the same points as us. It would still have been in hands (by virtue of Chelsea having played a game more than us after tomorrow's game against Burnley), but now it's simple - win the last four and we finish third and we have a little room for manoeuvre should we mess at least one game up...

And Arsenal, Chelsea and Utd have some tricky fixtures coming up -

Tottenham: 23 Apr Brighton (H); 27 Apr West Ham (H); 4 May Bournemouth (A); 12 May Everton (H)

Arsenal: 24 Apr Wolves (A); 28 Apr Leicester (A); 5 May Brighton (H); 12 May Burnley (A)

Chelsea: 22 Apr Burnley (H); 28 Apr Man Utd (A); 5 May Watford (H); 12 May Leicester (A)

Manchester United: 24 Apr Man City (H); 28 Apr Chelsea (H); 5 May Huddersfield (A); 12 May Cardiff (H)

Our tricky one looks to be West Ham - always a cup final for them....

[Brad]

Nail biting following palace with <30% possession try to keep arsenal at bay! I felt certain they’d crumble (as is often our way!)

[EJG1980]

I was fairly hopeful Palace would hold out as they've always seemed a tough nut to crack whenever we've played them, with our long succession of tight 1-0 wins (and losses in the cup!).

Still, I was muttering "no more score updates, no more score updates," at the telly once it went to 2-3