Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

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A must win for Spurs whoever we're playing. We need to keep in touch with the top two and a win will put as back into third on GD having played the same number of games as Leicester and Liverpool.

MC are now the ones to watch as they're on the same number of points as us today (Monday) but will still have one game in hand whatever the result of their game earlier on Wednesday against B&HA. We should still end up above them on GD if we win against Fulham but chances are they'll push us back down to 4th with that extra game.

Only good thing is that Liverpool and MU face each other next weekend so if we beat Sheffield Utd we could even go top again for a few hours on Sunday if that ends in a draw.

[EJG1980]

Yup, gotta keep those wins coming, especially in matches like those coming up; any team near the top of the league that can stop dropping silly points and go on a run has a great chance. After we lost to Liverpool before my brother said that Spurs would be back on top of the league by the time we played them again, let’s hope he’s right!

Wycombe Wanderers away for us in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Hopefully it’s more straightforward than our last meeting with them, although I’d take it if we got the same result



What a crazy match that was; that last season at WHL was special.

Edit: and away to Everton or Sheffield Wednesday in the fifth round if we get through. I know it’ll probably be Everton, but I’d love to play Wednesday again.

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Crazy game indeed. I'd forgotten that we'd met them back then in the FA Cup. Great entertainment though but I hope this time Spurs will come out on top in a less dramatic way.

[EJG1980]

Got what we deserved tonight, another match where we played well in the first half, got a goal, forced their keeper into some top saves and you think “Well played, good start, keep it up in the second half and kill off the match”... and then we offered nothing in the second half and were deservedly pegged back, virtually all Fulham in the second half.

A real chance wasted to go into third and put pressure on those above us going into the weekend matches. Happening too often, that we switch off in second halves / after we take leads. I know we’re a work in progress but that’s our biggest Achilles heel at the moment that will hold us back this season, unless we can sort it out.

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Just watched it on MotD - so annoying. Just the sort of match we should and could have won by a decent margin and we end up letting them back in and lose two important points.

Praise for Reguilon on MotD, well deserved. Proving to be one of Spurs best purchases in recent times; a quality player like a left sided K.Trippier when he was at his best for us.

[EJG1980]

Just watched it on MotD - so annoying. Just the sort of match we should and could have won by a decent margin and we end up letting them back in and lose two important points.

It's so frustrating because it's such a close league this year that we're still only six points behind first place, and then you think what could have been with the avoidable dropped points. Newcastle, last minute equaliser; West Ham, lose a 3-0 lead in the final ten minutes; Palace, good first half, drop off in second, end up with a draw; Wolves, drop off after taking an early lead, last minute equaliser; Fulham, good first half, drop off in second, end up with a draw.

I had no expectations of winning the league at the start of the season, but with the way it's gone you can see this is a year where there's more of a chance than usual for someone less fancied to get a surprise win. If we can just cut out this bad habit then we've got as good a chance as anyone for a shock this year. Of course, every team near the top has a similar story of dropped points, otherwise the table wouldn't be so close. Ah well, fingers crossed, hope for the best and see where we end up

Praise for Reguilon on MotD, well deserved. Proving to be one of Spurs best purchases in recent times; a quality player like a left sided K.Trippier when he was at his best for us.

Agreed, he's been very very good. More than decent at the back for someone who's known as an attacking full back, makes great penetrating runs down the wings, can beat a man, and puts in some sublime crosses. Fantastic cross for the goal last night.

[EJG1980]

Good win today, and improvements over some other recent performances although not perfect. Good first half performance to go 2-0 up, but I felt we started the second half as we had done in other recent games and invited Sheff Utd onto us too much and we paid the price when they got one back.

We responded really well though and went 3-1 up almost straight away, and THEN we played the game out in a much better fashion. Didn't go gung ho attacking wise, but kept the ball much better ourselves instead of letting the opposition have it (and when they did have it we pressed better and stayed higher up the pitch instead of dropping off), and had a few good chances to make it 4-1. It's a shame Kane didn't get another one because he'd have equalled Bobby Smith's goalscoring record. Maybe he's saving it for Liverpool

Highlight of the match was, without doubt, the Ndombele goal that made it 3-1. A thing of beauty, well worth watching on repeat. He had a very good game besides the goal too, my man of the match today.

Edit: should mention Joe Rodon had a good game too. Can’t remember any mistakes, good positioning, cleared and tackled well when needed. One moment as well in the first half where Dier was turned and beaten and Rondon stepped in to mop it up. Now that he can be registered for the Europa League and we have the FA Cup, I’m sure we’ll see more of him in the second half of the season.

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Yes, listened to it on and off on the radio and sounded just as described, pity about letting them score but otherwise just the result Spurs needed.

I was saying last week after the Marine game that, forgetting about his initially slightly dodgy Spurs debut, Rodon was beginning to look particularly good; a solid, physical and, crucially, fast defender. Hope his form continues.

[EJG1980]

I was saying last week after the Marine game that, forgetting about his initially slightly dodgy Spurs debut, Rodon was beginning to look particularly good; a solid, physical and, crucially, fast defender. Hope his form continues.

I think even on his first start against Chelsea, the above described 95% of his performance that day. And I forgive him the two mistakes he made that day as he's young and it was a thrown in at the deep end unexpected debut. Definitely one for the future.

Interesting quotes from Kane after today's match:

"Fantastic performance from everyone today - started really well, aggressive with our press and were clinical to go 2-0 up. Even in the second half, when they scored, we didn't panic. Tanguy (Ndombele) scored a fantastic goal and we saw the game out well, which we haven't done in the past few weeks.

It's never been the manager saying that (we should sit back) it's been us on the pitch having a mentality where we want to drop and hold on to to the win. The most important thing is us as players to go and take responsibility, and we did that today."

Confirms what Mourinho said after the Wolves match, that the dropping deep and soaking up pressure after taking a lead was not part of his game plan. A reporter at the Fulham match said that Mourinho and his assistant spent most of the second half shouting at the players (in vain!) to play higher up the pitch and press the Fulham players instead of just letting them have it.

Glad to see the players taking responsibility for it (though you wouldn't expect anything less from Kane) and trying to get better, hopefully we can pick up more three points in the second half of the season that would have been ones in the first half. Only four points off the top after the Pool Man Utd draw, all to play for, and it'd be massive if we can beat Liverpool in our next league match.

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Just seen it on MotD and indeed a fantastic goal by Ndombele.

Not sure whether the other results today (Sunday) were good or bad for us. As I expected the MU v. Liverpool match was ****, generally is when they hype a game like that but a draw I suppose is better than one or the other pulling away significantly at the top. But then there's MC, as I predicted, back to consistent winning ways, leapfrogging us and into 2nd place with a game in hand over everyone else up there.

That Fulham draw and our earlier dropped points feels even more disappointing now but we are still in touch.

Monday 25.01.21 Edit

Important match today - COY.

Then only three days before a vital Premiership game against Liverpool and Brighton &HA on Sunday!!!!

Bonkers fixtures list - three games in a week; that's tough going.

[EJG1980]

Important match today - COY.

Then only three days before a vital Premiership game against Liverpool and Brighton &HA on Sunday!!!!

Bonkers fixtures list - three games in a week; that's tough going.

Yeah, it’s a bit bizarre that we have two games between the 14th and 27th and then they suddenly cram them all in. You’d think in a season like this they’d try and space the fixtures out a bit more sensibly.

Decent performance tonight, aside from the finishing until the final few minutes. Even before we brought on the first choice players like Kane, we were making loads of chances but just couldn’t put the ball in the net for some reason, and that continued for a while even after the big guns came on. Luckily we finally made it count with the excellent Winks goal to put us ahead, and then the icing on the cake of the two lovely goals from Ndombele.

It looks like a scraped win because the last three foals goals were late, but we had 16 shots to 0 in the second half and I think nine times out of ten we’d have put a few away much earlier. Everton away in the next round, tough but winnable.

[fallenangle]

When I heard that first goal go in I thought oh-oh a Spurs embarrassment could be on the cards but from those many chances mentioned it was clear we were on top. Just a pity and a worry that none of those opportunities were taken. Good win in the end though.

We're not likely going to be as fortunate against Liverpool.

[EJG1980]

Poor tonight, Liverpool the better team throughout, and we didn’t help ourselves with some really poor defending and individual errors for their goals.

It’s a shame Son’s early goal was a couple of pixels offside, MAYBE things could have been different had it stood, but if we’d put in the same kind of performance I don’t think even that early goal would have saved us.

Great goal from PEH to make is 1-2 but disappointing that it didn’t seem to galvanise us and we carried on playing poorly afterwards.

And now the horrible wait for news of the severity of the Kane injury. Hopefully it’s not too bad as he was able to carry on until being taken off at half time; his other big injuries in the past couple of seasons he was unable to carry on and taken off instantly. Fingers crossed!

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I know its only halfway through the season but that loss puts us so far behind the top two I think even a Premiership Champions League place with so many competing for third and fourth is going to be tough.

Everton could leapfrog us with their game in hand (Newcastle) and unless several of those other teams have a meltdown or tough fixtures we're likely to languish around fifth or sixth place for the foreseeable future.

With the HK injury possibly putting him out for at least the next, now even more important to win, match against BHA its not looking like its going to be Spurs' season to challenge seriously for the Premiership top spot as it felt might be on the cards early on.

[EJG1980]

Yup, back when we were top of the league I said that I'd be very surprised if anyone other than Liverpool or Man City won the title (and Man City look like they're clicking into gear now) so it's a little bit of a shame but not unexpected that we've fallen away from the very top of the table.

As you said, so many teams involved means that just getting top four is likely to be a tough fight. You can probably go down as far as Southampton in 11th for teams that can still be considered in with a top four shot at the moment.

I doubt that many teams will stay in touch until the very end of the season, so we've just gotta make sure we stay up there and work as hard as possible to pick up consistent points. The Brighton match is a big one now, a win and we're still only one point behind Liverpool, lose or draw and it'll definitely feel momentum draining, and puts even more pressure on upcoming tough matches against Chelsea and Man City.