Chase for League Champions basically over. Need to play well next 6 games to get 2nd or 3rd. Next week's game versus Man U a must win if Everton capitulate today versus them.
Don't. There are teams far more deserving of your ire. If, as seems likely now, we will miss out to them this year, well every other team has, too. There is no reason for us to feel especially resentful. If we don't win the title, I will take comfort in the leaps and bounds that this team has progressed this year, the team spirit built, the confidence grown. We have gone toe to toe with all the contenders and matched them or beaten them. And the trajectory of our young team is in the right direction. Sure, Chelsea will be back, Guardiola will have his say (just like Klopp, right?) and the woe-is-me merchants will say "THIS!! was our year! This was our only chance of the title!". Yet those same people said, of Lasagnagate, "THIS!! was our year! This was our only chance!" (of getting in to the top 4). Or the numerous other times we finished 5th. Yet we have reached that hallowed top 4 a few times now, and will again this year. EVERY year brings another chance for the title. And I believe our chances are getting better, with this team, this manager and this ownership.
How things have changed. Everybody is so down on Spurs...because Spurs are in 2nd. WTF? Sure Spurs drew with Liverpool. But that is a team oozing with potential to title challenge, to yesterday they stepped up. Everton are crap, and Man U should have beat them, but it is Man U in 2015/2016 and that says a lot about how they are. Leicester are playing very, very far above how they were expected, and are earning their spot. Spurs did not have the best day coming off an international break where: Rose started 2 matches for England Kane, Dier, Walker, and Alli all started one match for England Lloris started one match for France Eriksen started 2 matches for Denmark Alderweireld would have started but got sick. But he, and Dembele, had a game canceled on them for obvious reasons. Wimmer came off the bench Son is the only starting player who did not travel for international competition. Spurs played as if it was the Sunday after a Thursday match, and were the team to beat.
I guess instead of being a little sad that we might not get the title this season but we will be in the champions league, we could look at the absolutely hilarious side effect, Wenger couldn't even win a league title in this kind of season.... and I love it.
Saturdays match cannot be blamed for losing the title or, if it happens, losing 2nd place. a draw at Anfield is a reasonable result. the dropped points that are harder to take are the draw at home vs 10 man Arsenal with a 2-1 lead, or the draw vs Stoke with a 2-0 halftime lead, or the 6 pointer loss vs Leicester in January that Huth scored the winner on. blame any one of those 3 matches rather than this Liverpool match, where I thought Spurs played well enough, but so did Liverpool
1st, 2nd or 3rd i've loved every second of this season. And if it isn't to be us i'm thrilled it's Leicester. We have a very young team. Not a single player in the squad needs replacing for age reasons for years. We have no holes in the first 11 at all. The England team is built around us. There's character by the bucket load. We've got Harry Kane. Time and time again we've gone toe to toe with the big sides and matched them, some times bested them. We're on course for our best points tally in several generations. This isn't our only shot at the title, this is the start of something special.
Next week's game against Utd is huge. If there was ever proof that we still are a work in progress, it is the fact that this season we have yet to beat any of Leicester, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd or Chelsea. We have to stop that next week.
There's a guy on reddit who tracks every result against last year. Overall we are 5 points up on the same games, +23 in GD. (2 pts vs. Liverpool instead of zero) Next 3 games give the chance of getting another 8 points ahead of last year. We just need to keep racking up the points so that we hold on to second, at least. And that would get one particular monkey off our back.
One game at a time, treat every one like a cup final. That sounds like what the team are doing, and that's fine.
Newcastle and Leicester are the two lost opportunities for me as well; a draw against Leicester and a win against Newcastle would have see us a point ahead of City. I’ll consider this season a success if 2 or 3 seasons from now we go to Man City or Chelsea expecting to win, rather than hoping not to lose.
it was West Ham away for me. but to be fair, it isn't so much a case of 'where we squandered our chance' as where I realized we just aren't good enough to win the title. and the only thing that makes that frustrating is the fact that Leicester City is. who'd've thought? combine that with the fact that the other teams you'd expect to have the quality don't, and it opens the door to a bit of disappointment that, if I'm honest, probably isn't merited. if in August you'd have offered me 2nd place in April, i'd've bitten your hand off. it's hard to argue that this team deserves more. and i'm euphoric that they - should we maintain our composure down the stretch - deserve no less.
At the end of the day I think Leicester had a little bit more age/experience and a slightly deeper bench on their side that saw them through a couple of games that tripped up Spurs age/inexperience. Silver lining Leicester will have a harder time holding on to and replenishing this squad. The the likes of Mahrez & Kante are going to get some awfully tempting offers . Huth, Okazaki & Vardy have a couple more seasons in them. If Levy/Poch can keep the ship steady during the stadium construction when the new White Hart Lane opens Spurs will still be fighting for a top four, I don’t see Leicester doing the same.
It is kind of like how Japan was the "team of destiny" in the 2011 women's WC. After the tidal wave / nuclear accident, with everybody rooting for them, it just felt like they were going to beat the US. This year LC came from out of nowhere, had a random guy score in something crazy like 15 straight games, all those 1-0 wins...
I had a conversation elsewhere and had much the same points, and LC had that surprise seasons, Spurs were a big club before this, and will be after, and very soon will have that nice, big stadium. If Spurs can keep Poch around, this very much feels similar to Man U in the early 1990s. Give it a couple of years, a couple of shrewd buys, and Spurs will be title challengers for a decade or more.