joey55

Is Glaston confident we'll finsh 4th? Has he ever said as much? A supporter saying he thinks his team can finish in the top 4, doesn't mean he's confident they will. I think Spurs will finsh 6th and Villa 7th, but I couldn't say that with a great deal condfidence, it's just what I'd predict if put on the spot.

If you read the title of this thread, it tells you it's a hatefest for your club and your manager, nothing more, nothing less, if you don't want to read what we post about them, then don't look, easy eh! Glaston sets himself up for the abuse he gets, I'm not going to get personal about the fella, but I just don't like the way he posts stuff on here, snidey smarmy and smart arsed comments will gain him no friends anywhere. If you think I'm being a tad unreasonable, then just google his name and you'll find other fans forums he frequents when Spurs are playing well, and he's considered nothing more than an irritating unfunny joke. Do you think it's acceptable that you're able to join our site and post on our site, yet we're not allowed to join yours? A few of our VT members were kicked off that site for being Villa fans, and we're still waiting for confirmation from your friend whether he grassed them up or not. (He's been asked lord knows how many times, but still hasn't answered us) You could join any number of Spurs sites. And describing it as "yours" and "ours" is part of the problem. The people who run COYS just happen to be Spurs fans. The fact they are Spurs fans isn't the problem. The problem is they are a bit anal. They'd be the same no matter what club they supported. I've posted in this very thread about those who run COYS before. It's an odd site. But it's the personallity types of those who run/own it that are the problem, not the club they support. Join SpursCommunity, GloryGlory, Spursweb, SPurs Oddyesy etc. It's not as if a memo is sent out from WHL briefing all Spurs fans that they shouldn't let fans of other clubs join their forums. As for Glaston, the same criticsims come up time and time against him. Yet find a post from this very thread that he's made which has been deserving of such criticsim. And if you do, see if there are not at least a couple of Villa fans who had not already posted in a far more antagonistic manner, which provoked him into making the bad post in the first place. Isn't he just a typical fan in that he's passionate wbout the club he supports and is therefore biased about it's mangers and players etc? I honestly haven't seen him make any posts that the deserve the shit he gets on here. Yet every time someone (often Villa fans) ask for him to be cut some slack, a number of other posters come along with the same criticisms you've just brought up. Yet none of you ever mention the context in which he's posted or any provocation he might have recieved before hand. You act innocently as if he's just come along to provoke and antagonise, yet I genuinley can't see any real evidence of this.

That last bit is a joke right? The reason most other supporters (believe me, it's not just Villa fans that hate you) hate your lot is down to your deluded fan base and corrupt gobshite manager, it's got nothing to do with our "own making". Either way, if you or your Spudz mucker that post on here don't like it, you can always jog on back to your own site with your own deluded fans. When I say you own making, I mean it's down to you lot unnecessarily taking issue with things. There has never been any real bad blood between Villa and Spurs. If you read through this thread you'll find loads of examples of Villa fans making somehting out of nothing to do with a Spurs or Redknapp related issue. Little things get blown out of all propriton and you then fuel each others illogical hatred. And the media bias rubbish and these constant accussations of delusion which can be aimed at most fans. Some of the shit posted regarded comments Harry had made is ridiculous. I really believe that if you read through all the exchanges in this thread and Spurs related comments, with the benefit of hindsight you'll be shocked at that absurdity of a lot of it. And to be fair neither myself or Glaston (as far as I know) have ever responded to another poster in the way you just have. We are always polite and try and keep the chat friendly.

Why are you all being so false? Would it kill you to show a bit of humility and say on the day we were the better side and played the better football? We do play long balls to Crouch, but that is just part of our game and a highlight reel of the chances we created would demonstrate that we play plenty of good football on the ground. The trouble yesterday was that you play do deep, it's difficult to fin space in the final third, so the longer ball to Crouch was always going to be a viable option for us. But overall I thought you deserved your point as you defended very well. You all seem to have a real issue with SPurs for some reason, but judging by this thread it's Villa fans that need to be looking at themselves, rather than criticising supporters of other clubs. But I suppose it isn't really fair to crticise Villa fans, as you are just a group of random people who happen to support Villa and aren't representative of all Villa fans. But honestly, and I genuinely think I'm being objective and not biased (though I'm sure you'll disagree) but you largelly come across as petty and vindictive, especially in your posts repsonding to Glaston. The guy is always polite and doesn't seem to try and offend, yet you lot seem to want to have a go at him and Spurs fans in general, as if you have chip on your shoulders about something. I don't understand why it is, as I don't know of any bad blood between Villa and Spurs over the years. It seems to be a recent issue that Villa fans have with Spurs and seems to be largelly of your own making. Anyway, I think the reason we had the better of the game was largelly because you are so poor in CM. Petrov didn't offer much and Milner is about a much a CM as Huddlestone is a flying winger. I know he's had some good moments playing from CM, but it's largelly been stuff he does as well and more of when he plays wide. He could probably play in the middle in the way Gerard does for Liverpool, but I can't see it as a long term solution for you in a 442. I'd revert him back to the right and just accept you have strength in depth in wide areas, rather than try and accomodate all 3 of Downing, Young and Milner. I think you need a striker and 2 quality CM's in the summer and then the sky is the limit for you lot, as your very hard to break down. With a bit more quality in key areas (ie CM and up front) I can't see much difference between you and Arsenal.

Have you ever seen him play?

I'm hoping it's a draw tonight, if not then I hope you win. My fear is that Liverpool win, then we play them at Anfield and if they win that, then suddenly they are going to be huge favourites to finish 4th. I desperately don't want Liverpool to finish 4th as, if they fail their financial problems will get even worse and they will have to sell their best players. It could set them back a few years and that a only be a good thing for clubs like Villa and Spurs.

Wanted an Arsenal win. I've never believed we are in anything other than a race for 4th place.

I didn't think it was one of our better performances. I just think City were toothless in attack and rubbish at the back. Harry said he thought it was the best we've played this season, but I can't agree with that. But it was tough to play flowing football as they had 3 in the middle, plus Tevez was like a 4th CM at times, so it was always going to be congested and tough to pass the ball. From the moment Huddlestone clattered Robinho he was totally dissinterested.

Sadly i agree. I will say though that I think it's a bit of a myth he took time to settle. I think because we were so poor at the start of last season, the media naturally decided Modric was having trouble settling in, but I thought he was great right from the start. The trouble was Ramos played him deeper than JJ. I found this shocking. Modric was playing really well, but you want him to be doing that in the final third of the pitch, not in his own half. If he'd played on the left from the start, then I'm sure he'd have been getting praise by the media from the beginning. He was able to handle the speed and physical nature of the Prem right from his first game. The first thing that really stood out for me about him against Boro (our first game 2008/9) was how tough he was to get off the ball and how he isn't affraid to get stuck in.

Kranjcar has been great, but Modric is in a different league. Modric is up there with Gazza and Hoddle as the best midfielders I've seen at Spurs. He's our best player by a mile. The only way i can see them both playing together is if we play Modric behind Defoe and keep Kranjcar of the left. But I'm not sure Defoe can play as a lone stiker. Again if we had a RVN type, that would work. Basically i want us to sign RVN in Jan. I know he's 33, but when he played for Real a few weeks back, he looked sharp despite being out for so long. It's unlikely, but I'd love it to happen.

Harry's always accepted Dawson, Jol loved him and Ramos gave him a new 5 year deal. It's only the fans that have had a problem with him and that only started when he was playing with Kaboul, Chimbonda and Robinson. I'm not convinced we will stick with Bassong and Dawson. To be fair Woody had played most games for 2 seasons until this latest injury. But even so, I think we might well look for a new CB in the summer. There was talk of Cahill and also Upson. But Upson is getting on a bit and his form has been poor apparently this season. But despite all our injury problems at CB, I don't actually think that is the main area we need to strengthen. If you look at where we've dropped points this season when we shouldn't have, it's been because the strikers have missed some pretty straight forward chances. There is always talk of us strengthening at CB or CM, but I think most of our defensive problems have come from the fullbacks and the reason we've lost or drawn games we shouldn't have is because we didn't put away our chances. Defoe might have scored one yesterday, but Huddlestone, Palcios and krancjar will all have felt they should have had a couple assists each from him. Lennon got an assit, but he put in some fantastic crosses that weren't capilised on. Even against Wigan, we missed some real golden opportunites. If we had someone like RVN, then I'm sure we'd have another 7 points. Crouch, Pav and Keane aren't good enough. We need a real clinical finisher who is strong in the box. I'm not sure a more settled CB pairing would have made much difference. I know it sounds strange for a team that concede goals, but also score plenty, but I'm sure if our games we really analysed most would reach the same conclusion, that we need a top class striker more than a top class CB.

Bassong has been postionally poor all season. For example, after the Bolton game, the press and our fans made out that Kevin Davies was a real handful for us and many blamed Huddlestone, who was playing at CB. But Huddlestone played Davies off side virtually everytime he got near the goal, only Bassong constantly always failed to step up. BAE is another who is often caught out, but raely gets criciticsed. He's imporved and Harry praised him, so he's held in good standing amongst our fans, but I'd be very shocked if he and Bassong weren't by far the biggest culprits when it comes to making mistakes which lead to us conceding. Yesterday it got highlighted on Sky for the first time, but it really is far from the first time BAE has made poor decisions this season. I'm not convinced by Corluka either. I think he's decent but nothing special.

He was the same last season, but then he got injured. Up until his injury he arguably our player of the season. He was also a regular in the defence that gave us our best ever defensive record in the Prem during 2005/6. The reason Dawson gets criticised is because he's a bit like Richard Dunne, in that he is full blooded and never shirks resposibility. The more resonsibility a CB assumes the more he put himself in the firing line and thus the more likley he is to make a mistake. He has such a tough job because of the high line we play. Yesterday he cut out the danger high up the pitch so may times. He did the same against you. This is such a crucial role as if a defender gets this wrong, the opposition are in behind and there is little we can do about it other than hope the keeper saves. Yet it barely gets mentioned. Because he cuts out the danger early our fans often fail to realise just how dangferous a situation is. If a defender makes a last ditch tackle or block in the penalty area they get praised, yet if they intercept high up the pitch, it rarely gets noticed, despite it being a much harder thing to do. Yesterday, for example, Hibbert got praised for his defending of Defoe in the box. Yet Dawson made 8 interceptions and tackles 10 yards outside the box, stopping Everton getting into the danger area. If you stop problems before the commentators have time to get excited, then you don't get much praise.

Spurs will finish below Villa this season. OK, something that over-rates your players, such as putting Crouch up there with the likes of Pele or something. Maybe Puskas or Eusabio, if Pele is a bit much? Even suggest he was better than the late John Charles, that could do. Telling us we'll finish above you is hardly 'breaking' news. Not with your back line!!! Okay, I'll try again. Hopefully this will be sufficiently dillusional. Despite the fact Spurs score far more goals than Villa, to the extent it cancels out your defensive record and gives us a better goal difference than you, I think we'll finish below you in the table. The fact that over half of your goal difference came from one game speaks for itself. Indeed, if you'd done the same against Wigan you'd be ahead of us in the table now.

Spurs will finish below Villa this season. OK, something that over-rates your players, such as putting Crouch up there with the likes of Pele or something. Maybe Puskas or Eusabio, if Pele is a bit much? Even suggest he was better than the late John Charles, that could do. Telling us we'll finish above you is hardly 'breaking' news. Not with your back line!!! Okay, I'll try again. Hopefully this will be sufficiently dillusional. Despite the fact Spurs score far more goals than Villa, to the extent it cancels out your defensive record and gives us a better goal difference than you, I think we'll finish below you in the table.

Spurs will finish below Villa this season.

I'm a Spurs fan and I got banned from COYS. It's a strange site. The mods send people infractions for the slightest of things. I was suspended for saying COYS was far more anti Martin Jol than other forums. They asked me to apologise as there was no basis to make these accussations. I showed them links to polls both of which stated that the majority of voters would rather SPurs lose, so it would mean Jol was fired, than we win. Next time a tired to log on I got a message saying I had been banned. I also got suspended before that for pointing out that an ITK had contradicted himself. One day he said Martin Jol had no say in transfers, yet a few days earlier he posted saying Jol was insisting that we sell sell Berbatov and buy Crouch. More obvious anti Martin Jol bullshit, but instead of asking the ITK to explain himself i got suspended.

I'm not sure why this surprises you. Lennon is the best winger in the Prem, bar none. Based on 6th months of good form? Sure he is. He was our player of the year last season and in great form. He got injured at the end of the 2006/7 season, in which he was excellent. He then missed the period prior to Jol's sacking in the 2007/8. All our players suffered under Ramos, but as soon as he got back into the team under Harry he started playing great again. He's only really had one poor season, other then that he's been consistently good. He had a good firsts season at just 18 and went to the WC. Improved greatly in his second season and scored 5 and made 13 assists. Then he got injured, Jol left, Ramos came and he was playing pretty average. Since then he's been great again. I'm not saying he's the best in the Prem, though there is no one who is obviously better than him, but for some reason there is a feeling he's only good for short periods and hasn't progressed much since he first broke into the England squad. But this isn't true, he had injury problems and was then playing for a manager who didn't rate him that highly and signed Bentley. Other than that he's been consistently good, obviously all winger have poor games, but overall he's been a consistent performer.

The 'managerial turmoil' stemmed from the fact you dipped in the league placings :? You were supposed to finish 4th under Ramos and he flopped....badly. And the whole Ramos hype stemmed from the fact that Spurs shone at the end of the season when it didn't matter anymore, didn't it? Much like Harry last year... We certainly never shone at the end of the season under Ramos. In fact other than a 5 game period in Nov/Dec 2007, we were shit under Ramos. I think we won only 2 or 3 league games in the second half of the 2007/8 season. Our terrible start to the 2008/9 season was portrayed as Ramos suddenly losing it, but in reality it just continued a steady decline after a brief improvement when he was appointed. But this was all covered up by winning the Carling Cup.

Chicken and egg mate. Do the press write about Jordan because it sells or does it sell because that is what is printed and you have no choice? All I know is more often than not when I pick up a paper or turn on MoTD, Sky Sports News, Sunday Supplement etc I'm confronted with more talk about Spurs than is justified. It has always been the same as long as I can remember ever since I was a kid so it has nothing to do with the modern media and far more to do with where the media are based. I guess you'd need to know what percentage of the media are Spurs fans. I can't tell you that. But the stuff about Spurs being up there is only a recent thing since Martin Jol. Prior to that the press spoke of us as if we were a joke, which we were. We were definitely seen as a mid table side for the decade prior to Jol and never spoken about as top 4 challengers. Back then it was Leeds and Newcastle who were seen as the main threat to the top clubs. You could argue that in recent years the top 4 has been monopolised by the same clubs, so there is naturally always going to be media interest in a club that is most likely to break that monoploy. We came close and have since improved our sqaud, so it's understandable that at the beginning of each season they see us as a club that could break the top 4. I think during the summer the media would have portrayed us as the second most likely to do so, after Man City.

I think this is the problem. You percieve Spurs fans as thinking we are on a par with Arsenal. Yet in reality only a minority of Spurs fans would think that. A similar percentage to say the Villa fans who predicted you'd finish in the top 4 this season, or Man city fans who thought they'd challenge for the title. Every club has it's fair share of delusional fans. Also, whilst Spurs fans don't like Wenger, most very much respect his ability as a manager. Many Spurs fans don't like Redknapp, but they've grown to respect him for the job he is doing. And the history of Spurs/Arsenal rivalry goes back along way and is one of the more understandable rivalries if you know the history. This whole thing of labelling groups of fans is just stupid. In the office I work in there are some Utd fans that are alright and some that are complete dicks. The same with Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal fans who work with me. My best mate is a gooner. But i don't judge any of them or characterise them based on the football team they support. And this obvioulsy wont be a popular thing to say on this messageboard, but those who do are the real rocket polishers.

I'm not saying the media are biased, but trying to explain why there is more media coverage. What you see as media bias, Spurs fans often see as a media hate campaign. I can't remember a single negative story about Villa, but I'm sure you lot have seen loads. I do remember all the hype last season about you finishing in the top 4 though. It's just the way fans percieve things. We notice the positive stuff about our rivals and negative about our own. Spurs messageboards a full of posts about the Gooner press and how they slag us off. But in the same way Villa fans don't notice all the negative stuff written about Spurs, Spurs fans don't notice the neagitve stuff about other clubs. The modern press isn't about deserve. It's about what sells. It's not as if all the Spurs stories are reviews of our games. It's usually speculation about where we will finish or what players we are buying and selling. It's the same with all entertainment, not just football. Eastenders, Big Brother or Strictly Come Dancing are all shit but constantly in the press. The press don't talk about the quality shows, they talk about the shows that have the biggest audiences.

They don't make Spurs look good. How does having alot of fans make a team look good? It's just an explanantion for all the media coverage. Why is it everything a Spurs fan posts is seen as saying Spurs are superior or an attack on Villa? You don't get extra points for the size of your fanbase FFS. Fan base counts for nothing, but does explain the percieved media bias.

The media attention is down to simple economics, like most things. At the end of the day those employed in the media jobs are dependant on revenue from advertising. If the readership of a newspaper or TV viewers go down, then heads will role. Compared to Villa it may seem like Spurs get alot of media attention, but compared to the likes of Man utd, Arse and Liverpool, we get little. Media push their products to mass market. In Birmingham, the local press will concentrate on Villa and Birmingham City stories, as the majority of the readership are mainly interested in those teams. If they concentrated more on Newcastle, who would buy the paper? National papers are the same, hence they concentrate on the clubs who are most likely to increase their readership. If you look at size of fanbases in the country, isn't more likley you'd push stories about Tottenham than Villa and Man Utd than Tottenham. In terms of actual fanbase (uk only) 1.) Manchester United 4,209,000 2.) Liverpool 3,133,000 3.) Arsenal 2,652,000 4.) Chelsea 1,485,000 5.) Tottenham 1,240,000 6.) Newcastle 1,159,000 7.) Leeds United 938,000 8.) Manchester City 886,000 9.) Aston Villa 700,000 10.) West Ham 691,000 11.) Everton 628,000 http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2006/490/ If you are producer for Sky Sports, would you not concentrate more on teams thast provide you with bigger viewing figures? Most watched teams when on TV (average audience) 1.) Liverpool 14.3 2.) Manchester United 11.8 3.) Tottenham 9.7 4.) Arsenal 9.6 5.) Newcastle 5.8 6.) Man City 5.3 7.) West Ham 4.9 8.) Aston Villa 4.4 9.) Chelsea 3.6 10.) Everton 3.1 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3797456/Liverpool-best-supported-team-in-Premier-League.html If you ran a website and wanted to generate more hits and thus more revenue from advertising, which clubs stories would you be more likely to push? Most Web traffic (percentage share of Prem club traffic) 1.) Liverpool 17.3% 2.) Man Utd 15.4% 3.) Arsenal 10.9% 4.) Tottenham 7.5% 5.) Newcastle 5.9% 6.) West Ham & Man City 5.7% http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/730465/Liverpool-FC-named-supported-Premier-League-club-online/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH We do get a lot of press coverage, but whilst you might notice the positive stuff, Spurs fans pick up more on the criticism and think the media hate us. It's just about perception, but the media don't like us per se. It just comes down to the fact we provide them with a bigger market to target. Obviously when a major drama happens at any club they will get all the attention as even the neutrals are interested. But if nothing much is happening you can be sure that Utd get the most press, then Liverpool, then Arsenal, Chelsea and then us. At the end of the day a dreary Man Untied story on the backpage is going to sell far more copies than a dreary story about Everton as there are about 7 United fans for every Everton fans. So the media will look for some ex pro who for a couple of hundred pounds will do a 5 minute phone interview saying why Tottenham will finish in the top 4 this year. Then the media will use it as a headline and know there are enough Spurs fans out there to pay attention to it. But if you ignore the media and just read what the actual fans are saying on messageboards etc you'd get a very different perception. For example, only a small percentage actually thought we'd finish in the top 4 this season. Yet messageboards of other clubs are always criticsing Spurs fans for saying "this year we'll finish in the top 4." That's because of how the media portray things, not the actual fans.

This doesn't make sense really. Sitting deeper would help defensively, yes. But surely the reason you don't sit as deep is because, as you put it, your defenders being "in another league" to ours means that they should be able to keep out the goals without the midfield help. Laughable really, King and Woodgate are crocks, the 'when fit' arguement is balls because they hardly ever are. It's not like they have great performances when they do play either. Bassong is the only CB I'd even really consider of yours. Dunne would walk into your side. I didn't say our defenders are in another league. I said Woody and Leds are. I'm aware they are hardly ever fit, but i can hardly comment on their performances when they aren't. This season and last, they've only played 20 times together, but in those games we've only condeded 17 goals, which is better than your current record, even though we play a much higher line. So they can keep out goals without the same level of help from midfield. But either way, there is little point discussing it further, as it seems most have taken my comments it as an attack on Villa. I haven't said you have bad defenders, but simply that maybe they aren't as good as you think or your defensive record suggests.