VillaJay

1 hour ago, Nigel said:

Really hope it doesn't come to that, there will be enough pressure as it is!

I'd take that now if you gave it to me!

Us winning the UECL to cement a CL place seems a real possibility and would be an incredible way to end the season.

The most stressful way to achieve CL football, but would be fantastic

3 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Bad night for our chances. 

The most positive post you've made in weeks, PL has gained points on Germany based on those games tonight.

Arsenal level...

City leading...

Arsenal should still win both legs, not sure on City, but Atletico and Arsenal winning would go a long way to help.

We also need to do our business.

1 hour ago, MrBlack said:

Good that he got a little rest the last couple of weeks.  Seems to be over his injury based on that performance, and it's given Duran a bit of time to get used to our style and some more experience.

But if we want to finish in the top 4 he needs to be playing in all our games.  He's such a class above that, just like Pau missing from defence,  the whole team struggles when he's not playing. It just corrupts our shape and way of playing too much. 

For that reason, there's no amount of money that i'd accept for him, at least none that any club would offer. Talking needing above world record fee.

He's clearly very determined, and just like he left Brentford to come to us, he'd leave us to take a step up as well if the opportunity arose. I doubt he's the type to kick up a fuss or down tools if we rejected a £100m bid for him though, so it's a no brainer to keep him for me. There are less key jigsaw pieces we can sell (although again I wouldn't want to) if we are struggling to meet FFP.

Ollie will be 29 next season has a contract with us until he's 32 and he's in his prime, can't see anyone paying the money we'd want for him.

As crazy as it sounds though, depending on FFP if we were offered 100m+ I'd consider it, if it meant we had room to buy 3/4 top top level players to take us on another level. Spurs have sold Bale and Kane and still pushed on.

Unai also has a history of getting goals from his number 9s everywhere he goes.

Can't see us selling anyway and Ollie has been brilliant for us and would be difficult to replace.

Luiz is crucial to us, and a top top player, but it's a team game and missing Kamara has had an impact on Dougies form.

Kamara has been our biggest loss this season.

Spurs should finish 68-70 points, Brighton away is a very tough game for us but if we can get 2 more wins before the palace game that should cement 5th and give us a chance at 4th on the final day of the season.

We should have a clearer picture by game week 36 as to whether 4th is achievable for us as Spurs will be expected to win their last 2 games.

Very tough run for Spurs now and Newcastle away is always a tough game despite their form and injuries.

15 minutes ago, TRO said:

So did you think we would get a draw against Brentford, before the game?....with Brentford in 15th place and struggling in the league......and us at home in 4th.

Did you think we would be cruising a 2-0 up, and capitulate in the manner that we did, to a team who didn't lay a glove on us up till then?

That's what many fans are discussing, without digressing to how well the season has gone as a whole....they are saying, how did that happen, is that a surprise.

The stadium is full to capacity, every game, with spirited fans, singing their heads off, me included.....Does that strike you as fickle or unappreciative fans?

Fans have a right to express themselves after a game....and that one did throw up some anomalies.....Fans reserve the right, to express themselves differently.

Many think the race for the champions league has passed, some think we have created a huge task for ourselves, some think nothing has changed.....who's right, I don't know.

On the evidence of the collapse, and other games, where we have done similar, I am not sure if we are actually ready for Champions league competition, anyway, with a WIP team...but that's just me.

No game is a banker in this league and even at 2-0 what happened yesterday can happen. Disappointing, but perspective is needed, we're in a brilliant position and they key point is we still are, and 4th place and a european trophy is a real possibility.

We need to strengthen every season, and irregardless of how well we do this season we still need to push forward to close the gap to the top 3.

2 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Spurs beat Forest, Burnley, Sheff United. 

Reasonsble, yeah?

They lose to Liverpool, Arsenal and Citeh. 

Again, I think that’s fair.

Puts them on 66.

Newcastle and Chelsea. What, maybe 4 points? Could be 6, could be nothing. Let’s say 4.

So the magic 70 total.

We would need to beat Brighton, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Palace. I’ve written off the other two games.

I don’t know, it still seems vaguely realistic to me.
 

I can see Spurs getting 11 points which would put them on 68, we need to win 3 imo, we need to be targeting beating 1 of Arsenal and Liverpool, I think we we'll beat one of them not sure which.

All tough games but we have the capability of winning at least 3 more.

12 minutes ago, maltesemike said:

He seems exhausted and has been out of form for weeks. Maybe the rest does him good in the end.

Blessing in disguise, we need a player of his quality for every game but he's played a lot of minutes, we need him fresh for what hopefully will be another 5 European games and 4 league games to end the season strong.

6 minutes ago, useless said:

Fourth is still possible, Spurs are favorites now, but they are just as capable of having a result like ours today as we are. I'd expect them to beat Forest tomorrow, but if Newcastle can do us a favor next weekend by beating them, then they will be no more than three points ahead of us going into a difficult run of fixtures where they play Man City, Arsenal, Chelsa Liverpool, so we've still got a chance, we really could do with them losing a game where they're not expected to, or even better us getting an unexpected win, to put us back into pole position

Fulham thrashed Spurs 3-0 last week, they will definitely lose a few more, wouldn't be surprised to see them lose 4/5 more.

We need 3 more wins from 6 or 1.5ppg and that should be enough for 4th.

I also think Arsenal are beatable next week and 4pts from this 3 game run would have us right back on track.

Every game is winnable but tough now for the rest of the season and today was never a banker, disappointing not to win from 2 up but overall we're managing with a huge amount of injuries and suspensions.

Utd are currently worrying about West Ham and Newcastle winning today I. Their battle for 6th.

We need to get 3 more wins and I believe that will be enough for 4th.

3 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Good lord, every time a result doesn’t go our way a vocal minority act like the sky is falling. 
 

United aren’t in the race. We are still fourth, nor does it mean Spurs will win their games in hand. There’s a lot of twists to come and much to play for. 
 

The collapse was inexcusable, but we dug deep and unlucky to not score again. Have faith. 

The catastrophe fpr some posters is incredible, I guess it's how they deal with things not going there way.

We're currently in 4th place.

Spurs still have to play Chelsea, City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

I'd rather have the points on the board.

Important point in the end, should have been more, Dougie needs a rest

It doesn't really matter what utd or Spurs do, we still need to win 4 more games and finish the job.

I just can't take to Pep and no matter how many titles he wins or how many passes his teams make a game, his achievements are always with stacked odds, The Messi era, City's cheating and oil backed club, Bayern all achievements that should have been expected. He didn't invent football or tiki-taka, his well known liking of nandrolone and links to proven drug cheat team doctors he hires at every club also raise questions, plus he just seems a very unlikeable guy too.

Mourinho for me, was a better manager, what he did at Porto, Chelsea and Inter was far more impressive and box office with a love him or hate him aura.

Great to see him show some end product to his game today, he's lovely to watch on the ball but up to now felt a little like he was a bit of a highlights player, if he can step up and add goals and assists and even just influence goals and assists he can play a big part for our run in.

TNT on the whole is really poor, getting carried away with City beating our B team today and no real balance to their reporting.

I find it really mad, the lack of preparation or knowledge that these pundits have on whats happening at non big 6 clubs, it should be a pre-requisite.

Even the commentators seem less prepared, whatever about Martin Tyler and old school.commentators today, but at least they did their homework.

More football on tv = lower quality coverage.

Played well tonight and showed a really strong all round game. The thing that impressed me most was his physicality and he really gave their defenders a tough time.

I've not always been his biggest fan, but played had a positive impact in the last 2 games.

Played well, didn't do much wrong.

1 minute ago, CVByrne said:

Only once in our last 7 PL games have we won on xG. That was against Forest. Unlike the season up to that point where we were winning games on xG and on scoreboard

We will be found out soon if we don't improve our performances. 

Do you actually watch our games? Honest question, we were better than Forest, Fulham and Wolves and could have won by more.

Encouraging performances from Diaby, Zaniolo, Duran and Rogers.

They'll be important for the run in with Europe too.

Tough game out of the way and some legs rested too, beat Brentford on Saturday and we're well on track.