Vital Spurs Debate Section

Match Thread – Have Faith, Spurs Will Spark Against Brentford

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With Sunday’s entertainment squashed for Tottenham Hotspur fans with our trip to Burnley postponed shortly ahead of kick off following heavy Storm Arwen snow (no jokes about similar shots on target), Antonio Conte is now looking to Thursday’s Premier League clash with Brentford.

Burnley may have been a double edged sword coming so quickly after the pathetic performance and defeat to NS Mura in the Europa Conference League, so even with confidence issues in the camp, Brentford is the easier clash on paper to bounce back in, but sitting in 12th place in the table, this won’t be a walkover either.

Given our performances so far in 2021/22, Conte definitely now knows the challenge he faces at White Hart Lane but bizarrely we remain firmly lodged in the battle for the European slots once again, so if we can sort out this soft underbelly that’s developed and get some confidence flowing in attack, we can quickly turn the current atmosphere around and start moving forward.

The question as always is, will we do that though or will the wheels really fall off?

Brentford

Win

Draw

Lose


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Tottenham Hotspur's foundations lie in another sport, which one?

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  • 123spurs says:

    Brentford will have hunger and fight, spurs are weak and wounded. Haven’t got a clue how this game will end up

  • BelgianSpur says:

    Well we can all take some encouragement from being close to the top 4, but if we want any decent chance of being in it, this is the sort of game we simply have to win.

    If we fail to win this sort of game, we may as well stop talking about top 4.

  • PompeyYid says:

    Which Spurs team will turn up for this game? what a question to ask lol!

    I think we will win this game V Brentford, but I am in the same camp as BS if we do not win this sort of game forget talk of top 4….COYS

  • jod says:

    Talking of “Europe” as if its all one thing is highly misleading. Everyone wants to be in the champions league, no one in their right mind wants to be in the Europa Conference league. Even the Europa league is best avoided unless you have a really strong squad and can rotate most of your team mid week. So first prize is win the league, second prize is a top four spot, third prize is stay out of europe altogether and play once when the competition has to play twice. The trouble is if you are in contention for a champions league place you aren’t going to avoid Europe if you come up short. But a “European slot” isn’t something to celebrate, only a champions league place.

  • Niall D says:

    Can’t agree there Jod.
    Whilst indeed being in the CL is preferable and hopefully what we are aiming for, I would certainly celebrate if we won the Europa League as it at least would give us route into the CL, but regardless it is an established respected Euro trophy.
    Where as I’m not so sure about this Conference league, whether it actually has any future or kuedos, but for me I still wanted to win each game but I wanted us to use the competition for fringe players to get competitive football, its not that I didn’t respect the competition, I was reluctant to embrace it as I thought we didn’t have the squad to compete in all competitions thus meaning that we would hit burn out yet again in March or April due to playing in a “lesser competition” which we may not have won anyway.
    Where as going the distance in the Europa would be worth winning for the end game of CL qualification.

  • wentworth says:

    The real crunch about participating in various Cup competitions is having a decent squad.
    We have one of the poorest squads in the Prem. Reasonable first team but awful number of second string players such as Doherty, Winks, Lo Celso, Bergwijn.
    Until we invest in decent back up players ( no decent striker for over 6 seasons, no midfielder of worth) and use our superb facilities to find and bring forward elusive young players.
    At present, we have such a boring, ineffective squad. We need that massive clear out and some decent ( not cheapies or loans) exciting players brought in.

  • TK says:

    When we are in a competition we should play to win it. Failing to play to win isn’t acceptable.

    But winning the competition we are in now doesn’t merit much enthusiasm. If we win it, have a shower, dress, and go home to prepare for the next match. Jumping up and down isn’t merited.

    Losing this competition–now that’s cause for feeling really glum. Winning it shouldn’t be cause for much cheering, though. It literally is a third-rate competition. It’s a third rate cup–literally. It’s not a good place to be. Lose and you’d you’ve lost a third rate competition. Win and you’ve won a third rate competition. This is a no-win situaiton.

  • Danny Winter says:

    Romero crocked until Jan/Feb time.

  • jod says:

    Niall D – To win the Europa league you have to play an extra half a season. The reality is its a long odds chance as you not only have to play a lot more football but the foreign competition is playing in less physical leagues which means they should last the season better. What the Europa normally means is a long grind that slowly drains the life out of your squad as you play twice a week pretty much every week. Playing in the Europa generally means the team has no chance of making it into the top four. Nobody has ever won the league playing in the Europa while Leicester and Chelsea have both won it while out of Europe. We are perhaps seeing this at the moment with West Ham who started the season winning on all fronts but now seem to struggling. So yes I would be quite happy if we entered the Europa and they just gave us the trophy, in the real world I’d like to avoid it as our squad has nowhere near the depth to sustain a campaign on two fronts and the Europa doesn’t generate enough cash to strengthen it significantly. Of course anyone with a strong enough squad to basically play two teams would already be in the champions league.

  • Niall D says:

    Jod certainly take your point and indeed your argument has some merit.
    I suppose for me it’s about being in the mix with among the best in Europe maybe not the first placed teams but those who are up there.
    But I do agree that we currently don’t have the squad to compete at this level and an argument could be put forward that being in the Europa league, particularly the qualifiers, ended up costing us last season.
    But if you’re not in you can’t win and players need that bit of Euro experience at a decent level.
    But it can be a double edged sword and we will see how this pans out for W/Ham and Leicester at the business end of the season.

  • jod says:

    Niall D – Essentially for me its about trying to give ourselves the best chance of building the squad back up, which requires cash and time, while trying to actually win something, which requires a fairly narrow focus so as not to burn out the players we do have. For you it seems to be more about taking part than winning. Maybe I would once have thought the same way but too many years of taking part in everything and winning nothing have changed that.

    It will be interesting to see how Arsenal, who aren’t in Europe, do this season compared to the clubs that are.

  • 123spurs says:

    It’s so sad it has come to the point that I hope we get a shot on target in the 1st half and the 2nd

  • PompeyYid says:

    123spurs, how dare you use that word “hope” and the line “get a shot on target” together, because they are not akin to Spurs! lol!

    Mind a nice win will do tonight….COYS

  • Niall D says:

    Hi Jod,
    Re my last post, I certainly want us to win every competition we are in.
    Hence my quote if you aren’t in you can’t win.
    What I was trying to get across is that while we progress, we need to give our players experience in all fields of play, and if we are to progress in Europe we need to gain experience there, look at Sess red card, he would be unlikely to make that mistake again.
    For me there would be little sense in entering the CL with personnel who have little or no experience playing at that level.
    Plus we also need to be in and around top 4 or 5 to lure decent players to our club as they quite openly state that they want to play in the European stage.
    But I do agree that we need rebuild and whilst I didn’t want to exit the “Conference” it was however a good testing ground for some of our fringe players and some have been found wanting.
    If we are out of that then our total focus can be on the domestic league competitions.
    But roll on the TW Window in January to see who comes and goes.
    But I will caution that January will not totally fix our issues, however we will see some progress.
    But do agree that many of our 1st team had reached burnout around April in the last few seasons.
    Re tonite, we’re at home, well rested, Conte has had a few days to work with the team, hopefully our shots stats will be up tonight, I’ll take 8 on target with 3 goals none conceded. 😉

  • wentworth says:

    First half watching on Amazon Prime. Pretty boring on the whole. We desperately need a midfield attacker to control the game. We still pass the ball back too often.
    We should win this easily but we must pass the ball better. Loads of corners forus but only one own goal to show for it.

  • Niall D says:

    Hi WW
    Yep we’re just OK, creating a few chances on target, we are on the front foot a bit more since AC took over we could be better, maybe a rocket at half time will spur us on.
    I’m (sadly) waiting for the Jon Moss soft pen against us, he’s nailed on to give one.

  • 123spurs says:

    Conte has entered the top4 chat

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Not beyond the realms that we could be in 4th after the weekend games, even with a negative goal difference!

  • Niall D says:

    Good result tonite, I thought we had a really good spell in the 2nd half, from around 65 mins I felt at 2-0 up we went into match management mode, bringing on Winks and Tananga to “bar the gate”.
    We limited them to very few chances, remember this is a team did well against Liverpool and were unlucky against Chelsea.
    Much like Skipp, it was a workman like performance.
    We are look like we’re progressing, more shots on target, more movement, tighter defence.
    Not the most entertaining watch just yet, hopefully that will come.
    In the mix for top 4 or 5, happy days.
    Roll on Norwich a good win again at the weekend will work wonders for confidence.
    COYS.

  • Allan says:

    An improved perfromance and mostly an enjoyable watch . Conte has got the ” run around a bit ” and the press working well and is making the left side quite a good offensive unit .
    Kane is working better and his creative balls have been very good .
    I have grave doubts ref Emerson and think like Sanchez he is an accident waiting to happen . I have been impressed with Dier who now shows intelligence in his play and with the long balls to no one generally stopped .
    The intensity displayed last night by this team can’t be sustained on all fronts so he will have to prioritise and hope that he can improve the 2nd string to run around a bit and be much more effective hopefully producing some improved performances .
    Getting rid of dead wood and buying good effective quality players will help . Levy !!!!!

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