Vital Spurs Debate Section

Match Thread – UEFA Show Their True Colours, But All That Matters To Conte Is Spurs Blow The Bubbles Away

|

With Santa’s home invasion just around the corner, it’s been a strange old week and a bit for Tottenham Hotspur fans – but as things stand, the EFL Cup clash with West Ham United on Wednesday evening is set to go ahead.

Having first seen Rennes postponed, Brighton and Hove Albion and Leicester City quickly followed, but we got back to action on Sunday as we took a very good point from Liverpool at White Hart Lane.

There was, however, some bad news (if you can call it that) on Monday as UEFA confirmed we had been dumped out of the laughable Europa Conference League competition as it was deemed we had forfeited the game against Rennes despite having 13 positive Covid cases in the camp (and clearly with two further postponements other players were effected, but just not showing as positive at that point).

I suppose we should’ve just played the game and spread it to their players and then UEFA would’ve been perfectly happy as presumably they wouldn’t have missed out on some cash (which is the only thing that matters to them in reality isn’t it).

With us out of the fabricated ECL, we can now focus domestically and West Ham are in reasonable form themselves, but again, if we turn up and perform we know we can take the win and progress through to the next round of the competition, so let’s hope we do just that.

EFL Cup - West Ham

Win

Lose

Pens


1 of 10

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

Share this article

0 comments

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 West Ham United!

    No worries!

    Up the Spurs!

  • Allan says:

    Good post Danny thanks .
    Not surprised by UEFA decision . I understand that the rules were not followed but surely common sense must prevail ?
    I for one am disappointed as I felt that we had a great chance of collecting some silver ware .
    However the way we played on Sunday gives me some hope that we will have a good second half to the season .
    My main concern however is that the intensity displayed by the team on Sunday surely cannot be sustained and reinforcements are required if we are to achieve some of our goals for this season ?
    Hopefully a win for us on Thursday ?

  • jod says:

    The fact we have missed a few games may actually work in our favour if we can keep our players fit since its given Conte a bit of time on the training pitch. Looking at the Liverpool game he seems to have used it well, a makeshift midfield did really well and the tactics were spot on. Being out of the joke European cup is even better news, why do some people put a value on a trophy that will impress no one ? I have a picture in my head of a Spurs supporter proudly telling an Arsenal supporter we’d won the Europa Conference League cup and the Arsenal supporter laughing himself silly.

    West Ham seem to be suffering from the two games a week regime of the Europa. They started the season really well but now are struggling. In contrast Arsenal, who aren’t in Europe, started badly but with fewer games and more time on the training pitch have now gone past Moyes men. Its probably a good time to play West Ham although they won’t go down without a fight.

  • wentworth says:

    I’m more interested in who we might sell and buy. We have a very poor second string and NO youngsters being given a chance. Our bench is always full of mediocre players to run down the clock rather than pushing for an all out win…(Lucas excepted).
    We seem to be the only Prem team without decent youngsters ( Look at Arsenal!) and this needs to be addressed. We have fantastic facilities but a complete lack of tomorrow’s stars.
    Time to get rid of the recent mistakes and start planning for the future.

  • Niall D says:

    Thanks Danny for the thread, and seasons greeting to all my Tottenham chums.
    HT good to see you back.
    I’m much the same as Jod on this, Euro competition, we’re out now and can claim some dignity on our exit showing (as Danny says) UEFA’S true colours. It’s all about the money.
    Would we really have wanted to get to the latter stages of this competition and failed at the last hurdle, with our team nearing burnout.
    Now, (for me) were starting to see the cost of Europe play its part in both W/Ham and Leicester performances lately and I would argue that Leicester were playing for time as they tried a couple of ways to get the match against us suspended and succeeded the second time, I’m not too worried as this aparrently suited us.
    But it will (probably) be a stuttering, stop start 2022, I just hope some teams don’t use the Covid pandemic to cover for injuries and have matches postponed until they can get their best 11 fit again.
    Much like WW I’m looking forward to whom we get in the TW and how many leave and how many come in. I suppose we could boast having 4 academy players within our first team, I don’t know how that compares to other teams.
    But we do need a bit of strengthening in certain areas, given we’ve been linked to almost all of the Italian national team plus every top player in the Italian league, I would suggest that we could be getting someone in from Italy, but in reality I can see no more than 4 players out and w or 3 in.
    Here’s hoping for a good Christmas and New year run of games, better than last season anyway.
    Merry Christmas folks ðŸŽ…ðŸŽ„âš―.

  • jod says:

    wentworth – I’m struggling to understand what you are saying. If you are suggesting that we should have players on the bench that are as good or better than those on the pitch its pure fantasy football. Only City have that because only City have oil money. I can understand having players on the bench who offer something different for a tactical switch and I can understand bringing on fresh legs and squad rotation. But if players on the bench are better than players on the pitch then the manager isn’t doing his job properly.

    • wentworth says:

      It’s quite simple Jod. We need decent players on the bench and as second string backup
      Relying on Doherty, Lo Celso, Bergweijn etc
      to add something different has been a waste of time. Mediocre is not good enough for us or any other team.
      If you are happy with second best that’s up to you. We need winners imho.

  • Allan says:

    Well whatever the negative comments ref ‘ joke cup ” Conte and the club appear to value it as apparently the club is considering the possibility of appealling against UEFAs decision .
    I think that if we win the comp we then are entered for the UEFA cup . Although our game was excellent on Sunday I feel that we will not be able to sustain that type of effort to achieve a fourth league place .
    The UEFA cup for us next year would be good as it would enable Conte , hopefully with new players , to further fashion the side into his style of playing making the side a force .

  • wentworth says:

    It’s quite simple Jod. We need decent players on the bench and as second string backup
    Relying on Doherty, Lo Celso, Bergweijn etc
    to add something different has been a waste of time. Mediocre is not good enough for us or any other team.
    If you are happy with second best that’s up to you. We need winners imho.

  • Danny Winter says:

    Conte talking about the possibility of appealing the Rennes decision.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59745743

  • Niall D says:

    Hi Allan,
    I for one don’t see this as a joke cup.
    My feelings are that this competition is the least of our priorities, that’s all.
    If we win any of our domestic comps, or finish in 5th, surely that sees us into the Europa league.
    For me playing our first 11 in this competition has more draw backs than positives, with that said I would’ve liked to have seen some of our squad players get some playing time in this competition.
    For me it’s our least important competition, but could’ve been useful for younger players.
    Many may see it differently, but I would point to WW’s comments re our squad and if we were to progress with our first 11 playing in this, recent history has shown that we tend to “smash all the spinning plates” and get nothing.
    We need a few extra player to compete fully in all comps.
    Just my thoughts m8. 😉

    • 123spurs says:

      We have our top youngster called dele, had it all but he has no interest anymore. Money and the good life took over a sad shame for such talent. It will be very hard for him to get back to his best. We have no other youngsters coming through simply not good enough to step up.

  • Allan says:

    Jod
    I think that the Arsenal supporter you mention was laughing after our pathetic attemps to win the group anyway so I feel that that person may be laughing on the other side of his face if we were reinstated and won the thing whatever you may think of the competition .
    Give us back some creditability ?

  • jod says:

    Allan – You seriously overestimate how much supporters of other clubs will be impressed by our winning a third rate competition. What it would tell them was how limited our ambitions are, that our supporters have a “we are not worthy” syndrome and don’t feel we can compete in real tournaments. Meanwhile Arsenal, West Ham and anyone else with any ambition will be focused on that fourth place, something that really matters.

  • PompeyYid says:

    Lets all be honest this Top 4 v Euro thingy, me and few of my oppo’s are for it but another group of oppo’s are against it, none of us lose any sleep over it after all it is about opinions.

    Now for a nice bit of sweet revenge v the Spam Racist Barstewards tonight.

    Danny thanks for all the threads, sad, happy reading its a must.

    Hope you all have a Very Merry Xmas my Yid friends, no matter the situation you find yourselves in, try and make the best of a bad lot. COYS

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    I agree with you PY…

    There is no right or wrong in whatever our opinion is on any of the competitions that Spurs compete in.

    My own opinion is that we play to win, whatever the comp. But if we do remain out of the Conference, then I’m okay with that. No big deal either way with me.

    But, surely any Arsenal fan that may mock us for winning such a competition (if we ever do) as the Conference, would have even more reason to laugh at Spurs, if we had proved not even good enough to qualify for the next stage. Which was looking quite likely given our last showing…

    Top 4 IS definitely a priority for THFC. We all know this. But we have a Carabao Cup QF match tonight against a bitter rival, that currently sits above us in the PL. And if we win tonight, we are just 2 matches and 2 wins away from winning this competition. And no matter how any supporter may rate it in the grand scheme of things, I’m certain that most of us will celebrate a victory, nonetheless. I will!

    I think the players and manager will also be chuffed to win it as well. Winning is surely better than not winning? No? Yes?

  • Geofspurs says:

    I’m not too bothered about the Conference but agree with HT (hi, HT). Forget about the supporters, winning any cup would give the players confidence and help develop a winning mentality …. maybe. Can’t be bad, can it?

  • PompeyYid says:

    HT all so right there.

    As for the “Tin Pot Trophy” (according to some) QF we are in tonight, three wins does it for me, ticks all the boxes.

    A punter, will not name the ex-Gooner, said last night that it is a big Trophy to win, probably the most sensible thing he has ever said lol!

    So simply for me COYS, COYS & COYS.

  • TK says:

    A club that ends up in the top four makes it into the CL.

    The next couple of spots down get into a second-class Euro competition.

    And if a club hasn’t made it into one of those competitions they can still get into the third tier competition, which is where THFC was playing until COVID knocked us out. By definition, it is the third tier competition. No getting around that.

    Win it and we will have established that we won the third tier competition. Not something to associate with the word “glory,” For that reason I was just as happy that we were COVIDed out.

    Now the team is appealing to get back in. Either way, I wouldn’t get too excited if we were to win this cup. It really is a third tier competition. I’d rather see us concentrate on getting into the top four in the PL and back into the first tier competition.

    I’ll smile if we are to win the third tier competition, but I won’t get too thrilled about it. Vaguely better than nothing, I suppose.

    We were 90 minutes away from winning the biggest competition in Europe. That’s where we belong. That’s where I want us. Next time let’s win it. That will be worth a bit of excitement. That will be something worth remembering and to tell the great grand kids about.

    ðŸĪŠðŸ˜ŠðŸĪŠðŸ˜Š

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    TK, as a club, we belong where we belong.

    Last season we finished 7th in the PL. This qualified us to play in the Europa Conference League for this season. And like it or not, It is what it is. The season before, we qualified for the Europa League after finishing 6th in the PL in the previous season. It was what it was. Like it or not…

    We are what we are! We currently sit 7th in the PL. We may well finish the season higher. Top 4 even. We may, of course, finish lower. Que sera, sera…

    Wherever we finish in the EPL, 2022 will be from the sum total of an entire PL season. It’s as simple as that. We can all be as arrogant as we like about Spurs. And we can feel falsely entiitled to much greater things until the cows come home. We can of course be thoroughly biased or have a somewhat misguided superiority complex about our overall standing in world football. But we will still just get what we deserve. We win, we lose or we draw. And in a cup (any cup), we either win it or we don’t.

    And losing tonight for instance, will not (unsurprisingly) back up this arrogant idea that we somehow belong in the CL. Just as much as winning tonight, and then even going on to win this very competition, obviously has no bearing on our worthiness to compete right at the top. That is another matter altogether. And it has nothing to do with past glories. Or a more recent CL final appearance.

    We lost that CL final. And, we were knocked out of the EL last season. But if we do finish in the top 4 this season and we are then back into the CL, then that is when (and only when) we deserve to belong in it. Until such time as we are knocked out of it, or again fail to qualify for it.

    However any of us rate any of the competitions that Spurs play in. Surely the bottom line is that we play to win. Or what on earth are these top players playing at the top end of a highly competetive and handomely rewarded sport being paid for exactly? Regardless of our opinions or indeed how we rate a competition, either way…

    Meanwhile, my own overbaked form of Tottenham bias, delusional imaginings and overwhelming sense of superiority says that Spurs will thrash the Hammers tonight. And, that one day we will most definately win the PL, the CL, the EL and maybe even the Conference League. Or something… Anything?!

    But until such time, we belong where we belong, dependent upon our results. Win, lose or draw…

    One game at a time. One comp at a time… We’ll get there… Eventually! 😉

    Up the Spurs!

    • PompeyYid says:

      HT, great post there, so very down to earth true.

      Merry Xmas mate and the same to all my biased Yid fan oppo’s on here. COYS

  • Hot Tottingham says:

    Merry Christmas to you and yours, PY…

    And a Merry, Merry Wednesday and Happy New Tottenham to you all. XXX

  • Allan says:

    HT
    Exactly my feelings . We were only good enough for the Conference and only fit for playing bottom Euro rated clubs . We know how that ended !!
    Whatever the opinions the detractors of this comp say they have to accept that the club feels that it might appeal against the decision meaning that the club rates this comp . Are they going to argue against the club’s possible decision ?
    I accept the opinions of the club rather than supporters who think that we are a great club and can match the clubs above us in the league and qualify for Champions league qualification . We ought to have competed and won this ” joke comp ” to demonstate that we are better than the lowly rated clubs we have played and build on the potential winning of this comp .
    Strange that the detractors have not commented on the possible appeal the club might make .

Comments are closed.