With four good wins on the spin for Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur side, our chase for a Champions League top four spot improved dramatically and fans were quite optimistic when it came to our 2021/22 Premier League finish.
That was until we utterly regressed in the Brighton and Hove Albion defeat last Saturday, and with Graham Potter’s side better dominating the game, it has again raised long standing concerns.
Although Spurs still occupy fourth place, Brighton was a huge opportunity to really establish our credentials and develop a small buffer zone ahead of those teams below us, and after what we saw in the last game, this weekend’s clash against Brentford is going to be anything but a walk in Griffin Park.
Brentford have surprised plenty this year and they are safe from relegation, sat comfortably in 11th place, so we simply have to be better than we were against the Seagulls.
We can expect Matt Doherty to sit this one out again, and other than Japhet Tanganga and Oliver Skipp, there are no fresh concerns at this stage – so it’ll be interesting to see what Conte does for this one.
Play our A game and we win. Play our B game and we drop points.
I’m expecting a win.
Please NO Winks to bore the opposition or Bergweijn to run the clock down for 2 and a half minutes.
Please give Harvey White 20 minutes before he dies of boredom and the weight of cobwebs.
Please find some young players to replace our sterile bench.
Will Ericson put in a good performance and make spurs suffer or will spurs get their act together / back to form and stop brentford? This is a must win game for us, so 2-1 spurs.
No excuses now we expect 100% effort and for the full 90 mins, players ratings 7 average with higher for HK10 / Sonny /Kulu… COYS
Am as normal going for a win for us, mind the real Tottenham Hotspur has to turn up not the plastic imitations that were on the pitch on Saturday.
The real Spurs turns up, we will then be the “Bees Knees” I kid you not! COYS
Hi Danny thanks for the thread.
Now we’re at the pointy end, our mainstays are fit, so no excuses.
On paper this is a nailed on win, but in the Prem anything can happen.
But if our forwards “click” yet again I do feel that a win is on the cards.
COYS.
I guess Chelsea thought their recent game against Brentford was going to be a nailed on win as well, look how that turned out! lol
It will be good to see our old friend, Christian Eriksen. god bless that he’s able to play again. We miss you, mate. but hope you’re on the losing side this time.
I note at least that the Manure result went our way.
Chelsea lost out to Arse, not sure, whether they are in free fall just yet.
I could do Spurs in 3rd OK.
Still in our hands, are we up for the fight, will conte stick to the useless ineffective winks etc, only time will tell.
Not a lot of thought here, just the old “pick a player and slag him off” on show. There’s a lot to worry about. Conte’s system depends on the wing backs and against Brighton the wing backs didn’t work. Doherty may be a bigger loss than anyone realises. Add to that Brentford are in good form and Arsenal are now level on points and revitalised after the Chelsea win. We have had numerous chances to seal fourth this season. Yet its probably no more than 50-50 now that we get over the line.
Seems as though you are slagging off the wing backs Jod. The whole team played badly and so did the coach.
After last nights result our top four hopes are hanging by a thread. We have an incredibly small squad – only three midfield players, due to Docherty’s injury only one right back, and a pretty hopeless one as well.
Conte seems intent on playing with three at the back with two wing backs to provide the creativity even though our wing backs are about the most ineffective in the league and there is not an ounce of creativity in the midfield. The bottom line is that if Harry’s creativity is off, we offer virtually nothing.
On the basis that we lose to Liverpool, I think we will need to win all our remaining games which is a long shot. Arsenal seem to have their mojo back (I think they will soundly beat United at the weekend).
Interestingly when we played Liverpool at home we did play with three in midfield and we managed to cause them all sorts of problems.
Whatever happen in the remainder of the season I believe Conte will leave. He keeps saying he wants to compete for titles and he knows that will not happen at Tottenham however this season finishes.
It appears that Brighton are not given any credit for the way they stopped us playing . Dunk is quoted saying that their plan worked perfectly and credit to them however boring and negative they were .
Conte simply does not have the players who can compete with Brighton’ s non footballing style at present and
Hopefully he will be given money to develop the creative side of mid field and with good wingbacks bought/ developed I can see us doing reasonably well next year
I make a further point that we are in 4th place which is very good and a far cry from when Conte took over
So all this carping on about his use of wingbacks is not really relevant since the style and attitude he has brought with him has made us into an attractive team when allowed to play and challenging for a Champions League place
jod
if i remember correctly, someone has pointed out that the loss of Doherty was big and that could not have been foreseen only a few weeks earlier.
Apparently, Conte rates Harvey White highly.
Ffs give hime a chance instead of bringing on Winks to bore the opposition to death. Very disappointed with Conte’s substitutions.
Bringing on Bergwijn with 2 minutes to go is ridiculous when we are losing. This is simply time wasting.
Be brave. Bring on fresh blood. Keep the hasbeens in the locker. We all know what they can’t do.
A lot of interesting stuff here folks
I don’t think that Man U will lay down and die against Arsenal, just like us Arse and Man U have had a pretty up and down season, with arguably more spent and larger squads.
I’ll say it till I’m blue in the face, anyone, anyone can win a game in the Prem, nothing is a given.
Re Contes’ tactics, I just can’t see him winning the league here and in Italy by simply playing “one way” he has more in his bag than 3 at the back and wing backs, yes it is his preferred method and perhaps given our lack of strength in mid field (creatively) his only option with us, as a team.
Re Bergs I will say that he has turned up with a couple of goals in th e latter stages of games lately, so for me defo OK to bring on with 10 mins to go.
However if we are a few goals up, why not give the younger players a run out.
But ATM it’s nip and tuck.
We are higher in the league than expected
Still enjoying the ride.
COYS.
Gooners v Manx tomorrow, I have no bloody idea of the outcome!
Us v the Bees, so many questions…
Will the Gooners be really up for this? because of their “improvement” v the Chavs or did the Chavs just let em roll them over to get at us, always seems to happen.
Or, will the Manx be really up for the game? so as to prove themselves to the new manager for their inclusion in next seasons squad.
Will the real Spurs turn up v the Bees tomorrow,? not the plastic mannequins who represented us last Saturday.
These questions will be probably answered by tomorrow evening. COYS
Been starved of live action for the last six weeks so am hungry for an exciting game to watch. However if turgid gets us a win I won’t complain. Fully expect Eriksen to pose us lots of problems like all ex players seem to.
LT, good that your back n watching, but you said exciting in the same breath as Spurs, both don’t go together lol! go have a lie down, only jesting.
Regards Eriksen, you are probably right there, lets hope Bentacur keeps him quiet. COYS
Hi PY, still jet-lagged so having a lie down is a distinct possibility. Need an exciting game to keep me awake I fear.
Brentford Nylons 2-4 Tottenham Hot-stuff!
Good stuff HT, as long as the nylons don’t get pulled over our heads lol! COYS
Arsenal doing the business, gees we’d better turn up tonight, praying that the Brighton result isn’t going to haunt us…nervous as hell.
Over to you Mr Conte
What was Bruno taken the peno for, game changer, I dread to think arsenal clinching UCL at home.
Hang on boys
Fat lady singing comes to mind .
Let’s keep hoping .
Arsenal still have to come to us and our goal difference is much better .
However they do seem to have hit top gear but if Brentford allow us to play we ought to come out on top .