Maddisons now out for a few months, Udogie and Romero out for a bit, City coming up. Ultimately I don’t think they have the squad depth to keep the charge going.

But sure they undoubtedly had a good run but I guess people were right, City are inevitable…

  • thisisnahamed@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    Arsenal was favorite to win until April. Then things turned sour for them in the last 2 months.

    Liverpool was neck-on-neck with City (2021-2022) until the last day.

    So it’s really really early to call anyon’e title.

    But yes, City is favorites and are consistently strong.

    And Spurs luck might have run out.

  • Wide_Challenge3880@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    They’re still joint top and having a great season. Even if they come fourth with 70 points it’s a great season for them and they exceeded expectations

  • Due-Camel-7605@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    Even if there were no injuries, the chelsea game showed why we won’t challenge this year (referring to the tactical inflexibility)

    • doubledgravity@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Don’t know why this is getting down voted. Up or down votes on this sub are rarely relevant to the comment. So what, a fan isn’t allowed to have an opinion about their own club now? Save that shit for r/soccer.

      • Due-Camel-7605@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        Because a lot of my fellow spurs fans are already treating Big Ange as their Big Daddy who can do no wrong because according to them, Ange has 27 years of footballing experience.

        For me (a spurs fan who can objectively analyse without any daddy issues), playing the offside trap with 2 men sent off, no pressure on the ball, super fast Eric Dier as one of the CBs, no vdv’s recovery pace, opponents having Stering and Jackson’s pace, opponents struggling against low blocks, it all screams NAIVETY. My opinion is backed by the opinions of pundits like Glenn Hoddle (who by the way has more than 27 years of footballing experience). If you replace Chelsea with Brentford in the same situation, we get beat by 6 or 7

        • inonjoey@alien.topB
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          11 months ago

          This a totally reasonable take. The high line without pressure on the ball reminded me of Emery’s suicide ball style when he was at Arsenal; led to some mental games.

          • Due-Camel-7605@alien.topB
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            11 months ago

            I do support Ange, I just don’t want him to be my daddy. Doubting my loyalty to the club only because i criticised the manager’s decision speaks volumes about you

  • SmellHeavy9016@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    There was never a title challenge on the cards regardless, the good news is that if they can just survive with the 3 points away against Wolves (which is by no means a guaranteed 3 points as they have proven against City and Newcastle recently) they are 2 weeks closer to having Maddison back with the international break coming up that almost couldnt have come at a better time for them

    • ScienceDisastrous323@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      If Spurs bottled it after 12 games then so have every other team in the league. Way too early to be talking of anyone as title challengers right now.

      • Ben_boh@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        As if they don’t call The Arsenal bottlers for Saliba and Tomiyasu getting injured last season…

        • inonjoey@alien.topB
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          11 months ago

          It’s not even worth trying to have a reasonable conversation about this on this thread.

  • LightBackground9141@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    They were never challenging for the title if you’re honest. It’s Man City’s again this year, they’re too far ahead of the rest.

  • Far_Dot344@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    You can’t say RIP if there never was a title challenge to begin with. Everyone was saying we’re gonna struggle to be mid-table w/out Kane, and now the agenda is that we had a title challenge, which one is it? And I’m sorry but the omission of Van de Ven is inadmissible.

    Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea taking points of each other just to let City win, like every year.

    • Wolfbain164@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Let City win. Come on now. You aren’t actually suggesting a title challenger throws a game against a rival just so City don’t win the title. That’s insane.

      Title challengers play to win every game no matter who its against and its ridiculous to do otherwise. Unless, of course, you go down to 10 men when you’re 1-0 up at home against local rivals, that cant break down low blocks, and decide its better to lose playing a high line than try to win playing a low block. Then its ok to decide to lose apparently.

      City win because they have the best manager in the world, the best team in the world, 400m sat on the bench every weekend & 115 charges that nobody wants to do anything about.

    • snuggl3ninja@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      3 things make me root for Big Ange.

      1. I’m a united supporter with very little left to enjoy and would just like to watch the world burn.
      2. My dad’s a Celtic Fanatic so I like big Ange from that time.
      3. It would be the most Spurs thing if they won the league after Kane left. Improved only by the very unlikely change Bayern don’t win silverware this year.
      • Crookles86@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        I’m a United fan, but I fucking hate spurs.

        Mainly because a couple of my mates are spurs and they’ve just become impossible to have a sensible conversation with.

        The sooner they bottle it, the better.

        • snuggl3ninja@alien.topB
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          11 months ago

          Our own fan base is big enough that no one agrees on anything (except Glazers out) and I’ve met enough knobs in united fan pages to make me not judge a club based on their vocal fans.

      • thenewwwguyreturns@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        tbf it’s not so unlikely. they’re out of the dfb pokal, lost the super cup, bayer leverkusen look unbeatable and the CL just has better teams like Madrid and City

    • you-will-never-win@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      I had you down to finish 8th at the start of the season, so far you (and Wolves who I said would do gown) are the only 2 teams who I’ve already accepted I was clearly wrong about

    • JustANewThingy@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      You had a real easy season start and got a few ‘lucky’ results too to keep you lot up there.

      I always figured you’d drop off once the games and injuries start stacking.

    • sfbriancl@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Hey! We took points off City too! If anyone else could do so (thanks Wolves!), that would be great. 👍

    • WhoIsYourDaddy04@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Van de Ven is argualy the biggest loss for me. Losing his pace will be a hit if Postegoglou perists with his high line, which evidence to date suggests he will.

    • rudedogg1304@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Who was saying yous would struggle to be mid table ? Morons ?

      So they were saying you were likely To finish bottom half ? Come on

  • emize@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    People mocking Spurs but Liverpool and Arsenal are not much better. Who is the replacement for Salah/Saka/VVD/Saliba if they get a long term injury?

    There is a reason why they say the title race begins in January.

    • cjtvenom@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      I mean as a Liverpool fan I never really thought we’d challenge for the title this season, our defensive depth isn’t there, Tsimikas isn’t good enough to cover Robertson and Gomez is a hit and miss. Missing a true 6 is a major issue as well. I think we’re good for top 4 but not a title charge, but our backup to Salah is either moving Jota to the right or Doak or even Szobo from whos played there at Leipzig, but you’re right it won’t be good if we lose Salah to injury.

    • kasper12@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      People don’t forget that last year Saliba was injured.

      What people do forget is that Tomiyasu was injured in that very same game.

      That meant that Ben White’s replacement at RB was gone. So when he moved to CB, we were left with Partey at RB.

      Tomiyasu is a solid backup for BW if no other injuries occur.

    • magicalcrumpet@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Nobody outside city can really cope if two important players get injured at the same time. Even When Rodri got suspended city lost three on the bounce.

      No spurs fan thought we had a title charge. This season is a free hit and even more so now. Honestly id like to see some of the youth players get some minutes. We’ve been kinda shit at doing that since winks.

    • Good_March_3033@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Man City sure are a privileged team, aren’t they? The squad depth is such that even if a few key players miss out on a few games, they can sail through it easily. Most of the refereeing errors also coincidentally favor them at times. No wonder, it’s really difficult to beat City in PL.

    • extekt@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Last year with saliba, arsenal had to drop to third choice with holding. I think with tomi it could work somewhat decently.

      Saka yeah there isn’t really anything. Jesus is the best replacement and then we end up with second choice striker as well

    • Combat_Orca@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      The only time city lost the title recently is when they let another team get an early lead that they couldn’t catch. The title race begins in August.

    • Ben_boh@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      The replacement for Saliba is Ben White (Tomiyasu at RB and Timber / Zinny at LB).

      The replacement for Saka is Trossard/Jesus.

      When you’re playing within financial fair play that’s the level of replacement available to you…

    • Lewk_io@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Really with Jesus and Nketiah out, Arsenal doesn’t have a striker at the moment. Yeah Trossard and Havertz can step up but that isn’t their focus

    • InPatRileyWeTrust@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Saliba is obviously huge for us, but I’d be fairly confident in Tomiyasu stepping up. What really fucked us last season is that Tomiyasu got injured in the same game as Saliba.

  • OkReporter3886@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    On the bright side, our bottle that was considered inevitable by everyone, including Spurs fans looks to have happened at no fault of Ange, the club or really our play style and is simply injuries, which shows some hope for the future. I think our amazing start really made people forget Ange came in to quite literally the definition of a team needing a rebuild, and he’s done excellent but just hasn’t had the time or the transfer windows. Even if it’s 3 months till we are back to the strength we’ve been at I believe we are definitely fighting for a top 4 spot, and just imagine what Ange could do next season with some more transfer windows, and time under his belt. This news sucks, but thinking about it I’m only upset because of this in comparison our ridiculously good start, and is a great start really something to be upset about?

    • Responsible-Kale9474@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      looks to have happened at no fault of Ange, the club or really our play style and is simply injuries

      I dunno, the wild indiscipline and suicidally high line of Monday night sure seemed like it was down to the players and manager bottling it.

      • HelpMeSum1Help@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        No team in the last 35 years has survived 2 men down for more than half an hour in the premier league

        Even prime United under Fergie lost games with 2 men down

        There was no bottling there. The real bottling would have been not beating Liverpool when they had 9

      • WilliamisMiB@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        Such an uneducated take lol. With 9 men a loss is near certain and spurs had 3 chances to tie the game late. Imagine it ended 2-2, Ange would be called Jesus of tactics. Spurs fans LOVED his aggressive don’t back down decision. We were angry and he threw out the kitchen sink, we love him.

    • Quakes-JD@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      After the last few years of negative tactics I am just thrilled to have a team I look forward to watching again. I live in California but will wake up at 4:30 am when Spurs play in that early kickoff time slot. Those early wake ups were rough to watch a team with no attacking ethos. I am much happier getting up that early now with Ange managing the club!

  • Mc_and_SP@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    Well, time to see if there really is going to be a second-coming for Lo Celso. Postecoglou seemed to rate him in preseason, so here’s here’s his chance to finally make good.

    • guitarhero1345@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      If it doesn’t happen now, then it’ll never happen for him at spurs. Postecoglou hasn’t seemed keen on him since preseason however

  • Barellino23@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    They were never going to challenge for the title. Whoever thought that was the case is new to football.

    Titles are won in February onwards, not in September and October

    • Combat_Orca@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      When Liverpool won it was their ridiculous start that got the title, by February they had a 20 point lead on city.

    • eCtX8wp9ueuqXmMdgD@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      Pundits who have fill x minutes of dead air per hour latched onto this “Spurs Title Challengers?” narrative and unfortunately it seems to have stuck.

      Meanwhile we’re over here happy to be kicking off the total rebuild we’ve needed since the Poch era.

      Spurs are hoping to regain European football and hopefully have a strong 2024/2025 season once we’ve got a couple transfer windows and a season of squad / tactics gelling under our belt. Which I think is plenty ambitious compared to the time frame of other successful rebuilds (e.g. Klopp at Liverpool or Arteta at Arsenal).

      • ChefJoeyW@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        The comparison to Klopp’s rebuild if insanely far off. The team he took over didn’t have a 1/4 of the talent of this spurs team.

        • eCtX8wp9ueuqXmMdgD@alien.topB
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          11 months ago

          Hey, I’ll take your word for it – I’m not an expert on that rebuild.

          Was just talking timeframes, not asserting deep equality. I can’t imagine any two rebuilds could ever be comparable apples to apples.

          Those were the first two rebuilds that came to mind when thinking of rebuilds that I’d ultimately consider successful which were tactically driven and not bolstered by a petrodollar takeover.

          I don’t think that invalidates my point that a two-season rebuild timeframe is decently ambitious, and winning the league within the starting season isn’t a reasonable benchmark or priority for a successful rebuild.

      • AgileSloth1@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        Its the same with us and the UCL.

        Yes, we qualified and yes we battered PSG. Does that mean we have the depth to make a deep run? No.

        Right now, we’d probably be best off aiming for 3rd and UEL competition.

        Yet there’s frequent articles, videos, etc, of “Newcastle’s UCL charge in doubt!”. Like bruh, stop.

    • barowsr@alien.topB
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      11 months ago

      If we stayed 95% healthy, which was going to be about a 1/25 chance, could absolutely have challenged.

      But obviously most seasons, you take knocks. And most Spurs fans were warning this roster is very thin, especially in year 1 of a rebuild.

      A top 4 finish would be a big success, and top 6 would still be a really good year considering…and I think 90% of Spurs fans would agree.

  • knightrambo@alien.topB
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    11 months ago

    Well, as a Spurs fan, i doubt anyone amongst our fan base expected us to challenge for the PL title or perhaps even the CL spots this season + pundits wrote us off since Kane’s departure + Ange is only at the beginning of a rebuild.

    However, the way Ange got us playing is really entertaining and got us fans looking forward to getting behind the team again, even my friends who are fans of other teams enjoy watching us. At the start of the season, i thought Spurs might finish somewhere 6-8th but now i think Spurs have what it takes to be in the top 4.

    Give Ange some time to bolster the squad and get his tactics further ingrained into players, perhaps Spurs can challenge for the PL.

      • Turtyturd@alien.topB
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        11 months ago

        I don’t think anyone would sing it but spuds fans are as strange as arsenal fans so you never know