Battle Of 4th, 5th, 6th Position

[Mr. E]

Spurs are unstopabble, what the hell......

[T4E]

Unstoppable except that they lost 3-1 last week.

[Bobby G]

I think our 4th place hopes are gone now, although in the games Spurs play Arsenal and Bolton, there are points to be lost, so you never konw, but with 4 points, we are effectively 2 wins away from them.

How sweet if Spurs finish 4th, Arsenal should win the CL!

[krislu]

We should stop talking about 4th place, both in the media and on here. We are just making an ass out of our self.

The performances we have showed lately does not belong in the premier league, never mind the Champions League. Against Wigan we were lucky to get a point, and its the same story today. The players seem tired and our only way to attack is by hitting a long ball towards Bellamy while hoping he will pull some magic.

Our defense in the last two games have been nothing sort of bloody awful, and if it continue then we can say goodbye to the UEFA cup aswell..

[Bobby G]

Too pessimistic krislu.

Its a sign of a good team that can grind out draws and wins when defeat is what they deserve.

We dig deep and came back against Wigan, and today our keeper kept us in it.

I agree we look under the weather lately, so to speak. But hopefully against Liverpool we can show a decent account of ourselves.

[roverich]

I have given up hope of finishing 4th after today and to be honest we're just not ready for the Champions' League anyway, we'd be destroyed. Finishing 6th (as I expect we will provided we stop dropping easy points) would be a major achievement for us given our position 12 months ago. We should never look back at this season and say 'we missed out on the CL' but we should be saying 'we progressed fantastically as a team and made the UEFA Cup'. Fingers crossed (and I know we're good enough) to finish 6th!

[greggyk]

Well Krislu, the result today was pretty good actually despite the performance so 4th spot is still on. We are 4points behind Spurds while Bolton and Wigan are more than 4pts behind us yet you are saying we wont get Uefa Cup??

Currently, we are unbeatable beacause no matter how badly we are playing, NOBODY CAN BEAT US! MWA HAHAHAHA

[Bobby G]

roverich, spot on!

[roverich]

Currently, we are unbeatable beacause no matter how badly we are playing, NOBODY CAN BEAT US! MWA HAHAHAHA

397570[/snapback]

A decent team (mmmm an example... LIVERPOOL) would tear us to pieces if we play like we have in the last few games. The only reason we've managed to dig in and grind out draws is because the opposition is poor!

[greggyk]

"we're just not ready for the Champions' League anyway, we'd be destroyed"

Yes, because that Rangers are a team full of world beaters!

[krislu]

We are 4points behind Spurds while Bolton and Wigan are more than 4pts behind us yet you are saying we wont get Uefa Cup??

397570[/snapback]

I said that IF we keep playing like we did today, then we will not even get a Uefa cup place.

[roverich]

Yes, because that Rangers are a team full of world beaters!

397575[/snapback]

Are you comparing every team in the competition to Rangers? Are you 5 years old or deluded?

[krislu]

Are you 5 years old or deluded?

397577[/snapback]

I would say both..

[greggyk]

Are you comparing every team in the competition to Rangers? Are you 5 years old or deluded?

397577[/snapback]

no, but Rangers got though to the final stages and I believe only lost out on away goals to Villareal in the 2nd round(who are now in the semies)

[roverich]

greggyk I'm really not sure what you're trying to say because it's so off the wall so please make it easy for me... Do you think Rangers are a good football team compared to the large majority of other teams in the CL?

[greggyk]

Well, i thought the point was quite clear. You suggested Rovers would get 'destroyed' in the champions League. Well, its also quite clear to see that Rovers have better players than Rangers have and if Rangers were able to qualify past their group, im pretty certain Rovers would have a chance of doing the same.

Or do you still need help?

[T4E]

I'm with you Greg, not quite sure why he's having so much trouble understanding what you're saying.

Teams with less ability than ours make the Champions League group stages every year.

[Rover4ever]

I dont think theres any point in being "scared" of getting into Europe.

On another side, The Soccernet's Insider has no doubt that a "big club" like Spurs deserve Europe more than small town Rovers

And in comparison to a couple of the sides who have represented the Premiership in Europe this season - Bolton and Middlesbrough spring to mind - Martin Jol's men are more worthy of the prize as they have a fan base that would appreciate the sight of the continents best coming into their lair.

Proof that Tottenham should be hailed as one of the true giants of English football is provided as the 'Sold Out' signs are hoisted at White Hart Lane for each and every home game

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story...england&cc=4716

[all you need is duff]

Am I the only one who looks at Spurs' fixtures and thinks they'll struggle to win another game all season? Away games at Everton, Arsenal and West Ham; home games against Man United and Notlob.

Unfortunately though none of our games are easy. Citeh and Chelsea if they're in the FA Cup final and already champions strike me as our two most winnable games.

After the results in the last eight days, I think that Arsenal should take 4th, especially if they take three or more points from their next two games away at Manure and Pompey.

[joey_big_nose]

Fourth place evaporated today I think. But that is hardly a problem, Hughes has done amazingly welland is still trucking along picking up points. If we can add some guile to our steel then we can look forward to another great season next year and, hopefully, a good Boro-esque stitnt in the UEFA cup.

[yawnsie]

And in comparison to a couple of the sides who have represented the Premiership in Europe this season - Bolton and Middlesbrough spring to mind - Martin Jol's men are more worthy of the prize as they have a fan base that would appreciate the sight of the continents best coming into their lair.

Proof that Tottenham should be hailed as one of the true giants of English football is provided as the 'Sold Out' signs are hoisted at White Hart Lane for each and every home game

397640[/snapback]

Riiiight.... so progressing to the last sixteen and the semis respectively in a competition that Spuds have qualified for once in fifteen years means nothing, because the 'Sold Out' signs haven't been bothered? There's me thinking that being 'worthy of the prize' is about winning games and stuff; this is the first season in Premiership history in which Spurs haven't been plodding around mid-table. What a load of crap.

I can't believe that Spuds are still up there. It wouldn't bother me missing out on the Champions League to l'Arse, because they're a genuinely class side, but Spurs are overrated and seem to rely on occasional flashes of brilliance from Robbie Keane and generous refereeing. It would really annoy me if they got that Champions League because I've seen nothing from them that suggests they're any better than us. In fact, with their run-in, they should be grateful for those flukey wins over us and West Brom, because without them they'd be lucky to scrape into the UEFA Cup, that competition plagued by lesser teams from the Grim North.

[Blue blood]

To be honest 4th was always going to be a tall order. We just don't have the quality in the squad to change things round if our players aren't performing. Not sure why we're slumping at the moment - maybe our high-energy game is taking its toll, maybe it's nerves because of the prospect of europe. 4th place was probably lost when we lost to Everton and West Brom, infinately easier games then a Pompey side on the up and what was a decent performance by Wigan.

What strikes me most is that we need ALL our players to play to the best of their ability for us to win games. We just don't have enough quality to carry a couple of players let alone 3 or more. Nor can we really sub them for equally talented performers. However the squad is looking a lot better than it was and we've come a long way from last season. Hopefully a couple of quality additions and we'd be able to take it up to the next level.

We should still get 6th mind as Bolton's form of late hasn't been good, and the pressure will be on them too. At this stage of the season all teams are going to drop points unexpectedly and Bolton will be no different. The Brum game showed that. If we can get one win I'm sure he confidence will be back there'll be a bit more energy in the players and that'll propel us forward till the end of the season. We really are a confidence team. Look at how well we played after scoring against Wigan. No more of that long ball rubbish but some pretty slick football. This'll be all the more pronounced if we win against a big team (Chelsea or Liverpool not brum.)

For me the squad looks something like this:

Top class on their day as good as anyone:

Brad, Nelsen, Todd, Bellamy, Tugs, Reid, Savage, Neill, MGP, Zurab?

Heck of a lot of potential if it were more regular they'd be in the above:

Bentley, Pongolle, possibly Peter

Not matchwinners but you're ok with seeing one or two on the team sheet. Any more and we could be in trouble. Good squad players.

Gray, Enks (as 2nd keeper) Emerton, Dickov, Kuqi (as sub vs lower teams), Mokoena (as DM) Gally

Allways feel worried when see their name on the teamsheet

Matteo, Amoruso, Douglas when returns, Gresko Kuqi (against decent teams) was: Flitty, Tommo, Jansen anyone else I've not mentioned. Mokoena in defence, anyone else I've not mentioned.

For a team challenging for europe there aren't enough players in the Top Class or Heck of a lot of Potential, and excessive amounts in the worried whenever they play. Really there should only be 1/2 donkeys in the squad at most. Hughes is beginning to cull the latter category which is reassuring but it still takes time to rebuild a squad. What we need are imo more heck of a lot of potential players as top quality players are hard to find and pretty expensive. This and a culling of the worried whenever they play would make a whole lot of difference to the rovers team next season and 4th would not be out of the question then.

[Bobby G]

Spurs will win more games and theyll be difficult to beat too. I can see draws at Everton and Arsenal and win against WHU.

They are my odds on favorites for 4th.

But maybe Arsenal will just screw them out of it by winning the CL.

[dillo_dillo]

updated

I don't still give up the 4th spot dream.

Guys! Loses hope loses all ! Please stop to make bad karma.....

If we din't get 4th, We lost quality players as well as only CL spot.

I think We DO NOT have "next season could be better" theory.

Remember the end of the 02/03 season. We got better season 03/04?

[philipl]

4th is still possible as 69 points is still possible- it "just" needs 5 wins out of 5! Granted an Arsenal win at Man U will push 4th into the realms of extremely unlikely.

We should be able to top the other clubs in the race. Spurs were not convincing against a very wonky City (5 defeats on the run for them now) and are definitely going to drop points.

The big question is whether Rovers are seeing a slow unravelling of good form as opponents work us out or an Easter Sunday revival? 5th is still very possible and 4th could be with some good fortune. Arsenal are a point behind us at the time of writing.