Tottenham 2016-17: No really, 3rd place was fine

Gunfighter 09

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That should have been 4 or 5 goals, but what an effort by the team today. That was kind of fun and very satisfying, for some reason I can't recall.

UCL is clinched, unless United can make up a 22 goal deficit. One more point clinches second, assuming they don't lost a 20 goal differential lead. One additional point also clinches the best season in club history. As for the title, it is really hard to see where Chelsea drop points, hosting Borro, Watford & Sunderland and going to West Brom, but, oh well, draws rather than wins in October can hurt in the spring.

Either way, this is a great team and this has been an amazing season.
 

coremiller

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Unlike in the past, when players would want to leave Spurs to chase trophies and CL football, the only reason for players to leave now is money. If they keep the band together, Spurs have as good a chance as anyone else in England of winning something the next 2-3 seasons. The club is in a much stronger position than it was when it had to sell Carrick, Berbatov, Modric, Bale, etc.

Walker signed a new five-year contract last September for 75k/week. If he wants to move, he has zero leverage, and Levy hates selling players to domestic rivals (e.g. the Modric saga). If City offer some ludicrous fee for him (50m+?), maybe Spurs would consider it, but otherwise I don't think he's going anywhere unless Poch wants to move on from him.

Levy has done a great job tying up the core of key players to long-term contracts. Everyone important is signed through 2019, when Vertonghen and Dembele's deals are up; everyone else is signed through at least 2020. Kane and Alli, probably the two most valuable transfer targets (along with Eriksen), are signed through 2022.
 

DJnVa

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Gunfighter 09

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Second place clinched, most points in a season clinched, undefeated in the final season at the Lane.

I wonder how young the team is going to be over the next two games, there is nothing for Spurs to play for other than developing young players. Guys like Nkoudou should get a ton of run.
 

DJnVa

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We're used to having games at end of season not mean much, but never quite like this :)

The 3-4-5 spots are going to be fun. ManU can't catch them, so it's all on their Europa League game.

Man City should jump into 3rd, and Arsenal should pull within a point of Liverpool tomorrow, then it's all on the final day.
 

Kliq

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Seems like the team was good enough to win it all this year but can't complain about the overall outcome, considering Kane missed some games and probably could have netted 30 league goals this year. Awesome final game at WHL, great scene post-game. Glad back in August I decided to cut back on CFB and start seriously following Spurs.
 

JayMags71

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Unlike in the past, when players would want to leave Spurs to chase trophies and CL football, the only reason for players to leave now is money. If they keep the band together, Spurs have as good a chance as anyone else in England of winning something the next 2-3 seasons.
I'm curious to see if there's going to be any problems adjusting to playing home matches in Wembley. They have great players and a great manager, but I have to think WHL was at least a minor advantage.
 

coremiller

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I'm curious to see if there's going to be any problems adjusting to playing home matches in Wembley. They have great players and a great manager, but I have to think WHL was at least a minor advantage.
Two separate issues here. One is the "Wembley curse" or whatever, where Spurs have failed to win some large number of games in a row at Wembley. I think that's nonsense and just variance and small sample sizes.

The other is a potential lack of HFA. This is indeed possible. OTOH, for big matches Spurs can probably sell out the stadium. Playing home matches in front of 90,000 supporters has its benefits. And by most accounts Wembley is actually a good football stadium for spectators with real atmosphere, unlike some certain other large London stadia of a similar vintage that I could name. And it's not like Spurs are totally unfamiliar with Wembley, they played there four times this year.
 

coremiller

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Third issue is increased pitch size at Wembley.
I think this is overblown. The Wembley pitch is five yards longer and two yards wider. I don't think that's enough to make a significant difference. I think the pitch size issue became a thing because of the Wembley losing streak, so people were casting about for explanations rather than just shrugging it off as variance.

What will be annoying is that inevitably just due to regression to the mean Spurs' home form next year will not be as good as it was this year. And everyone will blame Wembley for it, when really it's just incredibly difficult to go 17-2-0 at home.
 

candylandriots

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A friend of mine from London is a big Spurs fan and was at the final game at WHL. He posted this on Facebook, which I thought was a real contrast to what I would have expected. Good for Spurs ownership and management and fans.
Wow what a fantastic send off down the Lane. I have to say the Spurs staff, stewards and security were phenomenal. First off they just turned a blind eye and let everyone in without a ticket. The South part of the Shelf and most of the Park Lane was standing room only, omg the place was heaving. Then at the end they did nothing to stop the pitch invasion. I honestly saw them helping people over the barriers. Then after the fantastic ceremony the place was carnage with people trying to get a memento of the old stadium. I personally came away with two seats and the last betting forum from the William Hill betting office. I left an hour and a half after the ceremony and the place was still buzzing with people dismantling the old ground. Serious hats off to the people behind Spurs they put West Ham to shame. For once common sense prevailed and a blind eye was turned to bureaucratic nonsense and over the top health and safety. It was like being back at football in the late 70’s. The one downer on the day.... they did run out of lager before half time. Not good.
And how about that rainbow!!!!!
Love you Tottenham thanks for five decades of fantastic memories and definitely of the ones to come. COYS
 

Kliq

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A friend of mine from London is a big Spurs fan and was at the final game at WHL. He posted this on Facebook, which I thought was a real contrast to what I would have expected. Good for Spurs ownership and management and fans.
Obviously your friend has been to infinitely more EPL games than I have, but having seen the Hillsborough documentary that story makes me uneasy.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Hillsborough Disaster occurred a long time ago, when stadiums were completely different and there wasn't much awareness of how things could go really wrong (despite the lessons of Heysel). It also occurred largely due to the incompetence of the SYP...I feel pretty certain that the local police and the Spurs club knew what they were doing.
 

DJnVa

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Tottenham has 17 year old (just barely) Samuel Shashoua on the bench today.
 

DJnVa

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Well then. Kane gets 4 and takes over the lead by 2 over Lukaku, looking for his second straight Golden Boot. Also his 4th hat trick.

Son scores 2 and now has 21, giving the Spurs 3 players with 20 goals.
 

Gunfighter 09

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Well, +11 of that was in last 72 hours or so.

I think Poche might have mentioned the embarrassment against Newcastle a few times over the last week. Masterful management job in the last three months, winning 13 of 14 to close out the year.

Spurs lead the league in goal diff, goals scored and goals against. Best I can tell, no one has done that without winning the league. Five teams have done it since 2000, but all won the league.
 

InstaFace

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Spurs lead the league in goal diff, goals scored and goals against. Best I can tell, no one has done that without winning the league. Five teams have done it since 2000, but all won the league.
Not to diminish the point, but if you have two of those three, you have the third, by definition.
 

Gunfighter 09

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Not to diminish the point, but if you have two of those three, you have the third, by definition.

True. Maths is cool.

Bill Barnwell phrased this in an interesting way on his podcast. Is this the best trophy less team in the EPL era? I think the 89 point ManU team that was 90 seconds from winning the league in 2012 has to get the nod, but this team is certainly top 3 or 4.
 

coremiller

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True. Maths is cool.

Bill Barnwell phrased this in an interesting way on his podcast. Is this the best trophy less team in the EPL era? I think the 89 point ManU team that was 90 seconds from winning the league in 2012 has to get the nod, but this team is certainly top 3 or 4.
2007-08 Chelsea finished runners-up on 85 points to Man Utd, and lost the Champions League Final to Man Utd on penalties. That's probably the best resume of any recent trophy-less EPL club. 2008-09 Liverpool and 2009-10 Man Utd are also strong contenders in this category. 2011-12 Man Utd would have a stronger case if they hadn't crashed out in the CL group stages in a relatively weak group (finishing 3rd behind Benfica and Basel). This year's Spurs are right up there though.