leffe186

Your last thirteen games this season include Southampton, Stoke, Fulham and Sunderland at home. You've got to be expecting at least 9 points from those alone.

If we fail to beat Man City on Saturday we'll be behind our relegation season on points after the same number of games. Off the pitch we're stable which probably makes this season even worse to date because we've got no excuse for failure. For all the upheaval we had when we went down, we coped better up to this stage of the season and that is abysmal. You guys can correct me here, but when you went down, weren't there two terrible teams who struggled for ages? Ended up being a fight between you and a plummeting Hull for that third spot, and Hull somehow scraped together a couple of draws to stay up? Yeah, just checked Statto. With thirteen games to go you were in thirteenth (two points above us), then you got seven points in the remaining games. In other words, you had it in your hands. With the players still to come back in the new year, I can't see you struggling as badly.

Yeah, it's absolutely a fair point. It was set up by a couple of English guys - one of whom was (is?) the director of Watford's academy - and was by invitation, supposedly on the basis of the strength of the youth set-up at each club. I don't know what criteria they actually used - if any - and suspect that they just asked everyone with a decent set-up. Those that were interested took part. It's more that it was a great idea that UEFA are going to just co-opt for their own ends. I was hoping that the NextGen would continue to grow, but no chance.

Thought this might be the best place for this, as I can't remember where the "UEFA are utter cunts" thread is. I presume there is one somewhere. UEFA have announced the formation of a new competition - the UEFA Youth League: http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfirst/footballdevelopment/eliteyouth/news/newsid=1905481.html Sounds great. Except, hang on, haven't we already got one of those - the NextGen series? http://m.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/nov/22/nextgen-football-elite-youth-europe?cat=football&type=article Right. So isn't the new competition, er, somewhat redundant? Well there's one key difference. "The 32 clubs that qualify for the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage will also be given the opportunity to participate in the UEFA Youth League from next season." In other words, if you're not a CL club already, you can't play. The "perceived strength" of your youth set-up is irrelevant. So clubs like Aston Villa or Spurs, having invested "all that academy outlay" in an attempt to break into the highest level by generating their own players, will be excluded. UEFA have seen an opportunity to make some money, and the clubs in the top echelon will have happily gone along, safe in the knowledge that this new competition will be yet another way to strengthen the status quo. The NextGen will die, as many of its participants are the established elite anyway, who will clearly not be able to compete in two competitions. The deal that the NextGen has with Eurosport will be dead in the water. As UEFA make clear in their statement announcing this brave new world: My big fat hairy fucking arse, it is.

Unfortunately, 4 is the bare minimum that you need to cover the centre back role with the likelyhood of suspensions and injury through the season. Williamson wouldn't be getting half the grief that he is now if he was the number 4 (as he is in reality) and was played sparingly. The fact that on 1st February we had just two recognised central defenders was laughable, but after seeing how stretched we were in that position last season, going into September with no reinforcments in that position was moronic. This is true but I think they put a lot f faith in utility players such as Perch, it could work but requires the 3rd choice CB to be a much better player than Williamson. Nowt personal, Skirge, but I think you're insane if you don't think you need at least 4 CBs nowadays. Particularly if one of those CBs is made of glass. You've still got the FA Cup and Europa to come, too. Just look at the comedy CBs Man U had to put out last year. Wasn't it Berba and Carrick at one point? I'm only happy right now because we have 5 CBs, all of whom I'm pretty comfortable with. I think you should be looking for one established CB in Jan, and ideally a younger one too - although I guess you're hoping that Good will come through next year?

I'm really not trying to troll you here, Brummie, but was it really worse than you were at WHL last year? That was one of the most abject performances I've ever seen.

This really needs that bread-on-bread Oldtype picture - "I Got This".

I'd take one, tbh. Not getting good vibes from this. Bale's injury will be a big boost for us, but we're missing Mirallas a lot the past month. Jelavic is off-form and our defence is really not solid at all. A game without getting screwed by the ref would be nice, though.[/bitchy] Is Mirallas not back today? I thought you had pretty much everyone back fit. Other than Neville and Anichebe, I mean, but that can't be heartbreaking.

Basically - he was told to clear up his mess first, and sell the players that were sitting in the reserves on big contracts.

I'd take one, tbh. Not getting good vibes from this.

The 6 second rule when the keeper has the ball actually in his hands doesn't even exist anymore, so that makes the people around you twice a worse Should still be an enforced rule, does my nut in. Krul does it as much as anyone though. Was just going to say - he's probably the worst of the lot

If ever there was a sign they were struggling, it's the number of people there who think the solution is Danny Rose at CM. I've no doubt he did a decent job there filling in today, but Jesus, the guy struggled to hold his place for us as the reserve left back.

Fuck's sake. Born after "What's the Story, Morning Glory". Jesus I'm old.

How do Spurs feel about him? Mixed bag. Many will not forgive him for the shitty way he left us (sulked, basically), but he's what most of us would like to think of as the quintessential Spurs player. Languid, verging on lazy, but a wonderful brain and the silkiest touch imaginable. As such, there's an awful lot of us that would have had him back - for the right price. We did get a ton of money for him, which helped ease the pain. He used to get quite clearly pissed off at the lack of intelligence around him, which endeared him to me, amongst others. The thought of him linking up with Modric (and VDV too?) just makes my mouth water. Ah well.

They really weren't great against us. Neat and tidy, then fell apart when we scored. Berbs was the best player on the pitch.

Need to wait for the draw. TBH, I think they look pretty good right now.

Do you guys not do this? Actually, I don't remember you doing it come to think of it. There's always some "Shelfside"/"Park Lane" chants at Spurs.

Anyone else's BBC update playing up?

Would be funny, but really I don't care about 'arry. Moving on. All I care about is us. We're in a really good position, but are not playing nearly well enough to expect to stay there. If we have a good Xmas then that changes, but right now I'd be happy with Europe again.

Well it does depend upon what you want from a club, but yeah. If you have an issue with being handed infinite money, walk away. It's a bit late to complain now.

Another uncharacteristic error? (Not watching atm).

Roman's the only reason they're where they are. If he really felt like that, then he shouldn't have bought a season ticket. Have absolutely no sympathy, I'm afraid.

Hey, when did you get back? Or did I miss something?

The current holders would probably disagree vehemently with this. Who and what? Atleti aren't in the CL this year and they weren't the year after they won the last time either. They keep qualifying for the Uefa Cup through the league which means the prize/reward doesn't mean anything to them. It means more to a team who finish lower than them if anything. Oh, I see what the problem is. We were actually talking about the idea of getting the EL winners a CL place. Where would that CL place come from? From the league the team plays in or from somewhere else? Having 5 teams from the same country would wreck the group stage format for starters. Then reduce the number of teams from that country, if you're that worried about it. How much of a Champion is the fourth place team, anyway? Honestly, the whole system obviously needs to be completely revamped. I really like the idea of the Europa League champion getting in - I mean, it's only one team every year FFS. Ditch the ludicrous consolation prize of a Europa League place for CL dropouts, maybe tighten up the criteria for the Europa League. I mean, Boro got absolutely gubbed in the Final by Sevilla - who would have begrudged Sevilla a place in the CL on the basis of that season? Would it really be so terrible if Boro had got in? I know that I'm saying this as a Spurs fan, but plenty of neutrals I spoke to really enjoyed watching us in the CL. We certainly did better than City have done, so far. Boro, or say, Fulham, would have been fun too - and they could be given a qualifying round anyway to get through. It would at least be better than the current self-perpetuating hegemony.

Can I just say for the nth time how appalling it is that the CL sides are allowed in? Thank you.