OyVeh Maria sent us the following:
The final three months of the season, and we are in with a shout for 3 trophies!
What a difference a win makes, we were losing momentum and as Harry K said, the boys are buzzing again! Let’s stop for one moment and assess the situation with just 3 months left of the season. We are in the Quarters of the FA Cup and one more win against Millwall and we are back to our new home in the Semi Finals. A win by 2 goals or more and we are into the last 16 of the Europa and, a win against Stoke on Sunday, means we stay in 3rd place in the Premiership. So let’s hope this “slump” we have been in is over. Certainly the return of Verts made our shape at the back against Fulham a whole lot better and I have to say we did not miss Dier on Sunday. It is worrying to think that, if we lose either Rose or Walker, Poch is not really able to play 3 at the back until either one of them is back. If you look at how successful Victor Moses has been for Chelsea as a wing back it does make sense for Poch to bring in like for like replacements in the summer for both of them.
Verts has said “The gaffer has had time to work with us and we understand the way he wants us to play. We are a lot stronger than then and we have shown in the last couple of years. We played a final against Chelsea at Wembley a couple of years ago and we want more of that. I won some silverware at Ajax and it’s the best thing there is in football. I think this team and the technical staff deserve a trophy with this club.” There has been a lot of speculation that Poch has tinkered with the spine of the team and that has caused our recent indifferent results. I have to say 3-4-3 is our best shape. Flat back four has caused us problems because we have two weakest links in that formation in the form of Davies and Dier. Walker has said that” the Manager had made a few tweaks which I think has helped us recover a lot faster," Walker praised the winning culture Poch has brought to the club. "He's cut down on some of the training sessions, we don't train every day now, and with the intensity of the training sessions as well, he might not demand as much as he used to. “He’s a great manager, he thinks about us as players and individuals. We're quite happy to go and voice our opinion. If we're a bit tired he says, 'okay today is a bit of a down-day for you'.
It is nine years since Spurs won a trophy when Spurs’ Ramos beat Avram Grant’s Chelsea in the League Cup final. There may be a financial gulf between us and the likes of United, City, Woolwich and Chelski but, the difference on the pitch has got a lot less over the last few seasons thanks to Poch. We have not played well at Wembley this season, just one win out of three Champion’s League group games and no one really knows why! Now Wembley may figure greatly in our chase for Silverware this season. Somehow, we have to play a game that suits us not one that suits Wembley. Gent will be up for this and so our passing game will have to be a lot faster and accurate!
Expect a strong Spurs side despite the Stoke game on Sunday. The Spurs players say they have enough in the tank to play 4 games in just 11 games. Dembele will be back as will Walker and with Verts now back from injury Gent will find it tougher to run at Davies and get past him but Davies does need back up. Wanyama played too high last week and needs to defend the back four more, leave it to Demeble to carry the ball up to Eriksen, Alli, Kane and Son. We cause more problems when Kane, Eriksen, Alli and Son are getting on the ball early and that’s when we look more productive in attack. Gent and Sissoko may think that we have been sussed but I fully expect Poch to leave Dier out again and play Winks, who reminds me a lot of Lewis Holtby, good engine, bags of aggression and knows when to release the ball. I think Winks is a much better link up man and if Poch does play a flat back four we will need to make sure Gents wide men don’t get as much freedom as they did last week we have to be better off the ball as well as on it. This could be a lung buster so it’s vital we score first. The first goal will be crucial if we go behind it could be a long way back.
