Coasting towards Europa League?
The great irony at the end of this Premier League week-end is that had Spurs done what they should have done and won their game against relegation strugglers Burnley, they would have been two more points closer to Manchester City, who lost at Selhurst Park.
Spurs fans know what it is like to lose at Selhurst, and whilst it should never be assumed that a team chasing a place in Europe will always beat a team fighting the drop, I can't help feeling that Spurs' players are coasting towards a place in The Europa League, which, if Liverpool and Arsenal make the FA Cup Final, is almost a certainty with eighth placed Swansea seven points behind us. That's how many points we are behind the top four, and that's how unlikely it is we will achieve that target. Still, we've known that since before the International break really, haven't we?
Burnley deserve credit for their stifling performance, but the team, and the head coach have to take responsibility for another lack-lustre performance. Anything less than three points against Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa on Saturday will be highly unsatisfactory.
Many Spurs Odyssey voters were mystified about Pochettino's preference of Paulinho for Dembele, who has been in decent form recently. Our world cup superstar Brazilian attracted the attention of Match of the Day 2 for his pathetic attempt on goal in the second half. Paulinho made only his second Premier League start of the season, and scored only 3.3 in the post-match survey. He averages only just over 5 out of 10 over the course of the season.
More sub-par performances were noted in the cases of Walker, Bentaleb, Mason, Chadli, and late substitutes Lamela and Townsend. That is too many sub-par performances for a team challenging for Europe.
The head coach too was assessed as sub-par, with criticism of every aspect of his game; team selection, strategy, and substitutions. Some are asking again if we have the right man at the helm. Pochettino got his second worst mark of the season (3.86 out of 10), and has been around the 4 out of 10 mark too many times this season (8) for a man in charge of a team which is supposed to have high aspirations.
With loyal fans being asked to renew their expensive season tickets before the end of the season, some will be wondering if it is really worth the money. I'm addicted, so I don't expect to hesitate too much!
Not for the first time this season (the 21st in fact), the goalkeeper was adjudged to be our best player. It was the first time that Michel Vorm has won the vote, on what was his first Premier league start for the club.
· See the spursometer in full.
Results 04-07.04.15
Arsenal 4-1 Liverpool
Everton 1-0 S'hampton
Leicester 2-1 West Ham
Man Utd 3-1 A. Villa
Swansea 3-1 Hull
West Brom 1-4 QPR
Chelsea 2-1 Stoke
Burnley 0-0 Spurs
S'derland 1-0 Newcastle
C. Palace 2-1 Man City
A. Villa 3-3 QPR
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Chelsea 30 21 7 2 63-26 37 70
2. Arsenal 31 19 6 6 62-32 30 63
3. Man Utd 31 18 8 5 55-28 27 62
4. Man City 31 18 7 6 63-30 33 61
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5. Liverpool 31 16 6 9 45-36 9 54
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6. Spurs 31 16 6 9 50-45 5 54
7. S'hampton 31 16 5 10 42-22 20 53
8. Swansea 31 13 7 11 37-39 -2 46
9. West Ham 31 11 9 11 41-39 2 42
10. Stoke 31 12 6 12 35-39 -4 42
11. C. Palace 31 10 9 12 38-42 -4 39
12. Everton 31 9 10 12 39-42 -3 37
13. Newcastle 31 9 8 14 33-49 -16 35
14. West Brom 31 8 9 14 28-43 -15 33
15. S'derland 31 5 14 12 24-44 -20 29
16. A. Villa 32 7 8 17 23-45 -22 29
17. Hull 31 6 10 15 29-43 -14 28
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18. QPR 32 7 5 20 38-58 -20 26
19. Burnley 31 5 11 15 26-49 -23 26
20. Leicester 30 5 7 18 29-49 -20 22
