THFC6061 said:
mancboy123 said:
As their will for everyone else mate. I could say the same about our team mate do you really think having aguero fit for a full season, not losing yaya for 7 games, vincent kompany for a quarter of the season, jack rodewell for a full season plus navas and fernandihno wont make a difference to us and make us better.
Everyone had injuries etc and stuff but the fact is bale dragged you out of the mud more times than not last season whether you want to admit it or not and sandro gets better the more he doesnt play as does kaboul, your optimism is fine and admirable but everyone gets injuries etc and you may be banking on bettering last seasons performance but so is everyone else and that is why i dont see you being title contenders.
The question remains though if bale doesnt have a wow of a season what else do you have, paulinho, haboul and sandro are not going to make much of a difference to your team purely because they have played for you before and didnt then so why would they now?
Well City have lost one of their best players (Tevez) and have a manager with absolutely no Premier League experience.
I'd say it will be very close as to which club comes out on top come May.
City have just 2 front line forwards left in Dzeko and Aguero (Guidetti as a backup, but seriously unproven in the Premier League). Even the blindest of fools can see we are clearly going to be signing at least one top level striker this summer, so the loss of Tevez isn't going to hit us as hard as you seems to be suggesting. Pellegrini may well not have Premier League experience, but neither did Laudrup last season, or Mourinho when he arrived at Chelsea, or Wenger at Arsenal, or Mancini at our place for that matter. Didn't seem to do any of them too much harm.
I'd say it will indeed be very close as to which club comes out on top come May........between City, United and Chelsea in a 3 horse race for the title. Spurs could have it in them to get past Arsenal for 4th, but that relies upon addressing some defensive issues, and revamping the forward line which is seriously weak by top level standards.
I can understand club bias, I too view my team through blue tinted specs at times, but there really needs to be a sense of reality to it all. Without the kind of investment that City and Chelsea have had it is pretty much impossble to jump from the level Spurs have been at for the past few seasons (in the 4th/5th/6th bracket, fighting for a Champion's League spot but not close to the title) to being a title contender, or winner for that matter.
Look at the facts, I know you enjoy those! The last 10 years, here's Spurs finishing position, and distance from the title.
2012-13 - 5th - 17 points adrift
2011-12 - 4th - 20 points adrift
2010-11 - 5th - 18 points adrift
2009-10 - 4th - 16 points adrift
2008-09 - 8th - 39 points adrift
2007-08 - 11th - 41 points adrift
2006-07 - 5th - 29 points adrift
2005-06 - 5th - 26 points adrift
2004-05 - 9th - 43 points adrift
2003-04 - 14th - 45 points adrift
So, in the last decade the closest Spurs have come to the title is 4th place, and even then they were 16 points behind the eventual winner. The last 4 seasons have seen Spurs plateau, and this is their current position too. You talk about the return of Kaboul and Sandro, and the addition of Paulinho, well those first two have been around for a couple of seasons, and made no real difference when compared to last season. Is Paulinho good? Yes. Is he going to make a huge difference? No. Like Fernandinho for us, he'll be a good addition, but he's not going to be a major impact player, it's not the role he plays. For Spurs to make the jump from 4th/5th and 15 to 20 points adrift of the title to being legitimate title contenders they need major squad changes, and a huge amount of money invested. That hasn't happened to date, and Levy doesn't seem they type (or for that matter have the funds) to spend the kind of money needed for such a meteoric, and rapid, improvement.
Spurs will finish in 4th or 5th place (alongside Arsenal) and will be 15 to 20 points behind whoever eventually wins the title. That's where they've been for 4 years and there's nothing to indicate this will change.
