What a rollercoaster this season is. Two weeks ago Spurs were cruising after Arsenal get beaten by Brighton and Spurs were cruising into the Champions League. Now this has been turned on its head and Arsenal are now in 4th. Man United are gonzo after being beaten by Arsenal this weekend.
The draw to Brentford was disappointing as Spurs were poor but we got away with it a bit so it should have been a loss. Conte did come across as jovial in the press conference claiming a point away from home was a good result. However in my opinion Romero was the only player that could really hold his head up high against Brentford. We have no shots on target for two games now so hints of the start of the season under Nuno comes to mind. The play was pedestrian and every time we got the ball we seemed to slow the game down.
Sessegnon came into the game as the only change since the loss to Brighton. Whether it was Reguilion that was dropped or an injury remains to be seen but boy was he very poor. Royal was very poor as well so our link from defence to attack was the problem which meant Kane, Sonny and Dejan didn't get a sniff. It seemed like we were playing Brighton again at one stage. I was think that the Brighton game was a once off but it does not seem so. Both Arsenal and Spurs now have lost 11 matches which is the same amount as Brighton so both teams are not on fire. When I try to predict who we will win the games against I get it totally wrong. I was full sure we would have beat Brighton and bloody Brentford and lose to Liverpool but who knows now. I do not think it will come down to the Arsenal and Tottenham game. But our last two games are Norwich and Burnley so we have an easy two games at the end. A result against Arsenal would be unbelievable.
Now I won't get too negative as we had won 7 games before this and top 4 was never in our dreams until a few weeks ago. I still think it is Spurs's to throw away. If you now look at the remaining fixtures Arsenal have an easier run in. They face West Ham next week and West Ham have a big game this Thursday and have no Centre Halves and the only one not injured Dawson got bloody sent off against Chelski.
But they have us and if there was ever a game to win it is the north London derby. Arsenal have not played in the new stadium under a crowd so it will be interesting for them but Arsenal are starting to play and play well. Arteta is finally getting a tune out of them so I think this game is massive. The next three games are going to be very interesting.
My worry is that Spurs can only play one way now with Conte's system. He normally plays either a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3 . He can't play the lather because he doesn't have the midfielders so he is stuck with a 3-5-2. It doesn't take a master tactician to nullify the wing backs so I think this was a problem against Brighton especially.
With 5 games remaining this is all nail biting stuff. One of the Spurs fans on the main Spurs podcast mentions the Crazy Train. It's more of a crazy rollercoaster from hell. With reports from Paris saying that Conte is willing to listen to offer from Paris I am a little bit worried about him not being around next season. In my opinion I don't think Poch coming back would be a good thing but now that Man United went with Den Haag, this will be the option if Conte does decide to leave. But if I was Conte would I want to walk into the circus that is PSG who were booed by their fans after they won the Ligue 1 yesterday. Unbelievable stuff. The PSG ultras are still sore after their capitulation against, well, the King Benzema.
If Spurs make the Champions League then maybe him and KAne may stick around. It is hard to know right now. One thing for sure is we need a game with a shot on target.