Friday, August 6, 2010

Spurs are on their way to Switzerland!

So we finally know who the fourth place team from England will be meeting to qualify for the Champions League group stages. Tottenham Hotspur will face Young Boys in the qualifying playoff and us Spurs fans are quite happy. Not only was the general opinion that Young Boys were the weakest team in the draw, I was quick to point out that it will be a less taxing journey travel wise. We managed to avoid having to travel all the way to the Ukraine and managed to avoid tough teams like Werder Bremen and Sampdoria. So what does this mean for the start of our season? It means that we can focus hard on Man City in our first league match and we should be able to handle them again as they are not gelling yet. If we can win that game, it sets up a great confidence to take to Bern to take on the Young Boys, and sets up well if we can do well in both games to go into the second match against Stoke City who has been a bit of a bogey team for us. Then we could enter the second leg at home in good nick then get Wigan after. So, I think it safe to say, we couldn't ask for a much better set of fixtures, only leaving us to do our business and win games.

What chance do we have to get through to the CL draw? And where should we be in the beginning of the Premier League season?

Ideally, we should make it to the group stage. Young Boys are a good team. These things are true, but with a fit first team and a good bit of depth, we should be able to do the business as we did against Benfica in a friendly. I feel like it would be a crushing result if we lose, but I don't think the Swiss team will turn us over despite beating Fenerbache.

As for the beginning of the league campaign, I would be surprised and disappointed if we can't say at the end of September that we won six game out of Six. Man City, Stoke, Wigan, West Brom, Wolves and West Ham are games which are very winnable games. If we can't manage atleast sixteen points in those fixtures we may be looking at a tough season. We need to hit the ground running this season to protect our position in the Champions League which we need.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect amazing things from this club this season, but I do qualify that with the reminder that we are often an unlucky team who can shoot ourselves in the foot regularly. However, the year ends in one and we could also see Spurs win the Treble. Who knows? But, Come on you Spurs!

No comments:

Post a Comment