Analysing Tottenham's 2016/17

On Wednesday, despite the Euros continuing, all our attention was back onto Spurs with the always highly anticipated release of the fixture list.

Article by Jason @e_spursthailand

It was a day for all the so-called ‘ITKs’ to prove their claims and outstanding knowledge that we would indeed kick off at home to Swansea, finish at home to Burnley and September would be our make or break month as we faced Chelsea away, Man United at home, and Liverpool at home.

As with all ITK stories, none of it was true. Instead, we open away to Everton, close away to Hull and the big month once again is November when our fixtures mirror last season, all 3 London derbies, in the same order, on the same weekends. The only difference is we travel to the War Zone rather than hosting Chelsea.

As always, the first part of the fixture list to concentrate on is the fixtures we play before the transfer window ends. We notoriously suffer in this period most seasons, and with an away day to Everton with their new manager and full of optimism, and a visit from Liverpool we’ll plat the 2 sides most likely to be targeting finishing above us. It is vital we don’t concede points to these clubs because we don’t have our squad in place. There is no excuse for Levy time this season, we have the guaranteed CL place in our favour, the extra TV revenue, and our chairman must be made aware that penny pinching at the expense of a settled season in this of all seasons would be madness.

We already face the prospect of several players returning late from the Euro’s and not being fully prepared, Son will be with the Olympic Squad and we need to be fully competitive and settled from Day 1.

That also relates to players we already have, extended and full contracts given to our key players. Dele Alli for instance must not be on his reported £25,000 a week and be the subject day in day out of reported bids from other clubs. Get him on the £80,000 a week he deserves, which even then is probably only half of what he can get elsewhere. Likewise, get Kane, Dier Jan, Eriksen, Hugo, Danny Rose and Lamela done and dusted. We are now a CL club, and we must reward the players that delivered it accordingly, or the vultures will circle.

The second part of the fixture list to concentrate on was the 6 fixtures immediately after our CL games. Leicester have all 6 at home, only one of which is against a top-4 chasing club. We have 4 away, and 4 against top-4 chasing clubs. They could not be harder. Man City at WHL after matchday 3, and then the horror, but exciting run of Leicester H, Matchday 4, Arsenal A, West Ham H, Matchday 5, Chelsea A. A run of 6 high intensity fixtures where squad rotation needs to be carefully managed, but no team fielded can concede quality. Dier, Dembele, Alli, Kane and Eriksen can not play all 6 fixtures!

The Chelsea fixture particularly at the very end of that run promises to be our match of the season. Danny Rose has already spoken of the rivalry, both sides will want to stand up as they did at the Bridge, both sides hell bent on laying a marker down, us desperate to end that hoodoo of 26 years, them determined to take our CL place away and show they are title contenders. They will also benefit from a full weeks preparation, we are bound to be against the highest seeded CL team in our group, bound to be away from home, bound to be on the Wednesday, not Tuesday, and the fixture I have no doubt will become the Sky Saturday lunchtime fixture. ‘Spursy’ at the highest level.

The run also ends with matchday 6, immediately followed by Man United away. This fixture can already be moved in your diaries to at least Sunday 11th December, as Man U will of course be in Europa action on the Thursday before.

The only good thing about playing those teams on the back of CL games is that 3 of them will also have been involved in Europe the same week. 2 of which will have played the day after us.

The next crucial part of the fixture list is the run of games away from European distractions and over the Christmas period, December through to February when CL (or maybe Europa by then) returns. Hull H, Burnley H, Southampton A (Boxing Day), Watford A (New Years Eve), Chelsea H (Jan 2, the 5-3 win an omen?), West Brom H, Man City A, Sunderland A, Middlesbrough H, Liverpool A. 24 points without distractions to play for, 16 points at least needed. This period also sees FA Cup Rounds 3 & 4, and the League Cup Semi-Finals. Let’s hope we are involved fully in at least 1 of the cup competitions.

The last stage of the fixture list is the run-in and once again, this is far from easy with many high profile fixtures described by the media as 6-pointers! And if of course we are still involved in European competition, we cannot be throwing away the competition as we did with Dortmund. Those last 6 weeks are CLQF1L, Bournemouth H, CLQF2L, FACSF, Leicester A, Woolwich H, CLSF1L, West Ham A, CLSF2L, Man United H, Hull A.

With Poch targeting the title, (and for me) the bare minimum of needing to stay inside the top-4, squad strengthening and rotation will be essential. That does not mean signing a better Mason, a better Chadli etc., it means signing the equivalent of Toby, Dembele, Dier, Alli, Kane & Eriksen, so that when these players are missing or in need of rotating, there is no drop off at all in the quality and performance of the team. It could be a very expensive summer, both in transfer fees and wages! The exact opposite of how our chairman normally operates. But, if we want to stay in the elite group, we have to act as one and reward players accordingly. There will be no shortage of CL club offers to players we try to sign, and want to retain.

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