Slaven Bilic readily admits that we are heading for a “nervy” 90 minutes” against Spurs on Friday night and adds: ” “We are playing, for me, against the best team in the league.”
But he added: “Hopefully I’m going to enjoy it, but it’s going to be a very nervous game. We will have to be on top of our game, defending even better than we did at Stoke, and taking our chances and scoring the goals.
But we did it last year, beating them at home, when they were also on fire.”
“That game is always big, it’s a derby, and it can’t be just an ordinary game – add to that that it’s Friday night and they need points to stay in the race for the Premier League, and we need points to climb or to make us safe, it makes it even bigger.
“We’re going to approach it in a very positive way, four games unbeaten, with three clean sheets in the last four games and knowing we are playing, for me, against the best team in the league.
He is hoping and praying that Andy Carroll will be available saying: “I will be very disappointed if he is not involved It looked like he would be 50-50 for the Everton game so hopefully he’s going to make it to be involved against Tottenham.
“He won’t be available for 90 minutes, but you don’t need to play the whole game to be effective, like Stoke put Peter Crouch on for 20 minutes on Saturday. You want to have him at least on the bench, because it gives a lift to the team as we are lacking goals.
“Everything else I am happy with. We are defending good, we have a good shape and everything, never losing composure, good on the ball, but there we are.
“I know that Andy is not injured because he is not professional. That script is not the case. I know that Andy is very settled down, very up for training and looking after his body and it looked, at one stage of the season, that he would be OK and all that.
“It’s not coincidence that during that period we won six out of nine, then suddenly we are without him.”
O no if we are depending on the China doll then we have no chance also a bit disrespectful to all the other players who have had to play for most of the season & have not had a 3 week break after playing a couple of games, surely Fletcher should’ be given a chance since Calleri has now shown he is not good enough for up this league
The sad fact is we have depended on him most of the time since he arrived. Which helps to explain why we have not progressed. For Bilic to say that we won6 out of 9 with him then suddenly we haven’t got him -as if AC getting injured was some sort of surprise… Well it doesn’t help the case for Bilic to stay. It has been obvious for several seasons that we have had better results when he played but that he was never going to play enough. What do the club do? Find decent back up? No, let’s try hoping he is fitter next season. Or the one after that. Now we end up scrabbling for points & hoping somebody will beat Hull or Swansea for us.
Definitely agree. that if Sakho is out that Fletcher must be given a chance to shine, Callieri is not strong enough for the PL. He does show glimmers of sjkill but he lacks any confidence or courage to take people on. Fletcher has good feet and has height and I feel for him this season as he has never really had a proper go at it whilst Slav has persevered with Zaza and then Callieri.
I also hope that Masuaka gets the left back gig again as he was one of our best v Stoke yet strangely in the press I saw scores of 5.5 for him ??
Finally I wonder why the club give chapter and verse on our players’ status like saying AC would not be able to complete 90 minutes- why tell the opposition anything – keep em guessing.
Let’s just hope all our wishes come true and we cause an upset –
COYI