The Athletic.

Good news, everyone. The sun is out. Outdoor socialising is back in England, and best of all, Tottenham aren't playing for two weeks. We're trying to make the most of this break by trying to get our heads out of the never-ending 2020-2020 season and looking ahead to next year. What will Spurs look like? Which of these players would you keep? Who would you sell to make money? And who would you have in charge? My name's Jack Pitbrook. You're listening to The View from the Lane podcast. I'm joined as always by James Moore and a special guest. The Rockback for WrestleMania. It's Charlie Eccleshare. Charlie, hey, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Yeah, great to have you back. How's. Are you missing covering Tottenham's slow descent down the league?

Because they were quite good when you were here and now they're rubbish.

Yeah, I've had quite a lot of messages about that that like it coincided, yeah, me going off and it all, I think just after I left was when they run in that really bad run of like four defeats in five. So, yeah, that was a bit strange. Although I don't think it's necessarily,

I think now it's kind of leveling off a bit and they're moving back up. I don't think it's a

totally lost cause. But it has. The form team in the Premier League. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I've always felt, even in that really bad period, that top four was still possible. I know I was really pushing top four in the first half of the season. But I have... You were pushing the title in the first half of the season, Charlie. And come back in now and pretend you were saying top four. And revise it. Yeah, I did think title was a possibility in those heady days of the city win, the Arsenal win. Yeah, I mean, when I went off, they can't have been more, that was what, early mid-January, there probably still weren't like miles off the title. But by that point, obviously, we'd accepted that that probably wasn't going to happen. But yeah, I've always, even since then, I've still thought top four, and I still

think top four now, I think, I think, I think Lester, I know it sounds weird because they've got quite a

buffer, but they've got, was it, Chelsea, Spurs, United to play, I think in the last three games.

And just given what happened last season, I do think maybe they might have a similar thing. So I don't think it's totally, totally out of reach. But yeah, it has been straight. I mean, yeah, some weird games in that period, obviously the Europa League exit kind of foremost among them. But yeah, who knows? I mean, now with not having to play that Thursday, Sunday routine, it might open it up a bit.

James, I take it you don't share Charlie's confidence about fourth?

The time of this podcast is totally different with Charlie, isn't it?

He's so positive.

For the last, like, three months, it's just been an unrelenting negativity for me in Jack and that.

The Pure Misery podcast.

Suddenly it's...

Oh, actually, Mariniino is not completely useless. So I might do all right.

My biggest concern is that Leicester have had this kind of run of matches where Madison and Barnes have been missing.

And they've still, I think it's taking sort of 10 points and four games and whatever it was.

And that was the point that I thought maybe they would sort of slip up a bit,

but actually they've sort of done quite well to manage their way through that little run.

And obviously the fact they've gone out of Europe as well, I think we'll probably work in their favour.

I mean, if spurs are sort of within touching distance while those last three games, then maybe. But I think they've got a lot of quite nice games between now and then Lester.

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