Next time. Maybe.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 10:13PM Total football and the deafening noise from the Kop defeated us this evening. Back in our box we go. That was dogshit. This is one DVD the club has to commission, not for the Spurs Shop but for our inept players. That's if the club can find them to hand over the match highlights, considering a few went missing tonight.
This was proper eunuch running around in a brothel football. Plenty of movement but not where it matters. The limp lilywhite curse strikes again. Make it 66 games without victory away to a Top 4 club. Even if this particular club was meant to be struggling and without confidence. We simply failed to take the initiative, never recovering from that early sucker-punch of a goal. It wasn't something that surprised me.
Tactically, not good enough. Over to you Harry for that. Did I spot some hoofing out there? Also not enough leadership and not a whimper of the scruff-of-the-neck determination required to change the tempo of the game to suit us. Sure, we had plenty of possession, but the lot of it was powder-puff in the final third. Liverpool had the better efforts. That just about sums it up.
This isn't a knee-jerk by the way. I said in my match preview that this game would not define anything in the long run, although based on the performance its probably telling us we most definitely lack that extra bit of class. Which we know already. When we lose Lennon as an outlet we weaken far too much. Its tragic how we simply fail to adapt. Shame we don't have another right-winger who can came in and do a job for us.
And if we have aspirations we have to adapt. Yes, it's one game, but the only statement we made out there tonight was taken from the usual script and we did nothing to prove to anyone (the players proving it to themselves) that they want to step up a level.
Mental strength. Where art thou.
As mentioned, too many of our 'key' players on the pitch failed to turn up. Not sure I understood the logic behind the subs tonight either.
Overall disappointing. Wasteful. I laughed at the Defoe goal being disallowed. The agenda is alive and well there. The penalty, no complaints. Webb would have collapsed and fainted had he not been given the chance to point to the spot at least once in the course of the game.
We are lacking edge. We sort of know it deep down but go along for the ride and hope they surprise us. But until we get hold of someone in midfield who can push forward and dominate in offensive positions I think we'll continue to flirt with 4th spot but never quite pull her panties down.
It's getting boring now, all the epic fails and facepalms away from home. It was a good opportunity to get something out of this game. Nut sadly, not enough craft, guile or belief.
Onwards. Dirty Leeds up next, then Fulham at home.
Heads up, plenty more twists to come.
Reader Comments (90)
YES! YES!YES! after 4 -5 yrs i believe this is the season mighty arsenal would finish where they belong which is top of the premier league baby!, and with all hatred aside i would love spurs to finish in top 4 given we win the league, how many of u spurs fan will accept arsenal winning league if spurs finish in top 4.
next 4 games will tell ya how far from 1st you are
A view from a Spurs fan in Singapore. First timer, so please be gentle.
Saw the entire match very painfully here (from 4am to 6am) so need to vent some frustration.
Webb was also part of the problem. He seems to be, what we refer to here, on the "wrong ball". He's assertive and firm, but makes wrong decisions, and insists that he is not wrong. Perhaps we need to make friends with him
These views below are directed to anyone from the club in a position of authority.
We need to build up our mental strength for "big 4" games. If Wolves and Stoke can come to WHL and shatter decades old winless streaks, then I would like to see us shatter decades old winless streaks against Man U and especially L'Arse. Learn from these games, park the bus, compete for every ball.
Please get rid of "headless chicken" Jenas and I would like us to try out Rose and Naughton. What's the harm?
One major annoyance is that HR likes to disrupt a winning momentum. If I recall correctly, our defeats to Stoke, Wolves and failure to break down Hull was because we started with RK, even though we had a winning combination the week before. This tactic I do not understand.
ITS OUR BEST CHANCE EVER to get into the Champions League, so go for it!
Unfortunately we are CURRENTLY an average team with the most average manager available. Whenever he is challenged by any other manager with a bit of experience and pedigree...he crumbles like a cookie. I have absolutely no faith in Redknapp favourites Crouch, Keane and Jenas and I believe Harry's picking of petty fights with the likes of Pav, Gio and Bentley has really really cost the Tottenham faithful dearly. Its sad that he doesn't look out for the interests of the greater good (the stakeholders: Fans, Shareholders, Club) but choses instead to cater to his own ego. Really sad indeed. I think we will be seventh( 7th) this season.
On a positive note... I really really love what Gareth Bale is trying to do. The boy is working so hard to improve his game and he has all my support. I don't care if he's jinxed, I'm willing to wait till he gets it right because, in as far as we have the likes of Keane and Crouch in the squad, Gareth will always deserve a chance. Thanks boy.
If that fuckface Howard Webb comes to my country to do the world cup I am going to throw a piece of shit in his face
We went missing, far too many of our players just did not give a toss. I think I saw modric just walking around on more than one occasional. Best player for me tonight in a white shirt was bale, he chased and ran all night, if only the boys in the middle done the same we might have won more battles.
Yes the game might have changed had webb not been such a cunt, and actually understood the game he referees but lets not blame him for this, we did not create any shots on goal.
In terms of harry subs, I actually thought the hutton one was a good move, as he gave us some pace down the right.
All in all, it ain't the end of the world, liverpool will slip up again this year so we are still in there....unfortunately we are not in there fighting, we need to start fighting for these games.
Good time for a cup match at home in my opinion.
COYS.
the truth as i see it.attack lightweight(bring on kenwyne)hutton would do a far better job then jenas in midfield.bale has been taught how to defend.did we deserve to win ,no way jose.with 3 of their best players out they were far to strong for us.our position in league is false.we are top half team,but not top 4 ,were not good enough.bassong is still in the learning mode.saw robbie run on the field(was the last time i saw him).marks out of 10.6only.i make leeds favourite on this showing.we have got better,but cant cut it with the top teams.
As a foreign follower of EPL (not a fan) I must just say that as the season progresses, Redknapp weaker points take hold. This is a manager unable to trust "new players". His point of reference are: players he knows from previous teams, players he bought and Croats. That is leaving him with very few choices, and limiting the range of tactical moves. In a nutshell, HR is thinking about his past, not Spurs' present or future.
One simple example about the way Spurs is managed would be to compare Carlos Vela to Dos Santos. I know that comparisons to Arsenal are not popular, yet it shows the way two managers approach their job. These are two very similar players, strikers/wingers who can play on right, or left. Yet Wegner is slowly truning Vela into a top class player, while Redknapp is unable to go beyond "Croats come first". Without Lennon, and Dos Santos on the bench, it seemed to me that there was a need for a winger with pace who could go into the box, or present a threat of a midrange shot.
If all Harry can do when we chase a game is to bring on Hutton and Keane, I despair. Why was Bassong dropped for Ledley after our good defensive run of late? It meant we brought on TWO defenders when we were a goal behind. Does not make sense.
They wanted it more than we did.... Yes the ref is a total cunt and yes we cudve won that game but in all fairness we deserved FUCK ALL. Without Lennon we have nothing, it was exactly the same against hull on saturday, we are totally cluesless without him. Modric isnt fit, palacios for me has looked rubbish for ages, even in the man city game where their midfield was non existent he still made so many mistakes, this is not good enough. Jenas - a clueless bottler, Bale - just not good enough, Corluka is our WORST player and has been for a while. Bad first touch, shit positional play, gives the ball away constantly and has zero pace... Hutton needs to play. How does Crouch get beaten in the air 8 times of 10?? Poor lays off and no real direction in his play,not good enough.
We neeed to buy a speedy left winger to provide us with more options moving forward, a strong ball player in midfielder, a centre back (not kaboul) a young left back in the Kyle Naughton mould and a striker with something to prove. RVN or KH would be fine on loan.
Not a happy YIDO this morning!!!! xx
Nuetral. Dos Santos allegedly has an issue around 'training' and the 'london life', nothing to do with the managers ability, just the individual nature of two different people.
But there is a valid point in all of this questioning 'why do this, play him, etc' it's bacause harry probably honestly beleives he's doing the right thing. As the perenial voice of doom when others were going spastic at our elevated status, I've always beleived that we don't have many 'exceptional' players week in - week out. Krancjar has been brilliant recently, but hs faded somewhat (maybe we should get him on a programme of Ephadrine?). and many others have shone and faded in equal measure (Mod at the beginning of the season). The only exception in fact is Lennon.
I am not surprised by this as it is down to our starting point, bottom of the league early on last year, to 4th place so far this season. Too much too soon, with too little improvement overall in the squad for me says under-performance followed by overperformance.
As for the Webb issue, Ok he got it wrong, twice, but to be honest Liverpool probably deserved their win on balance, whether we like it or not. Which is more than I can say for our erstwhile cheating neighbours! But I'll let the bolton fans deal with them, they can more than handle that I'm sure.
It appears everyone has a lot to say about this - so here is my two cents......
Width! We have none when lennon isn't in the team. Modric is not a winger and drifts inside far too often looking for the ball. Krancjar does the same. This leaves our wing-backs with no cover and few options when under pressure. It also means we have to try and play through teams. When teams aren't giving us time on the ball, we just aren't good enough to pass through them.
Partnerships! The Defensive partnership of Bassong and Dawson shouldn't have been broken up last night. They clearly have an understanding after playing together for straight matches, doing bloody well too. Last night we experienced what happens when you have a player like king that "when fit" can't be dropped. Its detrimental to the team. We already had a make-shift partnership in the center of midfield, breaking up the defensive one was just plain stupid. Once the goal went in Dawson looked shaky and I put that down to the partnership he wasn't used to.
Referee! What a f***ing t*** pot! Blatant goal, refused a decent penalty shout and basically ruined the game......again. Oh heaven forbid that we should beat a "top 4" (I hate that expression btw, I hate "big 4" even more) team live on sky. I'm not going to waste any more space on him, he does that very well on his own.
Fight! We had none. I hate to say it but you look over the road at the emirates and although they were 2-0 down they got back into it. Its safe to say they have much better players than us. The ones that can break a team down. Whereas we run out of ideas. We need more skillful players on the ball who make their own space. AND FOR CHRIST SAKE WILL SOMEONE GIVE THE PLAYER WITH THE BALL SOME OPTIONS!!!! No one was making runs!
Robbie Keane! Actually thought he didn't do too badly when brought on last night, he played better than most of the rest of the team anyways. I hope he don't go west ham. That'd suck!
Substitutions! I sort of understood the Corluka - Hutton swap, because we had no width and harry didn't want to take krancjar and modric off. It was an attacking sub. King - Bassong, I can only assume was down to an injury? Krancjar for keane, wasn't a bad sub as krancjar wasn't really doing much and I believe robbie did better with link up play and energy levels. However, having said that, I would have liked to have seen rose and gio given a go on the wings as they would have given us the width and attacking prowess we so desperately needed. Options if you like.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that (not an over reaction) we are definitely not going to make CL for next season. We have far too much strengthening to do all over the pitch.
Shopping list:
Permanent King replacement
Commanding Captain CM
A world class alternative to crouch
A proper left winger that stays on the line.
(So basically a spine + a left winger)
Oh and 2-0 was very flattering on Liverpool I think a draw would have been a fair result.
Modric and Krank in the same team (as brilliant as they both are), doesn't work in premiership football. They do well in the same international team because of the lower intensity. We loose width when they both play on the wings, and didn't have a natural outlet.
Think Jenas looked so bad just because it was congested there, al;though I agree he will never really be good enough for us long term.
Should have played bale on the left and bassong left back surely, or even start Rose. Don't think Harry rates Dos Santos too much.
Also agree with the comments above about bringing on Bassong for King with ten mins to go, especailly since he didn't even have his shorts on.
Let's no knee jerk too much though. We are still 4th and have a chance to still be there at the end of the season, I know it's a shame, but let's get back behind the team. COYS.
howard webb - embarrassing
spurs performance - embarrassing
andy gray and the sky sports cartel - embarrassing
Good points:
Bale tried hard, made some good play, but still nowhere near the finished article.
Gomes played decently, still makes me nervous though.
Hutton put it about when he came on, great tussle with mascherano.
Bad points:
It seems as though Crouch and Defoe have never met each other, they seem to play about 40 miles apart.
Clearly we just don't have any bottle. We are aiming for this nadir of CL football, but its going to be a massive disappointment when we go out at the first stage away at some Hungarian semi-pro team as we cant seem to hack pressure games.
I thought someone had been sent off in the last 20 minutes until someone pointed out we had actually subbed Keane on.
Our subs = 2 defenders and the ghost of Keane past when 1-0 down. Their subs = 3 attacking players when 1-0 up... (more or less). What is Harry doing?!
Jenas - tried hard but ultimately failed. He is officially Bruce from Family Guy.
Clearly we have no width until Lennon comes back.
Ledley... sometimes you just have to take that beloved old family pet to the vets to be put to sleep....
Howard Web... any time a red player fell to the floor = freekick. I wont rehash what everyone else has already written but disallowed goal, 2 clear pens, their pen was questionable, they didn't return the ball to us when degen went down which lead to their pen... what is the point?!
I don't feel angry or disappointed, its just what I expected to happy. We'll now lose to Leeds on sat and that will be the 09/10 season over. Play Bale every game until the end of the season to try to break the curse.
We'll beat Leeds.
I know it's a crushing disappointment, yet another in a long list of crushing disappointments, but at least we have a reality check. Yes we're still 4th, but we're far from a shoo-in, and of that there can be no doubt. We're clear now on where we stand. It's worrying that without Lennon we have no penetration. If we're truly a one-trick pony then the CL is a distant dream. Our crocked defensive pairing is a serious problem needing some ballsy decisions. If after losing Hudd our Plan B is Jenas then our midfield is woefully lightweight on options. If we don't get that sorted then it doesn't matter whether RVN is up front or not.
Leaving aside Webb who was never going to give us anything, we simply never matched their appetite. Liverpool played as if their season / careers depended on it. Did you see one of our players put in a shift to match Kyte or carracher?
Thought Bale did good amd Hutton looked the part when he came on.
Tricky: "Dos Santos allegedly has an issue around 'training' and the 'london life'.....where do you get your information from? I understand that the entire team, MINUS Dos Santos, held a clandestine Xmas party, what exactly happened to them?
Yor fail to see the real issue. Redknapp thinks first about Rednkapp, of what he likes and dislikes, and not about the team he manages. Why aren't Pav and Dos Santos playing? because if they play well, it would mean that Harry Redknapp was wrong all along...and that for Harry Redknapp is simply unthinkable. You may call it the "Bent syndrome", or you may ask Sunderland fans about it. Spurs with Bent would be a much effective team than Spurs with Keane. or Crouch. If there is an attitude problem it's the manager's.
A disappointing result.
Where was Hudd today? I feel that his presence in the middle was sorely missed. Jenas has an engine but no brain for CM...call tommy slow but at least he's got a brain and good range and knows how to set the table. For god sakes breaking apart dawson and bassong was stupid. We miss lennons width a lot too. Jenas must go. Hudd starts no matter what for me now in CM. Bassong and dawson start for good now too. Need to let gio get a run can't play krank and mods together...poor game...we sorely missed hudd in the middle...his vision makes us tick....palacios and jenas got no head for offensive tactics whatsoever and they can't dribble or pass at all....give me hudd everytime...probably can't get a player with a abetter rep than him til we break top 4...
Can't believe no one has mentioned how utterly pants Palacios was last night. Couldn't win a tackle and gave the ball away so many times I lost count. I hate to say it but Rafa got the tactics spot on last night. 5 man midfield strangled our play and made the game incredibly poor and bitty. It was 75 minutes of average football from both sids bookended by a a goal and a few chances for liverpool.
Howard Webb is a massive cunt and it's just so depressingly predictable that he fucked us over. Some of his decisions elsewhere were woeful. He didn't book mascherano and Defoe for dangerous late tackles but booked Jenas for a mistimed but fair attemopt at the ball and bale for CHALLENGING FOR A HEADER FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!! Disappointing overall but losing this game wouldn't have been worth shit if we'd had the testes to beat stoke, wolves and hull and held onto that lead at goodison. It would be us at the top of the league and not those dirty, cheating, classless oreign cunts from up the road.
oh yeah. and to make things even more frstrating I lost about 8 games of pro evo to my cocky little shit of a best mate after the game. I'm not sure what I'm more angry about to be honest.
I was disappointed with Harry's "hey ho" post match interview. I'd have been fuming at such a good opportunity lost and so many poor performances. It was telling that he mentioned it as a good opportunity to see who could handle the big pressure games and who couldn't. The answer was probably most of them.
Some good, some frankly bizzare comments here. To the person who thinks Corluka is our worst player- do yourself a favour and at least try to mask your complete ignorance with silence.
The main problem last night was that Defoe played like he didn't care. He was like Berbatov in his end days. There were 3 or 4 instances in the second half where he actually RAN AWAY FROM THE BALL! You can blame Crouch for our poornes up front, but the truth is Defoe barely tried to reach any of his knock ons. I hate to say it, but Defoe has decided he's too good for us and will be angling for a move to one of the 'big 4 plus man city' in the Summer. I thought his performance was an insult. He Gave up!
Kranjcar was very poor also. Got brushed off the ball so easily, so many times. Modric at least beat a few people and played a couple of killler passes. JJ was JJ, all engine and no clue what to do with it. Also, for all the goodwill Dawson has had recently, there is no way he is a better player than Bassong (despite his error). Dawson make 3 absolutely gaping errors last night, one of which led to a goal, and 2 of which should have been goals. He will never be a top class centre back. Sorry to all his fanboys out there.
It would have made far more sense, with no lennon, to drop niko and play Modric in a hole position, 3 across the centre mid, and width from the FBs. As it was, Kranjcar was crap.
I think the main problem with the team is that certain players are regarded by Redknapp to be a lot better than they are. For example, I mentioned Defoe was looking like he thought he was getting too big for us, stropping all over the shop. Well let me tell you there is no way any of the top 4 managers would buy him, because he does nothing when not scoring. Remember what happened to Van Nistelrooy at Man U? I fear that Defoes performancces at the start of the season were another false dawn as really he is still the same lazy selish player he has always been. The less said about Keane and JJ the better. Good enough for mid table mediocrity, but not for a serious challenge to the top 4. Keane is not a realistic option to change a game when he comes on, or to score when starting.
I would give Crouch credit as he at least always give it his all, and with more service and a less catatonic strike partner he would have looked more effective. Palacious was really good, made JJ look like he was heavily sedated. Also JJ had his usuall problem of totally freezing whenever in a decent position. he has the vision of stevie wonder. Bale was OK, King and Gomes excellent, Dawson ok apart from the fact that it was more or less his stupid error that cost us the game. Basically it was a game where we learned more about the team and the players than perhaps we knew before. We saw which players were really game for a scrap, and which ones are fair weather players.
To recap, the main dissappointment was defoe. Less than anonymos, and a perfect advert for why a top 4 side will never buy him. You cant just stand around goal hanging, waiting for chances to be laid on a plate for you, and then strop like a child when it doesnt happen. We need at least one striker
chrisman. palacios was not really good last night. He was fucking shit. Don't know if this is the JJ effect but he was shit. Agree with you on defoe though. I think teams have worked him out by looking at his quiet games. Centrebacks seem to be getting so tight on him at the moment and his inability to spot a pass or play it off first time means he is getting smothered. He's a great finisher but needs to add passing to his game. Just saw a cracking email which actually sums up exactly how i felt last night when I was in a funk. Will post it in a sec
This was written on a forum by a disgruntled QPR fan.............................
I take more pleasure in seeing Chelsea lose than I do in seeing QPR win
at the moment.
I sat through so many matches when we were absolute dog$$$$$$ under the
likes of Ray Harford and with people like Paul Bruce, Matthew Brazier
and Mark Perry in the squad and I never felt like this.
The club isn't ours anymore but moreso than that - football is just
properly gash these days.
I mean really gash.
football generally.
I hate nearly everything about it these days....
I hate the Prem and the myth that it is exciting this year. Man City
breaking into the top four isn't exciting. They spent loads of money.
It's no more exciting that Nameless C*** getting to number 1 in the
charts after winning the X-Factor.
I hate the myth of Arsene's kids. Buying some French kid when he's 17,
playing him in the League Cup and then selling him when he's 20 after
about 3 appearances in the league is NOTHING SPECIAL.
I hate hearing about Liverpool/Man Utd's debt but nothing ever happening
about it. A club needs to go to the wall for the money thing to change
but it doesn't happen. Why the **** are Charlton, Leeds and Southampton
still in business?
I hate Frank Lampard's stupid $$$$g face. I hate that Joe Cole's tongue
is never in his mouth, the ******* ******. I hate John Terry being
England captain when he's CLEARLY AN OAF.
I hate the England team.
I hate young exciting wingers who have nothing but pace. Tony Scully had
nothing but pace.
I hate the FA Cup. There may be little shocks like last night but for
the most part you know who's going to win it. Unless a team throws away
all their financial security to win it a la Pompey.
I hate Harry $$$$g Redknapp. And Jamie Redknapp. And Louise Redknapp.
And the Wii.
I hate James Nesbitt, Eammon Holmes and $$$$$$$ing everyone.
I hate Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer.
I hate Garth Crooks.
I hate Garth Brooks for that matter.
I hate Sky Sports.
I hate that when a lower league player beats 10 players and chips the
keeper it doesn't matter but if Rooney scores from more than 20 yards
it's amazing.
I hate that everything football related has to have 'Club Foot' playing
behind it.
I hate that female sports journos are now mandatory.
I hate any advert that portrays football to be about anything other than
pain and disappointment.
I hate any advert that mentions pies at football.
I hate Lee Hughes and the fact that he makes a living from the game. I
hate Marlon King and any team that signs him when he gets out. I hate
that it'll probably be us.
I hate Phil Brown.
I hate 'well the ball is a lot lighter now and will cause goalkeepers
real problems this summer' before EVERY $$$$G TOURNAMENT.
I hate that Kieron Dyer earned more in the time I took to write this
post than I'll earn this month.
I hate Adrian Durham, Ian Wright and Alan Brazil.
I hate Gazza. Either die or shut up. Stop $$$$g lingering.
I hate hearing about Hillsborough more than I hear about Heysel or Bradford.
I hate that a comeback from 4-0 down at half time (TWICE) means nothing
because we aren't $$$$g scouse.
I hate Leeds.
I hate Roy Keane.
I hate grown men wearing football shirts of their team whilst shopping
on a saturday when their team is playing at home.
I hate that I don't hate Roy Hodgson.
I hate Jermaine Beckford and any player who has neck tattoos.
I hate songs being inappropriately taken as club anthems and then sung
in a manly way. 'I'm forever blowing bubbles....'. Gaylords.
I hate Danny Dyer and anyone he's ever interviewed.
I hate the book 'Cass' by Cass Pennant. It is honestly the stupidest
thing I've ever read. Chapter 1: Millwall. 'Yeah we took 50 to Millwall.
They had 1000 in their mob but we ran 'em up and down the street'.
Chapter 2: Liverpool. 'Yeah we took 50 to Liverpool. They had 2000 in
their mob but we ran 'em up and down the street'. Fk me... Jade Goody's
autobiography is probably better. Even her non-ghost written one.
I hate that all good youngsters end their careers at Spurs before they
start.
well if palacios was 'fucking shit' then what words would you use to describe Jenas? Not really leaving yourself much room for manouvre. Palacios was in my opinion one of the few players who acquitted himself with and dignity as he attempted to match Liverpools work rate in the midfield. I'm judging him in comparison to the rest of the team.
this is quickly becoming a blog filled with bloggers ...
no wait , i should write
I hate that this is quickly becoming a blog filled with posts that read as new blogs
the QPR fan hexed me
chrisman - even fucking worse.
I don't like knocking our players. I really dont. But for all his effort we are not seeing the same wilson we saw in the second half of last season. I'm sure he has is reasons and I would never get on his back in a game situation. But my opinion is that last night he did a poor job.
If you don't believe me just watch him ambling back during the build up the liverpool's first goal. He didn't anticiapate it at all. Isn't it his job to support the defence?
Thanks for that FoxMulder. I would only add to that list that: I hate ROBBIE Keane
well yes it is, but he can't of expected Dawson to simutaneously lose the power of his legs AND forget how to make a tackle. The ball was totally routine for Dawson to defend it. Wilson was probably in the position he was expecting to collect Dawsons clearing header. You can't blame a player for not anticipating one of his teammates awful, unexpected errors. Yeah its his job to supprt the defence but come on, when you have a midfield with modric, niko and JJ, i think wilson had more than enough on his plate there!
I know palacis has been poor this season, but I thought yesterday was one of his better games, considering he was up against lucas, aquilani and the mashman in centre midfield, and didnt get totally overrun. Ok, just imagine how crap we would have been WITHOUT him yesterday!! I cant be arsed to drag up the opta stats but im willing to bet they say he was one of the best for us yesterday in term of tackles and passes made
despite the unfairness of a valid goal disallowed and crouchy's should-have-been spot kick, the problem was tactics.
they packed the midfield: everytime our croats got on the ball about 3 liverpool players bundled them off. the same happened vs united; west ham tried it, but then our quality saw us through.
IF a decent team packs the midfield and plays dirty, spurs crumble- thats the truth.
harry must change the formation- 4-4-2- ain't working. lets work out a way to accomodate krancjar, modric, crouchy, defoe, (and lenon when back) into an attacking shape up the field
I'm so pissed off about last night that I'm not gonna say anything about it!!
Except...I loved the QPR email/blog. I empathise/sympathise and mostly agree with most of it.
I hate Leeds as well.
I also loved the QPR bloke's rant, cheered me up no-end.
Especially "I hate grown men wearing football shirts of their team whilst shopping on a saturday when their team is playing at home."
I've noticed this many a time, mainly in Islington and they're red shirts.
Well done Fox.
Put simply they needed/wanted to win more than we did which is a pathetic reflection on our team when you consider what was is at stake and the fact that we have achieved nothing. We always seem to be talking about needing to react/bounce back in the next game but we seriously lack the mental courage to turn a game around.
SO FRUSTRATED!!!!!!
Carragher was running around kicking anything that moved and our team needs to quickly realise that you have to earn the right to play. I would be surprised if our midfielders pass completion rate was above 50%. I have not seen Moddle play as bad as that and Jenas looked scared. Having watched Liverpool's battling performance at Stoke HR should have realised the game was more for the O'Hara's than Nico's.
SO FRUSTRATED!!!!!
Could not believe the team that was put out (breaking up a back 4 that hasn't conceded), zero width and surely play Keane who has a point to prove to Rafa?? I also think that HR needs to consider sacrificing some of the attacking open play against the top4 (certainly away) as we make ourselves easy to pick off.
SO FRUSTRATED!!!!
Why not bring Pav or Gio on instead of Bassong we were so predictable in the last 10 minutes and needed to make something happen and why the fuck didn't he have shorts on ready to come on - THICK MUG!
DID I MENTION I AM FRUSTRATED!!!
looking at the game objectively, it was very even up till 70 minutes. This wasnt bad considering how up for it liverpool were. Ignoring Dawson's error, there was an error in selection by Redknapp (he's not Harry now). The error was to bring in Modric in the place of Lennon. In hindsight, it would have been much more effective to put Modric on the left and even Hutton on the right, as the CMs clearly needed help and the midfield needed balance. It was a tactical error to put 2 non wingers, who both like to cut in, out wide. Like the game on Saturday it shows you cannot have Modric and Niko shoved into the same team in those positions.
I speculated before the game that playing a 5 man midfield would be a good option. However, looking at our forwards, its just not possible. Defoe, the one who can score, cannot hold the ball up at all, and Crouch, the one who can hold it up, can't score (or run). If we believe the rumours regarding Carew, he would have been ideal in that role. Ok, he's not prolific, but man can he run and hold it up. Because we have very infexible forwards, it means we are limited in how many we can play in midfiled ie we cant play 5 as both of our strikers need to have someone else up there with them! It would seem to be a good shout in future, especially away, to have lenny out right, modric in his natural left sided but joining the 2 CMs role, and Kranjcar in a freerer, more advanced role, but also adding a body in the middle. Ok its not the most combative midfielde, but by weight of numbers you make your midfeild stronger. Also, more importantly, you are accomodating your best players in a way that is not at all forced or contrived.
Harry seems obsessed with this 2 man front line, when in fact a vast majority of the top teams have one up front with lots of support from deep. We are handicapped, however, but the fact that our best (?) striker simply cannot play up front on his own. A bit of a dilema there. Actually, a flippin huge one, since I doubt very much whether Crouch could do it, and keane certainly couldnt. We need aJohn Carew/Dwight Howard type up there, to fight, battle and allow the better players supporting him to influence things. BTW I really have never rated Carew, but I do appreciate what players like him and Heskie bring to the table. It's not so much what they do, its what they allow others to do.
When Modric, Kranjcar, Lennon, Defoe, Keane and Crouch are all fit, we have to ask, who are we going to play? You can only play a maximum of 4 of those (and I hope all those clamouring for Modric in centre midfield are reconsidering after yesterday), so who do we play? Who are the best players? Who do yo u leave out? It would be a shame if it HAD to be one of the midfielders purely because none of the strikers could play on their own.....
If someone offers 15-20 mil for Defoe this summer, take it. And dont buy him back 6 months later!!!
1,...if the opposition are closing our pasing game down by putting three players on a midfield player
work the way to cut through etc...wingers overlaps etc...
2, if the ball is passed to a forward at shoulder height IT IS PROBABLY going to give posession away
3,the movement ahead of play crucial to create space....
4,dont replace a strong player with a physicaly weaker player in midfield......keane from niko
5,dont play returning players who are under par in sharpness of movement..in unless have to......modric
6,shape to be kept in balance etc.........reduce risk players in defence issues.........in the real sense before the game
(was king unable to continue playing?)
7, videoanalyse the reasons for losing against the top sides to set a game play to reduce point loss.....
to summarise.............if we mean to aim high.......the players have to sort out various aspects......
and not be underperforming against the top teams......and allowing teams to shut our shop...hulls wolves etc
i will not slag anyone off .........but we should have beaten this liverpool...........
rolled the sleeves up and got stuck in........
in the period of domination ....they wasted time and we allowed it.....
keep the bloody ball untill the pressure rebuilds
edge of the box pressure .....
I think our best player was Dirk Kuyt. Had he converted half of his chances it would have been a wiganesque scoreline.
You could argue that the Sky 4 get a free pass on fouls and are allowed to kick seven shades of shit out of our players before the referee hints at some misdomeanour. Or like others had said we bottled it and were just lazy. Bit of both really.
One image I can't get out of my mind is the ball going out of play, Jenas going to get it and staying off the pitch & out of position whilst play resumed for what seem like ages.