How to lose points and ailenate fourth spot
Monday, November 8, 2010 at 12:22PM Bolton 4 Spurs 2
My initial gut reaction to Saturdays could not be arsed performance in the majesty of the cathedral of football (the Reebok Stadium) was simply this: Harry Redknapp…why?
I appreciate that we shall never defeat the conspiracy (oh look another early Saturday kick-off straight after a Champions League game) but that was no excuse to just shrug at the prospect of perhaps claiming something tangible up at Bolton, were historically we get as much action as Cliff Richard. So no shocker, cometh the final whistle. No celebrations either, just footballing celibacy. Our players displaying the type of effort you'd expect from a walk on a beach mid summer holiday.
Should my knees begin to jerk ever so slightly? Or should I continue to whistle a gleeful tune and dance nervously holding up a sign that reads 'The End is not Nigh, So Stop Fretting'. Am I ignoring the evidence of domestic degradation of consistent form and backbone? Do I rely too much on the varied weaknesses that are displayed by opposing (rival) sides with each passing week as a reason to remain optimistic? Do we - as a supporting collective - add more weight to our results than when we look across at other teams where perhaps we rationalise and exaggerate and gloss over the importance of their results in comparison? Is our squad depth not at depthy as it would suggest? Regardless of the dizzying questions, there are only two that matter at this still early juncture of the season.
What's broken and how do we fix it?
Or perhaps it's better worded as; how have we broken it and why isn't it getting fixed?
Perhaps things are not quite broken, they're just not in full working order.
We are erratic. The side is hardly ever settled in terms of juggling between league and Europe. Injuries confirm that as sublime as our first team can be, when we lose certain key players we lack cohesiveness and this has a knock-on effect with other commonly required footballing essentials (intensity, desire, focus etc). But even with a storming first team (on paper) we've disappointed in the league still. 451 works in Europe. Doesn't quite sex up at home.
Parts of the team - when the team is not at full strength (or as full strength as selection can allow) are at times found out and thus has a detrimental effect on the rest of the side. Our defence guilty as charged. Against Bolton (who were not that good) we gifted them goals (regardless of the first being offside) because we managed to be even worse than them.
I said my initial gut reaction was to blame the gaffer, and I still do, but the players have quite a bit to answer for in terms of ye olde mental strength. But then it all goes back to the erratic selection which births lack of rhythm and style from one game to the next. We play our best football and best players in Europe. It's time we shared the wealth with the mundane task of finishing fourth. Before that ship sails and we're left drowning in shark infested waters. Or something equally grim.
So what went wrong at the Reebok? Easy peasy:
- 451 when there is no van der Vaart to accommodate. So why bother with 451?
- Crouch up top on his own. Why didn't Pav start? We are struggling with goals from our strikers in the league, so you do the math - two is better than one. There is no dynamic movement when pushing forwards and although Crouch and Pav is less Batman and Robin and more Rodney and Del Boy, it's the better and more obvious option to go with the two of them. Pav - for the record - has notched seven goals in all comps this season. That's from six starts and nine substitutions. His league record overall is rubbish (53 apps, 13 goals). So can we just tell him it's a cup game (21 apps, 18 goals) every time we play?'
- No flow and support structure in key areas (i.e. Hutton and Niko hardly a passable execution of 'how to support a team-mate')
- Sandro and Wilson in the starting line-up? Really? One newbie finding his feet and one oldie who has managed to lose his.
- Huddlestone on the bench. Stamps his authority on the game when he eventually comes on. Fails to wrap his boots around a decent pass.
- Kranjcar given a start which he does nothing with. Bentley on the other hand displays 'glimpses' of decency which is a little bit like saying, 'Look ma, he's star-jumping AND winking at the same time'.
- Wait to go three down before showing urgency.
- Complete lack of character, which is either the last dying remnants of the culture of comfort that almost destroyed this club or something isn't quite working in terms of prioritising the importance of climbing the table.
- Play badly to make opponents look good and yet almost get back into it late on. Botheredness, the Spurs way.
- Keep dropping/losing points when it's even more obvious that this season is going to be less of a challenge to finish 4th than last season IF…IF IF IF…we attain the same standard of football we played at last season.
- No insight or astute pre-game analysis or tactical master planning of the opposing side. It's all very 'I'll select eleven players and hope they gel for ninety minutes'.
- Lack of in-game insight/astuteness and tactical re-shaping of the opposing side. It's okay to be reactive. That's 'reactive' to the game and opposition BEFORE we go three down.
Not frigging rocket science is it? And yet the same mistake(s) are made every few weeks.
We are up for the European adventure, and not so up for concentrating on league form. There might be a subconscious shared thought in the club that has everyone thinking we might not get a chance in the CL again for another two or three years so let's enjoy it and let's make our mark. Daniel Levy appreciates this as he's well aware that long term planning is vital and he won't go loopy for the sake of the short term. But considering how obvious our problems are, speculating in early 2011 would make the double challenge of home and away far more achievable than it stands at the minute.
The short term win can make the long term far more comfortable and we can stop looking around and concerning ourselves with the form of others and leave them to concern themselves with our form.
So panic? Don't bother. Not yet. Honestly, we still have some sand left in the hour glass.
We are not playing well but we are in there in terms of points and position. Sure, we are closer to the bottom than the top and the next three games are vital because if we win our home games (Sunderland/Rovers) and get something off the scum then we'll have gone from weeds to blossoming Lily's. If we don't then panic. PANIC PANIC PAAAAAANIC.
There is a point in the season where we (I) can't keep saying - we are still within touching distance. We have to move on and get in amongst the top five and pull away with them and then deal with the fight it will take to remain there and aim for 4th rather than 5th. I think we are at that point now. If we miss it, then we're going to get dragged down further with loss of focus and belief and distraction in the shape of the CL. And the point becomes one of no return.
I don't particularly want to share CL football with the likes of City or Liverpool (yes, Liverpool because they're back baby, they're back!!! Did you not see the game on Sunday?). We might find we don't have a choice and that every other season we challenge and reclaim entry to the elite competition because of the openness of the Prem. On the other hand, we lose out this season and the Prem goes all monopoly again - and it's back to mediocrity as our players get plucked. The latter is less likely, but I'd rather not entertain that risk.
I lost count of the amount of times we got written off during the 2010 journey. I've said it many times this term - we might appear to be going sideways but we are not far off at all from getting this fixed. Just a couple of variables to be added to the formula. Just need to stand tall and proud before the money shot. Our CL hangover record is actually better than Arsenals. Not that it makes it acceptable to lose to Bolton and it's frustrating that we never get anything there - but with two home games and then the scum away (before CL and Liverpool) - this is when we discover if this fantastical learning curve - for the manager as well as players - has sunk in and we are better for it.
Get to Jan even with the same type of difference we have at the moment between us and say 3rd spot - and then it's over to the chairman and the transfer window to consolidate the work and progress achieved last season and eradicate this blip we are experiencing in the Prem. I don't need to tell you what we need. If we get what we need then we'll gonna get a whole heap of what we want.
I'll end with some positives from the game.
Ridiculously great technique and finish for the goal from Roman. Superb effort from Hutton also. That's it.
Also, can I point out that Gareth Bale didn't make his debut at the San Siro. And this fallacy of him being non-existent in the league is exactly that. Although my point would be more poignant if made on another day, rather than after a quiet performance and defeat.
Conclusion?
Last time I'm going to say this now. We are not playing well, we dissect every loss because of the standards we have set ourselves and we are showing frailties that are probably not half as bad as some other clubs have in comparison but probably more susceptible to repair. We've got it in us. It's time to prove it.
That's it.
Reader Comments (63)
The strikers are the weak link in the team.
Crouch gets it in the neck because he is playing but none of them have delivered since before January. Not just Crouch but even Pav and Defoe and dont even talk about Keane.
We are stuck with 451 unless we drop VDV so we need a striker to play ahead of VDV and none of those available really fit the bill.
Major cock up in the summer ignoring our failing strikers leaving us without strikers to take advantage of of excellent midfield approach play.
Keane and Pav and Gio should be sold. Defoe and Crouch should be plan B. We need to buy strikers!!
It's Tottenham, what do you expect? They'll always let you down you know.
Cheers for that Spooky. I couldn't be arsed to write something as comprehensive as that. But fully agreed and I know we had two points when her arrived, but ffs, sometimes it's as though he's taking his first steps in management!!
We don't have the clout just yet. Not sure how long we can keep giving the team. I know that we have came along way but no point in comparing today with the dark days, the past is the past. If we're going to move forwards we need to get a plan b, c and d.
It's not going to be resolved just with signing a striker.
But a brand new forward + Defoe will help.
Harry should of started hud and possibly played 4-4-2 but the players are to blame. That team should of been able to produce a shot on goal within 8 minutes let alone 80!!! It was a lazy performance. We have to start keeping clean sheets. It was the same defence that played against Inter!!! You have to be up for any league game otherwise you will get turned over. Spurs need to bring the form from the CL to the league games asap.
Pav scored such a stunning goal, shame it didn't earn us a point.
Sign a world class defender and striker please....keep on saying it.
Hope we get back on track tomorrow, I also hope Mr BENT isn't playing!
Can we all stop pretending that we are doing well this season please. Spooks, a knee jerk is a premature reaction to something bag, in this case form, so one defeat can cause a knee jerk, 4 defeats in 11 games and only 4 wins is not a knee jerk. We were awful Saturday. Thankfully it should shut up all the crazy Spurs fans on here calling for krancjar to start and how great our squad is. The fact is we have a very good first 11 (though still short of a striker) but our squad players are average at best, they wouldn't get anywhere the first 11 of the top 7 in the league. We are now 5 point of the relegation zone, have a negative goal difference and could be as low as 14th before the weekend. We are 4 points off where we were last year but had already played Chelsea, Arsenal and Utd away and Liverpool at home. At this rate we will struggle to reach the Europa league, so great, lets concentrate on the Champions league (as we will never get there again), finish mid table and go back to the hell hole that was the 90's
i am starting to panic a little tbh, i dont want to get to the stage where the only way we are staying in the CL is by winning it. All i can remember saying last season: its ok, don't panic, a draw at bolton is good, we'd have lost the game in 08/09.....and various variations on said theme. Yes we are still in touch, incredibly, with 4th spot BUT this was the year to push on and we are there by pure luck, nothing more. More importantly we are not capitalising on this luck, at all. I'm trying soooo hard not to jerk the knee but....i'm worried and i'm a spurs fan.
My dear friend(s) those who know well all aspects of football they can easily see that most of our players are physically and mentally weak. The coming of VDV has shown up what kind of players we need if we have ambitions which extend above finishing fourth every 20-30 years. In this case what we have to do first is to find the right man (men) in the stuff who can buy the right for this purpose players. At the moment we have 3-4 really good players but the rest are just mediocrities. That's why Spurs, like any other similar team, can win one time against a superior, on paper, team and lose the next game to a theoretically weaker team. We have too many players (actually most of them) who are slow, physically weak and without personality and a winner's mentality. This is the main fact that characterizes most of the players of our team last forty years. The players we'll buy must fulfill ALL or at least 4 of the necessary for this purpose qualities: winner's mentality, strong personality, intelligence, high level of physical strength/speed and technique.
To start with we desperately need to substitute some of the players playing currently in those positions with a commanding and quick CB and two attackers who can score regularly. Then gradually we can substitute the rest.
Lets not start saying 'we were blind in the summer, we needed strikers' of course we did, but there were none available and anyway Pav or Keane would have been shipped out.
The fact is that, with the exception of Gomes, Hudd and Kaboul on Saturday, none of the rest of them gave a fuck about the result. I blame Harry's coaches. How come Joe Jordan (oul bite yer legs) and Kevin Bond/Clive Allen cannot get the team up for a three pointer after a CL match. Is paying these arseholes a fucking fortune not enough for them to, at least, put in a shift. I'm sick to death of Man U doing enough to collect 3 points when they need them, only for us to shrug our shoulders and agree 'Bolton are our Boogy team and we expect to come back empty handed. No Way, No Fucking Way. These players should play their hearts out or be dispatched in January. It's back to the Hoddle/Ardelis/Graham/Gross and Ramos era's where the self belief was in the toilet.
Harry said ''we went to 442 and were as open as a barn door'' who's fucking fault was that. If your gonna change the shape of the team, make sure they know the system your changing, or take the blame.
Theres no point in slaughtering INTER MILAN in mid week and laying down to BOLTON on a Saturday. I hope these bastards get a grip as its pissing me off.
Might be worth pointing out that as soon as Spurs went 4-4-2 they were blown off the pitch by Bolton
Who else but Harry can you point the finger at as according to him we've got the strongest squad in the league, perhaps in numbers but in ability?. Kranjar, Palacios and Sandro all started, and not one of them performed and not one of them ever looked like doing so. It was only when Bentley, who incidentally did really well when replacing Lennon, last term and Pav came on that anything happened. Jenas sat the game out, but is certainly a better option than Wilson, who is almost celebrating a year since he put in a decent performance. The midfield were the cause of all of our problems, their incompetence caused Modric and Crouch to drift all over the place, and their lack of holding put untold pressure on the defence. If you pick a side top play Bolton, would you put those three in the starting line up?, nope me neither!
I can't be arsed either, that non performance at the reebok was pathetic.... Why did it take 80 mins and three goals against til we started to play. Agree Pavs goal and Hutton the only positives.... Oh yea just one other thing to say BOLLOCKS !!!
Like it. You echoed most of my sentiments. 4-5-1 without VdV is pointless because VdV is a virtual striker. We pretty much play 4-4-1-1 with him. With Modric it becomes 4-5-1 AND we have no VdV to score. But yes - don't panic. It is a marathon and not a sprint. We are merely 4 points off last season's pace - which started with 4 straight wins.
Cookiebun, i tottaly agree with you.
I'm fed with the way our coaching staff. What was that team on saturday ? Someone can explain me why we play niko on the right ? the exhausted gareth on the left, with 3 central midfield, 2 of them playing dmf ... and Crouch alone up front. That was a joke of selection.
Was this shit a gift from HR to Coyle for his comment about the england job ?!?! oh and HR has great motivating skills but is unable to get his player ready for a match where we should have confirmed we are a club on the up ?
Bullshit, let's face it, we need 12 points from our 4 next matches. But i'm sure our player will run against the like of arsenal and liverpool.
"Perhaps things are not quite broken, they're just not in full working order."
DAWSON, KING, WOODGATE, DEFOE OUT INJURED. LENNON & MODRIC RETURNING FROM INJURY. HOW MANY OTHERS CARRING KNOCKS. AND ALL FUCKING KNACKERED AFTER GIVING IT THEIR ALL TUESDAY NIGHT !!!!
Normal service WILL be resumed soon.
SJM - yes, I did note that we did get booted off the park by Bolton once we went to half time, but we were already 1-0 down to a Bolton side who played poorly in the first half.
And like TonyBlue said - they are knackered. Not just from Tuesday, but from playing 6 champions league games plus one League cup game since the season started. Last season after 11 premiership games we had only 3 league cup games played - 2 of them 5-1 walkovers against lower league teams. It is going to affect us.
" it's even more obvious that this season is going to be less of a challenge to finish 4th than last season IF…IF IF IF…we attain the same standard of football we played at last season." - Couldn't disagree more.
"the players are thinking we might not get a chance in the CL again for another two or three years so let's enjoy it and let's make our mark" - Couldn't agree more !!
You honestly think that its less of a challenge to finish 4th if we play like last year ?? Are you insane ??? yes we were 4th but we were only about 3 points off being 7th. This is total nonsense. Man City have improved, Everton wont have as bad a year and Liverpool will improve slowly, plus we have champions league to play. So how exactly is it easy to finish top 4 again??
Damn right the players are thinking lets enjoy the champions league because we might not be in it for a year or two. So should the fans. We worry and worry about getting there, then when we do we worry and worry that we wont get there again, where is the enjoyment ????? We have no right at all to expect 4th every season, no right at all and again anyone who does is seriously delluded. Give me Champions football once every 3 seasons for a while and I'd bite your hand off.
Being worried we wont make it again is moronic. Chances are we wont be 4th this year but then the chances are whoever gets it wont be 4th next year and so on. We are in a group of teams thats will get it every few years and how much of an improvement is that on the last 20 years eh?? Some of you are getting greedy, you all need to take a dose of reality and start enjoying this before its too late.
i guess most of the worried ones (myself included) are still not used to Spurs not letting us down , and are affraid to go back to the battle for 7 th place
Now that we have had a taste of belief , respect and world class players in the form of VDV it would hurt even more to become a mediocre side , yet again , battling Everton , Villa and the odd overachieving team but way behind the top 4/5 ...
Three wins and we are back on track , three unlucky draws/defeats and its done for this season ... have been there so many times and apart from last season it always went wrong so i have a hard time believing we are a changed team , hoping we are , believing ... not yet.
No Jim, in my case it's frustration, not greed. What pees me off is articles in the press quoting players saying we have 'one of the best', if not the best squads in the premiership. Yeah Right, except that they are not focused or pumped by the coaching staff.
Lets cut this bollix 'we need to enjoy the experience of CL football' when we are slipping down the league like Portsmouth did last season and our players confidence looks totally suspect.
Last week Liverpool were in the bottom three and we were lofting it in fifth place. This week we both have 15 points.
You have to win your games against the mediocre teams or theres nothing for you in this League.
I'll bet that Daniel Levy isin't happy that Harry and his merry coaches couldn't ready a team for Bolton last Saturday. I'm especially furious with Harry and the coaches, because they are experienced men who should be ready for what Bolton were going to do and get out there and 'get amongst them'. Instead they went out like a bunch of 'big girls blouses' and got rolled over.
I'm sick looking and listening to Harry.
Lets bring Chris Hughton back home. He should never have been sacked.
"And yet the same mistake(s) are made every few weeks."
And it's "not frigging rocket science" to work out who is (and should stand up and take) responsibility either spooky.
I have supported Spurs for 40 years so I am philosophical about our regular acquaintances with gut wrenching humiliation... you know Wolves, Stoke, Wigan, Bolton that sort of thing!
I am a cockney boy who now live up here in the North West and what really hurts is that supporters of flotsam like Bolton, jetsam like Blackburn believe that all they have to do is rough us a little and we will cave in
and most years we go and prove them right.
I would not swap Van der Vart, Modric, Huddleston and Bale for Fletcher, Park, Carrick or even Scholes our midfield is clearly better than that of the best North West team... yet they win and we loose. It is not talent we lack it character.
It's all well and good saying we should have signed a world-class striker. How many are there in the Prem? Drogba? Torres? Rooney? After that comes the likes of Berbatov and Anelka and then down another level to players like Adebayor or Carroll
We tried, we hunted but with Man City prepared to buy anyone and everyone at prices we can't get close to affording it's tough. That they won't even recycle their discards like Bellamy into the Prem is a testament to how distorted the competition has become. Fabiano or Forlan were either not interested or had ridiculous, club-destroyingly high price tags and wage demands.
We had targets but we couldn't improve on what we already had. Levy and Harry managed to pull one magical Dutch rabbit out of the hat but it's not entirely fair to blame them for not producing this impossibly rare striking talent.
Furthermore, if we are going to stay in N17 and build a new £400-£600m stadium then this is how it's going to be. The quick fix, the shortcut, that allows us to push our wage structure up to the point where we can go head-to-head with the bigger boys, is a move to Stratford, which is unacceptable to most fans.
Looks like half the team is missing again tomorrow lads. Should Vaart have been risked for Inter....?
Injuries!!!!!!!
Anything less than a win at Sunderland and we may as well place all efforts into the Cup run that is the Champions League.
We didn't sign a wc forward in the summer because there are none available and I can't see much changing after Christmas unless one of our prior targets has dropped in valuation and we get desperate.
The Machine....Thankfully the game is at the Lane tomorrow.
I think it's harsh for a few fans to blame Harry and the coaches for not preparing Spurs against Bolton. I don't believe for a moment they were not prepared correctly. Harry said that half an hour after beating Inter all he was focused on was beating Bolton. The players were lazy! Harry made three changes (two) due to injury from the team that beat Inter for goodness sakes! Hud should of started, that was the only thing that I couldn't work out.
Missing Vaart and Lennon is huge for us, Vaart has been scoring for fun and Lennon for me has been getting better. Lets hope Kranjcar and co put in a performance tomorrow. Pav should start after that stunner. But if VDV is fit (Unlikely) Crouch will play.
Not having Lennon on one side means Bale is targeted by more than one player on the other. In the past, I've been quite content with writing this type of performance and result off because of missing players and the ones playing not being capable of adjusting.
But it's a weak excuse. Others adjust. We have it in us to do so too and yet just roll over ever so easily.
That is what frusrates us, we know they can do it! ARGHHHHHHHHH! It is very strange that we keep up our run of not getting results away at certain teams....including West Brom and Bolton.
Being down beat after defeat (particularly to the anti football club that is Boloton) is not knee jerk but some of the reactions on here are ridiculous. Spooks you are and optimist but I have to say I agree. We are a work in progress, okay It's a bit one step forward and two back at the moment but we knicked 4th place last year without the demands of european football. Let's be clear about it, liverpool blew it but this season we have them and Man city to contend with. We have had to change to improve. We have also been hit with a serious injury crisis which has seen us field the same back four twice?
Van Der Vaart has improved us but needs to be accomodated. We need to change our system accordingly. That takes time. He has become quite central to the way we play so reverting to 442 in his absence. Crouch and Pav does not work. The line up was a little experimental but when we were beaten by Wigan at home all the knee jerkers were blaming Redders for not freshening things up after a CL game.
Came down, we have got to trust Harry and his staff and the players. They have gone from relegation fodder to potentially winning the Champions league (yes we could still win the f*cking thing-why not) in under two seasons. Add to that this is the most competitive league we have had, maybe ever. The teams around us are conspiring to keep us in the hunt for top four but this will not continue. If we are to put a few results together get JD back and scoring goals and we'll be back in business!!!
COY(F********)S
I think a certain guy called Huntalaar was available, you know, the guy banging in goals for Schalke!
Also, why the hell are we giving Sandro a start away to Bolton? Give him a nice easy game at home, against a team who is going to let him have the ball so he can slowly get used to the pace of the league.
Well said TT.......some of the reactions are just bonkers. As you say we have come so far in such a short space of time and a few fickle fans forget that!!! Harry has completely turned the Spurs around.
JD back for derby day???
Quick question, this might iritate some of you but it's honestly not a wind up.
I've watched a few spurs games this year and you always struggle to impose yourselves in the middle of the park for very long periods of games, both going forwards and backwards and against practically all forms of opposition. Your defense has been good in about 2/3 of your games and yet they cop far more flack and are higher up on your wishlist for being transfered. Don't you think your too harsh on them?
euh just one thing guys , Bolton used to be an anti football club but you could hardly say that they are for the moment , Owen Coyle does make em play a lot different than his predecessor , you know that fat bloke that reckons football is just about planting elbows and breaking legs combined with hoofing balls up to whatever tall bloke he has at his disposal
How Newcastle ever decided to make him a coach , Newcastle , not the prettiest club around but still an attacking team that loves football , hell that's like hiring Comolli as you director of football if you are struggling financially ...
I've seen plenty of Spurs fans in recent days echo the same train of thought:
We can't change a habit of a life time (10+ years) in the space of a couple of seasons. Not completely. But we're in the midst of it at the present, and Spurs are moving on up even if it sometimes feels like we've got the hiccups. I guess when someone slams the door shut to scare the hiccups out of us rather than downing one cup of water after and other - only then shall we step up the next level of maturity.
There is not that much separating us from that next level. Learning the hard way appears to be the only way for us. Because the easy way would not be Tottenham at all. I think the fact we are complacent and not at full pelt concentration wise illustrates what is wrong and what needs correcting.
The major gripe is that as you build - just how many mistakes can you make? Not talking about Bolton defeat specifically here - but rather a set of results. Because if we failed to finish inside the top 4 and got knocked out the CL, you just know this up and coming summer will be one of nail biting as we wait to see who takes our players.
We need a fix asap. Or we just embrace the harsh reality that it's not going to be this straight forward and we're going to have take hits.
BRM - We have struggled this season to boss the midfield. Compare us to last season when we dominated the small clubs away and won all our home games, apart from the odd strange shock result. This season we are being punished because the balance is not right and our forwards make hard work out of scoring. We have a fantastic squad but its in need of fine tuning. All this talk of Jan an the window, we need to make sure players show some fight especially when VDV is not playing.
And we need to be able to show a bit more in games when it comes to forcing pressure. No Lennon yesterday and its all lopsided.
i was in enemy territory yesterday afternoon and saw that gooner twit alan davies in balls pond road with his red hat on, looking very glum.
cheered me up no end.
3 points tomorrow and were back in the race...
Anyone else reckon Owen Coyle looks a bit like a young version of the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket? And that's what we need on the pitch by the looks of Saturday's fiasco. Embarrassing. Peak to trough in 4 days. I agree with most of the sentiments above, too many poor performances from "squad" players. I'm rapidly reaching the conclusion we are totally reliant on VDV and an exceptional performance from Bale in order to win a game. If we're going to shake off this cup team label then we need to go up two gears and maintain it, starting tomorrow. Nothing less.
As always perfectly and eloquently put. When I tried to write my match review the first thing I wrote was, "that was a load of bollocks" and left it like that until this morning where I managed to string a few more words together and click publish.
I just hope we get some sort of reaction tomorrow night. I want 100mph football from the first whistle. Don't let Sunderland have time on the ball and they'll surely try and do to us. If vdV still isn't fit then play 2 strikers. The fact we've only got 2 fit should mean there's no decision to be made which 2.
Come on Harry, come on Spurs. I want to forget about Saturday. This time next week I want to have 21 points, be looking forward to beating Bremen and counting down the days until we punish that other lot.
COYFS
Have you seen the Hulk's performance this week end ?
What did he do?
I'd say tomorrows game is a must win and personal feel were missing the defenders more than not getting enough goals from the strikers, woodgate king and Dawson three of the best English defenders when fit. Come on tottenham your suffering supporters expect 3pts come tomorrow night
I can smell a 'BIGGEST GAME IN OUR HISTORY EVER' tag on its way...
porto demolished benfica 5-0, hullk was in the 5 goals, assist, second assist and goal ... amazing interplay, good vision and passes, very strong, very quick ... needed at WHL.
If we were stuck with 451 I would have prefered to see kranjcar take up VdV's place and Bentley start inplace of sandro or palacios out wide, while I know that these are the matches where we do need one of them and cant expect modric and huddlestone to have quite the same time on the ball that a man utd or chelsea will let you have I still think both was over kill.
Scandalous as it is to suggest I think with this weeks hype over bale it was obvious they were going to focus on him, I would have toyed with the idea of dropping him to full back and playing modric/kranjcar in front of him, just to prevent them being able to two man him in their own half until its too late
Just hope Dawson and Defoe are back soon, say what you like about Dawson, he's one of the few that plays well with the armband on.
9points in the next 3 games........... I can smell it......... Or was that the dog? ........ ! Nope, just remembered..... dog's dead! Fuck....... it was the dog!!
Have faith fellow Yids, have faith
As much as l like Harry, he messed up BIG TIME ! this weekend. It's not enough to just give squad players a chance, you have to give them a chance in the right positions!
451 with Sandro and Palacios in the middle is asking for trouble. And Kranjcar should only play on the wing with a good fullback behind him not Hutton who is an average-to-good attacking rightback. Otherwise Kranjcar should have played just behind Crouch.
Harry messed up so much it's painful to put it all on here.
On the other hand, the good thing about balancing league and CL play is that the manager will learn more about his squad players by virtue of trying them out after the CL games. And hopefully he will act wisely withe knowledge gained. So now we know
1) What I said about Kranjcar
2) Sandro is not a good DM at this level (at least not right now). It's not just tackling that makes a CDM, you must be able to receive the ball from defenders and start the attack without losing it immediately
3) Bentley is vastly underrated and noit being given a enuf confidence
4) Hudd shd play every game even if he is DYING!!
5) Palacios shd have started with Jenas in the middle with Sandro coming on later
6) Jenas is vastly underrated....
i think you may have lost most people at point six , Nochman , however i agree. It is ever point three that i struggle with , but would be glad to be proven wrong
Point three, sounds like you're drunk!
Point six, the dot dot dot says hit me, I'm ready for it.