Dry them and move onwards
Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 6:47PM What a ridiculous waste of an afternoon that was. Worst performance of the season? Spineless? A consequence of fragmented selection? Poisoned by lasagne?
Yeah sure, injuries aside, I still fancied us pre-match. Around about the 37 second mark I conceded that today would be shambolic and that conceded my confidence was cursed. To which it was.
Players looked lethargic and dis-interested. When Frazier Campbell is made to look like quality you know there has to be something surreal going on. In this case, the Spurs players appeared to drift away into next weekend and their FA Cup semi-final date. Knees trembling, for all to see.
Even a second half improvement (just about noticeable) wasn't enough, neither were the heroics of Gomes who saved two penalties, although he was probably guilty for that 36 second opener as he could have done better. Maybe that's a tad harsh. It smelt a goal the moment they got a corner. A preview of the pattern of the game that would play out over the 90 minutes. Us, willing Sunderland on, to have a pop at any given moment they chose.
Talking of pens, the ref was abysmal. One of the three he gave (the 3rd) was a no brainer - the first two were weak weak decisions. Although he sort of made amends for disallowing a 3rd Sunderland goal, which didn't matter because when Sunderland did score their third it was almost worthy of applauding, such was its genius. It's horrible horrible genius. A volley that will no doubt when goal of the month. Ref was also reluctant to dish out yellow cards. Although Wilson came out of the game without one. Small mercies.
Crouch cameo the only worthwhile moment to give us a glimmer of hope. Gomes proving that even though Bent believes he has banished the Sandra sound-bite by notching a brace and celebrating with much venom, he's still an idiot with a stupid beard (honestly, I have nothing more at the moment). His face after his second pen miss, a picture. The only picture I'll be choosing to remember cometh tomorrow. Defoe might have done better with a one-on-one, Gordon to the rescue, who then saved another goal-bound effort moments later. Bentley header in the first half, easily saved. Not sure there was anything else, offensively, for us.
There's probably plenty to analyse and discuss, and I had notes from the game and was planning on singling out one or two players who struggled and the detrimental impact the missing players had on the team - something I sort of refused to dwell on too much as a potential excuse pre-match.
Stuff like our inability to retain possession, control the ball, play with any type of shape, show any sustained intent and courage. Bassong missing Dawson. BAE lacking confidence. Palacios messy. Bale lacking composure with his passing. All-round clusterfuck to be fair.
Credit to Sunderland. Talk about making it an easy afternoon for them. If they had a better forward up front, it could have been humiliating (haha, yeah, still bitter). Jones air-kick testament to how stupid we and his owners were back when a £20M label was being tagged on his shirt. But they still won and Bent has taken his revenge, no doubt he'll be gutted he won't be able to Tweet about it.
So yeah, no deep thinking post-match tactical breakdown. The players never switched on. They hardly looked bothered. So if this was a pre-Wembley type of 'ooh let me try not to get injured' performance, then shame on all. Or perhaps I should just admit I was wrong and having so many players out has damaged us. Pompey might even fancy us now (j/k).
I just don't want to believe that we under-performed because the FA Cup was made a collective priority subconsciously by all who took the field. So I'll have to hug the excuse that the lack of Dawson, Corluka and Huddlestone and the forced re-shuffle has made us momentarily poop our pants.
Pushed, bullied, kicked and out-played. At least its done and out of our system. 5 wins on the trot halted and today makes it just 8 defeats all season in the Prem. Not bad. But we are no longer in the driving seat for 4th. Don't fret. I'm not knee-jerking. I've been saying it for a while, we'll still finish 4th. Just have to do things the hard way now.
Maybe conceding that goal so early was a catalyst, but to suggest had it not been scored we might have performed better is a bit like hoping that having gone 1-0 down we'd get back into the game. It won't happen unless you make it happen.
Tragic we failed to turn up for this. I'd rather we play beautifully and with effort and desire, and if we lose at least we can say we gave it some. Rather than just lube up and bend over.
What's that? City, 4 up at Burnley after 20 minutes? 5 up at half-time? Our goal-difference nervously looking over its shoulder? Although it's now City looking over their shoulder at us.
Okay, we really do have to do it the hard way now.
COYFS.
Reader Comments (116)
blamed* manager*
To get you all in the mood - two links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk_GhimDOLw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAjqUp81cM4&feature=channel
Terrible loss compounded by the City result. Need to get dug back in. Too many injuries, hopefully some make it back for the Arsenal game. We'll bury Pompey next week but I think 'arry and Palacios need to be commended for keeping him available for those games to come. He gets the next 13 days off before Arsenal. This loss makes is much harder for us, no doubt. I believe that we'll need to secure a minimum 7pts from our next 4 games with a victory over Man City a must to take 4th. I also think our best chance of a victory over the big 3 will come against Arsenal. I do hope Lennon will be back for that, at the very least for the last 10 minutes. Hard to find consistency when so many players are injured. Not a bad time to face Man U either. Fucking gooners winning in the last kick was the kick to the balls that really sent me to the violent side last night.
beetleblues, I'm certainly not a 'sober prick', and nor are you judged by your toys out of pram outburst. I'm a realist. We had a bad day at the office today, FFS. It's not the 1st and wont be the last. How can you suggest that the players dont give a toss, we're on the verge of 4th place and an FA Cup final. Teams with players that dont give a fuck tend not to be in this situation. Man U had a bad day at the office today, any suggestion their players dont give a shit? Villa had a bad one last week - what about them? It's the response that matters. Lets see what happens next Sunday, then the following Wednesday, then Saturday....What we need is less of this rabid 'the players dont fucking care" when we fall foul of a tricky fixture. We're off the back of 5 on the spin, the players have been digging in, today went the wrong way. Check our record against Sunderland, its shite, today was a banana skin and we slipped. I'm not against crticism, god knows I've dished plenty myself in the past. Today was crap, but jeez, compared to some of the shit we have had to put up with in the past, real performances where it was clear the players didnt give one...today didnt compare. So, I will not criticise, because for the last 20 years, seasons like this one have been rare. Go on, count them, presuming you can count. .Now, wheres my powder box?
Good shout, TrentSpur :)). .... you can tell that this Satdee was a bad day for me too :)
Come on guys for God's sake stop moaning and bitching and cursing us into oblivion. Yes we were dead ordinary at the Stadium of Light, but we WILL beat Pompey, we ARE a big chance at Wembley and we can still do it for 4th place.
Just get a bit positive will you?
COYM(ighty)S
1. So we were bad. Move on. After five wins, the market was due a correction (so to speak). Forget about Sunderland. They were looking for the result more than us. They were lucky they had Gordon. Eidur had one or two chances that on any other day we could have put away. Granted we were on a momentum, and the weird selection (probably due to injuries and the FA Semi next weekend) didnt help, but we are still in the chasing pack.
2. Our passing game kept getting blocked. They kept closing us down quickly. They also relied on acceleration into the box, which we found difficult to cope.
HR please take note for future reference.
3. K. Walker was unlucky. He must learn from this and grow and improve his marking and tackling, FAST!. We must learn to deal with motivated opponents. BAE seems to have lost his arrogance going forward (petulance is not the same thing).
4. It's simple from now on. We must be motivated to beat everyone, but in particular Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal. Can be done.
COYS.
http://www.imscouting.com/global-news-article/Aaron-Lennon-to-return-to-Spurs-squad-for-FA-Cup-semi-final/6885/
Great news here...
Looks like we won't have ten key players out next week or for the run in. By my estimation the only players missing will be cudicini, woodgate and jenas. Even ledley may play a game before the seasons over :-)
holy mother of god people, there has been some awful responses on here today. Yes our result and performance today was bad, very bad. But 15 points from our last 18 matches exactly the form of UTD and I bet they are not being accused of throwing in the towel.
Perfect timing for the Wembley match, the players and club will get their mojo back and I for one would not like to be a visiting team to the lane in the coming weeks! We have had a hell of a great season and I honestly believe we will give the Scum a really tough match, and that we will take all 3 points.
Cheer up people and look forward to Wembley!
COYS.
Beat Arsenal, Bolton, City and Burnley. It's actually do-able. Sunderland was always going to be difficult. 3 ex Spurs desperate to probe a point, our injury hit badly shaped team plus our history of poor performance in the North East, not to mention Sunderland's excellent home form, was always going to make this one of the toughest games in our run in.
I fancy us to end Arsenal's outrageous run of good fortune and turn them over in style. City away is going to be the decider. Lennon, Tommy and Daws will make the difference. Keep the faith my friends.
HAHAHAH ALL OVER NOW SPUDS
This is all fine. We've been hanging on to 4th all season, slipping up falling into 5th/6th and then coming back, I'm not concerned myself, I prefer us chasing to being chased oo er, yes the 5 win run was going to crash before the end of the season, so its crashed and now we regroup for the final furlong with everyone back. Is everyone clear on that? Any questions? Right then. I'll be in my war tent meditating, no messages before sunrise please.
Just a bad day at the office that's all. Every team has one occasionally, witness Cheatski at home to Citeh, Villa away at Cheatski and at home to Wigan, the Bin Dippers on several occasions this season, Man Ure at Burnley, Citeh at Wigan, the arse at Citeh and at Sunderland. I could go on..
When we conceded in the first minute I actually thought it might focus our minds on the task in hand but unfortunately things just went from bad to worse.
We're still in it!
4th or 3rd LOL
Blatant West Ham fan.
I wish I was that optimistic. We never beat Arsenal :(
The present is different from the past. The fact that one defeat causes this type of reaction shows we're not that use to losing and hate the experience when we do. Bit different to losing all the time and drowning in inconsistency, no?
Hence all the trolls.
/waves
i was on a massive birthday drinking session all day yesterday so didn't catch any of the game until this morning. It was always going to be tough up there but I still thought the team we put out, and the players we had on the bench, had enough to beat sunderland. I think the players and manager need to learn that we can't turn up to places like that and expect our style to shine through. sometimes we need to break the game up, control the tempo and be a bit more patient. Obviously going behind so early was a massive factor. And for christ's sake THREE penalties against us. who has that ever happened to?! I thought the first one was a dive too. Modric stuck a leg out granted but way earlier than the contact was made by campbell deliberately running into his leg and flopping over. Can't blame the ref for that, just professionalism i suppose!
It just annoys me because we have such a talented squad of players but are decimated by injuries at the key time, with our hardest fixtures of the season all coming consecutively (and i always included sunderland in that)
onwards and upwards though eh?
I remain confident of F.A. Cup glory and CL now that are players are returning.
I admit that to get 4th we will need 4 points from arsanal and chelsea but I really feel with are players back we can do that. I see a point against chelsea and I really see us ripping the scum apart. With bale on the left and lennon on the right, with wilson destroying all they have and tommy gunn spreading the ball around and JD ready to smash anything at goal, a baying crowd under the lights wanting blood at WHL against those bastards, I feel there injury hit team which is full of pussies like there fans will crumble at the lane just as they did in the semi final.
Prepare yourselves arsanal the day of are vengence is approaching.
We are on the up. Everyone knows it. You had people scoffing at the start of the season about Spurs mounting a top 4 challenge, and yet here we are still challenging with 6 games left. Some people still perpetuate the fallacy that breaking into the top 4 is some kind of impossibility, but the fact is us, Villa, City etc have improved whilst the 'top 4' continues to stagnate. Remember when we got spanked 3 times early on and everyone shrugged and said 'there you go' they aint good enough. And we are still here. Because getting 4th isn't the same as challenging for the title.
Gooners gloating on here are enjoying it whilst they still can. Compare their side to the one they had 5/6 years back. The gulf is a big one. The Prem isn't as divided from 4th spot to 5th as it once was. They're all about heart and desperation nowadays.
It's a good time to be a Spurs fan and it will continue to get better.
Arsenal took 94 minutes to take the points against Wolves. They were lucky not to be 5-0 at home to Barca the other day, so what exactly is so great about them? The deafening sound of their home support? Wengers eyesight?
We'll dick em.
We will be celebrating st. Totteringham's day at WSL together with u all spuds! with all the injured players we have now, we'll still be too much for your shity team! i say another 3 nill!!
spooky, i appreciate the fact that you admire the team we once had! i know as a spud as u are, it takes a lot to do it!
Brook the Gunner!
HA HA HA HA ,TYPICAL SPURS RESPONSES ,TRYING TO FIND LOOPHOLES IN OUR GREAT CLUB RATHER THAN REALIZING HOW SHITTY THEY THEMSELVES ARE .WE STILL WITH ALL THOSE INJURIES AND BAD LUCK STILL I N TITLE RACE AND HAVE CHANCES IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ,ANYWAYS I AM SURE U SPUDDIES THE WORST FANS IN ENGLAND KNOWN FOR TURNING THEIR BACKS AT UR MANAGERS AND PLAYERS WILL ONCE AGAIN B A REASON FOR PUBLIC COMEDY AS U HAVE NO CHANCE TO FINISH TOP 4 , ITS JUST A FIXTURE LIST FOR UR POSITION AT PRESENT.I M SURE NEXT SEASON HALF UR PLAYERS WITH MANAGER WILL LEAVE AND U WILL SLIP TO MID-TABLE WHERE UR POTHOLE CLUB BELONG, AND CANT WAIT WHEN THESE SPUDDIES WILL WHINE AND MOAN LIKE GIRLS ,HA HA HA STILL CANT BELIEVE WILSON PALACIOS JUST PISSED ON ALL SPURS FANS MOUTH WHEN HE SAID SPURS R JUST A STEPPING STONE FOR HIM HA HA HA HA ,SPURS ALWAYS IN ARSENALS SHADOW AND SPUDDIES OUR BITCHES FOREVER .
Takes a real intellectual to type in all caps innit? Mate, if there is one thing that we are clearly miles ahead of you scum at, it's the fans. You lot have got to be the worst fans in the country. Need I remind you of the Highbury Library? You boo your own players (Eboue) and put your pedo of a manager up on some pedestal where he is immune to criticism "Arsene Knows" (where the children are). And Judas will be making his return to WHL in a scum shirt only to be ripped apart by our strike force then the fans, I just hope he doesn't run home crying and does actually hang himself from that tree (because he's Judas, not because he's black, before you even try to play the racism card you hissing bastards). I guess I needed a couple of scummers to wake me up and remind me that I support the greatest team in the world. We'll fucking end your title challenge, bitch.
COYMFS
OOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,these bitches so easy to wind up! ahmed judging by your so insecure response , i bet u no more than 12 yr kid and surely u were not even born when tootynam spuds last score a win over arsenal in league.and u talking about fanabse ,not only any gooner but ask any analyst or read official survey reports arsenal fanabse is biggest in london, third in england and top 5-6 in world and i can assure u here in india arsenal and man u r followed like a religion and most of people know second rate clubs like spuds and man city only they being rivals of arsenal and man u, u got no identity of own here in asia.we sure have booed eboue but those were the same fans who urged on eboue to become better player he is today , i am sure eboue is as good as any player u have in your squad and also dont forget these fans who booed eboue were same those who applauded and were behind walcott and bendtner inspite of their wastefulness infront of goal and look with that support they r scoring vital goals for us now but same cant b said about spurs fans ,i believe still martin jol will ready to shit on all u spuds for the treatment u gave him,what a shameless bunch of fans u lot are! bloody copycats even stole our stadium design but how are u going to fill it ,i wonder!
I love how you call ME 12 yet you are the one who can barely type or spell. Not to mention that grammar escapes you. Cheap shots aside, show me this "evidence" of Arsenal having a huge fan base, because these things are usually calculated on attendances and if we have a smaller stadium than obviously we are going to rank lower. Why would a club from North London give a FUCK about having a following in Asia? Man Utd and the Scum do only because of merchandising. They just want some money and you're buying into it like sheep. And yes, classic, booing players urges them on to become better. Sure, I believe you. Just like beating your kids helps them do better in school. Martin Jol was treated badly by the board not the fans, who continued to sing his name well after he left. Fuck off to the depth of shit scum message boards you came from you cunt.
Watching pool drop points today made me feel a lot better :)
We can do this! All you need to do is take a hard look at Citeh and Scousers. To put it mildly they are not supermen.
calm down ahmed...calm down! you getting this furious doesn't help spuds finish 4th.
spooky, i don't understand how u allowed this kind of foul language lately! does it have something to do with spuds loosing? i know its spuds blog but once in a while few gunners like me come to have fun. so don't disappoint us please!
congra all spuds....liverpool droped two points...! it looks like that you are gonna make the 'new 4th' your own!
good luck against barca brook. you'll need it.
Closet Tottenham fan brook , hey?
AHMED take a look at these but i am sure ur jealous mind will not believe it. links http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2007/05/European_Football_Clubs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/6118488.stm
and there are many many more evidences to show that arsenal have biggest and best fanbase not only in london but world and also arsenal have largest number of registered fans and have 50,000- 55,000 queue of fans waiting- line for season tickets .
Forget the semi, forget the CL, forget the title. I have been reminded what it is all about - to rip the head of the woolich wandering arsanal...
Bring on the north v south London derby that's all I care about - killing those cocky cunts both on and of the pitch.
YID ARMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah cause Spurs don't have any injuries, you muppet. Was that reason for the 5-1 loss at the lane too? Didn't field your strongest side? Keep on talking, we're all snoozing...Zzzzz
To all the Gooners. Check Matthew Normans article about you lot v Barcelona. Then read the comments section. See how every gooners skip discussing the game and the point of the article. You're as delusional as us, don't pretend. Embrace the truth. Your best players leave with each passing season, didn't happen 6 years back, but happens every summer now. You're degrading. It's cute. Keep telling us how you're not, you know, to us Spurs fans the ones you dont care about yet you're here telling us how much you don't care.
And you're here. Telling us.
Good stuff.
Harry has said for ages it would probably go down to the final games with many twists and turns.
That is how it looks to be going so there is no need for faint hearts and panic stricken squeals just yet - if ever.
HA HA HA look at these litlle spuddies ,bloody stinky insects coming out of their holes and daring to challenge mighty arsenal.what was the score last time we met ha ha ha ha! i am sure u all will act as u dont remember ,though we have probably missing 4 wolrdclass players ,namely
van persie - one of best striker in world when fit
fabregas - best midfielder in premiership with a lion heart(how he continued to play with a broken foot)
arshavin -one of best midfielder in world, fit or not fit( played almost whole season with some injury)
gallas - one of best defender in world
above r players who r no doubt worldclass players but i m sure even with that arsenal with thrash medicore overachieving spurs side who have got no steel and wining mentality.
TO GENERAL BRICKHOUSE , yeah really ! best players leaving us ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am really having sympathy towards all spuddies , no surprise you all seem little disturbed because evey week you hear some spurs players saying how spurs are just a stepping stone and they want to leave for a big proper club (latets e.g palacios) and on other hand u hear players desperate to join arsenal even with lower wages (latest e.g eden hazard and chamakah) sure it will cause anyone to become mad with envy!!
Thanks for that Tarquin.
RvP - Never fit.
Fabregas - Not half the player he should be and biding his time to quit and return to Barcelona.
Arshavin - Joined Arsenal because the other 10 clubs he dreamed about signing for turned him down. Nothing more than a mercenary showpony.
Gallas - Consistent, but his best days long long gone.
Nobody is saying Spurs are world beaters you mug. You're saying that along with the other geebags trolling into this comments section. Spurs are progressing upwards, doing our best to break up the boring monopoly. You haven't won jack for 5 seasons and you've gone from being a bullying powerful side to one that plays pretty football. You're just about getting away with it now. Sounds familar that doesn't it? Pretty football = no silverware.
Enjoy your visit. You'll be here for a very long time.
xoxo
Shame you Arsenal fans just can't discuss things like adults. You're making more noise here than you do at the Emirates.
My dads bigger than your dad ethics.
"You're making more noise here than you do at the Emirates."
Isn't that the truth. I think it's because this lot isn't allowed to leave home without a minder.
Didn't watch the game due to work. No big deal, we were off, we'll be alright. Shit even if we end up in the Europa Cup I'll be happy just to play in Europe again, even if it's not the CL. These Arsenal fans are worse than Pittsburgh or Boston people though.
A day to reflect and I day to think. We're still in it and I still think 70pts will do it. We might need 71 now though if Man City catch our goal difference. Great news that Lennon is on his way back to fitness. I'm really hoping of seeing our best XI for the last few games. If we can play: Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Bale Lennon, Palacios, Huddlestone, Modric and Defoe Pav for those games....starting with Arsenal and ending with Man City.. We will learn everything we need to know about whether this team can handle CL football.
Bent alwas treated like a player that another manager (or DOF) wanted.
He got his shot and ballsed it up. He's found his level now at Sunderland and is apparently happy. He can watch the FA Cup from his sofa, iPhone inhand, Tweeting away til his heart's content.
And please don't feed the Trolls...
Tim, I agree, don't wanna be left thinking what if. BTW we've never started with that team - nearest we came was at the start of the season, but with BAE and Keane.
Is BAE a meerkat?
"which didn't matter because when Sunderland did score their third it was almost worthy of applauding"
----------------------------------------------
i actually did applaud it. after shouting 'fuck it' or smth and hanging my head for a sec, i clapped. brilliant volley
now we need one of dawson/ledley, and one of hudd/jenas/lennon back for sunday. desperately.
COYS! Wemberleeeey, Wemberleeeeeeeey.....
"desperately" and "Jenas"
You must now realise your a mid table team at best!!
Shouldn't surprise me that dirty filthy voyeuristic goons still find the time out of their sad little existence to post on a SPURS blog. It's the same everywhere you go, they can't help themselves can they? Wassup filth? running scared?
As for St Totteringham's Day (THE ONLY FUCKING THING YOU PRICKS CAN CELEBRATE NOWADAYS) I don't think it counts if we're still able to catch you with 6 games to go.....nice logic that, keep celebrating it, we find it fucking laughable!
I'll be raising a glass to your ST WON FUCK ALL AGAIN DAY very shortly.
Do yourselves a favour, find a scum blog and post on there instead, stop wasting our time you sad fucking internet orphans...wassamatter? has he run out of Haribo already? diddums.
For your sakes I hope the tackle is outlawed for next season, you must be tired of all that fucking whining! The rest of the country certainly are!
FOA
GONNA DO YOU AT THE LANE- WILL WAVE GOODBYE TO YOU ON 60 MINUTES AGAIN.
the goon pigeons are sqawking because they're worried. all their world class players are out. an arsenal team without fabregas, arshavin, gallas, van p etc is very welcome to the lane. a fit back four containing any of daws, king, bassong, corluka, bale will not have any trouble with bentdner. (although, BAE does concerns me at the moment: inferiority-complex vying for bale's position syndrome? a spooky analysis required methinks)
Arsenal are a rotting prospect. wenger smells it. he goes, febregas goes. you feel spurs hot on your tails. oh yes, your last-minute winners and our occasional away fuck-ups still put us 10 or so points behind you this season. but things are changing. bale and lennon ripping into into your flanks, a double-whamy of mayhem of the wings, eduir muscling through your little team aided with croation flair. oh we're going to beat you hard next wednesday. goon hubris and yid pessismism haven't caught up with reality. injuries are just the catalyst for something a little different to start happening.