Match preview quickie
Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 10:36AM We all know how important today is. A win keeps us on the road to fourth and applies the pressure on the chasing pack. Yes, I know. We are depleted and from the looks of it without Dawson, Palacios and Huddlestone today...along with the usual suspects including the not far off from returning Lennon. I did have a dream last night that Woodgate announced his retirement, but hopefully the negatives will remain buried deep inside my subconscious.
Even with so many players out, some key, the spirit at Spurs is such that I'm quietly confident. April is meant to be the hellmouth month with the big 3 games not that far off, but I actually prefer us going into this month as underdogs, backs to the wall, fighting and kicking for our lives. We get to find out if we are good enough. Although the arguments about consolidating our squad depth in January (the fact we didn't) will no doubt resurface if we fail because the inconsistency of the balance of the side.
Tbh, I'm glad we face Arsenal, Chelsea and Utd. Massive games for every side. And if our lot are not motivated for these opponents, then playing CL football isn't even something that should be flirted with. But then, we've already had our hands down the panties of the Top 4, so I know - and you know - we are game on.
But Sunderland are up first, and we need to remain focused on the here and now.
What's that? Kaboul? In at the back alongside Bassong? Then again, Sunderland are jam-packed with players that were deemed not good enough for us (other than Steed who had his moments in Lilywhite). Bent is obviously going to do his bestest to stick two fingers up at us and Harry. Especially after his pen miss at the Lane. No doubt it will be frantic. Fingers crossed we stamp some of that swaggering quality on the game. Injuries? So what. There is still plenty there for us to claim the points.
COYS and all that jazz.
Reader Comments (48)
I had a bad feeling when I saw Kaboul on the team sheet before Stoke and we won. Walker, Kaboul, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto? Hmm.....YIKES!
Head down, tails up. Lets give `em a jolly good hiding!!!
Gomes injured too?
/sad
Has anyone else noticed the resemblance between Super Pav and Captain Sensible?
Worried at the prospect of this defence and no Palacious to offer protection.
Hoping for the best but fearing the worst.
Nervous 90 minutes approaching!
I hope he will be sensible and play Bale in DM we need that position covered and I am not sure Livermore is up to it.
/browntrousers
On a positive, Utd look waaaank!
"I hope he will be sensible and play Bale in DM"
please grow up
We can win against Sunderland...Bassong is fast enough to keep track of Bent. Bent can't dribble remember?
The key to getting anything against the 'sky 3' will depend on the effect of Harry's affection for Crouch. The last time we played them we changed our football and introduced the hopeless longball to, our then expected saviour, Crouch. The result was a series of thoroughly embarrasing 3 goal margin defeats. "...But Crouch won all the headers!" said many. No one disagrees with that...but heading the ball upwards for Rio Ferdinand to control and start of another attack is'nt exactly winning football...let alone the Tottenham way.
Its simple, if we re-introduce that same tactic that had us lose so badly, and in consequence, end up loosing in the same appaling manner. Then we don't deserve to play in the CL. Just watch Barca and Bayern and you'll notice that the only way to win against these teams is to play in our own fashion - the Tottenham way. Crouch, his two goals and his pathetic upward headers, can take a rest and wait for the world cup.
Wilson's fit and starts, but the back 4 looks shaky as hell!
30 seconds, you just have to laugh at that.
The good thing is that we have 89 1/2 mins to get back on terms.... Unlike when we played them at the start of last season and they scored the winner in the last 30 secs.
We are looking way way off the pace at the moment. Where's the high tempo? Sunderlands start should have been ours.
so harry still hasn't learned anything
modric cannot play in the middle, assou is rubbish therefore bale should be left back along with modric at left midfield, also iceman in the middle with crouch up front with superman..........
problem solved, when this change gets implemented we will kick ass
anyone know of any streams, cant find any today
ENDED. THE DREAM IS OVER.
Should never have been a penalty. Never.
http://iraqgoals.net/7338-sunderland-vs-tottenham-hotspur-.html
the admin will take it down and block me though
cheers, although it makes depressing viewing!
what do your expect we cant beat wolves at home or away haha
FFS Thank Fuk for that. Great save Gomes Hopefully a turning point. COYS
We need a proper Harry half time shake-up. Ref is loving his cheap penalties today.
Tottenham Hotspur defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto has revealed he wants to leave Spurs and return to France.
2008 he still wants to leave secretly
BAE off with bale to LB, iceman in the middle, with mod to the left, and bring on defoe or crouch depending on defoes fitness
david_m thats what i said!!!!!
even niko is available for the middle - modric cannot play middle or right end of story
And here was me watching the Chelsea/Man U game thinking - yeah on a good day we could do one of these teams.
Uh oh. To be fair, we did well lasting this long with our injury list. All out attack in the second half. How many goals can we afford to lose by before our goal difference becomes a problem...?
harry will make two subs in the second half that will change are system....
if we dont get a goal soon, all out attack, bassong, wilson and kaboul in defence, modders niko bale(playing from the defence/midfield) bently and iceman with pav and defoe/crouch.
This is very depressing. I had a premonition yesterday that today wasn't going to be a day for us to remember. Hopefully 'Arry will make the change to turn this game around as BAE is being caught out. He has.
Completely out of sorts aren't we?
gordong will be man of the match
no sustained possession, no decent build up or passing, great boost for morale before the semi and top 3. out of sorts and out of ideas.
i will murder this ref
Bent, two goals to the good, but he's still fucking shit.
Gomes, love him.
thats why we got rid of him! stream has gone down, hopefully spurs do the opposite now
crouchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
god damn it I hate this fucking game.
squad was wrong from the start i blame harry as always
why cant he do a 4-5-1 if spurs are shit away
Don't worry lads. Keep the faith.
Let the recriminations begin! Bit of respect for Dawson and Corluka when they're back, aye. And the Hudd of course.
Let's hope the week + half rest will get our injured players back. And this lot can win next w/e, of course. Can't possibly lose that one, aye.
ffs. goons aswell. dreams not over if we spank the goons at whl. coys
Never seen such a spineless performance. The Spurs 'players' didn't want to go anywhere near their players. They were bullied out of it. Can't blame Harry or the tactics. The players were good enough, they just didn't want it enough. No closing down, no winning the second or third or fourth ball. We were lucky it wasn't six, cuz their was fuck all wrong with their goal.
The players just looked like lost little boys.
I hope some of those guys actually read this; I feel fuckin embarrased
12 points should be enough for 4th, provided three of those come against Man City. What that means now is that we have three strikes against the big 3, win 1 and we'll be okay. If we lose all three then better luck next year, and we wouldn't deserve 4th anyway. On the plus side, no booking for Palacios. The penalty had me going, that's for sure. The constant fouling of Palacios (I assume they were trying to rile him up...), Modric, Bale and Walker was as predictable as it was depressing, but the referee took far too long to give the first card and the damage was done. I love Gomes but both the first 2 goals were his fault. He parried both those shots diagonally forward which is classic poor goalkeeping. the first one he definitely should've caught but the second...I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Kaboul and Bassong gave no support to Ekottu and Walker. It must be something other than communication problems since three of them speak French... As for Defoe, he should've done better with the first chance but did anyone else think that the second one was going in, only for the bad surface to send it wide? Still, credit to Sunderland I suppose. They set out with a game plan (albeit an underhand one) and it paid off, and what a goal by Zenden. The time wasting after 63 minutes was also pretty depressing. I'm in the US at the moment and this game was live on TV, I wish I had stayed in bed.
FA Cup semi-final on their minds.
Bad day at the office, that is how to file this match. I knew we were going to have our hands full today but all is not lost. Man City and Pool are as inconsistent as we are so expect them to drop points at places where they shouldn't. Keep the faith YIDS. Remember our 6 match winning streak just came to an end today so nothing stops us from starting another winning streak beginning Sunday.
Oh snap. Man City 3 up in the first 7 mins [****SHOCK****]
"Manchester City 's 3-0 lead in seven minutes equals the Premier League record for the quickest 3-0 lead, set by Tottenham v Oldham in September 1993."
Sigh.
Well it is now 4 nil after 20 mins.
bad day at the office, this was annoying but 15 points from the last 18 is great. Trip to Wembley is perfect timing, and we should have a near full squad again come next week. We must beat city and get 7 other points now! We missed dawson massively today.
Onwards and upwards, face paint and flags at the ready for next week, followed by a hell of a game against the pricks from south london.
COYS.