Spurs v FC Basel Match Thread

NO NO NO - YOU ARE WRONG - it was worse than that

 

Ok everyone, prepare to flame me but i'm gonna discuss Ade, again.

I won't say anything about the penalty. It was ****, but that can happen to anyone.
I actually thought a better performance from him last night (i didn't see Everton btw where people said he was decent). His first touch was better, not its best, but at least his first touch wasn't similar to a 10yd pass.
His passing was better. He actually completely some.
He put in some effort (tbf, he does run around most the time)

The problem is that virtually all of his work was out wide, dropping deep. The commentator picked up on it after about 75mins but it was frustrating me all match. With 1 striker he needs to spend _some_ if not the majority of the time in and around the box when we are going forward.
Compare our attacks to Basel's as i think in general play we weren't that different. Basel's attacks typically ended with an incisive ball (completed or not) into the box or a cross, because they had Streller (and others) in the box to aim at.
Our attacks typically ended with throw-ins, corners, shots from distance or misplaced passes after a period of possession. This is because there was nobody in the box to aim at.
I can only assume he is low on confidence and is conciously or subconciously avoiding positions where he might miss a chance.

 

Thought the lads gave everything last night. Certain individuals gave their all last night and really stepped up.
Tom Carroll was excellent when he came on, IMO. He offered us a new dimension going forward and tried something different when we were struggling for ideas. Also, defensively he gave it his all, making some important interceptions.
I also thought that hudd did very well considering the circumstances. Some of his passing helped us to find space, which we'd struggled with in the first half. Again, defensively, he did a good job covering after Verts had been sent off.
Daws gave his all and set an example like a true captain and holtby showed that the central position is where he belongs. - he found some clever creative passes in the first half especially, which we've missed badly this season since losing rafa, so that was encouraging to see.
Sig worked his arse off, but got nothing from the ref on several occasions, which unfortunately led to frustration. He's someone who's now showing why we signed him. You can't fault his efforts at all.

Unfortunately there were some not so good performances too. Adebayor worked hard by himself, but his first touch and decision making was horrendous at times and the penalty was totally unacceptable. Sorry, but he's not currently in a position to be acting as cocky as that. He really let us down. Players miss penalties, but his total lack of composure and showboating was disgraceful IMO. - I'm done with adebayor. The sooner we get rid of him the better, IMO.

The ref gave us nothing, but I'm not going to dwell on that as it just looks like we're making excuses.

What I do think needs to be mentioned is basel's performance over the two legs. I thought they deserved to go through to be honest. They have some real talent, especially the likes of strellar and salah. FairPlay to them if they go on to win it, and I wish them all the best.

10 day rest now, bale and Lennon will be back and we've found two players who could be really important to the run in. - Carroll and hudd. I thought AVB had written off hudd, but it appears he's worked hard to get a chance and wants to capitalise on the opportunities he gets. - perfect timing really.

COYS!!!

 

I really wanna see Carroll get more game time. I thought he was very good too. His first 2 passes went astray and i thought "oh no, don't let this game ruin him" but once up to speed he was one of our best players out there.
Spurs MoM was Dawson for me.

Hudd's passing should mean he is an option imo. Some players can change a game with a burst of pace, and amazing bit of trickery, a thunderous strike. Similarly Hudd can cut open a defence with a pass. He set up the 2nd goal.
One of his passes seemed to defy belief, i don't know whether it was the camera angle. It was from centre to out wide right, over a Basel player. When he hit it it didn't look anywhere near high enough to get over the player. The Basel player seem to think so too and went up to intercept it, but the ball just didn't drop and cleared him by centimetres and landed right at our players feet.
Shame he had to fill in at the back. I think he could have created a chance for us to win it otherwise

 

I think i know the exact one you're talking about. when we were shooting from right to left?
He sort of sliced it and it just floated in the air before landing at walkers(??) feet!

 

Yep. I thought it looked like a total miss-hit and a counter-attack for Basel until it landed precisely at its intending destination.

 

Was accused by my daughter of having a man crush on THudd. Could be true

 

Although there was a lot of effort out there, I think we would be papering over the cracks to throw too much praise around.

I have to take back comments I made about Hudd a couple of weeks ago, as in his last two appearances he has shown an ability sadly lacking in others. And the fact that he did a damn decent job filling in at the back shouldn't be overlooked either.

I thought Holtby looked better last night and worked his butt off, as did Sigs.

Ade was isolated for long periods and drifted wide so many times I thought he was a winger. He worked hard however and his first touch wasn't as bad as other recent games (Everton notwithstanding when he was excellent). A penalty miss is exactly that - a miss - and many better players than him have missed them. But the manner of it was quite bizarre. Showboating? Possibly, but not convinced. More just **** technique.

Dempsey scores two goals so not much more can be said - but anything else would be negative IMO and his fitness looks decidedly suspect.

Dembele was not at the races throughout, an aberration caused their first goal and the only surprise is that he wasn't subbed earlier. A very disappointing performance from a player that needed to make an impression in such an important game.

Parker was Parker. Worked very hard and most of his play was tidy as usual.

Friedels performance was adequate at best, whether or not you put the 2nd goal down to him. Cannot be criticised for not saving any of the penalties.

The defence however, gave me kittens all night - actually more BEFORE we went down to 10 men.......
Daws was 'heroic' agreed, but some of his defending was at best impetuous and he again gave passes away in dangerous areas.
Much the same could be said of Walker, who again over-relied on his pace to get him out of problems. He also added little to the attack - the couple of times that he found himself in decent positions on the right he failed to put in decent deliveries.
Verts did not have a great game either and certainly did not leave the impact on the game that he - and we - would have wanted and expected.
Naughton however, is another matter.... I really have no idea why he started, he looked suspect defensively and added nothing going forward - no width on the left and always slowing play down with a square or reverse pass. How AVB can leave Benny out for this guy is ridiculous.

All in all, another disappointing night where the most that we can take away from the game is some heroic defending....... Oh well, there's always the PL........

 

not showboating? does anyone run like that in real life, like he did for the penalty? it looked like a warmup technique on one of those women's aerobics DVD's. There's no way you can give yourself the right composure when you're doing something so unnatural. it was disgraceful.

Dembele just looked completely ****ed. Looked mentally and physically drained. Simple touches weren't working out, his tackling was off the pace and his passing wasn't as inventive. Not surprised at all to be honest. The guy needs a bloody break.

I think we have to remember the conditions of the pitch last night before criticising either Defense. Both made silly mistakes due to the fast wet surface, which led to goals.

Walker I've been pretty critical of this year, but I'm giving him a break against Basel as Salah deserves the credit for being a good player, rather than Walker for being bad. Yes he was caught a few times, but when you're up against such a danger, it's always going to look dodgy at times. I thought he was strong against Salah for most of the game, despite his mistakes.

Naughton was pants again. Struggled all night, like you say. But then when benny came on, he didn't look interested either!

 

Haven't read all the comments on here but I need some where to vent my anger on Adebayor.
Another absolutely shocking performance.
Dont want to see him in a Tottenham shirt again as he clearly does not give a ****.
I disagree with the above poster in regards to his work-rate. All the second half we failed to get into the last third as his movement was absolutely non-existent leaving us no option.
Friedal looked a bit like the elderly Peter Shilton (circ World Cup 90) in the penalties so always thought we would struggle when it got to them.

 

The penalty was bizarre I will grant you, Roo - and made worse by the apparent 'grin' afterwards, although I personally think that was inadvertent.

Agree about Dembele in need of a break - hopefully 10 days will suffice!!

Don't agree re pitch - the ball was running true, if a bit quick, for most of the game. Yes, there were mistakes on both sides, but Dawson and Walker (and Dembele) all made 'suicide passes - fortunately only on e cost us a goal.
Salah looked really bright, but I thought Walker coped with him fairly well. He caused more probs on the other side where Naughton escaped an early booking, only to get caught out a few minutes later. Walker also has developed a bit of a blame culture, giving it out to teammates. Glass houses.......

Not sure that Benny didn't look interested. He only had 12 minutes until we went down to 10 and extra time was only a backs-to-the-wall survival exercise. Having said that, he would have very reason to be miffed - left bench-warming when Naughtin repeatedly gets the nod.

 

He seemed to have done his homework. That or someone did it for him.
He just gave him a bit of space and then used his speed to close him down and his strength to control him.
Still had a few moments of madness though, unfortunately.

 

Exactly PNP - it was the 'other' defending that had me hiding behind the sofa.....

 

Might be interesting to see what we do about our right-back situation in the summer.
Smith's been pretty impressive at Millwall this season, despite being in and out of the side recently and he's done well alongside Caulker and Rose in the U21s.

 

I am a big fan of Adam Smith and he seems to have POTENTIALLY a more complete game. Definitely has done enough out on loan to justify a squad place and then will be interesting see how he takes his opportunities which will undoubtedly come.

 

Pretty much exactly how I feel about the performances.

Frustrating doesn't cover it, it's another game where our defence has looked shaky and error prone, we lacked real width, Ade moved out of position and we were prone to being picked off on the counter with our fullbacks pushing on so far. The only thing we learnt is that Huddlestone should get a start against City and Carroll is a decent sub. There are still no answers as to how we're going to add width without Lennon and Bale, how we're going to start creating more chances and sort out our leaky defence. We haven't got a hope against City if we have the same team that played last night. Lets just pray that Bale and Lennon are back and our defence sort themselves out in training this week.


Oh and as for Ade's pen, it was crap but I don't see how it's showboating, he was trying to do something weird to confuse the 'keeper. Loads of players try to get an advantage in penalties, there were stopping run ups that were banned, Joe Hart tried a blue tongue, Grobbelar had the wobbly legs but like Hart he was always going to looks stupid if we lost the shootout. Ade's penalty was awful because all he had to do was hit the target, whether it was because of his dodgy run up or the 'keeper made a mistake he moved too early leaving Ade with a lot to aim at and he missed.

 

Thanks for reminding me of someone YV!!

I thought Carroll did OK when he came on and yes, he should be getting more game time. But I seem to be missing something that others are seeing. And as for comparisons with Modric, that's a long way off at the moment. Raising expectations on the basis of a few of decent cameo performances is a dangerous business.
Hopefully he will continue to develop and become something special, but he is not near a regular starting place yet.

 

he's got a bit of modric about him, but not in the same class, yet, maybe one day.
Slight build, same position, links up play without being spectacular, has a pass in him.

 

Watched the game as a Basel fan last night (yes im a liverpool fan but im a swiss fan and Basel fan too). I think people tend to underestimate Basel, they produce lots of quality players and most of the swiss team. i didnt expect them to have a chance until the first leg happened, which made me optimistic of course. I thought Adebayor was pretty **** throughout, made silly decisions and seemed like his headers (and touch in general) seemed to go to Basel players more often than if it was the Basel CBs heading it. Carroll impressed me as I have never heard of him before, and I thought Walker had a pretty good game, looked dangerous going forward and even though Salah got past him a couple times Walker seemed to figure him out pretty quickly. Thought Streller did very well up front holding up play and getting others involved as well as putting pressure on the Spurs defence. Stocker was also brigh until he got taken off when Basel tried to settle at 2-1 (stupidly IMO). Of course I was delighted with the result, but I was sure we were gonna lose until the Vertonghen red. I was confident with the penalty shoot out considering Sommer has made several key penalty saves already in this cup run (see the late penalty save that put them in the QFs).

 

Well done,hope you Hammer Chelsea.Don't know about the Liverpool bit!