Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Swansea City

Yeah, whatever happened to him?

 

Dier's given us an interesting dilemma: against West Scam and Swansea he did everything we needed him to do, both from the defensive standpoint as well as getting us moving with some chipped passes from the back that Toby is so reliable for - so while on the one hand it's an open and shut argument that Toby should come back in ASAP, on the other hand what do we do with Dier given Wanyama's the first choice DMF?

 

It's a tough call and a lovely problem for Poch to have.

There's no argument that Toby comes back into the XI when fit, he's head and shoulders above all CB options and that's no disrespect to the likes of Jan (who's been immense), Eric and Kev because all three are fine players but Toby is world class in that position and there are few as good as him.

As for DM, it really is a coin toss. There's no doubting that in the first few games, Wanyama was the better of the DM's when he was partnered with Dier and so far he's barely put a foot wrong this season but with that said, Dier barely put a foot wrong for all of last season as he and Mousa were immense together. From what I've seen of both guys at DM, an in form Dier just marginally edges an in form Wanyama, both are absolute brick walls to get past, Wanyama I'd say is the stronger of the two but I think Dier has more to his game, I'd say he has a better pass (both long and short), is a bigger threat from set pieces, can drop deeper and play CB/ RB if needed and he also has the added bonus of being a great crosser for whenever he finds himself out wide.
If Dier is benched though there can't be any complaints because Vic has been immense and is one of the last people at the moment who deserves to be dropped but as I said, on the basis of who I think the better player overall is, Dier just edges it.

 

If Toby is ready to play (90 minutes on Wednesday would go a long way towards convincing me that he is), he is a shoo-in as Ledley was whenever he was available.

SOS makes some good points about the DM position and I agree - Dier's range of passing and goal threat are noticeably better than Wanyama. However, the Kenyan plays the role of 'enforcer' better and is also better at carrying the ball forward a la Dembele. United look a bit stale in the middle of the park as the Ordinary One chops and changes his favoured combination of players. Despite having a 'talent pool' worth over £250m to chose from he seems a bit short on ideas. I'd favour giving Dier a rest and giving Wanyama and Dembele free licence to batter their way through the centre of the park. I actually think that the formation we went with against Arsenal would work wonders as it would leave Zlatan isolated up front and relieve Victor of his CB duties. I know it's a bit early to call it, but I wouldnt mind seeing:

Lloris
Toby Jan Wimmer
Walker Wanyama Dembele Rose
Alli Kane Eriksen

With Son and GKN to add goals 6 and 7 from the bench (Janssen is injured btw).

I don't think United would be able to live with that line up.

 

Surely Dier for Wimmer, with Jan on the left?

 

I thought similar, but Dier and Wanyama have been almost ever-present this season. One of them needs a rest. Unless neither of them play on Wednesday night, in which case I agree with you.

 

Former referee Keith Hackett says Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo should have been sent off for his challenge on Everton's Idrissa Gueye at Goodison Park on Sunday. He also says Anthony Taylor took a "weak approach" to Saturday's game between Manchester City and Chelsea, and Jonathan Moss was like Father Christmas for giving Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli a penalty against Swansea. (Daily Telegraph)

Again, no mention of.........................................

 

The Mail online has Poll's column on refs decisions at the weekend:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...erdict-weekend-s-Premier-League-referees.html

But wait! The review of our match mentioned the penalty (of course) but no mention at all of the earlier incident!

That seems to be the narrative (tm) from all media. I've seen pictures of it in galleries of the matches (doesn't look any better as a photo) but nothing in the match reports. Again I must say how completely baffled I am to find that such a "newsworthy" incident has not been discussed. And even though without punishment at the time it is subject to retrospective punishment, what do you think the chances are?

 

Graham Poll says that Dele Alli should receive a three match ban.

Maybe this explains why Jamie Vardy and Riyadh Mahrez are such non-factors this season: somebody totted up all the three match bans Graham Poll forgot to mention they deserved last season for their copious diving that nobody made anything of?

 

I can but hope the chances of Spurs winning the PL is at least proportional
to the volume of Narrative (TM) . If so, keep spouting all you hacks.

 

Nope.

The reason is they are giving the PL a 1/3 season goal start, before they turn the dial up to
"Most attackingest side ... in the world. Ever" and finish the season with the highest GF +
Golden boot etc.

 

Absolutely disgraceful. Walker's attempt to break Taylor's foot with his head has had no coverage at all.

 

The reason that none of the refs are talking about it is because none of them have seen it.
They watched Match of the Day, parroted their bullshit and didn't know the foul happened.

Nice to know that my username's still getting validated years after the **** retired, though!

 

Now Taylor is supposedly a nice bloke and he didn't mean any harm and was somewhat distraught, but talk about potential- that could have caused -dare I say- life threatening injuries. Players get done because''it could have broken a leg'', but a kick to the face when the face was not lowered is not even being discussed anywhere but here.
Taylor's reaction in itself spoke plenty. I don't wish on him a ban, but all they want is to ban Dele for what other players do all the time.

 

In addition to having the second most dominant performance in PK history in terms of shots on goal vs. opponents (9-0), Spurs may have had the two funniest quotes of the weekend.

Pochettino:

"I think today football is more global. Now we have the influence of the Latin people that try to cheat always."

Eiriksen on his first goal.

"That was one of the three best goals I've scored for Spurs. Close my eyes...stick my head to the side so I don't get kicked...and get the ball to deflect off me into the goal."

 

More like two of the most honest quotes + backed by a careers' experience.

 

We said the same about BBC Hansen a few years back. We were all watching five to ten games a week and it was obvious that he didn't... They're all handed 20 minute's worth of highlights on a DVD and that's what's written and commented about. If we hadn't scored five goals, maybe the high foot would have made the DVD

...

And Dier, because he scores goals from corners, free kicks and set pieces. No other reason

 

It's bloody annoying. The various football sites were all over it as soon as it happened. MOTD? Nah, pass.
I don't really give a crap about the coverage itself, but it dictates things that actually happen in games.
Taylor won't get suspended, while other players doing less will.
Alli will get hacked down in a future game and get **** all, though he may have earned that.

As someone pointed out earlier, the same thing happened with Bale.
A couple of genuine dives, which he should've been punished for and I didn't like, then he couldn't buy a free-kick.
Kept getting booked for blatant, obvious fouls.
Suarez doing the same and worse? No comment. Gerrard doing it his whole career? Didn't see it.
Costa deserving a red in every bloody game? It's just what he does.

 

Dermot Gallagher also failed to see the Taylor foul:
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ould-have-been-sent-off-says-dermot-gallagher

It was on Goals on Sunday, so maybe someone should tell Sky that he's watching the opposition?

 

I'm pretty sure John Wayne Gacy's neighbours said he was a nice guy, even though there were twenty-six corpses buried under his house...