It was good to be home! Japhet Tanganga with the best FB display since Jan Vertonghen vs Borussia Dortmund in my opinion, ****ing monstrous display by him and I loved the fact he got subbed off late on and walked round by us in the south stand, his name was being sung to the heavens, what a moment for him. Lucas was a massive pain in the arse for them too, so much so £50m LB, Ben Mendy, got subbed off because of it. He was our MVP in pre-season and he's carried that into matchday one, more of that please. Skipp too... I've got so much love for this kid, he's gonna be a star. Whole team was great though, to a man a real committed display and massive credit to Nuno for that. I really didn't see us getting anything from today so to be back at the Lane after nearly 18 months and beating them was real sweet. I guess season four of DH's awaydays is on the cards
For those that watched on TV (or if you went real old school, listened on the radio) were you able to hear the chants of "Are you watching Harry Kane?". I wasn't sure how the crowd would be towards Kane but I'd say just about everyone around me in the south and seemingly what felt like a good 60-70% of the stadium were chanting it, sometimes chants can be dimmed down though on the TV - or amplified *cough* Palace fans *cough*. There were also chants of "Nuno Santo's blue and white army!", not heard that since the Poch days as is it never really got going under Jose, albeit Jose did have a separate chant. "Japhet Tanganga, he's one of our own" also works surprisingly well too, despite seemingly having too many syllables.
Wasn't able to be there today as had a long standing diary clash but I've just watched the highlights and we were very good. Still could have lost if their finishing had been better but for the first time in three years the team looked better than the sum of its parts.
So ... Did not start for the U23s this week, nor for the seniors today. Does that mean Kane is in the starting XI for the thursday game in the ECL ??
Both teams fluffed chances. I actually think we had the more dangerous ones too, Bergwijn’s especially. How he doesn’t even hit the target is beyond me, had a great game other than that but he’s gotta sort his finishing out sooner or later.
I know but their team cost nearly three times what our team did. So it isn't unreasonable to expect them to be more skilful. Also we can't control their finishing. The mood on here would be very different if Ferandinho and Torres had scored. All our good work would have come to nothing. Bergwijn is fast and skilful but really poor at decision making. Lucas isn't much better. He played really well today but his end product didn't really affect the result.
It’s hard to read too much into one game, and a swallow does not a summer make, but we saw more heart from Nuno’s Spurs there than any game since THAT night in Amsterdam, IMO. His positivity, the fitness work that has clearly gone on behind the scenes, and the aggressive mentality has paid off. After all the negativity around the club, because of the manager search and the Kane situation, this should give the group one hell of a boost.
Harry Kane cost nothing and he’s better than anything they have got so I don’t think price has anything to do with it. We had the better chances and a with a bit of composure we would have smashed them about 4-0. You can’t dread about them taking their missed chances on another day but us not taking ours on another day either.
If Moura's shot (cleared off the line), if the Son shot hadn't been deflected wide (how was a corner not given btw?) and if Bergwijn had scored his big chance we'd have still won. Lucas set Bergwijn off, he then set up Son so think you are mistaken tbf. It was 18 attempts to them and 13 to us. We were deserving of the victory cos we played for one another and out fought them. There was more heart shown today than in most games last season. City were frustrated at the end of the game because they could not impose themselves on us. Think we shouldn't get carried away but think you are being too critical tbh.
The mood on here would’ve been that bit better had Bergwijn made it 2-0 too. City have collectively better players, they spent the money to say that but at elite level football, the cost of a team and the chances created in a particular match don’t really go hand in hand. Bergwijn’s chance was in fact the best of the game, even including Son’s actual goal because realistically Son shouldn’t be scoring from where he did, yet Bergwijn absolutely should’ve done. Based on clear cut chances, it probably should’ve finished 2-1 to us, arguably even 3-1.
They started well and missed some good chances; the game would have played out differently had they gone 1-0 or 2-0 up in the first 20 minutes. Credit to Nuno for playing an attacking front line with pace. Once you attacked them on the counter, they looked vulnerable and you had the chances to take a decisive lead in the game. Much like Leicester in the early part of last season, you exposed a weakness in their defence which few other teams have done - although Utd won at their place with the same tactics if you recall. Nuno did his homework; you have to accept that they will control possession but they have a vulnerability which teams with pace up front can expose and exploit.
