They watched the mouser game from WHL so I understand why Fowler was involved PNP....not sure about GS.
So instead of having one ex-Liverpool player and someone from Spurs, they decided to go with another Man Utd pundit, Dona? Sounds about right!
A lot of positives in the performance. As well as the clean sheet and the fact we should've won by one or two goals (and would have, if Mark Clattenberg's grandfather didn't have some bastard offspring when hiking though Transylvania...), the fact that we played for 90 minutes was a big plus, and the fact that we played well. It was good to see tidy performances from Caulker and Naughton, Lloris was good when called into action, Walker had a good game (after a few less than stellar performances so far), Vertonghen, Defoe, Dembele and Sandro all put in good shifts, whilst Lennon deserved his ovation when subbed. Seeing the midfield work as a unit to get the ball and counter certainly showed glimpses of what we're capable of, and we didn't shirk or get frustrated when Lazio broke out the catenaccio towards the end. Also, credit to the stewards - if a handful of Lazio fans were making monkey noises, it was nipped in the bud pretty quickly. OK, maybe the change of angle was terrible, but you can't Villas-Boas for the inability to see what's happening on the far side of the pitch...can you?
Good call, Croydon. I forgot to mention Caulker, who had a very good game, scored a perfectly good goal and was up against an extremely experienced and dangerous opponent.
Granted we should have won 2-0, yet I do have concerns about this high pressure game we play against top quality opposition, especially at home as its tough creating chances when you have a quality team pressed back. Credit though to the players as they seem to be adapting to the system better, each game, yet we still need to be a more clever in games against well organised defences.
i have no problems with our high pressure game on this evidence - we ouplayed and outscored the joint top italian team i still have problems with lennon and defoe, and they go back years, but they should have been on the winning side once again though defoe flopped as a lone striker - that's four out of 5 he's flopped for us this season i have no problems with avb on this display and i can't wait to talk to OS about Lloris
Townsend showed some grit when he came on, battling to get the ball back whenever he lost it (a trait nobody has ever seen from Theo Walcott, whilst Ashley Young has to dive to get it back) The crowd did seem a bit quiet, although it could have been ITV muting the crowd noise for whatever reason. Can anyone who was at the game confirm or deny this?
Don't you think thats a bit harsh on Defoe, as we all know he isn't perfect, yet can work as a lone striker when the team plays to his strength, which is one of the reasons I say we have to be a tad more clever. Its easy for players like lennon, bale and defoe to destroy teams when they are running on the counter and playing quick short passes, but when we're going to face defences which don't give much space its more tricky.
Lennon was probably our best player tonight, constantly taking it to Lazio and created some good opportunities - whilst once again proving he isn;t a mindless speed merchant with some good deliveries into the box. He deserved his ovation, that's for sure. Defoe also worked hard, and his link-up play was subtle but worked. The fact he kept going, even against Lazio's catenaccio tactics in the late going, and didn't let his head drop or get frustrated is certainly different to the Defoe of past seasons. Some couple of players could have been better - Bale wasn't as effective as he should be (albeit showed more than in the PL games thus far), Dempsey drifted in and out, Sigurdsson didn't affect the game, whilst Townsend was let down by his first touch (but battled to get the ball back when he did) - but nobody was bad, let alone a weak link tonight.
"The crowd did seem a bit quiet" The crowd being 10k short may have something to do with it hbic. Does anyone have a good reason for this, I have mind to email customer services. Just about everything has already been said, we were fortunate Klose had 2 air shots in the first half, a connection with either and it could have been abit different.
Something like that PNP < laugh> You can't expect anything to do with Spurs taking place unless ****ing United have a say can you! The officials have reduced us to a 36 game season for years now thanks to United!!!
Almost totally agree with your various assessments HBIC and was really pleased with the performance against a top European side - one that like us should by rights have been in the CL. Amongst some good personal performances - notably Caulker, Dembele and Naughton - I was again concerned with aspects of Walkers play. In the first half he lost his position on a couple of occasions, both times could have cost us a goal (like the Reading game) and also lost possession in dangerous positions. Being bloody quick is a massive advantage, but it is not enough to make him a really top FB. But apparently when that sort of 'switching off' occurs with him fans seem to be very forgiving. If that had happened once in the game with Benny, there would have been some on this forum calling for his head!! PS I thought Defoe put in a damn good shift tonight and was pretty effective as the lone striker.
I think Defoe can play the lone role, but only against 'poor' teams. This is where I see Ade and Defoe rotating this season with Ade starting in the games against the 'big boys'
Defoe certainly put in a shift tonight, and that shouldn't be taken from him, but we should play Ade at the Stadio Olimpico - his physical presence against their back line will be useful.
I'd like Bale to start thinking about the gaps elsewhere when he's got 2 and on occasion tonight 3 running him down, instead of trying to do them all, unload it and take them out of the game, let your teammates exploit the space. Admittedly tonight Lazio were extremely well drilled, spaces were limited and soon closed down if there was any.
From the BBC... From what I heard, there were a few in the first five minutes of the second half, which were swiftly nipped in the bud - implying it was a handful of Lazio fans who were dealt with by the stewards pretty quickly.
Just got back from the game. Tried to reply earlier but my phone died when I was pressing send, I guess it didn't make it. In regards to the fans being quiet, we were quite quiet but there were a fair few empty seats being a Thursday night late kick off that was only available to members in a fairly unimportant game. I only decided to buy my ticket after the Reading game, for example. When we were singing though I thought we were very loud, it certainly didn't sound like we were missing a lot of fans. As for the monkey chants, they were very audible and I was at the opposite end in the North lower. It was only the one occassion though when the Lazio fans thought Defoe had fouled a player, not that I'm excusing it, it's never acceptable. From the looks of the thread, I guess Bale must've been offside for the Defoe goal but I did think the Dempsey one might've been on, not that I had a good angle on it. No idea what Caulker did wrong for his and again from the sounds of things he didn't do anything wrong. The ref was crap, the 4 bookings he handed out were straight bookings by themselves, let alone if you accumulated the 17 other fouls plus the ones that we were given advantage for. He wasn't so much away biased as he was a bit of a bottler, giving the defending team the freekick when there wasn't much if any of a foul in it, it just so happened it didn't benefit us as we didn't spend as long defending. I thought the performance was good, particularly in the first half although Lennon should have had at least 3 shots when he was in a good position. In the second I felt we lost a bit of intensity, particularly for the first 15/20 minutes so I was suprised to see the comments about us putting a lot of pressure on them. Dempsey worked well in a bit of an undefined role, helping Defoe out with closing down, allowing Defoe to drift out wide at times and also coming. Dembele did well without any exceptional moments but the way he sent their midfielders the wrong way time after time and finds it so easy to keep the ball and move it forward, even when he receives the ball with his back to goal is remarkable and something that will be key for us this season. I was surprised to see Naughton being widely praised, he still looks a bit shaky and to praise his performance for anything other than the fact that it's only his second game for us and he's a back up player is a bit generous, in my opinion. I don't think anyone really had an outstanding game but Sandro and Vertonghen are both worth a mention for another sterling performance. I enjoyed the way we approached the game and thought we again showed a lot of positive signs of improvement. COYS
The three decisions we all hope don;t come back to bite us were... * Dempsey being ruled offside when either he was dead on the line (i.e. onside) or he was fractionally, and I mean inches if that, offside - which couldn't be proven due to ITV's idiotic angle, as well as lack of other angles for replays. Blame the idiots with 3D TVs for making this one irritating. Yes, you, people with overpriced TVs that will be pointless when the fad dies out soon enough. Twats. * Bale was marginally offside for the Defoe goal, so the linesman got that right. * Caulker was having his shirt pulled, yet the ref blew up for Caulker fouling the defender. That one is plain and simple - the ref dicked us out of a perfectly legit goal. It certainly should have been 1-0, possibly 2-0.
