please log in to view this image Preview On the 6th Feburuary 2011, Roberto Di Matteo was sacked as manager of West Brom, after a 3-0 defeat by Manchester City, their 13th defeat in 18 games. On the 6th of February 2011, Andre Villa - Boas was managing a Porto Side, on its way to an unbeaten domestic league campaign in Portugal, which ended with Europa League success and a reputation as Europe's most in demand and talented young manager. This prompted Chelsea to part with £13.3 million to appoint Andre Villa - Boas as their manager, a manager dubbed “mini mourinho“, and given a task to change the Chelsea style of play and build for the future. His assistant manager was, Roberto Di Matteo, highly thought of at Chelsea, and deemed not good enough to be Birmingham City manager after he applied for the post. A complete turnaround in events lead to Andre Villa-Boas to then be replaced by a man who was sacked by West Brom and couldn’t get the Birmingham City job & hired as Villa-Boas's assistant, to then take over and steer Chelsea to win the champions league, depriving us (Tottenham) of a place in the champions league and that in itself is enough to add even more spice to what will be London's most atmospheric derby of the season. When Redknapp was fired from the Tottenham job, Andre Villa - Boas name was touted about, he divided opinion, yet when Levy announced Andre Villa - Boas was to take over at Spurs, you could sense many differing views on this, to the point many spurs fans believed “why have we sacked our most successful manager in the premier league era, for someone that failed at Chelsea”. That is for Andre Villa - Boas to answer & prove, with what he achieves at Spurs, so far he has lost a single league game against Newcastle on the opening day of the season, and after a slow start (in terns of performance) has got the team playing an attacking 4-2-3-1, which does have its flaws, yet its clear Villa - Boas is an attacking manager and the players are adapting to his methods, which the players proved by defeating Man Utd for the first time in the premier league at Old Trafford. If Tottenham win this game, then we will set a new club record of 17 points, from the first 8 games in a premier league season, a stat which may surprise a few, especially the fans that still have doubts about Villa Boas ( ). Also, in the last six league games against Chelsea at home, Tottenham are unbeaten, 3 wins & 3 draws, which is impressive considering our record previous to that. Chelsea have surprised many with their form, as the general view before the season started, was that while they had one of the leagues most talented squads, and exciting summer signings in Hazard, there was still question marks over Torres (given the role to fill Drogba's departure) and also Roberto Di Matteo as a manager at this level, especially as this was now his team, and he has to guide and manage the team from the start of the campaign. With Chelsea coming into the league game as league leaders, Tottenham five points behind and having the confidence from defeating Manchester United, add in the fact Andre Villa - Boas will be out for revenge, and the spurs players have their hunger to make sure they don’t miss out on champions league football, again, I think it’s fair to say this should be one of the most tense & exciting games between the two teams for many years. Line Up I expect us to stick with 4-2-3-1 and the team (outfield players) that faced Man Utd & Villa, unless players are injured in the final round of international games. please log in to view this image There is the option of starting with Adebayor, and question marks about the fitness of Dempsey for this game, with the other main talking point currently the goalkeeper situation. Will Villa-Boas go with Friedel or Lloris? either way, both players are capable, yet the general view seems to be that Friedel should be picked for his premier league experience, as he is still a highly talented keeper. Previous Meeting (Thursday, December 22 2011, 20:00 Premier League) White Hart Lane, ATT: 36,141. please log in to view this image Tottenham 1 Chelsea 1 8' [1 : 0] Emmanuel Adebayor 23' [1 : 1] Daniel Sturridge] Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Gallas, King, Assou-Ekotto, Modric, Parker, Sandro, Bale, Adebayor, Van der Vaart. Subs: Gomes, Kaboul, Pavlyuchenko, Bassong, Kranjcar, Rose, Livermore. Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Mikel, Meireles, Sturridge, Drogba, Mata. Subs: Turnbull, Romeu, Lampard, Torres, Malouda, Ferreira, Kalou. [video=dailymotion;xn7srz]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xn7srz_tottenham-1-1-chelsea-22-12-11_sport[/video]
Nice one, Boss. Can't wait for us to get back to club football, internationals are so boring. Chelsea game is one that could really go anyway, it'll be a real test for both sides.
Cheers Boss, another great thread Going for 3-2 Spurs. Tough game, probably for the first time in ages (maybe ever?) I think this is our biggest derby. So much has gone on with both clubs - us getting AVB, Chelsea taking the CL spot, both clubs losing but also bringing in great players. I hope Lloris and Ade start, Lloris needs to play these type of games to understand the pressure and get used to facing the top sides. Ade I think will be more of a threat to their defence, very harsh on JD, or perhaps even play them together with Dempsey coming on from the bench? He's bound to be a little lagged anyway. Can see Dempsey getting the winner like at Utd though so it's a tough call.
I am hoping to see this one. I have found a bar in Nicosia dedicated to Tottenham Hotspur. Showing all Spurs live games.
A brilliant match thread for what is going to be the best London Derby of the season. I can't say how much I am looking forward to this game... been buzzing for ages about it now and it's nearly here! I don't think there has been a bigger derby between our two clubs for a very long time. The hatred between the two sets of fans and the clubs is enough without having to add the fact that we dumped you out of the Champions League, the fact that AVB has gone to you and has been replaced by his assistant! Though it is an early kick off I expect it to be an incredible atmosphere at WHL. I'm going and will be in the away end lower tier so really looking forward to it. I hope it's a thrilling game but obviously, I'm going to go for a Chelsea win. 2-1 or 3-2. A word of warning btw to both sets of fans... the Victoria Line is down between Brixton and Highbury and Islington which is a right shag. It means both sets of fans are now likely to get to WHL via Liverpool Street which is just what the police don't want!
Cheers for the thread Boss, but so hope you are wrong about the team, although I agree it's one that is likely to start. Playing 'I can't keep a clean sheet this season' Friedel will give Chelsea a massive boost, and will pretty well ensure we have to score two to win the game. Dempsey will be tired, and no way should Defoe start instead of Ade. I would fancy that team to lose V Chelsea, draw at best, if that's what AVB goes with, which he may well do. Lloris KW WG SC JV; AL Sandro MD GB; Ade, JD for me, or if we need three mids, Siggy in for JD.
At least they've had the sense to make it an early kick off. Your lot aren't very nice when you've been drinking all day.
We still have time to drink before the game for sure... I'll probably get to Liverpool Street for about 11 and drink there before heading to the game... It is ridiculous to have tube works on the day of a London derby! Why not last weekend when it was the international break!?
Ahaaa, if that's the case, you should be within throwing distance of my grenade Bucks Blue, what do you look like out of interest?
Well yeah but you'd have to try bloody hard to get hammered by the time the game starts though, which is usually what causes trouble around the stadium. I usually go via Liverpool St anyway but when I used to get the Victoria line it was always a nightmare, they had about 4 years of works on the evenings and weekends and even though they canceled works for Spurs games at the start there were always some that weren't and always delays.
Another top notch thread, Boss. Hopefully everyone will return from the latest round of internationals unscathed. I'd stick with the same XI to start with, which allows us the option of bringing on Adebayor and Sigurdsson if it's not working or our frontmen tire themselves out. Would be nice to have some of our injured players back too, at least in the mix for selection and with a view to the Maribor game.
It's a tough call on the starting lineup, but AVB has only made one exception (that I can think of!) to starting the team that did well last time, and that was Lloris's start. So while I'd rather he start Ade, probably Gyfi and Lloris, I'm expecting Dempsey, Defoe and Friedel. Also: excellent thread, thanks Boss!
Good match thread though. I ended up watching the entire vid of last seasons game, first time I'd seen the highlights on TV
Damn we had a good team for this fixture last year. Well, on paper, I guess. Modric on the right and Sandro and Parker together? Hmm - think I'm looking back with some rose-tinted glasses, maybe. King, Parker, Modric, VDV, Ade - those are five quality players to not have had so far. Not missed Pav, mind! Know it's harsh on him but I just think that Ade is a better footballer than Defoe. Gave us something different and better when he came on last time out. Love having Defoe on the bench, mind. No comment on the goalkeeper situation (let's try having one thread where that does not become the main topic). But let's just say that Brad has never made me feel nervous or like we're going out with a disadvantage. If Loris plays and does well then great but I'll not be one tiny bit worried if Brad's in goal. Can't imagine many would be. (That was my version of "no comment").
Yep it's great to see Dempsey scoring for USA. I still think he'll be too knackered to start v Chelsea, but he may have to. Incidentally Dembele was injured last night, so Siggy may have to play anyway.
