Can't negate Bale by trying to block the wide threat as he is just as good cutting inside and scoring.
same as last time we played them Qwerty... no Niemi and a young Paul Smith in goal. Everyone expected a tonking and I had Nigel Quashie as first goal scorer that day!!
I don't think we can afford to get too bogged down defensively. With those wide (even if they were fit) we'd just be inviting pressure and we don't need that. Along your lines with Puncheon/Guly/Mayuka/Rodriguez wide would be more appeopriate, especially at home. We could do worse than the tight 3 in midfield thaf we used against Man U, but ultimately we need to assert ourselves to stand a chance of getting anything. We don't do backs to the wall and trying it with our defence wouldn't be pretty.
I have a hunch we will see JWP playing and possibly another youngster who may be able to play without fear such as Reeves.
I honestly don't know why people are predicting Spurs to thrash us. We are a lot better at home than away and we ran Man Utd and City very close and should have at least drawn the United game.
I like the way Reeves plays, OK he looks about 12 years old but he has a quick brain, passes and then looks for the return. All the acadamy players play games in different positions which may screw our chances of winning any acadamy leagues but does result in players that are not only really flexible in what positions they play but they also understand what other players are looking for. Reeves plays LB, LM CM and as no10, Shaw plays LB,LM and has even played RM. I think when the team has 3 or4 acadamy players in it, we will see a different level of understanding.
Bollocks to defence. Attack! Attack! Attack! _____________Gazza___________ Puncheon__Schneiderlin__Davis__Reeves Guly___Mayuka___JWP___Lallana __________Rodriguez___________ _________Lambert_____________ Sorry about the crap diagram! Attack!
We have been scoring goals, but we lack that threat or cutting edge. Personnally I would play Mayuka instead of Punch, Punch has played better than I gave him credit for but as an attacking force he has been poor. 1 very duvious deflected goal but with no assists and no real threat which allows the opposition left back a free rein to double up on our right back. Bale would have to think twice before galloping forward as Mayuka has the speed and the quality of finishing to make him pay for every metre of space that he is given.
Bale jr news - http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2915/europa-league/2012/10/24/3475224/-? seems like he will probably play against us. Also other Spurs injury updates (they probably won't be depending on an out of position CB though).
Bale, Adebayor, Dembele and Friedel haven't travelled with Spurs for their Europe League game against Maribor. Most worrying thing for me is Adebayor, if AVB didn't intend to play him against us he would happily have let him have a run out in Slovenia, unless he is, hopefully, injured. I think we can deal with Defoe, well better than Adebayor, the thing we've struggled most with is balls into the box and with Defoe playing there wouldn't be many and they wouldn't accomplish much. But Adebayor's combined threat of height, power and technique can make him a big threat on his day. So hopefully he's either crocked for a game, not playing, or he will play and have one of his off days, because I fear for us if he's fit and firing. Bale I don't think it matters either way he if he played because he's got an engine so would be fresh regardless. Personally if Defoe is on his own up top I'd be more than happy for them to run up and down the wings as much as possible. Unless we get really cut open the crossing threat would be minimal, so their only option would be cutting inside and that would just require some discipline from our midfield. I mentioned on the other thread that I want us to play an out-and-out 4-3-3 with Mayuka, Lambert and Puncheon up top and then Lallana as the slightly more attacking of a midfield three of him, Davis and Schneiderlin. Going forward I think this would provide a good threat, if we maintain a presence at the top of the pitch, we can quell the attacking abilities of their full-backs by forcing them to stay home, Mayuka and Puncheon would stay out wide and Lambert would drop off to receive the ball and link with Lallana, dragging CBs with him and opening room in the channels for Mayuka and Puncheon. When we were out of possession, Mayuka, Puncheon, and less so Rickie would press high and harass Spurs to disrupt their possession, whilst the others would sit in a banks of 4 and 3. Schneiderlin would sit in front of our CBs and be responsible for whoever is playing off of Defoe, whilst Lallana and Davis would sit on the left and right respectively and be responsible for any wide threats cutting inside. The front three would only track back to no further than the centre circle and give us a constant attacking presence, I mean, we're at home after all!
I'm anticipating a defeat, but I'll reserve judgement on what I think the score will be until the injury situation is clearer. If we have to play Yoshida at full back again, it could be a hammering. And the subsequent pressure on Adkins would probably be too much.
