Right I'll start with our performance which frankly I've been avoiding talking about. Terrible first half and not much better in the second. Sandro joining the list of injuries didn't help but we lacked any real shape all game and only succeeded in creating a handful of chances despite having more of the ball. It's a surprise we had more of the possession considering we seemed so eager to get rid of it. I hope AVB gets right into them after that. No complaint about the result as we didn't deserve anything but Atkinson is without doubt the worst ref in the league.
Even then it's only for violent conduct you get 3. I think SpursGuru was thinking we're playing you next weekend though.
I think we're back to "Defoe can't play up front on his own" territory again, aren't we? Nobody's made the van der Vaart role their own yet, so I think we could do with switching back to a 4-4-2, even if it means that we risk getting overrun in midfield. If Sandro's missing for any length of time though, then we're pretty ****ed, especially if Livermore doesn't recover and/or Parker's injury doesn't progress well. Thursday's now an extremely important game. We need to put in a real performance and do it for 90 bloody minutes. That was awful today, so I expect a reaction from the players and Villas-Boas to put a boot up a few arses.
Totally agree KH. I've not seen the game so I'm not going to comment on the subs and how it affected us, but I feel for AVB. Even if the subs didnt make sense,I don't know what I'd do in his position so im not going to criticise. Not only has he not got who he needed in the summer, but some of the signings we made have been really poor and let us down. I don't think a formation change would even help that. They are just off form. Then there's injuries that haven't helped. However those injuries (other than dembele) are not injuries that have really affected the midfield. Yes we miss Scott, but he isn't a creative player. It just shows how short of playmaker options we are and still will be, even when he and dembele are back.
I understand the idea behind the preferred formation, a lot of of the top teams play it and are successful, but it needs a creative player as one of the holding 2, in my opinion (or at least we do). Also, I still like us going with two out and out strikers, especially at home in games like today...and especially when you are losing 1-0 with time running out. Strange (or, you could argue, negative) substitutions and lack of flexibility are weaknesses right now, and it cost us today (and in midweek). Credit to Wigan though, we didn't deserve even a point today.
If he doesn't rate Huddlestone and wants a playmaker in the side, then why not start Carroll or even get Luongo back and put him in? They might struggle a bit at first, but we don't have any other sensible options. The same applies to our striking situation. I don't rate Croydon's best mate Obika, but if we don't have any other proper strikers, then give the kid a chance. We really didn't balanced our squad out properly in the last window and did too many deals late on. It's happening far too often and we don't seem to be learning from our mistakes. We made some great moves (Lloris, Dembele, Vertonghen and even Adebayor), but having a settled side that are ready for the campaign is very important. I don't understand why Levy hasn't noticed this.
Sandro has been one of our best players this season who has put his heart and soul into every game. If he's out for even 1 game, I don't know what we'll do, as things currently stand. I'm still of the opinion that a youngster or 2 need a decent run out, such as Falque. We have been woeful centrally. I can't see how it can get any worse by playing bale centrally to try something that might work. It clearly isn't at the moment, and by the sounds of things it was ANOTHER awful performance from both Dempsey and sig. Drop them. There's other players fighting for a game.
I'm sure he has pnp, but it's how we get "good deals". Yes we get good prices, but it ****s us over with the squad every season. - but that's a whole different conversation. Winds me up every summer.
I keep thinking about our Man U win and how it counts for **** all. Typical. Just need to convince Modric to come back somehow (in my dreams). Yes, I would take the rat back. I'd even take Downing (no I ****ing wouldn't in a million years!)
RIP Spurs. (Rest in pieces.) As I've already said.We ain't going to win the league,or anywhere near it. But I'd love to see the Wigan manager win it!!!!!
We won't win the league unfortunately. But we could be challenging. We are better team than we showed today. Not sure if we just expected to win. I can't help thinking we just aren't setting ourselves up in the best way.
Spurs always had a history of driving fans up the pole against lower teams. Can't say Wigan didn't deserve it but it was a stupid goal to give away although Friedel saved several dead certs. Perhaps someone can give Defoe a good book to read while he's on the field!
Hard for him on his own though, the pass into him has to be perfect. I think he's better off with another striker with him...but I know that's a discussion that's been done many times before...
