My thoughts on the last 3 games:- I suspected we would lose to Liverpool by a goal with Sewerage falling over sometime in the game. I thought we might hold Inter to a goal. I NEW we would scrape by Fulham by a couple of goals........... Oh well.I've been a Spurs fan for at least 50 years and they still surprise me.Why am I surprised. I honestly would like to be standing at the bar next to Martin this evening........
Agree notso we are all a bit techy after a game like that. We should know by now that Spurs will always surprise us and drop points where we don't expect and no doubt win some we don't expect as well. If this is our blip ok, but I just don't want to see a repeat of last season. At least there are a couple of weeks to get their heads in order.
"I honestly would like to be standing at the bar next to Martin this evening" SSN before the game, showed him walking into WHL beaming and with his head held high. And so he should, because in my opinion, where we are now, was started by Martin Jol. I was pleased our crowd sang his name again today, he deserves our appreciation. Top bloke.
I was watching Lambert run his butt off for Southampton with total menace.....and then I thought of our front two......
Ade ran his butt off alright - just with little of the menace!! Defoe came on, didn't seem to run too much, but at least created some menace (well twice anyway.......) then Dempsey came on, did **** all and had NONE of the menace!!
The three results may be viewed as a Blip, if we want to remain positive, but in terms of performances and issues within the team, since the 1-1 agaisnt Man Utd, our general play has been fairly poor, especially the passing (although thats been a concern all season), and my main worry, is that now we take out the luck/bales individual brilliance, the results will suffer at the most important stage of the season. This is where Villas Boas shows us if he is a "potential tactical genius" (edited for YV ) as currently in the previous two games he has made extremely strange decisions, and that is a concern, as usually when managers are unsure, it reflects in their team line up. Anyhow, swansea away is now a huge game, lose that and we have given the goons the upper hand, not just in points but they have retaken the mental battle and we go from favourites for 3rd, to struggling to finish 4th.
I met the guy once, O.S. my brother knows him well as he lives in Waalwijk, where Jol was manager. My brother arranged some tickets for me through him. When I went to pick them up at WHL, he came down personally to say hello and ask how my brother was. He didn't have to do that. So yes, top bloke.
As you know, he's not my favourite person, but it really did my head in when Schwartzer took the piss out of him. That's when Ade sprinted off the pitch to retrieve the ball and placed it for Schwartzer's goal kick. Schwartzer looked at him, picked it up and walked to the other side of his box and placed it there. Gamesmanship I know, I did it myself when I played, but the last time I saw a keeper at the Lane waste as much as time as Schwartzer did today, was Marcus Hahnemann for Wolves about 4 years ago.
hope he continues to do well for them (just not against us!)...was fantastic for us ... we'd been **** for the better part of a decade in the league before he turned things round. I did not think we should have got rid of him but I know others did which is fair enough but none of us have ever really understood how the club treated so poorly at the end.
Acually Boss if he was a genius then he would make decisions that nobody else understands wouldn't he. Otherwise we would all be genius's.
The report says we were knackered after Thursday's match which I thought would be the case and a Euro hangover. Ex player scores against us again. I don't think it's a case of here we go again it's a case of wait and see.
HA thats one way of looking at it! So he has the decisions that nobody understands, if he can turn that into results at the most important stage of the season then I may have to give him the benefit of the doubt!
Agree - but frankly we could have played til midnight and would have only scored if Fulham just fell asleep with boredom!! (And I certainly would not have lasted that long....)
Normally I'd be pee'd off at an Int break as you lose momentum, well this momentum...backwards!, needs breaking.
Today just had Wigan Part 2 all over it. A completely non-committed performance from the players and I also think the manager royally ****ed up today (and Thursday) with his selections, tactics and subs. The Inter game took it's toll on us I think, first off the performance (and result in my opinion) could've been avoided had AVB not chosen to go with a ridiculous high line, with 2 DM's and a slow keeper. I said from the start to my mates I could see trouble, albeit didn't expect it on that magnititude but it just looked wrong. So by having the likes of Dembele, Parker, Vertonghen etc play 120 minutes wasn't ideal. Then today, I thought playing Benny left wing was bizarre, I know he has a great cross on him (at times) but he's not a player you want playing in that sort of position. Personally I'd have either started Dempsey and played him in the centre, with Bale right and Siggy left OR just played Defoe and gone 4-4-2. I also thought subbing Mousa was a bad move (though Tommy Carroll was probably our best player... Which really does say it all), admittedly he wasn't setting the game alight but when we're chasing a goal, for me, the logical decision would've been to take Parker off as in all fairness, we had 90% of the play but just done jack with it so the need for a DM was pretty much redundant, plus Parker looked so sluggish (fatigued from Inter I suspect) that he should have been subbed regardless in my opinion. Was happy Naughton got a chance on the right though and I think bar a few wayward passes (which all our players done) he had a "decent" game. Made two fine challenges to prevent a dangerous cross and a potential through ball, a far more assured performance than Walker in my opinion. Overall though it was obvious this was going to happen, we're Spurs for God sake, when do we ever make things easy?! The international break is actually a welcome distraction and hopefully Andre gives them a massive kick up the arse and gets them focused and determined to get a top 4 finish. For the record, this isn't just "another excuse to have a dig at AVB", I won't deny the fact I was sceptical of his appointment and even up to this present moment I still question whether he's truly better than Harry but he has impressed me a hell of a lot this season and I have confidence in him now that I never had months ago, but fact of the matter is the last two games have been low points for him I feel, they've mirrored performances of our first few games of the season, here's hoping the break and time will allow him to work some much needed magic.
Also, on another note, I had the distinct unpleasure of sitting near - and I apologise for using this word to a Spurs fan but it's justified - an absolute ****. Throughout the WHOLE 90 minutes, he constantly booed Ade, called him a **** over 100 times and was then singing the disgraceful song Arsenal fans chanted last season of "it should have been you" (in regards to the events in Africa with the Togo shooting), I wanted to say something but unfortunately I've been warned by stewards in the past for being "verbally abusive and intimidating" so the last thing I wanted was to cause trouble and potentially be ejected but this guy was a prick and no true fan. I'll admit to anyone I don't want to see Ade start in a Spurs shirt for the foreseeable future but to constantly boo and shout the **** this guy did at one of our own players was an utter disgrace and I was ashamed to call him a fellow yid. I should have reported him (I'm too lazy to go through with that sort of complaint process), hopefully someone did but sitting in Park Lane, I highly doubt that as most don't give a toss, he did get some looks and I THINK one Spurs fan did have a go but it didn't stop him. Was anyone else in Park Lane today that heard him (block 35)? He was in a beige coat, with a black baseball cap, I think he had a Manchester accent (plastic fan?) and I've never seen him at the Lane before in my 8 or so years but guys like him should just stay away from games, not only is it a waste for him but it spoils it for others to hear such bullshit.
