Not sure who I fancy here, Tottenham's poor recent home form against city's dodgy away form. On paper it should be a dull game so we'll probably get a cracker...
Denmark's coach said he could be out for 4-6 weeks with ligament damage, before leaving the top half of a politician and the bottom half of a prostitute in the middle of a bridge.
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It will be interesting to see whether AVB has the gumption to take the game to City at The Etihad or play with a defensive set up looking to counter with pace out wide. I'm often surprised by how little homework opposition coaches do on City as the blueprint how to play against us is there for all to see in countless matches.If the opposition close us down quickly and crowd the space in between the midfield and forwards where Nasri and silva look to operate in,it's half the job done and playing quickly on the counter against our fairly pedestrian full backs is so easy it's alarming. However time and again we get teams fatally sitting behind the ball and allowing us to come on to them,there hasn't been one team who have successfully parked the bus in the last 3 seasons who have come away with even a draw,so it makes you wonder what's in the coaches minds at times Last time we played Spurs I felt it was the introduction of Holtby who turned the game as he stopped Yaya playing,it also helped that you had a world class goal machine in Bale as well though,I've not seen much of him this season,has he been injured or overlooked with all the new arrivals? The lack of goals has been constantly highlighted in the media,is this down to a more solid defensive structure or lots of missed opportunities? Defoe seems to score every time I see him play but never gets a look in for premier league games,something that Harry and AVB seem in agreement on it seems,find that a bit strange as the goals aren't flowing an outsider would expect him to get more opportunities or even the worlds laziest man Adebeyor if he can get his appetite back Think we will set up like this Pantilimon Zabaleta Demichellis Nastasic Clichy Fernandinho Milner Yaya Nasri Aguero Negredo
Good to see the site's best/only City fan is still here Not so sure the 2 actually go hand in hand, you can't counterattack if you're closing down quickly. We did both against Everton but in different halves and with varying degrees of success. Well obviously the results weren't that varied as we drew both halves 0-0 but in the first when we closed down quickly Everton couldn't get it out of there half but we didn't create much either and in the second they pushed forward and had a few chances whilst we countered and got a few chances. Every Tottenham fan has their own opinion on what's going wrong and how badly but I think it's a few different reasons. A lot of our games have been similar to yours against Sunderland(after they scored) where the ball's moved around in the opponents half for the majority of the game but there's very little created. The blame goes on a variety of things from new attacking players gelling together, being too cautious, inverted wingers and just AVB being a boring manager, depending on how optimistic you are. Against Newcastle there was definitely a change as we really went for it, played quicker and created a lot more chances but a mixture of their 'keeper having a blinder and some poor finishing on our side just about kept us out. Personally I thought it was one of our better performances, despite the loss. That was at home though and that's where our problems lie. Away from home I think we're very good, 1 goal conceded across all competitions is impressive no matter how weak you think the Europa opposition is. I think we'll look to line up similar to how we did against Everton. That means Holtby(although it sounds like Eriksen's out anyway) Sandro and Paulinho/Dembele/Capoue hunting down the ball as soon as we lose it and Walker and Vertonghen providing some extra width as well as pushing your wide players back, or trying to at least. The only change I'd make is playing normal wingers on the right side, it makes our attacking outlets quicker and less complicated, we don't want to be faffing around with a slower build up trying to work our inverted wingers into things against you guys. It also helps defensively as Lennon's really good at tracking back and Townsend's no worse than anyone else for defensive duties whilst Lamela, who many want to start, looks reluctant to do any chasing back. Sandro's probably our key player, when he's on the pitch we look so much more effective as he can pretty much do the job of 2 men in midfield breaking up play and he surprisingly injects a lot of thrust into our team going forward. When he plays it looks more like a 4141 rather than a 4231 as it frees up the other midfielder to get forward more, although with our fullbacks likely to want to get forward I think we should play 2 more defensive midfielders. I'd expect to see this, or similar: Lloris Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Vertonghen Sandro, Dembele Lennon, Holtby, Townsend Soldado Defoe might look good for his stats this season but Soldado scored for fun in the only Europa League game he played in and frankly Defoe hasn't looked all that good in our cup games recently. We've often said that Soldado's not getting the service he needs as a reason for not scoring many in the Premier League but recently I've felt like he needs to be more alert in the box, against Newcastle there were some great crosses played towards him but he looked a little slow to react. His support play is still really good though and that's why I don't think Defoe's getting into the team, As for Ade, the sooner he's gone the better, I feel stupid for sticking up for him last season, he's a **** and I'd rather we played Harry Kane than than let him back on the pitch in our colours. Anyway, how's the new manager doing for you guys? Seems a bit of a mixed bag for you too so far, I guess. Have to respect him for dropping Hart though, as I said at the time it's always good to see a boss be fair in those situations, you can't keep a player like Pantilimon happy on the bench if he knows that he's never going to get a chance unless the player infront of him is injured. Hope whichever 'keeper plays for you next week has a nightmare though
Expected it to be a mixed year as soon as I knew Pellegrini had his sights on playing a high line,I just don't see the calibre of players in the squad who can play it effectively week in week out. Injury to Kompany and not good enough back up has meant a constant a constant chopping and changing of personnel at the back,hardly the way to implement a new system but I understand it needed persevering with to get everyone on side with it.I don't think we'll be playing consistently until well into the new year when I expect the chances of a title challenge will be long gone,amazed we aren't further behind to be honest. Pellegrini seems to be watching different games to me away from home,he's keen to analyse the possession,corners & shots on target as the be all and end all At Sunderland it was Poyets game plan to let City have possession and they kept compact and narrow in between the lines,stopping us creating anything for Mannone to do and they were always going to get an opportunity to score Be an interesting game next week
I fancied you guys to win the league, to be honest. Champions League has clearly taken priority though so that's mission achieved so far. Sounds like we have similar managers with similar problems at the moment. We both play highlines so won't come across the same problems we've faced with sides defending deep and narrow, with numbers in this game and if it's anything like the last time we had a side play a highline against us(Arsenal, home) then it could become quite chaotic and throw out a few goals. I like to think there's a result in it for us if we play well but maybe I'm being optimisitc, most Spurs fans I know don't think we'll get anything.
A high line against Aguero would be suicide. Attack is the bets form of defence against City but I doubt AVB will do that. Providing City don't lose another game in 2013 I still think they're in a good position to win the league. Won't lose at home all season IMO, Bayern are class but nobody in this league is half as good as them.
If City are without Hart, Kompany and Silva, then Spurs have as good a chance as ever to beat them. But AVB will play too conservatively, IMO, yet City will get and take enough chances to win, say, 2-0.
We did everything except score last match and the lads were certainly trying so with a bit of luck we can convert those chances. We must attack them though. I can see us getting something out of this.
The only reason we wouldn't see more or less the team and tactics who did fairly well vs. Everton would be AVB's desire to be fan friendly, a trait which so far hasn't swept all before it. Considering that, the fact the game's away and only the result will matter to most fans... I like the idea of playing Dembele against the best teams. We've done much better than we used to against them, and his ability to provide possession and to intimidate really seem to help. Dembele-Sandro deserves a runout as well, considering how good it was last year. The non-inverted wingers is probably a good idea as well, and also one we won't see. Still, exactly the team and tactics as vs. Eveton makes sense, on the face of it. COYS!
I'd drop Dawson and play Kaboul/Chiriches at CB. Chiriches doesn't get caught out by the high line and turn of pace as much. Vertonghen has to play LB otherwise Jesus Navas will have a field day.
Disagree. Nasri looks like a world beater when Silva isn't in the team. At the moment Pantillimon is also in better form than Hart. Kompany is the only big loss IMO but that won't matter if AVB sets his stool out as we expect.
