I think its important to be as negative as possible when we have just won. "There's always a downside" that's my motto! Here is my bullet points for commenting on Spurs: > Not much going on: find something to criticise. > Spurs lose: full on criticism. > Spurs win: look a bit harder for something to criticise. > Other teams win despite playing badly: give reluctant praise for grinding out results. > Spurs win despite playing badly: point out that we have been lucky and that it will all come crashing down soon. > Look at my glass and notice it is about half full: describe how bad it will be without anything in it at all.
I think the last two matches have seen... 1. Us playing better in terms of attacking 2. Seen a better tempo 3. Have seen us battle and dig in Imo sunday and tonights matches were good to watch if you were a neutral...that is an improvement Lennon has added balance to the side, walker has been playing well, chiriches has settled well, holtby has put in some good performances, sandro has made a good come back, our away form is pretty good (apart from city match) But most of all we are beginning to score and that confidence will hopefully flow through the team So all in all I am much happier than before...
PNP I would guess that Holtby is refering to the loss at City as well as the press. I see a lot of doom and gloom on here from the usual suspects, mostly the Redknapp groupies. personally I don't think things are getting worse despite the stubboness of AVB and his questionable tactics. Lamella is starting to feel more at home and Holtby too. Lennon is back and making a real difference, I'm sure in the end it will dawn on AVB that he is quite good on the right. We live in hope.
I'm glad someone else was watching the same games I saw. So many, including me, criticized the dull football. We play an entertaining couple of open games, and I seem to be one of the few who thinks, hey, much better. Disjointed, sloppy and poor at times, but ambitious and fun for a neutral. I like it.
Could we solve the left back position by telling Harry we need his left back here at The Lane......and send Naughton in exchange!?
From a Redknapp groupie to our Laconic (in quality football terms) loyal Levites comrades, any sense of true progression on that performance ? More "one flew over the cuckoo nest"
It has improved a bit, yes. But could it have got any worse?! The stuff RCL has mentioned are elements we should expect from the players we've got. We shouldn't be feeling lucky or happy that the tempo has improved. We're clutching at straws if we're using that as a reason for feeling more satisfied. The best thing about tottenham hotspur at the moment is Vlad Chiriches.
I was sat behind the goal and I am certain the ball took a touch of Defoe's studs. Certainly the keeper was distracted by Defoe's presence and he did look as if he "must" have been offside.
Don't know if it was shown on the link you were watching, but there was a time in the first half when Dawson bollocked Verts for being slow getting back. Vertonghen just shrugged his shoulders and pointed his finger at someone else. I am no expert on body language but I do agree with you that his is not good on occasions. I actually thought he was poor last night.
A bitterly cold night down by the Thames and at the end of the season, that could turn out to be a big 3 points. I thought the home side were well worth a draw and a couple of great saves from Lloris and two great strikes prevented them from getting one. Great to see Holtby rewarded for all his extra shooting practice, but the reality is he got his manager out of jail there. On the terraces, here had been much vocal support for Villas Boas, but with the clock running down, the mood was changing. Frankly, we looked as of we were going to get nothing and the Spurs fans had even resorted to a rendition of the Martin Jol "he's got no hair" song. Just as the abuse started to go up a gear when Chiriches scored and from then onwards we sensed a victory and the mood was positive again. Even then the players were slapdash at times and again needed Lloris to rescue us. The scenes at the end suggested the players are still (mostly) with AVB, but there is clearly much work to do and realistically a complete review of the way he sets us out to play. If they continue to perform like last night, then Fulham will surely stay up, but they will need more performances from Berbatov like he showed in this game. He was class throughout and when in this mood, is still a class act.
Chiriches has undoubtedly settled in well. Have to say, he still looks a little too flat footed for my liking which I think over time might well make him suspect in the air. He got caught a few times last night, but in fairness to him, Dawson probably got caught more times than him, but overall he has made a decent start to his career with us. .
Think it's fair to say we got away with that one, felt Fulham more than deserved a point and in some way actually felt a little sorry for them. You could see they put a real shift in and after the final whistle looked devastated. Thought Dawson and Vertonghen were very poor at the back, as was Capoue in the centre along with another misfiring striker up top (we might as we go 4-6-0). Delighted for Vlad, he's made a great start to his career and the goal was just reward for what is definitely our best summer signing now in my opinion. Really happy for Holtby too, I'm not his biggest fan and thought bar his goal he didn't contribute much bar the cross to Paulinho where Stekelenberg made an awesome save but it's always nice to see a player score his first goal for a club in important circumstances. MOTM for me was Lloris, some tremendous saves to keep Fulham at bay and us in the game. We really must improve though, 3 points is 3 points but that was up there with some of our poorest football at times. Amount of misplaced passes was awful.
Talking of left backs, found this on facebook Benny being a real yiddo! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...468.1073741862.375933012477555&type=1&theater
AVB's system is surely designed to keep possession and win the ball back quickly when it is lost. Are you really saying that our players are likely to do better without the ball? What is this system that will 'suit' our players more and what is special about our group of players which means that AVB's system doesn't work?
"I was sat behind the goal and I am certain the ball took a touch of Defoe's studs. Certainly the keeper was distracted by Defoe's presence and he did look as if he "must" have been offside." From the TV angle it looked like a deflection. Slo-mo not so much, but Defoe was definitely offside and as the commentators said you saw the GK briefly move as if to go out towards Defoe, So again ironic that for one of the most obvious offside queries involving Defoe, it wasn't given.
"Benny being a real yiddo!" This is a real issue now. With Rose still out (til God knows when) , Vert looking visiblly more p***ed off at being LB cover, and Fryers not trusted, if BAE is going to stop the off-pitch antics then AVB must recall him in the next transfer window.
An attacking one based on flair and creativity in order to give defences a tough time, not a rigid one based on side wards passing possession and worrying more about conceding than scoring. Why buy the likes of Lamela, Chadli and Eriksen who flourished in more attacking and creative set ups only to deploy them in a more rigid, less expressive system that so far has clearly not suited them?
That doesn't answer my question. Are you really saying that losing the ball more often will work better? What we actually need is to play more decisive passes in the current system but that will only come with time as the new players get used to each other
Well against United we saw less of the ball than we've had all season and we created far more chances. We look much better when we keep things simple and have a winger(s) breaking and getting down the flanks, it helps us stretch their defence and create chances. When we started the Fulham game we had inverted wingers, passed the ball slowly and had the same problems. A highline makes you more vulnerable to the counterattack and that's fine if you're creating good chances at the other end but we're not. My problem with it is that it makes it too easy for other teams to get the better of us because there's such a simple way of stopping us not matter how good your team is. Sit deep have the midfield press in the defending half and counter. It works in other leagues and with other teams but we can't stay so bling to the fact that in the Premier League, with this team it isn't working. I don't care if he wants to revisit it later but at the moment we look far more dangerous when we attack quickly and use an orthodox winger and at the moment we need goals and points so we need to stick with it.
