Now I remember why I go to the Lane. Great atmosphere at last. Disappointed at most of the players just going off without thanking the supporters. Danny was first and then Harry came off the bench to thank us but where was the captain for the night?
In fairness, Vorm, Stambouli, Rose, Dembele and Kane applauded us in Park Lane, agree though about Jan, can't say I remember him giving any acknowledgement.
I've always felt Rose gets too much stick on here. He's an exciting player on his day and does have nightmare moments but he always cares and works hard.
You are just re-enforcing what I said. that is four players who were on the pitch at the final whistle- and I too was in park lane.
If we’re spending millions on players, surely a season ticket for RCL would be a sensible investment. The last 1 1/2 weeks are a great example of the roller coaster ride of a season. The weekend before last, Newcastle were on cloud 9, having ruined Chelsea’s unbeaten season, and we were thoroughly discouraged after a loss which somehow ended up a draw on the scoreboard. Now they’ve taken consecutive hammerings from the North London side and the one from Woolwich, and are trying to avoid having to play child in goal in the Tyne-Wear Derby, and we’ve got a League One side in the semifinals of a cup. More importantly, to me, for the first time in a while we have a team that played the way a Spurs team should play. I really like Eriksen in the middle. He actually missed almost all of his key passes by a foot or two. But he was so valuable for almost always making good decisions, rarely losing the ball, and keeping defenders on the back foot. I also ought to give Pochettino some credit, considering I’ve criticized him extensively. His rotation policy looks very well judged at the moment. He has the team playing attractively at times and scoring goals. Our high scorer in all comps last year was Ade, with 14. Kane has 13 in 1/3 of a season, and Eriksen and Chadli are on pace for 16 or so each. I still think the high line causes us to be very shaky defensively, but the fact is we’ve only conceded once in three games. A big mistake may have been playing a weak preseason schedule. The team got overconfident. Then when we lost badly to Liverpool, all that confidence drained away, and may only just have returned. We might have stayed on an evener keel if we played a couple of strong teams before the season started.
Spot on all the way through rwaeb. I'm not getting carried away yet though as last night's spree might have been a one off and yes, credit to Poch, perhaps the Southampton connection is going to work again for us. Spurs v Burnley matches have been high scorers in the past and I hope that trend will continue.
Prehaps Brad is right abour Dec & Jan and we are starting to get M.P's tactics through the team,slowly,it seems like one step forward and then one backwards,but the signs are encouraging
Sadly I'm driving away for Christmas on Saturday so won't see the match. I prefer Spurs to Xmas any day.
Lets not count our chickens. If we can go on a little mini-run til the end of the year then maybe we can say we've turned a corner. Utd will be a big test but even if we lose to them and beat the rest then we'll be in a pretty good spot for 2015
My 10 year old now has a 100% record watching Spurs. Also when he's done so we've never conceded and never scored less than four! Wish I could say the same. The only record I can now boast is that this was the first time I've ever been in the West Stand, so I'll claim 100% for that. To be honest I haven't been for a very long time - it's just too expensive for me - and the vast majority of my games have been standing (yes standing) in Paxton or the Shelf. Really enjoyed the game and it was a great atmosphere. Kudos to the Newcastle supporters for singing throughout. Was also worried at the start of the match that Sissoko (sp?) would tear us apart, but he faded. But when he's good he looks really really good. Liked Kane's all round contribution. Lamela looks really good while warming up.
Does anyone else think Vorm actually works well in in this team? His distribution is much better than Lloris'
Someone else mentioned how young the team/squad is right now. And was I imagining things or did one commentator say, a couple of games ago or so, that we had the youngest ever team (or squad?) in Premier League history?! Thinking about it all the "veterans" are pretty much around the 27ish range (?) and we have a lot of players like Bentaleb, Rose, Townsend, Mason, Bentaleb and Kane who, despite being relatively experienced are still very young. Eriksen's only 22! Great performance and result today. Lots of encouraging signs for us. Keepers: Lloris and Vorm. Fine. Defence: Whether he's right or wrong about the Verts/Fazio pairing at least we are getting a settled back four. Fazio was captain at Seville and they were gutted to see him go so he must have something. Most centre-backs look dodgy now and again - especially when they come to a new league. Ledley was a freak. Davies is looking more settled and Rose is very adequate cover. Plus Walker's back. I even don't mind Naughton that much at RB. Best position for Chiriches, I think. Would much rather have him at RB and Dier at CB, say (not having seen Dier at CB but he just looks like less of a twat in general, really). Midfield: Bentaleb has really offered us something since he's been back, Stambouli looks interesting, Mason was very good at the start of the season (though needs a break now I reckon) and is a very handy addition to the squad. Plus I STILL think that Lamela is improving. Slowly. I think he should only be a sub but he's got more muscle and intent about him this season. Can't pass, shoot or go past people yet but it just might come! Alright - I'm clutching at straws regarding our midfield. Eriksen's our only really, really good player, attacking-wise, in all our midfield options. Chadli can wallop them in but still I don't see the technical craft that you see in a proper player. Up front: I'm starting to see the biggest problem with the transfer window being how to buy a striker without damaging Harry Kane's progress. I think he is absolutely our number one striker and fully deserves it. Like Mason I don't get the impression that he's blessed with superb skill or pace or anything but he's got just enough pace, just enough skill and really knows what to do with it. The opposite of Dembele or Lamela, say. Seems to have a real footballing brain and his finish today, whilst nothing that special, just showed how he's grown as a goalscorer. A touch to control the ball and turn, one to get it out from under his feet then a cool finish with his weaker foot. I'll hold my hand up and say that I saw nothing much about him during his first few games for the first team, then I thought he looked handy outside the box and he was a big lad with not terrible technique and not the best finisher. Now he's decided that he loves running at defenders and is a goal-machine! Definitely Prem quality and who knows how good he could get if he grows with the team? Anyone who watched him in the youth teams think he's changed or has he just caught up with the Prem? So easy to forget that he only turned 21 end of July.
I think Kane has grown immensely. Both in confidence and stature. He isn't the most technically gifted forward you'll ever see, but he knows where the goal is, and that's any striker's best asset.
"Anyone who watched him in the youth teams think he's changed or has he just caught up with the Prem? So easy to forget that he only turned 21 end of July." The PL has caught up with him. He is doing nothing for the seniors that he wasn't doing for the U21s. Which I wish I could say the same for Townsend since his England forays. IMHO the progression into the seniors has been well-paced, and with neither hype nor expectation pressure. Just as it should be for the Academy journey. To put it into perspective, if Spurs recalled Carroll and Pritchard, then a lineup with Kane/Townsend/Carroll/Pritchard/Mason is effectively half of the teams that laid waste to the U21 league in 2012-13.
It really is quite astonishing how young our team is, right now if we looked at what would be the strongest XI at the moment in terms of form (Ok so I'll include Walker who's just returned), only four of our players are over 25! Lloris, Verts, Fazio and Lennon. Davies is 21, Walker 24, Bentaleb 20, Mason 23, Chadli 25, Eriksen 22, Kane 21. It makes me realise that sometimes my criticism can be a bit harsh on players, that's not saying that some of the performances we've seen over the past 18 months can be fully excused because they can't but it somewhat reminds you that there is a lot more developing and learning to be done, which is fantastic when you think about it because despite an inexperienced side, we're still in the mix fighting for a top 4 position and if Poch can begin getting them to gel (signs in recent matches have been encouraging) then we can look forward to an exciting era under Poch. It's fair to say that as a team we're not even at 50% to what it can reach in terms of playing level, so the scope for improvement is massive. Like you say, keepers are fine, in Lloris we have one of the world's best and I really don't think you'll find many back up keepers in Europe who are better than Vorm, technically is a first team keeper and I'm still surprised he agreed to join us knowing he'd be a number 2, his performance last night showed what a fine keeper he is. Defence looks like it may finally be a settled one, Jan and Fede have started 4 of the last 5 games together and even though both have had a few dodgy moments, there are signs of a half decent partnership in the making. Individually both are of a good calibre, Jan was captain of an exciting Ajax team and got into TOTY in his first year with us where as Fede captained Sevilla to the Europa League last season, so both have that strong, winning pedigree. Davies is developing game by game and has a great fight on his hands with Rose for the LB spot and Walker returning is great for us seeing as we've struggled at RB with form and suspensions. A new CB should be chased though I think, even if it's to add competition to Jan and Fede because Kaboul and Chiriches just aren't good enough right now. Midfield we could probably do with a new CM in my opinion to partner Nabil. Nabil has been fantastic and at 20 years old his future can be fantastic. Mason came into the side a man on a mission and looked great but has played a lot of games after having his pre-season cut short by injury so it's fair to say he may be feeling the effects of being thrust into the first team fold and not being 100% fit. Dembele and Paulinho just aren't pulling their weight, by rights these two should probably be our first team pairing but neither take enough control of matches and are being outshone by two younger players who have roughly a combined 35 first team appearances between them, I'd be willing to let both leave without much hesitation, a shame though as they are top class players on their day. Capoue keeps getting niggling injuries, he seemed a very good rival turned replacement for Sandro yet seems to be following Sandro in terms of constant injuries, which is a worry. Stambouli actually deserves more game time in my opinion, every time I've seen him play he's barely done much wrong, maybe Poch feels it's best to ease him into the first team fold. A new RW could be handy, Lennon has struggled for fitness in recent seasons and does go through patches of good and average form though his work rate is always superb. Lamela seems to have regressed since the start of the season where things were looking promising, being a young player I can revert back to my earlier point of having time to improve but the problem for Erik is that he has a huge price tag above his head and thus a lot of expectation, which up to now, he hasn't really delivered on. Chadli is doing fine, he's bringing his Twente goal scoring form which is great and even if he doesn't take control of matches like he can, the goals he's scoring are vital and that alone justifies his place I feel. Eriksen is just sheer class, though as me and Roo said years before he joined us we knew he would be . ST situation is a tough one now because Kane is proving on current form he's good enough to lead the line and is matching (in terms of goals in all comps) the best strikers playing in England (and probably Europe). Ade and Soldado haven't done enough, both are very experienced with an international pedigree and neither should have really found themselves behind a 21 year old. Like Paulinho and Dembele, both these guys haven't pulled their weight and taken control of the game and I'd be willing to sell if adequate cover can be brought in. Up until a couple of weeks ago I'd have said lets go for a Bony/ Martinez/ Benteke etc but with Kane in the form he is, he's playing at that sort of level to what we'd have to pay £20m+ for so perhaps we should look at strikers who can come in and keep Harry on his toes but won't be taking away Harry's chances of game time. We could do with a Remy/ Long type signing, NOT those exact guys but players of that ilk, who have Prem experience and can come off the bench and add something to the team. Looking around in the League at the moment, players like Ings or Austin would be good buys or maybe even look at some of the top Championship strikers; Britt Assombalonga looks like a very good striker in the making, as does Callum Wilson or even Troy Deeney who's been a consistent goal scorer for a number of seasons now, the likes of Ings, Austin and Ulloa have all shown that they can make the leap up from Championship level and I don't see why many others can't follow suit. Bloody hell I've wrote a f**ing essay here!
"Bloody hell I've wrote a f**ing essay here!" Grade F for that one (the old fatal flaw - never mind the quality, feel the thickness ) .
Full game and/or extended highlights: http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/tottenham-vs-newcastle-full-match/
Vorm's been mentioned a few times on here today and I think he deserves it. Nothing spectacular, but he didn't do anything wrong and distributed the ball well. When you look at some of the other sides' options in goal, like Liverpool or Newcastle, then we've definitely got an embarrassment of riches in that position. Vorm v Brad Jones isn't much of a competition, in my opinion. Vorm v Mignolet goes the way of the Dutchman too, for me.
