Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Sheffield United, 1st leg

[The Mighty Thor]

Vimhawk, I continued by saying that that's a load of bunk, see it there?

 

[Spurm]

He's Vice Captain. If the Captain or other Vice Captain isn't playing then he's Captain, I think it's as simple as that. People may be reading too much into it, and it's certainly not a "weak" reason.

I think we will go through in this tie, though SU played really well I thought. I don't think they sat back as much as I thought they would, and their right winger was really good. They may get carried away at their place and enable us to hit them on the counter. I don't think they had a shot on target though did they? Not exactly the evidence to suggest we will lose 3-1 eh TMT ;-)

No official shot on target but a punt from their keeper was going in had Vorm not made a very simple catch

 

[yidokev]

i was very disappointed with the response after the goal, we seemed to accept a 1-0 rather than going for another, at one point Vorm was actually telling the players to slow down and he held the ball to timewaste. I don't think they realise what its going to be like next week, it will be a red hot atmosphere and we will be under the cosh for a long time, eventually the pressure could tell (you know what we're like when trying to defend a lead). very worried, shocking really when you consider who we're playing.

 

[The Mighty Thor]

We'll do it yido.

 

[totsfan]

It seems that M.P. Very much goes by what he sees in training. As Danny Rose has said, under this coach, if you don't train hard, you don't play. I can only assume that Ade has been putting in the work on the training ground and M.P. Thought he warranted a look at.

I thik it was because he goals have come at WHL,as opposed to away games,this season

 

[yidokev]

We'll do it yido.

wish I could share your optimism. they're gunna turn it into a battle and im not sure we've got the players to cope with it.

 

[O.Spurcat]

i was very disappointed with the response after the goal, we seemed to accept a 1-0 rather than going for another, at one point Vorm was actually telling the players to slow down and he held the ball to timewaste. I don't think they realise what its going to be like next week, it will be a red hot atmosphere and we will be under the cosh for a long time, eventually the pressure could tell (you know what we're like when trying to defend a lead). very worried, shocking really when you consider who we're playing.

Vorm's time wasting last night was embarrassing, but nothing like as embarrassing as Poch's choice of captain. An insult to all associated with our club.

 

[The Huddlefro]

Pochettino's worst decision at the club has been appointing Ade and Kaboul to their positions of power ad influence IMO, particularly the former. Hopefully they will both be gone asap, before we are backed into a corner with one of them 'having' to captain the team due to 'club protocol' or whatever ahead of a more deserving and appropriate candidate.

As to the second leg, I'd be more worried about them coming to us if we had a 1-0 lead. This way at Bramall Lane they're going to have to come at us and that will work to our favour. Players like Kane and Mason will be well up for it even if it gets physical, as will Stambouli I reckon. I think we have enough to deal with them and exploit the spaces they will leave if they come at us.

 

[bigsmithy9]

I think Cloughie will have them running like rabbits after us and the ball all match long,hoping for a mess up.....now when was the last time we messed up............?

 

[remembercolinlee]

Forgive me if it has already been mentioned but they had some right ****er fans trying to get into fights outside the ground...horrible ****ers who seemed to delight in scaring the **** outta people. I went with my 17 yr old daughter who has been going to the lane since she was 6 and has never been scared before. The massive majority of them were cool but some were real scummy types.
Also ... why have none of the media cottoned on to ade slagging the fans off back in early November being the reason that some boo him? I want him gone but did not and would not boo but for the media not to understand the problem is pure laziness in my opinion

 

[redwhiteandermblue]

No doubt they’ll be up for it, and we might lose. That’s the nature of sport, and why we find it interesting. If we do, we’ll almost certainly deserve to. If our team or any other team wants to win things, we have to display character and rise to occasions, whether it’s beating a top team or overcoming a spirited underdog who’s up for it. Spurs have not done enough of that in some time. There’s some hope it may be changing. We’ll see.

 

[No Kane No Gain]

Forgive me if it has already been mentioned but they had some right ****er fans trying to get into fights outside the ground...horrible ****ers who seemed to delight in scaring the **** outta people. I went with my 17 yr old daughter who has been going to the lane since she was 6 and has never been scared before. The massive majority of them were cool but some were real scummy types.
Also ... why have none of the media cottoned on to ade slagging the fans off back in early November being the reason that some boo him? I want him gone but did not and would not boo but for the media not to understand the problem is pure laziness in my opinion

Didn't go but that's the first I've heard of it. Our fans, United fans or a bit of both? There's usually a spread of police around the ground so I'm surprised it was allowed to get intimidating without them getting involved.

You have to wonder about some of these idiots. Too many people kids watching Green Street and Footballl Factory is my guess. Awhile ago I stumbled across a video on Youtube of some very proud West Ham fans who'd "taken over a Spurs pub". What they'd done is about a hundred of them all turned up early to the Hamilton Hall so some Spurs fans had to change their pre match drinking plans slightly. Oh no! Maybe they'll get on the buses going to WHL a few stops earlier and really stick it to us

 

[No Kane No Gain]

i was very disappointed with the response after the goal, we seemed to accept a 1-0 rather than going for another, at one point Vorm was actually telling the players to slow down and he held the ball to timewaste. I don't think they realise what its going to be like next week, it will be a red hot atmosphere and we will be under the cosh for a long time, eventually the pressure could tell (you know what we're like when trying to defend a lead). very worried, shocking really when you consider who we're playing.

I thought we dominated after the goal until the last 5 minutes. I was impressed with how attacking Sheffield United were in the first half but we wouldn't want to give them something to defend from the start of the second leg so I can understand a bit of caution. An extra goal would've given us a nice cushion but we'd still have to field a strong side in the second leg so I don't think it would have changed much for us.

I can't stand time wasting and I hate that it goes unpunished but it's not just about running down the clock, it's also about frustrating the opposition and taking the tempo out of the game. Sheffield did the same once we got going in the first half, as much as I hate it, it seems to be an accepted tactic these days, at least we waited until the end of the game to start doing it.

 

[Spurm]

Pantilimon (whatever his name is) was terrible at time wasting a week back. It was karma that they desperately needed that time back late on

 

[PleaseNotPoll]

It's very simple to deal with timewasting. There are rules in place which aren't enforced.
There was one ref who overdid it in a lower league game recently, though.
Booked a player who took to long to leave the field when he'd been subbed.
Didn't realise that he'd already booked him, though!

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[NSIS]

If I were a referee, I'd simply walk up to the offending player and tell him that I was well aware of what he was doing, that I'd already added an extra minute on for his time wasting, and if he or his teammates carried on, I'd simply just add more time on. In other words, you're wasting YOUR time, trying to waste time.

 

[humanbeingincroydon]

It's very simple to deal with timewasting. There are rules in place which aren't enforced.
There was one ref who overdid it in a lower league game recently, though.
Booked a player who took to long to leave the field when he'd been subbed.
Didn't realise that he'd already booked him, though!

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I heard about a game in Spain where the ref sent off the ball boys for their blatant timewasting when the opposition wanted the ball for throw ins etc.

 

[Spurm]

Pantilimon (whatever his name is) was terrible at time wasting a week back. It was karma that they desperately needed that time back late on

I should add to this that the greatest bit of timewasting in this game however was after we scored and the Spurs fans in the corner of the east stand (lower) refused to give the ball back to the Sunderland player while he waited to take a throw-in. Of course the whole front row were doing obscene gestures at the same time.
Like i said, karma.

 

[No Kane No Gain]

If I were a referee, I'd simply walk up to the offending player and tell him that I was well aware of what he was doing, that I'd already added an extra minute on for his time wasting, and if he or his teammates carried on, I'd simply just add more time on. In other words, you're wasting YOUR time, trying to waste time.

The trouble is it's not just about wasting afew extra seconds with each setpiece, it also allows their players to have more recovery time, frustrate the opposition break up any momentum building against them. The last one's especially important when it comes to giving away setpieces, it's now common practice to hold onto the ball, dribble it away or pass it to someone further away from where the set piece will be taken. Even on Wednesday there was one foul where the Sheff United player then picked the ball up and jogged away with it until he was back in position. English football has always been popular for the pace of the game but quickly taken freekicks are becoming less and less common. I think there's far too much leniency given to those timewasting and if bookings weren't so rare for it then we'd have much less incidents of players taking a chance and pushing their luck.

 

[junction8spurs]

Didn't go but that's the first I've heard of it. Our fans, United fans or a bit of both? There's usually a spread of police around the ground so I'm surprised it was allowed to get intimidating without them getting involved.

You have to wonder about some of these idiots. Too many people kids watching Green Street and Footballl Factory is my guess. Awhile ago I stumbled across a video on Youtube of some very proud West Ham fans who'd "taken over a Spurs pub". What they'd done is about a hundred of them all turned up early to the Hamilton Hall so some Spurs fans had to change their pre match drinking plans slightly. Oh no! Maybe they'll get on the buses going to WHL a few stops earlier and really stick it to us

It was sheff utd fans playing up. They steamed in LT's around half 5 when it had around a dozen or so spurs fans inside- these spurs took a kicking.
All round the Park Lane they were slapping Spurs fans with no police intervention - not sure they saw it happening to be fair.

Listening to a few Spurs around me inside the ground, it's going to be pretty lively up there next week.
Personally I hope not as I'm looking forward to a decent night out in Sheffield!