As is the norm, no Mitroglou and of course no Holtby either because of the loan deal. Otherwise in his lunchtime press conference Felix said everyone is fit - so the little heart wobbler over Diarra and Amorebieta the ‘Open Training Day’ was just that. As an aside, not including Duff on the injury list confirms what we already knew about him leaving. In recent games Dejagah seems to be preferred as an impact sub, set up to cause trouble once the opposition tire. Against spurs I’d start him to get in and about a vulnerable defence. I’d also drop the ineffectual Kasami and bring back Kara - although I have a suspicion that Felix will prefer Parker. For me Parker, with his twists and turns, isn’t the one for this game as he’s liable to get caught too often and we know Spurs are quick at exploiting that. This is a game where The Tank partnering Hugo could be a winner but for some reason Felix isn’t prepared to give him a go. Roberts could also be considered and while I doubt if he’d be overawed by White Hart Lane, I think his inexperience isn’t for this game. Mainly because we need to be especially wary about the attacks from their wings. Why I’d go for Kara really and I’d start with: ………………….Stockdale……………… …….Heitinga……Hangeland……..Amorebieta….. ..Reither………………………………....Richardson.. ……..Kara……….Diarra………..Sidwell…. …………..Dejagah….Hugo…………….
Interesting odds for this match that stood out like a sore thumb for me - the correct score 0-0 pays 16/1. I haven't seen odds that long on a stalemate since England played San Marino! Are both sets of defences and forwards that bad and good? If anyone fancies a tight match, it's the same price for the first goalscorer market when backing no scorer - with the bonus of own goals don't count (so you still win when Dawson scores an own goal and we win 1-0).
With a little bit of luck.....again...... and we can win says Felix. However, read into it what you will about Kostas and Bent in his internal video interview: [video=youtube;k5OSxKkTyJM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5OSxKkTyJM&feature=player_embedded[/video]
The man in the middle is Mr P..P..P..Probert. please log in to view this image Link to pic: http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608003705205034852&pid=15.1 A bit of an exception hailing from Wiltshire rather the North West. Probably because it's his turn in the pecking order (can't think it's for competence) he's been given the Cup Final this year. Hope his head isn't in the clouds on Saturday. He's another one we've seen three times this season; the 1-1 draw at home to West Brom, the 3-1 home defeat to Man United and the 2-0 loss at the Emirates. Don't think he's ever forgiven us since Steve Sidwell bowled him over in the match against Wigan - [video=youtube;XQwVONftqLo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQwVONftqLo&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
Doh! Could we have got a result today. Yes!! And I don’t mean the penalty, although Sidwell should have given it to Kara. You only have to consider who was the busiest keeper and if we had more confidence/composure in front of goal Lloris would have been even more taxed. Okay Spurs got three - all crosses and two of them from set pieces which says something about our defending - but that apart Stockdale had virtually nothing to do. Top marks to Hugo who won loads in the air and ran all over the place. And to Riise, especially in the first half but also for his crosses in the second. Felix though I thought missed a trick in not swopping Dejagah and Kara to their rightful wings. Both were fairly poor. We surely missed Diarra and Richardson but even without them it was still a game of what might have been.
The desire was there in the first half, steam ran out towards the end. A game of what might have been. It didn't seem a team that's third from bottom that played. As you said C58, Lloris was the busier of the keepers. Stockdale produced an amazing save in the first half. Top drawer. However, we were caught in posession too much and defending from set pieces was ****e. Message to players. Don't commit fouls in and around the box. If we didn't do that we wouldn't be where we are now. Imo of course! Still on track for 39 points though.
Bit of a disappointment really. I didn't realise we would be without Diarra, Richardson and Reither and so along with Hotby it was difficult. Spurs were beatable and in the first half we did ok. After their second goal early in the second half we eased off I thought. We had a few chances but we could have done so much better. Our support went quiet also in the 2nd half and that didn't help but the Spurs fans were quiet throughout. The next 3 are the important ones though and if we are to do it we need Diarra, Richardson and Hotlby back.
39 points is very optimistic. It's possible but a very big ask. 37 is more realistic, but still more a goal than a likely outcome. The trouble is, it's looking like we're going to need at least 37 points to stay up, thanks to Sunderland's 4pts against the big boys. Cardiff and Sunderland play each other next week, so at least one of them will gain points. Let's hope for a draw, and Norwich and West Brom to get nothing out of this weekend.
Just seen the highlights of the goals, once again our defending was woeful. Irrespective of other results we have to defend set pieces much better or we have no chance.
And something I find it hard to understand is, why after Eriksen's first free kick didn't we put someone on the back post for his second?
From what I can see on the TV clips Amorebieta moves out when the rest of the defense is moving towards the goal leaving a space for Paulinho to score. For their third goal what I didn't notice till I saw it on tele, was Eriksen takes the free kick from about ten yards away from where the foul occurred giving him a better angle to whip the ball in, he should have been taking it from nearer the goal line. Think the 4 missing players Diarra, Holtby, Richardson, and Riether were missed as IMO none of the replacements were as good. Lloris was on top form and it was a shame that we didn't get a second because Tottenham were suspect in defense, and their crowd was ready to turn on them if they let in another at 2-1. I'm not that convinced much has changed under Magath, same good first half, but don't defend freekicks well, and still don't take our chances early to put other teams under pressure.
I dont think we have the quality to take early chances SBM. I dont think its magath's problem. Its inherent with the lack of quality up front.
7 points is what we need, beating hull will be very hard, out thought arsenal for the first 30 mins, get the feeling this wont go our away this time, I expect sunderland to stay up, bloody cfc groundsman needs sacking, to much water on the pitch caused sunderlands winner, any 3 of 5 now
Lloris only made 3 saves, 1 more than Stockdale. He was in fine form though, you probably deserved another goal but a point would've been generous. It was a typical game under Sherwood for us, no real gameplan, just running around in an open game and hoping we play better than the opposition. It works most of the time but everyone we play against gets their chances. Sunderland were probably the worst team we've played against and they could've been 2 up against us if Wes Brown had put away a free header. You can watch the highlights online, the freekick was taken about a foot away from where the foul was committed. Your wall crept forward by a bigger distance when Soldado skied a freekick later on Anyway, glad you guys didn't have Holtby on the weekend and good luck with staying up. I genuinly want you guys in the PL next season, I'm not just saying it to be polite.
Cheers YV. Always good to hear from you here. PS I see that Dembele is saying on the Spurs' website that Lloris was "Unbelievable"
Want Dembele back? lol. I was a big fan of his when he was with you guys but he just hasn't pushed on like I'd hoped.
