In his press conference this lunchtime, Ranieri says "there are no new injuries". Well, there are certainly some casualties if this week's transfer out rumours are to be believed. Alfie Mawson so far as I know is the only definite injury. Spurs on the contrary have a lengthy injury list; Kane, Sissoko and Wanyama are out, while Dier and Moura are very doubtful.. Son of course will also be missing - off to the Asia Cup. Pochettino with his options diminished will probably go 4-2-3-1. Llorente is likely to be the lone man up front and he can be hit an miss when it comes to goals. We're likely to see Ali high up supporting him. The real threat however will come from Eriksen. With the paucity of midfielders he may have to play deeper than normal but we allow him time on the ball at our peril. Guess the first question for us is whether Babel is match fit ? Not a clue. What I am sure about though is we need to have pace on the break since the Spurs' full backs can frequently be caught out of position, up the field. We'll need to win the ball high up the pitch to feed our men however. Not sure Chambers and Seri are up to that. Sticking my neck out then - ..............................Rico... ..........Odoi......Le Marchand...Ream.... ....Christie......................................Sessegnon... ...................Chambers...Seri... .......Schurrle........Mitrovic........Babel..
As I said before the Burnley game I despair when I hear Ranieri speak, it's not dilly ding dilly dong it's more like cods wallop. .................Bettinelli.............. S.Sessegnon Odoi Ream Bryan Chambers McDonald Le Marchand .....Babel R.Sessegnon ............Mitrovic The Babel choice would be dependent on fitness, replacement would be a choice of Schurrle or Ayite. Schurrle has a nack of scoring but that's about it, Ayite is more of an overall constant threat.
Results didn't go our way today, we now find ourselves 7 points from safety. Makes tomorrow an even bigger game, we really need to take something from this, not just for points but to stop the rot of losses and give the players a bit of belief. Big games coming up after this too, really need to be beating Brighton at The Cottage next midweek.
Looking after things will be Craig Pawson. please log in to view this image Not a lot to say about the Sheffield United supporter. He goes about his business and he's quite unremarkable really. Don't cross him though - in 19 premiership games so far, he shown 65 yellows and 4 reds. We've seen him just the once when we met the Dark Side at theirs last month. Three went in the book; Denis the Menace for us. Not sure he's ever been at the Cottage before, so that should be a nice experience for him. Footnote : The Spurs disciplinary record is the best of all teams in the League this year. Perish the thought it's simply because they get away with more and in any case pretty sure the impeccable Mr Pawson would never brush off indiscretions.
Brilliant first half from the boys, could easily be going in more than 1-0 up. Seri and Chambers doing well in the middle of the park, outplaying Winks and Eriksen so far. Hope they can keep it up in the 2nd half.
Defence costs us again, sometimes cant even do the basics. I've not lost all hope just yet, but anything other than a win against Brighton and I feel any hope I have left may be gone.
Agree with Fabio I listened on the radio and despite the Spurs obsessed commentators it sounded like we were unlucky - sadly often the case when you are in trouble. Lots of good out the game, but a win against Brighton is vital
It was a weird game, we played really well in the first half but start of the second half it seemed we had came out with the intention of sitting back and trying to hold our lead, no idea why since one thing we cant do is defend. Obviously frustrating losing a goal so late in the game but defensive problems are nothing new, we've known this all season. Theres definitely positives to be taken from the midfield and forward line. Chambers continues to impress and Babel looked lively and like he can make things happen. We have players capable at this level but until we get some proper defenders in we are going only one way.
Pretty much agree with what's been said guys. First half we battled really well and could/should have been more than one ahead. Haven't seen a replay of the disallowed offside goal so assume it was a legitimate call. Babel teamed up with Mitro excellently and ought to have scored twice but will probably forgive him, given it was his first game in a while. Lady luck and ref Pawson, who gave Mitovic nothing all game, were just not on our side. However, have to be honest about what actually cost us points. The second half tactics, defending deep, were wrong and the subs almost criminal. So that's down to Ranieri. Our full backs were again poor and seem incapable of closing anyone down. Schurrle was ineffectual throughout - mind you, he actually got in two tackles in the first half. Although the second was accidental. And afraid there were other negatives. Le Marchand put in a good performance but the other two at CB were prone to panic. Tactical issues again, in the main. Well though Chambers and Seri battled, neither showed the quality to 'stand on the game' and be creative. Pains me to make those downers, since the whole team tried their best and certainly deserved better than that result.
The situation with the defence really annoys me, so far Le Marchand looks the only capable defender we have. Mawson just hasn't worked out due to his injuries, guys like Christie and Odoi weren't always regulars for us in the Championship yet are now starters every week in the premier league, neither are good enough, Bryan possibly struggling to adjust to this level having played so well in the championship. For me though the biggest disappointment is Ream, having looked so calm and composed for us last season, a real rock at the back, he looks a shadow of that player. Again possibly a case of just not adjusting to this higher level. With just over a week left of the transfer window I think we need some big changes in the defence. As I mentioned earlier I think we are decent from middle to front, we have some good players there so I hope we dont waste any time trying to strengthen there. I hope these last few days of the window can be used to fully concentrate on sorting this defence. Conceding 50+ goals is nothing short of a joke.
Babel thankfully surprised me, he had a good half but fitness meant he was off shortly into the second half. Spurs pushed further up the field in the second half and I wonder if Babel's departure aided them in doing so. He was with or exchanging places from time to time with Mitro, keeping Spurs deeper to cover them. The disallowed goal, Schurrle blasted a shot which the keeper parried out, Mitro was in an offside position when Schurrle shot but not interfering with play. Had the shot gone in I feel it should have stood. From the save the ball went to Mitro, now in an onside position plus the ball was played off a Spurs player. Mitro headed in but was called offside. It seemed to be the wrong decision but nobody has questioned it, the pundits on sky ignored any detail. So nearly a good point...........again.
Good run down of the Mitro 'offside' 2Whites. At the game I was baffled why it wasn't allowed. Saw it on MOTD just now and I do believe you are correct. Danny Murphy threw in an aside that it was an okay decision but ... of course ... no replays or analysis !!!
I thought the disallowed goal was a good (though frustrating, obviously) call. Mitro was offside when Schurrle took the shot, making him offside when the rebound came to him, even though it came back off a Spurs player. Ironically, I was running the line for my eldest's U15s match yesterday afternoon (made it home just in time to see Fulham's goal go in) and when the ref gave me a briefing beforehand, he ran through the rules on precisely that situation and what he said backed up the decision about Mitro. As for the rest of the game, I am torn between being encouraged at what I saw in the first half and despairing about the lack of focus defensively for the final goal (and, to be honest, for the other Spurs goal as well). The pundits on Sky - Souness in particular - were scathing about the lack of professionalism, concentration and ability to keep doing the basics right through to the end of the game. The first half tells me that we can still get out of this, the second half says otherwise. to be honest, I'm struggling to maintain my usual glass-half-full outlook on things.,
Boo!! The offside rules are so 'grey' they make them up to suit an official's decision. Accept that the ball coming off a Spurs' player is irrelevant in this case. However, Mitro was not interfering with play when Scurrle shot and he was onside when Lloris palmed it out.
And while in bashing oficials mode. Why is nobody questioning Vertonghen's mishandling of Mitro in their box? As blatant a penalty as there ever was. 3 nil .............
As I said in my appraisal of Babel when we bought him 'When I've seen Babel play his main asset is his energy and creating havoc with his runs, but his failings are missing chances.' and so it proved in this game. When you see some of the offside goals that were allowed over the weekend it grates that we are again the unlucky ones. And the Vertonghen pull was cast as 'he was skating on thin ice there' ie: it should have been a penalty, but we won't discuss it. The Claudio Ranieri ranting is beginning to sound like Felix Magath, the closer we get to the point of no return the more he talks of how convinced he is we won't be relegated.
