Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City

****, wrong plane!

Wheetabix

 

Colin. My solution was....down the pub with my mates and 5 pints would cure all!.....and then stagger home! Oh it was great being young!!!!!!?

 

MOTD2

10pm BBC2

 

Interesting game.
Not sure how you managed to win it.
At least somebody might now challenge Chelsea for 4th.
City have now lost 6 times. They have conceded 29 goals - same as Utd.
Normally I wouldn't bemoan City being average this season - but they've let that lot run away with the title.

 

I think Klopp's moment of brilliance ( or luck) was going to Southampton and picking up their center half!

 

Not to take anything away from your win today, but I want to mention something about Guardiola.

For him to have the pool of talent he does and the unlimited funds by a Gulf state - a state whose representatives are clearly doing everything they can to dismantle UEFA (emphasising how powerful they are) - being 22 points behind Liverpool is utterly embarrassing.

Their last two years have been exceptional, granted, but they'd still invested enormous funds into their squad. And even though they hadn't invested as much this Summer, they were still the 3rd highest net-spenders in the division; adding to a squad littered with talent such as de Bruyne, Bernardo, Aguero, Fernandinho, Laporte, Sterling, Gundogan to name but a few.

They've lost the same amount of games as us, for crying out loud.

I think labelling him a 'failure' is a stretch, but if Guardiola doesn't pull off a miracle in the Champions League or progress at least to the semi-finals at bare minimum, it will absolutely tarnish his reputation and legacy.

Critics who brand him as a 'chequebook manager' will have plenty of justification for making that assertion.

 

Jose’s reaction to the Var pen

 

He is too much of an idealist and not enough of a pragmatist.
He didn't replace Kompany leaving himself short on centre halves. And of those he had, Otamendi and Stones have been error prone at times in the past.
When asked about the wisdom of this, he shrugged his shoulders in that condescending way of his.
They have looked weak defensively. It showed today at times. Conceding 29 goals in 25 games is way short of what's needed to be title challengers even if Liverpool had been in range.
He also wants his team to play aesthetically pleasing football and score perfect goals. Sometimes in the PL it's just about getting the job done.

 

Jose’s reaction to the pen save

 

UP THE ****ING SPURS!


Proper team effort today. MOTM either Winks or Tanganga, they were both ****ing immense.

Welcome to the Premier League, Steven Bergwijn!

Jose made Pep his bitch and I love it.

 

Wow

 

I think he’s gone in the summer

Poch to City

 

DH I love the way you can dislike players like Winks but then recognise when they play well and acknowledge it. It adds a lot of credibility to your assessments.

 

Beautiful stat

 

Haha thanks, Spurf. Credit always has to go to someone who plays well. Part of the reason I'm not a Winks fans is because performances like that are so few and far between and he holds his skill set back by playing too safe. Today he got stuck in, won so many interceptions and played some impressive forward balls as well as carrying it out superbly, especially for the Zinchenko red. Weirdly enough, I've noticed that he tends to excel against the best teams (Barca, Real in the CL, Pool and City this season in Prem) but ask him to control a game against weak opposition and he's nowhere to be seen.

That's quite possibly the best individual performance I've seen of a Spurs player this season though, deserves all the credit for it, believe it's his birthday too so a very happy one too him. Tanganga was also superb, he was up against a world class winger today and once he gets home he can empty Mahrez out of his pocket.

If Winks could play more like that he'd be one of the first names on team sheet. World class performance in my opinion.

 

It is a bit early to call it, but I think Winks is benefiting from playing alongside Lo Celso. The latter may not be as powerful as Sissoko, but he works just as hard and is technically superior in every department other than brute strength and raw pace. How/why that is helping Winks exactly, I'm not yet sure. Like I said, it's early days and this is more a gut feeling rather than a solid theory.

 

Worth a watch this week

 

Just an outside perspective on the sterling tackle on ali.

Seen it a few times now and as much i despise sterling its looks to me like he gets to the ball 1st but isnt strong enough and his foot comes over the ball when ali goes in.

It looks awful in slow mo but i genuinely dont think he meant that.

And i hate the rat faced ****

 

Winks is neat and tidy but not very dynamic, he could play for most top sides imo. Surround him with the right players and in the right system and he could be a brilliant midfield player.