I'm not convinced by Sigurdson I am even less convinced by Huddlestone. Midfield is our problem, yes we are unlucky with injuries but something needs to be done. Dempsy into midfield proper with Ade and Defoe up front maybe. We cannot afford to play that slowly and Huddlestone is the main culprit IMO.
Sick to death already of AVB - hopefully Lloris and Adebayor will start v City, but whoever starts we'll lose up there.
Dear oh dear, so many posters now criticising all these players that were going to do so fantastically well as rotation options not so long ago. The booing of the substitution was at AVB, because Ade was 'in place of' JD, the crowd and everyone else wanted 2 up front in a more 442 we're used too (not too bad a idea if you need a goal iirc!), but someone refuses to be flexible with his system and fails to utilise his players strengths, or does he even recognise them?, not to mention having Bale and Lennon where they play best in the last qtr. hour. Shall we reconvene on my Lawro on AVB thread?
Options in central midfield Dembele - out for unspecified time Sandro - out for unspecified time* Parker - returns November 17th Huddlestone - unfit and lacking sharpness Livermore returns November 11th Luongo - at Ipswich Carroll - needs experience Pritchard - still in U18s Nicholson and Parrett might be getting squad numbers shortly...
I always forget one, don't I? Dembele - out for unspecified time Sandro - out for unspecified time* Parker - returns November 17th Sigurdsson - unimpressive Huddlestone - unfit and lacking sharpness Livermore returns November 11th Luongo - at Ipswich Carroll - needs experience Pritchard - still in U18s
Jenas. Oh , we just extended his loan deal at Forest. ( For those that don't know me well enough- that is a joke)
A guy today had told his girlfriend he had won a competition and the prize was a signed Spurs shirt which was going to be presented to him at half time on the pitch. There was no competition and no prize. It was to arrange so he could propose to her on the pitch. That was the highlight of the afternoon, because we lacked shape, we lacked tempo, we lacked good performance levels and we were poor all over the pitch. I haven't read through this thread, but I hope people haven't been blaming injuries, players sold in the summer and not replaced etc etc on our current situation , because we fielded a stronger side than Wigan today and failed to win, in the same way we have sent out a stronger side than WBA at home and than Norwich at home when we also failed to win. And for the 3rd time in the space of 6 days, we have seen our manager make a totally inexplicable substitution. A dreadful performance and I fear AVB is losing the fans already.
The streak continues! I am yet to see spurs win live this season The games have been: 1-1 v WBA 1-1 v Norwich 0-0 v Lazio 1-2 v Norwich 0-1 v Wigan Feeling as if I have something of a Bale-esque curse this season!
I really don't know where to begin. But I'll start off and say I'm f*cking disgusted at the way we played and the decisions AVB made. First off, he decided to continue with the underperforming Walker, Gallas and Friedel (albeit I thought Gallas made a few good blocks today). Walker yet again, uses his pace well at getting up the pitch but when he crosses the ball, my Nan who's had two hip operations could do a better job... It makes his runs and overlaps pretty much redundant and a waste of time and his defending was yet again put to question. Friedel made a couple of decent blocks, nothing I don't think most keepers could've dealt with but he was certainly at fault for the goal, Kone done nothing wrong in my opinion, Friedel was just not quick and strong enough to react. Secondly, the decision to sub our top scorer when we're one nil down is arguably the most bizarre and dumbest substitution Villas-Boas has done to date. There's no logic in it whatsoever, when I saw Ade coming on I thought it was long overdue and I expected it to be for Dempsey, who yet again was a total pile of sh*t (definitely becoming the new Pienaar... Can't believe I "bigged up" his signing, made me look completely foolish so far) and so when Defoe's number was called, I think even JD himself along with the players let alone the annoyed crowd were completely dumbfounded. I don't know if any could hear on the TV but a lot of boo's rang around then and a good section of fans started chanting "you don't know what you're doing!" - while I've said numerous times I won't boo or join in with chants like that, I'm slightly glad it was said in all honesty, I'm all for backing the team and showing the support but AVB needed to know what a dreadful decision that was. The fact Dempsey remained on the pitch for the 90 minutes was also something that p*ssed me off, baring in mind he was woeful vs Norwich and arguably worse today should've meant he was off at half time... Then the fact that Falque was left on the bench, who in my opinion more than deserved a chance to impress, whether it be from the start or being subbed on was also annoying. The performance in general just made them 90 minutes arguably the most boring I've ever spent at WHL. The only good things about today was the half time entertainment - being able to cheer the Armed Forces (and also Ledley, who presented a gift of some sought to one of the soldiers) and then also witnessing Paul Coyte bringing on a bloke to propose to his girlfriend (she said yes). Oh wait actually, seeing Tommy Carroll making his league debut, regardless of the teams performance, managed to bring a smile to my face, always great to see academy lads make their league bow. Our performances for 90% of the games this season have either been sh*t or too inconsistent inbetween each half (Utd, Villa and Reading the exceptions). I know the players are also massively to blame so don't think I solely lay the blame on AVB but we don't look the same team under him than we were with Harry and before anyone points out, yes I know we've lost Luka, Rafa and Ledley and yes I know we have injuries but it still doesn't mean we should play this bad and look so lost, we still have many players of international calibre fit and available, performances like today are that of a bottom of the league pub team.
I can't disagree with anything you say SOS, today was a shambles. I will add though that I am getting very pissed off with our new, but amateurish pre-match warm up, which is no better than the pub team down the road from me do. I am also bloody niggled with Freund acting like a complete clown on the touchline, standing there like a drunken windmill encouraging fans to get behind the team when he should be doing what he is paid to do and sort out the issues on the field. He seems to act like a cheerleader rather than a coach and it does my head in. Like you, I am not happy this evening.
Sadly you are right Luke, last season VdV and Ade were intelligent outlets whose interplay with Bale and Modric was class. This season we have JD who in general brings no-one into the game, he has improved some lately, but not good enough, players that make runs waste their time. He disappears in games staying high up the pitch on his own, surrounded by defenders! Wayne Rooney drops deep, goes looking for it, this draws their defenders up a bit so they can be hit on a break with pace, I've never understood why he doesn't do this. When he's scoring it does make dropping him difficult, but a strong manager would do it. Ade is ready and needs games and although not perfect, the best we have as the front man and he will bring the redundant Dempsey's and Sigurdssons into the game perhaps.
Cheers Spurcat Can't say I noticed Freund, I sit Park Lane and rarely look over to the bench unless I see a white shirt preparing to come on. If he was doing that then I agree with what you say, stop worrying about the fans and sort the team out. I can't even bring myself to watch MOTD tonight I'm that annoyed with the performance, besides, Gary Linekar tweeted saying our game was second in the running order... That really doesn't say much about the rest of the games today.
Gallas is worrying me SOS. I agree with you he made some good blocks today, but he lost his man from the corner which led to their goal, and last weekend he deserted his post for the Southampton goal. Way back in the spring of this year, I felt he was past it, and he has had 1 or 2 decent games this season, but he's been a liabilty recently and the way he hobbles up for corners is embarrassing. I am 59 and I reckon I am quicker than him.
Parker Lennon Modric Demble Bale VDV Berbertov I had a dream that we kept our best players, added the odd quality player, played attractive football, had a board that walked the walk.
Spurcat if you've seen many of my previous posts you'd know how disappointed I am at his constant inclusion in the first team over Daws. Especially as it seems AVB rates him as the number 1 CB (lets not forget he partnered Kaboul for the first game of the season at NUFC, leaving Vertonghen on the bench!). So when I saw his name in the starting line up again, I was furious, as I was with the decisions to play Walker and Friedel too. I didn't notice who was marking who when Wigan scored, plus it's hard for me tell as my eyesight is pretty poor and with the goal being scored Paxton end I'm bound to miss things, so if he let his marker go then yet again there's another reason why I don't want him starting, I just noticed today he did make a few good blocks and interceptions. In terms of CB's, I rate in this order of ability: Kaboul, Vertonghen, Dawson (still think he's slightly and I mean slightly better than Caulker but give it a few months/ season, Caulker will be superior), Caulker, Gallas, Khumalo. So naturally when I see the player who I rank 5th best start a league game when only one of the people I rate higher than him is out, it bemuses me.
That is arguably better or at least on par than what Chelsea, City & Utd could put together combined and I don't think I'm being dellusional there. Imagine if we did have that right now... We'd pretty much expect to win the league let alone challenge for top 4 etc. Don't put posts like that again please Sidney... It's actually depressing to see what we could've had!
I'm a big Dawson fan, so I find it disappointing the way he has been treated, but I do concede he does fall short of what it needs to be a top top defender. Did you see Caulker in the 1st half give Gallas a bollocking for pissing around ?? I was impressed with that because he was right and we were pissing around. It was when Friedel took that short goalkick and we fannyed around passing it along the back 4 and then Gallas passed it back to Brad for the 4th time after the goalkick
