Just need Hull to win today and Fulham win next Saturday and it will be the perfect start to the season.
That was always going to be a tricky one, you could see that Palace were well up for it on the pitch and in the stands. But we negotiated it well enough given the chances we fluffed to put the game to bed. Chadli roamed like Bale did at the end of last season, obviously not quite as effective but to me that was what he was looking to do. Soldado looked good with some nice touches and linkup play as well as the crucially well taken pen. Paulinho looked solid, Capoue looked good enough when he came on, although he needs some shooting practice! Great to see Kaboul back on the pitch as well. Lloris was excellent. Negatives for me - Verts barely being able to stand at the end, although if he came into the game not fully fit and then helped us weather the Palace storm for 90+mins then perhaps that is understandable. Sig fluffed a couple of chances, I think if that great shot he had in the first half had gone in then we would have seen a different player for the rest of the game. For me he is entirely a confidence player, but we'll see. 3 points away at a ground like that with a newly promoted team on opening day can't be sniffed at. Hopefully more to come and lets hope that Verts is fine and Kaboul can continue his recovery. We looked maybe a bit slack creatively but there were signs of it clicking together, as the players gel more then we may see that get better too. The hopeful return of a Mr G F Bale will only help that as well. Overall for me, positives outweigh the negatives. 3 points, onwards to Tsibili midweek and then Swansea.
Verts got it right post match. A win, but we need to score more. He seemed a bit disappointed with it all.
Overall, not bad considering it was the first game and there's new faces. Paulinho looks quality and deserved man of the match. Chadli looked lively. - just needs to work on his decision making. Capoue was great when he came on. He seemed very comfortable. Great game from rose too. Lloris made some excellent stops in goal and saved our arse a few times. On the down side... Walker seems to be carrying on where he finished last season. - a bit all over the place. There were a few awful passes which nearly put us in trouble. Sigurdsson is not good enough to play that role. He's not fast enough and simply doesn't offer what we need. He's a squad player and nothing more IMO.
I'll take the three points, thank you very much. Tricky opener against a side that were clearly very up for it and a crowd that didn't stop. We did it the hard way, as usual, but the most important thing was to put points on the board in our first game. The lack of creativity in the middle of the park was a problem again though, so we really need to address it. Williams looked pretty handy when he came on. I've seen him a couple of times when he's impressed for Wales and he looks a real prospect. One to keep an eye on if he continues his progression.
A few years ago we would have conceded a late goal or two so it is progress, however, we are needing to gel and it has to be done quickly. There is a bonus, the icing on the cake is that the goons are currently in the relegation zone, when was the last time that that happened?
Lot of positives to be taken away from today guys, all of the new players performed with credit. Figured it would be a tricky game but Spurs negotiated it well and I would have taken 1-0 before kick off. I think once everyone gels and settles in we could be considered contenders, fingers crossed.
Agree with almost all of that. Walker i actually thought played well for the most part though. Chadli looked a bit selfish too - needs to improve his decisions most definitely. Capoue looked excellent. Can't believe we've bought all these mids and I'm agreeing that we still need another. Sig didn't look incisive enough and that miss wasn't good at all!
1 nil to boring tottenham..... happy with that ..... not bad start considering it's a new team but palace have the worst team in the league so I won't read much into the game other the sane players which looked average last yer, look average this year. And as Roo says, siggy should not be getting games as he is so plain as a footballer, no other team in the top four would consider him, even Rodgers knew he wasn't worth the extra wages.
I think we did show some glimpses of creativity. Paulinho and Dembele, Lennon, Sig, Chadli, and Soldado all showed some swift one touch passing which could open up defences when they become more famliar with each other. Walker for me slowed a lot of this movement down. Rose had a good game and one very good tackle to thwart a Palace break away. All in all Spurs looked a tad classier than last season.
I think much will depend on how Avb uses the squad as we have these stupid Europa league qualifying games crammed inbetween, thats two sunday league games in a row, good time to use the youngsters like carroll and townsend, defoe can start and where is holtby?
Agree.... We definitely need a creative midfielder to sit behind the stricker.... I guess it all boilers down to the tired old argument about Bale :-/ Overall pleased with the performance
he's had enough time to show that he's got potential in that position, but hasn't taken his chances. Don't get me wrong, he's certainly a good enough squad player, but for a side who are trying to get top 4, he wouldn't be in the starting line up of any of our rivals. If we do sign someone to take on that role, you'd have to question whether sig would want to stick around. A "replacement" might make him think about his future, i feel.
