please log in to view this image Saturday 5th December 3pm The Hawthorns Premier League A fairly uneventful, goalless draw with Chelsea saw the side extends it's unbeaten league run to 13 games. A new record and an impressive feat, but we're dropping too many points via draws, unfortunately. Sides have started to set up rather negatively against us, but that has to be expected. Nobody with any sense goes up against a team on form and goes toe-to-toe when they're not doing well themselves. A bit of a rest from the cups in this midweek might give us a chance to get a few back and a few others rested. There were definitely some legs going in the second half of the Chelsea game. It'll be interesting to see if we've got anyone returning to fitness for this rare three o'clock Saturday kick-off. This fixture was one of our better performances of the last campaign, in my opinion. We stopped Tony Pulis' own unbeaten run since he took over from Alan Irvine's short stint at the club. An early Eriksen special, followed by a double from Harry Kane resulted in a fully deserved 3-0 victory. http://www.footytube.com/video/west-brom-0-3-tottenham-331444 Alli returns from suspension for this, while Lamela and Mason both featured on the weekend. I can't see the youngster being left out, so Pochettino's got some choices to make. Chris Brunt missed the West Ham game through suspension, so Pulis will need to assess his side, too. Lineups for the last game: Spurs: Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dier, Mason; Son, Dembele, Eriksen; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Wimmer, Carroll, Onomah, Lamela, N'Jie. League form: DWWDWD. West Brom: Myhill; Dawson, McAuley, Olsson, Evans; Sessegnon, Fletcher, Yacob, McClean; Morrison; Rondon. Subs: Lindegaard, Chester, Gardner, McManaman, Anichebe, Lambert, Berahino. League form: WWLLWD. Referee: Jonathan Moss. Would you like to see Alli or Lamela return to the side? Both? Who do they replace, if so? Does anyone need a rest or to be left out to avoid a suspension?
Cheers for the thread PNP I might be pilloried for saying this, but whilst Son was very busy against Chelsea, his decision-making against teams that park the bus isn't quite on par with players who've had more experience in the PL, as you'd expect. I think we'll need Lamela's work rate and tenacity in this one, with Son coming on later to run at tired legs. I also didn't see anything from Mason that implied he should be keeping Alli out of the side. Lloris Walker Toby Jan Rose Alli Dier Lamela Dembele Eriksen Kane
I find him to be clumsy on the ball since he's been injured..I think he is still adjusting to the league...he thinks he has more time than he actually does..that results in some mental trauma for our baby faced attacker. Come on Son!
Lloris, Walker, Toby, Jan, Rose Dier, Alli Dembele, Eriksen, N'Jie Kane Vorm, Tripps, Wimmer, Mason, Son, Lamela, Onomah Agree about Son not being effective against Chelsea so I think coming off from the bench for a game or two will do him some good while he still adapts and gets match fitness back. Lamela I'll have back in the starting XI soon, he's been good this season but I feel we just need a bit of pace this weekend and I'd like to see Clinton given a league start to see how he fares. His cameo against Qarabag was impressive and wasn't given much time against Chelsea so he must be eager to get some minutes under his belt. Him and Rose down that left hand side could be tasty.
The West Ham game made it clear that the way to attack teams sitting back is to move the ball quickly, at a run, and bombard the goal with shots and crosses. Against Chelsea we reverted to the AVB style of strolling up the pitch and tapping it around the edge of the box till we lost possession. That owed at least something, and maybe everything, to tired bodies and tired minds. We didn’t want a more uptempo style due to fatigue. Clearly one of the worst offenders in trying to be too cute was Son. He had one particularly loathsome backheel I won’t forget soon. But he remains our second best goal threat (he had our two best chances against Chelsea), and I think he’ll learn quickly. I’d still start Lamela over him for this game due to the fact that he looked tired last week and is still coming back from injury. I thought Mason had a recurrence of ankle problems, which would make the decision not to start him easy. The best solution in the long term would be to treat the team as having 13 starters. That should give everyone the right amount of minutes given the fixture list, and would spare dropping a couple of players who have performed well enough to start. I would try giving Son more of a run at striker. He looked good there in the one Europa game he played, and if he could play striker occasionally to rest Kane, it would solve a few problems (Kane burnout, who to get to back Kane up in January, what to do with one more player who will want game time, how to get Son more minutes when there are at least four other attacking players who deserve to start). Dier Alli Lamela Dembélé Eriksen Kane Son on at the 60-70 minute mark, though I don’t know for whom. Dembélé hurt his ankle against Chelsea, incidentally. I haven’t heard a word about it since, but he was hobbling for a bit and did not seem to be as effective afterwards. There’s some chance he’s rested for this game, I think, in which case Son should start.
Why are people having a knock at Son? The guy is a trier, I like triers, People who try generally suceed. Give him time he will make it, drop him and you might knock his confidence. When Kane was having a 'goal drought' (definition of goal drought: Being the top scorer in the Prem in 2015 but not scoring for a few games) Poch stuck with him and look at him now. Son has been out injured, he needs to get up to speed, he needs a run in the team.
I'm not knocking him....I'm saying he's still adapting...and the injury set his settling down period back...hence him looking a bit clumsy in the fast games that the PL churns up.
"I’ve always found that trying is the first step on the road to failure." Bart Simpson Nevertheless, I like triers too, and I like Son. My main concern with the selection dilemma is to avoid denting the confidence of Son, Alli, Dembélé or Lamela. That’s another reason for making it a clockwork rotation. One sits out or comes on every fourth game, I think, though you could make a case for involving Eriksen (who seems likeliest to run down) and Kane (though we’d risk Son at striker). I’d keep Dier out there, though, except for the meaningless upcoming Europa match. He simply makes it too hard for other teams to score, especially on the counter. It certainly says something about someone who began the year as an awkward looking CB playing out of position. West Brom are about a 5 on a ten point difficulty factor for PL teams. It’s exactly the kind of game we need to win to make this a better year. We won a couple of comfortable games against lower table teams recently. After starting with a loss and three draws, the last ten results have been fine, actually: 6 wins and four draws, to LIverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton. On the other hand, the goals have dried up very recently, albeit for a tired team. We only scored one goal in the last two games, one against a small team that packed men behind the ball, the other versus Qarabag.
West Bromwich Albion @WBAFCofficial 29m29 minutes ago Albion team v @SpursOfficial: Myhill, Dawson, McAuley, Olsson, Brunt, Morrison, Fletcher (c), Evans, McClean, Sessegnon, Rondon #WBA
Tottenham Hotspur @SpursOfficial 30m30 minutes ago Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Wimmer, Winks, Onomah, Clinton, Son #coys West Bromwich Albion @WBAFCofficial 30m30 minutes ago Albion subs v @SpursOfficial: Lindegaard; Gardner, McManaman, Lambert, Anichebe, Berahino, Chester #WBA #COYB
Just need Wet Spam, Sunderland and Swansea to win now and not feck it up ourselves. Shame Stoke didn't score as many as they deserved or we'd have the best goal difference now.
Super Sport have got a choice of Manure or the Goons. A choice between a rock and a hard place, or to put it another way, a toilet and a ****ehole. We can't stream here, the IT Police (Irritating Technology) have put paid that. Keep me posted lads.
