Didn't I say this last week against Sunderland? Spurs are still NOT running freely. Too much hard work is being made of the wins.
Son's interviewer: "this is Tottenham's best start in the premier league, but you're still not top...." Erm, piss off pal!
That will do for me. Middlesborough away isn't an easy tie, even if we made it look like it for the first hour or so. Deserved win overall and we're second with 3 goals conceded, all from set pieces. Clearly we're not quite firing on all cylinders yet but I thought we were very good today, had Alli not missed a sitter and the ref not bottled a stonewall penalty we probably would've had the convincing win we deserved.
Next week it's either 7 points behind,4 points behind or 1 point behind. This run of wins for City must come to an end soon, are Spurs playing well enough?
There are no easy games at this level, we know that's true by now. As soon as Traore came on and straight away burned half our team we looked on the back foot. Eventually we got a bit more of a handle on the game by dropping off deeper but it was touch and go for a good while there. I think thats when we'd normally bring on the extra DM but, aside from Winks who is only half a solution for that, we didn't have that capability on the bench thanks to injury. You can't press a player like Traore because he's so quick and strong, as soon as he's on the half turn he's out of the trap with that low centre of gravity. Similar to what makes Dembele so important for us. Thankfully he can't use the ball at all! Our big Belgian is more refined. But I haven't seen a single player change the course and character of a game as a sub like that for a while. I was impressed by Jansen though he could have done more with his half chances. Son was excellent again. Sissoko remains a useful player to have around but far from a perfect footballer. If Alli and one or two others had made more of their chances we could have been 3 up and more comfortable. Disappointed in the way we conceded, Sissoko got bested far too easily for such a big man. That was an important 3 points in what became very tricky circumstances in the middle of a busy schedule of important games. We're still in a winning momentum and unbeaten in the league, while missing 4 of our best starting XI and willing rotating out at least one more. I'll take it and move on. We're showing enough quality at various points for me not to be concerned yet.
I don't think we scraped that at all. In the Prem (and away) you're never gonna have it all your own way for the whole game. For a period in the 2nd half our passing went awry and we lost a bit of control. But we were still menacing, even during that period and really they didn't threaten us much. Though that could have been different if Traore could actually play football instead of just being fast and strong. Talking of which - I got distinct Chadli vibes from Sissoko today. Big and strong but a dodgy touch and many passes misplaced. Relationship with Walker might need time too. Son - said in the summer that he'll be like a new signing for us. And let's not forget that we had Dier, Dembele and Kane unavailable today. Can you imagine how that would have ****ed us up this time last year? Wanyama looks to be a big asset in light of this and overall (though it was bleedin' obvious to sign a striker) it's testimony to the success of our summer recruitment, in the short term at least, that we still looked very decent. On another note I wondered at one point during the game if today's team was the most expensive team we've ever had (especially if you include the subs of GNK and Lamela)? Would seem likely.
Of our 5 players that went to the disasterous Euros, I think it's telling that the 3 young players have struggled a bit at the start of this season, whilst the 2 oldest have been excellent. Dier, Alli and Kane haven't been terrible either, they've just been a little off the pace and not quite got things right so far. I'm confident they'll get back to form soon enough. It's a positive sign really, starting the season with Dembele for only one game, Rose out for a couple of games, Lloris missing a few games, whilst Kane and Alli haven't been playing too well. Last season that would have spelled disaster for us, this season we're racking up the points regardless. We do need to get more clinical though, especially since apparently we can't rely on refs to give us anything. Take the penalties and reds out of Liverpool, Arsenal and City's starts and their results would look a bit less comfortable too.
I'm still not convinced (yet!) that Jansen is going to do much for us.I keep seeing signs of Soldado.Running about all over the place and not much else is not going to cut it.You could get a center forward from the Tottenham Sunday League who can do that.......and it won't cost you anything......!......and that Sunday League player might score some bloody goals!!!!
Reading some of this I thought I was on the Sunderland board. Second Unbeaten in 6 NOT LOSING Imagine what it will be like when we are in full flow.
Was Sissoko if you're talking about the Boro goal. Lost his man then wasn't strong enough. He had been pretty poor all 2nd half and should have already been subbed. Hopefully will grow into the team
