Another win, another clean sheet and another disappointing performance. Early days for this squad, but it definitely looks like a work in progress, rather than the finished article. Puts us on the verge of qualifying, which should be sealed in the return leg, but I hope we put on a better show at WHL.
Not when pochetino, Martinez and loudrup are playing the same style but making it interesting to watch. If we don't get cl then avb will be under immense pressure next year.
Everyone has the right to criticise but we are seeking to rebuild a team and push on into the top 4 and win trophies... last season we broke our points record in the premiership era and this season we have equalled our best start to a premier league season. We have conceded no goals in 5 euro matches, none in 1 COC match and only 5 in 8 prem matches and of them only 1 in 4 away matches ALL the best teams have good defences and we seem to be building from the back I agree about us going forward ... to slow, not enough width etc. but in truth if I had been offered 5th after 8 matches being just 3 points off the top after playing Arsenal away and Chelsea at home as well as Swansea at home and Cardiff away I'd have happily taken it. We are a long way from being the finished article but there are some promising signs
The bottom line is simple. 3 games in succession that the opponent has worked out exactly what needs to be done to nullify Spurs. Bus parking of the intelligent kind. Spurs do not pass quickly or accurately enough to get thru it, and force the opponent to reassess their game plan.
Painful to watch but that's us as good as qualified now. Could criticise the players but I think AVB has to take the blame for failing to outsmart the Sheriff manager, they had a very simple gameplan and all we had to do was sit deep and force them to come at us so that they couldn't sit back and break against us.
No, because a win and a clean sheet away from home should not be sniffed at. But I bet all off us have very mixed feelings about that performance.
We are nearly 25% thru the PL season. If people want to use the "team gelling" defence, perhaps a wound that is not congealing and is still running wet is a better metaphor.
We had an insane amount of possession (77%, according to the BBC), but lacked penetration, played really slowly and look vulnerable on the break. We barely created any chances, missed most of those that we did create and the team lacked cohesion, which isn't really surprising.
I said when he arrived the raincoat was a bad omen. It kind of reminded me of someone. There were a few pluses tonight though. Chiriches looks good and Eriksen looks better every game he plays. In addition I was wrong about Lloris. I know he has a few near post issues but without him, this system that AVB favours, would fall apart. He's a sort of square peg in a square hole. JD and Azza looked rusty but Sandro is looking like the Assassin again. If the Hull players were watching tonight they must have thought '****' when he was subbed, god help us, he's being saved for Sunday.
11 clean sheets in all competitions, so far. How the hell has that happened? Wonder what our record is? 12, maybe?
Staying with the Western theme... The Good * Lennon back from injury and looking good * Chiriches showing glimpses of what he can do for us at the back * We won by sheer bloody-mindedness The Bad * Susceptible to counter attack in the first half * Only started to play well when Moyal had to go off * Naughton being Naughton The Ugly * Chadli committing a lot of niggly fouls in the closing minutes * High line caught out often in the first half
we aint exactly crumbling while we get our act together though...think you are being a bit too critical...a bit of patience is needed
Just as a quick contrast, there were 11 other early kick-offs today in the Europa, including Apollon Limasol v Lazio and Sloban Liberec v Sevilla. We were the only away side that won.
Looked like the goons last season when all their fans got pissed with all the passing and were saying shoot ffs. However, where we were good was not sitting deep and trying to hold on to a one goal lead like we would have under Redknapp.
Lloris is how it's happened. He ain't the greatest conventional keeper in the world but he's like having an extra outfield player who sits deep but never plays an opponent on side.
Meh shooting and the opponent forgetting they were the home side means we got away with murder tonight.
I honestly don't know any more. Spurs are like a textbook example of the problem with using statistics to assess sporting performances. On paper it all looks fairly encouraging - every game we have loads of possession, keep clean sheets, are breaking/equally prem points records either overall or for season openings, have signed all this expensive talent and have such strength in depth... BUT - Jesus Christ we look a bit ****, don't we?! Or (and this is why I'm not sure how bad that performance was, Inda) have I just been spoiled the last few years? After all for much of my adult life Spurs never even qualified for Europe, finishing 5th or 6th in the league was a dream. Now here I am feeling like slating a team who've just won in Europe again (where they've not conceded a goal) and Spurs are 1 point off 2nd in the league, 8 games gone. There was a time not so long ago that I'd watch Spurs purely in the hope of a result and hopefully a couple of good performances. In recent years, though, it's been genuinely entertaining and exciting watching Spurs. Spurs had this reputation of beautiful football but TBH that was all based on old history until recently. We saw very little of it from the mid-90s to Ramos. Nowadays I feel I'm back to just hoping for results. First we have to wait for AVB to bed in, now we have to wait for seven/eight/nine new players to bed in and become familiar with each other. And for half of them "becoming familiar with" will mean "realising they're ****". The football and performances have been crap so far. For about 15 months now. I don't want to get on AVB's back cos he DOES need time and now he DOES need to learn about these players and they need time to learn. One last thought I had during the game: Most on here would say that players like Dawson and Defoe are central to the team. I certainly would. And yet they've both been around for a while and all had far better players ahead of them previously. In the past I was happy to sell Defoe - we had much better options. Yes Defoe's improved in recent years (I think) but I think the newly-high status of players who were once fringe players says something. Are ANY of our midfielders as good as Modric, VDV? Have any had the impact that Krancjar had in his first few months at the club? I've not even mentioned Bale. Yes we signed 100m worth of talent. But made barely any net spend. So basically we sold our best player and spent the money on cheaper replacements. So that's exactly the same as it's been for years. And how many times did we have cause to regret losing Carrick, Barbatov, Modric and now Bale? Why is a waif-like kid who is not ready for the first team worth 30m, by the way? Does that make Tom Carroll worth 40m? I really hope I see an answer to these questions at some point.
