Bertrand 8 Wanyama 7.5/8 Fonte/Aldeweireld 7 Everyone else 6 Except Forster 5 (he was indecisive and sloppy today) Those would be my marks. I honestly think you can't really understand Wanyama's role in the side if you thought he was poor today. He broke down the majority of their attacks. Yes there were a couple of misplaced, slow passes, but his job in the team is to screen the defence and break down opposition attacks, which he did (again) very, very effectively. Try that game again with Cork in the side instead, and Eriksen/Lamela/Adebayor rip us a new one, we lose 3-0. Guarantee it.
Thoughts on today.... 1) We didn't play brilliantly well, but we didn't play badly either. 2) Spurs slightly edged it at home, could've fairly been either the result it was or a draw but not a 2+ goal victory for them or a win for us. 3) The referee's decisions, while consistent, played pretty much played into their hands. He basically didn't punish anything but the obvious today, and even when he did he was ridiculously reserved with keeping his cards in his pocket for me. This meant that if we broke quickly (and we often didn't break quick enough), then it was easy for Rose to kick Tadic up in the air or Capoue to kick Mane up in the air (multiple times in both cases) knowing that the worst case 'punishment' was giving up a free-kick, but actually benefitting from getting all their men reset behind the ball again. Basically that type of refereeing happened to suit their tactics nicely. 4) Forster's handling was a bit poorer today than usual. 5) Mane 'should' have finished from 6 yards out near the end. And that, is pretty much it. Put a line under it, onwards and upwards. COYR!
I had a feeling of dread when I woke up this morning. I hate Spurs, always have, always will, probably more than the Skates, so this is very disappointing. At least we've got another game coming right up to get quickly back on track........ ah. DAMN YOU INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL. NO ONE LIKES YOU.
I suppose I expect more from a premiership footballer than someone whose only job is to break up play. I haven't mentioned Cork at all today as I don't think he's played that well this season but since you mention him, it is impossible to draw the conclusion you have. I'm not saying you are wrong, that might well have been the result but not necessarily. It would have been a different game and Spurs might have had a bit more to worry about defensively. As it was we let them dominate play and run at us. When we had possession we weren't smart enough to beat their high pressure game. Cork may have done better, I don't know. Its not a debate I want to get into.
You can't rate defenders much either then... Anyhow, despite what your strange reading of the game was, they didn't "dominate" - we actually (amazingly against a Pochettino game) had the majority of possession (55/45), and the shots/shots on target are broadly similar - where we went wrong, as you say, was clever use of the ball in possession, along with bit of rub of the green, which isn't (I repeat) the role that Wanyama has in the team. He breaks up their play, which he did well, and effectively, just you chose to ignore it/decide it's not pretty enough for you. That's Schneiderlin, Tadic, Davis, Mane, Pelle etc's job. So......again.......you're criticising precisely the wrong person, and looking for the wrong person to be replaced at half time.
Mmmmm missed the game, knew absolutely nothing as I was coaching my lad's team. I get in the car and hear that we lost one nil and missed a sitter. I'll try and watch a play back of the game later. Looking forward to watching Vic's performance .... One thing I will say though is what I said to my players at half time as they were losing and not passing as well as normal and not breaking the other teams play up enough... "You have got to earn the right to play, before you can play." I wish I had a Vic like character today in CM
I don't know. We didn't just fall apart under the high press, but it did create enough pressure for our passing out from the back not to be as crisp as it should have been. Which led to more tackling chances and 50/50 type balls. And that's how Spurs won the midfield battle. They didn't carve up our defense with incisive passing or fancy dribbling, they were just quicker to balls, and quicker with their feet. That sort of game is Cork's forte. OTOH, Wanyama was important on defense and we were on the backfoot for much of the first half. And Pochettino would never have allowed Cork to burst through the midfield, he would have been hacked down ruthlesssly every time. We did that plenty to other teams last year. I think the only chance we had was to try and dictate the pace a little more. If we could have slowed them down some in that first half when they were really moving the ball around nicely and playing with a lot of energy, maybe we could have frustrated them. But that's not easy to do against a good side at home, who were obviously up for this game. And even down 1-0, if Mane scores and we take the draw, no one would be second-guessing.
We were indifferent today; not sure what all this banter about Vic is about, as nobody really shined today and nobody was really bad except maybe Davis. Spurs edged it and Mane missed a sitter at the end that could have earned us a point that we probably did not quite deserve. Referee was a little biased to Spurs, but most are to the home side and Spurs carry more historical pedigree than us zo more biase there - but no surprises on that issue. In summary underwhelmed by the whole occassion...
Yeah I'd put Wanyama higher in the rankings than many others. He shut them down multiple times. Davis was probably weakest player who was somewhat consistently in the game IMO. He'd make passes that were clearly never going to make it to the intended player.
Whole match is up on Footballorgin already in 1st and 2nd half segments. Those who wish to wait for the whole match in HD should keep checking back to this link later on, though the version already up seems pretty good. Sadly it does start 2'30" in, but that's better than 10 minutes of highlights: http://www.footballorgin.com/2014/10/premier-league-2014-2015-tottenham.html
I don't hold much of a grudge over Pochettimo tbh, but would have loved to have won this! We'll beat them at home.
Just looking at the first half. Danny Rose really having a hack at Dusan, and Ryan Bertrand just landed one on Kyle Naughton. Ouch..! One or two people were saying Spurs dominated the first half. I haven't seen it yet. Erikson scores a very good goal indeed, and that's the only clear difference. There have been one or two chances at either end. Chadli just hit the post. Spurs have responded to their manager's methods at last. Last week against Arsenal I thought they were starting to come together, and they look a tighter, more cohesive unit in this match, with bags of energy. Saints have held them reasonably well, and having already seen the 2nd half live, I can see why both some people thought Spurs edged it and some people thought Saints should have got something out of it. It was a evenly matched and entertaining game. Spurs repeated their efforts from last week and moved on a wee bit more. Even the co-commentator said that at last the players seem to have got the idea of what the manager wants from them, which was how I saw it too. As far as Saints are concerned, I think Ronald can be reasonably happy with the performance. My only concern for the future was that Pelle looked a little isolated up front. That may have been because Davis had a so-so game and couldn't link from midfield while Morgan and Victor had their hands full, or because we simply didn't have enough quality at the right moments. But for a few missed chances, it could have gone either way. Funnily enough, I'm not too disappointed, even though I thought we might get a point or three beforehand. When you lose, it's not nice, but it's the manner in which you lose which really buggers you, and Saints lost reasonably well. HD version now up: http://www.footballorgin.com/2014/10/premier-league-2014-2015-tottenham.html
Yep agreed TSS. As I said immediately after the game, not worried at all, and the main thing is that a good Spurs performance is equal to, or a tiny bit better than, a very average Saints one right now. That's a very encouraging thing.
Spurs were good, and Saints were decent, without that bit of quality or luck today. On another day if Mane had scored, we may have got something. Spurs worked hard, and it was a difficult game. Still, 3rd place, 13 points on October 5th isn't too shabby.
It is strange not winning! I always felt that Spurs had the edge today, and that's recognising that we obviously didn't fall apart, but as sorry I ruined the party fella pointed out, they were just 'on it more' for want of a better explanation, just sharper. Having a look again, I may of been a bit hasty criticising Vic first half, there were others that didn't perform too well. Not overly disappointed surprisingly.
Very much mixed emotions about the International break. 1] I simply would rather it wasn't there, full stop. But 2] I like to see Saints players in action for their national sides. Two weeks though..! WTF..!?!
