Gus proved a lot of people wrong and changed his system and put the two up front people were calling for. Fletcher didn't play well and as he was supposed to be our outlet building from the back we suffered. Defoe looked sharp, few good moments and a few bad ones, you can tell he will be caught offside a lot. the lack of a strike partner for Defoe is a bit of a worry if we're gonna go with two up top. Funny thing is I reckon Jozy would be a decent partner for him. Rodwell played well, got stuck in and spread play well a couple times, if we play this system with the midfield two then the two need to be disciplined and we won't really be seeing him breaking forward. Larssons free-kick was lovely and reminded me of his free-kicks when he first joined. PvA was very useful on the break, Jones wasn't. Good to see Vergini playing cb, ****ed up for the opening goal but was solid otherwise. A game like today might have been better to stick with the one up top, they had a lot of space on the wings with no tracking wingers, but Gus's hand was a bit forced with no Bridcutt or Catts. I'd definitely stick with it for games against smaller teams, different to last year as we have some width on offer from the wing backs this time. Ref was ****e, Spurs committed 14 fouls and got one yellow card. Stone wall pen for Defoe turned down as well. Graham should have scored at least one goal today, ran around and had some energy which was good, but can't excuse those misses. He may be gone, but god if Jozy missed those he'd get absolutely slaughtered. Overall not too bad, Spurs definitely deserved the win and were the better team, but there were chances we should have scored which would have got us something out of the game, seems to always be the case annoyingly.
I agree with most of your assessment mate but I think you are being a bit harsh on Jones, he had the harder job of the two wing backs because he was also coming inside to support Rodwell. Other than that, spot on
Fair enough, always gonna be a hard job for the both of them considering they had two wingers and two attacking full backs to deal with. Spurs definitely targeted the wings
Pantilimon 9- Great performance as we've come to expect Vergini-6 did ok, got a new system to get used to O'Shea-6 did ok, got a new sustem to get used to Brown-6 did ok, got a new system to get used to Jones-5 He isn't winning me over Larsson-7 sweet freekick, all over the place first half but improved masively in the second half Rodwell-6 Needs to up his game, will surely make way for Catts in this system van Aanholt- 5 defensivley all over the place most of the game, not at his best going forward so didn't really cancel out his defensive frailties Johnson 7- Not sure about him central, Think Giacc or Alvarez would beat him to this slot if it were up to me. Worried there's nowhere for him to play naturally in this system Fletcher-6 not had a partner for a while, did ok but marked down for the sitter. Defoe-6 Sharp over a few rards but faded out as he tired early. Should be fully fit for Burnley in two weeks. Wickham-5 did ok looked lively but little else. Graham-4 two glorious chances, one was like a back pass and the other stright after the keeper. No tracking back at all. Buckley- No rating, no time to have make an impact, a wasted sub. All in all I'm happy, away to a good side with a new system that can only have been put in place at short notice. Think we should stick with the system and very much looking to seeing it against Burnley in two weeks time. Two weeks training and a cup match to practice it in should see a vast improvement.
Thought that whilst the spuds wer the better team, we could have taken points from this game with better finishing. Jozy would have got slaughtered for Fletch,s miss, Graham just showed why he,s surplus torequirements
9 is a bit much for Pants, though 7.0 or 7.5 would do me. The only ones' deserving a 9.0 were the away fans who were outstanding again today. Jones was poor throughout and got skinned by Chadli, Dembele and Danny Rose all afternoon, no coincidence that Spurs targeted that side of the field; 4.0, O'Shea & Fletcher 7.0 or 6.5 -both solid, Vergini, huffed and puffed all afternoon ...ineffectively: 5.0 I thought Fletch was a weak link for the clearly more accomplished Defoe and his miss was dreadful, even Jozy-esque, Graham had possibly/probably the best chance whole game and he tapped his Big Chance back to the keeper. In fairness, his 2nd chance was a decent attempt and he did well to get his foot on it. In the second half we were generally woeful and even though we were much better in the 1st half, Spurs were still the better team and we didn't deserve anything from this game. On a brighter note, I think the new system has potential, especially with Catts in the middle and Giach in the frame. Above all, I think Defoe gave the team a lift. It must give the team some degree of confidence that we have a forward much less likely to fluff his lines.
It's a shame this day and age that the young linsman dosnt know the rules.apart from the clear offside mistake, he also got nearly all the other offside decisions wrong
The one I wanted all along was Deighton gayle. Palace wanted Connor and we wanted a nippy forward However Connor now has a new contract and pardew is playing gayle. Warnock wasn't
I think I`ve seen the best free kick of the season so far and Fletchers was the worst miss of the season so far. Both in the same game.
