Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal

Yes, exactly. By not taking points from your rivals - say 5 in this case - you’re limiting yourself to having to get the necessary points to win a title from 33 games.

 

Winning more games is good. If we'd won an extra 11 points against the other 'Top 6' clubs or the mid-table sides or a combination of both, we'd have won the league. Dividing the league up into artificial sub-groups is irrelevant.

We dropped 8 points away against other London clubs.......so, if only Spurs won more away derbies............you get my drift?

 

I think that if MP had left out Kane, Vertonghen and Dele some supporters would be moaning that they should have played because it was Arsenal.

 

Supporter reaction shouldn't be the basis for his decisions, though. Playing unfit players is very rarely the right choice.

 

I agree, but they would still have moaned

 

But consistently poor results away to the same opponents rather than random dropped points here and there might identify an issue.
That's the point of isolating those results. I win in 17 games is a big enough sample from which to draw conclusions.
As I said earlier, is it psychological? Is it down to more conservative tactics? Lack of goals in those games too points to a different approach - because scoring hasn't been a problem generally.

 

The Ginger tiddler is allegedly banned from here.

If so, in theory he should not be able to "like" any
comments posted here (hence my comment way back
then as to whether the site crash has cleared the ban list) .

 

Actually, it isn't.

 

Anyone wanting a bit of a cheer-me-up should tune in to the Watford - West Ham game. Well worth it.

 

Watford look good. You can see why Everton want to nick their manager.
Not sure it would be a great idea for Silva to take that job right now, though.

 

They do. I thought Silva was a fraud after he conspired to snatch defeat from the jaws of the unlikeliest of victories at Hull, but he has made some decent signings; Richarlison, Hughes and Cleverly have all improved the side (albeit the latter was there on loan already) without breaking the bank. I still think Andre Gray for £18m was a bit of a rip-off but he has shuffled the pack nicely; Doucoure was more of a wandering AM under Mazzarri but is now deployed in a similar role to how we used Jenas and is clearly benefiting from it.

Having said that, they got off to an identical start last season, picking up 18pts from 12 games with a record of W5 D3 L4 but then went on a terrible run where they picked up just 6 from the next 30 points - a run that saw them plummet down the table into a relegation scrap that persisted for the remainder of the season.

Early doors yet so my one solid conclusion from the game was that these West Ham players look completely underwhelmed that the new man in the dug out they're meant to be impressing is called David Moyes and has a 6 month contract. Utterly ridiculous decision as per usual by the three stooges.

 

Otherwise known as the 3 dumbass monkeys.....

 

Late to the debate-some people are busy .

Where I would agree with LDL is via Jose who like it or not is successful and he targets games and points and everyone now knows that away against the other top 5 teams he goes and parks the bus. 1 point away and 3 at home gives his team a distinct advantage.

 

This is the point, although I hate the lack of entertainment in these games it makes sense to deny your closest rivals the chance of 3 points at their ground and then beat them at home.

 

try to beat them at home.

 

Yep, sounds fair

 

I agree that the biggest issue was definitely us underperforming on the day, that is actually my point. We generally don't concede goals like the first when Alderweireld is on the pitch, nor is it so easy to out muscle us as you did, when Wanyama plays. Us losing to you away, without them, is no surprise to me. Especially when you put out arguably your best eleven. (Your front three is deadly. Happy for you that Wenger is finally using the three of them together.)

As your manager pointed out for your last loss, these decisions do affect the heads of players. Especially ones who aren't the most experienced. Without those questionable incidents, or with a different referee, we may well have drawn that match, it's also true that we didn't have arguably best two defensive, solid, players in terms of the difference they have made since their arrival and the priority they have on the team sheet if they are picked.

Whilst I like Dier as a player, he is second best in both of the positions which he covers to Toby and Victor. I agree that our big players didn’t perform, two of the ‘biggest’ players weren’t even on the pitch. Heck, with them on the pitch we may have been able to come back. We’ve done it before.

I don't believe we've ever really learned to consistently over-perform without at least one of those two playing, and we would have needed to over-perform to beat you guys on your turf, against your best eleven.

Dembele is most effective with Wanyama, or at least Dier at his side. Sissoko, although he had a relatively good match, can not compare to Wanyama in that role. We play at our best when with have grit in midfield, either Dier of Wanyama. Dier was always going to be a slight liability in the middle of the CB trio with nobody else to enforce in midfield.

The point I was trying to make, maybe not successfully, is despite the blip, we are on an undeniable rise that even the most currently happy Arsenal fans have to agree. I'm sure Ian Wright is still slightly jealous for example.

Our best eleven verses yours would not be such an easy win for you, even on your turf. I look forward to that match-up.

 

that does NOT make Brunel a Spurs supporter.