Hi Rob it's all the different views that make the forum work. I am not saying I thought Rose was better than Walker I am judging each by their own standards. For me that means that Rose comes from quite a low level whereas Walker has set a higher standard. Right now I would see Walker as a much more valuable player to Spurs than Rose, and taking notso comments into acount my critisism of Walker is probably more to do with the way the team were performing as seperate parts than Walker himself.
Paulinho looked good if workmanlike. A lot of effort and sharp, accurate passing. But the team seemed to play a very languid pace throughout and trying to pick passes through massed defenders is no substitute for the fast paced counterattacking style of two years ago when Bale and Lennon frightened teams.
It really is amazing the difference of opinion on here and on the TV about individual performances. I, for one, thought that Dawson's pings out to the left a couple of times were the best passes of the first half. In general I think his long passing is better than he gets credit for. He does like to play those balls though, so when they go wrong (which is normally at least once every game) the criticism of "hoofer" gets used. I also thought Walker was one of our best players so was really surprised to see him getting slated here. I have a slightly low opinion of him, though, so his dodgy final ball and crossing (especially for a player whose strong point is supposed to be attacking) are just what I expect. But some of the play with Lennon, his runs and little balls through to him, especially in the first half, was where most of our danger was coming from. Of course Roo goes on about our lack of creativity! Not sure where other people think chances are going to come from but when I look at a team sheet that does not include Bale I'm left scratching my head thinking "Er...Lennon?". Between the first half of this game and the Espanyol match my idiotic football-fan brain was starting to write off Chadli. But then, once my expectations had dropped appropriately I felt more forgiving towards him in the second half. I really don't like having to feel forgiving and patient towards players, though. The really good ones seem to look very good immediately. Capoue, for instance. I assumed that my slightly fuzzy stream was the reason I did not think Paulinho was that amazing. We have too many midfielders of a similar height who have light brown skin and short dark hair. When watching on TV it's really nice when there's a Davids or a Hudd so you can instantly tell who's who. I think that hair styles and height need to be borne in mind for future transfers. Someone short with a huge afro would be nice. At least Sandro'll stick out this year. Siggy's turn and shot early (?) in the first half was excellent. I want to be patient with him but, as I said above, how many really good players have taken a full year to start looking genuinely useful? And that position is so crucial to us what with having a new winger on one side, a winger who doesn't score on the other and about 25 defensive midfielders comprising the rest of the squad. Siggy looks tidy and useful. But for a top team someone in that position needs a generous sprinkling of magic. Someone like VDV or Bale - someone really exceptional. I hope that's what we're looking for in the transfer market. So far Siggy has not even looked an upgrade on Krancjar, really.
Don't worry mate, we're guaranteed many nut-kicking opportunities with his success rate at that! , even when he's having the best games...he just cannot resist!
I think the diference of opinions reflects the Spurs game lenny. As others have said it looked like a team that had not had much time together. There was no overall team play, more a series of cameo performances. So your view of the game would very much depend on what you were looking at or for. Many of us would be distracted by trying to observe how the new boys were doing.
All very true. I said the other day that it was unfortunate that Niko was with us when we had Modric and VDV (whose arrival really did for Niko at Spurs). I reckon Niko could have been just the man for the job in the current side.
The game was almost more like a friendly - not in tempo or aggression, but in our team selection and approach to substitutes. There was a change at the back, a change in midfield, and a change up top - because of this it felt like we used a lot of our squad and it had the aura of an exhibition game. To be honest an extension of pre-season would be quite welcome, we need a few more games before our squad is at full strength. I'd like to think that the team should be at it's absolute strongest on the first day of the season, everyone fully fit, everyone raring to go, quick out of the blocks. Today didn't strike me as such.
I just watched the game again and here's what I noticed: - Yeah - Dawson's passing was much worse than I remembered! First three or four all went amiss. Still delivered a handful of decent long-range ones, though. - God Rose looks quick but average. I thought he looked better during the game but that was just cos I thought he wasn't that quick but average. Turns out he's quite quick and average. - No wonder Paulinho got man of the match - that was the sort of game where an average performance would win man of the match. Not that so many people were terrible. Just no one was that good. - Chadli is crap. I really fear that this might be the case. I know how ridiculous that sounds after only seeing him twice but that first half performance was terrible. During the game he did some stuff in the second half that got me optimistic. Wanna know what it was? A pretty work-a-day cross with his left foot that was to no one, a shot curving into the far post as he cut inside that was off-target (these are surely amongst the easiest shots to get on target, no?), a scuffed shot off target past the near post and one difficult shot from the left that never looked dangerous. I think he played in one decent cross to Soldado too. - Palace were crap and we found it incredibly easy to get possession back time and again. - Walker is now one of our most dangerous players. We are back to the days of Stephen Carr. Don't mean to be so negative. I really don't want to be but for me there are so many players in that team who have question marks over them: Walker (slight), Rose (big), Dembele (slight), Chadli (massive), Siggy (big) and that's before you even wonder if the mix of players is right. I hope I'm wrong but going by last season and that game and the look of our current personnel I also wonder if we have one of the least entertaining teams for some years.
...I'm gonna watch it again at 9, I'll get back to you. On Chadli, you forgot he can't head either, how did he miss that far post chance right at the end of the first half, great big tall bloke with a free header coming, didn't stay strong and got bundled out the way by a championship player. My first impression after two games is there's an element of headless chicken about his play, might be early nerves and trying to impress, crap is a bit harsh at this point in time though , I'll reserve judgement for a bit myself, but I see where ur coming from.
Oh God yeah - I forgot that one! Or rather that just went into the general mix of crap from the first half. What was he even trying to do? I had to actually rewind that bit cos his whole body shape was was so weird and ineffectual-looking that I thought there must have been more of a foul on him than I thought. Or maybe he thought that you can only touch the ball with your back or shoulder but not your head? If so he even messed that up - it ended up hitting him on the back of the head!
Just watched it back again, Dawsons first pass! , he receives the ball from the KO via Kyle Walker, he chooses then to try and ping one skimming the head of a Palace player to find Rose on the other touchline...missed by 10 yards, out for a throw to Palace in our half! it would not have been unreasonable to let the ball continue the direction it was heading when he got it from Kyle and given Lloris an early touch.
To be fair to Dawson though, his overall game was very good. He organised things well at the back and his defensive work was of a high standard. A few very good passes in there too, but some of them were a bit... hopeful. Considering the way that the rest of our defence played, I'd say that he contributed quite a lot to our clean sheet. Rose did impress me with some of his play, though. There's something in there, if he can harness it and stop pissing about. The calm way that he dealt with the breakaway ball to Gayle late on was nice to see and he even got a free-kick out of it.
There was an occasion when Rose burst through into the box and went down (probably slipped). I am sure that if it was, for example, Young at OT he would have made directly for the outstretched defenders leg and got a penalty. Not saying it was the right thing to do, just regarding the different standards in the league.
