Harry Kane seems to be the one player who goes straight back into the line-up as soon as he can run. We got away with it against Stoke but not last night. Wasn't he ill or injured before Arsenal away this year and came back to very limited effect? Again, too much too soon in his recovery? He's looked very much the same but by next Saturday, he should be showing signs of being back? The sports science people will know whether he needs a start on Tuesday or minutes in the second half. United won't consider us going without him. Maybe we should? However, he's going to play the semi-final, no matter what.
I thought we were supposed to have attacked them yesterday. Thats my worry about next weekend, we know what we got to do...we just don't turn up and why don't we turn up? Sometimes I think the occasion overwhelms us...that's my worry for next week
What has annoyed me is that after the Chelsky two game PL bottle job + throwing the towel in, this game became a "free pass" for Spurs. Lose and we still had a 7 pt gap, whatever the manner of the loss. So Citeh from minute 1 should have been on the end of a blitzkrieg like the Poool experienced at Wembley. But no, exact repeat of the Wastelands game in December.
Kompany is a great defender at his best and I have no doubt he would be one of the few CB’s around who could potentially pocket Harry. But apart from the pass for Eriksen,Harry was anonymous yesterday and what was really obvious that he wasn’t as mobile as when at his best or fittest. Harry’s mobility rather than outright pace is one of his key strengths - pulling defenders out of their comfort zones onto the flanks, or dropping deeper etc. That just wasn’t evident yesterday - and whilst you have to a) give credit to Citeh and b) consider the impact of others having sub-par performances, the question has to be asked. What are the options this week? Assuming we are focused primarily on the SF, do we play him from the off against Brighton to give him more game time or rest him up? Prepare for the weekend by have him starting from the bench in both games and setting up accordingly? Even if he was fit and remotely an option that Poch would be considering, it looks like Nando isn’t in the picture for personal reasons. So that reduces the scope further.
What do people expect? They are better than us. They always will be as long as they can buy the players they need. They were also the last team to beat us so I guess you either accept that is the way of the modern football world or you don't. If Walker still played for us instead of them the teams would be a lot more even, but a team that sees it's weaknesses and can afford to overcome them is pretty much unstoppable. This situation isn't going to improve, it's going to get worse. Citeh's failure in the CL will mean another round of spending with the consequence that it will probably make them even more superior in the league. The pundits will of course point to their three recent losses but it's not as if they were dominated in those games. Of course it's possible to beat them, but you need them to have an off day, to miss all their shots, and to get the benefit of the doubt from the refs. ManU and Pool might just get the refs bit, but it's less likely for everyone else. The thing that hurts more than most is the pundits then deciding that Citeh are brilliant because of their manager, "he built his team" etc (to explain how relatively **** they were last season), well it's much easier to build a team when you can get pretty much anyone you want, and weaken your rivals at the same time. This is what happened to us. They beat us off the field as much as on it. That's modern football and I hate it.
There is always a tendency to criticise your own team after a loss and not notice the other team's input into the result. If you are like me you are watching Spurs very closely focusing on the performance of our players and not really caring abut the opposition players. I notice them when they do something that causes us a problem like a foul or a goal. Then you have to contend with often idiot commentaries that start talking of game results after 20 minutes play. Commentators in today's game seem more concerned with their ego's in their haste to tell us their opinions. Arlo of NBC is particularly annoying as he often fails to talk about the game in front of him at crucial moments, instead, he will tell us that it is 14 games since this or 20 goals since that. As a result of all this and my own natural bias it's extremely difficult to present a fair account of any particular game, that Spurs are involved in. Having said that I would suggest that yesterday's game was more about City's resolve after a run of 3 defeats than Spurs shortcomings. City were well up for this game as was obvious from the way they started. Spurs were overwhelmed, never mind where was Kane, where was Dembele? Once we were two down City eased a little and we came into the game for the first time. The second half was largely Spurs with dangerous City breakaways but we still failed to create many chances. Kompany, as I have said before, was the outstanding player for me , destroying most of our attacking moves and also providing penetrating passes for the breakaway City attacks. We can have no complaints about the result of this game, even though it's City and Chelsea that I most hate to lose to. I will now remember our recent smashing of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and look forward to our next game.
I would accept this more if it the performance didn't fit into an increasingly worrying trend - our appallingly slow starts. Yes, Citeh wanted to put right their recent run of form and got stuck into us from the first whistle BUT we were similarly driven back by Stoke and Chelsea and Bournemouth and Juve and Liverpool and Rochdale and Newport - all away from home. We started poorly in all of these and conceded in the first half in just about all of them and probably were lucky not to concede more goals in most of them. Getting the first goal is a huge advantage. Lesser teams may not hold onto a lead but against teams that can defend in numbers and break at pace, going behind is a real disadvantage. Yesterday's start was slow and sloppy and it cost us. If we do it again on Saturday, it will cost us again.
I think the same thing is happening as the AVB season when we did not get a single penalty all season long, in that season there was massive media focus on Bale trying to win free kicks and penalties after he dived a couple of times, consequently referees picked up on this and then decided not to award us any penalties, even though on several occasions our players (not just Bale) were scythed down blatantly in the penalty area. The same thing is happening with Dele Alli this season, the media jumped all over him for diving and trying to win penalties, even though there are several far worse culprits for diving in the PL (most of whom play in a red shirt) for whom it never gets a second mention because they play for the media`s darling clubs. We`ve had several certain penalties purposely waved away this season for this reason in my opinion, just yesterday for eg. Dele has his foot and ankle clumsily trodden on in the penalty area by a £ity defender and nothing is given (it was a foul all day long), not that it was any great surprise with Jon Moss involved.
Audere est facere. That is what I expect from the squad personnel that have laboured hard to reach the level they are currently at. As long they are saying to themselves that they should have played far better than they did, even if it still meant a loss, then they will be better for it. Lamenting Citehs' state-sponsored funding is not what I want to see, from personnel or supporters. It is what it is, an obstacle to be faced head-on and overcome.
We do need a few more players with a fire in their belly. I'd hoped that player would be Alli, but thanks to the media witch-hunt and (to his credit) a bit of maturity, he seems much, much calmer these days. Sometimes a Lamela type temperament is what you need. Too many of our players are far, far too 'nice'. Davies, Eriksen, Son, Wanyama, Trippier...these are guys you wouldn't mind your daughter going for a night out with as you know that literally nothing will happen to her and she'll probably come back from some cute funfair with a stuffed toy. I sometimes wonder how Alli would've developed if the media had given him the same treatment as was afforded Paul Scholes. The whole 'oh bless, poor lamb has just scythed down an opponent, raking his studs down the back of the leg. Silly billy, tackling just isn't his strong suit, is it Des?' ***break off into a paternal chuckle at how 'naughty' poor old Scholesy is***
I agree with you but I would ask is that because clubs are targeting a game plan against Spurs of getting in our faces. With the lesser teams they cannot sustain it and we beat them as they tire but this is how Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and United have all set out to play us and they have all had success with it. Wanjama has not been the force he was last season and Dembele on his day is still awesome but his days are becoming more sporadic. That's our strength in midfield Dele and Lamela offer different qualities but we need the strength of Wanjama and Dembele for a midfield war.
I agree but I'd probably go with cuddly toy. Coming home with something stuffed sounds like a euphemism.
Was noticeable that when ex players who played at the same time as Scholes became pundits they were having none of it & to a man said he knew exactly what he was doing.
"I say,Holmes.Wasn't that a Tottenham capitulation?I thought they had stopped doing that!" "Elementary,my dear Watson. Elementary!"
Lamela was noticeable by his lack of bite yesterday when needed - and that was left to an incredibly out of character assault by Ben on Kompany.
City fans singing yesterday "Have you ever seen Tottenham win the league?" A club that has bought their trophies in recent years, maybe they should be more humble. Their stadium paid for by tax payers and lottery monies. All of their sucssess has been given to them on a plate. Like many, i can remember when they were absolute dog ****e. Eventually when Spurs win a title or a major trophy at least we will have done it the right way.
The bigger the lottery win, the less class/grace when the silverware comes. It is comforting to know that none of the Sugga Daddy FCs have been able to become the Empire.
