not bothered about going out of this cup,we have bigger fish to fry,don't think we played badly,but the lack of a top striker has cost us yet again.made the chances,but we need a 20 goals a season forward to go with JD and Ade.
Morning all. I managed to watch the game on one of them flash sites. We were by far the better team for 80 minutes but then crumbled. Thought Falque was MOTM, very impressed with his attacking intent, unlucky not to score with two great shots and the pass he laid onto Bale was first class, Bale should've buried the shot. Carroll also was impressive at times, he showed his neat passing ability but he did try a few fancy flicks and passes that didn't pay off, still a promising performance though. Was impressed by Lloris again, cleared many corners and reacted quickly when needed, he couldn't do much with either of the goals, Vertonghen's was a harsh deflection and then Vertonghen & Dawson were beaten by Holt who's header was hard to stop in the first place, so after Hugo saved it, Jackson had a tap in. Vertonghen technically cost us the game in his 10 minute cameo ! I have to say though I wasn't impressed with AVB's substitutions. I was happy with the line up, glad Carroll, Falque and Naughton were given chances and was happy he gave Sandro a complete rest. What annoyed me was at first, bringing Vertonghen on, I didn't feel he was needed, especially in CM where Carroll was having a decent game (yet again, another defensive sub - show some ambition AVB!) and Norwich didn't look threatening. The fact Dempsey was having a mare of a game (topped off by his sh*t penalty), I feel Defoe could've been brought on with 15 minutes to go to add some pace up top and try and grab another to seal the game, the Norwich defence never looked strong, Bunn made some key saves for them and I think Defoe, being fresh on at 75 minutes, could more than likely grabbed a goal or create some chances pinning Norwich back in their own half. Also not sure why Jake was taken off, he was having a good game, made a great last man tackle on Morrison and dealt with things comfortably, he did take a nasty knock to his ankle though so perhaps he was replaced because of that and if so fair enough, if not then I can't understand wasting a sub at half time when it wasn't needed. Overall we can't fault the team performance performance, we were the better team and mostly had what you'd class as a "B" team out (so did Norwich in fairness) though Dempsey needs to improve big time, he may have got two important goals for us so far (albeit tap ins) but he's pretty much been a non entity since signing, as has Sigurdsson. I was full of praise for their signings but thus far, they're not doing the business. It's making Rafa's loss a lot harder to take at the moment. Anyway, what's done is done, here's hoping to a win vs Wigan!
If we don't beat Wigan we have serious problems. Chris Hughton. The old Spurs connection jinxes us again. I wasn't happy when I saw the line up but as tots says,there are bigger fish to fry to good luck to Norwich,it's the sort of competition that they have a chance of winning and I hope that they do.
cheers SOS. I haven't seen any of it yet so thanks for the round up. good to see that Falque had a good game, he has really started to impress recently. that can only be a good this for us, as we need different winger options. Both he and Townsend are really trying to impress so far, which is great news for us fans, after disappointment in the window when we thought we'd be short of wingers. interesting that you say Lloris had a really good game. - just seen a report which was referring to AVB not blaming Lloris for a goal. - which obviously indicates that one of the goals might have been his fault? is this another case of journo's trying to stir up Lloris/AVB nonsense out of nothing? or did he makea clanger? also good to hear that Jake had a good game. he needs that, as so far he's struggled to fit in this season, IMO. hopefully this will spur him on and give him some confidence going into the next game, so we can see him playing like he did last season. v disappointed to hear about Demps + Sig again. Both have had their fair share of game time now and they need to start performing. as it stands, we miss rafa like you say. - which is a real shame as Dempsey and Sig have a lot of talent between them. there's plenty of time yet and it's a long season, but so far i'm finding that we're one dimensional and it's the same players performing well nearly every week. that can't continue if we have hopes of finishing in the top 4. there's players in the squad that are going to need to step up to the mark soon, as they are putting a lot of pressure on those who are currently delivering. The day will come where those in form players will have a bad game and we will come unstuck. coys!
I do too. never disliked Norwich before Hughton took over and now he's there, i hope he's successful. he seems like a top guy. With it being Chris' side that beat us, it makes it that bit more bearable. fair play to them.
Roo, you're far too complimentary for the 2nd goal imo, yes JV and Daws were beaten by Holt in the air, but do you not think Lloris could have done better? Also Hudd and Sig defended atrociously, just standing and watching 2 Norwich players attack Lloris's rebound.
Like i said notso, I havent seen it. i was going on what SOS said. - so it was poor then i'm guessing??!!
No probs mate. Yeah as I said Falque ran the show, really promising performance. Bunn made two good saves to deny him too. Agree with you on the fact we have two players in Falque and Townsend that can add something on the wings bar Lennon & Bale. Yeah it was Jake's best performance of the season so far, which is why I was so bermused at his substitution - unless it was an injury from the bad tackle. I literally just read the article on Lloris and AVB "refusing to blame him". Absolute journo bullsh*t! Holt was about 7 yards from Lloris, the fact he managed to get down and initially save it was a credit to him, just unfortunately for us Jackson was in the right place. Verts and Daws were to blame for it in my opinion, Verts was grabbing Holt's shirt and yet he still rose above both to get the header. I just can't understand why Deuce and Sig have been so poor. They've not influenced the play one bit and looks shadows of the players they were last season. Really hope they don't become the new "Pienaar's"... Impress elsewhere yet when at Spurs they can't seem to find form. I know there's time and I really hope they improve, as I mentioned I was more than happy when they signed but so far they've been a complete let down. I've attached a link to some highlights from Footytube, hopefully they work (some highlights get deleted due to copyright laws etc), if not just head over there and check out another video. You can make your own opinion for the second goal but really can't see how Lloris can be blamed for it. [video]http://www.footytube.com/video/norwich-city-v-tottenham-hotspur-139405?ref=wv_relbox[/video]
cheers for the link SOS. gotta say notso, having seen that, I don't think Lloris is to blame. Like SOS says, Lloris did well to get down for that. JV or Daws should have done better in the air. But credit to Norwich, it was a decent, dangerous free kick. - something we should learn from!!
Sorry Roo, wrong poster!...meant SoS. I'm not saying Lloris is to blame for the goal, but if just patting it out centrally is all you can do, as a keeper you'd expect your defenders to be first to it. Hudd and Sig were ball watching instead of reacting.
Shame to be out, sounds like we played quite well though, how did Carroll do? And how were we lined up? It confused me when I saw the names on the pitch, especially after Vertonghen was added.
Carroll had a typical neat passing display, he tried making a few killer passes which went straight to opposition but yet again, he's managed to impress. Has a great future. We lined up with what seemed to be 3 in CM. Sig, Jake and Carroll were all very central, with Carroll probably the one that attacked more. Falque and Bale swapped over the wings and as I said, Falque was immense. Vertonghen came on in place of Carroll and played CM... Silly decision from AVB in my opinion as he changed something that didn't need changing. Vertonghen was actually poor when he came too. Could argue and say it was down to him we lost, though it'd be a bit harsh. Deflected in the first goal and didn't prevent Holt from heading down for the 2nd.
Yeah that was a mean freekick. We had about 8 corners in the game, I'd say 6 of them went straight to the Norwich first man. Really need to work on our set pieces.
sick of hearing the same old story. when are we going to sign someone who can kick a ball into the centre of the box? it's bloody ridiculous. lots of new faces, same problem.
