To be fair to sig, he doesn't get much game time. I thought he did alright today, but we're never going to see much of an improvement in him until he actually gets a decent run. Cameo appearances do no one any good. I prefer what I've seen of him to Dempsey, but neither have impressed me much.
I would rather have better ball players such as Niko coming on than these high energy mid table types , if we had them.
Sig did well when he came on. Cranked the gear up one notch when he came on. Levy get the monies out.
Unfortunately (and this was problematic last season as well) we simply don't have the invention to break teams like Stoke down. This for me is one of the main differences between ourselves and one of the 'top 3' if you like. Teams turn up to White Hart Lane, frustrate us and either nick a win or hold out for a draw. So far this season, the teams who play with that style (shown below) have all taken a result away from the Lane, and are no doubt very happy with their work. (This isn't intended to offend those teams, that's just how you played, and it proved effective). West Brom - Draw Norwich - Draw Wigan - Lost Stoke - Draw Besides that fact, I found AVB's substitutions incredibly strange and frustrating. Lennon looked dangerous on the wing, and it was clear the only chance we had to break Stoke down was coming from wide areas. The middle was incredibly congested, and it was an easy get out for Stoke. As soon as you take your pacey winger off, it simply narrows the game further (yes Sigs nearly scored, but I'm certain we would have created more chances with Lennon). Secondly, why take off your main creative player in the middle!? I couldn't get my head round that, Stoke were happy to defend this game out, so if you were going to take a player off for Parker, why not Sandro? Still feel we have a lot of work to do if we want to finish in the top 4, especially with Arsenal looking like they will/have found some form again. Big games against Villa and Sunderland.
Bloody awful day - **** weather, rotten traffic both ways and in the middle a real 'bang-your-head-against-the-wall' game. Haven't seen the video yet, but from where I was I thought N'Zonzi should have walked for the elbow on Dembele. Looked deliberate to me. Apart from that we huffed and puffed but never looked to come that close until Sigs header. Mind you, I also thought it was a foul on Bale that should have been a pen. Stoke are just so depressing to watch. They didn't even park the bus today, but their style of football is the pits. And how they lasted for so long before the bookings started toting up is beyond me. Oh well - onward and hopefully upward into the next game........
Re substitutions 'incredibly strange' Disagree, Lennon was not getting into the box in fact the whole team failed to get into the box enough. You call for more invention and that was the reason to try Sig while at the same making sure the defence was strong by bringing on Parker. The subs were the last throw of the dice and reasonable IMO as attacking at the end of the game showed. All in all a pretty solid performance by Spurs who looked little troubled despite the cynical stuff from Stoke and a referee who seemed blind to it. Could very easily have been a 1 - 0 win and to over analyse it is to ignore the rub of the green IMO.
Good analysis Spurf. We would have been on our knees in seasons gone by and lost to the sucker punch. Stopped conceding in 80 minutes plus and that's a positive.
Hi Sidney tough one. the first 11 has got stronger in certain areas, but weaker in others. overall, the squad has got stronger, as even though we sold world class in Modric and VDV, we brought in a few other very good players. Dembele has been superb. Vertonghen is just immense IMO (a "top 3" summer buy in the whole premiership for me) Then there's dempsey who appears to be improving, which i'm delighted about after giving him a lot of stick and sig, who i think does ok, but still needs a run. certainly a good squad player at least. finally, Adebayor, who we secured the signing of and i think offers us a lot in terms of linking the midfield and strikeforce. it just comes back to those "missing pieces of the puzzle" that I for one, am renown for banging on about 24/7. a creative midfielder and a striker. 5 signings mentioned above are unfortunately cancelled out by the sales of 2 very influential players IMO, which is a real shame. we've gone backwards slightly I'd say, but if we get those players we need in Jan, we'll suddenly be better than we've ever been, if that makes sense?
stoke are probably the hardest side to break down in the prem. their football is way beyond "Park the bus". I hate them for it and hate to see it in the premiership, but they are good at it to be fair to them. In reply to you FK, we just don't have any game changers on the bench either, and that's a big problem too. I don't think we can be disheartened today, it's so hard against stoke and I've just got used to it over the last few years. But in general, this lack of game changers is an additional factor that separates us form the top 3 aswell, IMO. I think AVB got it spot on again today. Dembele ran his socks off and was brilliant. - he was probably just knackered! Parker comes on and offers good defensive stability and at this point i think AVB has conceded that we were going to get a draw. I certainly had! tough tough game as always. just need that extra spark. Hopefully it'll arrive in Jan.
We had good chances after Parker came on. But for a couple of decisions the game could easily have been 1-0, agree with Spurf on that. There are plenty of refs that would have sent off Nzonzi - anyone seriously believe he would't have got sent off for that at Old Trafford? Not sure about the Bale pen, didn't see it clearly and would need to look again.
Hi Roo, I agree with you, I think we have gone backwards but maybe a fraction more than slightly. Those extra players would add the brandy on the Christmas pudding but they are the the players that don,t come cheap. We tend to leave those types for others to snap up. So If we don,t get them, which by our pragmatic dealings in the transfer window in recent times is more than likely , then at best we would be a little inferior. We have always been one or two top players from really doing something. Two high quality buys would have meant a real challenge for the title or at worst top 3, last season. I think you call it a "Never-ending Story"
Disagree completely, we have to be ambitious as a club otherwise we won't get anywhere. Stoke were offering nothing in the match, and so to suggest we needed to tighten up at the back is a mistake IMO. We needed to keep Lennon on the pitch to ensure it was as wide as possible, again if your going to bring Sig on to be inventive then couple it with ambition. The point on late goals being conceded is a perfect comment, if you look at the games where we concede late goals, it's because AVB has brought on defense minded players. Surely we're not at a stage where we play Stoke at home and feel the need to sure things up and accept a draw?
First we did not adopt a defensive strategy at all after the substitutions it was all out attack. If Demebele was tired who would you replace him with? I suggest you are not looking at the match as it played out but continuing a mind set picked up from previous games. As I have already said Lennon was not breaking through and had 80 minutes to try. To be honest I find your comments on this game wide of the mark and frankly over the top. If the subs had happened in the middle of the game fair enough but this was a last throw to mix it up and try something new. These were positive subs IMO.
Before the season started I looked at the squad and it took me half a second to realise we're a counter attacking team, and that was with VDV, so to see AVB come in and attempt to turn us into a high pressing team that can break down tight defences, it didn't feel me with confidence, especially as it took me half a second to realise its vritually impossible when we sell Modric/VDV & bring in players like dempsey.. Thankfully we signed Dembele and now only have to fill the position of CAM. Siggy for me has been a real letdown and now makes me think rodgers was right in saying he didn't feel siggy was worth the extra amount in wages. It would be interesting to see the stats from this season, in terms of how our goals have been scored, in terms of were they scored on the counter/break, or scored after a period of dominating in the oppositions half. Yes stoke have a great defence, that their game is based on, but we look so average and clueless when asked to break teams down.
Stoke are a one-off. They are very good at what they do- defence being central to it- but it's not pretty. The consolation for Spurs is that all the other teams battling for 3rd/4th place won't find it any easier.
Stoke came for a point and yes they got it. Occasionally they tried to play and did get behind us a few times. Its very hard to play exciting attacking football when you are facing an 8+ man defence. Like someone said earlier we could of played all day and never score- a hard earned point (and another clean sheet) might be important later. Re the Bale pen appeal- first look was no, second showed a clear shove,but the officials as they did all day pretended they didn't see it.
I understand you are a fan of AVB but I think you are allowing your defense of him as a manger to cloud your judgement. I'm not looking at any other game other than this, so not sure where that comment came from? Anyway, putting that little outburst aside, lennon created a great chance for Bale at the back post just before he came off. Our only 'way in' against Stoke was clearly coming from wide areas, which is why it is important to have that option available. Don't be narrow minded enough to believe that just because a wide player hasn't broken through for a while (although not the case with Lennon) that he can't pose a threat, or even widen the pitch with the full back wary of his pace. I'm guessing you haven't played football yourself, but I could be wrong. Dembele didn't look tired to me, he created a great bit of play through determination not long before he too was replaced. I think as a fan I understand we need to win these games in order to compete, and if that is expecting too much as you allude to then there is no dout we have gone backwards. However, I don't believe this to be the case, certainly not in terms of the squad. I just don't believe we are getting the best out of them at the moment.
Stoke may well be a one off, but its the fourth home game this season where we have struggled against this style. We have to be smarter with our tactics against these teams. And when I say smarter, I don't mean going narrow and making the game even more predictable.
Our style is far to rigid for the type of players we have and we play not to their strengths. Central midfield lacks a key to open up organised well drilled teams . Dembele is good and offers something different but he ain't a Modric.
