Cheers YV, but it reminded me of the semi-final loss at Burnley, though the absence of Alnwick lead to a different result.
No Benny, No Bale you just cant' lose players like this without consequences. The job was done and it is often like this against lower league opposition. For Watford it is a huge chance to test themselves against a top side. For Spurs the players naturally think they should win this one which is the wrong attitude but an inevitable one. It's why the cup produces giant killers and it's why it's good for football.
I'm glad that we're through Spurf and I understand your points about an understrength team and a lower league side raising their game for a big cup tie. I don't disagree about any of those things. I'm disappointed at how poorly we played, but mainly at the choice of system and the fact that Redknapp seems utterly unwilling to pick some members of the squad. If they're good enough, then we need to start using them a little more or face the burnout of last season. If they're not good enough, then we need to ship some of them out and bring in some fresh blood.
Who do you mean? aren't we talking about mostly young players who have to fight in training to get a game?
No, I mean players like Pavlyuchenko, Bassong, Kranjcar and Pienaar. They're currently a total waste of resources, as they never start and rarely get any game time. I assume that Dos Santos is on the way out and Corluka's probably not far behind him.
Well done Spurs, Livermore and Cudicini were two stand out performances. Very pleased that Harry picked a strong team, we needed that tonight. A good draw and victory in the next round and Wembley beckons
Only one goal up and Harry was not comfortable and Dawson needs playing time. Pav is history really and Kranjcar? I thought he might have given him a go but then Livermore needs game time and so on. With a squad like ours it's difficult to please everyone and that's not Harry's main aim of course.
He needs to please more than just 13 or 14 players though, Spurf. We need to rotate more often or we'll end up with a group of knackered players, with pissed off back-up lacking any sort of match-fitness or sharpness. I'm very happy that we're through to the next round, don't get me wrong, but I felt that the game emphasised some of the few points that I've felt need addressing this season. Squad balance and use are probably my main gripes, plus our weakness on set-pieces. I'm knit-picking of course, but I doubt Redknapp was that happy with the overall performance tonight.
Agreed but a lot goes on in training as we have seen with the Bale changes. Personally I have never been keen on squad rotation and it's the old argument about why should these pro players be that tired, we are not exactly over stretched fixturewise this season. Hopefully next season we will be. To be fair to Harry he has used rotation in the carling cup games, but the FA Cup is a little more important.
I agree that it is Spurf, but what's the point in picking an ill Modric over Kranjcar, for example? The balance of the side seemed to have been overlooked tonight, too. The shape was awful and I still can't understand how we ended up with Pienaar on the right and Lennon on the left.
Just listened to Redknapp's post match interview. Modric was ill, but nobody told him until after he'd picked the side. How unprofessional is that? Worse than that though, he suggested that Lennon's 'done a hamstring'. Great.
'Arry has been a little preoccupied this week for people to keep him informed of everything - although you'd think it would've come up sooner...
Some, very few in fact, Watford fans are blaming their keeper. We played very well last night and came up short because we couldn't take any of our chances - you took your chance and won. Fair play and good luck for the rest of the season.
Chippy - thanks for that, you were very unlucky, good luck to your team. Interesting post-match stuff on the radio. Firstly Harry came on and gave a very honest assessment. I love that. I hate the managers who fail to admit a bad performance, didn't see things, give pointless praise and/or fail to credit the opposition. Good that he was prepared to chat too after his week in court. I hope Spurs continue to get the type of manager prepared to do that as I don't want our team to be like any other - in which case why would we continue to support Spurs and criticise others? Secondly we had more evidence of unwitting pro-Liverpool in the media (IMHO). Motson said that the winner of the ManU/Pool tie today would be favourites for the competition. Really? Even if pool win? Another commentator said that if Pool had a consistent and top striker they wouldn't just be looking at top four but at being title contenders. Really? Only if you could say the same about any of the top 6 (or 8) teams then - but if such a player existed and was available than Citeh would buy him anyway!
i don' know about anyone else but i'm fed up of the media bigging up liverpool.while they keep buying the type of players they have(with the exception of saurez),the have'nt the quality for top4,and Motson's worst than most
To be fair the media has always had an anti London bias. in 1991 when Spurs won the Cup and Arsenal won the league the ITV team of the season only had 1 Arsenal player in it and the rest were northern based players . There's a serious snobbery in the press and TV - you never hear the North London derby hyped to the level of United Liverpool or the Mersey, Manchester or even the bleeding Tyneside or Sheffield derbies FFS!
Interestingly, regardless of what you think about our North London neighbours, our derby has been light years ahead of any other in terms of entertainment, excitement and quality football for years. To continually hype the others is no more than drumming up viewing interest. I would suggest that for the neutral, there is no contest as to which the best derby to watch is.
