4-1 FT. Excellent performance until the game was essentially over, then took the foot off a bit. We still ended up outplaying them completely towards the end, though. Totally demolishing a side with West Ham's record this season is really impressive stuff.
Do you want a Spurs manager who in the dressing room tonight : 1. Is happy with that result 2. Gives a right b-----king to : - Delle Alli for a stupid yellow - Walker for the same, AND the sloppy pass that prevented a clean sheet + having the joint best GD
What gives me great confidence is the fact that we've been getting better and better as the season has progressed. We never even looked like losing that game.
4-1 flatters West Ham. Anything under double digits flatters them really when you look at how easy that was, you could see Spurs players in cruise control with half an hour to go and we still created chance after chance. So what I want to know is how West Ham were level with us before the game. Lucky start or a one man team(Payet)? Thought Eriksen was MOTM, he was involved in everything but I can't fault a player out there for us.
They set up to hit teams on the break and that caught a few people out at the start of the season. City had players missing and don't appear to be able to deal with that, too. Payet will be a part of why they were so bloody awful, but I think that their tactics are known now, so they're easier to deal with. If you break them down and get a goal, then they have to come out and they're not nearly as good in that position. That's why they've dropped points against some of the so-called lesser teams in the division. They're expected to be on top and run the game, so they open up and get caught out.
Super performance and Dembele was immense - and there have been too few times over past 3 years when I had the chance to say that. Playing as a team from front to back, very impressive all round. Hope Walker gets the praise for another good performance and lovely goal rather than the blip that led to their goal. And when changes are made, the bench replacements all fit into the system really well. Too early to start talking up the possibilities, but this is as strong a Spurs side that I can remember for many years.
We are comfortable on the ball decisive going forward, with quality players everywhere and aggression. Our only weakness is Lloris at the near post.
I'm a believer. It's so settled now. Poch has done a bloody brilliant job on recruitment (ins and outs, even though I bitched about many of the sells he looks like he was totally right with his policies). Last season we got a very good league position despite, in my mind, having a weaker squad than for some time. How Poch has trimmed the team, added in and promoted new faces, had a master-stroke in moving Dier to DM, got what he has out of Lamela, Rose, Kane, Alli, Mason (last season and he looked sharp coming on today), dealt with the CB situation to a large degree after the frailties there last season. Could go on but just want to add that Dembele still (still!) be the player that it's the biggest pleasure to be the most wrong about (was still going on about how I'd sell him just a few weeks ago). But weirdly in a way that isn't that surprising cos we all knew what he has in him. Today , and in other games recently,it was like the player I thought we'd signed in the early days. And I honestly feel that in Poch we have a man who has a clear plan and a system and a group of players who could bring the best out of Dembele. A great thing is that Dembele joins a group of players that you wouldn't really have wanted/expected to start at various times in the season (see Dier at DM at the beginning, Alli ditto, Lamela ditto) who have come in and then start looking undroppable. Again I feel it's only fair to give Poch a lot of credit for that. (That I'm thinking players like Lamela and Dembele are undroppable the manager demands a hell of a lot of credit!). Harry had some great, great players - we were full of class in a way that's hard to buy in, we were a class act and had some great wins and Harry set a high standard. But that just couldn't last and now we seem to possibly have something sustainable and exciting finally which, I'd imagine, is sort of perfectly in tune with what Levy wants for the club. Whatever your opinion of Levy it's best that we have something whereby everyone's pulling in the same direction and that works. I really think the Poch/Mitchell etc plan is working.
A couple of post-match interviews that basically sum up what we've been about this season, in my opinion: Mauricio Pochettino, speaking to Sky Sports: "It was a high level performance. It was fantastic and we feel very proud. It was a brilliant effort. We showed how we can play and we need to keep the whole season the performance that we showed. Fantastic, fantastic show against a very good team like West Ham. "Our plan was always to press the opponent and this is our way, our philosophy. We try to build from the back with the ball and we share all together that philosophy now – this is the most important thing. I never doubted Harry Kane. "Always a striker has difficult periods but Harry is top. We have a very good squad and are happy in the way we work every day. "Dele Alli can play like a number 10 or central midfielder, he feels comfortable in both positions, depending on the plan that we have. For us the table is not important. The way that we play is important, to develop our philosophy. Today we shared that and believed in the way that we worked." Everyone pulling in the same direction, improvement and buying into the philosophy are more important than the result. No getting carried away and making silly statements about the future, just concentrating on each game as it comes. Eric Dier, speaking to Sky Sports: "Hopefully I've adapted to this new position. Hopefully I can keep playing well, the team can keep playing well and Harry can keep scoring goals. I'm happy there but it's up to the manager. If he said to play anywhere else then I would. "We are going game by game. We're not getting excited. We know that if we can perform like we did today we'll get wins and will be pushing right up to the top, so we'll just keep on doing that." More of the same. Great to see a youngster doing what's asked of him and being willing to put everything into it, regardless of where he plays. Really impressed with Dier's attitude and his commitment to the side.
So far, MP is producing the type of team that I've longed to see for ages. We're nobody's mugs anymore. It's a team that goes for the jugular from the off, and keeps the pressure on. I'm almost starting to lose my sense of foreboding about what's coming next after we go 1-0 up. And isn't it lovely not to spend the last 5 minutes or so of nearly every game biting your nails in anxiety as we try to hold out the opposition onslaught on our goal?
