Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United

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Saturday 23rd September 12.30pm
Premier League
Olympic Stadium​

Progression in the Carabao Cup against Barnsley was a welcome step.
A win at Wembley, some squad players got a run out and we're on to the next round.
Who's up next? West Ham, both in the league and in the oddly renamed trophy.
Does it give this game any more of an edge? Probably not, but that might depend on the result.

Slaven Bilic has come under some pressure this season, as his club spent money and started badly.
Marko Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez and Pablo Zabaleta were the main names added in the summer.
They had a mixed start, as the Mexican got a couple of goals and the Argentinian put in some solid performances.
The enigmatic Austrian struggled though, getting sent off in their second league game for an elbow.
It contributed to their run of three losses in the league at the start of the campaign.

Their form has picked up a bit recently.
Wins over Cheltenham and Bolton in the League Cup have shown their squad has some depth.
Their first victory in the league came against Huddersfield and it was then followed by a draw with West Brom.
Not exactly grabbing the headlines with those results, but it's given the manager some breathing room.
A result here could be a massive boost and he knows how much it means to their fans, too.

This fixture was one of our worst performances of the 2nd half of last season.
A strangely out of sorts side dominated possession, but failed to create many chances and looked shaky.
Kyle Walker had a particularly bad game and was removed late on, as we chased it.
Manuel Lanzini's scrappy effort had given them a lead that they never really looked like giving up.
Our rather hopeful creative play was eaten up all day by their backline.

The game at the Lane looked to be heading the same way, until a late turnaround grabbed us the points.
Michail Antonio gave them a first half lead with a header and we struggled to regain parity.
Harry Winks scored his first goal for us in the second half to equalise and we looked to be kicking on.
Then a clumsy challenge on a corner by Janssen resulted in a penalty to them, which Lanzini put away.
Caution was thrown to the wind and we nearly got caught on the break a couple of times.
Harry Kane leveled it up again with a minute left, before Son won a penalty in injury time, which Kane dispatched.
Insult was added to injury, as Winston Reid picked up a second yellow for dissent in the remaining seconds.

Neither side has any suspensions for this game.
Wanyama, Lamela and Rose are still out for us.
West Ham will miss Fernandes, Collins, Obiang and Lanzini.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen; Trippier, Dier, Sissoko, Son; Eriksen, Alli; Kane.
Subs: Vorm, Foyth, Aurier, Davies, Dembele, Winks, Llorente.

West Ham: Hart; Fonte, Reid, Collins; Zabaleta, Kouyate, Obiang, Cresswell; Antonio, Carroll, Hernandez.
Subs: Adrian, Ogbonna, Rice, Masuaku, Arnautovic, Sakho, Ayew.

Referee: Michael Oliver.

TV: Sky Sports.

Does anything need changing from the side that drew with Swansea last weekend?
Did anyone do well enough against Barnsley to earn another run out in this game?
Do we need to change anything tactically or should anyone be dropped?

 

Wrong claret and blue team for Paul Stewart

 

Having a left back would be nice for this game.

I'd go with:

Hugo
Toby, Dave, Jan
Aurier, Dier, Dembele, Davies
Alli, Eriksen
Kane

 

One of the most obviously biased bits of commentary ever. "Oh, no!"

 

Haven't watched it yet, but here's Pochettino's press conference:

 

Sadly, not one outlet is referring to the match as the Cavernous Atmosphere-free Amphitheatre Totally Unfit For Football Derby

...a derby we'll be partaking in for just the one season.

 

Pre-match stuff (decent audio quality) ...

 

A Poch joke! (2.10). Is that a first?

 

Some attempted Lloriente sh*t-stirring there from the (BBC ?? ) woman.

 

Mauricio Pochettino has indicated that Mousa Dembele is suffering from a 'private medical matter'.

Having seen him hobbling around Wembley on Tuesday night, that'll be piles. Nasty. No wonder he was off his game against Dortmund. More garlic and onions, mate. They thin the blood. Worked pretty well for me.

 

Hmmm. I see we're on first-name terms with the back four, but not with anyone else. Any particular reason?

 

Me as well, garlic and onions with every meal, save cornflakes of course. Keeps the Dukes of Argyles at bay. Casseroles, Curries and Spag Bol's are the order of the day.

 

Not so much interested in this match as I am in the match against Apoel, not much to say on this match.

 

If that diet doesn't work, they can use elastic bands (mmmmmm!) or just long-handled nail scissors (ngngngng!) or both (*****!). Not sure what they used on me, as I was under anaesthetic at the time (years ago now)..... but it does seem to have worked. Moussa will be right as rain in no time if he goes down that path.

 

Just 4 weeks on from significant surgery in that area.
Unfortunately, well beyond the scope of garlic and onion benefit!! Soup and runny porridge was staple diet for the first 14 days

 

Too lazy

 

The current Mrs B had that done after having our kids. I remember going back to visit her in hospital afterwards, as she was coming round again. In her drugged up state she said.....

"A woman keeps crying and waking me up. Can't you get her to shut up?"

The only person who'd been crying in the previous 20 minutes was her.

Must have been painful, she's proper tough.

 

Noted that a lot of talk of real medical pains in the
arse should appear on a Spurs match day thread for
the Spanners.

 

Verts says he isn't scared of Andy Carroll.

Of course he isn't. Andy Carroll doesn't hit men...

 

Someone's obsessed...