We have arrived and deserve to be at the high table. Extraordinary times to be a Town supporter. Onwards and upwards.
I'm still basking in the win yesterday - truly a brilliant team performance. The pressing was spot on and that first half was a blizzard of smart, quick attacking play. Second half we sat back a bit more and managed the game really well - actually defended strongly too. Some observations (and a bit of humble pie eating from me) below: Muric is the first choice goalkeeper on merit. Yes, he made a couple of kicking errors, but on the whole he pulled off some key saves, handled crosses brilliantly, and ran the clock down effectively. His last two performances have been strong and he deserves his place. Ben Johnson's last two performances have been great. I was livid at him for the West Ham performance, but he's really put it behind him. Thought he was excellent on the right wing yesterday. He also dropped back to help Tuanzebe mark Son effectively out the game. For the second goal, Johnson had a great touch and pass for the second goal to get Hutchinson moving. He should start in the same position against Man United - ahead of Burns for me. I stand corrected on both O'Shea and Burgess - they've been excellent last two games. Greaves will have to work to get back into the starting eleven. Tuanzebe was a massive miss, great to see him back in the line-up. Cajuste should start ahead of Phillips - works well with Morsy, but he also looks a lot more composed on the ball and is arguably a better passer than Phillips. Szmodics has made the starting eleven spot his own, brilliant link up play. Despite not having a goal or assist (might be wrong here), Hutchinson has really stepped up. Not afraid to get on the ball and is the best dribbler I've seen at the club for a long time - he had Spurs on the back foot throughout the match and was a key part of our win. All the better as he was playing in the number 10 role, showing signs of promise there. Delap should start every game - a ruthless finisher, as well as someone who positively contributes to our build up play. We need to keep him all season to have a better chance at staying up. For all the talk of the 'new boys' struggling to adapt, I think we're showing positive signs those relationships are becoming embedded on the pitch and we're playing more like a team. McKenna's best starting eleven is beginning to show itself: GK: Muric RB: Tuanzebe CB: O'Shea CB: Burgess (Greaves if Burgess' form dips) LB: Davis CM: Morsy CM: Cajuste RW: Hutchinson (Johnson for stronger opponents) AM: Chaplin (Hutchinson for stronger opponents) LW: Szmodics ST: Delap COYB!
Great win yesterday, and I feel with so many players with no Prem experience whatsoever we are learning what's required at the top level. Our boys are coming up against international quality players every match, Spanish, Brazilian, Italian, etc the list goes on and learning to cope at this level must be daunting for most of our boys, we won't get it right every time but with McK at the wheel we've now got a real chance of staying up.
Brilliant performance from your lot. You absolutely deserved your win as you out played us, out fought us and out thought us. Good luck in staying up...would be good to see Ipswich remain. Got very fond memories of Ipswich as a kid when you were a top top team
I think we're seeing the benefits of a combination of good player recruitment and excellent coaching.
I think you're right coupled to experience gained on the job, there are huge challenges facing us every match but we are improving all the time. On MOTD Walcott said we've lost 12 points from winning positions this season, I didn't realise it was that many but hopefully we can be experienced enough now to stop that happening.
One of the most pleasing things for me is to see Omari growing each game. Let’s be honest, he gave us a spark last season and he has limitless potential. A lot of things had to come good on the day to beat Spurs and one of the things that definitely did was Omari’s performance. Tuanzebe combining with Johnson to keep Son largely quiet was another highlight and a masterstroke from McKenna. Not to take anything away from the likes of Burgess and Morsy and Davis and Szmodics and Delap, but they did what we already see them do every week.
Delighted with the win as it gets the monkey off our back. Performances have certainly warranted a win - most notably villa and Leicester. Fantastic for the players as well as us fans. When fit, I do think Greaves will start over Burgess but I would also say that Cajuste has earned a start over Phillips who might be warming the bench for a while (probably until Morsy gets suspended). Johnson is looking like the player West Ham fans said he was and Delap is an absolute monster up top. Squad looks better now we are starting to get injured players back and the future looks a lot brighter
Just watched the replay, great win and confidence booster to take into the two week break. More time on the training field now to continue our progress. Lots of positives from the match, all of which have already been mentioned here. Hutch was good, glad to see him getting to grips with the level.
They're not very happy on the Spurs board, but only two of their fans said we deserved to win, the rest say either their manager is useless, or the players are rubbish or a mixture of the two, I think they might have expected an easy 3 points.
If Spurs had been at it I’m sure they would have beaten us, but they weren’t and one of the reasons is that we made it hard for them and they didn’t fancy a battle. In the first half we kept taking the ball off them and even when they were on top at 2-1 and could have put us under pressure they were incredibly wasteful and kept shooting long range from 30 yards.
Just watched that 1st half again, a masterful performance, great shape, discipline and wonderful runs forward, and their defense a total shambles at times. Reminds me of ours 2 years ago!
