Tottenham vs Ar5ena1: Match Thread

[WhiteStripe]

Big disappointment that we couldn't take the three points that Eboue practically handed us.
It's a mystery how Jenas was allowed to continue to do nothing and wasn't subbed so we really could attack for all the points. Laughable to bring on Bent for Pavluchenko.....we really died after that. How is it possible for a player of Bents size to be so weak up front and clueless when it comes to winning headers?

I'm not Bents biggest fan whatsoever, but to be fair to him, he is hardly the biggest of centre forwards...5'11". Winning headers is just not his thang :wink:

 

[Cozzie]

Sorry Cozzie, I just don't accept that Modric isn't strong enough. What does he have to do? He is very difficult to get off the ball, he is good in tight spaces, he puts his foot plenty. Is it because he is small?

Modric and Palacios would be absolutely fine as a central midfield partnership. Both are good on the ball and both add something that our midfield has missed for a long time. I like Jenas, he has a lot of good attributes to his game, but when the opposition is sitting back and trying to hit you on the break you need some creative spark to unlock it and that isn't his strength at all. He is great when a game is stretched, but he offered very little today.

I believe that this is about balance, Modric will attack when we get forward, Lennon will attack, Keane and Pav will be in attack, Bale/Bently will be attacking, leaving Palacios alone in the centre of midfield. That is exactly what happened against Burnley in the first half at home, when Zokora was left on his own. If we have two attacking wingers, then we must have two relatively defensive minded CM's, otherwise we will be overrun. I don't mean that Modric is weak physically necessarily, although he wont win that many headers against big players. He is mentally weak defensively, brilliant going forward and unlocking defences, coming in off the left, as coincidentally is Lennon (far better than he is on the right, but thats for another arguement). Modric on the LM allows us to go 433 with either him or lennon tucking in depending on which side of the pitch the ball is on. It just gives us more options. But Modric in CM is effectively going to make us 415 when an attack breaks down.

 

[Max_Junglie]

A shocking result? Against a side we havnt beaten for god knows how long? Who are 5th in the league, and are internationals to a man. (how many internationals do we have incidentally?) And how the hell is losing this match going to give us any confidence to go on and pick up points elsewhere? We have to accept the fact that thhis season we are a relegation threatened side, and that every point is priceless, as any Bolton or Wigan fan will tell you. We have to get over our Superiority complex and realise we are just another side who make up the Premier league. We got a decent result today, and played encouraging football.

Sorry, that argument just doesn't do it for me. Almunia? Clichy? Song? Denilson? Bender? These are not the creme-de-la-creme of international football.

The first half was an encouraging performance, the second was rubbish. The result was a good one vs a full strength Arsenal (the weakest Arsenal team for several seasons at that), but against ten men for an hour, it was definitely two points lost. I don't think anyone on here needs to be told how precious points are, but it looks to me like some of our players could do with a reminder.

 

[DC_Boy]

. If the boot was on the other foot and we went a player down at the immigrants do you think we would have come away with a point...?

!

no - which is a strong indication why they have outperformed us for the last 40 years, indeed the last 100 years

and why I said before the game that a point would be good - as it was

 

[riversmonkey]

I think Huddlestone was needed in the 2nd half, we just needed somebody with a bit of vision to keep spreading the play, making the most of the man advantage. Jenas ran around like a headless chicken but often got in the way.

Just a little bit of composure was required today.

 

[Michey]

I'm not Bents biggest fan whatsoever, but to be fair to him, he is hardly the biggest of centre forwards...5'11". Winning headers is just not his thang :wink:

Ok, i might have missjudged his size.....fair enough :up:

But his timing seems awful, doesn't it? :shrug:

 

[Max_Junglie]

It's swings and roundabouts though. Liverpool dicked on us for 90 mins at WHL but we went away with all 3 points. The second half wasn't good enough as Woody and Daws seemed to have the ball constantly. But a point is better than nothing and i refuse to accept people making out we were shit today.

You're right that's for sure - and a point is priceless in our current predicament. But it doesn't matter if we're playing the Goons or Accrington Stanley, 60 mins with a numerical advantage whilst only testing their keeper maybe a couple of times simply isn't good enough.

IMO the problem was the way we approached the second half, expecting the goal to arrive rather than looking for it, and that's why I'm frustrated. Spurs rarely manage to annoy me, but today I'm really peeved.

 

[Alfieconnman]

Disappointed but not despairing sums it up for me. A good overall team performance.

High points - Wilson outstanding

Low points - Modric, rather wasted on the left and a much better AM option than JJ, who manages to cover a lot of ground but is not sufficiently creative or involved.

Conclusion - Get us a good left winger and we have a pretty good team.

 

[Cozzie]

Sorry, that argument just doesn't do it for me. Almunia? Clichy? Song? Denilson? Bender? These are not the creme-de-la-creme of international football.

The first half was an encouraging performance, the second was rubbish. The result was a good one vs a full strength Arsenal (the weakest Arsenal team for several seasons at that), but against ten men for an hour, it was definitely two points lost. I don't think anyone on here needs to be told how precious points are, but it looks to me like some of our players could do with a reminder.

Granted i will give you a few of them as not being ceme-de-la-creme. But they do still have the quality that we don't posses. Adebayor, Van Persie, Nasri, Toure, Gallas, Sagna, are all top quality internationals or have been recently (and their bench wasn't bad Arse Shaving etc). We dont have that right now. We have Keane (RoI) Pav (Russia) Palacios (Honduras) and thats it. The rest dont even get in their countries squads much. How many Spurs players going with England in midweek? On that basis, i would say we did pretty well.

 

[Chris12345]

We have Keane (RoI) Pav (Russia) Palacios (Honduras) and thats it. The rest dont even get in their countries squads much.

Modric? Hutton? Bale?

All pretty much guaranteed to be in their countries squads when fit...

 

[Cozzie]

Sorry, that argument just doesn't do it for me. Almunia? Clichy? Song? Denilson? Bender? These are not the creme-de-la-creme of international football.

The first half was an encouraging performance, the second was rubbish. The result was a good one vs a full strength Arsenal (the weakest Arsenal team for several seasons at that), but against ten men for an hour, it was definitely two points lost. I don't think anyone on here needs to be told how precious points are, but it looks to me like some of our players could do with a reminder.

And how will that work? By us losing some more? :bang: We have been losing points all season, and it seems so far to have had a demoralising effect. Maybe if we win some, and draw some games we were expected to lose, we might get encouraged, and therefore pick some more up on the way.

 

[Cozzie]

Modric? Hutton? Bale?

All pretty much guaranteed to be in their countries squads when fit...

Actually Corlucka as well . But there is still something to be said about those countries' squads maybe not playing at the top level enough, Croatia and Russia excepted.

 

[spurs mental]

Just in from the boozer so a little bit tipsy posting, but anyway, how we did not win, I don't understand. Especially when your in a pub with 4 scum fans and two other Spurs fans. I've never seen scum fans so nervous.....Honestly, if Tarabbt hadda played Keano in we had the game won!! I know he played a great ball to Luka, but Keane is a striker and would have finished in the position he was in.

 

[fazza]

I've been at my mums 60th dinner and meet up today so missed the game but have heard we were all over the scum and they had Eboue sent off. Who played well for us??? How many should we have won by???

 

[Marty]

I've been at my mums 60th dinner and meet up today so missed the game but have heard we were all over the scum and they had Eboue sent off. Who played well for us??? How many should we have won by???

Should probably have won by 2, maybe 3 if we had been clinical in front of goal.

Palacios was absolutely outstanding, one of the best Spurs performances I've ever seen, particularly the first half where he was everywhere and carried the team. Modric was also very good but fluffed a great chance in injury time. Most of the rest were solid bar (imo, I've seen people disagree) Corluka, who I thought was poor, and also JJ and BAE weren't at their best, though JJ's lack of match practice recently may have something to do with that.

 

[fazza]

Should probably have won by 2, maybe 3 if we had been clinical in front of goal.

Palacios was absolutely outstanding, one of the best Spurs performances I've ever seen, particularly the first half where he was everywhere and carried the team. Modric was also very good but fluffed a great chance in injury time. Most of the rest were solid bar (imo, I've seen people disagree) Corluka, who I thought was poor, and also JJ and BAE weren't at their best, though JJ's lack of match practice recently may have something to do with that.

Reasons to be optimistic then for the rest of the season, Did Arshavin play any part in the game?? How was Keane.....

 

[Marty]

Arshavin didn't come on, think any chances of that were scuppered by the red card.

Keane was alright, did a fairly good 'captain's job' imo, directing the others into positions at set pieces and doing a bit of yelling when necessary. Had two very good chances but was a bit unlucky, on a better day both may have gone in but neither were sitters.

Also, forgot to mention Chimbonda earlier who came on for Corluka for the last 15 mins or so and was abysmal.

 

[spurs mental]

Palacious was the reason we played them off the park, even when they had 11 men we pissed on them. Made tackle after tackle.

Chimbonda was poor, as was Bent, cant see why Pav went off to be honest, thought him and Keano were linking pretty well when they got the chance.

Im so disappointed we didnt beat them though. Not many teams out-football L'Arse but we did pretty well.

Luka could have made himself an instant legend if he slotted that one home, but alas, we always have next season.

 

[fazza]

Good to hear about Palacios controlling the game, that will help let Modric drive forward more, Lets hope both suit each other in the middle, could be our new version of Keane and Scholes, although Modric has to improve in front of goal from what i've seen.

 

[spurs mental]

Yea he does, should have won us the game today. :-(