Tottenham Vs Fulham: Match Thread

[davidmatzdorf]

Out of interest what sort of reception did Parker get today?

A good robust cheer when he was announced and another when he was substituted.

 

[Scottish Spur]

I missed much of the game yesterday (the sun was out and when you live where I do, you've got to take advantage when you can) but figured I'd catch the last few minutes.

So, I came in and stuck it on with a few minutes left. Within 60 seconds of turning it on, I watched Townsend get the ball, beat their RB, bring it back, try and take him on again and lose possession.

At this point I thought 'fuck that', turned it off and went back to Mr Sunshine.

Andros Townsend - Helping Scotsmen get a tan since 2014.

 

[eddiebailey]

But today's game was a great example why Sandro should have been on the bench.

At 3-1 we should have hooked a striker (strangely enough Ade) and bought on a defensive midfielder just to close the game out.
Sherwood's substitutions were truly baffling in terms of getting/keeping a result and I worry that he is simply cutting off his nose to spite his face.
I never thought I'd have a problem with being able to bring on Soldado, Dembele, and Townsend off the bench but they were not what was required at the time.

Disagree. Tim's tactics are all about keeping the opposition penned in their own half. Going defensive just encourages the opposition to come at you and lets them back into the game.

 

[walworthyid]

I missed much of the game yesterday (the sun was out and when you live where I do, you've got to take advantage when you can) but figured I'd catch the last few minutes.

So, I came in and stuck it on with a few minutes left. Within 60 seconds of turning it on, I watched Townsend get the ball, beat their RB, bring it back, try and take him on again and lose possession.

At this point I thought 'fuck that', turned it off and went back to Mr Sunshine.

Andros Townsend - Helping Scotsmen get a tan since 2014.

I remember that too. He is so brainless it is scary. He had options and space inside and decided to go back where had just come from.
Very annoying player

 

[DogsOfWar]

Disagree. Tim's tactics are all about keeping the opposition penned in their own half. Going defensive just encourages the opposition to come at you and lets them back into the game.

It wouldn't have been defensive, it would have been about winning the central midfield battle.
We rarely won a second ball in the middle at all yesterday and Paulinho didn't look like he knew whether to stick or twist in regards to getting forward.
Bringing on Sandro (or even Dembele/Bentaleb) into a deeper role would have given Chadli and Paulinho more license to pressurise further up the pitch which would have been more likely to pen them in.

Instead we saw our 3 most effective players systematically removed and replaced with men who didn't play at the same level as those that were taken off. This, in my view, invited far more pressure.

 

[allatsea]

I think you are the idiot if you think sacking him now will benefit the club.

Thank you for your kind reply. Sacking Sherwood now will have the benefit of stopping him from alienating even more players if nothing else.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Instead we saw our 3 most effective players systematically removed and replaced with men who didn't play at the same level as those that were taken off. This, in my view, invited far more pressure.

The substitutions were followed by the period of the game in which we experienced the least pressure. We fairly sailed through the last 15 minutes. So if the substitutions 'invited more pressure', then it can only be that Fulham were incapable of exerting any.

The only change that I thought represented a risk was removing Kane and inserting Soldado, because we were using the two strikers to hold the ball high up the pitch, but Soldado is actually quite good at hold-up play - he just didn't do much of it yesterday, if only because he wasn't playing in areas where it was required.

 

[DogsOfWar]

The substitutions were followed by the period of the game in which we experienced the least pressure. We fairly sailed through the last 15 minutes. So if the substitutions 'invited more pressure', then it can only be that Fulham were incapable of exerting any.

The only change that I thought represented a risk was removing Kane and inserting Soldado, because we were using the two strikers to hold the ball high up the pitch, but Soldado is actually quite good at hold-up play - he just didn't do much of it yesterday, if only because he wasn't playing in areas where it was required.

My memory of it was Dembele dwelling on the ball as opposed to trying to move it on quickly as Chadli did, Soldado seeing the ball less than Kane, and Townsend running up a couple of blind alleys and giving it away.

I felt that we played reasonably well in the second half but the substitutions nullified this. Had Fulham showed more willingness, or quality, going forward they could have posed us more problems at the end.