Why were/are we occasionally awful!

[lukespurs7]

I have to say sorry but last night we were outclassed and against Birmingham we were quite poor.

I was just wondering in terms of personel, tactics etc what our weaknesses are that lead to occasional awful performances. We can beat a team like Chelsea in a cup final, but with the same line-up can't compete at home to PSV in the UEFA cup.

I personally feel we play a few too many long balls and that at times our passing and movement isn't good enough. Weather we don't have the correct players to play a pass and move game is one question. Players such as Chimbonda,Lennon,Zokora even Malbranque who fairly often give away possession.

It may be motivation, tactics whatever. But basically last night PSV outclassed us in my opinion. We created a fair few chances don't get me wrong, but in truth we never really looked like scoring and struggled to really make an impact.

Sometimes we play beautiful flowing FAST, HIGH TEMPO football especially at home and absoloutely tear teams apart, at other times we look very average.

Thing is I don't think it's the players because unless we are over-rating alot of our players, that line-up yesterday was bloody good, 1st choice CB's, 2 brilliant strikers but perhaps it's still the midfield where we lack. Sometimes Jenas,Malbranque and Lennon are class but mabye more often than not they go missing in games whereas teams like Arsenal,Man.U,Chelsea etc have players coming to the fort in big games time and again.

Can't quite put my finger on why occasioanlly we are awful beacuse with the line-up we had yesterday i don't see why we couldn't have beaten them. They out passed us and once we conceded we got nervous.

views?

Birmingham was appaling, PSV wasn't so bad but was still quite poor. Every team has bad days but why do we have them?

 

[PantherX]

Every team has bad days but why do we have them?

Because we're included with "every team" so since "every team" has bad days so do we. If on the other hand we weren't included with "every team" then we would have been "no team" and discussion about "no team" is pretty damn pointless.

I believe that you should also be included with "non posters".

 

[DC_Boy]

we certainly weren't awful v PSV - - it was a below average performance against a very good team - things like this happen

Arsenal lost to PSV last season for example

 

[DFF]

Am i the only one who thinks we were the better team overall last night? They had a good last 15-20 minutes which seems to have left an indelible impression on everyone. Some of the football we played last night was sublime, just no end product.

 

[nightgoat]

I didn't think we got going properly... We started too patiently, rather than ripping into them from the off... When we increased the tempo after they scored, we caused them problems and made a couple of decent chances... Second half they sat back and defended, and we couldn't break them down...

Their keeper didn't look at all comfortable with crosses, yet we hardly put any decent balls in...

 

[bomberH]

Am i the only one who thinks we were the better team overall last night? They had a good last 15-20 minutes which seems to have left an indelible impression on everyone. Some of the football we played last night was sublime, just no end product.

There was one move any team in the world would've been proud of, which ended in Steed knocking it well wide at the Park Lane end. That was a truly magnificent bit of football, one and two touches between about 6 players. But i still think overall, we were 2nd best on the night. We didn't play too badly, just that they were a good, organised, great on the counter type team.

2-1 Spurs next week. Beat Bayern 4-2 over 2 legs in quarters. Beat Fiorentina 5-1 over 2 legs in Semis. Lose 3-0 to Bolton in final :-|

 

[themanwhofellasleep]

PSV were the better team yesterday. We created a few chances but they always looked in control. They looked really dangerous on the break and at the final whistle I was quite relieved it was only 1-0 to them.

Every team has its off days. I have to say that one of the main problems we have is that when Berbatov is off-form we look very average. So much of what we do goes through him and when he's below par (as he was last night) we struggle to get any rhythm up front.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

We weren't awful last night. PSV are a top european side. champs in holland last 6 out of 8 years. A champions league team. They came to us and worked their nuts off with 5 in midfield. Yet despite this we had 55% possession and created some decent half chances. Their only really good chances coming in the second half when we were chasing the game.

Put things in context. PSV are as tough a side as we could have got. They play CL football every year. They regularly get results against better teams than us. Despite this we still had more possession and but for a defensive gift would have got at least a draw.


Birmingham again looked bad on MOTD but ther fact is we had 60% possession, more shots and target but were undone, inevitably by the fact that several players were rested including our first choice CB's and first choice CM. Goals once again came from set pieces and then chasing the game we were skanked. I didn't go but someone on here said it could have easily been a game we won 4-1 but for sloppy defending.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an apologist for shitness, but awful as a whole we weren't. Just defended poorly and were punished. Awful is when you are outplayed.

 

[themanwhofellasleep]

Bus Conductor... I agree with you. I suspect that the reason that some fans thought we were rubbish is that they've heard people crowing on about how we're going to win the UEFA Cup as though the other teams in the competition are a load of amateurs from Lithuania who have only been playing football for 10 minutes.

 

[lukespurs7]

I suppose looking at statisitcs it shows we've not really played that badly in the last 2 matches However we have still lost them both, did we deserve too, were we unlucky or do the stats lie and we actually weren't good enough?

 

[lukespurs7]

We weren't awful last night. PSV are a top european side. champs in holland last 6 out of 8 years. A champions league team. They came to us and worked their nuts off with 5 in midfield. Yet despite this we had 55% possession and created some decent half chances. Their only really good chances coming in the second half when we were chasing the game.

Put things in context. PSV are as tough a side as we could have got. They play CL football every year. They regularly get results against better teams than us. Despite this we still had more possession and but for a defensive gift would have got at least a draw.


Birmingham again looked bad on MOTD but ther fact is we had 60% possession, more shots and target but were undone, inevitably by the fact that several players were rested including our first choice CB's and first choice CM. Goals once again came from set pieces and then chasing the game we were skanked. I didn't go but someone on here said it could have easily been a game we won 4-1 but for sloppy defending.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an apologist for shitness, but awful as a whole we weren't. Just defended poorly and were punished. Awful is when you are outplayed.

Yea some good points, was refering more to Birmingham there though mate. Last night I feel attacking wise we were poor, defensively we weren't all that bad apart from an error by Gilberto.

 

[themanwhofellasleep]

Against Birmingham we were basically rubbish. Against PSV we did ok, but never really looked fluid going forward against a very good team. We weren't awful and a 1-0 defeat was about right.

Stats tell you very little. There are plenty of games we've won where the opposition had more possession or more shots on target. We only ever reach for the stats when we've lost and are trying to defend a performance. Every other team in the league does the same thing, forgetting that the only stats that count are whether you win or lose.

 

[DFF]

There was one move any team in the world would've been proud of, which ended in Steed knocking it well wide at the Park Lane end. That was a truly magnificent bit of football, one and two touches between about 6 players. But i still think overall, we were 2nd best on the night. We didn't play too badly, just that they were a good, organised, great on the counter type team.

2-1 Spurs next week. Beat Bayern 4-2 over 2 legs in quarters. Beat Fiorentina 5-1 over 2 legs in Semis. Lose 3-0 to Bolton in final :-|

Personally, i think there were 3 or 4 of those calibre of moves. One mistake cost us a goal, otherwise we were the more threatening throughout the match while they soaked up the pressure and had a bit of joy on the counter-attack late on. At worst it was a stalemate with a goal gifted to them.

 

[DFF]

Against Birmingham we were basically rubbish. Against PSV we did ok, but never really looked fluid going forward against a very good team. We weren't awful and a 1-0 defeat was about right.

Stats tell you very little. There are plenty of games we've won where the opposition had more possession or more shots on target. We only ever reach for the stats when we've lost and are trying to defend a performance. Every other team in the league does the same thing, forgetting that the only stats that count are whether you win or lose.

Sorry, but the fluidity of our attacking play was excellent. It was a joy to watch. But, again, no end product.

 

[KeaneIsKeane]

Keane had a world class move in the box with two defenders on him, unfortunately he couldn't finish.

 

[double0]

I personally thought we were outplayed. PSV played a more controlled game than we did and our possession wasn't really in advanced positions. We played the ball across the back line far to often and was punished as soon as we made a mistake.

Yes PSV played with 5 across the midfield but it also transformed into 433 when there were on the attack. IMO watching the game on ITV, we ran out of ideas and resulted to a longer ball, which isn't a bad tactic but it did indicate a lack of invention/trust within our so called flair players IE Malbranque, Lennon Berbatov and a little desperation in our play.

I found it interesting that Ramos decided to introduce Taarabart for the first time i believe since he took over, personally hope to see more of him.

 

[AngerManagement]

We suffer when our midfield fails to perform, no cover for the defensive and no creativity for the strikers. Lennon didnt do enough and Zokora and Jenas lost the midfield battle by a long way.

Many games are won and lost in the midfield and our midfield is not good enough alot of the time, when we lose the midfield battle we look poor as a team in general because it has a knock on effect to both the strikers (lack of chances) and Defense (lack of protection).

Jenas is a good player, but we have very little quality else where in the centre. I wouldnt be at all suprised if we had two new CM's in our starting line up for next season (even though Jenas is up to standard he may not fit into the type of pairing Ramos wants in the middle?, depends what is avaible on the market I suppose)

 

[Bus-Conductor]

There was one move any team in the world would've been proud of, which ended in Steed knocking it well wide at the Park Lane end. That was a truly magnificent bit of football, one and two touches between about 6 players. But i still think overall, we were 2nd best on the night. We didn't play too badly, just that they were a good, organised, great on the counter type team.

2-1 Spurs next week. Beat Bayern 4-2 over 2 legs in quarters. Beat Fiorentina 5-1 over 2 legs in Semis. Lose 3-0 to Bolton in final :-|

That move was superb and very reminiscent of the one earlier in the season (Wigan ?) when Jenas ended up clean through on a hatrick and fluffed it.

We weren't exactly second best more out experienced. PSV have been there and done it against the likes of Milan, Barca, Arse, Juve, etc, etc.

Work their nuts off and can play without being super flamboyant.

 

[C0YS]

We played OK we had more chances then them, its just we got caught on the brake far to often, And in the second half we ended up playing the long ball!!!!!, for prob. the first time in my entire White hart lane life!!!

 

[Flatters]

I agree with you, DFF. Sorry.