Performance or Result tonight?

[Sauniere]

I reckon we'll concede first tonight to just to give us fans the customary winking arsehole syndrome. We'll then come back to win 3-1 (I hope)

Result over performance for tonight and for the next several games I think, start grinding them out.

 

[SpurSince57]

ooh la dee da.....who cares if he's an extremely nice guy? he does the deals and he failed miserabley to get in some proper non cup tied strikers. he was flapping about on the last day trying to get Heskey or the bloke from Reading. we have ended up with a rookie (campbell) who will probably be not much better than Peckhart or Barnard. all we are left with in the UEFA Cup is our 4th striker from last year who couldnt hit a barn door with a banjo.If you think Bent on his own is gonna win us the UEFA Cup this year you are deluded. If Bent hits 20+ goals this season then i will put my hands up and say what a great job Comolli is doing.

What a shame real life isn't like FM.

He was after strikers Ramos wanted. Is that too difficult to get your head around? And if they're reluctant to come and if their clubs are (understandably) very reluctant to let them go or change the goalposts at the last moment he can't just wave a magic wand.

Bent can't hit a barn door? Really? In chances converted and goals per minute his record last season was practically indistinguishable from Berbatov's and only slightly inferior to Keane's. This season he's had four chances in four games and put two away—even if one was a total fluke that's not bad going in anyone's book.

He was our Number Three last season, BTW. Defoe wasn't supposed to be here.

 

[SpurSince57]

Good point.

Boateng, Kaboul and Bent = £30millions worth? I dont think so.

I still dont understand the Bent deal. He's a nice guy and I really like him, but he just doesnt have the natural ability to perform at the level to which we aspire. He'd be great for Everton, Villa, Bolton, Blackburn, Wet Spam etc. Spurs play a certain style of football though, a style which requires real ability on the ball, a style that Keano and Berba were perfect for, and hopefully Pav will be.

Anyway, we must win this game. Bentley needs a really good performance tonight if he starts. Hopefully he'll be played on the right.

Let's try this again.

Defoe was supposed to be sold last summer—Chrissy Hughton is supposed to have let that one slip quite some time ago.

Aren't Everton and Villa aspiring to our level? We signed Bent because he was proven as one of the most effective goalscorers in the league over two seasons, and if you look properly at his scoring record for us he's done pretty well when he's had the chance. What natural ability does Defoe have except the one to score goals?

As for Kaboul, he was a great prospect and if he'd not gone off blubbing to the French media about how horrible that nasty Mr Ramos was being to him he'd still be here. Villa paid around the same for Curtis Davis, and Sunderland for Ferdinand. Jol was very happy to sign him. His complaint was that we didn't sign an experienced CB as well, not instead, and that may have been down to Levy, not Comolli. SC members who saw Boateng for Hertha were really impressed. He doesn't seem to have panned out. Too bad.

Perhaps we can get back on topic and not use every thread as an opportunity for a pop at Levy, Damo and this week's favourite scapegoat?

 

[biggsyboy]

lol!
4 chances in 4 games!!!...exacty my point!...he's scared of the ball and doesn't like to head it. for you to suggest he is as good a striker as Keane and Barba is laughable........i rest my case...
to count mondays fluke of a goal to make his stats look better is rediculous!!!....

 

[SpurSince57]

Yes, he hasn't had the supply. Give him a decent supply and he'll score. And scared of heading the ball? Surely you're thinking of Defoe and Keane? It's one thing being critical of a player, another talking total crap.

He's not as good a footballer as Berbatov or Keane, or anywhere near, but he's certainly as effective a goalscorer. Take out Monday's fluke and one in four is pretty good—only the likes of Henry and RvN in their prime do consistently better than that. Two years ago Berbatov and Defoe scored one in every eight or nine, and you shouldn't need stats to tell you that.

 

[Adam]

lol!
4 chances in 4 games!!!...exacty my point!...he's scared of the ball and doesn't like to head it. for you to suggest he is as good a striker as Keane and Barba is laughable........i rest my case...
to count mondays fluke of a goal to make his stats look better is rediculous!!!....

Either go to a game and watch Bent win at least 50% of his headers, or if you already go to games, watch Bent win at least 50% of his headers.

MOTD2 even did a special analysis of Bent winning every header against Terry and Carvalho but there was no-one around him to pick up on his flick ons.

You rest your case? SS57 CLEARLY was talking about Bent's strike rate in comparison to Keane and Berbatov's, not on his actual ability, but then expecting someone to read a response to their own post probably is unreasonable...

 

[bubble07]

result

 

[EZSpur]

There are 2 different things here - firstly what do I want? and secondly what do the players want?
I personally would love to see a good performance and obviously a good result.
However, in terms of the players, i really think, right now they just need a win, probably by any means neccessary!
A win would give them their confidence back and hopefully lift the dressing room and training ground spirits (i'm only assuming that they are lower than expected from recent Prem results).
Truthfully, we don't need to be fancy, i know it won't make great viewing for us, the fans, if they don't put a polished performance in, but i'd take a win over that anyday.

We could argue that maybe we try to hard to play attractive football at the moment, maybe we just need some back-to-basics games, where we churn out a win and build on it! (just my opinion!).

BTW: I don't agree on not being interested in UEFA Cup, the whole point of doing well in the league and domestic competitions is to get into Europe. Also i'm sure Ramos had a plan for us from before the beginning of the season - which was to go for all Cup Comps and play well in the league - just because our league performance hasn't quite gone to plan, doesn't mean we should now consider dropping out of the UEFA Cup.

Its still early days and I have faith that we'll turn things around!

COYS!!

 

[alextheyid]

im gonna have to say that im leaning 80% to the result side of things as a win would set us up well for the return leg, but more importantly set us up with new found confidence going into the weekend and another home fixture where we'll be more likely to get three points..
..and also getting through to the group stages is a certain 4more european games and the chance to come head to head with some decent oppostion and a chance for the fans to have a couple of interesting away days! It will only be good if we win tonight! Winning 4-0 and playing sexily will be a big fat bonus!

 

[striebs]

A win .

The guys have the ability to get this , whether Ledley is fit or not .

Gomes

Gunther Woodgate Zokora Gilberto

Lennon O'Hara Jenas Bale

Bent Dos Santos

Subs : Keeper , Dawson , Huddlestone , Bentley , Campbell

 

[rabs]

result definitely.

need to keep their away goals down, to keep the pressure off for the return leg too. winning 3-2 wont be great either.

perhaps thats why ramos decided to keep king rested for tonight, when he knew Gunter would need to step in at right back. The younguns on the flanks, with the experience in the middle. otherwise if leds wasnt happy to play 3 nights later, we could be looking at dawson as well, which could be far too leaky.

result breeds confidence = better performances.

 

[alextheyid]

Yes, he hasn't had the supply. Give him a decent supply and he'll score. And scared of heading the ball? Surely you're thinking of Defoe and Keane? It's one thing being critical of a player, another talking total crap.

He's not as good a footballer as Berbatov or Keane, or anywhere near, but he's certainly as effective a goalscorer. Take out Monday's fluke and one in four is pretty good—only the likes of Henry and RvN in their prime do consistently better than that. Two years ago Berbatov and Defoe scored one in every eight or nine, and you shouldn't need stats to tell you that.

:stupid: Bit of bent optimism..i like to see it..the guy behind me at the lane on monday HATED him..and it got a little annoying..support the guy ffs! And before the world cup season he was the highest scoring englishman in the premier league!

 

[Marty]

Result is by far the most important thing, but we also could do with a good performance. Same goes for the Wigan game.

 

[Bromavinci]

result. we cannot afford to be under pressure for a win in Krakow...

performance wld be a bonus but a win is absolutely necessary...

COYS!!!!

 

[davros]

Both would be great, obviously. If pushed for one or the other then I'd take a result. We desperately need a win, even a scrappy one. If we can bang in 2-3 goals and win by a margin of 2 then I'll be very happy.

 

[Max_Junglie]

rabs got it - result tonight, get some confidence which will help achieve good performances later.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

result. we cannot afford to be under pressure for a win in Krakow...

performance wld be a bonus but a win is absolutely necessary...

COYS!!!!

Would you be happy if we got completely dominated and outplayed, created no chances, but we won by a fluke goal? Eg something similar to Bent's on Monday.

Personally I wouldn't be happy at all, infact i'd be seriously worried for us if that happened. On Sunday no doubt i'd accept that, 3pts in the league is a must. But tonight I want to see us start to resemble a team and create a few chances for our striker/s. So far it is concerning that we don't seem to know how to get in behind teams or create chances. I could probably count on one hand the amount of clear cut chances we've created this season.

As a team we must improve tonight.

 

[davros]

Would you be happy if we got completely dominated and outplayed, created no chances, but we won by a fluke goal? Eg something similar to Bent's on Monday.

Personally I wouldn't be happy at all, infact i'd be seriously worried for us if that happened. On Sunday no doubt i'd accept that, 3pts in the league is a must. But tonight I want to see us start to resemble a team and create a few chances for our striker/s. So far it is concerning that we don't seem to know how to get in behind teams or create chances. I could probably count on one hand the amount of clear cut chances we've created this season.

As a team we must improve tonight.

But we are talking about which is of most importance right now. Against Villa we had neither, so in tonight's game would you take a fluke win in which we ride our luck, or a decent performance ending in a score-draw or even defeat?
Like Rabs said, a win breeds confidence. A good performance ending in a defeat would not be good for confidence. Personally I'd take a flukey double - one off each of Bent's cheeks - if it gets us a win. A good performance would obviously be great, too. Who knows, maybe this will be the turning point?

 

[camaj]

lol!
4 chances in 4 games!!!...exacty my point!...he's scared of the ball and doesn't like to head it.

:rofl:

So you're blaming Bent for not getting passed to?

Whenever people want to criticise Bent they trot out the same pointless arguments, that Bent doesn't play "our style" (as if we play rugby or something) and that he's not involved enough. When will people realise the problems are with the midfield as they were last season?

I've seen time and time again Bent, and on monday Pavlyuchenko, make some great runs but not get the ball. The main culprit seems to be Lennon, there was a fantastic break on Monday night, Roman had peeled away from his defender and a through ball would have seen a golden opportunity to score. Instead of passing Lennon fired a shot that was pretty much straight at the keeper, if not flying over. But people see that as a good moment from Lennon and come here and vote for him as MOTM!

 

[Blotto]

I think we need a 'competent result'--we don't need a brilliant performance per se, though it would be nice. I think that we defo need a result and a solid, steady performance with it. 57 is right, if we stumble to a win then no one will be happy...we not only need to win, but we need to play like a winning team.