- Jul 26, 2004
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There's fat fingers and then there's that extra 8th finger (rest of the family have 7) that just does what it wants...Surely Eriksen at 6 is a typo?
There's fat fingers and then there's that extra 8th finger (rest of the family have 7) that just does what it wants...Surely Eriksen at 6 is a typo?
After the game Cahill gave an interview where he said chelsea weren't quite at it or something after which Souness responded along the lines of that it was because we didn't allow them to be.At some point the penny will drop for the pundits that it isn't coincidence that every team we play is deemed to play badly. We aren't just having a great run of luck where teams play badly against us in the midst of playing well. We are making teams look bad. Annoys the hell out of me that supposed experts can't see this.
Lovely stuff this week BC.
As others have said, I'd have been kinder to Dembele and Kane. @THFCSPURS19 has nailed it in regards to Dembele and how he impacted upon Kante's performance.
As far as Kane goes I'd argue that he worked his ass off and whilst I agree that his touch wasn't really there tonight, he still had some nice hold up play and made sure he occupied Cahill and Luiz a great deal which one could argue helped to free Alli to ghost into the box to get his two goals with only Moses & Azpilicueta for company.
All in all though your review is bang on and exactly how I saw the game so there's no need for me to chip in any more than the above.
Wanyama MOTM for me, one of the absolute best, most dominant performances I've ever seen from a Spurs CM.
EDIT: re. Dembele, just saw this in the F365 article - "From there, Dembele would dominate the midfield. He made three tackles, misplaced just one of his 33 passes, and won all but two of his duels. It was a wonderful performance."
After the game Cahill gave an interview where he said chelsea weren't quite at it or something after which Souness responded along the lines of that it was because we didn't allow them to be.
Put your annoyance away
After the game Cahill gave an interview where he said chelsea weren't quite at it or something after which Souness responded along the lines of that it was because we didn't allow them to be.
Put your annoyance away
We did what we had to do to win, it was by no means a top attacking display, but was an effective team effort, against the runaway leaders going for a record (and with a day extra rest over a busy period) Must've been one of Lloris' quietest games.Not a fan of Souness generally , but I thought he made a couple of good points . This was a very evenly balanced match in which the margins were tiny as he said . We should also remember that we had no other attempts on target other than Dele's two headers.
Fuckin' superb we stopped their run n'all ,but its important not to get carried away like mebbe we did after the City game .
Not a fan of Souness generally , but I thought he made a couple of good points . This was a very evenly balanced match in which the margins were tiny as he said . We should also remember that we had no other attempts on target other than Dele's two headers.
Fuckin' superb we stopped their run n'all ,but its important not to get carried away like mebbe we did after the City game .
I'm sorry but I can't, it was then topped off by finishing the programme by showing a full run of Chelski's 13 game run. Who gives a monkeys after they've been beaten ?After the game Cahill gave an interview where he said chelsea weren't quite at it or something after which Souness responded along the lines of that it was because we didn't allow them to be.
Put your annoyance away
I think it's harsh to criticise them for going with that 13 game run. Obviously they had to prepare the VT in case they won, it would be a momentous moment in English football.I'm sorry but I can't, it was then topped off by finishing the programme by showing a full run of Chelski's 13 game run. Who gives a monkeys after they've been beaten ?
Sky are better than BT but seriously how does Alan Smith get a job anywhere in the media ?
Except when he beat 4 men and nearly assisted kane with a little dink.And @THFCSPURS19
I think there's a tendency after a game like this to want to see positives everywhere, but if you want to know why Kanté had a poor game you should be watching Wanyama not Dembele. Dembele did not dominate that midfield, Wanyama and Eriksen did. If you're going to chuck numbers at me, then Wanyama made 9 ball recoveries to Dembele's 5, 5 tackles to Dembele's 3, 2 interceptions to Dembele's 0 and received the ball 36 times and passed it 44 to Dembele's 30 and 31. And Dembele noticeably faded and was labouring second half (12 passes and 0 tackles). Wanyama was relentless and when Chelsea did have more of the ball second half he didn't fade.
Wanyama gave Dembele the platform to actually do more than he did, but Dembele didn't grasp the nettle, instead played largely safe and within himself. Not terrible but not wonderful and certainly not dominant and not influential with the ball either.
And @THFCSPURS19
I think there's a tendency after a game like this to want to see positives everywhere, but if you want to know why Kanté had a poor game you should be watching Wanyama not Dembele. Dembele did not dominate that midfield, Wanyama and Eriksen did. If you're going to chuck numbers at me, then Wanyama made 9 ball recoveries to Dembele's 5, 5 tackles to Dembele's 3, 2 interceptions to Dembele's 0 and received the ball 36 times and passed it 44 to Dembele's 30 and 31. And Dembele noticeably faded and was labouring second half (12 passes and 0 tackles). Wanyama was relentless and when Chelsea did have more of the ball second half he didn't fade.
Wanyama gave Dembele the platform to actually do more than he did, but Dembele didn't grasp the nettle, instead played largely safe and within himself. Not terrible but not wonderful and certainly not dominant and not influential with the ball either.
Except when he beat 4 men and nearly assisted kane with a little dink.
Very within himself..... Apart from when he wasn't
Wanyama - 9.5 - He was everywhere fantastic performance, would've given a 10 if he wasn't booked
Except when he beat 4 men and nearly assisted kane with a little dink.
Very within himself..... Apart from when he wasn't
Maturing Nicely
I said at half time that was a really good half of football. Two well balanced teams, tactically proficient and well set up, making for a really tight tussle, no quarter given, but not in a reckless hell for leather way, more like watching speed chess, or an Italian league game from about 25 years ago. We were the team taking the initiative, moving the ball better, constantly probing but Chelsea were that well drilled machine who always carried menace, not allowing us to get carried away, and to our credit we never did, it was tactically a superb and mature performance. And that's the most pleasing aspect, as it was immaturity and naivety that saw us come unstuck the last two times we played them, at heavy cost.
I guess this would be called a 3421 in the playbook, but watching it and looking at the position matrix, I'd call it more a 313111 that played out more like this:
Dier-------TA--------JVAnd it was tactically superb, Chelsea never got to grips with it. Our young coach went toe to toe with one of the best coaches in Europe, and came out on top.
Wanyama-----
Walker-------Dembele-----Rose
Eriksen---------------
----------------Alli
Kane
Considering who we were playing, how strong they are tactically and what was at stake, the tensions this fixture carried, that first 45 minutes has to rank very, very highly in the Pochettino Oeuvre. This isn't a side that allows you to tear them apart, to try and do so would have been folly, they are designed for anything but that to happen, but what we did do in that first half was suffocate, play and probe, we showed patience; it was a grown up performance that despite not having much goal mouth action was hugely impressive and was thoroughly gripping throughout.
Also impressive was the phase after we scored our second goal, where instead of thinking "oh fuck we're two up, lets shell" Wanyama and Eriksen just kept us playing football and we just smothered any come back momentum at the embryonic stage.
I have to doff my cap to Poch, for much of last and the start of this season I was saying that he has to be more flexible tactically. After a couple of games of watching Wanyama, I said he was a player who could facilitate this, and tonight was the best evidence of that against the best possible test. He was fucking outstanding tonight, he was a voracious animal, hunting, gathering with a dynamism that none of our other CM's can match. The first half his tenacity was always initiating offensive actions, the second half it was breaking up Chelsea's momentum, unflustered, he also footballed his (and our) way cooly out of trouble at times with a panache under pressure that was a joy to watch.
Eriksen is so under rated, not just by some spurs fans, but by football's fanfare machine too. This guy is only bettered creatively over the last couple of years by players like Hazard and Ozil (and Payet last year), but none of those come anywhere close to having the metronomic influence that he has on team performances. None of the other players of his ilk in this league get through so much of the ball, work all over the pitch, like a CM/AM hybrid. This was another masterclass from Eriksen, and he's not a flat track bully either, he does it in the big games too, none bigger than tonight, and he delivered, the industry, conducting play then providing the two moments of precision that put the opposition to the sword.
I thought Vertonghen was also superb tonight, and is having a really good season, probably his best (he's always been a bit under rated too IMO) in his Spurs career. He set the tempo early on with a steaming interception and then carrying the ball forward and was authoritative throughout. He's been our best CB all season, even when TA has been playing.
Pochettino deserves the biggest credit though. This was yet another feather in his managerial cap. Few coaches manage to combine being good coaches and tactically proficient. We've seen the evidence of Poch's coaching ability. I've been watching Spurs for nearly 50 years and he's the first coach we've had (maybe bar Pleaty for a year) who has this team consistently and habitually doing the ugly stuff, and doing it cohesively, playing like a team without the ball as well as with it. But this season he's adding tactical variety to that coached ethos and has now added the scalp of Conte to Guardiola's. This is my favourite Spurs side of any I've watched, and we are what we are entirely because of him. And despite calling the flaws and errors (as I see them) let me make this clear, he is the best coach I've seen at this club.
Individual
Lloris - Not loads to do. Still wish he wouldn't scare us every game with at least one or two dodgy kick outs.
Walker - Not so great first half, coughed up the ball a couple of times sloppily, but got better and had a decent game defensively.
Dier - Good game.
TA - Good game.
Vertonghen - Excellent game, best CB on the pitch tonight.
Rose - He didn't deliver much in terms of actual attacking quality or product but nights like tonight you just love his feistyness and dynamism, it sets a tempo, adds a delicious friction that unsettles the opposition, gets the crowd going, and you know he's fucking up for it and it makes the night crackle. Good game.
Wanyama - Fucking marvellous. 90 minutes of cool headed rapacity. MOTM 1
Dembele - He had a couple of moments but was a little bit disappointing. This was a tough game to come back to, and I think he just always seemed a little bit off the pace, still did a couple of decent things and was generally robust defensively but second half seemed to be reduced to a slow amble in deeper areas.
Eriksen - He did bottle a challenge early on, but after that was outstanding, like a little maestro, popping up wherever a pocket of oxygen appeared, always available, deep areas, middle of the pitch and forward areas. Two delicious balls for the goals. MOTM 2
Alli - I thought this was his best game of the season. Not because he contributed loads and loads all over the pitch, he didn't, and he's not going to, but he was efficient tonight, much less of the silly bollocks and more concentration on doing what he's best at, which is keeping it simple and ghosting into the box from hard to pick up positions, and he finished his chances with aplomb. That first goal was real class, harder than whacking a volley from 20 yards. He also worked better without the ball tonight as well. Good game.
Kane - Got to be honest, he wasn't wanting for effort but, footballing wise, he was really poor tonight. Like he was playing in flippers.
Yeah, nearly....Which I alluded to in my original post, a couple of good moments...
Enjoyed reading every bit of that, largely though because I agree wholeheartedly with all of it, but also enjoy your ability to describe things so succinctly at times.
On the moment Eriksen bottled that challenge, was that right on the edge of their box?
Also, did you not think Moses got away with multiple booking offences?