Match Threads Spurs vs Aston Villa - Day 13

[DarwinSpur]

I don’t disagree. Why are you so angry.

I'm not angry

 

[guy]

I have no idea how we only scored one goal. On another day it would have been 5.

Some amazing attacking play throughout, just some poor finishing let us down.

Pacey CB desperately needed though in Jan.

 

[guy]

Hats off to Gil and Gio, both excellent I thought

 

[DarwinSpur]

It wasn't curious at all, people are looking into the Skipp sub waay too much, GLC has recently come back from injury and barely played minutes for us, he started the game and ran his arse off up until he came off. We needed fresh legs, the whole team looked leggy. Yes, the creativity drop off was big because Skipp is a completely different player, but Skipp did make runs beyond Porro/Kulu when he came on, sometimes you drop a more creative player for a runner, have him make runs off defenders and stretch them and create different spaces and chances.

Lo Celso needed to come off as he was tired and we had very little other options from the bench.

Skipp was fine and the idea that you'd throw a kid from the academy into that situation is ludicrous. Maybe start Donley but not throw him in to replace a completely gassed Lo Celso and Gil.

Skipp was fine but probably not the future. That's why he's now so far down the pecking order but he's a professional and knows what Ange wants. You're absolutely right that that sub in particular has been way overexamined. So weird how people are desperate to sink the boot under these circumstances.

 

[Roynie]

I thought he was a bit off the pace today. Tired from the international break.

Don't know about tiredness, but he was definitely off the pace. He didn't seem aware when the defence crept out a bit when the free-kicks were being taken. I lost count of how many times he was caught offside! Hopefully he'll be able to take a breather this week. We really need him on top form for City!

 

[fortworthspur]

I think we used all our luck up in the first quarter of the season.

 

[DenverSpur]

Don't know about tiredness, but he was definitely off the pace. He didn't seem aware when the defence crept out a bit when the free-kicks were being taken. I lost count of how many times he was caught offside! Hopefully he'll be able to take a breather this week. We really need him on top form for City!

Hope so. He’s a bit of Bete Noire to City.

 

[g_harry]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but Cash injured Doherty last year with similar ridiculous challenge.
Had Romero completed those challenges I suspect we would be hearing alot more about them.

 

[rossdapep]

Hopefully it ends in tears for Cash and Bentancur puts in a match winning performance against them later in the season.

Like when Adam did Bale but Bale came back to make a mug of him.

I hate nothing more in football then players deliberately leaving one in or doing a player just cause they can't get near them.

It is also really really easy to spot for a ref because there is usually a bit of a build up or the player is really really late which indicates they had no intention of playing the ball.

Players get reds for making genuine attempts but following through and catching the player yet totally cynical fouls get a shrug cause they are not deemed dangerous.

Well ask Bentancur how he feels that challenge was

 

[SaKkA.kenchiku]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but Cash injured Doherty last year with similar ridiculous challenge.
Had Romero completed those challenges I suspect we would be hearing alot more about them.

Thank you! It was driving me crazy who Cash did it to last time. It was Doherty when he finally found some form with us. Just aggressive dangerous tackles unnecessarily And no one says a word.

 

[XIIIMPC]

Losing to Wolves was really shitty because it makes me feel a lot worse about this. Big (or I guess medium) picture is 3 losses in a row, but the smaller picture is we played pretty well and then gave Watkins too much space for a 1-2. I wasn't too angry about it. Also, with the Chelsea game going how it did, it was hard not to expect things to go wrong. That helped. If we'd played Villa before that Chelsea debacle I'd have been livid to lose yesterday.

 

[allatsea]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but Cash injured Doherty last year with similar ridiculous challenge.
Had Romero completed those challenges I suspect we would be hearing alot more about them.

I thought Cash set out to injure Bentancur and succeeded.

 

[lincspurs]

I thought Cash set out to injure Bentancur and succeeded.

Exactly and yet he’s not castigated or criticised by the media on any way as much as Romero was for winning the ball. Neville’s response to both of those tackles was evidently due to preconceived views on both players.

 

[max cady]

Thoughts after the game. We played extremely well for what was practically a 2nd string. Villa where not at the races first half and we should have capitalised. The ref overlooked Gil & Benni fouls had one or both resulted in a red we would have won easily. As another poster alluded to their equaliser just before the break gave them the shot in the arm they needed however we still had several chances. We did over elaborate in some of our play which led to us losing the ball which can be very frustrating for us fans and possibly Ange. Big up to Gio, Bryan, Benni and Destiny. We move on to City in the hope they have a bad day. Keep smiling it will get better again.

 

[hughy]

Didn't bother posting yesterday but having a bit of time to process a result is always best I find. I think we played really well under the circumstances. As the games go on this season I can't get over how intelligent Deki is as a player, he looks 10 x the player he was last season. Johnson seems like a brilliant signing, his take and shot for first of the Martinez double save was outstanding, so unlucky not to score. Gio was also a standout player considering his lack of football for us in recent years.

We can sit there and replay those mad 20 minutes against Chelsea which have effectively lost us 9 points, or you can appreciate that we are looking a far better unit than we have for 2/3 seasons and remember that this project was never intended to be completed in under 6 months. Once we add a few more "Ange" players to the squad in January I think we'll be set for a really strong second half of the season.

 

[chas vs dave]

Don't think people are realising quite how much we pressed in the first half and start of the second, players ran their bollocks off and it worked, should have been 3 clear at half time but we didn't take our chances.

Subs simply HAD to be made, you play this kind of super intense football, players are knackered come the 60 minute mark, this is where the injuries play their part because with a fully fit squad you have players like Gio, Sarr, Richy, Perisic, Gil, Solomon etc to come on, mostly all players that can come on and keep that intensity and pressing up without losing too much quality from the starting XI.. We're severely lacking that energy off the bench right now.

But the philosophy should not change, it's working, we've just hit a point of shit luck and injuries but we'll come out of it.

A lot of the players who came into the starting line up have barely played 180 minutes in the last few months. We looked knackered from 70 minutes

Love Ange and he may have had a reason to bring Skipp on but it was less than obvious why. Having any two (god forbid 3) of Eric, Hojbjerg and Skip in there right now and you are asking for sideways/negative football. PIerre did have moments today but he isn't consistently progressive enough.

Skipp may or may not come good but some seem to forget he is 22 and his first year of first team football was Poch's last year. He then cut his teeth under Jose and Antonio which means that he is playing in an approach that he hasn't played as an adult.

It was a curious decision and i would have much rather had him put Veliz in. We were attacking and getting corners. would be curious to hear if there is any more explanation on it. onwards and upwards with a few sideways and backwards moments

I thought it was quite obvious why. We were losing the midfield battle, and gil was blowing.

 

[Japhet]

It wasn't curious at all, people are looking into the Skipp sub waay too much, GLC has recently come back from injury and barely played minutes for us, he started the game and ran his arse off up until he came off. We needed fresh legs, the whole team looked leggy. Yes, the creativity drop off was big because Skipp is a completely different player, but Skipp did make runs beyond Porro/Kulu when he came on, sometimes you drop a more creative player for a runner, have him make runs off defenders and stretch them and create different spaces and chances.

Lo Celso needed to come off as he was tired and we had very little other options from the bench.

People were probably expecting Donley to get a chance. The thing is, Villa were gaining momentum, Gio was completely gassed and he's actually pretty good defensively. I understand Skipp coming on in that situation although with the benefit of hindsight it looks like a mistake.

On the match, if we'd converted half of the very decent chances we created we would have obliterated them. Lack of clinical finishing cost us dear again. Villa fans probably think they've done a number on us but the truth is we shot ourselves in the foot again in a game where we should have been out of sight after 45 minutes.

 

[JimmyG2]

Difficult not to see this as a downward turning point
after 3 consecutive losses.
But we must.
Only a third of the season gone and steady in 5th.
though with City immediately ahead
and a mixed bag of fixtures before Xmas.
We deserved at least a draw against Villa,
Sonny scored a hat-trick of narrow offsides
Kulu hit the post and both Davies and Johnson
had excellent chances missed or saved.
Once again the football was terrific.
but our defence struggled with key figures missing.
Nobody picked up Watkins for the winner
and Pau had warned us earlier before he scored.
The old set piece bogey struck again.
The squad is not good enough but we know that.
I am disappointed but hopeful
though top four might be an ambition too far.

 

[oobaties]

Difficult not to see this as a downward turning point
after 3 consecutive losses.
But we must.
Only a third of the season gone and steady in 5th.
though with City immediately ahead
and a mixed bag of fixtures before Xmas.
We deserved at least a draw against Villa,
Sonny scored a hat-trick of narrow offsides
Kulu hit the post and both Davies and Johnson
had excellent chances missed or saved.
Once again the football was terrific.
but our defence struggled with key figures missing.
Nobody picked up Watkins for the winner
and Pau had warned us earlier before he scored.
The old set piece bogey struck again.
The squad is not good enough but we know that.
I am disappointed but hopeful
though top four might be an ambition too far.

That's the worst poem I've ever read!

 

[easley91]

Short term pain for long term gain. Bissouma and Sarr back next week, Romero the game after. Hopefully Bentancur isn't out for long and bringing him off was precautionary. Performance wise that was so much better than I expected it to be with so many missing.