Match Threads Spurs vs Man City - FA Cup 4th Round

[mil1lion]

One final, interesting (?), point about the goal. Since the winter break both Arsenal have began interfering with the GK at corners and both have scored goals at them where it could be argued there was a foul on the GK. This is not a tactic they’ve been known to use before.

During the winter break did The Premier League decide to declare open season on goalkeepers but forgot to inform anyone other than City and Arsenal🥹?

I think it's just a reaction to the one against Burnley. They've seen that given and decided to use it to target the keeper.

 

[mil1lion]

Yes, the evil Cash stain from his evil tackle is still hanging over Bents. He came back sooner than expected, was this wise ?
For his pre-Cash 30 mins vs Villa and the 90 mins of previous Colombian game, he was spectacularly good. We don't have anything like that player at the mo.

Hope there's no longer term issues.

He was great at Utd

 

[Teegart]

Last night summed up for me just how dangerous a team we are going to be in about 3 weeks time for the run in.

Imagine having the options of Sarr, Lo Celso, Hojbjerg, Johnson, Skipp and one of Richy/Werner to bring on at 60/70 mins. That’s something we’ve sorely missed all season, being able to not just survive the last 20 mins with subs that clearly make us weaker, but to really go for the throat and push on to win.

We will, or should, be able to keep our intensity up for 90 mins. Making a triple sub of Werner/Johnson/Sarr for the last 20 mins, in a game that has become open and stretched, is a great weapon to have.

 

[whenstevewentup]

To me the most telling part last night were that our legs had gone after 65 mins , I actually felt exhausted in the stadium watching us chase shadows . I was surprised the level between the 2 teams was so wide in that first half but clearly that midfield was not fit enough to compete . I watched villa play them a few months ago and villa were relentless in their pressing , we just didn’t have the legs to do that last night . Maybe a Sarr in there would have helped but we still needed to score and we looked pretty toothless .

 

[dagraham]

If we have a fit Madders and Son our attack looks very different but I still think our priority in the summer has to be one or two elite attackers. The likes of Werner, Richarlison and Johnson aren't on that level and it's telling when we play 3 of them together. Even Deki blows hot and cold too often on the wing. Add Solomon to that and we have a bunch of wingers/strikers who are very good bench/rotation options but ultimately you don't want them starting every week.

Indeed. We don’t have enough quality in attack and rely too heavily on Son.

 

[Gilzeanking]

He was great at Utd

I disagree. For me Bents was good vs Utd, not his stellar best.

 

[mil1lion]

I disagree. For me Bents was good vs Utd, not his stellar best.

Not at his best yet but he was our man of the match in that one. He's still a marked improvement over Skipp or Hojbjerg at below 100%. We just missed Maddison and Sarr/Bissouma around him. Even Lo Celso is a loss around him if those are out. Sure he will be at his best soon but he's already at a high level.

 

[BPR_U16]

Very.

For 9000 fans there last night they were pretty poor noise wise. All I heard was "have you ever seen Tottenham win the league" a few times and that was it

Very.

For 9000 fans there last night they were pretty poor noise wise. All I heard was "have you ever seen Tottenham win the league" a few times and that was it.

After all the moaning about matches being played on a Friday night, thought City did well to muster 9000 fans together - and thought that 9000 made more noise than they ever do at the Etihad.


That left circa 51,000 Spurs fans, and I honestly thought we were poor in our support last night. Normally in Paxton, but lost my seat to the City lot, so I was in the South stand but there were too many making no noise or only moaning about Tierney and his performance.

My boys and i left needing a few bevvies after the game to lubricate our throats, some just lubricated to moan even more.

 

[bbunc]

I thought City were really up for it last night and actually looked like a CL winning side.

We were good enough to keep it respectable and be competitive, but no more than that, which is probably a fair reflection of where we are with a new manager and a new way of playing.

Still really fucking annoying though!

Agree. City were absolutely phenomenal in the 1st half. They weren’t clinical, but their movement and retention was absolute perfection. I guess because no goals nobody thinks they were good but I think that’s probably one of their best halves of the year.

I actually wish they’d have had Haaland. There’s no way their movement would be that good with him out there.

 

[Mate]

Maidstone didn't get drawn against the holders, a financially doped super club who won the treble

But they did get drawn away to a team 4 divisions and 98 places above them. Credit where credits due.

 

[luRRka]

But they did get drawn away to a team 4 divisions and 98 places above them. Credit where credits due.

Thanks captain hindsight. What I said was true at the time. What you said was nonsense at the time. They've had a hell of a result today

Edit - not nonsense as in not true but nonsense in that no one expected them to go through and they were only in it longer as they played a day later

 

[tevezito]

City score in 88th minute from a corner. I think it is a foul on Vic. Diaz is jumping into him not jumping for ball. Having said that if the opposition is putting a man on the GK then somebody has to help the GK out. It happened all game so it’s really poor from us that we left Vic without help.

Am watching Sheff Utd Brighton on ESPN here in Argentina (don't worry, @DenverSpur, no spoilers) and the commentators were just lamenting the 'foul' on Vicario again. The analyst said they were doing it all game and it was criminal we didn't put a defender on Dias to help out Vicario, and the commentator replied he asked Cuti about it after the game and he told him it was orders from Ange, as he didn't want to lose a marker elsewhere and that it would always be given as a foul if Vic lost the challenge. Doubt we'll see it happen again!

 

[daveduvet]

Just this second watched it again. Vicario was put off; but he was too weak getting to it with his punch.

 

[FloridaSpur]

Ange honest in his interview, for the 1st time in ages we actually have a manager who when interviewed seems to have watched the same game I have, said we just hung in and it wasn’t really good enough and that’s right
Sarr and biss were huge misses and with benta being poor we couldn’t get control of the midfield. Weird though as we still got into good positions a number of times but final ball poor

Son was the biggest miss, he has a pretty good scoring record (if memory serves me right) against City.

Losing one, nil to the treble winners without an option of Son, Sarr, Bissouma and a fully fit Madders was asking just too much. And in fairness we would have faired better had City been in a similar position regarding their starting eleven.

 

[DenverSpur]

I'm of the opinion that any tactical foul should always be yellow, no warnings, no leeway, no matter where in the pitch. It needs stamping out of the game.
Yes I know we do it, every club does it, but that's because the officials let it slide so often. I have no idea why it's been allowed to get to this point.

Paul Tierney is a truly bad referee, no bias or hints of corruption from me, he's just bad at his job. it's sad that he's been allowed to get to the level he has.

What’s criminal is a lot of the time these tactical fouls are not carded but genuine attempts to tackle and win the ball that are late because they are mistimed or the opponent is quicker are usually carded.
I always thought cards were introduced to punish intentional fouls or persistent fouling not for genuine attempts to win the ball.
Unfortunately, too often, referees decisions are made because, despite them spending years around the game, they don’t understand football from a players perspective. It’s amazing how often they are conned by players!

 

[rossdapep]

Bentancur was clearly struggling physically with the pace of the game. He wasn't himself all night.

Easy to forget he has come off the back of two different injuries, one being long term.

It would have been a miracle had he come back and been putting 8/10 performances back to back.

He shone more against weaker opposition but last night was against the best pressing team in world football. Not only that but technically incredible.

Another point.

This was our XI when we were looking great.

Vicario
Porro - Romero - VdV - Udgoie
Bissouma - Sarr
Maddison
Deki - Son - Richy/Solomon

The entire attacking set up has been disrupted.

Sarr and Bissouma setting the tone and control. Sarr's boundless energy.

Son stretching teams but also being a target at the end of sweeping attacks.

Maddison everywhere, instigating, being hard to defend against.

Solomon and Perisic providing a threat or quality off the bench.

Think about the players who have taken up these roles since then.

Gil for Perisic
Johnson for Deki
Lo Celso (occasionally) for Maddison
Deki for Maddison
Hojbjerg for Bissouma
Skipp for Sarr

Too many replacements just dont fit or offer the same effect.

We can't take the game to teams anymore if they are good enough or organised defensively.

The line up has had to change every single game.

No rhythm and a lack of chemistry.

The front 4 should have been
Deki - Maddison - Perisic
Son

with Johnson being bedded in, Solomon and Richarlison as subs/rotation.

Bentancur should have been given time and 30 mins here and there to get up to speed.

We've been robbed of all that.