Good morning.
The Bale”s on the wing; The Jakes’s on the scoreboard; God’s in his Heaven – All’s right with the world…
First up I want to tackle the obvious charge that this was only Hearts and Hearts weren’t very good. Agreed that was the case. So this gives us an accurate gauge of quite how unspectacular the SPL really is. The Jambos, don’t forget are the widely regarded third best firm up there. Ouch.
Anyway. The Jam Tarts weren’t completely useless and to their credit they not only ran all night and remained determined to mount a comeback. My point being they were hard tackling and in Tottingham’s faces all night long.
Gomes -6 You make me nervous
Walker – 6.32 Lots of positives, more please
Dawson – 7.64 Every inch a captain. That’s what she said
Kaboul – 7.57 Rock solid
A&E -8 Assured and intelligent
Azza –7.58 Few trademark runs, but lots of clever little passes
Kranjcar – 8 Blimey he’s good. I doubt Arry noticed
Livermore – 8 Really decent type, a pleasure to see him in the shirt
Bale – 8.023 The mega bids in January will have many clutching their teddies
VDV – 8.024 Red hot & Dutch
Defoe – 7 The best I’ve seen him in years. More please
Hudd – 6.89 Very, very assured.
Townsend – Give him more game time, someone…
Pav – Not on for very long …I s’pose
Gorgeous highlights HERE courtesy of TonguesTooShortToFelch
So the question is whu we couldn’t do that to the bottom 5 or so last season? I would have been happy with 1-0 and 0-1 wins…
I’m a Gomes fan, and though he does make some howlers, I have often thought that part of the problem is the defence in general. Got to say that last night, I was wondering why I was a Gomes Fan, as he looked extremely nervous.
Regarding the game in general, the fact that Robbie Keane could go to Scotland and score 16 in 19, gives you some idea of the quality, and they would struggle in our championship. Nevertheless, 5-0 away from home against a Championship team would be considered a good result normally. Verdict: Job done and Job done well
Good thing is now is that if Gomes does not perform we can wheel Brad in.
Don’t get me wrong: I always thought that Cudicini was an adequate replacement as it was.
I suspect that if you look at the number of saves made last year by PL Gk’s, Gomes would be near the top. I noticed many times last year, when we had the ball in their box, it was frequently six or seven against two or three of ours. Whe it was the other way around, we had three or four against three of their strikers. I haven’t seen the stats on save made, but if Gomes was near the top, then it was probably because he did not get the same defensive cover as most of his peers.
Spot on
Just found this which makes interesting reading: http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/big-picture/2011-06-29/best-keepers-premier-league-ranked-saves-hart-reina-cech-gomes-who-no1
There is a comment “The higher amount of saves made by a goalkeeper combined with the higher his club finished in the Premier League, the more impressive their record…”
Gomes was 5th, and was the only GK from a top 8 team to make it into the top 5. Two of the top 5 GK’s were relegated, and a third only avoided relegation on the final day of the season.
Gomes barely gets a 5. He was so indecisive every time he was put under pressure I thought he was just going to run off the pitch & hide, then he concedes that corner when the ball slips out his hands (this time unlike the Chelsea game the ball DID cross the line).
I’d rate Walker higher then that at 7.
Daws was shoddy at times & couldn’t complete an accurate long pass even by accident. Still he put in some blinding blocks that kept us a clean sheet. Still he’d get a 6.5 at best.
The rest would get 0.5 more except JD who deserved a 8 min.
Yes at times they were Pony, but for 75+ mins we were utter class, as the saying goes ” you can only beat what’s in front of you ” & we did that alright eh !
Livermore & Niko stole the show & both Thudd & Townsend really showed their class. Good day all round, but tbh we should’ve scored more ! COYS
The commentator told you it was a iffy save,seen from behind it was a full stretch low right hand push away from any danger good save,start using your own brain and don’t take what the commentry wankers tell you as gospel.
The same could be said about Modric. Genuinely injured or just being prevented from being cup tied thus hampering a potential sale?? Don’t know about anyone else but I am getting fed up with all the media speculation. Just get on and sign a damn striker!! Defoe looks like he may have had a bit of a rethink about last seasons dire performances over the summer. Hoping Pav stays. Crouch with one foot out the door? I wish we would move on from all the talk about Parker. Good player but 30 years old! Really hope there are 2-3 quality signings up the chairmans sleeve. Stuffing the Jambos is one thing. Trying to keep up with the top tier in the Prem is quite something else.
Kaboul – 7.57 Rock solid – Thats also what she said