Good morning.
Far from as bad as it has been. That would be my overall sweeping statement type analysis. Certainly far more positives than negatives so let’s have kick off with the bestest bit.
What a goal. Churlish of some to dismiss such a sensational strike as simply anuvver couple of mil on his transfer fee. The boy has class. Defoe is one dimensional and crucially did not score last night. My argument in support of Pav ends with anyone looks good playing alongside Adebayor.
And so to the Gomes business. Has the rest done him good or is he a man playing well beneath his pay grade due to a bad case of perception? The answer is, ‘We’ll never know.’ He will be sold is my prediction.
The stand out thought about the back four is that Raging Kaboul looks like someone we could probably massively rely upon in the future. Bassong was horrible and demonstrated why we couldn’t even flog him for buttons in the last window.
Livermore was of course out of position and that showed. But Walker and Rose weren’t up to scratch. The Rubes were a decent enough outfit – and it was only Pav’s goal that separated the two sides – but they were pretty wet when it came to our 18 yard area. Had we been playing someone with fewer competency issues in that dept we would have been undone.
Carroll is drawing plaudits from every quarter. My verdict is that he’s alright. Dos Santos is an accomplished player but didn’t seem to really find his groove last night. Azza Blud gave what has sadly become the norm – yet another – ‘just back from injury’ performance. Dull in the first half, fizzled out in the second.
Sandro was in a similar boat ring rustiness wise, but he looked more resilient and I would expect his next Premiership showing to be better still.
Defoe did little aside from make much of Pav’s unwillingness to pass to him which possibly made me laugh louder than a good Steptoe & Son. Defoe is one of the most supremely selfish footballers on planet Earth. He only ever passes if he can’t shoot. Pav outside of the goal didn’t do much himself. My defense of this would be to ask you to take a look at the team behind him.
The attendance was low. A little over 24,000 Client Reference Numbers on the premises and from this figure we must deduct 1,500 freebies for looter victims. Levy & Co missed a trick on the pricing here. They were up against the game being televised on a terrestrial channel, it not being a season ticket game and perhaps the first genuine cold snap of the Autumn.
The reality is that too many players are being fielded in these Europa games that aren’t worth the current price of admission. You want to tell me that these guys are young? Thanks for that information. You want to dispute what they are worth, don’t bother. I base my observation on the fleeing fans at previous games and the gate last night.
These games are of appeal to a slightly different demographic than those who attend Premiership games. And the charge needs to reflect that. The money that the Europa generates is less too, so the model just needs scaling down and a scratch over 20,000 can be pretty easily have seen 10,000 added to the figure.
I sometimes think of Pav/Gio together as mediocre players who have fans more numerous than they deserve. But there are times like last night, even if you ignore the ICBM goal, when Pav is bothered for a time and you can see he is a proper footballer. His form usually destroyed by lack of application and lack of suitability to the EPL in his game but still the guy is a player which puts Gio in his proper place as not in the same league. I still think maintaining our progress this season will depend on shifting them both on in January though.
In all fairness to Pav, in terms of minutes per goal, he has been our most successful striker for the past three seasons. I think that this should have merited him a run in the team, something he has never had.
Walker will be great. If he could just learn that it is quite important for him to stop left wingers putting the ball in the box he’d be a lot further down that path. I despair of the times he stands off them at the critical moment to admire their technique.
I was hoping that Carrol would be removed most of the way throughout the second half. He does have lovely touches but is brushed off the ball too easily by the bigger boys. Perhaps Modric was the same when he was a nipper.
Love A&E. Love Kaboul. Love Sandro – who I thought looked a demi-God. He has Twizzle’s legs. Gomez still looks like he’s continually on the verge of a petit mal – never far from the seizure that would see him throwing the ball into his own net.
Harry, is Walker shagging your missus? Never seen a good word about him on here…
I don’t think so. I just struggle with the love in for players who haven’t earned it.
Agree with the sentiment, likewise i feel the same with Carrol, who was useless but seems to carry favour just by commentators repeating that he is “the real deal” when he was probably up there with Livermore and Modric as being what I’d call “useless” last night.
Give him a chance HH or we’ll have another Pav and Gio on our hands.
like DS?
I hadn’t noticed that but I am not at one with the level of plaudits he is receiving. He is good, maybe even very good, may become top class, may become the next England RB, so there is nothing terrible in there that I can see. But today imo he is not a better RB than Corluka/Kaboul and his support play when he has had Bale/Lennon in front of him has been ordinary at best. So it is good to have such a good prospect and it may seem harsh to criticise a young player doing well but overall this season to me he looks like a good RM winger filling in at RB.
Absolutely spot on cc. Right now, he does have some strengths in defending – he is strong at tracking back, covering the back post on crosses and holding a good solid line (which is a rarity for a Spurs defender).
On the down side, he cannot mark anybody in the PL one on one. His complete unwillingness/inability to close down attackers is a serious detriment, as the second goal for Newcastle demonstrated. This is why I am far from convinced that his future lies at RB.
you will be dont worry
he’s shagged mine (poor sod) and I still love him
Sandro reminds me of the great Socrates ….. no pressure there mate !
:daumen: I’m. with you on that….he is phenominal…
He taught Plato a thing or two.
Despite searing mediocrity we are winning the group. Well done to the kids, mummy’s and daddy’s will be putting gold stars on their fridges today.
Will need to improve by the time the CL teams drop in, but their is the January window to come….I habour fantasies of Gary Cahill leading us out in the final…..