Good morning.
Here we go then. Our valiant boys return from a game I wish I hadn’t watched. A game I hope they were forced to watch the tape of.
Speaking of games you wouldn’t want to watch has anyone noticed that Paul Lambert, Bob Matthews and Brendan Rodgers are all sat in a row on 5 points on the League? Each of them spending most of their spare time talking down relegation battle talk.
All three were shortlisted by varying degree to take over by Spurs fans. All three I campaigned strongly against as none of them has a CV worth a damn. Yes, yes, it’s early doors to quote Big Ron and in fact I wouldn’t be shocked to see him brought in to manage any of them by Christmas.
In fact he’d be a great fit a Liverpool, go down well in Norwich and would get on like a house on fire with Dave Whelan. So don’t dismiss this prediction.
I’d like Hugo Lloris to get a break but expect Brad to start.
The back line sort of picks itself with Jan being first name on the team sheet. I want to see him use the channels either side of Defoe and Dempsey and let the the quietly impressive Caulker act as cover here.
Caulker is great for set pieces in the final third and should alternate with Jan for those if both go – then Sandro drops in . Villa are likely to give us some space and it’s vital that Moussa finds it and uses it to pull the strings in the midfield.
Kyle needs to get a grip. It would be great to see him seriously owning that whole part of the pitch I swathed in yellow arrows there. 1. Defend 2. Defend. 3. Supply. He is a liability making these Forrest Gump runs and I can’t cope with him getting so far out of position to then lose possession much more.
That said Villa may not be equipped to punish us if that happens, but who wants to prompt them and find out? The lad needs good habits drummed into him sooner rather than later.
We can beat this lot handsomely or it can all end in boos as our players look gormlessly at each other. Villa aren’t much cop but they’re better than the mob that very nearly beat us on Thursday.
Oh yes and Bale needs to justify his central role. Y’know. A goal.
BIOYAVC!
Tottenham (from): Lloris, Friedel, Gomes, Cudicini, Smith, Gallas, Dawson, Walker, Vertonghen, Caulker, Falque, Huddlestone, Mason, Bale, Lennon, Sandro, Dembele, Dempsey, Sigurdsson, Carroll, Townsend, Defoe, Adebayor, Obika.
Aston Villa (from): Guzan, Given, Lowton, Bennett, Lichaj, Clark, Vlaar, Baker, Herd, El Ahmadi, Westwood, Bannan, Delph, Holman, N’Zogbia, Bent, Agbonlahor, Benteke, Bowery, Weimann, Burke, Johnson, Williams.
Referee: N Swarbrick Assistants: A Garratt, G Beswick Fourth Official: M Halsey
football 1st skysports 1 for anyone who missed the match
Another good win, new keeper and first clean sheet. Lloris has now played 3 games and only conceded once…..Villa did their job for a while but we were always going to score one way or another, we won and that’s four on the trot. AVB has had to deal with a lot from the Arry lovers in the press to the not so bright Spurs masses and whilst under that pressure has put a half decent side together who now should go from strength to strength….COYS!
Gareth Bale & Greg Louganis, separated at birth?………..the pillock!
Didn’t look that way at first, thought their keeper was walking….but when I saw the highlights I was disgusted….
It’s not the Tottenham way and if anything warrants booing at your team it’s that, if he’d stayed on his feet he had a great chance to score, prick!
Totally agree Harts, that is not the Tottenham way at all and I will gladly slate any Spurs player who dives like that, it was embarrassing to be honest.
As already said it looked like he was taken out at first but he’s going to make it hard for himself as the season progresses, remember Ginola?, we got our only pen in the last game of the season because of his rep. We have to bring in the Scottish system of retrospective punishment sooner than later=it’s cheating and needs to addressed pronto.
He has apparently already been booked twice for diving. Really needs to lose this habit.
Agreed on that. I’d like to think we did things with some integrity, winning a free kick or a penalty from a dive would leave a sour taste for me.
Hard to slate Suarez and co. for flopping when one of ours is turning it into an art form. As was just mentioned on MOTD2, Suarez is getting a reputation and this can work against you.
If the League punished diving with bans then I imagine it would stop soon enough.
:daumen: 100%
Suarez just joined the competition!
In fairness, the keeper did shape like he was going to plant an industrial sized haymaker across Balers shins. I think I would have tried to get out of the way of that as well rather than letting it hit me for the sake of fair play.
Agreed.
In the past, I have felt Bale has been justified in taking action to avoid incoming assaults but on Sunday, instead of jumping out of the way which would be the obvious escape route, he just threw himself to the floor and tried to make it look like he had been fouled by the keeper.
Not as funny as Suarez effort however which looked like a belly flop!
Do not agree, the keeper was trying to clear the ball. Trying to take out an onrushing forward player is total suicide for a keeper. Bale’s dive was blatant cheating and he deserved to be punished. Let’s not have double-standards around here please!
So, you don’t think feigning to take a swipe at a fellow professional could be filed under ‘ungentlemanly conduct then?’ Would like to see this as a new tactic – Run the width of the pitch feign to throw big hay maker punch at a player and then when they duck and let the ball run away from them, stick out your hand like you’re looking for a handshake and run off with the ball thumbing your nose at them.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree……….what a twat! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2214343/Santi-Cazorla-Jack-Wilshere-Premier-Leagues-Xavi-Iniesta-Jamie-Redknapp.html?openGraphAuthor=%2Fdebate%2Fcolumnists%2Fcolumnist-348%2FJamie-Redknapp.html
it’s all gone quiet,i never heard a peep about our old trafford win in the paper ^^
Couldn’t bring himself to do it, could he? Instead last Sunday night’s Spurs related rambling was this:
“The whole of France may be groaning at another cool display by Brad Friedel. Hugo Lloris, signed by Spurs as the window closed, can’t get into the team and veteran Friedel, signed on a free, is keeping him out. The France No 1 must be patient. Friedel has 320 consecutive League games and isn’t going quickly.”
Finger on the pulse, just like his Dad :freu
Gorgonzola is the latest gem in his old man’s rent-a-quote collection. ‘Yeah, I tried to sign him, triffic player’. Well, you didn’t try hard enough then did you? What stopped you? Too busy working on the paperwork for Ryan Nelsen?
Enjoyed the game.
Lloris looks the goods and to be frank that undroppable run of 310 games would have hung over the manager as some unwritten law that must never be broken…. Seems it had to be broken at some point, why not now when we face a weak team at home.
I applaud the selection of Lloris and also expect to see Brad in goals plenty more times this season. The record run is now off his back and selection is based on tactics, merit and squad freshness / rotation.
I also thought despite what I have seen on other blogs regarding ratings that Dempsey had a very good game. He was involved and looked pretty sharp.
On merit! Square that round hole if you please?