Essentially this was a game where the quality of the opposition pushed and pressured the Starship Tottingham Hotspur to the point where you could hear Mr Scott cry from the ether, ‘She cannae take it, Captain!’ The frailties in the engine room were there for all to see. Dry ice shot out of the pipes, lights flashed and the camera man didn’t need wiggle the vertical hold button about, the pitch did actually tilt violently now and again.
The inhabitants of the Blue Moon were a physically strong godless gang of vicious but talented bar stewards. We attempted to stun a few of them but they simply ate our phasers.
The boss made some questionable substitutions yet again and I would welcome him explaining why in his report to Star Fleet Fleet St. Ade was on a yellow, but unarguably our best player. With Defoe and Dempsey teaming up we were effectively down to 9 men.
If I didn’t know Hugo was there on the bench then I’d give the old buzzard an easier ride. It’s not his fault that Lloris appears faster, more proactive, determined not to hoof the ball. It’s not Brad’s fault. But thems the facts.
His agent should get him a non speaking extra part on EastEnders. A bloke happily shifting boxes of cauliflowers on the market. Playing football at this level he looked out of his depth. No howlers, just a startled bunny hopping about on a main road.
Gets dogs abuse from a certain section of our support. This must a be a group of people who live timid, anally retentive lives who will tell you with pride they don’t own a piece of red clothing. He wasn’t perfect but much better than some.
Against the Premier League Champions and their multimillion pound megastars he stock fell a little. Given his age and experience my guess is he’ll survive. The quality of his header beat the country’s best goalie. So yes, a mixed bag but no screaming disaster.
Really needed him in the middle of the defense. Again, with Verts as with others there was too much being thrown at us to indulge him being played out of position.
Here’s a guy that’s worth his wages and due a pay rise. Never goes missing. Doesn’t flounce about doing impressions. He’s mustard. If we had Parker back then we could focus more on feeding the creatives.
This was a game that I felt he genuinely tried his best and despite it not being quite good enough it, that doesn’t make him a bad person. He tried to defend more and move more, but it made little difference. If we could squeeze performances like this out of him against far far weaker opposition then he would be a squad rotation asset. At this level he was too pressured and gave away possession far too frequently.
I liked the figure pointing bit. Must find that for a caption comp. But he didn’t spin past them, he didn’t achieve a whole hell of a lot. He did pitch in defensively which was the right thing to do. But offensively they didn’t notice him.
Did City do a job on him or was he deployed more defensively? Whichever it was, it didn’t work out well for us. A game we could have really benefited from him blazing a trail. And he didn’t.
Oh dear. It appears Clint Dempsey is in possession of some rather lurid photographs of Villas-Boas and a pineapple.
My heart sank when he came on because we took off the only bloke who was probably going to supply him.
Best boy on the pitch. Hugged most of the City team in the tunnel and then proceeded on the pitch to wind most of them up like cheap alarm clocks. If we learned anything from this game it was that Emmanual Adebayor is a diligent footballer. Jermain Defoe is poacher.
Oh Andre, Andre, Andre. What was the deal with taking off Ade? And what on earth were you doing with that pineapple? My big concern is that you aren’t being as tough on the lads as some of us might wish you to be. That said you are missing so many vital ingredients there is a futility to the analysis. Carroll must be trusted. Huddlestone is too limited. As for Dempsey, I am afraid the jig is up.
Whichever way I look at it, unless Dembele is a one-man team, I just cannot see many wins being squeezed out of: Arsenal, West Ham, Liverpool, Fulham, Everton… Worse – we could lose at least 3 of these. On top of this, Friedel, Gallas and Dempsey to play in all of these games? That’s right, friends… 12th with AVB gone grey by Christmas? Lovely jubbly.
good, bring it on.
It’s easy to look back and blame this that and the other.
Fact is Ade went off with 10 minutes to go. It did not change the pattern of play, we were still inferior to them. If AVB had brought on JD and gone 2 up and we lost 2:1 then all would be shouting WHY did he do that?
It makes sense to bring on fresh legs. What did not make sense was why Dempsey stayed on. He looked tired, contributed nothing in attack or defence and really we needed a CM to play a more defensive role going into the last 10 minutes….While the addition of Livermore has often been slagged off, this was when he was needed (not when winning at home to WBA/Norwich etc). Even Sigurdsson would have contributed more defensively than Dempsey who seems to be the new PSB in the way he runs around, slows down play, runs down blind alleys etc.
I think I would have preferred to have seen Bale go centrally, off the striker, and some one like Naughton detailed to give Vertonghen cover because they raided down the left time and time again. Bale was not in it so a more central position might have go him more involved.
AVB is not being helped by injuries, poor form of some etc BUT Harry Hotspur proclaimed him to be a tactical genius and all I have seen is 433 applied at all times, deviating to a 352 once for 15 minutes when chasing a goal vs Wigan, and 442 at home to Maribor!
What has stood out to me in recent weeks was how Martinez’ formation and tactics showed AVB up.
Agree with the ‘tactical genius’ description you mention. He’s such a tactical genius that Chris Hughton, Clarke of WBA, RDM Chelsea, Mancini, and Martinez all out smarted him. His tactics and his system doesn’t suit the team at THFC, even if all the injured players come back. Without his ‘Porto midfielder’ his system is lost (even if it MIGHT work in the Premiership). Otherwise his praising of individual players after the game yesterday and the Chelski defeat means he rates their players as better than ours. Yet in all he says he doesn’t need players in January.
Oh so it’s my fault.
Hahahahhaha. Please, ask Jose or Slur Alex if they could make a silk purse out of our pigs ear of a squad.
If you think players retired, sold or injured are a side issue you are crazy in the coconut.
HH, I wanted HR out as much as you did. I didn’t want Levy to risk the next couple of years on AVB, instead I shouted for Moyes and lost to Paddy Power on it. I am nervous that if this season goes ‘tits-up’ we’ll loose our best players and the whole point of progression will be lost.
Good point on the pigs ear of a squad. So who’s accountable for that?
It doesnt really matter who is accountable. Finding blame for something that has already happened isnt the answer. Sometimes people make mistakes, this whole football management business is a constant process of experimentation, it’s fluid, mistakes will happen, get over it.
Supporting the team that you have an irrational emotional attachment to is the answer, not constantly criticising with retrospective football manager genius.
Spurs supporters support.
Moany old tossers criticise.
Innit.
‘A pig’s ear of a squad.’
So, Harry, where does the buck actually stop? Levy? You won’t have anything said against him either.
I reckon it’s all down to the Tea Lady.
That’s a cop out HH and you know it.
“Jose or Slur Alex if they could make a silk purse out of our pigs ear of a squad.”
No, but I reckon they could make a substitution that is simple, logical, thoughful and makes freakin sense for once!
Oh and play their first 11, first.
Tell me im wrong!
epecially when you consider who those players were!! Rafa, Modric, King…. big men with big shoes. You haters are dickheads, end this pessimistic nonsense
If you take away the Southampton result, we really are on a bad run. We must get something at The Emirates. By the way, retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, you get all day to mull over bad results without the distraction of work to take your mind off it, and with daytime tv, I’m ready to put a gun to my head.
Eh? Adebayor was the only outlet and the only player keeping possession and drawing fouls etc. Defoe came on and we lost that instantly. We also shipped another goal. It absolutely changed the pattern of the game. If we were to hold on to the point we needed Ade on the pitch. Seemed very obvious. ‘Fresh legs’ are no good if they don’t touch the ball. And I don’t think this was ever a game for 4-4-2, it’s just a shame that the options we have in midfield are mostly sub-standard.
Apart from that, I do agree with what you say though.
that was a response to Devonshire btw
I just think that what was costing us in that game was the zero contribution from Dempsey and it was clear that City were exposing Vertonghen in particular.
The changes lacked any real purpose
the changes always either lack purpose, or the purpose is to sit on a lead which we are horrible at doing.
No the changes didn’t lack purpose, two of them were to replace injured players, (Walker and Lennon, both of whom have withdrawn from the England squad), and the other one was to replace Ade who was knackered and on a yellow card. All seems reasonable to me.
Ade didn’t look knackered at all!
As for Walker and Lennon, fine. But put Naughton at LB instead of RW as Jan was a liability all match.
We get more and more defensive with every week that passes. Gone is the swashbuckling entertaining football. One nil grinders in it’s place, bet all those Harry haters are delighted with this garbage we are regularly being served up.