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.
As disappointed as I was from yesterday’s result/performance we have to remember that we’re trying to turn round 6 months of awful performances under Redknapp without two of the best players we’ve had in recent memory. We’re missing our best centre back (Kaboul), our left back and our best central midfielder (Dembele). Would Redknapp have done any better yesterday? We lost by the same margin last year with a better team. Huddlestone was poor but he’s had a year out. Im not sure what’s happened to Walker, could be a blessing in disguise if he’s out for a couple of weeks. Adebayor was the right choice up front and he played well. And as I saw it he was brought off because he was on a booking and looking like he could lose it. Defoe should’ve started with him as Dempsey offered little. Sandro was fantastic again, but then again he always is. Very frustrating result but not a dreadful one. COYS
AVB seems to be confused over Dempsey. He is not a striker, he’s more like Tim Cahill, or a slimmer version of Fat Frankie. He makes runs into the box unmarked and has a good eye for goal, but you can’t stick those players up front, back to goal with a big lug of a center half breathing down their necks. That position has to be Defoe’s.
Ade was perfect in the VDV role, dropping off the front into midfield, his hold up and link play was tremendous. Although he’s a big man he doesn’t play the traditional centre forward role, so Defoe and Adebayor could easily play together.
If he wants to be adventurous (which I doubt) Dempsey could start alongside Sandro in a Cahill-type role, chipping in with goals from midfield he could prove useful, and now that Ade’s back making the 5th man in midfield, we shouldn’t get overrun.
Our recent substitutions seem hell-bent on stopping us scoring in the hope that that will mean the scoreline stays the same. Flawed logic and not the Tottenham way.
Have to agree with all of that Gary.
The question is “do we have a midfield”. For me central midfield means having someone playing in central midfield. Sandro and hudd both play deep, and Dempsey is supposedly behind the striker. You then have 2 wingers. So there is no one in proper central midfield, and this allowed Man City (like other teams) to just come at us. At least with Dembele, he can take the ball into central midfield, and link up the play. I was kinda hoping we could play Carroll. Also I don’t know why it is Ade vs Defoe. It should be Ade replacing Dempsey. Lennon has also been very disappointing this season. AVB should look up and check the spurs motto!!!!
Don’t forget that last year against pretty much the same players (except Tevez) at home with both Modric and VdV in the team we were soundly beaten….
We weren’t soundly beaten at citeh last year we actually smashed them for most of the game and deadly JD should have won it for us.. Jus sayin..
“SHOULD HAVE WON FOR US”, wasn’t so deadly then was he.
that was his point, i believe.
Its clear too see the players don’t believe in AVB and i hate to say it, but it isn’t going to work.. Levy has dropped a massive clanger in appointing AVB he should have gone in for Moyes who has the experience in the prem. I was more than pleased to see the back of HR after all his drivel last season.And i knew this was going to be a tough season. But AVB has got us playing some real dire football. I would say he’s probably got until new year then it curtains!!
We certainly gave them a better run for their money last year and offered up a far more entertaining game, this is an undebatable fact!
as AVB noted they pressed us high up the pitch , we lost possession tried to play high lines and eventually succumbed. Odd not to leave gallas & caulker at CB and just bring on a right back for a right back. Hudd tried hard but needs too much time on the ball (always did) and we are missing modric a lot.We should bring in Loris now and play Adebayor + Defoe and get the wounded back It’s early doors though and the manager should be given his own team to blend.