OMT - TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs Man U

[paxtonwolf]

Just back from the match.

That was more like it. Good performance today, very unlucky not to have won. United were gifted two goals. On another day we could have been 3-0 up before they scored.
Sounds daft, and maybe it is, but I enjoyed that game far more than the 1-0 wins over Hull and Swansea.

Play like that for the rest ofthe season and I will have no complaints, apart from the occassional strange substitution. (I still dont get the Townsend for Lennon change, surely had to be Chadli?)

Certainly saw a lot of light at the end of the tunnel today.

 

[markysimmo]

@Squawka

Aaron Lennon didn't complete or attempt a single pass in the second half before he was substituted.

 

[thfcsteff]

Advantage? Dean, you prick. And why not a yellow??

Evra once again got away with one today. Should've been booked early in the game when Dean played the advantage. Had that happened, 10 men for the last 15 minutes…he always gets away with **** here...

 

[thfcsteff]

Lloris has made 3 mistakes in the last 2 games now.

Wellbeck did him. He 'went down with contact'…to be fair mate I thought you weren't into that sort of thing...

 

[thfcsteff]

I dont think some of you were watching Chadli. Only 2 players completed more passes than the guy Walker and Vertonghen. He had 25 to Lennon's 8.
Lennon started well but couldnt get into the game at times.
Lennon's last pass attempt came before the 35th minute. That's 30 minutes he was on the pitch without trying to pass the ball before AVB took him off.

Chadli was unspectacular to the eye but effective for the team…very very solid.

 

[braineclipse]

Evra once again got away with one today. Should've been booked early in the game when Dean played the advantage. Had that happened, 10 men for the last 15 minutes…he always gets away with **** here...

I never get this logic mate...

If he had been on a yellow he probably would have done things differently later in the game.

 

[Modric THFC]

@Squawka

Aaron Lennon didn't complete or attempt a single pass in the second half before he was substituted.

or in the 10 minutes before half time neither. He give up 35 minutes in.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I thought it was a strong performance but a fair result

United only came into the game when they scored both times and let's be honest walker couldn't give Rooney a better chance if he tried for the first and the speed the ref blew for the pen was quicker than their passing. Even schmeichal said it wasn't one but IMO it was more a eon than not even though Wellbeck won it

Where we excelled was Sandro/Dembele/ Paulinho playing as a controlling group. We controlled the middle of the pitch and it gave Paulinho chances to get forward . He is no number 10 bug considering how he plays and the games he had played I thought he had a great game

Sandro and Dembele bossed it yet again and showed why they have to be first choice

Chadli is getting a lot of unfair stick. I don't rate him big he stayed on to over for a bombing forward verts. Lennon in the second half offered nothing at all and it was the right sub IMO out of the two wingers

Have to say Rooney is class working his **** office kagawa and Wellbeck showed their limitations and do to get me started on not cleverly who is awful.

We played a very solid game and looked miles better than last week (not that hard) bit people before the game were saying we would take a 1 goal defeat... Really!!!! This jus the worse Man U side in a long while and only one team was gonna win it today, us!!!

 

[thfcsteff]

Cheers - in the ground it didn't look like it at all

No-one got to the ball, Lloris' arm/glove was stretched out because, well, when a keeper goes for balls like that it's how they end up, the critical thing for me was that Lloris did not move his arm UP and Wellback dragged his back-foot across Lloris' glove and went over. It was very very soft. I won't complain because for me, contact in the box of any nature puts you in a place where the ref can penalize. But for me it was a very, very soft pen indeed.

 

[King of Norway]

I just remembered that Rooney should have been sent off last weekend, and, thus, never should have played this game. Quite annoying really.

 

[thfcsteff]

I never get this logic mate...

If he had been on a yellow he probably would have done things differently later in the game.

I cannot argue with you on that, I admit my logic is perhaps strained BUT had he had a yellow so early, I'd wager that he might well not have last even until the last 15 because we would've surely targeted him even more with Azza?

 

[braineclipse]

I cannot argue with you on that, I admit my logic is perhaps strained BUT had he had a yellow so early, I'd wager that he might well not have last even until the last 15 because we would've surely targeted him even more with Azza?

It's possible, but then wouldn't you kind of expect Sandro to get sent off when he picked up his relatively early yellow against City based on a similar logic?

The point is that you can't say that he would have been sent off, there's a chance of course, but it's far from certain. And Evra is a very experienced full back who I think has been in similar situations in the past without getting sent off.

 

[thfcsteff]

It's possible, but then wouldn't you kind of expect Sandro to get sent off when he picked up his relatively early yellow against City based on a similar logic?

The point is that you can't say that he would have been sent off, there's a chance of course, but it's far from certain. And Evra is a very experienced full back who I think has been in similar situations in the past without getting sent off.

It's easier for Sandro to adapt his game than a full-back. I'd say if a side chooses to hammer a full-back with an early booking it absolutely compromises them, at the very least making them more timid and measured on the ball. Regardless, we're arguing a theoretical. I see your point but honestly, I don't agree with it. I think that ear;y card for Evra gives us a major opp to take him out.

 

[jpp]

There is always the possibilty that the threat of Townsend's direct running down the left might have pegged Manure back and eased up the pressure on Verts.

This. Utd targeted Vertoghen, using Valencia to good effect. Chadli was involved and I thought he started well but as the game went on he became less effective. Utd kept pressing down their right and we failed to press them on our right where Lennon, as usual against Evra, was dominant. Had Townsend have replaced Chadli after an hour, the dynamic on that side would have changed with Townsend higher up the pitch Smalling would have been forced deeper and I think we would have prospered. The crowd could see it too, hence the loud boos for Lennon's substitution. Television probably didn't pick up on this, concentrating as they do, on the flow of the ball, rather than the whole picture.

 

[braineclipse]

It's easier for Sandro to adapt his game than a full-back. I'd say if a side chooses to hammer a full-back with an early booking it absolutely compromises them, at the very least making them more timid and measured on the ball. Regardless, we're arguing a theoretical. I see your point but honestly, I don't agree with it. I think that ear;y card for Evra gives us a major opp to take him out.

An early card for him, something he clearly should have been given, does give us a real chance to target him. No disagreements there

 

[Pirate55]

Some of the negativity in this thread is close to unbelievable.

Good performance from the lads, unlucky not to win. Hopefully we'll see the team bring some of the stuff they showed today into the next couple of games too.

Agree with this. The important thing is how we perform in the next two games - and the rest of the season!

 

[Pirate55]

Watching the gif of the Sandro goal, I just noticed that Soldado and Paulie were so static, it basically forced Sandro to shoot as he had no other option. That, in a microcosm, is what has been wrong with our season so far. Not enough movement. Lets hope AVB can change this very soon.

 

[braineclipse]

This. Utd targeted Vertoghen, using Valencia to good effect. Chadli was involved and I thought he started well but as the game went on he became less effective. Utd kept pressing down their right and we failed to press them on our right where Lennon, as usual against Evra, was dominant. Had Townsend have replaced Chadli after an hour, the dynamic on that side would have changed with Townsend higher up the pitch Smalling would have been forced deeper and I think we would have prospered. The crowd could see it too, hence the loud boos for Lennon's substitution. Television probably didn't pick up on this, concentrating as they do, on the flow of the ball, rather than the whole picture.

That is one possible outcome.

Another likely outcome is that Valencia would have been even more isolated up against Vertonghen, not a situation I would have been particularly happy about.

 

[Pirate55]

An early card for him, something he clearly should have been given, does give us a real chance to target him. No disagreements there

I agree that SHOULD be the case, but I have noted for some years that when a defender has been booked against Lennon, for some unfathomable reason, thereafter he fails to take him on! You would think it might make the defender easy meat, but time after time Lennon has failed to take this advantage. For evidence of this, when was a defender last sent off for two bad tackles on Lennon?

A yellow card should be like the starting gun for Lennon, but somehow he just goes into his shell after it happens. He was great for thirty minutes today and then did nothing at all for thirty minutes. He had Evra in his pocket, but failed to press home the advantage. Especially once Evra was booked, the wingers and Walker should have taken him on at every opportunity. Didn't happen though..

 

[Jordinho]

Evra wasn't booked until Townsend had come on. One of the few times Townsend actually managed to run at him instead of hitting a poor cross or just have a bad first touch.

It's not just that Chadli was doing better than Lennon in the second half, but AVB might have thought Townsend would have more luck trying to get past Evra.