***OMT***Tottenham Hotspur FC v Woolwich Wanckers

[vkn17]

The thought of Kaboul in the heart of our defense against Arsenal away makes me want to cry.

4-1 ****.

 

[Roy1983]

Unfortunately, the fact he's club captain and didn't play last night leads me to believe Poch will play Kaboul tomorrow.

 

[DTA]

The Arsnl don't have any fit fullbacks. Sooo, I would go with a withdrawn centre forward and really confuse Meatsucker and Sczzelknee. Thus my surprise team would be to overload the flanks with width on both sides, thus:

Lloris

Naughton. Verts Kaboul. . Rose

Capoue. Stambouli

Lamela. Dembele. Eriksen. Chadli


Dembele playing in central midfield but in a more advanced role.

Ade and Soldado wouldn't get a kick so no real point in having them on the pitch IMO.

Could work. 2-1 to Spurs. Any other formation is just too silly for words.

Interesting and I would like to see something like this as well. A well thought out strategy that keys in on the opponents weaknesses.

Won't happen though.

 

[Kandi1977]

Fazio and Verts will not be starting. The team will be the same as against West Brom.

If he starts the same team as in that fecking awful performance, we might as well fire him now! No manager in his right mind would field the same team after such a dismal performance! That said, I don't think it matters what team we put out. Stranger things have happend, but sadly I expect nothing but us getting wiped off the floor.
Scum 4 - Spurs get a late consolation goal.

 

[Jordinho]

Unfortunately, the fact he's club captain and didn't play last night leads me to believe Poch will play Kaboul tomorrow.

Who we playing tomorrow?

 

[SpurSF]

Arsenal is really poor in CM, and I think our only chance is to outnumber them in that area and really control that part of the field. I also think we'll need another CM to track their runners from deep, so they can't hurt us arriving late into the box. That's why I've gone with three solid CMs. I'd be happy to surrender plenty of possession and drop deep(ish) and break forward with pace when **** turns it over.

I'd line-up this way and look to stay tight and pick them off on the counter or through set-pieces. We need to get the ball forward quickly, and if that means playing more long balls, so be it. I rate Eriksen hugely, but Townsend's energy and pace will be hugely important with our counter attacks. I'd like to see any of our CMs or CBs looking to get it forward quickly to get our outside forwards matched up against Arsenal's poor fullbacks.

————————LLORIS———————
DIER——VERTS——FAZIO——DAVIES
—BENTALEB——CAPOUE——STAMBOULI—
—LAMELA——ADE———TOWNSEND——

1-1.

 

[yiddo37]

---------------------Lloris-------------------

Naughton---Kaboul----Vertonghen---Rose

-------------------Dembele-----------------

-----------Stambouli---Eriksen------------

Lamela------------Kane----------Townsend

Subs: Vorm, Dier, Fazio, Lennon, Bentaleb, Adebayor, Soldado.

Probably nowhere near the actual selection but hey ho. Not confident as always over their place, would take a draw, would love a win, expect a loss.

 

[milo]

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[Papercut]

There seems to be one too many badgers there - so perhaps we can get to the opposition by bouncing on the spot

 

[Papercut]

I find the back four impossible to suggest; each has it's potential benefit and each has it's detriment.

I'll try...

------------------------Lloris--------------------------

Dier-----------Kaboul-----------Vert-----------Rose

---------------Stambouli-----Capoue----------------

-----Lamela-------------Dembele-----------Eriksen---

------------------------Soldado-------------------------

 

[Jordinho]

Moving on, no one cares about the Capital One Cup anyway.

----------------Szczesny
Chambers - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Gibbs
-------------Arteta - Ramsey
Alexis ------------Ozil-----------Cazorla
----------------Welbeck

This should be the team for the next 3 games, with Chamberlain in for Cazorla when necessary. 4-2-3-1 is essential, with Özil playing through the middle. If Wenger doesn't, I can't help but think it's just stubbornness.

A North London Derby is never easy, but this is the lowest Tottenham have been for a long while. I expect a win here, and nothing else.

A good performance is vital going into this week of games. Need to keep the heat on Chelsea.

Spurs are playing very crap poor offensively and weak defensively i hope we smash them but can't see it at the moment.

Need to win this, and we will.

Spurs are ****, worse than they were last season, just look at the spine of their team for **** sake.

3-0 Arsenal.

Looks like we're all in agreement with the starting XI's. Might be a case for Bellerin though. Feel uneasy playing all our CB's at once and Bellerin deserves a run in the team I feel given the long term nature of the injury to Debuchy.

Next two matches are NLD at Emirates and Galatasaray at Emirates, followed by away to Chelsea. With Turkish teams typically being bad travellers I'd go for Chambers against Spuds and Bellerin against Gala. In general would pretty much go with best selection available for Spuds and Chavs and rotate a little for Gala. Based on Cazorla's good support of Özil's roaming at Villa would probably give the edge to Cazorla for the NLD. Ox is not in form yet and has to try to look up more when he is on his runs to sharpen his end product.

We're facing a frankly **** Spurs which the fans and players will be up for. After our luck with the illnesses against Villa it's the perfect two fixtures after our slow start really. Barring fixtures against the real dross like Burnley and QPR.

A must win. No excuses.

Diaby showed more in 60 minutes than Arteta and Flamini have for a year. He doesn't shy away from a tackle, is brilliant at bringing the ball out of defence and above all offers us a physical presence that allows us to take control of the centre of the park, he and Rambo could be a very good duo. I'd sub Abou again after the hour mark.

I also don't feel comfortable starting all our 3 senior CB's at a time, that's a recipe for disaster IMO. Bellerin back pocketed that Mane guy, you could tell Mane was all about pace but he couldn't once out run Hector who's bloody rapid. I'd play him again, we're going to need him in the coming months, he needs experience and fast.

Spurs are playing like ****, they've got no character in their team and are still playing like a bunch of individuals, we should record a comfortable win here. I'm going to go with 4-0 to our boys, Sanchez, Welbeck, Ramsey and Cazorla off the bench with the goals. A win here is vital for confidence heading into some huge games.

Chelsea is a far bigger game than the NLD. We should be competing for titles, not bragging rights.

This is the North London Derby which means that current form goes out the window. Lamela and Eriksen are two players who could hurt us. This match is not going to be easy but I think we'll manage to win.

We'll win this. We have much more quality than them.

Expect to win this one 3-1. It'll be tough but we're a better team with better talent

This is one of the most sought after matches for many, if not most, Gooners but f*ck me this thread is only 2 pages long :lol::lol::lol:

I think it's because they get more irrelevant with every passing year.

Big teams get big threads

One of the few games in recent years that the atmosphere during the game gets to me and I get excitedly nervous. Not like it's a big game or signifies our season or anything, but all the fans, players, hell, even the Arsenal groundsman and stewards get up for it!

I think most of all I want to see Welbeck tear them up and get a goal, or maybe even two if we're lucky. (Wouldn't hurt if he then ran the pitch and slid on his knees too.) It's usually a goal-fest of a game so hopefully that keeps within tradition.

I'm only slightly anxious about Eriksen or Lamela pulling off something spectacular, these fixtures seem to conjure up the odd wonder-goal out of nowhere.

3-2 Arsenal. Although I'd love a 3-0 :lol:

Always look forward to NLD's. We have to win this one, at home against a poor Spurs side, no excuses.

Barring Ade putting in an animal type performance, I don't think Spurs have much in attack to really concern us.

First goal will be vital, will give Spurs something to protect, and if we score first, it could be easy work.

The NLDs are the first games I look for when our fixtures are announced, even when we aren't competing with each other in the table these are the biggest fixtures of the year for me, bar none.

Not many clubs have a derby with the history and profile that we do, look at Chelsea. 3rd biggest derby in Britain for me after the North-west and Old firm games. The big "Sky Sports" games like the Manchester derby don't come close.

Really hope we batter the scum on saturday, we were lucky to win when they had Gooner Tim in charge and we have to make up for that on saturday, want the Ox and Alexis to rip that tool Dier a new ********.

I'll miss seeing Gooner Tim on the sidelines in his gilet.

I'm normally a wreck before a NLD but not this time. Maybe if it had been the away one.

I'm sure it will be a great game as always, but I would be genuinely shocked with anything else than a win. I doubt we'll trounce them but seriously, they're garbage atm.

NLDs are the most fun when Spuds are being all ****-a-hoop. When they believe the tide has turned and make absurd statements like "We're now the biggest team in North London" or "Arsenal are in a negative spiral" or my all time favorite "Gallas left them for us". It's no fun when they're realistic about their chances. It's a real buzz kill.

Spurs' regular season form goes straight out the window when it comes to these games, at least that has been the case traditionally. Furthermore, it seems like Pochettino wants them to be aggressive when facing us at the weekend.

Do I see us losing this game on the current form of both teams? No, but we do struggle against highly motivated, highly aggressive teams of late. Coupled with our current defensive crisis, I wonder if this will be the proverbial straw.

Pocahontas is far too sensible for that club. They need a Harry or an AVB. An absolute bufoon who is the face of the club.

A few bellends from my Uni all got matching t-shirts made up with "This is our time" on the front and "VDV + Modric + Bale = glory" on the back. They all wore them to the pub on gameday, they'd begun to dream about finally finishing above the evil "Woolwich". Needless to say I had the last laugh.

As dirty as I feel, I supported Chelsea in the CL final that year, just so Spurs wouldn't get a Champions League spot.

Football fandom always amuses me. You've got the entitlement of United fans, the delusion of the scousers, the evilness of chelsea but when it comes to sheer and utter buffoonery no one can match the spuds. They're out there on their own. I honestly believe Arsenal would be less fun to follow if Spurs werent around.

*Goes to get sanitized*

 

[Papercut]

You'd think they had been light-years ahead of us in recent history judging by those comments

 

[nayenezgani]

*Goes to get sanitized*

My rage built consistently as i scrolled on past each idiotic post. We simply must beat these smug ****s.

 

[Daisuk]

I dreamt we beat them 8-5. Defoe scored a hat-trick. Gonna make a fortune on that bet. \o/

 

[thfcsteff]

 

[markysimmo]

You'd think they had been light-years ahead of us in recent history judging by those comments

Exactly last 5 years have been 10 points, 1 point, 1 point, 6 points, 6 points, its hardly dominance is it

 

[Robbo]

Within 20 minutes played, one or more of the following will have happened:

**** score from a wonder strike from a player never previously capable of such goals.

**** score from an incredibly soft penalty.

**** score a ridiculously fluky goal from an offside position.

We are denied a goalscoring opportunity after a huge mistake from the ref/linesman.

We go one man down from a very harsh red card/**** player diving.

An **** player gets away from a horror tackle with a yellow card, leaving one of our players injured.

 

[Rorschach]

This one cuts a bit close to the bone

Football fandom always amuses me. You've got the entitlement of United fans, the delusion of the scousers, the evilness of chelsea but when it comes to sheer and utter buffoonery no one can match the spuds. They're out there on their own. I honestly believe Arsenal would be less fun to follow if Spurs werent around.

 

[Pirate55]

One thing we should not do is cross the ball in the air, or hit it long to Ade's head. Mertesacker and Koscielny will each that **** for breakfast. Lets go with a false nine.

Someone else talking sense. No one will expect that. It will crowd out the midfield and give their creative players little space.

Then hit them down the flanks where they have weakness. Dembele to play at the tip of the diamond and arrive late in the box, where he used to play for Fulham. In this position he wouldn't hold up our attacking by dribbling out in deep positions - and his dribbling in advanced areas is what we need to unlock the Gooners.

Simples.

 

[Pirate55]

I really hope not, but this could be embarrassing.

Kaboul should not be first choice centre back against decent opposition. Clearly Pochettino sees something in him, but to me he's not the player he used to be and can often be a liability out there. Aside from that, I don't see where the goals are coming from at the moment. Adebayor is not the answer for me - it can't be right that I'm genuinely surprised on the occasions he plays to his potential. A brilliant player on his day but the lack of consistency means he can't be relied upon. I still maintain we need to give Soldado a run of games before Christmas. If he becomes the goal-scoring player we thought we were buying, that's brilliant. If he doesn't, then we need to sell him (yes, at a loss) in January and get in a replacement. He's had a year to adjust and hit form; we need to find out right now if he's done so. In fairness, he has not really had an opportunity this season because of the neck injury, so now's as good a time as any. But I doubt Pochettino sees it that way (yet).

This is the team I think we will see:

-------------------Lloris--------------------
Naughton---Kaboul--Vertonghen---Rose
----------Stambouli---Capoue------------
------------------Dembele-----------------
----Lamela---------------------Eriksen----
-----------------Adebayor------------------


But this is the team I'd like to see:

-------------------Lloris--------------------
Naughton----Fazio--Vertonghen----Rose
----------Stambouli---Capoue------------
------------------Eriksen-------------------
----Lamela---------------------Lennon----
------------------Soldado------------------


Yes, there's every chance my selection would get seriously over-run and collapse to a 4-0 defeat. But that's just as bloody likely with any team we put out against Arsenal right now. At least (in my view) it would be another 90 minutes for Vertonghen and Fazio to learn each other's game. Another chance for Soldado to show whether we should keep him when the window opens again in three months.

On top of that, if Pochettino is genuine about letting players "play themselves into" the team, then Dembele simply shouldn't start after last weekend (IMO), and Lennon was excellent against Forest so should get to keep his place... also as our longest serving player he's useful in a NLD in my view (also Lennon's defensive work is underrated in my opinion and that'll be useful against Arsenal). Also, Mason merits a place on the bench.

There's a tiny part of me that believes this will be the week we finally "click" and Lamela, Soldado and Eriksen link up to produce some mesmerizing creative football, slicing through Arsenal's defence and leaving Wenger shell-shocked. But if I'm honest, I think we'll lose by three clear goals.

What!?!?. Can you name a single thing he did in an attacking sense against a championship reserve team?

Your definition of excellent must be different from mine.

Otherwise, quite a sensible post.