*** TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs. Everton OMT ***

[Jurgen the German]

Chalk up another OMT win for Jurgen :-"

 

[Cochise]

Mason and Bentaleb worked really well in that pivot, Mason being the more offensive of the two but tiring by 70 mins.

 

[Jordinho]

Chalk up another OMT win for Jurgen :-"

Such a gift should not be taken lightly. Be careful not to overextend yourself and start too many OMTs without letting your powers recharge properly.

 

[Jordinho]

Mason and Bentaleb worked really well in that pivot, Mason being the more offensive of the two but tiring by 70 mins.

I was looking at Real Madrid's lineup yesterday and they seem to be doing fine without any DM. They had a central midfield of Kroos and Rodriguez.

You could tell the whole side was up for defending today.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Most enjoyable game of the season after QPR, but QPR are **** so today was probably more impressive. Even if Chiriches is fit for Chelsea, Please PLEASE Poch do not play him! He will get torn to shreds and/or sent off against Hazard.

Pleased for Lennon and Soldado. I really hope we approach the Chelsea game like we did the scum game, we aren't ready to go toe to toe with them yet.

Anyone else find the Lukaku-Drogba comparisons embarrassing?

 

[Pirate55]

I haven't been as proud of a Spurs performance for a long time. Glad Poch has recognised we need two strikers at home at long last. Excellent work rate throughout the team. Great result and thoroughly deserved. Well done to all. Let's kick on from here.

 

[Daisuk]

And finally we had a high pressing game going, as Poch had at So'ton. Haven't seen that in our game for a long time.

 

[Pirate55]

I was looking at Real Madrid's lineup yesterday and they seem to be doing fine without any DM. They had a central midfield of Kroos and Rodriguez.

You could tell the whole side was up for defending today.

Yup. And what a difference it makes. Hunger is a powerful motivator. And then there is Ade.....

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Mason and Bentaleb worked really well in that pivot, Mason being the more offensive of the two but tiring by 70 mins.

Didn't notice Mason tire... I noticed him pulling his right leg a lot as if he is carrying an injury, possibly after last weeks maiming from hull

 

[Pirate55]

Very good game and a great result.

Again we went behind, obviously Soldado could have done better, but just a fantastic effort from Mirallas. We responded well with a bit of composure and stuck to our game plan, good to see after some previous games where we've panicked a bit when going behind.

Absolutely no panic in Bentaleb and Mason. Said before the game that it was a brave choice by Poch and it paid off. Some great quick passes, both ran and covered ground, put a few tackles in. Well done to both of them and well done to Poch for trusting them together up against a good Everton side.

Lovely finish by Eriksen for our first and delighted to see Soldado get his goal.

A lot of similarities between this game and the Arsenal game. Essentially two strikers, sit back with patience, attack them on the break. Resilience at the back. Everton really didn't create much and we defended well. Top effort from our players. I can't think of a better game defensively from Eriksen, and to also deliver in front of goal and on the ball =D>

And therein lies the key.

 

[Cochise]

Mason looked to be struggling to get back into position in the final 15-20 minutes, but maybe that was just what I saw. As for the comparison between today and Arsenal, I don't see it. From the 15 minute mark onwards we were the more dangerous side and our passing was amazing. Especially the linkup between Lennon, Mason and Chiriches. We cut them open on a few occasion's and with a bit more work, I'd expect to see us getting someone else in the box for the crosses Kane was making to the back post. The second half we were definately working off the counter though there were still a couple of those passing movements that left me with milky knickers.

Against Arsenal we were setup to counter all game and didn't look capable of stringing together the type of passing moves we did today.

 

[thfcsteff]

And therein lies the key.

Kane drifts. The key was Nabil and Mason.

 

[Hemant]

is bentaleb generally regarded as a good passer?

Yes, as long as it is the 'Haircut' style: Short, Back and Sides.

 

[Jordinho]

Jags bailed us out on a number of occasions, even if he did completely collapse in panic when he found himself with the ball in the middle of the park

I'll go with Seamus [for MOTM].

The lack of support was criminal but he tried to carry the fight and he made a few crucial interventions at the back.

Probably Barkley the reason being the lad is positive the rest of the team are scared to play a pass other than [Poor language removed] sideways or backwards

Mirallas was very good I thought. Constantly looking to drive at them instead of meandering around like the rest of the team. A stunning goal too.

Problem is we.have too many players unable to hit top form. perhaps all of them! I dont think tactics is the problem. Its confidence and form. We looked sparky at the start, the level dropped so much when we conceded another cheap goal that it point towards weak nerves right now. Need to string a few.wins together and see how this team looks with their mojo back.

Partly because they're never playing alongside the same lads from one week to the next IMO. Need a chance to gel.

Coleman did nothing but had nothing in front of him and Barkley tried to make things happen but lost it too much being overconfident.

Barkley had a very bad day at the office but at least he was trying and he has the excuse of again being played out of position. Martinez really needs to stop playing Ross out-wide just so he can have him in the team for the sake of it, it blatantly doesn't work.

Lukaku again had no service whatsoever. The lad is a goal-scorer, he's not going to score if no one is creating chances for him. Simple as that.

Harry kane motm

Caused us problems all game.

And he has lovely hair.

We need to be more ruthless as its too easy just pass pass passing about at the back. Well caught out today by a sh$t spurs team. This will happen all the time now and I dont expect anything again this season. Roll on another season without a trophy and this is the longest time without silverware in our history. I feel sorry for those youngsters who will be nearly thirty and seen mothing but sh?te. End of rant, feel obliged to slate me.

We did exactly what we should have for the first 1/4 hour,got the goal,shut their crowd up,they have been awful at WHL this term and you think,go on just be professional and this is here for the taking,and there lies the crux of it all season long for me,basic errors being punished every time,Spurs grew into that game only because we allowed them to,fed up of us dominating periods of games and the opposition will have one chance from a **** up and score,we will never break the top four if we are unable to see games through from winnable positions.

The starting line up for me was wrong. Eto should have been on the bench and used as a sub in the second half. I would have started with Osman.

Barkley last season played behind Lukaku, now he plays on the wing (this is not working). Barkley has a killer pass on him, and we need him to play behind Lukaku.

If we are going to pass pass pass, we need to play it much faster. At times we were running out of ideas.

Another game where take the lead and let the other team back in with very bad play (giving the ball away).
If our midfielder need to make sure they play the correct pass, because if they lose it Coleman and Baines are out of position, then we are likely to concede.

Spurs had a plan to press us, and make our midfielders lose the ball. Other teams will work on this more.

Other teams already have, pressing not just our MF but our back four when we're attempting to play from the back. RM is still no nearer to figuring out how we get round this and he won't until he gets all his MF players looking to receive the ball in space beyond the opposition forwards doing the pressing.

Bit upsetting to hear certain players being singled out for criticism, they all gave it everything they had. the game was lost at 3.01pm when the team sheet went in.

I quoted at 3. 45 it was crazy to play with our front 4 away from home against one of the top 6. With those guys stuck up front they would walk straight into our back 4 and they did until the subs came on and we got some shape back

I wasn't fuming until the handball. I was accepting that we'd played sub-par and let them take over central midfield

That handball on the goalline. MAXIMUM FUME

Sick of hearing about spurs poor record in the league after thursday games in europe, yet their last 7 europa league games been followed by home league games, whereas we've had to play away at utd, burnley, sunderland and spurs after our last 4 euro games,

As on so many occasions this season, it wasn't the manager who cost us the goals, it was senior players making unforced errors.

It's like reading this place.

They even have a thread on why players always score their first goal against Everton.

http://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/the-ricky-van-wolfswinkle-effect.70385/

 

[Legohamster]

I do wonder if we would have more points if we started the season with the back from yesterday.

Fazio and jan looked solid together and whilst Davies isn't at the top of his game yet he is a marked improvement in Rose.

Thought Vlad did ok at right back as well.

 

[DubaiSpur]

It's like reading this place.

They even have a thread on why players always score their first goal against Everton.

http://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/the-ricky-van-wolfswinkle-effect.70385/

Not surprising. Both formerly grand teams, used to competing with their neighbors for trophies and prestige, now brought utterly low in the new order of things by a combination of incompetence and extreme penny-pinching. Why wouldn't we sound the same?

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Not surprising. Both formerly grand teams, used to competing with their neighbors for trophies and prestige, now brought utterly low in the new order of things by a combination of incompetence and extreme penny-pinching. Why wouldn't we sound the same?

We've been brought utterly low in the new order?! What have our league positions be in the last few years? It's like the 90's/early 2000's never happened! (Unless you were talking about that period bringing us down and not the current regime (last 10 years) that's taken us from relegation candidates to champs league candidates?)

 

[NWND]

Most enjoyable game of the season after QPR, but QPR are **** so today was probably more impressive. Even if Chiriches is fit for Chelsea, Please PLEASE Poch do not play him! He will get torn to shreds and/or sent off against Hazard.

Pleased for Lennon and Soldado. I really hope we approach the Chelsea game like we did the scum game, we aren't ready to go toe to toe with them yet.
Anyone else find the Lukaku-Drogba comparisons embarrassing?

Lukaku isn't a patch on Drogba. Hence why Chelsea ditched him and got Costa instead.

Re: the bit in bold, IMO you look at the top top coaches, like Mourinho, and they NEVER try to go toe-to-toe with an equally matched or superior opponent away from home. It's asking for trouble. So we should always be approaching these games like we did the goon game. You play open at Stamford Bridge and I don't care how impressive your performance is you will get ruined.

Compare how we approached the Goon game to how we approached the Emirates Marketing Project game. Ok, Emirates Marketing Project are superior to Arsenal, but a lot of neutrals were very impressed with our performance v. Emirates Marketing Project. Oooh look at the attacking play and passing. We got dingdonged 4-1. We made the goon game a frustrating game for them, but we got a point and should have had all three had our finishing on the break been better.

 

[DTA]

Really happy with that performance, even if we lost I would have been beaming to be honest. Don't really want to pick players out because it was all about the team ... Pouch done good

 

[NLS]

I was very fearful before this game as they just looked much stronger than us especially when considering some of our recent performances but I am pleased to say I was wrong.

Finally a performance full of passion and desire. Tactics, plans and systems mean nothing if you don't fight for every ball for 90 minutes...