***Tottenham Hotspur vs West Brom*** Official Match Thread

[punk_is_back`]

My only worry there is that Saudi Sportswashing Machine will have Cabaye-Tiote-Sissoko, whereas with Holtby replacing Parker we'd have to play either Dempsey/Siggy in that AM role and both can be remarkably invisible for long stretches. Can't afford that in this game, I think.

I've heard that Sissoko is a beast in the Vieira mold, six foot three and solid. This is where Sandro would excel, outbeasting the opposition. Unfortunately Parker has the same build as Luka Modric, no amount of tenacity or determination will help him in a fight with someone of Sissoko's size. Would be tempted to even play Kaboul there when he's back just to add some muscle to the midfield.

 

[glorygloryeze]

Was really worried about Lukaku in this game and i'm pleased we kept him relatively quiet (in terms of a direct threat to our box) for most of the game even before the sending off.

Good to keep a clean sheet and good that Holtby is getting games and being influential.

Striker situation is a joke isn't it; here's hoping Ade returns feeling loved and wanted.
Saudi Sportswashing Machine at home will be a tougher test as we'll be under pressure to take the game to them, but they can hit us on the break potentially.

Onwards and upwards, COYS

 

[GrimsbyYid]

Can I be the first to say - Why dont you fudge off?
Your negativity is unreal. I have been holding this back all day because I didnt want a ban. But you are quite possibly the biggest dingdonghead i've ever had the pleasure of listening to.

Literally, your a ****.

Thank you! He's been like it all season, even before it started he hated avb. Ipad a few goes at his idiocy and now try and ignore him. Every time I see that stupid fudging face next to a post my eyes already start rolling before I read anything.people like him ruin this place and I barely come here anymore. These unibjective, ignorant, negative, clueless tools are destroying this place.

But fudge them. Great dominating win today like we've been performing for weeks, we may not be as gung ho attacking, but we look so much more in control. The future is amazing!

 

[Baleforce]

I've only seen the highlights but to me Lukaku looked far more of a threat than Long

 

[glorygloryeze]

I've only seen the highlights but to me Lukaku looked far more of a threat than Long

Yes, indeed. I couldn't beleive their manager took off Lukaku once they went down to ten men. A Headz Gone moment as Adrian Durham would say; from that moment, we were to be the only possible winners.

 

[Spursalot]

First half - Looked poor, didn't really achieve anything going forward whilst giving away a couple of decent chances to West brom's strikers who were dominating our center backs.


Second half - Got fortunate with the sending off, struggled to make the most of it mostly due to West Brom dropping deep and defending, struggled to break them down. Only way through in the end was a beaut from Bale from outside the box.



But enough of the performance, got the three points, and that is all that matters in the end.

 

[thejazzman]

As much as I have concerns over the performance, I have a feeling that Adebayor is going to come back into the team now and play alot better. The way the team was setup in the second half is suited well for him: most of the high pressing comes from the 3 players behind him [holt, bale, lennon]; Bale is encouraged to drift in from the left hand side, the area that Ade frequently drifts out to; he will be the focal point of the team, so doesnt have to worry about anyone getting in the same space as him [a la dempsey/defoe]; With holtby in the team there is someone who will look to play the ball to him in a variety of ways, quickly-Ade's movement isnt amazing, but he is reasonably adept at controlling the ball and moving with it.

All over the pitch I think we're starting to see "partnerships" developing/returning; its something that helps while we're still trying to find fluidity as a team. Bale and Adebayor were an example of this last season, and hopefully can be again; Lennon and Holtby seemed to have an understanding against norwich and complement each other well; parker does most of his covering work for Kyle Walker, freeing him to get forward.

Lloris's anticipation is startling at times, he really impresses me. For all of the blocks that he made against Shane Long he seemed 1 step ahead in terms of his positioning and timing. Overall I'm slightly disappointed by the performance, considering the red card and West Brom's subsequent lack of threat, but optomistic about our chances in the next few weeks. But whatever happens Holtby MUST start...Playing dempsey will basically be reverting to 4-4-2, and then we'll either be relying on Bale brilliance or tossing balls into the box.

 

[thfcsteff]

I think for a position that is so critical to our play he just cannot see the bigger tactical picture in the game of where he should be and what he should be ding. Too often he gets sucked into the ball or dives in too quickly taking him out of the game. In an attacking sense he tries to take the responsibility himself, takes the ball forward and miscontrols often losing it, or makes a poor decision with his passing. When not under pressure he can be neat, however under pressure he makes all sorts of mistakes and the only thing he can do is try and draw a foul. One major gripe is that he passes the ball to players under pressure when he has just received it from them.

I just want a CM who can read the game better and knows where to be and what to do with the ball.

I see all those points, and certainly think we're a better side with Sandro, but Scotty is getting back to his best, I feel there's more coming, and he has a fantastic spirit and attitude which we will need during these next few weeks.

I also think AVB deserves some praise for bringing back the experience of Daws in place of the potentially great but still learning Caulker, and the experience/attacking thrust of BAE over the tidy and able Naughton...

 

[Mumorn]

 

[Spurs7891]

This was a much needed win. We had to win this to get back on winning terms. This win will give us much needed morale boost to the team. Wish we had won more comfortably but a win is a win. I think we probably would have won more comfortably if we had played against 11 men. Instead, traditionally we don't enjoy playing against 10 men who only concentrate on defending. When they had a player send off, was worried they would frustrate us and we would end up losing. But fortunately, Bale came with with another match winning goal.

This match proves yet again, how badly we need Bale in good form. He has almost single handedly won us many matches this season and did so yet again. It was another wonder goal from Bale. It is amazing how much power and accuracy he puts in shots like that. That goal makes Bale as our top goal scorer in the league with 11 goals. Won't be surprised if Bale ends up as our top scorer with Defoe injured and out of form now. You have to be worried about the injury to Defoe. Hope he will recover soon. Don't think we can rely on Bale for goals all the time as teams can easily mark him out. Disappointed about Dempsey's performance as he was not in the match at all even after they had the player send off.

A bit disappointed about our midfield's contribution as we should have made more use of our numerical advantage. Holtby did well despite being a new player. But players like Dembele and Lennon should have done better. I am still waiting for a match winning performance from Dembele. He ought to do much better than this. Similiarly, Lennon should have made more use of his pace and dribbling skills. Despite all our possession, we didn't create many goal scoring chances. At times, we were over eloborating by passing too much without making any killer passes. This is where Dembele should have made the difference with a defence splitting pass or two.

Happy with our defence for keeping the clean sheet. Apart from a few moments, our defence did well for most of the match. We were largely solid in defence albeit WBA being a man down. Lloris did well to make a few good saves which probably helped us to win the match. Nice to see Vertonghen back in form as he made almost an error-free performance. Even Dawson, Walker and Gallas didn't make many mistakes which was nice to see. Hope we can keep more clean sheets like these. Have to give credit to the contribution of Walker. He not only caused the red card for the WBA player but also made the assist for Bale's goal.

It is really nice to get the winning feeling again. Hope we will now go on another winning run and score more goals in the process.

 

[southstand1882]

I've heard that Sissoko is a beast in the Vieira mold, six foot three and solid. This is where Sandro would excel, outbeasting the opposition. Unfortunately Parker has the same build as Luka Modric, no amount of tenacity or determination will help him in a fight with someone of Sissoko's size. Would be tempted to even play Kaboul there when he's back just to add some muscle to the midfield.

Hmmmm...isn't Scott supposed to be a hard mother fudger though?

I've heard numerous non-spurs players over the years claim he is an absolute beast in the tackle

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

First half - Looked poor, didn't really achieve anything going forward whilst giving away a couple of decent chances to West brom's strikers who were dominating our center backs.


Second half - Got fortunate with the sending off, struggled to make the most of it mostly due to West Brom dropping deep and defending, struggled to break them down. Only way through in the end was a beaut from Bale from outside the box.



But enough of the performance, got the three points, and that is all that matters in the end.

This! Yeah we won, but we only beat a ninth placed WBA, with their best stiker at home sulking and ten men on the pitch. Not too much to get excited about methinks. Apart from Bale's flashes of brilliance, it was tedious.

 

[THFC6061]

This! Yeah we won, but we only beat a ninth placed WBA, with their best stiker at home sulking and ten men on the pitch. Not too much to get excited about methinks. Apart from Bale's flashes of brilliance, it was tedious.

Yes, it wasn't a vintage Spurs performance.

Yes, we were fortunate that Odemwingie was left-out and they had a man sent-off.

Yes, it took a wonder goal from Bale to win the three points.

But this is exactly how Manchester United have been piling-up the points for more seasons than I care to remember.

It's now high time that Spurs start winning these types of matches too.

 

[onlyme]

The way the team was setup in the second half is suited well for Ade: most of the high pressing comes from the 3 players behind him [holt, bale, lennon]; Bale is encouraged to drift in from the left hand side, the area that Ade frequently drifts out to; he will be the focal point of the team, so doesnt have to worry about anyone getting in the same space as him [a la dempsey/defoe]; With holtby in the team there is someone who will look to play the ball to him in a variety of ways, quickly-Ade's movement isnt amazing, but he is reasonably adept at controlling the ball and moving with it.

All over the pitch I think we're starting to see "partnerships" developing/returning; its something that helps while we're still trying to find fluidity as a team. Bale and Adebayor were an example of this last season, and hopefully can be again; Lennon and Holtby seemed to have an understanding against norwich and complement each other well; Parker does most of his covering work for Kyle Walker, freeing him to get forward.

Lloris's anticipation is startling at times, he really impresses me. For all of the blocks that he made against Shane Long he seemed 1 step ahead in terms of his positioning and timing. Overall I'm slightly disappointed by the performance, considering the red card and West Brom's subsequent lack of threat, but optomistic about our chances in the next few weeks. But whatever happens Holtby MUST start...Playing dempsey will basically be reverting to 4-4-2, and then we'll either be relying on Bale brilliance or tossing balls into the box.

Intelligent post, thanks for that.
Disagree with your conclusion. I am excited by the prospect of the Ade and Clint partership.
Fair point about Parker-maybe I have to re-evaluate his performance

 

[JPG_357]

I've only seen the highlights but to me Lukaku looked far more of a threat than Long

Agreed, to me he's their best player, I was cheering away in disbelief and joy when he got subbed.

 

[JPG_357]

I was massively delighted by the result and very pleased with our performance.

For once a ref helped us, and we were professional enough to benefit from it. Well done to all the team.

 

[Bullet]

Great dominating win today like we've been performing for weeks

We've controlled sections of games, I'll give you that... but the above sounds a bit too far, as we have looked clueless on occasions and turgid rather a lot!

See the post from Spursalot above.

 

[paxtonwolf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igNG1S3_cdE

Hope it plays okay and isnt too dull

 

[JellySpur]

Popov has apologised for the spitting, seems sincere and he seems like a down to earth nice guy. Unless he's being unbelievably sarcastic.

 

[JPG_357]

I don't think Popov's spit was remotely bad as Adam's challenge on Bale which could have ended his career. Yet Adam only got a yellow. It should have been 10 games and a prison sentence as far as I'm concerned.

There's a really weird set of values in English football where a mild spit which nowhere near hit Walker gets a red and outrage, yet horrible tackle afte horrible tackle is let go. Absolutely baffling.

Of course a full on flob in the face is disgusting and out of order and worth six games, but what Popov did was tame.

Still, it done us a great favour and well Kyle for his persistence to led to Popov losing his rag.