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***TOTTENHAM Vs STOKE - OFFICIAL OMT***

OptaSpurs: 68 - In the last three Premier League games, Spurs have had 68 attempts on goal but have scored just two goals.

Thing is, a lot of those efforts are, to be quite frank, pointless and brick. Other than when Bale hit the bar, and when Modric hit the ball just wide of goal, I can't remember any other time during the match when Begovic looked particualry uncomfortable, or when I thought he had managed to make a save that any keeper in the top 2 leagues should be making. It was the same against Man utd as well. We're just ahead of the 18 yard box, passing it around, not really creating anything dangerous.

And our set-pieces are beyond pathetic.
 
We look tired. Stoke were hungrier looked fitter. We didn't close them down at all from the top.
They know we like to build from the back so pulls put king and younes under pressure to go long and then it was won by the shawcross and co.

I wonder whether Livermore would have given us that extra energy?
 
Just got back from the game and to say i am tinkled off would be a understatement, apart from the Arse game this was one of the worst performances i have seen for a while. The players look like they have no idea what they are trying to do ( whether its a lack of confidence or just unsure of the tactics from Redknapp) i have no idea.

Our dead ball situations are getting worse ( if that is possible) and it beggars belief that Redknapp and his entourage of coaches are not doing any work on them, we have some top players and several good ones but we are struggling to beat teams like Stoke and the same thing happened last season against the likes of Blackpool etc. Redknapp's biggest problem is that because he has done well he has built up the expectations of us fans, we have the players who are able to reach the top but we seem to have problems getting any further.

Unfortuatly it was always a fear of mine that Redknapp does not have the tactical knowledge to take us to the very top ( and keep us there) and i am begining to see what he means when he says this is good as it gets, he is not able to change after over 30 years of management and maybe he relises that as well,being able to motivate players is a good thing but to get to the very top managers need to be able to do more and Redknapp is struggling to do that.
 
We look tired. Stoke were hungrier looked fitter. We didn't close them down at all from the top.
They know we like to build from the back so pulls put king and younes under pressure to go long and then it was won by the shawcross and co.

I wonder whether Livermore would have given us that extra energy?

Possibly. What amazed me was the number of situations in which we persisted in trying to play little triangles, tight against the sideline, back and forth, back and forth, until we lost possession, despite clear opportunities to switch the play. Invariably, the most forward of our players (often Defoe) would receive the ball, back-to-goal, and he'd have two Stoke players right up his arse, he'd be struggling to get it under control and would end up on the deck. In contrast, one of their players receives the ball in an advanced position in our half, he's under no real pressure, and has time to turn. These are just basics.
 
I am the most tinkled off over this game than any others this season. I know this is a massive blow.

I'm more tinkled about the Arsenal game, but this one demonstrated how hopeless the players can be at times. Something in the team is broken. The players are working hard, but it's just not happening. How can our mentality be so fragile???
 
Simply, too much emphasis on individual flair and not enough on pattern of play. There's no system to fall back on when individual brilliance fails to shine. It's as clear as day.
 
Just got back from the game and to say i am tinkled off would be a understatement, apart from the Arse game this was one of the worst performances i have seen for a while. The players look like they have no idea what they are trying to do ( whether its a lack of confidence or just unsure of the tactics from Redknapp) i have no idea.

Our dead ball situations are getting worse ( if that is possible) and it beggars belief that Redknapp and his entourage of coaches are not doing any work on them, we have some top players and several good ones but we are struggling to beat teams like Stoke and the same thing happened last season against the likes of Blackpool etc. Redknapp's biggest problem is that because he has done well he has built up the expectations of us fans, we have the players who are able to reach the top but we seem to have problems getting any further.

Unfortuatly it was always a fear of mine that Redknapp does not have the tactical knowledge to take us to the very top ( and keep us there) and i am begining to see what he means when he says this is good as it gets, he is not able to change after over 30 years of management and maybe he relises that as well,being able to motivate players is a good thing but to get to the very top managers need to be able to do more and Redknapp is struggling to do that.

Good post. Is it possible that our run of brick form is all down to Lennon being injured? If so, shouldn't the manager be a or to at least find a capable replacement for Lennon? Could Gio at least pose something of a threat on the right side?
 
At present lineups tactics personell dont really matter too much. The whole team is playing with no confidence. The fact we cant buy a goal from a free kick or corner is really galling. At corners particularly we dont seem to have a plan. for example who blocks the goalie and who gets in front of the first man to flick it on? Fail to plan, plan to fail. Coaching team must take full respondibltiy for this. It really has been going on too long.

Not true.

Tactics are vital right now, as is confidence, as are our senior players...but the sad fact is, Harry has lost whatever bit he had. he's drifting right now, rudderless...Harry has always been about Harry first. He has, in his time here, done a fine job, but as I pointed out elsewhere, he walked into this side. Modric, Bale, Ekotto, Van Der Vaart, Lennon, they were not his buys. He has always gone for 'safe' purchases; as I tried to point out in Jan 2011, this is why there wasn't a massive signing at that time.

This is about the players dragging themselves back into it. Van Der Vaart, tonight, showed me he's a winner. The last 20 mins he chased and harried and ran and harassed...he wanted that goal and he was determined to get to that ball. Bale also rallied. But we need a pitch leader to tell him to stay wider when the game in the middle is utterly compressed, we need people to mentor him on the pitch still at times.

I am hoping we have one of those 'no manager allowed behind close doors' team meetings, because if we did/do, it will clear the table and we can get on with claiming what is rightfully ours...
 
Another horrible, headless-chicken performance from Spurs tonight, that actually seemed to get worse as it went on; shapeless, clueless and, up until about the last five minutes, almost totally lacking any real determination to win. Without Bale and van der Vaart managing to link up with that flash of enterprise at the death, it'd have been another embarrassing defeat. This looks like a side who thought they were just going to coast to the end of the season. Actually, I take that backÔÇöthey don't really look like a side at all at the moment; more a collection of individuals who happen to be wearing the same colour shirts ... which prompts me to give special mention to Saha, for whom even that didn't help, and Kranjčar, who nowadays seems to run as though he's just polished off two Christmas dinners, a bottle of claret and six pints of Guinness. Sorry, but having watched that this evening, I have got serious getting-torn-a-new-one fears for Saturday.

Edit: Our set-pieces really are seriously beyond a joke now.


It got worse because the manager shuffled things wrongly at HT...
 
strangely i feel relief more than despair tonight. we were really staring down the barrel with chelsea winning and us losing at one point. makes a massive difference
 
Good post. Is it possible that our run of brick form is all down to Lennon being injured? If so, shouldn't the manager be a or to at least find a capable replacement for Lennon? Could Gio at least pose something of a threat on the right side?

Aaron Lennon was fit for the North London Derby. Rafa was there too. Harry chose to play Niko instead of Lennon and play VdV second half in a 4-3-3...

...hate to say this, but I felt cold fear in me when I saw the team to start at the deathstar...
 
Simply, too much emphasis on individual flair and not enough on pattern of play. There's no system to fall back on when individual brilliance fails to shine. It's as clear as day.

ive been saying this to my mates for a couple of years, and you are right its so obvious

so so frustrating to see
 
The same players looked like Barca not so long ago. Its a collective failure, not just the coaching staff

what with our back and forth simple 5 yard passes in our half and in the middle 3rd?

thats not Barca

Barca also cut thru the opposition in the final 3rd. we dont, and rarely did

they need constant coaching and drilling on the training pitch to perfect patterns of play, to become experts at set pieces, Barca do it and as ive always feared we dont work enough on the training pitch.
 
F#cking hell the Barca comment was not literal!

Ok. My point is that we were playing brilliant football for 6months, so if the coaches are sh#t, then the players clearly ignored them, and done their own thing......so why now is it the coaches fault, and not the players, when things go bad?

The same players, and the same coaches had us playing the best football the club has seen since the 60's. Now it goes wrong, both have to share the blame.

How can this possibly be down to just coaching?
 
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Stoke were a disgrace lastnight especially Pennant and Walters, feigning injury almost everytime we attacked..

With Stoke you need a strong refereee and we got a dweeb in charge he basically let Stoke cheat, dive, time waste, kick from the first minute till the last...
 
even bricky liverpool managed to beat this mob at the weekend
 
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