Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Winks rightly praised by the MotD pundits.

Yup, I love Harry Winks, and he keeps gradually getting better and better. He always been a nice controlled passer of the ball, but with no Sissoko he had to do more defensive work yesterday, and he won the ball back from a Fulham player 11 times, more than any other player on the pitch. He's becoming a very good all around midfielder, the main thing now is to add a few more goals to his game.

Edit: I see we've been linked with Andy Carroll now. That'd be... interesting The other day it was Guiseppi Rossi.

I get the feeling that the media are just linking us with random targets in order to get clicks. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we didn't sign anyone. The media are completely ignoring Poch's comments from a couple of days ago that we wouldn't be panic buying player(s) just to cover for injuries, and if we did sign anyone in January it would be a player who they thought could genuinely improve the squad, even when everyone is back fit.

[fallenangle]

I suggested Andy Carroll as a Spurs' possibility several seasons back and boy was I glad we didn't buy him with all the injuries he's had. TBH Llorente, if Spurs can get him firing on all cylinders and get the delivery tailored to his skill set right, is a very similar player at his best and therefore buying or renting Carroll now would be pointless. I agree 100% I don't think Spurs will buy any temporary replacements but might give some their younger players a try in the big games.

If I was looking at other Premiership sides with an eye to buy a striker it would still be MU's Martial but I've also liked what I've seen of Fulham's Schurrle. But there is a big problem with that idea because he's apparently only on loan at Fulham from..............Dortmund. He would be CL tied if Spurs were really interested in him.

[EJG1980]

Bugger me, just like Kane, Alli's injury is expected to keep him out until early March.

Sorry Sonny, but I'm gonna have to start cheering on South Korea's opponents now so you can come back home asap

Edit:

Better news today though, Moura, Sissoko and Wanyama are all back in full first team training.

With Dier making his comeback against Fulham that leaves "only" Son, Kane and Alli missing now. I read somewhere that if South Korea make it all the way to the final, Son will miss another four matches, which isn't too bad.

[fallenangle]

Bad news indeed. just hope Moura is fit and raring to go. With him we still have very good attacking formation as both Lamela and Eriksen are proven goal scorers too, particularly in the absence of HK. But if something happens to any of them the pantry is looking a little bare.

I still think playing Foyth in front of the back four (keeping him away from the penalty area ) as cover to allows us to use Rose and Trippier as effective wing backs might be worth considering. Have Dier as a midfield replacement super sub-option option if anyone is under-performing/injured and use Moura and Llorente as strikers.

However rumours are that after his Fulham near disaster Llorente may be dropped for the Thursday Carabao Cup game. So maybe Dier will start too. If so it would give the line up a very decent defensive look but with only a one goal advantage I do not think that will be good enough. We need another goal.

[EJG1980]

Poor in the first half, deserved to be trailing. Stepped up in the second half, deservedly levelled it up on aggregate (great to see Llorente get an important goal in a big match, excellent header, he really had to contort his body to make contact) and then on to penalties. Won't complain about players missing penalties, it can happen to even the best. It's a great way to win, but a horrible way to go out.

C'est la vie.

Hopefully we can bounce back by making progress in the other cup! I didn't get a ticket for the match when they first went on sale, but I got an email yesterday from Spurs saying that Palace had given us some extra tickets and I was eligible to buy one by ONE loyalty point, so I rang up and snapped one up. Very happy as I've never been to Selhurst Park before, so it's another stadium to cross off the list. The only major one I haven't been to in London now is The Emirates.

Edit: at least some good news on the injury front, Poch has said that both Davies and Sissoko, who went off with injuries, are okay.

[fallenangle]

Yes, excellent Llorente goal a proper old school centre forward's one converted as much by strength and courage as skill; hope that helps settles him down and he can start converting more of the chances he's getting from now on.

Damned shame about the penalties but the moment I saw Eric Dier walking up and the commentator on Quest mentioned his 'penalty under pressure' for England in the World Cup I literally said out loud that's it then. If anyone is going to miss it'll be him.............and he did in absolutely awful fashion.

Wasn't expecting Moura to bottle it though but he looked nervous and uncertain where he was going to put it even during the run up. Maybe he was trying to fox the keeper but whatever he intended the shot ended up too close with not enough power to beat him on that alone.

Pity. I still think that even had Spurs reached the final they would have lost to MC but just being in a cup final would have been good.

[EJG1980]

Yup, it would have been a tough final with a full strength team, but having to face Man City without two of our best players in Kane and Alli? Would have been extra tough. As you say though, just being in the final would have been good, and while Man City would rightly have been favourites, you never know what's going to happen on the day.

Some good news (sorry Son, don't hate me!) as South Korea just lost to Qatar in the Asian Cup quarter-finals, so Son will be back sooner than expected. If he travels back over the weekend you'd expect him to be available for the Watford match, either starting or on the bench, depending on how much the travel takes out of him.

[fallenangle]

Knocked out of two cups by other London sides.

Well that was a good week.

We'll probably go on to win the CL now.

[EJG1980]

Bad day at the office today. Really poor first half, but we might still have had a lifeline with that late penalty... not putting that away was a massive moment.

We did improve in the second half, but we never really tested their keeper properly. Lots of times we worked out way into decent positions in and around the box, but couldn’t quite make the final killer pass or find the space for a decent shot. The stats read like we dominated, but it was toothless domination, Palace deserved the win.

Ah well, not the greatest first visit to Selhurst Park, but hey, that’s football Shame though, would have loved another decent cup run. I suppose it makes a change from losing in the semi-final!

[fallenangle]

Interesting Premiership results last night giving us the unexpected opportunity to close in on MC.

If Leicester can do us a favour and give Liverpool a surprise, and Bournemouth, against the odds, hold or beat Chelsea a win against Watford would do a lot to mitigate Spurs' disappointments of the last week. I don't expect the Watford game to be easy though but it is pretty much a must win to keep us in with some sort of chance whatever the other results.

[EJG1980]

Interesting Premiership results last night giving us the unexpected opportunity to close in on MC.

If Leicester can do us a favour and give Liverpool a surprise, and Bournemouth, against the odds, hold or beat Chelsea a win against Watford would do a lot to mitigate Spurs' disappointments of the last week. I don't expect the Watford game to be easy though but it is pretty much a must win to keep us in with some sort of chance whatever the other results.

Our previous two meetings this season suggest it will be a tough match, losing at their place and drawing in 90 minutes in the cup. They also have an excellent away record, only three losses from eleven matches on the road so far this season. Like you I'm expecting another tough one unless Watford have an unexpected off night.

Son is back though, and Sissoko and Eriksen should be in good shape after not featuring against Palace. Hopefully we can get the win! Agreed that it's now a big(ger) match considering last night's results.

[EJG1980]

Get in! So happy for Llorente to get the winner; after his almost physics defying miss earlier in the second half, for him to pop up with the winner... fantastic! Love a good redemption story

Thought it was going to be one of those days, with the results yesterday going for us, the results on the evening going for us, and us 1-0 down. Even at 1-1 it would have felt like a wasted opportunity. Massive three points!

Still a big outside shot for the title with a seven point gap, but it’s better than nine Only two behind City as well, and importantly, a seven point gap to fifth place.

And what on earth happened to Chelsea? I was hoping for them to drop points, a draw, a tight win for Bournemouth maybe, but 4-0?? Blimey.

[EJG1980]

A couple of good articles from just before the Watford game. The first is a transcription of his press conference in front of the cameras, the second a follow up after the cameras went and he was just talking to the written press:

https://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/fixtures-results/pochettino-ill-stick-spurs-until-15748067

https://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/news/more-pochettino-tottenham-future-when-15751094

[fallenangle]

I couldn't believe that Chelsea score; despite my earlier wishful thinking I thought the most Bournemouth would do is get a draw but they pretty much annihilated Chelsea doing us a big favour in the process leaving them on the same points as Arsenal and Spurs seven points clear.

Saw all games' highlights on match of the day after keeping an eye on the score during the evening. When that Watford goal went in I thought Spurs had blown it but, if the highlights were representative, that was our one major mistake. We could/should have had at least two more with Llorente, again, missing two 'easy' chances before his excellent winner.

The "physics defying" one literally a couple of yards out almost defied belief, I think it clipped his knee and flew off.

With Liverpool drawing the other results this week could not have been much better for Spurs. Arsenal are playing MC this weekend so our game at Newcastle is another crucial one for keeping our Premiership ambitions alive. Just hope we do not mess it up like MC did.

[EJG1980]

When that Watford goal went in I thought Spurs had blown it but, if the highlights were representative, that was our one major mistake. We could/should have had at least two more with Llorente, again, missing two 'easy' chances before his excellent winner.

Yup, I've seen plenty of highlights that have totally misrepresented a game before, but the MOTD ones for the match last night were just about right. We started well, well on top for about the first twenty minutes, ran out of ideas slightly and then sucker punched ourselves with the poor defending for the Watford goal.

Second half was virtually all Spurs, a good number of chances created, the half time sub of bringing on Lucas and switching Sissoko to wing back helped to reinvigorate the team. Definitely deserved the win.

Main things we need to improve at the mo though are our crossing and finishing. We got into a lot of really good positions only to swing in an under or over-hit cross, even the normally impeccable Eriksen put in quite a few poor balls. And, taking advantage more often with better finishing when we do get into good shooting positions.

January looks to be the pivotal month that we need to survive: we've got to keep pace with Liverpool and City in the league, and do it while we cope with a bloody tough couple of matches against Chelsea, and while losing one of our most in-form players Son to an international tournament. If we can come through January and still be in realistic touch in the title race, it'd be an excellent achievement.

And I wrote that before we lost both Kane and Alli to injury! Not forgetting the multitude of minor injuries that caused the likes of Sissoko, Lucas, Dier, etc., to miss matches during January too.

When I wrote that we were 6 behind Liverpool, 2 behind Man City, and 4 ahead of 4th place. We finish the month 7 behind Liverpool, 2 behind Man City, and 7 ahead of 4th place. Considering the non-stop schedule and having to cope with some of our very best players being injured or away on international duty, I think the team has done brilliantly and the players and manager deserve a pat on the back.

One league loss to Man Utd but it was a match where we did everything but score and were unlucky to come up against an inspired De Gea. Some cup disappointment but the Chelsea tie went to penalties and could have gone either way, only really the Palace match where I felt we let ourselves down a bit.

Another big effort needed against Newcastle and then at last the players get a week off to rest before the next match against Leicester.