Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

If, for example, we lost to Tamworth in the FA Cup then criticism would be justified but I still think it would be premature for the club to actually be seen to be considering a new manager. If my guess is right Ange is the type of guy could actually jump first and that would be a disaster halfway through the season.

I read an article by David Ornstein, ex BBC reporter, saying that all the talk and speculation about whether recent results have put Ange's position under pressure are completely external. And that from all his contact with people from inside the club, he's consistently been told that there have been no talks about Ange's position or any pressure on him internally at Tottenham, which is good to hear.

It's the modern game though, unfortunately, you don't need to have much more than 3 or 4 bad results for the media to start speculating that a manager's position may be under threat. And to be fair to the media, so many clubs do panic and sack managers at the drop of a hat that the speculation is often not without merit.

[fallenangle]

Big game tonight and, assuming we win, two more big hurdles to come with the other three clubs already through being Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle. Newcastle in the semi-final would be the best option and then, I suppose, Arsenal in the final. That would be a real occasion and motivation for good Spurs to turn up.

Not easy and there is also that 'little matter' of beating MU later on today.

[EJG1980]

Bloody hell

I'm probably jinxing him into a mistake at the weekend now, but Fraser Forster has done very well replacing Vicario, and against Rangers he once again pulled off a number of good saves (especially one right at the death where Rangers looked certain to score). One of the few players you can't level any criticism at during our recent poor run of results.

Looks like my jinx actually went into effect a match later than expected. I don't think I've ever seen a keeper make two such big mistakes in such quick succession before, and right after he'd pulled off a great save too (which was his first save of the match after having so little to do).

What can you say? 3-0 up and cruising and then that happens to make it 3-2, not even letting them back in because we were too gung-ho or anything like that, just a bizarre pair of mistakes from a keeper who hasn't put a foot wrong since coming into the side. Then we get a goal direct from a corner* in the last minutes to calm the nerves, and we still have time to let in another one! But all that matters is that we got through in the end.

* Their keeper can get in the bin complaining that he was fouled by Bergvall on that goal. With the far worse stuff that players have got away with against Vicario on corners that isn't deemed a foul, I'd have been fuming if they'd disallowed that one for us!

One good thing I suppose is that it was he kind of situation where you think that after letting in those two goals, surely Spurs are going to fully collapse and lose the match completely, but we managed to cling on and come out the other side. Hopefully that counts for something! Now to see who we get in the semi-final...

Edit: Liverpool in the semi-final, the toughest draw with the way they’re going this season. We’re going to need to be on top form in both legs to have any chance of going through. If we can get a good result in the first leg at home, we should hopefully have a healthier squad by the second leg as it’s a month after the first.

Edit 2: I absolutely loved Ange's post match interview last night. If you want someone who unwaveringly stays true to the club motto of "to dare is to do", I don't think you could do much better.

[fallenangle]

I was going to mention that Ange interview myself - not seen him as happy as that for............................................... .....? Loved the Gladiator-ish quote "Are you not entertained?" with full Russell Crowe Aussie accent. Brilliant.

Pity about the semi-final draw but Liverpool are definitely beatable. Their win against Southampton was not that impressive and they've been showing signs of losing their edge in the Premiership too. But, assuming the semi-final goes our way, it does seem likely we'd get Arsenal in the final and that is something to look forward to.

Saturday Edit

Forgot we have Liverpool in the Premiership this weekend too - should be an interesting game. If we get anything from it I'd be satisfied.but I'm not holding my breath on that.

However, cup competitions are different and although you could read a league game result, for good or bad, as being an indicator of an expected future result it doesn't always work out like that, particularly when it is over two legs.

[EJG1980]

Forgot we have Liverpool in the Premiership this weekend too - should be an interesting game.

Yup, you could say that! It's mad being a Spurs fan at the moment. Too much to analyse and comment on without it turning into a massive rambling post, so maybe I'll edit it tomorrow and add to it, maybe not

The upcoming Forest match is going to be a very tough one too, Nuno has done a superb job there (and I really liked the way he came across as a person during his short tenure here, so I'm happy to see him doing so well) and they are flying and full of confidence at the moment. The Wolves match after that probably just got harder too, with their new manager coming in and getting a 3-0 win in his first match, so they'll be hoping to continue that new manager bounce.

[fallenangle]

Watching the Liverpool game on MotD the build up to their third and fourth goals I was looking at our defence and seeing where the cover was and it was just the two central defenders up against four marauding Liverpool players literally racing up the pitch to support the guy with the ball. Our wing-backs on either side, Spencer and Porro were up the pitch and out of the equation so it was up to the two nearest midfielders.

Looking at some of them also out of position then barely making any effort, in one case trotting back and even being overtaken by the Liverpool attackers who started their runs further away from the Spurs goal was embarrassing. It was like some Spurs time warp reminding me of Assou-Ekotta and Serge Aurier's regular lack of effort to get back into position if they got caught up the pitch.

The pundits on MotD made much the same observation after the game.

All the Liverpool goals were not much better with, in most cases, Spurs defence outnumbered by attackers at some point in the build up.

Ange's decision to take off Madison (nursing an injury?) was odd but the main thing was that the shape barely changed. It felt like another time-warp back to Poch who always had a plan but when it clearly was not working was consistently too slow or just unwilling to change the formation.

IMHO we should have gone defensive 4-4-2 right from the start of the second half with Liverpool 3 - 1 up and tried to hit them on the counter attack. But no we were punished three times again for sticking to the attacking plan. The two additional goals we scored were scant consolation and actually rubbed salt in the wound. If we'd gone defensive we still might have had those same chances and got a draw.

Depressing but the result itself I was expecting. Just not in that really bad way.

[EJG1980]

I've seen good arguments on both sides of the "Ange needs time" and "Time won't make a difference" fence, in the aftermath of the match. Obviously the injuries will make a massive difference, the best team in the world will suffer if they lose their first choice keeper, both centre back, and a first choice full back at the same time, not to mention that one of the reserve centre backs you would use is also injured!

But... on the other side of the ledger, the style of goal we often concede (as you described above, both full backs high up the pitch, often just one pass needed by the opposition to cut us open and massively be bearing down on our outnumbered centre backs) is one that has happened to us a lot even when we've had a fully fit squad. So will getting players back change that aspect of how we play very much? Probably not.

The big thing for me in the match yesterday was when we made it 1-2 right at the end of the first half. We'd been outplayed and were clearly second best, yet we'd been gifted a lifeline back into the match. Even if you want to be an all out attack team, in that specific situation it's okay to be conservative for two or three minutes to make sure you get in at half time with that lifeline and momentum intact. But we didn't and got caught out again with that really deflating third goal in injury time.

I'm still behind backing Ange and giving him time and more transfer windows, but humbling results like yesterday's are tough to take.

Edit: I do love what Ange is trying to do though, and there's just something about his style that makes me think IF we see it through and it could lead to something really special. And we've chopped and changed so many times recently just to be back in the same position every 12-18 months that I'd be inclined to say it's time to back a manager, no compromises, for a good 3,4,5 years, no matter who it was. And if it does end up not working, at least we gave it a go and tried something a bit different, and won't be thinking "Ahhh, what if we'd just had a bit more patience??".

[fallenangle]

He admitted. as if he needed too as it is so obvious, in the MotD, slightly tetchy, after match interview that the injury problems have particularly affected his defender choices and that he simply can't field a first choice team in those positions.

Well yeah, everyone can see and understand that. But surely in this situation, like it or not, as a manager you just have to compromise, modify your style and formation to accommodate that weakness. You can't get away with playing in the same way with third choice players in any part of the pitch but particularly defence.

There was an interesting comment on R5Live after the match about Ange's and the caller suggested his lack of experience in the Premiership is showing with this type of performance. The theory put forward was that he could get away with sticking to one game plan in the Scottish Premiership whatever players were available because the quality outside the top four teams and probably just the top two was at a significantly lower bar.

The Premiership is a very much less forgiving place because all the teams are much closer matched and he's finding that out the hard way.

[hudson]

I was entertained!

[EJG1980]

My brother said that he hoped the post-match interviewer would say "So, Ange, nine goals; are YOU entertained?" just to see if Ange would snap and take a swing at him, or go on an expletive laden Aussie rant

[hudson]

It feels like it could happen. They keep asking the same (obvious) questions

[fallenangle]

NF today (now yesterday). Dominated possession but couldn't get the goal(s) we needed and another loss.

It means that in our next Premiership game we just have to get three points or we'll likely be languishing in the bottom half of the table for the foreseeable future.

[EJG1980]

Yeah, I think we're gonna be in the bottom half for a while yet, unless we have a dramatic turnaround in form. If Brighton win their match this evening there'll be a five point gap between us and tenth place.

Then we've got Wolves up next, who I mentioned above would be upbeat after the new manager won his first match, and now they've built on that even more with their win against Man Utd. After that we've got Newcastle who have found some form and won their last four in a row, then a couple of cup matches, before we face Arsenal away in the league.

With the way we're playing I'm not confident of getting very much from those matches, and then we could really be cut adrift from the top ten.

[fallenangle]

Should have beaten Wolves rather than draw but particularly with our current run of results even just a point is still welcome.

[EJG1980]

Should have beaten Wolves rather than draw but particularly with our current run of results even just a point is still welcome.

Yeah, annoying result in the end, but I thought the overall display was a bit less chaotic than we've been seeing recently. First half was a decent display after conceding the opening goal, and I don't think our lead at half time was unwarranted.

Wolves had a fair chunk of the ball in the second half, but we were much better organised than in recent games so Wolves didn't really threaten our goal very much despite the possession, which was an improvement. Their late equaliser was a sucker punch rather than something that had been coming.

Main problem was our attack didn't really get going in the second half and we didn't create enough chances to put ourselves 3-1 up to kill off the game (though we still created better chances than Wolves, before the equaliser).

So it was a shame we didn't hold on for the win, but at least it wasn't another lost. Fingers crossed we can build on it and get at least something out of the Newcastle match. Although we have yet another injury with Udogie pulling his hamstring, who knows how long he'll be out for