Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

It was a great atmosphere when he came on, his name was being chanted non-stop from people noticing that he was taking his training top off to him coming onto the pitch. His last match for us will be the home leg of the Europa League tie with Dnipro, I hope the club mark the occasion properly and let him have a moment in the pitch by himself to be given a send off by the fans.

I think I read that he needs seven goals to become our top scorer in the Premier League era (to overtake Sheringham, I think he equalled Robbie Keane with the goal against Palace). It'd be great if he could go on a run and get to the top of the list before he leaves, but there probably aren't enough games and he probably won't start most of them anyway. He could try and break the record with super-sub appearances

[fallenangle]

Defoe has been so important to Spurs and certainly deserves a good send off. I'd too very much like to see him score some more goals before he finally leaves if nothing else to remind AVB, if he's watching, what he was missing out on if he'd played him more regularly.

Adebayor is also currently proving what I've always said here that there are some players, like Defoe who need regular selection to keep them at the top of their form.

[EJG1980]

Good stuff today, a nice comfortable win in the end. It's a shame we didn't hold on to the clean sheet but at least their goal didn't derail us and we saw out the game without any more scares.

A nice two week break now before our next match, a nice straightforward game against Man City

[fallenangle]

Good win, yes. They were all over us in the first thirty minutes but when Spurs decided to play they suddenly looked in a different class.

As they were saying on MotD Eriksen is playing and fitting in really well.

[VR46]

Good win, yes. They were all over us in the first thirty minutes but when Spurs decided to play they suddenly looked in a different class.

Exactly the same with Liverpool v Villa on Saturday, first 30 minutes LFC were a shabby mess, and Villa were good to be fair, the goal on the stroke of half-time saved us really.

Spurs and Liverpool now both just need a decent run of results to keep Everton and Man Utd etc at bay, looks like it could be us two fighting for fourth with any luck - unless any of the top three have a catastrophe or results.

Always entertaining to watch Spurs on MOTD, especially when you don't support them

[EJG1980]

I shall indeed be cheering on WBA tonight

There were some nice tributes to life long Spurs fan Roger Lloyd-Pack during the Swansea match yesterday:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/roger-lloyd-pack-tottenham-hotspur-fans-3038965

I saw him interviewed on the pitch at half time during the Arsenal game a couple of years ago, and he did a top notch voice over for one of our promotional videos last season.

[fallenangle]

Pretty good result for Spurs last night, keeps us ahead of Everton but we're still two wins behind Chelsea. We badly need to win or at least not loose fixtures from now on or those top three are going to pull away even further. In a fight for that fourth place, which it looks like it will, be our lousy goal difference is probably going to be a big factor.

[VR46]

Yes I think you and LFC can wave goodbye to the top three, they are just too consistent and banging in the goals every single game, they may drop points here and there but can't see any of them losing two or three on the bounce which we need.

[fallenangle]

As I said before here the game today is a must not lose or the only chance we'll have of European Championship football next season will be that hotly contested fourth place and we'll still be behind Liverpool for that even with a draw.

However our goal difference is so lousy that if MC do stuff us like they did last time ironically it really is unimportant how many they score.

COYS.

[VR46]

Surely you'll be happy with a point tonight in honesty? know any team would playing Man City recently.

You just need to keep ahead of Everton & Man Utd and try and scrape in to the top four. 15 games to go so is all to play for for sure - as Fergie said last weekend when he said Man U could still win the title this year. Yeah right.

We (LFC) did you a favour in a way giving Everton a thrashing. Sort of

[EJG1980]

Man City have won ten and drawn one of their last eleven league games, so I'd be happy with a point tonight.

Our form isn't too shabby though, five wins and a draw in the last six, so we don't need to undersell ourselves too much. I'm sure we'll be confident and go for the win tonight. Whether we get it or not is another matter, Man City are good enough that you can play well against them and still lose. It'd be nice if City can have an off night

[VR46]

I'm sure both teams will score a few and also conceed a few, could end up 7-4 or something. Shall be tuning in to watch it live tonight for sure.

[EJG1980]

Well we got one, can we stretch that count as a few???

I thought we did quite well in the first half, Man City on top from the start and deserved the lead but I thought we came into the match and were looking on the up when the half finished.

The penalty and sending off at the start of the second half killed us. I was behind the goal where it happened and I know I'm hugely biased but I didn't think it was a penalty. Majority of post match stuff I've read seems to be erring on the side of it not being a foul too.

Had no idea if the offside in the first half was correct or not, but there seems to be a consensus that it was, so no complaints about that.

We showed a nice bit of fight to pull it back to 3-1, but obviously a comeback was never going to happen.

Oh well, bugger it, just gotta put it behind us and get three points at Hull at the weekend. Still many twists and turns left this season, that's for sure. COYS!

[VR46]

Man City have been a step above everyone in the last couple of months and are a goal scoring machine, they could beat virtually any PL team 5-1 week in week out sadly. Take it on the chin and move on like you say.

Least West Ham took two points away from Chelsea tonight, wasn't expecting that.

[EJG1980]

It's a shame that the sending off and penalty robbed us of a chance to have a fair fight against them. It's hard enough with 11 men let alone 10! However, if I'm honest, I'll take those decisions all day long when they go our way, so I can't complain too much.

A bit gutting for West Ham, a great point but the Sunderland win sees them end up deeper in trouble. A real shame