Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[fallenangle]

Need a win today very badly but Sunderland are one of those teams Spurs sometimes have inexplicable difficulty beating. Hope it goes well.

[EJG1980]

Phew, got there in the end As you predicted it was a tough old match, and Sunderland were unlucky with the Defoe chance in the first half and the Rodwell chance in the second, but I think we just about deserved the win over the whole match.

It wasn't a great match by any stretch of the imagination, but our goal was really top notch. Wonderful, quick, one touch passing and great movement. Superb run by Mason and lovely pass from Lamela to pick him out. Hopefully we start seeing moves like that more and more often as the season progresses.

I thought Townsend made a difference when he came on. His running at their defence and trying to go past players put them more on the back foot, and giving more space for the rest of our attacking players to work in (making it easier to pull of the kind of move we put together for the goal).

[fallenangle]

Your post is very much how the BBC reports I've just read described it. Once Townsend and Lamela came on things started to happen in the last third.

I knew the idea of getting rid of Townsend over the summer was a stupid. He gives Poch significantly different formation possibilities with speed down the wing(s) that few other players in the squad can provide.......and he can score.

Good first win to have under our belts, lets hope it's the start of a consistent run.

[prinnysquad]

Sorry guys, I'm going to have to disagree with you. I was at the game today courtesy of Plough Boy's generosity. In the first half, Sunderland were the better team. Spurs had possession but did nothing with it, to the point where I don't recall a single shot. We were more incisive going forward, with Defoe hitting the post, and Lens being denied by a terrific last-ditch challenge from Dier (who was superb).

The second half was more even, but once again, Pantilimon didn't seem particularly troubled. The Spurs goal was extremely good, but I really don't think they deserved the win. To be honest, I'd have been disappointed with a draw, never mind a defeat. Old hands on these forums will know that I'm very critical of Sunderland and don't pull punches about their faults, but I really don't think they deserved to lose today. Spurs passed better, had more possession, and are clearly the better footballing team, but they did absolutely nothing with it for vast periods of the game. Sunderland should have been two goals up by the break. Never mind, though. It's the result that matters, and a moment of pure quality decided the game.

The referee was appalling today, getting numerous fouls wrong, and booking players on both sides for nothing.

[EJG1980]

Prinnysquad praising Sunderland... That's the kind of seismic event that makes me think I should revise my opinion!

You're right about the first half. We didn't have a shot on target and Defoe should have definitely scored, so I wouldn't have had any complaints had Sunderland been leading at the break.

The second half I wasn't too worried about Sunderland scoring (until after we went ahead!) just whether we could turn our posession into clear cut chances. I did think we were "in charge" in that half but in a sterile kinda way. Townsend and Lamela coming on did make us up our game and we looked more threatening after their introduction, probably a 0-0 if they hadn't come on.

When I say I thought we just deserved to win, I do mean by "just", a very slender margin. Had that Rodwell chance gone in to make it 1-1 I would have said that Sunderland more than deserved a draw too.

I do agree 100% about the referee being awful for both sides, and Dier being excellent. I mentioned how well I thought he was doing a few posts ago. I was a little worried about it at the start of the season as he'd never played in midfield before, but he's taken to it like a duck to water.

[EJG1980]

Oh, forgot to mention it earlier, We finally agreed a deal with Adebayor for his release this morning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34237362

As the stumbling block to him leaving in the transfer window was him wanting his contract paid off in full, I assume both sides have now agreed to a lower amount, so we should have saved at least some money.

I don't think he can join another PL team until January but he can still go to a team in the Middle East straight away.

[fallenangle]

We're being spoilt . Two wins in a row and Son scoring again today. Getting better and now we're much more in the Premiership position we would have expected to be at this stage of the season.

Hope the wins, Son scoring continues and Harry Kane refinds his goal scoring form ASAP. We're going to need that with the tough looking set of fixtures coming up: Arsenal, Man.City, Monaco, Swansea, Liverpool and Anderlecht.

[EJG1980]

Best performance of the season today, very much a deserved win. The main improvement was the speed of our play, quicker passing and going forwards with the ball much more quickly, we look much more dangerous when we up the tempo. We improved without the ball too, every player working really hard to close down and harry Palace whenever they had possession. And when Palace did have a big chance in each half, Hugo stepped up with a couple of excellent saves.

Thought Lamela was really good today, Son was very good and his pace on the counter is a great asset, and it was good to see Eriksen back from injury and picking out some lovely passes. Another good display by Alli too. Don't want to put too much pressure on him but he's taken to the PL like a duck to water, amazed he's only 19 still.

Early days still but you can see the team taking shape and moving in the right direction. Yet another youngest average team age for us today, makes me feel optimistic for the long term.

[fallenangle]

Yes Alli was being praised on MotD too, although I question whether it was a good idea to compare him to Jermaine Jenas as one of the pundits did.

[EJG1980]

Ha ha! I have nothing against JJ, he wasn't a world beater but he did alright for us and had a nice habit of scoring against Arsenal, but.... I would rather hope Deli Alli manages to do a tad more than become the next Jermaine Jenas Although he's definitely welcome to copy the scoring against Arsenal attribute on Wednesday!

[fallenangle]

Ay to that.

[EJG1980]

First half, don't think we really played that well. Arsenal deserved to be in front, we weren't getting the ball down on the floor and playing enough football.

Second half was much better, quicker, better passing, deservedly got level and were well on top and knocking on the door for a second. Kane was so unlucky with his brilliant effort that was cleared off the line.

Unfortunately I think our substitutions cost us. Not because they were bad moves; Son on for Townsend was a good idea, press home our dominance by brining on a first choice player and Ali has been in great form so no problem brining him on for Chadli, but...

We lost our rhythm as the new players tried to settle into the game and that allowed Arsenal to get the ball and start passing it around again and wrest back a bit of control, and we weren't able to click back into the high gear we had before the subs. So the final 20 mins were pretty even (Arsenal probably shading them) and they managed to grab the goal.

Bloody shame. No time to mope though, couldn't ask for a tougher match at the weekend to try and bounce back in.

[fallenangle]

It was our defence where we looked poor and when you saw who Poch had chosen that was hardly surprising. I thought (hoped) we had managed to off-load Fazio so I was gobsmacked when I saw he was on the team sheet. Very average player and his loopy attemped clearance set up the, hate to say it, great Arsenal second goal. Putting him in with two other second string defenders was simply asking for trouble and so it proved.

Some good performances though from Christian Eriksen, as usual, Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Harry Kane put in some good work and was unlucky not to score with that goal line clearance which was literally a couple of inches from being in.

[Mayhem]

Well, that was a bit of a difference in performance

[nakamura]

Yeah. The linemen did really well! [emoji38]