Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[fallenangle]

I'd thought we'd blown it again when we were 2 - 3 down and was amazed when I read the final score.

Good result but it really should have been easier than Spurs made it. With MC losing yesterday too those points mean so much more, keeping them within reaching distance even if they have a game in hand. We now have to hope Arsenal hiccup too.

Loved that last, winning Spurs goal in particular with Kulusevski involved yet again; definitely glad to have him back from injury and obviously still very much on form.

[EJG1980]

Almost forgot the FA Cup third round draw was today. We’ve been drawn at home to Portsmouth, can’t complain about that. Now back to the World Cup

[EJG1980]

In a match almost as important as those World Cup quarter-finals, Spurs played a training ground friendly against Motherwell yesterday, which we won 4-0. Highlights on YouTube, the move for the third goal (starting from about 4 minutes) was very nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8VAh4VkZwU

[EJG1980]

Well the break for the World Cup has done nothing to change the pattern of our matches this season! Really poor first half, eventually go 2-0 behind, then start playing well and come back in the second half. Not quite as good as some of our other comebacks as we could only get a draw out of this one, although we were unlucky not to grab that winner with the Kane flick header that agonisingly hit the bar.

Glad to see Harry get straight back on it after the World Cup with his excellent earlier header that did go in (and a bloody superb cross from Clement Lenglet to set it up).

Down to four goals needed to match Jimmy Greaves now. Get a couple of goals against Villa, Palace and Portsmouth, then a nice hat-trick against Arsenal to beat the record, that'd do nicely please Harry

[fallenangle]

That HK headed goal against Brentford was almost a text book centre forward's goal - really enjoyed that but giving away those earlier goals and having to come from behind yet again is getting to be a worrying habit.


New Year Edit


Happy new year.

Hoping Spurs would usher in a new year with, at last, our high expectations looking at least that they might be fulfilled.

No such luck - the all too familiar 'bad' Spurs turned up today and lost a game they really needed to win to keep the top of the table still within reach. Now with one game more played than all our rivals we'll be lucky to stay in the top six.

From the reports today it sounded pretty bad.

[EJG1980]

Happy new year.

Hoping Spurs would usher in a new year with, at last, our high expectations looking at least that they might be fulfilled.

No such luck - the all too familiar 'bad' Spurs turned up today and lost a game they really needed to win to keep the top of the table still within reach. Now with one game more played than all our rivals we'll be lucky to stay in the top six.

From the reports today it sounded pretty bad.

Yup, there’s very little positive to say about today’s performance. We monopolised the ball in the first half but did nothing with it really, I think our first shot was on the 39th minute. One good move after that where Kane had a header cleared off the line but I was at the other end of the stadium so I’m not sure exactly how close it was to going in. A couple of decent moves in 45 minutes isn’t good enough though.

Villa had done very little and then we gift them a goal in the second half with Lloris’ mistake, really should not be spilling the ball like that. We never really looked like we were going to equaliser, it would needed to have been a long range strike out of nothing because we created so little with the ball. Villa looked more dangerous with their chances to counter attack and they duly killed us off with the second.

I have some sympathy because we’ve been unlucky with injuries this season, but still, the team today should be playing better than they did today (and that’s been the case for too many matches this season).

So, yes, happy new year, but let’s hope it starts getting happier very soon

[EJG1980]

Good reaction to the previous result and dodgy run we've been on, a much needed win and (second half) performance in what can be a tricky fixture.

Actually we started the first half pretty well, on the front foot, in charge, but after about 20 minutes our passing became a bit sloppy, it seemed like we lost a bit of confidence and Palace got on the ball, then for the rest of the half they were the ones bossing it.

Second half was excellent though, the team got the bit between the teeth and fought for it, played some very nice stuff at times too. Not our very best, which you'd expect with the iffy form we've been and two of our best players in Kulu and Bentancur being injured, but it was really good stuff.

Great second half performance from Kane, the touch and finish for his second goal was classic Kane. Lovely to see Son finally get on the scoresheet again, even if there was a bit of a deflection on his shot, maybe that can finally be what he needs to spark himself into life for the second half of the season.

Bryan Gil also really stepped up in this match, linked up very well with Kane and Son, and his pass to set up Kane for the second goal was lovely. A very impressive performance from him. Pape Matar Sarr had a very good cameo from the bench. Neither will be starting when everyone is fit but performances like these should increase Conte's trust to give them minutes from the bench more often.

If we can put in another good performance against Pompey in the cup, we'll at least be in a better frame of mind as a team going into the Arsenal match.

[fallenangle]

Just finished watching it MotD and it was a very welcome result and, the second half in particular, good performance.

I'd say 0 - 4 was a bit flattering, 1 - 4 might have been fairer.

HK closing in on Jimmy Greaves' club record too - a good evening's work.

Saturday 07.01.23 Edit
What's wrong, after that less than stellar first half against Portsmouth, is blindingly obvious: Spurs are just playing too slowly.

That pedestrian build up simply allows Portsmouth too much time to set their two banks of four defence with the two spare guys filling in the gaps. It is a very effective tactic and it should have been clear by midway through the half that Spurs were getting no joy in trying a measured approach, waiting for a gap or mistake that did not come They needed to change their approach but they didn't.

Portsmouth are good on the corners too, snuffing out any threat there has been, again, quite effectively.

Lets just hope for a very different second half.

EDIT
They were listening to me. Great HK goal.

[EJG1980]

Yup, pedestrian first half, turned up the wick a little bit at the start of the second and got the goal. Could have had a couple more but got through which is the all important thing. Didn’t get out of first gear very much but didn’t really need to either.

A nice little coincidence re Kane’s goal today:

Embedded Tweet

Edit: we've been drawn to play away to Preston North End in the FA Cup 4th round.

I remember us playing them away in the League Cup back when Harry Redknapp was in charge, I think we won 5-0 or 5-1 with Peter Crouch getting a hat-trick; a similar performance and result this time would do very nicely.

Chelsea / Man City vs Oxford / Arsenal is a nice draw too, means that two of three very big threats to win the cup will be out before the fifth round.

[EJG1980]

Sad news that Gareth Bale has retired from football, although it feels like it's been coming for the past couple of years.

Easily up there as one of the contenders for my favourite Spurs player during my lifetime. Seeing his rise from being a "curse" (we didn't win a single one of his first 24 Premier League appearances for us), to a breakout superstar, and then (sadly for Spurs) becoming one of the most successful British players to play abroad of all time, was quite a journey.

Too many special moments to list from his time at Spurs. I was really glad he came back on loan for a season for that one last hurrah, even if it didn't go perfectly, and even though I'll always regret that it was during covid so Spurs fans never actually got to welcome him back in person. And he still scored 11 goals in 20 league appearances that season, and another 5 goals in the cups, and still with the kind of quality that made your jaw drop.

Enjoy your retirement, Gareth!

Hugo Lloris has also retired but only from international football. France's record number of caps with 145, record number of caps as captain with 122, three major finals, and a World Cup winners medal. Not too shabby! Gotta think that he'll definitely be gone from Spurs by the end of his current contract in 2024, maybe even at the end of this season. Great servant to the club, I REALLY hope we can at least win a cup with him before he finally leaves us.

[EJG1980]

Well that sucked

Arsenal fully deserved the win. First half we just weren't at the races, typical of us this season unfortunately. Our only hope was to try and ride it out and get lucky with them not scoring, so it was very annoying to have Lloris gift them a goal to set them on their way. We were doing badly enough without giving them helping hands! Then we give them the freedom of the pitch for the second goal, Odegaard had far too much time and space.

We actually started the second half well and for 15-20 minutes were the better team. If we could have just put the ball in the net we'd have had a chance of getting something, but we couldn't quite manage it while we were on top. The biggest chance was when Kane played in Sess, really needed him to put that chance away.

After that we did okay but it was fairly comfortable for Arsenal to see out the match. Again though, we give a much better account of ourselves after we're a couple of goals behind. We really, REALLY need to start matches like we started the second half today, before we're trying to rescue the match.

It was good to have Kulusevski and Richarlison back from injury, long term that will be a massive boost. For a 20 year old starting his first match for us, Pape Matar Sarr didn't have too bad a game and could definitely have a future with us, he's been fairly impressive over the past few matches. Not too many other positives aside from that though.

Next up, away to Manchester City, not exactly the easiest match to try and bounce back in! We do have an unexpectedly good record against them though, so, you never know.

[fallenangle]

Today's (Sunday) result = . Made even worse by that AH who tried to kick the Arsenal goalkeeper after the match.

I'm hoping too that our good result record against MC even when they're at their best kicks in too because we desperately need a win or we'll be out of the top six and with most of the other teams around us in the Premiership having played less games.

[EJG1980]

Made even worse by that AH who tried to kick the Arsenal goalkeeper after the match.

Yup, what an utter imbecile. At least with all cameras at the stadium these days there won't be any way this idiot will escape punishment, and Spurs have already said that they will be banned from the stadium for life. Hopefully they'll be facing a criminal prosecution as well.

I'm hoping too that our good result record against MC even when they're at their best kicks in too because we desperately need a win or we'll be out of the top six and with most of the other teams around us in the Premiership having played less games.

With the number of injuries we had, and the fact that we had a number of tough matches coming up, it's a shame we've been our usual slow selves in the January transfer window. I was hoping we'd get a couple of new faces in nice and early so they could be up to speed and ready to go by the Arsenal match and Man City matches, but very little noise of any transfer reinforcements being close.

[fallenangle]

There was something yesterday on the BBC about Spurs having agreed personal transfer conditions with defender Pedro Porro of Sporting Lisbon but that sounds like the his club may have the final say as to whether he is let go or not.

Rumours too about Spurs looking to make a new offer for James Maddison, possible interest in Raheem Sterling too, who is not happy at Chelsea, and Brighton's Leandro Trossard.

I'll believe none of this until something actually happens.

Thursday EDIT

Well that did not go well after starting out so good.

Lloris again letting a ball get past him between inside the post. Questionable decision making by him on MC first goal too.

I suppose we might expect to have lost this but going from 2 - 0 up to losing 4 - 2 is a bit of a sickener.

[EJG1980]

Thursday EDIT

Well that did not go well after starting out so good.

Lloris again letting a ball get past him between inside the post. Questionable decision making by him on MC first goal too.

I suppose we might expect to have lost this but going from 2 - 0 up to losing 4 - 2 is a bit of a sickener.

Well, I suppose, at least we reversed the trend of first half bad, second half good! The first half was really good, great team performance. Everyone looking turned on and concentrated, getting in good blocks at the back, limiting Hugo to only needing to make one proper save, and when we went forward we looked dangerous and got our reward right at the end of the half.

Unfortunately the wheels came off in the second half with players suddenly making individual errors all over the shop. The general performance was actually alright, but we just keep having moments of shooting ourselves in the foot. The response after City got it back to 2-2 was good, and if only Perisic's shot had been an extra couple of inches further away form their defender's foot, or the deflection had spun slightly differently, we'd have gone 2-3 up ourselves. And there was always a chance we could have equalised after going 3-2 down, until another individual error gifted them the 4th to wrap it up.

I think we need an overhaul at the back. I love Lloris, he's been great, but the occasional error of the past has turned into consistent errors this season and I think his time is up. We bought Davinson Sanchez in 2017, and since then the only permanent 1st team central defender we've signed is Romero, despite losing peak Alderweireld and Vertonghen. I think we need another couple of top quality central defenders to go alongside Romero, and the others who are currently 1st choices need to become backups.