Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Of course, after those recommendations, I ended up getting a ticket for Spurs vs Everton The other matches do look more glamourous but the Everton match is on a weekend where I know I'll be free, and maybe with that one there's a bit more chance of seeing a Spurs win (touch wood).

Could be that the stars haven't aligned on having us scheduled to play a home match on a date where THFC stadium will be available. The Bristol City match last weekend, for example, couldn't have been moved as we already had an NFL match scheduled. Looking back on Wikipedia, they usually have a couple of matches each season at the big stadium, so I wouldn't be surprised if a match or two gets moved there eventually.

Another Interesting thing: I read today that one of my ex-Spurs favourites, Andros Towsend, may be signing on with Luton.

I just saw that they annouced his signing earlier on today, only on a short term contract until January though. Hopefully he does well and can earn a longer contract; it'd be good to see him back at THFC stadium when we play them at home later on this season.

[fallenangle]

My fingers were crossed for a win last night and Spurs did not fluff their lines.

Top of the Premiership and thanks to the win-able fixtures this week, with Crystal Palace not on good form at the moment, this Friday we could consolidate that position.

A bit odd to have two Premiership games within five days but Spurs are on a roll and I'm sure the prospect of what a win will mean is motivation enough to get a good result even if they're not as rested as would be preferable.

[EJG1980]

After the drama of the last few results, it was good for the heart to get a straightforward and comfortable win

First half was a good performance, with the same problem we had at Luton of not converting enough of the chances we created. The build-up play was great at times, just need to be a bit more clinical in front of goal.

Second half got a litttttle bit sloppy with some of the passes and dwelling on the ball, and our attacking wasn't as good as the first half.

The subs didn't help with the attacking cohesion, but they were the right thing to do as we don't want to run our best players into the ground. And despite not being a sparkling display in the second half, we were always comfortable.

I think that's now the third time this season we've had a "get a result and we go top" match, and we've won all three, which is a good sign. Another kind of test on Friday with a "win and extend your lead at the top" match. Hopefully we can bag another three points as it'd be great to go into the weekend with a five point cushion, especially as the teams just behind us have fixtures you'd expect them to win.

I don't think the Monday / Friday match schedule should affect us too much, it's a longer gap than if we were in Europe and playing Saturday / Tuesday or Sunday / Wednesday. And on the flip side, we get maximum possible rest before we play Chelsea at home, which is another Monday night game.

Edit: interesting match up in the Champions League just started, Galatasaray vs Bayern Munich, with the ex-Spurs match up of Davinson Sanchez vs Harry Kane. Just about to write that it’s been all Gala in the first seven minutes and Bayern take the lead with their first attack.

Gala will be kicking themselves, they’d been the better team easily for 75 minutes, equalised but also missed a ton of other great chances to take the lead… and Kane pops up with a goal and then an assist two minutes later and suddenly it looks like a comfortable win for a very lacklustre Bayern.

[EJG1980]

A tough match, but a very good away win to send us five points clear at the top. It’ll be nice to be able to put our feet up and relax for the rest of the weekend

First half was as expected, lots of possession for us, but a really tough Palace back line to break down, with them looking dangerous from set pieces to give us something to worry about. Second half was good as we stepped it up a bit and forced a few more dangerous situations. Nice “assist” from Maddison for the opening own goal (it gets called luck but you always cause a problem for defenders by putting the ball in that area) then a beautiful move for the second goal that sealed it. The cross-field pass from Sarr during that move was *chef’s kiss*.

Really good patience shown from the team to not panic when Palace were being so tough to break down, just kept going and eventually got the breakthrough. We fully controlled the second half (aside from the lapse to let in an injury time goal) and it was a deserved win to keep the momentum going.

Emerson did well coming on for Davies at half time and playing out of position as left back, and Johnson looked very lively too when coming on for Richy, played a vital part in the move for the second goal. They both helped us up our performance in the second half.

Lovely to see Bentancur finally back from injury too, him being injured was one of the reasons our season went off the rails last year. There was a lovely moment with him and the rest of the team after the final whistle, in front of the travelling fans. Having him back to come into the midfield mix really ups the strength in depth, as it allows you to leave one of Sarr, Bissouma, or Bentancur on the bench without any drop in quality. Really excited to see what Bentancur can do under Ange’s attacking tactics.

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Edit: just saw that our under 21s also won yesterday evening and also went five points clear at the top of their league. Nice bit of symmetry. Hopefully both can keep it going as long as possible.

Edit 2: Harry in Germany watch - he scored a superb goal from inside his own half for Bayern today (just like one he scored for us in a friendly against Juventus) -->



Not to be left out, our other Harry also scored his first goal for Leicester today, and it was also a cracker -->

[Mayhem]

Yeah at this rate we're going to be confirmed to be playing you guys again next season by about January heh.

[EJG1980]

Yeah at this rate we're going to be confirmed to be playing you guys again next season by about January heh.

Normally I'd say that with 32 matches to go it's way too early to make predictions, but with a 14 point gap back to third place already, it'd be quite something if Leicester didn't manage to get automatic promotion from the position they're in, even this early in the season.

I haven't seen any of their matches this season, but I assume that as he's started every single match, Harry Winks has been doing well?

[Mayhem]

I haven't seen any of their matches this season, but I assume that as he's started every single match, Harry Winks has been doing well?

Generally, yeah, no one has really been head and shoulders about the rest of the team so far which I guess is a good thing? Everyone contributes, the goals are being somewhat shared around, need to tighten up a few defensive frailties that no one has really exploited yet (the only loss was 1-0 to Hull) in the league.

[fallenangle]

Well that game today went well.

Sounded liked a bonkers game all round.

Commendable response to going down to nine men but pretty inevitable result. It did have to be against Poch and a Chelsea side that in their present form were very beatable. Disappointing.

Spurs v. Everton WSL - entertaining? If so the BBC are showing the Spurs v. Liverpool WSL game live next weekend which could be worth watching too.

[EJG1980]

Well that game today went well.

Sounded liked a bonkers game all round.

Commendable response to going down to nine men but pretty inevitable result. It did have to be against Poch and a Chelsea side that in their present form were very beatable. Disappointing.

Yup, it was a real shame. We started off so well too, playing brilliant football and completely on top; couple of sliding doors moments with the Son goal that would have put us 2-0 up if not slightly offside. I think we’d have cruised to a comfortable in if that had stood.

And then that silly ott challenge from Romero when we were still 1-0 up. Romero had been brilliant this season and really controlled his “wild side”, but that was unfortunately the old Romero. I blame Udogie less for his sending off as he was just putting in a desperate challenge to stop someone getting into the box and got the timing wrong in his desperation, it wasn’t completely silly like the Romero tackle. No complaints about either sending off.

The lads who stayed on did brilliantly to try and get something out of the game. Held them off from taking the lead until the 75th minute, and then had multiple great chances to make it 2-2 before they sealed the win in injury time when we finally got caught on the break.

I’m less concerned about the loss (that was going to happen eventually) and more about the injuries. Micky van de Ven has been sensational this season, and his pace key to allowing us to play a really high defensive line, but he looks like he’s going to be out for months from the way he went down and was carried off. With Romero banned that’s gonna be three matches with a reserve centre back pairing that’s less suited to the way we play now.

Maddison being out is a worry too although I’m hoping that he wasn’t that bad and was taken off more in precaution due to us already being down a couple of men. It’ll be a real test, but also a big chance, for reserve players like Dier and Lo Celso to step in and do as well as the players that have been keeping them on the bench.

Spurs v. Everton WSL - entertaining? If so the BBC are showing the Spurs v. Liverpool WSL game live next weekend which could be worth watching too.

It was a good match, team played really well, a shame about the late equaliser from Everton though. Should have had the match wrapped up well before then, with better finishing, 20 shots with 11 on target but only one goal to show for it. A classic case of being punished for not taking your chances.

Still, better than not making any chances at all, and playing like that they should win more often than not. Some regulars said that the way the team is playing this season is night and day compared to last season (a bit like the men’s team).

[EJG1980]

This is an enjoyable and interesting watch:

[fallenangle]

^Indeed very interesting interview.

[EJG1980]

Bugger

We only have ourselves to blame for that one. While Wolves created very few actual chances until their two goals at the end (I think they missed one properly good chance apart from those) we were far too passive during the match; too slow in our build up when we had possession of the ball, not quick or aggressive enough in our pressing when we didn't have the ball, and a few too many needless giveaways from sloppiness. Funnily enough we played a bit like the footage that had annoyed Ange in the video I posted yesterday.

I don't think we deserved to lose the match, as we dealt with everything Wolves offered until those last couple of moments, but you leave yourself vulnerable to that kind of situation happening when we play the way we did today.

Work to do over the international break for Ange and the players.

[fallenangle]

Couldn't believe the result, been keeping my eye on the game and it looked as though we'd get the 0 - 1 win. Checked just a few minutes ago and we'd lost 2 - 1. Indeed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watched The Big Match Revisited earlier today with Spurs playing Sunderland in the then Second Division in 1978 at WHL. Spurs led with a very early goal but they eventually lost 1 - 3 due to high pressing and being caught open at the back as a result.

Bad omen.

[fallenangle]

Watched the England match yesterday against Malta - pretty poor performance despite the result.

Reason to post is that it was very evident what was wrong - no James Maddison. Midfield creativity greatly reduced, everything slowed to snails pace in build up and general sloppiness.

Just hope the North Macedonia game is better in all respects.

Everton Premier League -10 point punishment for financial mismanagement: Ouch!!! Just what they did not need.

[EJG1980]

Watched the England match yesterday against Malta - pretty poor performance despite the result.

I go back and forth with Southgate's England tenure. On the one hand I feel it's hard to criticise because in terms of tournament performance he's second only to Alf Ramsey; a World Cup semi final and quarter final, and a Euros runner up. And he's done superbly in terms of having a harmonious team spirit and togetherness.

On the other hand I find that even when getting good results, he makes England play in a pretty dull and conservative fashion, and that with all the talent we've got a higher calibre manager than Southgate who let England REALLY play would have had a better chance of actually winning something.

Unfortunately it's a counter-factual situation so you can never know if it's true or not. I can't help but have the feeling though, that having someone like Southgate in charge is a bit of a waste when you have world class talents like Kane and Bellingham in your team.

Everton Premier League -10 point punishment for financial mismanagement: Ouch!!! Just what they did not need.

I think the one thing that might go in Everton's favour is that this might be just about the best season in recent times to get this sort of a deduction. I can see the current bottom three struggling to pick up points to the point where even a ten point deduction might not be enough to doom Everton.

A lot will depend as well on the way the Everton players take it; does it galvanise them and make them play out of their skins to overturn the deficit, or does it prey on their minds and make their performances even worse?

It's also interesting to note that Everton have been hit with this punishment for one breach of the financial rules. Man City are being investigated for (iirc) over one hundred breaches of financial rules, and I think Chelsea too are being investigated for multiple dodgy things. If they're found guilty, and get a punishment that proportional to the Everton one.....