Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Yeah, a win gets my vote too

Spurs have announced a price freeze for both season and matchday ticket prices for next season. The age range for junior tickets has been extended to under 18s from under 16s. Still hideously expensive but it's better than a kick up the arse!

I found an old ticket a while back from a Spurs vs Sheffield Wednesday match from 1996, the price was ?20. The cheapest ticket in the same area of the stadium today is ?44!

[bwi]

Here's hoping for a good showing tonight as my mum is coming for dinner on sunday and thats never a good sign when we play on tv. I might even just watch the F1 and pretend its an international weekend

[fallenangle]

Weeps in frustration.

Good start but Benfica did exactly what you expect an experienced away team to do. They identified then effectively nullfied Spurs' gameplan by biding their time, waiting for a mistake or a chance to attack on the break and that's what happened. They then had more than enough defensive discipline to minimise or stifle most of the Spurs attacks too.

Only bright point was another great Eriksen free kick which keeps us in the tie, at least on paper.

Have to question TS's subs though. Danny Rose yes, swapping sides with Naughton yes and I suppose taking Sandro off when he was teetering on the edge of being red carded was justified. But Soldado for Kane? The problem was one of supply to the forwards, that is what needed addressing and Townsend would have been a far better choice.

[nakamura]

Townsend would have been.completely ineffective as Benfica closed all of the spaces for him to run into.

Last night was a case of.beaten by experience on and off the pitch.

[EJG1980]

Yup, agree with most of the above. We had a lot of the ball in the first half but it never felt like we were going to do anything threatening with it. What was it, 15 minutes before we even had a shot? And that was a long range blast from Sandro.

It was a lovely free kick though, which gives us faint hope, but I really can't see us winning by three in the away leg. As you say, we're still in it on paper more than in reality.

Four losses in the last six matches now, in all competitions. The match on Sunday would be a very good one to turn that form around in, but it's starting to feel like the season is just petering out with a damp squib.

[fallenangle]

Townsend would have been.completely ineffective as Benfica closed all of the spaces for him to run into.

Last night was a case of.beaten by experience on and off the pitch.

I think with both Lennon and Towsend on the wings, perhaps swapping sides they could have stretched the Benfica defence and created some room in the centre for Adebayor and Kane. As it was the only method Spurs seemed to be using to any effect was route one, hoof it up to Adebayor and hope he could bring it down fast enough to get it to a supporting player running through. Most of the time it didn't work because their defence quickly got canny to it and either the balls to Adebayor weren't good enough or the support wasn't there, usually a combination of all three.

I still stand by my assertion that it was essentially a supply problem and bringing on a replacement forward was daft. Soldado barely touched the ball let alone made significant contribution for the 20 minutes or so that he was on.

[EJG1980]

Agh. Shame about the result but that was a much better performance than in recent matches, I thought we deserved a draw at least, but if you don't put your chances away (or don't create enough chances of quality) you're going to end up with nothing.

Aside from his miss I thought Chadli did well in the role behind the striker and I also though that was Townsend's best performance for a while, very positive and causing Arsenal problems when he got on the ball. I thought most of the players did pretty well, it's just a shame we couldn't have found that elusive breakthrough.

One thing, as there were only 8 mins left and we needed a goal, I would have taken of Bentaleb instead of Eriksen when Soldado came on. I think it would have been worth the risk of being more open by that point in the match.

Ah well, hopefully we can keep the performance levels on the up and give it a good go against Benfica and pick up as many points as possible in the league. We're not getting top four, but let's at least miss out with a bang rather than a whimper. COYS!

[bwi]

good performance , shame about the result really

[fallenangle]

Yep, I was listening to it on Radio 5 Live and saw MotD and Spurs dominated the game. They just didn't create enough clear cut chances to score though but we should have at least had a draw.

I didn't understand the Eriksen sub either. He's Spurs most creative midfielder even if not quite in the same class as Modric or Bale were. Consequently the sub for Soldado was, yet again, pointless because he came and on had virtually no service at all.

As EJG1980 indicated a disappointing end to the season in prospect unless, against all the odds, Spurs can put on a heroic performance against Benefica. That would be some real joy.

[EJG1980]

It's going to have to be an extra heroic performance now as the squad has been really badly hit by injuries, especially the defence.

Injury (and suspension) means we'll be missing Dawson, Chiriches, Kaboul, Walker and Vertonghen from the defence. Also no Dembele, Paulinho, or Adebayor, and Lamela and Capoue are still long term absentees. There are seven youngsters in the squad who have never started a match for Spurs.

There's talk that Sandro will drop back to play in defence but I'd rather give a young player a chance instead of moving a senior player out of their natural position. It'll be interesting to see what the starting 11 is!

[fallenangle]

Hell, it could be bad, really bad with all those missing defenders. But I'm not giving up hope. Youthful enthusiasm and energy can sometimes get results but against Benefica, if they're in similar form to last time, it is a big ask.

[EJG1980]

The team sheet is in, looks like no place for any youngsters (well, aside from Fryers, but he's made a few first team appearances now) and Sandro has dropped back into the defence. I expect Chadli will play just behind Soldado.

Friedel;
Naughton, Fryers, Sandro, Rose;
Lennon, Bentaleb, Chadli, Sigurdsson, Townsend;
Soldado

[EJG1980]

Agh, so close to getting that to extra time with those headed chances for Sigurdsson and Kane. Then the last gasp penalty so we don't even get to win on the night, which was a real shame. Well done to the players though for getting so close to making it memorable comeback. Back to winning ways at the weekend! COYS!

[fallenangle]

Great game and despite the one lack of concentration that lead to their goal a remarkably solid and impressive defensive performance. The last 15 minutes I really thought Spurs were going to get that third goal and force extra time. But why the hell didn't they dial it up 15mins earlier and give themselves the time they needed?

They lured or at least allowed Benfica to fall into a false sense of security, the match seemed to be winding down, TS took off the predictably ineffective Soldado, bought on Kane and Eriksen (and why on earth wasn't he in the starting line up?) then suddenly Spurs ramped up the pace and things started to happen down the wings.

Chadli was particularly good once he was allowed his head and freed from playing second fiddle, Naughton on his prefered right side had a very decent game too. Sandro was immense and that makeshift centre back pairing was as good as any I've seen. I dread to think what would have happened if Tom Huddlestone had been given the same role which he would have been if still at Spurs.

But the real star was Bentaleb. Given the leading responsibility in the centre of the park for most of the match I can now see why TS rates him so highly.

[EJG1980]

Spot on assessment.

Bentaleb has been a nice surprise this season, quite a few decent performances (excellent in the 4-0 against Newcastle) and even when he's having a so so game he doesn't hide and is always trying to get on the ball, put in a tackle, and stay involved in the game, no hiding and shirking responsibility. It's a shame that the "all that matters is winning the next match" attitude that pervades football means that we rarely take the risk of giving a youth team player a run of games to see what they can do.

I've tried to stay optimistic with Soldado but even I am starting to think that cutting our losses in the summer might be the best thing for all concerned. At the moment I think a Spanish club would be willing to write off one bad season in England as a blip and we could still get a decent(ish) fee for him and not lose too much money, but if he stays and continues to struggle then the chances of us having to take a very big loss on him will only increase.

Chadli has done well in the past couple of matches and we're stating to see a glimpse of what he can do. At the moment I think he deserves to keep his spot in the team playing off the striker and I hope he keeps his place on Sunday. I want Eriksen in the team too though, he'll probably play on the left again if he starts but I wouldn't mind seeing what he can do in a deeper central midfield role where he can really influence the game.