J.spurs
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LOL, a lot of the overseas commentators are refugees from Sky/BT, so it's the same shit- the analyst on the broadcast over here this morning was Phil Neville.
skiathospurs
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or the culture,having Graham as manager was like a long slow death,and not because of his woolwich links,but his style of play.Some clubs aspire to more,IMO all clubs and fans should.Its ok being Stoke for so many years and surviving,building,but eventually you have to try & play a brand of football for the fans to enjoy.To be clear,i think stoke are trying to play better football nowadays,but their previous style of play is now in folklore as a cliche "on a wet tues night in stoke".
In a way it suits us,more than not we will win,United had the same advantage for years,teams would turn up at OT and just not try to play,half the battle was won before kick off.In recent years i thought the premier league had gotten away from that style and attitude.
Maybe i am being harsh,maybe if we learned to swat away teams not trying in earnest to win they wouldnt keep doing it.But my heart wants good games not just good results.
Don Diaz
Zero tolerance of Numpty's
Founding Member
Just back from the game....the whole atmosphere and intensity was missing, understandably - 12.00 noon kick off on a Sunday, against Palace. Factor in a squad team with so many key players missing against a team playing 10 behind the ball and that's the result. It's also why the win was such a good result and why it's important to have the players to step up. Dier and Gazza men of the match.
Never pretty but sometimes winning ugly is just as important. Palace suppprt was outstanding, hats off to them.
Never pretty but sometimes winning ugly is just as important. Palace suppprt was outstanding, hats off to them.
skiathospurs
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B
Basskadet
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What a great win that was!! Some people, especially on the telly box seem to interpret it as a poor performance by Spurs and an unlucky result for Palace, but I just don’t see it that way at all. I guess it’s that British “love of the underdog” thing, but to hear Jake Humphries (mega-twat) describe it as a positive game for Hodgson is just barmy. Yes, Palace have struggled earlier this season, but their struggles came when their best players were unavailable and anyone with a brain could see that once they got the likes of Zaha and Sakho back they would improve. I don’t really see them being available again as Woy’s genius, sorry.
At the end of the day, they missed a huge opportunity to get one over on us today and they just weren’t good enough. Yes, they tested our keeper, our THIRD CHOICE keeper, but they could not beat him. We may have got away with the Zaha miss, but that seemed to give us the kick we needed to go and score and it would not have surprised me if, had it gone in, we would’ve upped our game even further. Fact is, we should’ve scored more. How Sonny missed that chance when he was clean through I’ll never know but all I can think is that it was symptomatic of us being in second gear without really feeling like we were going to lose
That’s the point. Palace did OK and had chances, but despite us missing our best defender, our best goalkeeper, our best attacking midfielder, despite us missing our backup keeper and replacing both wing-backs, despite losing our young midfield metronome at half-time and despite us having played a MASSIVE mid-week game and having to kick off at midday on Sunday, I never actually felt we were going to do anything other than win. At worst I was mildly nervous of a goalless draw, but I still felt we would bag a goal somewhere and, the longer the game went on, the more likely that goal would come. I just never thought Palace had it in them to actually put the ball in the net. Anyone can hit the target, actually beating the keeper is another thing and the pundits made a big noise about Gazzaniga but, as great as he was for a young keeper who was not expecting to play, he didn’t really make a save that was anything spectacular. Just good, solid goalkeeping. And that’s pretty much how the game turned out.
We didn’t play nearly as badly as they implied, but Palace (like Swansea and Bournemouth etc) just put half their team in the box and tried to break with the pace of Townsend and Zaha. Thing is, those game showed that when teams come to Wembley and do that, they don’t score, and the Bournemouth game showed us we only need one. That’s all we needed today too.
It was a huge 3 points too. I was a little concerned pre-kick off as our players were dropping like flies and despite people writing Palace off, they were almost back to full strength, had managed a couple half decent results recently (given their woeful start anyway) and had had a full week to prepare.
Other than Aurier's sublime to the ridiculous (he really looks like a pre-Poch Kyle Walker, lol. Poch fixed Walker tho, so hopefully he'll do the same with Aurier) we never really looked like the game was not in our control and I always felt that we were capable of stepping it up as and when we needed to. We never really needed to tho as Palace are just so poor.
At the end of the day, they missed a huge opportunity to get one over on us today and they just weren’t good enough. Yes, they tested our keeper, our THIRD CHOICE keeper, but they could not beat him. We may have got away with the Zaha miss, but that seemed to give us the kick we needed to go and score and it would not have surprised me if, had it gone in, we would’ve upped our game even further. Fact is, we should’ve scored more. How Sonny missed that chance when he was clean through I’ll never know but all I can think is that it was symptomatic of us being in second gear without really feeling like we were going to lose
That’s the point. Palace did OK and had chances, but despite us missing our best defender, our best goalkeeper, our best attacking midfielder, despite us missing our backup keeper and replacing both wing-backs, despite losing our young midfield metronome at half-time and despite us having played a MASSIVE mid-week game and having to kick off at midday on Sunday, I never actually felt we were going to do anything other than win. At worst I was mildly nervous of a goalless draw, but I still felt we would bag a goal somewhere and, the longer the game went on, the more likely that goal would come. I just never thought Palace had it in them to actually put the ball in the net. Anyone can hit the target, actually beating the keeper is another thing and the pundits made a big noise about Gazzaniga but, as great as he was for a young keeper who was not expecting to play, he didn’t really make a save that was anything spectacular. Just good, solid goalkeeping. And that’s pretty much how the game turned out.
We didn’t play nearly as badly as they implied, but Palace (like Swansea and Bournemouth etc) just put half their team in the box and tried to break with the pace of Townsend and Zaha. Thing is, those game showed that when teams come to Wembley and do that, they don’t score, and the Bournemouth game showed us we only need one. That’s all we needed today too.
It was a huge 3 points too. I was a little concerned pre-kick off as our players were dropping like flies and despite people writing Palace off, they were almost back to full strength, had managed a couple half decent results recently (given their woeful start anyway) and had had a full week to prepare.
Other than Aurier's sublime to the ridiculous (he really looks like a pre-Poch Kyle Walker, lol. Poch fixed Walker tho, so hopefully he'll do the same with Aurier) we never really looked like the game was not in our control and I always felt that we were capable of stepping it up as and when we needed to. We never really needed to tho as Palace are just so poor.
Don Diaz
Zero tolerance of Numpty's
Founding Member
Welcome Bass....I'd agree with almost all of that, you've down played some squeaky bum moments nicely! Always difficult to play in top gear against the stifling tactics and a huge game prior with your squad team. We did well enough, which for those that are old enough is what Liverpool did in the 70's and 80's and Chelsea more recently. Win when you're only average....we're learning.
skiathospurs
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I would hate one nil to the Tottenham to become banter for us! We used to sing "score tottenham score,when you get one you`ll get more....." Liverpool literally forced the no back pass rule on football,they could and did spend 15 mins end of matches just passing it back to the keeper to pick it up,roll back out,pass it back,keeper picks it up" winning at all costs?not for me,yes in one off occassions but not as a team principle.
J.spurs
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I don't think there's any chance of that happening soon. Yes Poch has set us up to play on the counter more this year, but those have really been our most exciting performances and best results (Dortmund, dippers, both Madrid games). Nothing like the dross Mourinho serves up with the GDP of a mid-sized nation worth of players packed behind the ball in literally every game that matters.
Don Diaz
Zero tolerance of Numpty's
Founding Member
I'm not advocating it as a philosophy....I'm suggesting it's important to find a way to win when sides such as Swansea, Burnley, Bournemouth and now Palace come and defend for a point. When teams come to play like Liverpool and Madrid it's a whole different spectacle and football at its best.
B
Basskadet
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Yeah, but this isn't our usual way of winning though, and that's kind of the point. The Spurs you describe have always had that, but they've never had this. We still have the ability to play teams off the park, like Liverpool and Real Madrid (who'd ever think we'd be saying that?) But what we've lacked is the ability to win these games when not everything is going our way.
That's why this win was so great. In the past we'd get excited by Spurs teams playing great football, and then watch them turn in a stinker and lose 1 nil to Hull or whoever. Performances like the one today are about the worst we can expect now - still largely looking dominant and taking a win and clean sheet.
I understand why some people felt a bit nervy - we are Spurs and these used to be those games where the guy who hasn't scored in 10 years bags the winner against us, but I just don't feel that way anymore and when they occasionally broke on us I genuinely felt as though they wouldn't score.
It's confidence like that which Poch has given me, and I'm only a fan so I can only think how the players must feel
Don Diaz
Zero tolerance of Numpty's
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What did everyone think of Zaha's performance today? A player we've been linked with in the past....he was really Palace's only threat and looked dangerous on occasion, with pace. Good in our team (better than NKoudou?) could be a summer buy?
skiathospurs
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my point was how Palace played not in how poor we were,its great to grind out when it comes to it,
sorry wasnt aiming at you,just generally fed up with the fashion this season of so many teams setting up to stiffle.
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skiathospurs
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not for me,partially the lad and partially cos fast,pacy wide players are used by Poch as much as i use a tuxedo.
B
Basskadet
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The problem with Zaha is he can impress for a team like Palace but he would frustrate for us. His end product is so hit or miss - as we witnessed today. He had me worried when he went thru on goal as much as he could, but I still had not great confidence in him scoring because I've seen Zaha miss the target SO often.
The other problem is, when teams sit deep against us like they're doing, Zaha is totally ineffective.
The other problem is, when teams sit deep against us like they're doing, Zaha is totally ineffective.
Flump
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I'd swap him for Lamela or Nkoudou or both in a heartbeat.
Don Diaz
Zero tolerance of Numpty's
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Nkoudou yes but a fit Lamela in tandem with Kane, Alli and Eriksen is very effective or was from memory!!
Flump
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I'll step away from this before I throw something heavy at you.
B
Basskadet
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People forget how Lamela was instrumental in us destroying an unbeaten Man City last season at the Lane, without Kane. Yes, he even missed a penalty, but City couldn't live with Lamela that day. He definitely gives us something different
Lamela is SO MUCH better suited to our team than Zaha. Lamela can open up a deep defence and he also provides us so much energy when defending from the front. As I said before, Zaha looks decent in a Palace team where he is not expected to defend and has tons of space to run into. Even then though his end product is literally 50/50
Lamela is SO MUCH better suited to our team than Zaha. Lamela can open up a deep defence and he also provides us so much energy when defending from the front. As I said before, Zaha looks decent in a Palace team where he is not expected to defend and has tons of space to run into. Even then though his end product is literally 50/50
skiathospurs
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rather have Gray from leicester if we are out shopping.
Chavhater01
Player in Training.
Agreed mate, parking the bus does nothing for the game of football, other than giving the likes of the teams you’ve mentioned, the possibility of nicking a win thru a defensive error or a pacey counter attack.
There is no real tactical genius to parking the bus, if it works, it’s normally because the players have had good games, for example, today they got themselves into good positions and threw there bodies at everything and also had some incredible amounts of luck at the amount of times the second ball seemed to fall to a Palace player.
Mourinho deserves to be called out far more than the Swans, Burnleys and Palaces of this world, coz he chooses to park the bus in the big games, despite the fact he has an array of attacking talent assembled at hundreds of millions of pounds. I’m with you mate on the fact that the tactic itself shouldn’t be lauded, it’s more the players that deserve credit if it works, the manager can’t dictate where his players are supposed to be for every second of the game, it’s down to the players. All the manager can really say is, sit deep, don’t give the opposition’s more creative players the space to work their magic in, be smart, put your bodies on the line when necessary and let’s hope to capitalise on any chances that may come our way. Of course there’s a bit more to it than that, otherwise we could all be mangers but you certainly don’t need to be a tactical genius to adopt the park the bus game plan.
Flump
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Also a decent option. Both better than what we currently have in that area. Which is nothing.
J.spurs
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Yes please.
Don Diaz
Zero tolerance of Numpty's
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Are we talking about the wide left player....Chadli, Njie and now Nkoudou? And do we need one? It seems as though we might be searching for a player we don't need. The plan these days is 3 at the back and wing backs, where we have Rose, Davies and Serge and Tripps. I'd say we're pretty well served already. In the next few years and if we are out shopping then we might need a second striker, a new Dembele (Winks?) and aCentre back (Toby/Jan) before a left winger...? After all Bale didn't finish up on the wing did he....
Yid
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Great result.
deejbah
Player in Training.
Phil Neville is hilariously bad at times. He said any team would take Townsend and Zaha...
Liam
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Only just seen the highlights as was working all day yesterday and fell asleep during the chavs v manure game on MOTD2. We seemed pretty poor yesterday from those highlights, a combination of great goalkeeping and Palace not having a goal poacher kind of saved us in my opinion. It doesn't really matter now though as we have all 3 points, Son is proving a useful squad player again and we look capable of grinding out a result when playing against 11 defenders following a mid week CL game.
I'd take Zaha from them if we can, not sure he'd be first team for us but he'd be a useful addition when a different option is needed, plus if Poch made him even better he'd be a beast of a a player.
Let's get this international break over injury free and get some players back to fitness to take on the goons.
Already mentioned great goalkeeping but I want to say again I was very impressed with what I saw from Paul Gazza in goal although I appreciate it was only highlights that I saw.
I'd take Zaha from them if we can, not sure he'd be first team for us but he'd be a useful addition when a different option is needed, plus if Poch made him even better he'd be a beast of a a player.
Let's get this international break over injury free and get some players back to fitness to take on the goons.
Already mentioned great goalkeeping but I want to say again I was very impressed with what I saw from Paul Gazza in goal although I appreciate it was only highlights that I saw.
Flump
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I don't even consider Lamela a winger to be honest. I don't even know what I class him as, I just don't like him for some reason. Or lots of reasons. But anyway, you're spot on. It's the least of our worries, not that we have many. I would definitely like to see a player come in who could really push Kane though. Imagine having 2 30 goal a season strikers.
Don Diaz
Zero tolerance of Numpty's
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I think Lewandoski would cost too much money......ha ha. I agree, in theory Soldado and/or Janssen should have worked out, unfortunately neither did. Kane is pretty incredible though, he finishes strongly with both feet (my personal bug bear with one- footed players) pulls defences wide and can himself cut in from wide areas, there's not many like him. Strikers like Aguero and Lineker are nowwhere near as versatile.
Dorset
The Voice Of Reason
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OK, hold onto your horses, they have only just finished scraping the mud off of last night's international boots and I need a cup of tea and some brekkie before I start feeding the sausage machine with the hooves and eyeballs that make up the delicious tasty stats-bangers.
Done.