299 replies to this topic

[teejay1324]

If the mighty Spurs win and no one posts on the SOSH thread, did they really win?

[Tangled Up In Red]

Well, they certainly didn't deserve the win...

[URI]

Just finished watching...they would have lost 5-3 if Gomes was in there instead of Freidal.

Fulham played like a Martin Jol team. Pressing the fuck out of you, but ultimately with poor discipline/shot selection.

[teejay1324]

Just finished watching...they would have lost 5-3 if Gomes was in there instead of Freidal.

Couldn't agree more.

Anyone else think Kaboul has been much more solid this season over last? He heads the ball out well but he's also seemed to do a pretty good job all around at the back. Great to see Lennon score, rewatched most of the first half at work last night and Spurs did look solid for the first 45, didn't feel the need to rewatch the second half.

Edited by teejay1324, 07 November 2011 - 09:25 AM.

[teejay1324]

How this isn't 6-0, I have no idea. Good Lord. Ade knows he doesn't have to kick the ball directly at the keeper, right? Bale's been fantastic passing today.

[soxfan121]

Bale will someday overtake Giggs as the best player to never play in a World Cup (unless I just made that up, in which case I think Bale is awesome and the fact that he's Welsh and not English will cost England a World Cup. Ashley Cole is already trending downward and the dearth of LB candidates makes the USA's options look OK).

[Snakebauer007]

Bale will someday overtake Giggs as the best player to never play in a World Cup (unless I just made that up, in which case I think Bale is awesome and the fact that he's Welsh and not English will cost England a World Cup. Ashley Cole is already trending downward and the dearth of LB candidates makes the USA's options look OK).

George Best?

Why the leftback talk? Has Bale been playing there again?

[soxfan121]

George Best?

Why the leftback talk? Has Bale been playing there again?

Drunk. And stupid.

[biollante]

Tottenham has to be pretty happy this year - now they have the rest of the year to choke.

[URI]

Tottenham has to be pretty happy this year - now they have the rest of the year to choke.

I just want to let you know if they make the Champions League, I'm banning you.

And no, I'm not kidding.

[Seven Costanza]

I just want to let you know URI, if Tottenham pry away Tim Krul I am going to cut you.

And no, I'm not kidding.

[URI]

I just want to let you know URI, if Tottenham pry away Tim Krul I am going to cut you.

And no, I'm not kidding.

I can handle a blade just fine, don't you worry about it there Geordie.

[Tangled Up In Red]

I like the flavor of this thread now... tastes better with the wins.

[URI]

The game in hand against Everton is imporant, for obvious reasons.

The 5 other teams that they haven't played yet:
Stoke
Chelsea
Norwich
Sunderland
Swansea

For the first time in a long time, I feel pretty good about going into the 2nd half of the year.

[teejay1324]

More than likely getting bounced from the Europa League will help too, no incentive to run out first team guys on Thursday nights in the knockout stages. Not saying Harry was going to do so but now, most likely, it won't matter because they're going to bounce out of Europe completely.

Will anyone be disappointed if they don't advance in the Europa? I know it's not a big deal, but, like Mancini said with City today, a trophy is a trophy and winning one is a good thing.

[URI]

With the FA cup kicking up, no I wouldn't be disappointed with a Europa exit, considering anyone they acquire next month will likely be Cup-tied.

[URI]

What a frustrating game.

And Stoke is a nightmare to play on the road.

[Snakebauer007]

And Stoke is a nightmare to play on the road.

Fact

[mikeford]

What a frustrating game.

And Stoke is a nightmare to play on the road.

Stoke is really a pain in the ass to play in general. They're a very physical club who don't seem to really give a crap if they pick up cards.

[Zomp]

When Stoke has a 12th man on the field its a bit tough as well.

[Snakebauer007]

When Stoke has a 12th man on the field its a bit tough as well.

I know the referee seemed to allow constant hard fouling with little consequence in our match, not sure about the rest of 'em

[Vinho Tinto]

I know the referee seemed to allow constant hard fouling with little consequence in our match, not sure about the rest of 'em

That was quite the 10 second double whammy. Overlooking a Stoke handball on the goal line AND flagging an onside Adebayor for being off had me wondering if a Portuguese ref was working the match.

[Zomp]

Then Kaboul argues about the handball, gets a yellow. A tick tack foul on the other hand, 2nd yellow.

Oof.

[URI]

Im usually one that won't blame the referees, but yeah...

[teejay1324]

Boys beat Shamrock O' Rovers 4-0 but it wasn't enough and out of Europe Spurs go. Probably for the best, didn't watch the games really, six matches of playing time for the kids/reserves was nice if nothing else.

[Snakebauer007]

Boys beat Shamrock O' Rovers 4-0 but it wasn't enough and out of Europe Spurs go. Probably for the best, didn't watch the games really, six matches of playing time for the kids/reserves was nice if nothing else.

No offense to you, and not just directed at Spurs of course, but this kind of thought process of the modern club and fan, sucks. I get the Carling Cup seen as a youth comp for a lot of teams(being saddled with 2 domestic cup competitions is just dumb), but otherwise, it would be nice for teams to try and win their games and care about all competitions, they spend enough money there isn't much excuse. One of the things I liked about Mourinho, was that he played to win every game Chelsea took part in.

On a side note, you really weren't watching the games?

[teejay1324]

No offense to you, and not just directed at Spurs of course, but this kind of thought process of the modern club and fan, sucks. I get the Carling Cup seen as a youth comp for a lot of teams(being saddled with 2 domestic cup competitions is just dumb), but otherwise, it would be nice for teams to try and win their games and care about all competitions, they spend enough money there isn't much excuse. One of the things I liked about Mourinho, was that he played to win every game Chelsea took part in.

On a side note, you really weren't watching the games?

First of all, a Spurs reserve squad like the ones that Harry ran out and as he said, should have been enough to get through that group. He played Defoe, dos Santos, Livermore, Sandro, Pienaar, not exactly a poor collection of players. And yea it would have been nice for them to win the Europa but at the same time winning that competition would in no way compensate for missing out on a top three finish in the Prem this season and wouldn't conjure up the type of pride that comes with winning an FA Cup. If and this has been said by others on here, winning the Europa got a club into the Champions League, then it would be a big, big difference.

The financial payout for a Europa run is at best nine million pounds, a Champions League run is worth close to three times as much, if not more. So it's clearly more important to have league success than Europa success. I'd love to have a domestic cup, top three Prem finish and a Europa title but if I could choose one of the three for my club it'd be a top three finish for sure.

And it's not a really exciting competition either playing against the likes of Shamrock and bunches of tiny clubs from small leagues, their isn't much glory in beating them. If I was a Stoke fan, completely different, the odds of them getting into the Champions League almost don't exist, so I would be ecstatic if I was a Stoke fan and they made some headway in the Europa. Same scenario if I was a Celtic, Grasshoppers, Viking or PSV fan, a Europa run would be great.

Don't get me wrong, winning a cup is winning a cup, I actually argued this with a buddy of mine who is a die hard Spurs fan for the better part of a decade now(this is my second season paying any attention to soccer outside the World Cup) that I wanted them to win the Europa for the sake of winning something this season. But I'm not upset about the exiting, basically, it would have been nice, but it's not a big deal now that it's all over.

And no, I didn't watch more than thirty minutes of any Europa games. I had to watch crappy internet feeds and could barely tell who was who on the pitch anyways. If I lived in Tottenham, sure I would have gone, if it was on Gol TV, I might have watched, I think one of their six games was on Gol. For reference, I have watched all of their Prem games this season and two-thirds of last year's Prem games and all the televised Champions League matches. Not thumping my chest here or anything, just saying I do make an effort to watch Spurs as much as possible, minus the Europa.

[Snakebauer007]

First of all, a Spurs reserve squad like the ones that Harry ran out and as he said, should have been enough to get through that group. He played Defoe, dos Santos, Livermore, Sandro, Pienaar, not exactly a poor collection of players. And yea it would have been nice for them to win the Europa but at the same time winning that competition would in no way compensate for missing out on a top three finish in the Prem this season and wouldn't conjure up the type of pride that comes with winning an FA Cup. If and this has been said by others on here, winning the Europa got a club into the Champions League, then it would be a big, big difference.

The financial payout for a Europa run is at best nine million pounds, a Champions League run is worth close to three times as much, if not more. So it's clearly more important to have league success than Europa success. I'd love to have a domestic cup, top three Prem finish and a Europa title but if I could choose one of the three for my club it'd be a top three finish for sure.

And it's not a really exciting competition either playing against the likes of Shamrock and bunches of tiny clubs from small leagues, their isn't much glory in beating them. If I was a Stoke fan, completely different, the odds of them getting into the Champions League almost don't exist, so I would be ecstatic if I was a Stoke fan and they made some headway in the Europa. Same scenario if I was a Celtic, Grasshoppers, Viking or PSV fan, a Europa run would be great.

Don't get me wrong, winning a cup is winning a cup, I actually argued this with a buddy of mine who is a die hard Spurs fan for the better part of a decade now(this is my second season paying any attention to soccer outside the World Cup) that I wanted them to win the Europa for the sake of winning something this season. But I'm not upset about the exiting, basically, it would have been nice, but it's not a big deal now that it's all over.

And no, I didn't watch more than thirty minutes of any Europa games. I had to watch crappy internet feeds and could barely tell who was who on the pitch anyways. If I lived in Tottenham, sure I would have gone, if it was on Gol TV, I might have watched, I think one of their six games was on Gol. For reference, I have watched all of their Prem games this season and two-thirds of last year's Prem games and all the televised Champions League matches. Not thumping my chest here or anything, just saying I do make an effort to watch Spurs as much as possible, minus the Europa.

Unless your club has a longstanding and recent history of winning trophies, then I don't get overlooking a chance to win one, or calling it "not a big deal." Has Tottenham been such a dominant force that they can scoff at playing for this title? I definitely would want Chelsea to try and win it, and I respect SAF a lot more if he meant what he said about going out to win it. The opening round maybe full of minnows, but the round of 32 features:
Both Manchester Teams
Porto
Ajax
Bilbao
Valencia
Atletico
Lazio
Schalke
PSV
Sporting

etc

Again, it isn't a one club or personal attack I just don't get the reasoning or disdain of the modern fan towards competitions like this.

[URI]

Boys beat Shamrock O' Rovers 4-0 but it wasn't enough and out of Europe Spurs go. Probably for the best, didn't watch the games really, six matches of playing time for the kids/reserves was nice if nothing else.

It was fine. Harry Kane looked really good and I hope he gets some FA cup burn.

[teejay1324]

Unless your club has a longstanding and recent history of winning trophies, then I don't get overlooking a chance to win one, or calling it "not a big deal." Has Tottenham been such a dominant force that they can scoff at playing for this title? I definitely would want Chelsea to try and win it, and I respect SAF a lot more if he meant what he said about going out to win it. The opening round maybe full of minnows, but the round of 32 features:
Both Manchester Teams
Porto
Ajax
Bilbao
Valencia
Atletico
Lazio
Schalke
PSV
Sporting

etc

Again, it isn't a one club or personal attack I just don't get the reasoning or disdain of the modern fan towards competitions like this.

I totally get what you're saying and I don't even really disagree, I'm just not broken up about them getting out of the group stage is all, I want to watch Spurs in the Champions League again next year more than anything really, I got spoiled in that the first year I followed club football and picked Tottenham they went on a deep CL run and it was awesome. When I decided to follow Spurs last August I didn't even know what the Champions League was to be honest. And yes, I was hoping if they made it to the knock stages they would get either Ajax or Athletic Bilbao, that would have been fun to watch.

[URI]

Unless your club has a longstanding and recent history of winning trophies, then I don't get overlooking a chance to win one, or calling it "not a big deal." Has Tottenham been such a dominant force that they can scoff at playing for this title? I definitely would want Chelsea to try and win it, and I respect SAF a lot more if he meant what he said about going out to win it. The opening round maybe full of minnows, but the round of 32 features:
Both Manchester Teams
Porto
Ajax
Bilbao
Valencia
Atletico
Lazio
Schalke
PSV
Sporting

etc

Again, it isn't a one club or personal attack I just don't get the reasoning or disdain of the modern fan towards competitions like this.

My thinking is, not to scoff at the Europa League, but to firm up a top 4 run domestically. I wish they would have won the competition of course, but if given the choice this season between winning the Europa League and finishing 5th in the Premier League, and losing the group stages and finishing 3rd, I'll take choice B every time.

Especially if it means we can keep VDV, Bale, Modric, Ade etc. I think they are ALL gone if we don't finish top 4 this year.

[Snakebauer007]

My thinking is, not to scoff at the Europa League, but to firm up a top 4 run domestically. I wish they would have won the competition of course, but if given the choice this season between winning the Europa League and finishing 5th in the Premier League, and losing the group stages and finishing 3rd, I'll take choice B every time.

Especially if it means we can keep VDV, Bale, Modric, Ade etc. I think they are ALL gone if we don't finish top 4 this year.

Yeah weighting the options it is an easy decision, I just don't see it as having to come down to that.

[URI]

It's easy to say that right now when they are in the top 4...lets wait until they don't all come down with violent food poisoning at the end of the year.

[Snakebauer007]

It's easy to say that right now when they are in the top 4...lets wait until they don't all come down with violent food poisoning at the end of the year.

Yeah, fair enough, definitely looking forward to the Thursday game, but also, not.

[NHsoxfan4]

Kinda disappointed Spurs walk away with only 1, but it could've been a lot worse. Where was VDV today though? Seems like everyone else had at least a pretty decent game. Their form has been in a mini-funk lately it seems, hopefully the stretch of 3 matches in 8 days doesn't lead to a falling back.

[Zomp]

Simply brilliant from Gareth Bale.

[URI]

I love the formation Harry used today.

[Tangled Up In Red]

I love the formation Harry used today.

I wasn't able to watch the match, but from ESPN "Bale excelled in a more central role where he played as the left-sided prong in a three-man attack that also included Rafael van der Vaart and targetman Emmanuel Adebayor.".
If that was the case, was it more a 4-3-3? Who played behind the front?

[teejay1324]

I wasn't able to watch the match, but from ESPN "Bale excelled in a more central role where he played as the left-sided prong in a three-man attack that also included Rafael van der Vaart and targetman Emmanuel Adebayor.".
If that was the case, was it more a 4-3-3? Who played behind the front?

I had a hard time making out the formation but VDV played centrally almost all the time like he usually does even when Harry lines him up at right mid. At times it looked like Ade and Bale up front with VDV in behind and then Modric and Parker in the middle with Sandro sitting behind them. Walker had tons of space on the right and plenty of time on the ball, didn't do a hell of a lot with that but he hit some nice crosses in. He also had a couple of poor shots.

But Bale moved around quite a bit, I couldn't figure out what the hell formation was really. Bale's second goal came from him breaking right down the middle of the pitch and he made one of his terrific runs but centrally this time. Great stuff whatever the plan was.

[Zomp]

From what I saw, it was like this:

-----------Adebayor---------
Bale--------VDV---------Modric
------Sandro-----Parker-----


With Bale given a free role in which he drifted in a lot.

[URI]

Yeah it was like a 4-2-3-1,with Bale and Modric basically able to attack at will, and Sandro and Parker there to cover who ever pushed up and VDV from having to be able to play D at all.

It was one of the few times I've said to myself "Wow, Harry cares about tactics!"

Must have been Jaws.

[teejay1324]

Disappointing draw but Spurs were lucky to even get a point, tough to win a match in which the best save might have been made by your creative midfielder. But what a crazy weekend, Spurs still gain a point on City, United and added a point over Chelsea. Crazy results, too bad Spurs couldn't gain three on everybody instead of one, but still not a bad weekend.

[Dummy Hoy]

If anyone who roots for Spurs is still alive, can you give me a bit of a scouting report on John Bostock? Wednesday signed him to a loan through the end of the season, and we could really use some help getting out of this shit division, especially since Ben Marshall signed with Leicester City.

[URI]

I've never seen him play, so I don't have much in terms of a scouting report.

He was apparently the youngest player ever to suit up for Spurs in the UEFA Cup a few years ago. He played in the FA Cup a few weeks ago against Cheltenham.

He was supposed to be a solid box-to-box type and haven't really developed as that, but he's still only 20. He's got major effort and maturity questions too.

[Dummy Hoy]

I've never seen him play, so I don't have much in terms of a scouting report.

He was apparently the youngest player ever to suit up for Spurs in the UEFA Cup a few years ago. He played in the FA Cup a few weeks ago against Cheltenham.

He was supposed to be a solid box-to-box type and haven't really developed as that, but he's still only 20. He's got major effort and maturity questions too.

Thanks...that's about what I've heard too. He came in today at 61 minutes today vs. MK Dons and word is he looked serviceable, albeit rusty. they had him playing on the right side, which was where Marshall generally played.

Wednesday is a great place to loan to...premier league quality manager in Gary Megson, premier league quality crowds/atmosphere at Hillsborough (and a great traveling crowd). But boy, League One sucks. They need out bad.

[tulse_luper]

If anyone who roots for Spurs is still alive, can you give me a bit of a scouting report on John Bostock? Wednesday signed him to a loan through the end of the season, and we could really use some help getting out of this shit division, especially since Ben Marshall signed with Leicester City.

We had him on loan at Hull. Scored a great goal on his debut and did pretty much nothing after that, ended up getting sent back early. He had a lot of ability but a peanut brain. A selfish sort of a player, always running up blind alleys, trying to beat an extra man for the sake of it etc. Despite only being here for a dozen games or so he played all over - centre mid, out wide, and even off the front man IIRC. I think CM would be his best position, but more attacking than box 2 box.

It was 2 years ago so perhaps he's grown up a bit interim. He certainly has the talent to be very good in League 1.

[URI]

Also, Louis Saha. yay

[crazysox]

"Kaboul says Spurs are back on track." After a win over Wigan.......?

We'll see on Monday.

Edited by crazysox, 01 February 2012 - 10:07 AM.

[Tangled Up In Red]

Fairly unimaginitive today, but pretty steeled in back. As Darke and Maccammaannanmam stated: the King/Dawson/Parker triangle was iron, and I thought Kyle Walker was solid in back, as well.
Bale couldn't find his way today... the whole squad did little going forward.

I'm sure they're fine walking away with the point (even when Bale should have stolen the other two in the 87th minute).

-- love the modified thread title. he took a SHOT on the Suarez yellow card boot to the gut

[Billy R Ford]

Fairly unimaginitive today, but pretty steeled in back. As Darke and Maccammaannanmam stated: the King/Dawson/Parker triangle was iron, and I thought Kyle Walker was solid in back, as well.

I know that (a) he has little international experience and (b) Glen Johnson played good today out of position, but I really think Walker should be starting at right back for England this summer. When Lennon doesn't start Tottenham just gives the entire right flank over to him: van der Vaart takes up central positions instead of staying wide, and today Kranjcar did the same. And Walker covers the entire flank! It's not disimilar to Dani Alves at Barcelona, really. Great two-way player.