Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[EJG1980]

Yes Juan! Great to see a young player taking his chance and doing well. Especially after giving away two penalties against Wolves, showed no nerves today and played really well.

Foyth got man of the match on telly, which was deserved, but I’d have given it jointly to Sissoko. I think he’s been quietly very good this season, he pops up all over the pitch doing odd jobs, bit of attacking here, bit of defending there, works his socks off. Fans were chanting his name after the final whistle, it’s good to see him winning people over.

A nice couple of saves near the end from Lloris to preserve the three points too.

Not a brilliant performance overall but yet another win ground out.

[fallenangle]

Not a convincing win but certainly a well earned one as Crystal Palace were certainly no walk over and could have easily grabbed a point from the match if they'd taken their chances. Those three point keep us well in touch at the top of the table.

Yes, good to see Foyth getting on the score sheet, should help his confidence after that almost disastrous Wolves game.

[EJG1980]

Fantastic

Can't really single anyone out for praise, there were great performances all over the pitch. First half was excellent, with the only downside being that we could have scored five or six with better finishing. Son missed a hat trick!

In a way though, the fact that Son missed all those chances in the first half made his goal in the second half all the sweeter; one of the best solo goals anyone will score this season, a magnificent way to notch his 50th goal for Spurs. After that we were content to let Chelsea have possession while not allowing them to go anywhere with it.

Should have added another couple in the second half with an inexplicable miss from Kane and a really close long range curler from Dele. Shame we couldn't keep the clean sheet intact but you can't have everything. An excellent boost right before the must win game against Inter.

Edit: just watched MOTD and we did get one bit of luck today as that (first) Hazard penalty claim should have been given. It’s the only flaw with Foyth’s game so far, being a bit rash in the box, but he’s only 20 and so composed in most other areas of his game that I’m sure it’s something he’ll fix with more experience.

[fallenangle]

Agree about the penalty, Foyth has to learn quickly he can't do that sort of challenge in the Premiership under current rules and get away with it. Any more further incidents with that sort of rashness and he'll be dropped as in other closer matches it could cost Spurs the game. Good thing is he has some great defensive players around him to learn from.

Indeed despite the fact Chelsea were not playing well it was a fanatastic win yesterday and it could/should have been more than just three goals. Shame they didn't keep a clean sheet but when Spurs play like that you can see them as being genuinely good enough for the top spot.


Wednesday 28.11.18

Big day for Spurs - a must win. After Saturday's Chelsea result they should be in the right place mentally for the game, I just hope they do not make any mistakes. I think Spurs should win irrespective of how IM play but if Spurs mess up and gift them too many chances then it is bye bye CL.

[EJG1980]

Must win, did win, and by a scoreline that puts us above Inter on our head to head records. Now we can guarantee qualification by completing the extremely simple task of winning in Barcelona A favour from PSV would be nice, but it's tough to see them getting anything away against Inter in their final match, so we probably are going to have to win against Barca to go through. As tough a task as it it, brilliant effort by the team to turn around the bad start and put qualification in our own hands going into the final match.

We deserved the win last night. The first half was very good and we really should have got at least one goal by half time, Winks was very unlucky with his shot that hit the bar and we spurned a few decent chances and situations. The second half was tougher as Inter improved and tightened up, but we still missed another couple of good chances before finally making the breakthrough. Inter had a couple of chances after we scored to jangle the nerves a little bit (I don't think Lloris had to make a save until the 75th minute) but we saw out the match pretty calmly.

Another great performance from Sissoko, easily man of the match. Breaking up Inter's play with closing down and tackling, contributing to the attack with superb surging runs forward (one to create a great chance in the first half, one to help set up the goal in the second), I love watching him play at the moment. Aurier has done very well while Trippier has been out injured, definitely improved from last season, and Ben Davies has started finding better form in the last few matches after having what I thought was an average start to the season.

Now if we can get a win against Arsenal on Sunday it'd nicely cap a really really good week!

[fallenangle]

Yep, very pleasing and by all accounts very mature, professional performance. Spurs did what they needed to do and given themselves a chance of progressing in the CL. Task A done task B to come.

It is, as you indicated, still a huge ask having to beat Barcelona but Spurs proved last year in the CL they can go toe to toe with big EU clubs and come away with a result.

[EJG1980]

And, we at least know we've got what it takes to score against them, with the two we put past them at Wembley. Tighten up and the back and cut out the mistakes from that game and we've got a chance.

I don't think they'd consciously choose to ease off, but hopefully the fact that they've already guaranteed top spot will affect them a little bit on a subconscious level. Maybe one or two players pull out of that last ditch tackle, don't run the extra yard or two, allow concentration to slip slightly, you never know.

I didn't realise it, but they announced at half time that Robbie Keane had retired. Played a nice video package of some of his best goals. Excellent player, not ultra prolific but got a good number of goals and linked up play very well. His partnership with Berbatov was great to watch when they were both at their best. A big player for us during those years in the 00's when we were slowly dragging ourselves away from the doldrums and back up to the right end of the table again.

His goal against Blackburn in 2006 is probably my favourite of his:

[fallenangle]

That was indeed a great goal. I always thought about Robbie Keane as an ideal utility attacking option for Spurs, often played as a sub when others (Defoe) were injured, needed resting or were off form (Defoe). Reliable, loyal but not exceptional.

But looking back at his long record for Spurs: at his best (2002 - 2008) RK was unquestionably a top quality goal scorer who always seemed to get on the score sheet. If the wiki is right in his two stints at Spurs he scored 91 league goals in 138 appearances. That is an impressive statistic.

[EJG1980]

Alas, it's a typo, Keane's record for us was 91 league goals in 238 games

Still a good record though, and probably surprising to some, a better goalscoring rate than Jermain Defoe had for us (91 in 276) in the league. I know it's a bit blasphemous, but I always thought Defoe was a bit overrated as a goalscorer and preferred to have Keane in the side if it was a straight choice between the two; just as many goals and better link up play to bring others into the game.

Pre-2009 at least. After they both came back in January 2009 from their short stints with Liverpool and Portsmouth, Keane was a shadow of his former self while Defoe had improved his all around game, and from that point on I'd have picked Defoe ahead of Keane every time.

Both excellent servants to the club though and many memorable moments from both of them over the years.

In more modern news, a January or February opening for the new stadium looks like it's becoming more likely as Spurs have announced a test event to take place in December, a "fan familiarisation event" for 6,000 season ticket holders drawn at random. I'm tempted to enter the ballot for a ticket but I think I'd prefer my first memories of the new stadium to be at an actual match, so I'll probably resist the temptation.

The fact that they've started to schedule the test events should mean that the problems with the fire and safety systems that caused the opening to be delayed have been fixed (or are on course to be fixed by the time of the test events).

[fallenangle]

Sounding like an interesting match today. Huge controversy over the Son penalty with most of the BBC commentators/pundits saying at half-time it was very soft, at best.

Still coming back from 1-0 down to be leading 1-2, I'm not complaining.

Looking forward to the second-half and hopefully Spurs adding some more.

EDIT

Well that did not go well: 4-2 and and down to ten men at the end.

Still even though we lost and are now back behind Arsenal and Chelsea there is only 1 point separating the teams in 3rd, 4th and 5th. We can even afford to cheer on Everton, 8 points behind Spurs, to do us a favour and keep Liverpool in 2nd within 3 points too.

[EJG1980]

Looking forward to the second-half and hopefully Spurs adding some more.

Yeah, second half didn't go so well! First half we were really poor in the first 15 minutes, deserved to be behind and it could have been more than one, then we had five minutes where we started getting back into it, and from 20 minutes onwards we were the better team and deserved to go in leading at half time. I was really surprised that the Son penalty was given, but Gary Neville said, even after the slow mo replays, that Dean had no choice but to point to the spot so... he has better eyes than I do!

And we actually started the second half well, looked like we were carrying on from where we left off, but once it went to 2-2 we dropped off a bit it was still fairly even with Arsenal slightly on top. Had a great chance to go 3-2 up when one of the Arsenal players passed straight to Son and he had so much time and space but took his shot too early. Once it went to 3-2 to Arsenal they were all over us and definitely deserved the win, overall we were quite disappointing in the second half, although you have to give the credit to Arsenal for playing really well.

The main annoyance is the way we helped with their goals: Vertonghen's handball for the first, Foyth being robbed of possession for the third, which was a real shame as at 2-2 the match could have gone either way so to gift them the lead was a real shame. Not brilliant defending for the other two either, but they were more down to good moves from Arsenal than anything else. Ah well, hide for a couple of days and then hopefully bounce back against Southampton!

[EJG1980]

Still even though we lost and are now back behind Arsenal and Chelsea there is only 1 point separating the teams in 3rd, 4th and 5th. We can even afford to cheer on Everton, 8 points behind Spurs, to do us a favour and keep Liverpool in 2nd within 3 points too.

Yup, I can't see it being anything other than tight in the battle for the CL spots behind Man City. I'd be surprised if it's not a nail-biter all the way until the end of the season.

[fallenangle]

Everton almost pulled off a draw with Liverpool which would also have been an OK result for us but gave it away in the end. Liverpool are now 2 wins ahead and we certainly do not want that to get any greater or, as for the last three Premiership campaigns, the rest of the season we'll be playing catch up.

Big criticism of Poch from many sources for using Foyth in preference to Toby Alderweireld and his late use of the subs. In the rather good article at:-

https://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/fixtures-results/pochettinos-toby-alderweireld-decision-wasnt-15496371Poch

his excuse on the first matter is just about convincing but I really don't care if Foyth played well for 99% of the match. He's been directly involved in giving away 3 (?) goals this season. When our goal scoring is as low as it is in relation to most of our rivals that can not be ignored.

Personally I think Foyth, as that article also suggests, is actually more suited, like Eric Dier, to the modernised-sweeper role, essentially a defensive midfielder with a roving brief in front of a back three or four, doing the sort of job Scott Parker was renowned for. His defensive talent, speed and athleticism IMHO make that the more obvious role for him at this stage of his development.

Playing higher up the pitch with the main defensive line behind him as a safety net, supporting attacks, snuffing out counter attacks in the middle third before they can get going also means he might give away less penalties too.

[EJG1980]

I think it's a bit early to judge where Foyth might end up at the moment, he's only 20 years old and has made 4 appearances in the Premier League (and had made only 7 league appearances for Estudiantes before we bought him). I'm sure even the very best defenders had various flaws to work out if you looked at where they were barely ten or eleven appearances into their careers.

I also think he's probably made more appearances than expected so far this season with the injuries to Vertonghen and Sanchez, he'd probably have been once again restricted to cup competitions had they both been fit the whole time.

One thing that gives me confidence is how much Poch clearly believes in him, I don't think we'd have got such a passionate defence of him if Poch didn't have really high hopes for him. The skills he needs like positioning, passing, tackling ability, all seem to be in place. So far it's been individual little momentary lapses that have let him down, which I think is something that he's likely to cut out the more experience he gets. Time will tell!

Edit: Tranmere Rovers or Southport away in the FA Cup third round, good draw, should be fun. I remember a couple of good cup matches against Tranmere in the early 2000's and according to 11v11.com we've never played Southport.

[fallenangle]

As I think it was Ian Wright who said on MotD: you should pay your best players in the matches that really matter ie. particularly against other top six clubs. Spurs might have a potentially great player in Foyth but they can not afford the indulgence of waiting for him to get up to speed, mentally as much as anything. Toby Alderweireld when fit should always be first choice because he's a proven quantity and it is all very well Poch saying all players make mistakes, Foyth's serious mistakes/appearance ratio is the problem.

Give him his chance as sub and/or replacement for injured/red carded players in less critical matches to get the experience, Poch has been doing that with his Spurs B team in the League Cup and even Europa Cup ever since he took over, giving the less used players a chance to shine. I do not understand why Foyth has been thrown in at the deep end right from the start because he's now under far greater pressure not to make any more mistakes. Another one in a critical match and it'll damage his confidence for a long time and, IMHO, even the risk of that happening is bad man management.