We didn't need a win at all? It was our first and one of the hardest games in the group. We're fine as long as we win at home.
The Tottenham Hotspur Thread
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We didn't need a win at all? It was our first and one of the hardest games in the group. We're fine as long as we win at home.
It was a hard game, their supporters were great, singing for 90 minutes and if they'd gone 1-0 up, I dont think we'd have shut them up!
However, we have enough quality to come into the team from last night (10 changes!) that mean we should win all our home games, Shamrock away, which will see us qualify. Remember that our next league game after PAOK is MASSIVE! Liverpool at home is a game we have to be winning to have any hopes of top 4 challenge. Also given that LFC had no game this week, we needed fresh legs to come into this game!
Rubin away will be very tough, even for the first team, however even Redknapp can't play the same young team out there, they'll get murdered!!!! Or can he? Was it HR that played 2 weak sides vs Shaktar when we had league cup final vs United coming up?
The defeat against Shakhtar, away:
Tottenham: Gomes, Zokora, Bentley, Huddlestone, Jenas (capt), Gunter, Dos Santos (Bent, 69), Campbell, Dawson, Parrett (Bostock, 89), Chimbonda;
Draw at home, 1-1:
Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): Gomes; Gunter, Chimbonda, Huddlestone, Gilberto (Bostock 77); Giovani, Palacios, O’Hara (Parrett 71), Bale; Obika, Campbell.
S
Sam
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I hear Dunc has the same hairstyle
Tottenham 4-0 Liverpool: Tottenham dominate
September 18, 2011
A wondergoal got them going and the rest came when Liverpool had a numerical disadvantage, but Tottenham were clearly the better side in this match.
Harry Redknapp used his 4-4-2, with Niko Kranjcar out on the right – Rafael van der Vaart was half-fit, and on the bench.
Kenny Dalglish seemed to begin with a very narrow system – Charlie Adam very narrow on the left and Stewart Downing out on the right – perhaps to counteract Tottenham’s wing threat, which would come from the left through Bale, rather than the right through Kranjcar.
Tottenham began brightly, pressing Liverpool in midfield and keeping possession well themselves. Charlie Adam, in particular, was given no time on the ball to spray passes across the pitch – as a result, he ended with his second-lowest pass completion rate in his Premier League career, according to Opta. Perhaps this frustration also contributed towards his red card midway through the first half.
Possession
Tottenham kept the ball particularly well (even at 11 v 11), which was impressive considering Liverpool tried to pack the centre of the pitch early on. Luka Modric played passes to the flanks, Scott Parker also provided distribution from deeper, and Kranjcar came into the middle of the pitch, and enjoyed the fact that he had space down that side.
The front two, who dovetailed well at Wolves last week, again had a good game together. Jermain Defoe dropped into intelligent positions between the lines, whilst Adebayor often worked the channels and brought the Liverpool centre-backs out of the back. They both came deep, offered another passing option, and finished with impressive passing stats – Adebayor for how often he was involved, Defoe because he didn’t once give the ball away.
by Guardian Chalkboards
The most obvious theme from the first half was Liverpool’s indiscipline. They continually gave away free-kicks, particularly just outside of the box to (their) left, and the poor tackling brought various separate problems. Most obviously, it resulted in two of their players getting sent off, but it also gave Tottenham good shooting opportunities from dead ball situations.
11 v 10
The real tactical excitement came after Liverpool went down to ten, with Charlie Adam dismissed. Dalglish kept the same ten players on the pitch, and made the surprising decision to stick Andy Carroll out on the left. Maybe Dalglish wanted to cause Kyle Walker problems in the air, but Carroll looked uncomfortable and didn’t have the energy to track Walker when Liverpool didn’t have the ball (which was the majority of the time). Putting Suarez out wide would have made more sense, or alternatively Liverpool had two players on the bench – Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy – who naturally shuttle from a wide role to a support striker position.
Tottenham played the 11 v 10 well – they kept width, kept the ball and tired Liverpool. That said, they didn’t produce too many clear-cut chances, and had to wait until Liverpool got Martin Skrtel sent off for their second goal.
11 v 9
It’s difficult to argue that Dalglish could have done anything to get Liverpool back in the game here. Competing with nine men is vaguely possible if you’re at 0-0 and can grind out a draw – but since Liverpool needed to get back into the game, it was hopeless.
Conclusion
This could have been an extremely interesting game. For the first few minutes it was – Tottenham pressed brilliantly, and Adam’s problems summed up Liverpool as a whole: unable to find space, unable to play the ball forward. The narrowness can help retain possession, but it does mean the opposition have to cover less space and do less work to close down.
Dalglish was in a difficult situation with ten men, but using Carroll on the flank was a strange decision that didn’t seem to bring any benefits – Liverpool couldn’t get the ball forward, and
Carroll didn’t offer much defensively. A change was needed when Liverpool had ten – when it was nine, it was game over.
September 18, 2011
A wondergoal got them going and the rest came when Liverpool had a numerical disadvantage, but Tottenham were clearly the better side in this match.
Harry Redknapp used his 4-4-2, with Niko Kranjcar out on the right – Rafael van der Vaart was half-fit, and on the bench.
Kenny Dalglish seemed to begin with a very narrow system – Charlie Adam very narrow on the left and Stewart Downing out on the right – perhaps to counteract Tottenham’s wing threat, which would come from the left through Bale, rather than the right through Kranjcar.
Tottenham began brightly, pressing Liverpool in midfield and keeping possession well themselves. Charlie Adam, in particular, was given no time on the ball to spray passes across the pitch – as a result, he ended with his second-lowest pass completion rate in his Premier League career, according to Opta. Perhaps this frustration also contributed towards his red card midway through the first half.
Possession
Tottenham kept the ball particularly well (even at 11 v 11), which was impressive considering Liverpool tried to pack the centre of the pitch early on. Luka Modric played passes to the flanks, Scott Parker also provided distribution from deeper, and Kranjcar came into the middle of the pitch, and enjoyed the fact that he had space down that side.
The front two, who dovetailed well at Wolves last week, again had a good game together. Jermain Defoe dropped into intelligent positions between the lines, whilst Adebayor often worked the channels and brought the Liverpool centre-backs out of the back. They both came deep, offered another passing option, and finished with impressive passing stats – Adebayor for how often he was involved, Defoe because he didn’t once give the ball away.
by Guardian Chalkboards
The most obvious theme from the first half was Liverpool’s indiscipline. They continually gave away free-kicks, particularly just outside of the box to (their) left, and the poor tackling brought various separate problems. Most obviously, it resulted in two of their players getting sent off, but it also gave Tottenham good shooting opportunities from dead ball situations.
11 v 10
The real tactical excitement came after Liverpool went down to ten, with Charlie Adam dismissed. Dalglish kept the same ten players on the pitch, and made the surprising decision to stick Andy Carroll out on the left. Maybe Dalglish wanted to cause Kyle Walker problems in the air, but Carroll looked uncomfortable and didn’t have the energy to track Walker when Liverpool didn’t have the ball (which was the majority of the time). Putting Suarez out wide would have made more sense, or alternatively Liverpool had two players on the bench – Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy – who naturally shuttle from a wide role to a support striker position.
Tottenham played the 11 v 10 well – they kept width, kept the ball and tired Liverpool. That said, they didn’t produce too many clear-cut chances, and had to wait until Liverpool got Martin Skrtel sent off for their second goal.
11 v 9
It’s difficult to argue that Dalglish could have done anything to get Liverpool back in the game here. Competing with nine men is vaguely possible if you’re at 0-0 and can grind out a draw – but since Liverpool needed to get back into the game, it was hopeless.
Conclusion
This could have been an extremely interesting game. For the first few minutes it was – Tottenham pressed brilliantly, and Adam’s problems summed up Liverpool as a whole: unable to find space, unable to play the ball forward. The narrowness can help retain possession, but it does mean the opposition have to cover less space and do less work to close down.
Dalglish was in a difficult situation with ten men, but using Carroll on the flank was a strange decision that didn’t seem to bring any benefits – Liverpool couldn’t get the ball forward, and
Carroll didn’t offer much defensively. A change was needed when Liverpool had ten – when it was nine, it was game over.
Loverly result for us. We were helped with the sending off's, because I think it would have been tighter with 11 vs 11. I say this because we became a bit slack after 25-30 minutes and our pressing/passing game became somewhat diminished.
Friedel had nothing to do, Walker was very promising and hopefully this means some bench time for Lennon and a tighter midfield as a result/perhaps 2 upfront etc, King/Kaboul/Ekotto almost composed but still not that trustworthy(King the exception), Bale threatening and some good crossing, Modric lovely, Parker did a decent job but I will always prefer Sandro unless we play a 3-man midfield, Defoe I thought did OK, held the ball up but I'm not convinced he will have an effective partnership with Ade unless he learns the concept of team-work. Ade himself slowed down our counter attacks a fair bit, but it was interesting to see him drop deeper. Would prefer him to be further up, and hopefully he and Rafa can produce a fantastic understanding. They could be devastating together.
Anyway, I know we said this last season, but this is our chance for 4th. Pray that HR keeps playing the kids/Fringers(i'm looking at you Pienaar) in Europe so our seniors can have a real shot at it. Liverpool are going to be found out with their shoddy transfer work(Adam/Henderson/Carroll) while Arsenal are a fraction of what they were as they have replaced world class with just class, and it will tell. I believe we have a superior squad to both, just about.
Sandro, come back soon! But FFS that hair cut is just not doing it for me, and thus my man-love cannot express itself fully!
Friedel had nothing to do, Walker was very promising and hopefully this means some bench time for Lennon and a tighter midfield as a result/perhaps 2 upfront etc, King/Kaboul/Ekotto almost composed but still not that trustworthy(King the exception), Bale threatening and some good crossing, Modric lovely, Parker did a decent job but I will always prefer Sandro unless we play a 3-man midfield, Defoe I thought did OK, held the ball up but I'm not convinced he will have an effective partnership with Ade unless he learns the concept of team-work. Ade himself slowed down our counter attacks a fair bit, but it was interesting to see him drop deeper. Would prefer him to be further up, and hopefully he and Rafa can produce a fantastic understanding. They could be devastating together.
Anyway, I know we said this last season, but this is our chance for 4th. Pray that HR keeps playing the kids/Fringers(i'm looking at you Pienaar) in Europe so our seniors can have a real shot at it. Liverpool are going to be found out with their shoddy transfer work(Adam/Henderson/Carroll) while Arsenal are a fraction of what they were as they have replaced world class with just class, and it will tell. I believe we have a superior squad to both, just about.
Sandro, come back soon! But FFS that hair cut is just not doing it for me, and thus my man-love cannot express itself fully!
ShinyJaker
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Anyone know where to watch tonight's game? Is it on TV? Or a stream mayhap?
Hoping some kind soul out there will be able to help, worst comes to the worst, BBC radio London sometimes have us on their DB radio station? In the meantime:
Spurs team news:
TEAM NEWS - Sandro returns as Harry Redknapp makes nine changes to the team that beat Liverpool on Sunday. Heurelho Gomes starts in goal with Rafa van der Vaart up front and there's another chance for Tom Carroll. Meanwhile, development squad midfielders Massimo Luongo and Cristian Ceballos, both 18, are on the bench for the first time. STARTING XI -
Gomes;
Corluka, Kaboul, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto;
Carroll, Sandro, Livermore, Giovani;
Van der Vaart, Pavlyuchenko.
SUBS - Cudicini, Townsend, Luongo, Ceballos, Falque, Kane, Defoe.
Thats a better team than we put out in Greece for the Europa League! Pav needs a performance, he's played poorly each time I've seen him play recently. Intreresting to see if Ceballos/Falque come on and how they handle prem oppo.
COYS! COYS! COYS! COYS!
Update:
Spurs commentary on the following link (Radio only) Any streaming would be great though, any takers?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_london
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