Another season, another defeat at Old Trafford. The experience might be familiar, but we did learn a few new things last night (or at least had our memories jogged).
1. Age is merely a concept
The most pleasing aspect of last night’s game was the performance of our geriatric goalie Brad Friedel. The American flung himself around, as if he was half his actual age, making some outstanding saves and generally looking much more secure than Heurelho Gomes.
Friedel is clearly not one for the future, but it looks like he can at least do a job this season. It will be interesting to see if Harry tries to keep Gomes happy with appearances in the Europa League, or whether Friedel will start again on Thursday.
2. We still need a strong lone striker
The performance of Jermain Defoe against Hearts and the way he linked with Rafael van der Vaart in that game, might have made some optimistic souls think that he could do a job as our lone striker all season.
Against more testing opposition however, Defoe found himself isolated, as Van der Vaart dropped further back to help the midfield and the England striker struggled to hold the ball up. I think that Defoe has a part to play this term, but he’s never been a prolific scorer against strong teams, away from home. We still need someone with height, strength and mobility. Right now I’m willing to accept a certain ex-Gooner mercenary with open arms.
3. ‘Have a go’ Harry is no tactical genius
If you’d have told me back in the summer that we’d be facing Manchester United away with a central midfield duo of Jake Livermore and Niko Kranjcar, I’d have said that we’d lose 5-0. As it was, the pair performed admirably in the first half, but were overrun after the break.
When we went 1-0 down, Harry waited too long to make any changes, considering that it was evident that something needed to be done before we conceded. After 74 minutes we brought on Pavlyuchenko and Huddlestone for Kranjcar and Livermore. This left Van der Vaart to drop into the centre of the midfield, while we reverted to a 4-4-2. Harry probably saw this as a way of having a go at them, but in truth it was suicidal.
Within two minutes of the substitutions we were 2-0 down, after Anderson was allowed to make a run into the box with no one tracking back. A far smarter change would have been to switch VDV to the right of the attack at the expense of the ineffectual Lennon and to bring on Huddlestone to form a three man midfield alongside Livermore and Kranjcar. This would have allowed us the numerical advantage over United’s midfield of Cleverley and Anderson, forcing Rooney to drop back, or for them to sacrifice a forward for another midfielder.
4. Have faith in youth
Both Kyle Walker and Jake Livermore showed their naivety during certain moments of the game, but both ultimately did a decent enough job in extremely tricky circumstances. They will only be stronger for the experience and I hope that it makes Harry less cautious when it comes to throwing the kids in at the deep end.
Our young players will get a chance in the Europa League this season and like Livermore, they will hopefully show enough of their ability to be given a chance in the less forgiving Premier League.
5. Kaboul deserves a run in the team
Other than Friedel, I thought that our standout player was Younes Kaboul. He hasn’t really had a prolonged run in the centre of our defence since returning from Portsmouth, due to injury, his versatility and the presence of Ledley King and William Gallas.
The time has come for him to be given a few games to form a partnership with Michael Dawson. He has everything needed to be a top central defender, but he won’t fulfill his potential if he only plays every other game.
Totally agree: your points are salient & accurate! NottSpur
Kaboul is better than Dawson, I have been saying that for ages!!!
We need a striker
We need a striker
We need a striker I have been saying this for 3 years
Arsenal moan about a lack of investment but they have spent around 30 million on Gervinho(14m) Jenkinson and Costa Rican (4m) and Chamberlain (12m) thats more than we have spent in 2 and a half years….IF I AM WRONG CORRECT ME BUT:
VDVaart 2010 Summer 8m
Pienaar 2011 Jan 2.5m
Kaboul 2009 Summer 2.5m
Sandro 2010 Summer 6m
Friedel 2011 Summer Free
Krancjar 2009 Summer 2.5m
Bassong 2009 Summer 8m
Total 29.5m
This is taking into account our 2 sponsorship deals, champions league run, OHara and Keane sales and increased ticket prices
WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING…..and then once in a while you here we bid 35 million for Aguero, 25 million for Mata and 30 million for Rossi.
Yet we wont stump up the wages for Adebayor and wont pay the fee for Diarra its all becoming a joke
you cannot pay Adebayor £170k and the rest no more than half that, and most less than a third…it would cause so many problems.
Arsenal spend £40m more a year on wages than SPurs…this reflects in the fact their profits are similar to Spurs but it comes at the cost of transfer kitty…yes they have spent this summer (having sold a lot) but we make a differnt choice – control wages and have transfer kitty to spend
Excellent comments which I fully agree with. I was saying to my friend in the second half that I hope they bring Lennon off because he was not involved. Var de Var should definitely have moved over to the right for Huddlestone to add some ball winning defending in the centre. I personally would have liked to see Huddlestone and Krancjar in the centre from the start. I think that it would give the right blend of defending, passing and attacking with van der var linking in.
We were on a loser anyway. Bringing Lennon off loses the pacy defensive cover work he was doing. The slow Niko, Vdv, and Livermore is not exactly pacy – all needed pace around them. Once Walker went off through sickness, Lennon definitely could not come off.
You can’t play Lennon just hoping that he beats his man and gets the ball in. If he did it all the time like Ashley Young then I’m all for it, but it is once or twice per match when he feels up for it. Over the past few seasons the part of Lennon that made him a threat has diminished. He no longer appears fearless.
Too many times he pinned himself to the byline and when he got the ball he showed no interest in driving into the box.
I totally agree with you on all 5 points. Also may I add, the players also gave the opposition too much space and wasn’t closing down on the man with the ball fast enough. It was times defenders was stepping back into the 18 yard box when the should have been attacking the ball.
How about suggesting to take Bale off instead of Lennon? Bale was completely shut out. Lennon was also preventing Evra from attacking. If you take Lennon off, then Evra becomes an extra winger for them. Bale was hardly pinning Smalling back was he? 2 of the goals originated from Bale’s side of the pitch, despite Ekotto playing well.
The could’ve switched sides, which didn’t happen.
Thought Dawson looked slow on the turn and generally clumsy. Think we need King /Gallas to partner Kaboul.
Ha. Yeah, you got the right Dawson.
Has anyone ever analyzed the number of goals we have conceded down our left hand side, mainly as a result of loosing procession / a bad, or misplaced pass from our left back Assou Ekotto. I think the number may highlight where our weaknesses are, other than a strike force who shoot on sight because they fail to see a team mate who is better placed.
I agree on the 5 points, I think Kaboul can be first choice alongside Dawson for years to come if given a chance to cement his place.
Despite the scoreline last night, I think there were more positives than negatives to be taken from the game. Bearing in mind this was our first league game of the season and at Old Trafford against the Champions, I feel that we gave as good as we got until the hour mark. The additions of a big goalscoring front man, along with a genuine, fit holding midfielder like Diarra would give us solidarity and goals to go with an impressive squad of young players and talents such as VDV, Bale and (fingers crossed) a certain Croatian playmaker.
Hey! Some optimism…Or as I see it – realism. Definitely positives. Freidel – reliable looking option in goal. Ekotto played well (one slip up with poor clearance that led to goal). Kaboul – great show (possibly caught out for 1st goal too). Walker – didn’t play well, but it all adds up for experience. Livermore – What an experience! He did ok. With a stronger partner, he can hold his own. Defoe – sharper, and will score 13-15 this season. Still lacking what it takes to be a really good striker, but hey ho. We did ok with a terribly weak central midfield. Get the boys back, and we’ll be fine. Our hardest game of the season is out of the way. Use it to Spur us on.
Disagree, Kaboul kept giving the ball away in the first half in our half and was out of position for the second goal leaving Dawson with 2 strikers to mark. He lacks concentration. He is not good enough for a regular start, Gallas is a far better player, so is King.
Walker was constantly turned inside and allowed crosses into our box that Corluka in the second half stopped. He has promise but has a lot of work to do defensively. Livermore did well considering he had to do Krancjar’s running and covering as well.
Harry made the right substitutions as Livermore was knackered and Krancjar was useless not bothering to defend allied with creating nothing going forward, he showed he is not a Modric replacement. We were exposed and conceded 2 more goals because Lennon and Bale did not get back, we were taking risks, sometimes they fail.
Big season for Kaboul – if he can play 30+ games then he could be our “Kompany”. But that is a big if with Kaboul’s injury record thus far….
Can we please get a replacement for Lennon, someone who can actually cross/pass to a teammate! I’m sick of watching excellent opportunities go to waste because of him… I fail to see why he gets such an easy ride from our fans!
You’ll miss him when he is gone mate. He needs competition, not replacing
There was a time a few seasons ago where it looked like he was improving his final ball, but he just seems to have massively regressed. I just think there’s got to better options out there, but his position seems to be guaranteed and no-one seems to question it…
oddly, those times exactly correlate with the times Bentley has been a selection option
Still believe that if Bentley had pace of any kind he would be world-class! If Lennon had half of Bentley’s skill-set he’d be world-class!
You haven’t said that we were pretty competitive for around an hour, until probably our most reliable defender of the last 2 years was completely wrong footed to allow Welbeck to score – he did exactly the same again to allow Rooneys goal. I’m not really having a go at Daws, but these mistakes were very unexpected and the first goal put us on the back foot.
Quality post. We held our own for an hour at OT with that cm, Walker, Friedel on his debut… Dawson will never get any better than he is now. And like Defoe, that’s not quite good enough. Let’s face it, the England team isn’t all that, nevermind the fringers.
VdeV is a liability when he hasn’t got Crouch to feed off. Harry should play Bale at centre forward, he has the pace, the physical strength and can score goals one on one? Bale could solve all our problems and harder to tie down when he’s in the centre. Teams can mark him easily enough when he plays out wide?
Totally agree with the article. Our major problem last night was the fact that there was no one to hold the ball up for our midfield to push onto and therefore a lot of backward passes were made. Defoe/Pavlyuchenko are not reliable passers of the ball in the box and Crouch is very lucky that he is able to find other players with his ‘knockdowns’. The striker is STILL the issue with our squad. Don’t understand why people are berating Van der Vaart, when he was the only player pressuring Man U’s goal – if only Lennon made that pass to him in the first half !
I agree with all of the points raised, i feel we lost the game when trying to accomodate VDV in central midfield, pathetic decision as we would never cope with Uniteds CM. typical Harry, clueless tactically! at least he dropped Gomes, felt safer with Brad in sticks. at least this fixture is out of the way
Dawson to pair with Kaboul?
Two slow-paced and slow-witted players put together?
We’ve seen it yesterday.
After changing its tactics in the second half, MU could score three times because its incoming players were not tracked back by our DMs and our two CB couldn’t cover properly the strikers who were in the middle of the box!!
And Hudd (the turtle) together with Kranjcar (the walker) in the midfield?
And who is going to track back the incoming players of the rival team?
We forget probably that Steve Perryman isn’t playing anymore for Spurs.
All those players aren’t qualified for the PL level.
They are too slow-paced or/and slow-witted or/and unable to tackle properly.
I agree with Ed Pols.
We’ve conceded too many goals from balls coming from our left back position.
That means that our left back doesn’t have enough support from the midfield players who play on the left side.
We needed a defenisive midfielder which is why Redknapp/Levy are after Diarra. No need to berate Dawson and Kaboul, they were left exposed all night. Kranjcar is best suited to play wide and cut in. Cannot understand why Redknapp didn’t try Bale in a central role for portions of the match; or even take off Lennon for Huddlestone and push VDV out wide. Yes Lennon helped stop Evra going forward, but he was reluctant to attack except for the one or two times he did run at Evra.
…it was evident the non presence of modric, to keep the ball and we need imediatly an good striker…
I don’t have faith in Kaboul – Compare him with Phil Jones who was arguably the best player on the pitch (remember the incident in the second half where he raced back to block Bale’s laying the ball across the box. The anticipation and purpose shown was remarkable.
Now remember the first Man U goal – Kaboul was picking up Wellbeck he was positioned correctly as Cleverly crossed but lost his man. Dawson looked at fault because he had to leave his man and made a desparate attempt to get to Wellbeck as the ball was coming over.
Kaboul will do this game in game out – Outstanding for most of the game and then a lapse in concentration and against the big boys that will result in a goal.
lads we gave an average united team a good game for the majority of the game until Harry pressed the suicide button and put VDV in the middle of midfield. I think we’ve learnt a few invaluable lessons last night and i agree with all the above 5 points. Add to this: my above point about VDV and add that Modric is THE man missing last night who would have taken the game to them and given us momentum. He needs to stay for one more year.
Also RE the comments about Azza , yes i rate him highly but what the fuck was he doing not pulling the ball back to VDV to smash at the goal from 10 yards out? Single handedly the worst piece of wing play you’re gonna see at this level. I’m sorry but WTF goes on in the guys head sometimes. Its like Kaboul leading with the head yet again. Honestly these guys are paid a fortune, are they all simpletons or what?
Were all of u watching on tv because ,not being critical but,
it doesnt always give u a bigger pic,like dl said vdv worked his socks off had a good game but lacked modders .who was the one creating and having shots on goal near the end, only preson who gave their goalie any probs free-kick sec half.Thought him and benny played well ,shame about walker being ill although still got a lot to learn helped with his pace,noticably tired alot after 65-70mins thats when subs should have been on.defoe awful ,thought midfield controlled it first half with out doing much, bale and lennon very quite turning point for me was lennon on line 3yds from goal all he had to do was slip it to vdv dont know wat happened [brainstorm!]
Didnt any of u lot notice yes friedal done a lot of good shot stopping but didnt come for crosses !!!
anyway on to next mancs twitchy has to sort out team instead of spending his life on Talksport,SKy or writing in the bloody papers
Good points, also the other lessons are:
1. ManUre spend the best part of £60 million in the close season and still spin themselves as pure as the driven snow purveyors of bringing on the yoof from within!
2. ManUre spend at the START of the window, so they have 2 months to gel and gel they did! We have no key signings yet. When will D Levy learn that losing points in August can cost places and money and protracted negotiations are actually not cost effective (penny wise and pound foolish as my grandma used to say)?
3. Last night the team looked flat and toothless, once we went one down, there was no plan B.
The problem was our striking option. VDV is not a midfielder, nor a striker. He is an exceptional player and should always play at home and in most away games, however, we have wingers that get into good positions but rarely do our strikers get on the end of them, and even more rarely do our midfield break their necks to get into the box. It is difficult to judge us against the champions, away, on our first league game, with players missing. I agree with the man who noticed positives – as I did too. COYS
Agree with what you say except harry’s tactics…we were chasing the game and you want us to go to a proper 451. having VDV wide right in that marginalises him. He has no real pace, he would be easily marked out the game, or drift in exposing the full back.
The subs he made had to be attacking…not enough service to defoe who was isolated, it had to be 2 up top. Unfortunately VDV at CM vs Utd is not ideal but would you have preferred an unfit Jeans on instead?
Ideally, given a proper No.9 and everyone fit, I would like to see Sandro & Hudd holding in games like this. Modric ahead of them, Bale and VDV/Lennon wide (although not always hugging the line) and a big man up top. Solid though the middle. Pace out wide. Creativity in the middle of the park, goal threat up front. Last night we lacked 3 of the players necessary to make that happen and we don’t even own the 4th.
Good article and valid points but a few frustrations of my own to share.
Defoe – I’m becoming tired of this lad as he seems incapable of forming a partnership with anyone unless he’s the main man and I’m sorry, he’s not good enough to be the main striker for anyone competing for Europe/Champions League. Get Adebayor in quick Harry.
VDV – Give him a chance in/around the box and he’ll take it but frustrating otherwise. I don’t believe we can afford a luxury player and that’s what he is. It was great business getting him but if we could sell him for £20 Mill+ and keep Modric the team would benefit.
Lennon – Wish he’d spend as much time practising crossing as he does shaving his eyebrows, final ball is awful and decision making poor.
Think our full backs will be superb this year but we do need to get a partnership going in the centre. Pick 2, stick with them Harry whether King is fit or not then have them waiting in the wings to step in for bad form/injury etc, don’t just take Kaboul out if Dawson is the one making mistakes (he should know better by now).
We do miss a leader/inspirational figure to get the team going when things are against us. I’m a huge fan of Scott Parker’s and would love him at the lane. Jag’s at Everton wouldn’t be a bad buy either.
Happy to swap Defoe & Crouch for Jag’s & Rodwell, probably need to give them a bit of money on top but would suit both clubs I believe. Perhaps we could give them some more money and see if they’ll take Hutton, Bassong & Bentley also?
Very evident the need for 2 big strikers, what i can’t understand with Redknapp and Levy in Jan we were supposed to have bids in for 2 big strikers now when we need desperately to buy a striker we can’t get anybody. What were we doing in the pre season we faded badly in the 2nd half. Why didn’t he play Pav and VDV instead up front. If no deal is done for at least 2 strikers this summer we are going to struggle.
Pleased to see so many insightful comments on this sight. I’ve been venting spleen since last night, and actually vowed to never visit Newsnow or read about Tottenham again, but there you have it.
Regarding our tactics, personel and off-field leadership:
The more I see of Redknapp, the more I beieve he’s tactically behind the times by at least seven or eight years. 4-4-2 makes us dull and predictable. A 4-2-3-1 (or variations of 4-3-3) with Sandro and Hudd/ Diarra (assuming we get him), with Modric (assuming we keep him, or find a similar replacement) flanked by Bale and VDV/Lennon and a player able to do the running, have the physical presence and skills in the lone front role (assuming we get one) will make us a tougher but also more dynamic force. Plus, we obviously need another quality CB.
Which leads me onto the next point: why the hell isn’t Levy and Redknapp getting this in place in July? I refuse to believe that any future investments rely on us selling Modric when these positions needed adressing long before he fell in love with Abromovich and the Daily Mail. I think they’ll scapegoat Modric- christ, I was cursing his name last night for not showing, but really are we that brittle we fall apart when one player isn’t available? If the answer is yes, you have to look beyond the greed or ambition of a single player and point the finger at the suits.
Good points agree mostly. I wish Harry would see Daffy is not the answer to our goal drought in the Prem. Neither is clumsy oaf addy, he of no touch!! To even try to get him is crazy for a few reasons wages, old club, ball skills,etc, etc We currently employ a tall striker so to me its madness!! Get a striker with good touch and goal scoring ability not a over payed clown…..Forlan would be good.
i heard a rumour the other day that man city want lennon for adam johnson + 10 million, on last night’s showing i’d be happy to pay them 10 million + lennon for johnson…
Agreed. Johnson is an underrated gem at City. Lennon needs to learn some basic decision-making abilities – doesn’t look for the shot; doesn’t look for the pass…
I agree with your ‘Five things we learned from watching Spurs last night’ and it’s not a sixth thing, but the Tottenham fans who travelled to Old Trafford were just great in their support.
In response to the comments of Jayme August 23, 2011 at 3:53 pm comparing Arsenal’s transfer spending with Spurs’;
The main issue here is revenue generation. All football clubs across the world still receive at least 50% of their income from gate receipts. The relative size of Arsenal and Spurs’ stadiums resulted in Arsenal making £94m last season from ticket sales and had a wage bill of £110m. Compare that to Spurs’ season long gate receipt of £27m with a wage bill of £67m.
Do the math; Just from gate receipts Arsenal made $67m more than Spurs. This in turn enables them to have a wage bill almost twice the size of Spurs’.
All this points to the massive importance to Spurs in building a new Stadium with a substantially greater capacity.
At present Spurs would find themselves crippled by debt if they bought players and paid salaries at the level of the top 4 clubs.
DEMB
I agree with most of your points.
I have a problem with those folks who praise VDV no matter how he performs. He is a luxury player as is Krancjer. We cant afford to have 2 of these type on the field at the same time,especially away from home. Both are easily disposessed and are incapable of winning it back.
Why is VDV NEVER substituted? Some are saying he was the only one having a go. How many times did he try to chip or shoot from impossiple distances or positions when other players were open? He done it over and over. He seems to have free reign to do as he pleases with no repercussions from management or even YOU fans.
Else for Dawson…wow! Does he EVER learn?
How many times will he follow a player 40 yards upfield,dive in, miss the tackle and the ball,end up on the ground and out of the play completely?
He only plays a composed role when King is beside him.
He was at fault for at least 2 of the goals, caught flat footed and rooted to the spot as has become his norm.
If he wasnt english non of you guys would like or rate him.
We lacked drive and guts in midfield. That is where we lost the game. If Hudd is fit,he should have started. Simple as that. Krancjer is not the answer. He has skill but…. lacks something.
Freidel made some very good saves, but was rooted to his line whenever the ball was crossed into the box. Quite worrying!
I like Harry but…! Im tired of him rebuying leftovers.
He now seems to think Joe Cole is a good player for us as is Scott Parker. RUBBISH!
The only players he seems to like are old and or English. Players he has managed previously. Does he have a deal with certain of these players agents?
He buys young players then never gives them a chance.
He says he wants to win the league,then goes and buys players the other contenders would never ever consider.
We would be better off if certain players were not in the squad and were therefore not an option for Harry to play.
IE: Crouch(cannot score and never in goal scoring positions). Hutton(the worst defender to ever play in the premiership,cant defend to save his soul). Bassong(guaranteed to make a crucial error).
At least that anchor Keane is gone….one positive move Harry made.
We have the potential to win it all if we use the right players and stopped allowing certain players to have free reign.
VDV is a very good player at times but…. when he gets tired and starts dropping back and losing the ball and becomes ineffective he needs to be substituted just as others are.
Sandro is a big big miss!
DEMB made some very relevant points.
We NEED the new stadium. We also need it in TOTTENHAM.
Mr Levy. We are not interested in moving to Statford. Simple as that!
Stop wasting the clubs money with these legal challenges.
Back to the team. I am really puzzled when I hear Harry saying “We can sell Modric and that would allow us to bring in 2 or 3 players to improve the team.
What utter nonsense. We sell one of our best players to one of our rivals to make them stronger. Then we bring in rubbish like Cole etc?
Where is this guys head at? Does he want us to be forever behind the so called “big four”? Sell them our best players and buy their discards?
My Tottenham midfield would be….. Bale,Huddlestone, Modric, Sandro, Lennon/Van Der Vaart.
Most times I would play 4. Which leaves out VDV or one of the defensive players.
The best midfield in the premiership! VDV should not be guaranteed to start every game. Just like the others it should be based on performances.
My defence would be….. B E A,King(if fit),Kaboul,Corluka.
Dawson should not be guaranteed a starting spot all the time,his performances do not justify it.
My forwards would be…. Defoe and Adebayor(if he comes)/Pavluychenko.
I at first had reservations about Adebayor. I never liked his attitude when he played against us.Always rubbing it in when he scored.
But…he ALWAYS scored against us and ALWAYS gave our defense the run around.
So Ive changed my opinion and would welcome him to the Lane.
Let him give the Arse and others a torrid time now.
Welcome ADE!
I find that viewpoint hard to comprehend.
I am loyal Tottenham fan since 1969,but have never been one to blindly agree with something or someone because they are associated with Spurs.
Redknapp seems to be thinking about self preservation rather than Tottenham’s future.
He seems to worry about making money for himself and the future England job.
He buys the ex England internationals to make himself look like a loyal British man to the F A heirarchy. In order to put him at the top of the pile for the England managers job when it becomes available in 2012.
He needs to recognise who is paying his wages NOW.
Pablo. In response to your comments “We NEED the new stadium. We also need it in TOTTENHAM.
Mr Levy. We are not interested in moving to Statford. Simple as that! Stop wasting the clubs money with these legal challenges.”
You have to ask yourself what type of football club you want Spurs to be? Do you ever want to see them seriously challenge for the Premier League title and on a regular basis, or be genuine contenders for the Champions League?
Because if you do then the only way to achieve those heights is through a new stadium. Spurs simply cannot compete financially with ticket receipts from the existing stadium, as I mentioned above.
There are two options as most people are aware; remain at White Hart Lane (WHL), or move to Stratford.
While i’m sure all Spurs fans would wish to stay at WHL, the main obstacle to building a new stadium in the existing location, with a capacity large enough (58,000 seats) is transportation infrastructure. I.E. We will be required to build a new train / tube station. The cost is enormous and to date has been prohibitive.
Yesterday Boris Johnson offered Spurs £8m in support to stay at WHL. This derisory amount of support will mean that Spurs have no alternative but to pursue the Judicial Review (granted to them yesterday) of the decision to grant West Ham the Olympic Stadium.
The basic position is this-
If Spurs stay at WHL they will be unable to build a new larger stadium without government support of over c.100m (estimate of transportation costs).
If they stay in the existing stadium they will increasingly find it tougher to compete at the highest levels (see comments above).
The only affordable option without government support is moving to Stratford. That is unless you are satisfied with Spurs slipping into mid table mediocrity. The status quo is not sustainable in the long term.
DEMB
Well said but i have still not seen the second half and i right this has a a man going blind playing poker. So this is what i would have done firstly i would not have played 4411 with Defoe if he had a bean fit Crouch would have played there Goalkeeper his a vampire he doesn’t like crosses i no its old but i couldn’t resist so it would have bean 442 for me and when Walker went of Townsed would have replaced him Charlie was to slow for a Utd Team topped up with Tour Juice. What amazes me when 6 people broke the ten second barrier in the olympics all six failed drug tests not straight awaybut when a professor found a new test and retested them Dwane chambers and all.So why i never watched the second half was because i knew what was coming i live in the North West and the smell of sweat is a clear indication teams are overheating with running to much. Lets see what alarmed me and made me turn a match of that we was doing okay in. Firstly Jones beating Bale in a foot race was one secondly Smalling also stopping Bale and thirdly the ability of Utd to close Spurs down on a big pitch and at times Nani Rooney Clevely Wallbeck Anderson protected young Gomes from our attack stifled attack. When we did break through Evans who has added another few yards of pace alongside Jones who has bulked up Stopped Van Der Vaart and Defoe in there tracks. The Utd supporter Usain Bolt who famously said said he could make Utd players run faster and it looks like he has succeded because since last week they are all running faster and West Brom must be thanking Usain he never taught them to run faster when they played them because they where lucky to win. This is why i turned of because the overrun us with second half Usain Bolt speed or Kolo Toures wife has bean talking to Rooney wife.
think the team did okay and we had 21 attempts at OT, according to sky stats, alright utd had 28 and scored 3 but thats not bad and we never get anything there, we,ve got the rest of the season to make amends, really fancy us sunday
Azza (lennon) has been my favourite Spurs player since he joined in 2005. His pure breathtaking acceleration and speed took my breath away and for years was our main threat. It was mainly the fact that he had nothing to lose…he would NEVER think twice about sprinting past an opposing defender.
At the start of the 2009/2010 (the breathrough year) he was in INCREDIBLE form. His final ball was brilliant (especially the 9-1 vs Wigan) and beating a defender was like knifing through butter!
But then the injury…………..
After around 4-6 months out, he came back and I was sooo excited! But he changed… Ever since this return he has appeared afraid to take defenders on, and also now wears white boots, which make players look slower. And now even his final ball has begun to let him down.
Please come back Aaron…please, we need you!
A. Kaboul is not a serious option, lacks concentration. King and Gallas are better.
B. Dawson was at least two times at fault, 5 yards from his striker.
C. Ekotto started well, until he made a crucial mistake again.
D. Walker is a talent, but not good enough yet and Corluka will not get any better.
A.+B.+C.+D.: We need defensive reinforcement above all.
E. Bale was very well covered by Manure, just like during our home game.
F. Kranjcar is not as good as Modric, but not bad at all.
G. We need a complete striker: strong, DRIBBLING and finishing skills, fast and good positioning. If we don’t buy any we should try Bale as a striker and put Kranjcar on the left next to Modric.
H. It was against Manure, this was the most difficult match and we were better than them in the first half.
DEMB August 25, 2011 at 10:34 am
Pablo. In response to your comments “We NEED the new stadium. We also need it in TOTTENHAM.
Mr Levy. We are not interested in moving to Statford. Simple as that! Stop wasting the clubs money with these legal challenges.”
You have to ask yourself what type of football club you want Spurs to be? Do you ever want to see them seriously challenge for the Premier League title and on a regular basis, or be genuine contenders for the Champions League?
Because if you do then the only way to achieve those heights is through a new stadium. Spurs simply cannot compete financially with ticket receipts from the existing stadium, as I mentioned above.
There are two options as most people are aware; remain at White Hart Lane (WHL), or move to Stratford.
While i’m sure all Spurs fans would wish to stay at WHL, the main obstacle to building a new stadium in the existing location, with a capacity large enough (58,000 seats) is transportation infrastructure. I.E. We will be required to build a new train / tube station. The cost is enormous and to date has been prohibitive.
Yesterday Boris Johnson offered Spurs £8m in support to stay at WHL. This derisory amount of support will mean that Spurs have no alternative but to pursue the Judicial Review (granted to them yesterday) of the decision to grant West Ham the Olympic Stadium.
The basic position is this-
If Spurs stay at WHL they will be unable to build a new larger stadium without government support of over c.100m (estimate of transportation costs).
If they stay in the existing stadium they will increasingly find it tougher to compete at the highest levels (see comments above).
The only affordable option without government support is moving to Stratford. That is unless you are satisfied with Spurs slipping into mid table mediocrity. The status quo is not sustainable in the long term.
DEMB
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