Spurs manager Harry Redknapp admitted that it was ‘soul destroying’ to go in a goal down to Manchester United at half time after dominating much of the first half. The club website points to the possession stats (58% to 42% in our favour) but if you don’t convert your chances then they count for nothing.
“I came in at half-time and couldn’t believe we were 1-0 down,” said Harry.
“The players did everything I asked them to do in the first half. I thought they were outstanding.
“I said at half-time ‘we can win this game’ and we started the same way in the second half.
“We just needed a break. When you are 2-0 down after you have bossed a game, mentally it’s difficult. You are thinking ‘how are we losing this game when we’re playing so well?’
“But there are lots of positives. I was well pleased with the performances and we’ll pick ourselves up again.”
The defeat leaves Spurs in third but the gap is narrowing. After Stevenage in the cup this weekend it’s a trip to Goodison Park and David Moyes’ Everton this Saturday.
The point is we didn,t look like winning… We played well Livermore and sandro were excellent as was Assou, but modric on the left doesn,t work.. we know that… Harry could really be cocking this up for us… We should be on the tails on man u and man city with the team we have… Concentrate on the team and not urself Harry!!
I would of had rose on the left lennon on the right dropped saha and had modric play a free role. But what do i know?
We’re way to narrow with Modric down the left. The first time Lennon got the ball when he switched with Modric he skinned Jones and set up our ‘goal’. Pace on the wings is the way forward.
On a side note i persoanlly think that was Livermores best game for us so far, don’t think we really missed Parker.
…but we did miss Bale.
The old defense problems are back with us… 8 goals in 2 games, even if against 2 top teams, is still way too much for a team fighting for CL status.
Kyle still too naive in defending, needs to learn to defend more before he can focus on sprinting upwards… and King’s slow pace is costing us against top forwards.
Benny and Kaboul, as they did yesterday, have shown more consistency in defense, and both unafraid to spray intelligent long passes.
Otherwise, our midfield, despite missing regulars Parker, Bale, VDV, lived up to the game and took control for at least 70 mins… again showing where the real strength lies in this Spurs team.
Our forwards ? … Adebayor has only really impressed me in the Newcastle game.. that’s when fellow striker Saha joined us…. before and after that game he’s been a poor shadow, with a FRUSTRATING first touch and falling offside much too often
Really beats me why Arry doesnt give JD more starts…has he ever tried a JD-Saha combo ? .. JD has shaken off last season’s goal famine and is scoring freely in almost every game he gets some action in.
Anyone else concerned at the lack of set play options? When was the last time we scored from a corner or a free kick. Really poor. It’s what wins you a game when you aren’t playing well, um like Man Utd! Every corner was floated over by Modric like a training ground exercise. No whip, no directness, no invention. I love HR but the devil is in the detail, so is the difference between CL and RU, and we are so slapdash sometimes. Aaah!
There was a real lack of creativity in the midfield. Even though Sandro and Livermore did well in terms of possession, neither of them are creative players. Possession is fruitless, if nothing comes from it. Modric on the left is a complete waste. Why was Adam Smith not on the bench? Must be a better prospect than Danny Rose. Walker was off form, so needed to be replaced by Smith or Kaboul. The Spurs squad is greater than that of Man United, but they have one of the all time great managers, which is why they are above Spurs in the table.
completely agree andy…Either redknapp wants to stay or go…He has been great for us but he is no genius… Wud prefer him to stay but it wouldn,t surprise me him end up at chelsea….
We shud be winning the cup and getting 3rd… But i wouldn,t bet on either
real choker watching this garbage unfold aginst the Manc filth yet again!! Ade needs to get his head out of his a55hole and stop farkin smiling at everyone all the fakkin time!! He wanders offside too much and fluffs his control of the ball time after time….gettin sick o fakkin watchin him mess up so frequently. Without GB and VDV we had no sharp edge or movement in their box or any real incisive through balls….really disappointing. No flair or imagination in the danger area. Going forward we are far too slow. No pace, just this bo!!ox build-up play across the midfield, then forward towards the edge of their penalty area, and then we start going back to our midfield again to start another build-up run. By this time they get their players back behind the ball making it harder to find any good attacking through balls. We gotta start going at teams with pace like Arseholes and Manc filth have both done to us in the last 2 games!! Really, really fakkin pi55ed off with these 2 results!!!
I said it all along, since Friday, playing Modric on the left is WASTED. He is, as the Italians call, a “trequartista” that is; a forward playmaker. Yes, he can dictate from deeper (a la Huddlestone), but is most effective in the middle when supporting the primary attacking midfielder or second striker (eg. Van der Vaart/Defoe/Saha). Rose should have been on the left with one of Sandro or Livermore sacrificed, after all, United’s midfield is way WEAK, Carrick and Scholes would have been easy for Sandro/Livermore and Modric to sort out, even Rooney dropping deep didn’t create any burning problems (he scored from cr@p defending at a set piece (again!) not through his midfield link-up). Adebayor up front with Defoe (NOT Saha !) and we would at the very least got a draw: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, Dawson, Ekotto, Lennon, Sandro/Livermore, Rose, Modric, Adebayor, Defoe…Christ ! Redknapp needs to take his head out of the FA’s @rse and sort this mess out…
I hate to admit it all, but we still have little club mentality when we play against the big clubs. We are not there yet, even though the supporters think we are. Think about it… We need to make champions league a few more times, and much more consistently. We need to hold on, and if we do that will help. Lets get the results.
Yeah, that’s it. Our play was technically excellent for a lot of the game, but there was no decisive finishing and on the rare occasions United managed to come back at us, we defended like we were scared. All the possession fluid build-up in the world isn’t worth anything if we can’t convert the chances and concede every time we don’t have the ball.
Walker has to take some of the blame and sadly, King is starting to look out of his depth. Adebayor is a strange one; 11 goals and 11 assists is a cracking record, but he’s inconsistent and his first touch is lacking.
I’d like to see Modric shooting more as well. He’s one of the best playmakers in the world, but he also scores some superb goals from range on the rare occasions he has a pop. He can drop the ball on a postage stamp, after all. Defoe, Bale and VDV are our only players who seem consistently willing to have a shot from outside the box and they’ve scored plenty between them.
Hi gents
I have been amazed how Kaboul is favoured over Dawson. I admit that even when he was making so many mistakes in his early career, I always liked him because he gave 100% and all the time. I have watched how Kaboul has lost his man for several goals recently and every time I find myself thinking that daws would not have done so. I agree that Kaboul is so much better than before but I sense he’s more interested in going forwards and being a ‘playmaker’ than defending and this is where daws scores for me. he absolutely defends first and I think he has a pretty good pass on him too. The rest of the comments here mirror my own thoughts that we were flying when bale & Lennon were flying and then our manager decided that bale needed to be catered for by having this ‘free role’ and now we don’t look like scoring anything like as much as we used to. Not panicking about the last two results but disappointed and sick of all the Arsenal talk now they’ve had a good two weeks. Even their goalkeeper came-out last night and said he thinks Arsenal can come 3rd and Chelse 4th leaving “the other London club in 5th” and said he’d “like to see that happen”.