The Capital One Cup is over for another year and the disappointed reaction of many Spurs fans was down to the manner of the defeat to Norwich rather than the fact that we are out of a tournament that some really aren’t that interested in.
A Gareth Bale strike gave Spurs the lead before two late Norwich goals put the Canaries ahead. Clint Dempsey may be a new-boy at Spurs, but he eased into the club tradition of missing vital penalties as he spurned a late chance to take it to extra time.
“It was disappointing,” said Andre Villas-Boas after the match. “I think we played a good game, controlled the possession and played good football in the first and second half.
“We had a good share of opportunities, so it’s a pity to see us lose the game in this way, in the last few minutes.
“We set out to try and win this game and to let it slip in the end is difficult for everyone.
“We feel the frustration and the disappointment from not making it into the quarter-finals, but we move on and focus on Wigan now.”
That Wigan game comes up on Saturday while another cup competition is on the line next Thursday as we host Maribor in the Europa League.
It was what we’ve been doing for years. Coast and then get lazy towards the end, Vertonghen simply couldn’t be arsed when he came on and cost us both goals. Obviously these kind of upsets happen all the time and along with us, Everton, United, City and Liverpool have also gone out in embarassing fashion this year.
All we can do is take the positives, Falque, Carroll, Lloris, Dawson not hoofing, and move on. If we win on Saturday it’s forgotten immediately.
Sell falque for 20million buy a super striker … Let bale play left back…. Job done
Seriously, what is wrong with you?
What’s wrong with you!!! I’m saying falque is worth 20 we should sell he played well but we have lennon … Buy a striker the money …. COYS
How on earth do you figure that Falque is worth 20 million?! Not even Man City are stupid enough to pay that for him
Jurgen if Andy carroll is worth 35 Falque is worth 20 they have both done as little as each other … you get me boy!!
akshayaalase – you’re as stupid as your name!
This was actually a decent performance, and I cannot believe that we lost. Biggest disappointment is the lacking of cutting edge up front. Sigg and Dempsey not really fitting in, and certainly not contributing in terms of goals. The missed penalty just made it worse. also don’t know what this nonsense if about Lloris making a mistake with the second goal. He pulled off a magnificent save. The guy who was off was Vertonghan, but maybe coming on when he did he was not in the pace of the game – and mentally he was not really in it.
as soon as we go a goal up…..lets defend for our lives and try to hang on! – stop going forward, doing anything creative, bring on some extra defenders and let the opposition attack
not just last night…it`s the story of our season!
I agree Peter completely with your observation. I don’t care so much for the loss but the disturbing part is the pattern of leaking goals late to lose points-that’s becoming a trend
I’m going to shamelessly steal a Redknapp line here and it was just ‘one of those nights’ i guess. However i have not really seen anything in Sigardsson, i didn’t buy in to the hype that surrounded him and i’m not sure he’s going to amount to anything, potential or not he’s strikes me as a signing that will essentially be nothing more than another Bentley or even Jenas, an unfulfilled talent. Vertonghen should not have come on last night, but i imagine no one could have seen that he would have been that ineffective, considering how good he has been in general. I have to admit to being a bit underwelmed by us at the moment, we’ve made alot of changes over the summer and are dealing with alot of injures to first team players in my opinion, so i hope it will improve, performance wise as time passes. Good in moments,but over 90 mins we’ve flattered to decieve and are lucky to be fourth really. But like they say good teams win when they underperform, and in the league this has been the case. We do need more attacking options and more invention in midfield, and the ability to close out games, otherwise turnarounds like last night will happen again. Sorry i’m stating the obvious! Just frustrated with our overall performances at the minute.
Hate to say this but we really miss Modric in midfield—he was that class we do not have at the moment, and we do not have really good strikers. Defoe is trying hard but he cannot lead a line. Ade is talented but needs someone to play off him. At the moment we are huffing and puffing but are not going to blow anything down.
I’d agree, David. Dembele is great and we’re missing him a lot but he doesn’t provide the same as Modric. Likewise, there’s no striker with a true cutting edge or that little bit of magic that VDV had. If we can get Adebayor back playing, he might help but I really feel we need to buy in January – probably a defender, a creative midfielder and a class striker.
I thought it was a good performance last night considering the team we had out. Controlled the game for 80mins, then Vertonghen came on and had a bit of a nightmare. It who saw that coming?!
Bale had a good 65 mins last night, which was pleasing. And I also thought Dawson had a pretty commanding display at the back, although I’m not sure why Michael seemed to be marking space instead of Holt for their winner, considering he is the best defensive header of the ball we’ve got.
Young Tom Carroll was another player who really impressed me in that first half. Confident, composed and positive, Tom justified his inclusion yesterday with a performance brimming with promise. Surely a candidate for the upcoming games against Maribor in the Europa League.
I’m not entirely sure why Clint Dempsey is being written off so early in his Spurs career. I have to say that I was one of a FEW people, at the time, that was a bit baffled by his initial transfer to the club, but after seeing him up close I’ve got to say that I been rather impressed.
So ok, he hasn’t exactly set the world alight in the infancy of his Spurs career, but what HE HAS DONE:
IS BE TIDY- rarely losing possession. Clint was never going to be a VDV type: great vision and the ability to thread a ball through the eye of a needle. Dempsey game is more about receiving the ball, giving it to someone more creative, while manoeuvring himself into dangerous position through which he can score.
MADE A HOST OF INTELLIGENT RUNS- thus freeing up space for Defoe and co to move into ( maybe this has gone unnoticed by the majority, as Hansen and co are yet to highlight the fact on MOTD).
BE EXTREMELY BRAVE- Always wanting to get involved and influence play, never goes hiding when things don’t go his way. Always willing to take responsibility as his effort (albeit a pretty poor one) from the penalty spot proved. Take a minute to ask yourself where are ALL those players who seem to crowd around free-kicks from 20-25 yards when it comes to taking a spot from 12. Bale, Sigurdsson, anyone?
BE A THREAT: One thing that Clint will always be is a threat to the oppositions defence. Again his Movement and intelligent runs mean that he will always be problematic to opposing defenders. His goals against Southampton and Man Utd (plus the WRONGLY DISALLOWED goal against Lazio and the sitter he missed against Villa) were all examples of the excellent movement and goalscoring instincts that I believe WILL make Clint a very good (short-term/long-term) signing for the club.
At the end of the day, to judge Clint on the back of what must be a dozen first-team starts is just ridiculous, just as it was, when many of you, no doubt, chose to judge AVB after 3 games. Clint HAD NO PRE-SEASON WHATSOEVER, IS GETTING USED TO PLAY UNDER A NEW MANAGER/WITH NEW PLAYERS AND IS STARTING UPFRONT WITH DEFOE WHO I CAN BARELY REMEMBER MAKING A SINGLE PASS TO DEMPSEY, LET ALONE A KEY ONE.
To compare Dempseys and Sigurdsson performance is laughable, as all the things I have stated Clint has brought to the team Sigurdsson hasn’t.
Although I am not going to write of a 22 year-old who clearly has talent, but seems desperately short of confidence. Personally, I think Gyfil is struggling because of the expectations he places on himself to score. I think the first thing the Icelandic international needs to do is concentrate on becoming a bigger influence on the team, by getting on the ball more. Every time I see him he seems either not to really show for the ball or when he does get it he seems in too much of a hurry to give it away again. I think once he gets that first (‘good’) goal, his confidence will rocket and we will start to see the real Gyfil.
Well said Sir. My thoughts exactly. Dempsey did miss a big penalty, but usually tucks those away. He didn’t have his best game but battled hard to make life difficult for Norwich. He is not a striker and had to play the role of one for the latter portion of the game. I expect Dempsey, Vertonghen and several others that had bad showings to bounce back quickly from this game.
Falque was my MOTM. He was everywhere in the second half, popping up on the ball, with cutting passes and well formed and timed crosses. He looked dangerous and outperformed the likes of Siggy, Dempsey, and others on this night.
Defoe really is a problem. I have stated this before, but his inability to bring his teammates into the play is disconcerting. He does not pass the ball. He is greedy and selfish on the ball and prefer Adebayor. At least Ade will bring others into the play up top, either holding the ball and allowing our MFs to push up, or actually connecting a pass to one of our other players, a novel idea indeed.
Carroll was in over his head. Poor showing. Lloris was also fine and made some good saves on the night, he could have done better at the end, but I’m not concerned about his quality which is obviously present. Huddlestone doesn’t really need to be on the pitch much more and can’t wait for a healthy Dembele – Parker pairing. All in all, decent performance, unlucky OG and lapse of judgments in the final 10 minutes cost us this game. I would rather finish in the top 3 than win the C1 Cup.