It wasn’t the result we were all looking for but Saturday’s game with Wigan was always going to be a tricky test – away from home against a side fighting for their Premiership lives. A drawn game leaves us hoping for Manchester United to do us a favour when they travel to the Emirates this afternoon and head coach Andre Villas-Boas believes that this could prove to be an important point.
“It’s always difficult when you play away from home in the Premier League and it could turn out to be a positive point,” said AVB after the game.
Andre also felt that we deserved better for our first half performance but ultimately seemed to suggest that a draw was a fair result.
“We deserved a little better for what we did in the first half, or at least not going 2-1 down at the beginning of the second half,” he added.
“We were looking confident at half-time, but credit to Wigan. I think we were affected a little bit when they scored and they are a very difficult team to break down. They close the spaces and we couldn’t get in behind them.
“The game wasn’t going our way. The boys did well in the end to get back to 2-2 and we had big chances at the end.”
The draw takes us to 62 points – level with Chelsea and one behind Arsenal with both of those sides in action later today. Meanwhile, next up for Spurs is a home tie with Southampton on Saturday the 4th of May.
This game was one of the worst performances by Spurs. It also showed a lack of awareness by AVB. In the match against Man City, the substitutions worked but AVB said that the comeback was connected to Dempsey scoring the equalising goal and the momentum that it created. It was like AVB didn’t recognise the worth of his own substitutions and that it was just luck that he happened to pick them right. Who knows?
In the Wigan game, the substitutions made no difference.
Why swap left backs when Spurs were in urgent need for two goals?
Why bring on Holtby for Dembele when Tom Carroll is the ideal option with his passing and creative ability?
Why rely on Holtby for the creative spark when it is obvious that he should be playing deeper as a ball winning midfielder who can pass better than Parker?
I agree, Holtby for Parker, Carroll to replace Dembele…push Bale left and Lennon right with Defoe down the middle! Play Benni from the start and have players like Siggy and Dempsey as impact subs, if a goal is required. Try Caulker for Dawson and hope that Dembele is back soon! The front 3 are key, if they can stay fit there’s goals in them boots!
Can’t believe it people trying to make excuses “difficult away game” ?? and at the same time expecting Man utd to beat Arsenal away when they still have something to fight for..
Couldn’t agree enough with Steve. When you look at the passing ability of Carroll, he is the obvious choice as a replacement for Dembele. Holtby is a ‘chicken without a head’ type player and until he’s given a particular role to play he doesn’t do anything that makes the team look like a team. His influence and workmanship are admirable, but the team doesn’t gel with him in it. Yesterday his introduction made the team look more fragmented. Villas Boas has been getting a lot of credit recently and only some of it is deserved. He went from ‘winning the Europa Cup and getting a top 4 position, to probably qualifying for the Europa. That in my opinion is both the fault of Levy and AVB. So although he has done well with the tools at his disposal, his and Levy’s inaction in getting a playmaker and striker in last summer and January has contributed to the selling of Gareth Bale, which will now surely happen. Such a shame that, that little miser, wouldn’t finance the players we needed. Now it’s start from scratch., yet again.
i agree one of our worst performances by far. Would help if we Stopped starting Parker and Dempsey,, Parker has had his day if you ask me, and even tho Dempsey pops up and scores now and again his work rate is shit and brings nothing to the game… Give the lad carroll a go if you ask me.
Tottenham Hotspur New Manager Same Chairman Same Problems are we any better than last season ???
Our team has no width anymore. This is because our left-winger is now a striker and our right-winger has been injured. As great as Bale has been in the middle, it has actually been to the detriment of the rest of the team as there is no replacement for him on the wing. We’ve been playing badly for most of 2013 but noone’s talked about it because the results have been ok. For Bale/Spurs to flourish, he either needs to be cutting in from wide (ala Man City / Arsenal) or having Adebayor as his space-maker up front. Adebayor hasn’t been quite as bad as many like to rant about – he hasn’t scored goals but he has been pivotal to Bale’s tally. AVB simply cannot play Bale & Defoe together up front. If Defoe plays, Bale must go out wide (as he did against Man City). I would rather see us play a bit of 4-4-2 against Southampton & Sunderland to try and rescue some much needed width. Parker must go. Tom Carroll looks great but it’s very easy to say ‘play the youngster who I’ve seen play for about 20 mins ever’ when you’re not the manager. Holtby is improving and is the ideal Parker replacement to go alongside Dembele & Sigg/Dempsey in the middle.
AVB should blame himself because he couldn’t produce the right tactics to win a very important and crucial game against a bottom club which has a squad that costs ten times less than that of Spurs!!
By definition, an intelligent and experienced manager should be able to win nine out of ten times against teams that are much inferior to the team he manages.
But as we have witnessed until now AVB is rather naïve and inexperienced for this level of football.
We shouldn’t get confused by the position that Spurs occupy at this moment in the PL.
This can be also the result of the strength, the form and the results of the direct rival clubs.
The important criteria are that under AVB Spurs were eliminated both in FA cup and EL by clubs which were playing in lower divisions or in less quality leagues, that Spurs were only the third club in the history of the EL that since 1971-72 couldn’t defend during the regular time of the game a three null advantaged from the first leg of a two legs knock out European round, that Spurs under AVB surrendered a lead and conceded five (!!) goals against a local rival when they had to play with ten men and (like under Harry) they couldn’t defend in the last ten games of the competition a seven points lead from the club which was just behind them.
First, AVB should gain experience by working at lower division clubs or in lower quality and less demanding leagues.
Spurs need an intelligent, experienced and with the appropriate technical and scientific knowledge manager who isn’t still in the stage of progressively learning from his mistakes but someone who has learned already his trade and he makes the less possible mistakes.
A manager who next his tactical ability he is able to rate in the shortest possible time a player.
After all, we are talking about Spurs, a club with millions of supporters and glorious history and not a low division club where a young manager tries to get professional expertise.
Very well said. AVB has potential but is far from the finished article. It is interesting how he recently stated that he wants to manage in a different league very soon. He needs to master this one first and he is a long way from doing so.
Totally agree with bot AVB is not good enough, was not even good enough for Burnley. He sits there during every game scribbling in his notebook ready for his next powerpoint presentation.
Football is not about stats, it is about passion, team work and a yearning to win. Yesterday nobody looked bothered, but that’s down to the astronomical wages, and they looked like they wanted to get on that big bird bound for Dubai an the like.
We need a new manager, someone who is savvy, not a loud mouth like Redknapp, not an idiot like AVB, but someone like David Moyes who knows how to get the best out of a player, and if as reported he’s been courted by Fergie as his replacement, there must be good in there.
We also need to re-model on the pitch too, why not try some of the youngsters who have taken the youth team to the heights, and add to that a bit of proven quality, even if it means spending £20m on a top notch player and see what happens.
Well, Spurs certainly know how how to make things difficult for themselves. By no means is the race CL places over,but if Spurs are to reach the European promise lands-AVB MUST realise 3 things very quickly.
1. Dempsey is an IMPACT sub rather than a starter. Technically, he is a player that has been found wanting whilst receiving the ball in advanced areas of the field. Apart from scoring the odd goal, Clint offers little or no creativity, vision or guile. I am not sure EXACTLY when Dempsey became a long-shot specialist, but a ‘hit and hope’ every game seems to be the limit of his capabilities, outside of the box.
I can’t Imagine Clint would start for any other top 4/5 side, and he shouldn’t be starting for us either. Decent player, but Spurs require better than decent.
2. We are a side that requires width as we are not good enough technically, or with our movement to play such a narrow formation. Playing Naughton on the left behind ANOTHER right-footed player is harming the balance of the team, no end. Especially when Lennon is NOT playing on the other side to offer us any kind of width. A 433 is a great system for the side to utilise, BUT it is a formation that requires TWO full-backs who can get forward effectively (we only had one) and at least ONE of the two wide-men ( in advanced areas) to offer some kind of width (again, yesterday we had none) to stretch the oppositions back-line and create space for others.
When your team is a goal down, and the manager changes one of the full-back positions, without there being an injury, you know he has made a cock-up!
3. The defence is struggling. And for me, the same man who initially shored things up after returning to the side, is the same man who looks out of sorts now. Because although Vertonghen has hardly been a rock next to him (especially in the air) Dawson has NOT been the same player since Anichebe bullied him the other day. Kone soon realised who the weak link was in the Spurs back-line and looked to exploit at every given opportunity. Slow, cumbersome and clumsy would be a few of the words I would use to some up Dawsons recent performances and I think the time has come to make a change. Whether Caulker comes in for Vertonghen or Dawson, I’ll let you decide but it is CLEAR that something has to change in a back four that has begun to leak goals for fun.
The positives are in a game/second-half where we were completely outplayed, out-thought and out-fought, we still managed to pick up a point.
Gareth Bale also showed me a fight and desire (without the ball at his feet) that I have called in to question before. I thought he was excellent in that respect, yesterday.
Huddlestone also did well before tiring, giving the side a focal point in midfield.
I think we will all agree that the most welcome thing we saw about yesterday’s match was the return of Aaron Lennon, who will no doubt play a pivotal in the clubs remaining four games.
A point is better than nothing, and keeps us firmly in the race for the top 4. The game against Chelsea may well prove decisive, but before then, we HAVE to see off a good Southampton side first. The lads need our (UNCONDITIONAL) support…the kind they got against City. It’s going to the wire…..
HOLD YOUR FAITH AND KEEP YOUR NERVE!!!!
STOP MOANING AND SUPPORT YOUR TEAM ARMCHAIR MGRS.
People need to stop expecting victory every game, its not how it works! If we win 3 of our remaining 4 games (Sunderland, Stoke and Southampton all very winnable considering they’re all practically safe now) we finish on 71 points – this points tally has been enough for top 4 EVERY season in the history of the Premier League. Chill out and let the season play out!
Good point Scotty. BTW, Can you run non stop for 90 minutes ? If you can, pl take yr namesake’s place on the field. Our team may even be better for it, God knows.
Not expecting a win every game but you would expect a team challenging for a champions league place to, at least, put in some kind of (decent) performance against a team that struggles to hang on to their premier league status every year. They’re in the bottom three for a reason
You then say Sunderland, Stoke & Southampton are all winnable games, so are you expecting to win all three of these games?
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