Spurs vs ManYoo (match thread)

therecklessone

Team news

Out: King , Tainio, Mido (suspended)
In (probably): Berbatov, Lennon, Jenas

BBC Squad

Robinson, Cerny, Alnwick, Chimbonda, Lee, Assou-Ekotto, Dawson, Gardner, Rocha, Lennon, Ghaly, Malbranque, Huddlestone, Zokora, Jenas, Keane, Berbatov, Defoe, Murphy.

I'm not confident about this one little bit, though IMO we can put out 10 of our best 11. ManYoo are looking very good at the moment, and I think Larsson and Rooney can cause our CBs a hell of a lot of trouble. Ronaldo running at either of our LBs makes me cold...:(

That said, galinka is coming tomorrow and his last game was Chelsea at the Lane, so he might bring some Rebel County luck with him.

galinka

Not very confident myself - hopefully Berbatov will play otherwise it's the 2 dwarfs up front.
Hope springs eternal when your are a Spurs fan!!
See you at some stage tomorrow ronan.:D

el diablo

hey, I reckon we can spring a surprise and get a win (or a draw).

sometimes I'm right...:D

hope Berby is fit...

3-0 down at the moment...second half spurs haven't turned up...first match i've ever watched on sopcast makes me want to uninstall it.

Andrew 83

Thought we were quite good first half and unlucky with the penalty but second was a shambles

Kold

Oh how enthusiastic were we about this season?

el diablo

sometimes I'm embarrassed to say I'm a Spurs fan. and next game is away to Sheff. Utd.

I think we'll be lucky to finish in the top 10...:mad:

I've been posting on the spurslist on google groups and many diehard fans there are blaming the ref i.e not sending off Scholes, giving the Ronaldo penalty..but I just think there was a huge gulf in class today.

I just can't understand it sometimes....on paper we have some very good players...£6m Chimbonda, £8m Zokora, £10m Berbatov, £7m Keane, £7m Defoe, Aaron Lennon....why aren't we doing better

el diablo

Deleted User wrote:

I've been posting on the spurslist on google groups and many diehard fans there are blaming the ref i.e not sending off Scholes, giving the Ronaldo penalty..but I just think there was a huge gulf in class today.

I just can't understand it sometimes....on paper we have some very good players...£6m Chimbonda, £8m Zokora, £10m Berbatov, £7m Keane, £7m Defoe, Aaron Lennon....why aren't we doing better

must be the management. Jol cannot get the best out of his players. maybe he's brought us as far as he can. :rolleyes:

WhiteWashMan

get rid of beoth defoe and keane.
get rid of zakora
get in a proper left back.
buy back carrick from utd.

as for this season, i couldnt even be bothered to watch the game today. i'll watch the cup games, but im not interested in league anymore. im just so frustrated yb our performances that i actually cant watch them anymore. i am not going get myself worked up over it anymore this season.
its a write off.
and i think we have zero chance of getting into europe again next season.

twilight_singer

We look good on paper alright but Its the same old Spurs story. When it comes to the crunch we have no leadership in the team(Missing Ledley badly) How long have we been a soft touch for? I thought we had turned a corner last season but its the same old story this season. We need a decent left back(for once and all) and a hardman in midfield. Also think we should get rid of Keane and Defoe. Jol has had plenty of time and money to improve the team and make us more consistant, its time to start being ruthless.

Dublin Spur

Spineless
Guttless
Overpaid
Cnuts

yiddo

David Pleat's take on the game from today's Guardian

This hugely convincing victory will be remembered for several outstanding Manchester United performances, not least those of Paul Scholes and the Portuguese whippet Cristiano Ronaldo. But it was the visitors' clever use of the midfield space offered them by Tottenham that was crucial, giving them the chance to play their one-touch passing game and freeing Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs to hurt Spurs on the wings.
So much havoc did United instigate that this performance might persuade Martin Jol into a tactical rethink. The visitors set their stall out early, with Patrice Evra tight on Aaron Lennon and Giggs tucking in narrow to ensure that United cleverly blocked the passing angles to the winger.

This was a contest between two sides playing 4-4-2 but Tottenham simply proved to be too open as the game progressed. With the two wide right players - Lennon and Ronaldo - holding their width, there was space in midfield. Henrik Larsson has given United an intelligent front player who pins the opposition centre-back as deep as possible, granting the midfield more space still. Yesterday Scholes and Michael Carrick challenged Tom Huddlestone and the energetic Didier Zokora in that area, with Giggs helping out and Wayne Rooney linking the attacks. Gradually, with Tottenham's lines of attack blocked by the tight marking of Lennon, Scholes and his merry midfielders overran and outplayed the home team in the middle.
When Huddlestone has the ball he can spray passes early and accurately, but he needs bodies around him when possession is lost. Michael Dawson and Anthony Gardner were not close enough in support and as a result United revelled in one-twos to ensure Ronaldo was set free. His response was electric.

On the occasions Spurs did retrieve the ball, only Dimitar Berbatov's intelligent movement showed well. The midfield are not good enough to break quickly when they regain possession, and they always have a problem when the opposition attack them quickly. Lennon will have to learn quickly to adjust to tight marking and as it is, Spurs are not giving Paul Robinson the protection he deserves either.

They must close the midfield space. One solution Jol may consider is a spell of 4-5-1 with Lennon wide and Berbatov up on his own, flooding midfield while they regain solidarity. Neither Robbie Keane nor Jermain Defoe looks at his happiest, either singularly or together. Spurs also have to give the left-back Lee Young-pyo more help.

In the past two seasons a succession of players have been signed but have failed to command that position. None would have coped with Ronaldo. His speed and running frighten defenders, but they need cover. United had it and held Lennon up well. Giggs always threatened the ball out to Lennon and when the winger did receive it, the Welshman's energy gave him a chance to cover Evra. Spurs failed to do that. Unless they regroup quickly their chances of European football for next season may rest on a cup win. On this evidence, one remains doubtful.

therecklessone

yiddo wrote:

David Pleat's take on the game from today's Guardian

Pleat wrote:

When Huddlestone has the ball he can spray passes early and accurately, but he needs bodies around him when possession is lost.

Been saying for ages that ball retention and control of the center of the park is crucial. We may not score, but we'll control the pace of the game a lot more and control will eventually lead to goals and wins.

I'm utterly convinced that Hudd and Zokora cannot play together in CM, certainly not in a 4-4-2 set up. Huddlestone's pace (or lack thereof) means that his midfield partner has to provide cover for him, Zokora seems unwilling or unable to do that. When he plays with Hudd he seems to shadow players without making tackles or interceptions. He looks far more comfortable alongside Jenas.

Hudd is 19, a point made to me by a ManYoo fan today. He's not a complete footballer, he's far from it, but he's still got a lot of developing to do. He'll never be pacy, but if Jol wants to persist with him in the center then he has to shape the midfield around him. Yesterday confirmed for me that we employ suqare pegs in round holes too often, we need to play to our strenghts, not pick a formation then try to get our players to work within it. Keane being employed on the left of 5 in midfield against Arsenal is a case in point.

I cannot believe how angry I was last night with our performance, though until their first I thought we had matched them pretty well. The 2nd half collapse suggests to me that the side is without confidence, and I fear that this indicates that Jol may be losing some of his dressing room. That is always a bad sign, and surely the beginning of the end for any manager. I hope that's not the case, I hope falling to the Goons and shipping 4 at home to ManYoo is the kick up the arse our overpaid and pampered prima donnas require, but I'm not convinced that will be the case.

galinka

Having arrived in London at 9am i'm appalled to say i left the ground with 15 minutes to go - to say we were woeful in the 2nd half would be generous.

We have several players not up to the standard required - Gardiner, Lee in defence are exposing us every time the ball comes their way.
Lennon is a luxury - combined with Defoe they might as well have been sitting in the stand with me.

Only Dawson, Berbatov (and Ghaly when he came on) played like you would expect players to play against the top team. Their is no fire or passion - if only we had a Scholes kicking lumps out of players in the middle of the field.

Without Mark Fattenberg made a pig's ear of at least 3 penalties - Ronaldo thrw himself down in front of me - Scholes should have been booked after 1 minute and didsmissed after 50. Seems to be another law for Utd - then Keane gets booked for an innocuous challenge.

We had several excellent free kick positions in first half - never threatened the goal - capped by Lennon's effort about 20 feet over the bar - how we missed Jenas for those.

We will be lucky to finish in top 10 - we are in free fall and have lost our way completely.

Hatch99

Very Dissapointed with Sunday !! Fell to pieces in the 2nd half and got bullied for most of the game. Some players are just simply not up to it, most of them have been mentioned already so I wont repeat.

Nearly got ejected after severly abusing some foreign nationals shall we say who were waving a flag for Park while he was warming up, they also had a flag wishing ronaldo a happy birthday.... lets just say they got an earful !!

League form is shocking at the minute....can we win a cup to save our season !!

kinaldo

Hatch99 wrote:

Nearly got ejected after severly abusing some foreign nationals shall we say who were waving a flag for Park while he was warming up, they also had a flag wishing ronaldo a happy birthday.... lets just say they got an earful !!

Qu'est-ce que?

Dublin Spur

galinka wrote:

Having arrived in London at 9am i'm appalled to say i left the ground with 15 minutes to go.

Beat you by 10 mins - out the door on 65min.
Couldn't take it any more.
Those wimpy cnuts don't deserve our support.

therecklessone

kinaldo wrote:

Qu'est-ce que?

A lot of ManYoo fans in the home end.

el diablo

Hatch99 wrote:

League form is shocking at the minute....can we win a cup to save our season !!

not a chance..:mad:

Kold

Christ, count yourselves lucky most of you aren't England fans too. ****ing sick of seeing underachieving white shirts chasing a ball for a while.

therecklessone

Rather lose a friendly to Spain than almost drop points to the worst side in European football. At least we wear green...:(