not starting willian really f**ked us.

hazard had to come deep to receive the ball which is something willian is really good at. pedro is good but not built for the physical game. he has no goals or assist in away games for us this season. when i saw him start over willian i knew we wud have problems. 

Either way i am proud of boyz for this run but it is imperative we beat leicester or the word BLIP will be thrown around

 

what a stupid f**king question...could you have defended the first goal better...no sh*t asshole

Pretty pissed off about that so I'll just jot down a few thoughts and try to remain as level-headed as possible.

 

- Tottenham defended magnificently, and I think that was the main difference between the two sides. Our front three couldn't get a sniff at any point, despite being inventive enough to create at least several half-chances. I agree with Souness to an extent that they weren't as superior to us as the first half and scoreline suggested.

- A few poor individual performances in my opinion, Luiz in particular made a couple of enormous errors.

- We got completely overloaded down the middle; Eriksen and Alli are far more inclined to play in the middle of the pitch than Hazard and Pedro. I was really hoping we'd bring on an extra midfielder earlier than we did.

- Really not looking forward to the inevitable Alli/Lampard comparisons as I don't think they're fundamentally anything alike as footballers. There are more characteristics to a player than 'he scores more goals than your average English midfielder'. You may as well compare him to Kevin Nolan if your interpretation is that shallow.*

- It's very frustrating because I feel ungrateful for complaining, considering the run of form which preceded this match, but I really do f**king hate losing to Tottenham.

- I was disappointed that I couldn't hear anyone singing 'who came third in a two-horse race?'

- I liked that £30m Sissoko's main contribution to Tottenham's night was taking an entire minute to tie up his laces.

 

 

*I haven't actually read through the match thread so if anyone on here has said that I'm not trying to call them out - just going by what I heard at the pub/on TV tonight.

Well, that was a good run. We were due a bad game, disappointing that it was against Tottenham. Every single player had an off day. Kudos to every player and the manager for the run. We need to pick ourselves up now!

Has to be said that Azpi let Alli get a header on him twice in the same match. It's not like Alli is Crouch. Should never happen. Moses too has to take some blame there. He switched off the same way he switched off for that De Bruyne cross to Sane in the City game which Aguero almost scored from. Needs to be more aware. There's work to do. This isn't the ideal 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 team yet and it would be amazing if we could win the title with the team regardless. This January and in the summer when we strengthen, we'll see a more complete team.

I've seen a few reports of Tottenham 'figuring out' how to beat us. It apparently boils down to match our formation and do it better, which leaves me fairly confident that if that's the case then we shouldn't be too worried! Everton tried to match us and that ended well...I guess whoever finally ended our run would spark those pieces though, I imagine they were saved in drafts folders ready to go.

Anyway, all good things come to an end. We're still 5 clear and have won 3/6 games against fellow top 6 teams, as well as setting a new club record of consecutive wins. I'd have fully taken that at half time in the Arsenal game! Disappointing in the context of recent form, but whilst the battle was lost, the war continues. Hopefully it's highlighted a few areas to improve on and we can spend some of that Oscar cash to strengthen key areas. Might be difficult in January, but you never know. The last time we lost inspired this incredible run, so onwards and upwards and here's to bouncing back against Leicester! 

Cancel out this result and look forward to a great season continuing. Yeah it's always disappointing to lose to a smaller club, but we have overcome these sort of things in the past and will do again.

BTW. Remy 10 , your post is spot on!!

 

 

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by Fansince65

We were the spuds in this match. I suppose all good things must come to an end. Would've been great to set the record against the real Spuds though.

Luckily I just slept this one out.

I'm not surprised at our loss. This was always going to be a really tight game, against strong, fired-up opponents in their own den.

Starting Kante-Matic was fine. A midfield with Cesc would have been inappropriate against high-pressing opponents because we would get overrun even more. However with hindsight maybe complementing Kante and Matic in midfield with Cesc (or even Chalobah) might have given us more bodies to cope with their pressing while providing a passing outlet.

However, I think Pedro's selection was a mistake, despite him scoring against Tottenham. Pedro is good when his movement is needed to break down stubborn defences while playing quickly. Against Spurs, Willian's qualities on the counter were always called for. That is if we didn't decide a 3-man midfield was best.

Still, we're in good shape considering the travails of September. Just need to learn from this experience and keep going.

Our goal was to get back in to the top 4 and return to the CL, or at least mine was for the start of the season. 

Today is a loss to a direct rival for such a birth. Ourselves, Liverpool, Spurs, city, arsenal and United are all going for those spots. 6 in to 4 does not work. We need to bounce back and our manager has said how we bounce back will show how far we have come. 

1 hour ago, Barrettinator said:

Has to be said that Azpi let Alli get a header on him twice in the same match. It's not like Alli is Crouch.

Bit harsh on Azpi imho, Azpi's positioning and defending 1 v 1 situations is "world class" but he's liable to be beaten at the far post due to his lack of physicality/height. In hindsight Zouma/Ivanovic would perhaps have been better able to deal with Eriksen's crossing ability.

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by the special one

54 minutes ago, Barrettinator said:

Has to be said that Azpi let Alli get a header on him twice in the same match. It's not like Alli is Crouch. Should never happen. Moses too has to take some blame there. He switched off the same way he switched off for that De Bruyne cross to Sane in the City game which Aguero almost scored from. Needs to be more aware. There's work to do. This isn't the ideal 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 team yet and it would be amazing if we could win the title with the team regardless. This January and in the summer when we strengthen, we'll see a more complete team.

Nearly every attack and "nearly" goal this season has come from a cross from the right hand side and panic in the box, we have got away with a few this season..

I'm sure thew mnager has noticed this and will fix it soon.

Watched Shawshank again tonight just to put everything into perspective.

Everything will be just fine.

Once a Spud, always a potato.

I think it's a lot to ask for Azpi to win headers against a guy who's about 10cm higher than him and running full pace into the 6 yard box, and the cross was pitch perfect. In hindsight, a Zouma would have done a better job, can't wait for him to play a full game soon.  I guess lots of analysis will be done before the next game, but we just not good enough tonight, and Spurs put on their performance of their season. The wing back situation need to be looked at, we are conceding far too many crosses, someone will get us one day, and it happened this game.

Spurs...why did it have to be Spurs.

 

Ah well, still got a buffer, just need the lads to bounce back strongly.

Disappointing performance obviously...but perhaps cos I went there fearing the worst, I'm not so down...I suppose I prepared myself mentally for a setback...it had to come at some point and we rarely win there these days...

while they deserved to win, it was a classic example of the slim margins at the level...Hazard had two glorious chances, missed them both...Alli had two, their only ones on target, scored both...

the timing of the first was as critical as pedros in the reverse fixture at the bridge...while I thought we were far too defensive from the start, I reckon we would have come away with the point I reckon Conte aimed for if we'd gone in 0-0 at the break.

clearly we have to respond at Leicester and then hull so we don't go to Liverpool under the cosh...I hope this is a bit of a wake up call to anyone, players, fans etc who thought this would be easy

Conte is right they score right in injury time of the first then the second when we were on top, right after hazard missed that sitter, fine margins, but we need to strengthen when the Spuds are all over us like that, I'd get Zouma in as RCB and move dave out to RWB, I loved the story but I think Moses peaked a while back, he is a hard worker but limited  

Edited January 5, 20179 yr by DonAntonio

Mind you, the more I see the delight in the media at our defeat, the more fcuked off I get

4 hours ago, DonAntonio said:

By masking weaknesses with a Formation the league isn't used to 4 goals consceded in 2 games, a 5'10 cb and a 5'8 wing back in the same side...we have been brilliant but let's be realistic if we want to go on to bigger things we need to strengthen 

You're finding problems where there are none. The formation isn't a problem. Those two players height isn't the problem, sounds Jose-esque, 'i have to play ivan because I need people who are 6ft' 

It's one loss out of 14 everyone. Conte will be fuming and so will the players. I pity Leicester 

1 hour ago, the special one said:

Bit harsh on Azpi imho, Azpi's positioning and defending 1 v 1 situations is "world class" but he's liable to be beaten at the far post due to his lack of physicality/height. In hindsight Zouma/Ivanovic would perhaps have been better able to deal with Eriksen's crossing ability.

Sure, in a vacuum. There was no way anyone would or should have had Bran in the team for this one.

Eventually Zouma takes Daves spot, though that could mean the end of him starting, I don't know if he could play up and down effectively a WB

 

52 minutes ago, The Brit said:

Mind you, the more I see the delight in the media at our defeat, the more fcuked off I get

Yup, and it will keep happening any time we do not win because they do not want to see us win the league.

Let's see where we are after the arsenal game. If we are still top we have a good shot at the title. If not our primary target is the top four and a return to cl football. 

Gutted not beating these w**kers but got to keep our heads up 13 wins on the trot isn't bad going! Not a knee jerk reaction but I do think in these big games we could do with the extra man in midfield (Fabregas) and go 352, I just think sometimes we get outnumbered through the middle in these big games. On to the next one hopefully bouncing back with big wins over Peterborugh and Leicester. UTC.

55 minutes ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

You're finding problems where there are none. The formation isn't a problem. Those two players height isn't the problem, sounds Jose-esque, 'i have to play ivan because I need people who are 6ft' 

It's one loss out of 14 everyone. Conte will be fuming and so will the players. I pity Leicester 

Who complained about the formation? Having 2 short guys on the back post is obviously a problem they exposed it twice in a day, although Jose left on not great terms do you think he might of known what he was talking about sometimes since he is one of the best managers in the world? Joses problem is people management not as a tactician, tactics he is one of the very best in the business, hence all his trophies,  We have identified a problem area, tottenham identified it now everyone else will see it, expect plenty of crosses from the right to the back post.  Conte had a shift around and got it almost right 1st time after Arsenal, you don't change a winning formula, but now that's 4 goals conceded in 2 games from balls coming in the box, when you identify an issue you tweak the squad to address it and he will. 

Just seeing some of the game back and while the first goal was a blow, the second was the real killer...just as it felt at the time live, we'd actually started the second half well, once we'd abandoned our negative game plan, and looked dangerous...but to concede just as we were getting on top, was a setback we couldn't recover from. Left us with too much to do with not enough players on top form.

Had to laugh at these sp*rs fanS that were on my train home tonight...they were talking about what an amazing atmosphere it was etc...how soon they forget...they were dead quiet until Alli scored the first goal...went quiet again when we started second half on top and then Alli scored again.