Tottenham Hotspur

[Fredo]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/15/tottenham-liverpool-tactical-analysis

Tottenham's André Villas-Boas is an architect of his own downfall
Tottenham's 5-0 hammering by Liverpool at White Hart Lane was a damning indictment of the Portuguese's tactical acumen

After the 6-0 thrashing away to Manchester City, André Villas-Boas significantly adjusted his strategy for the subsequent match, a 2-2 draw with Manchester United. His side played much deeper, with the midfielders protecting the defence keenly – Tottenham invited pressure, but denied space in behind and between the lines. Consequently, the defence was penetrated much less frequently.



The strategy for this match, however, was a bizarre return to Villas-Boas's favoured high defensive line, which played perfectly into the hands of Luis Suárez and Liverpool. Villas-Boas has significant injury problems in defence, and Étienne Capoue and Michael Dawson is clearly not an ideal partnership. From an early stage it was clear they had no relationship together – they stepped up to play offside at different times, Capoue was never in a covering position when Dawson was bypassed, and Suárez was pulling both out of position. The centre-backs desperately needed protection, as Liverpool continually raced past them at will.

Liverpool's build-up play was occasionally superb, but when a simple long clearance from Martin Skrtel brought Hugo Lloris out of his penalty box and created a chance for Suárez, the extent of Spurs' problems became clear.

Suárez is the ideal striker to work the channels and break in behind, while Jordan Henderson's boundless energy also contributed – he made untracked runs in behind the defence for the first three goals, and encouraged Liverpool to play directly, important considering the cautious nature of Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen. Raheem Sterling continually took on Kyle Naughton down the outside, while Philippe Coutinho tucked inside to play simple passes.

It was astonishingly easy for Liverpool. The similarity to Spurs' previous thrashing is striking, and the fact Villas-Boas actively decided to return to the strategy that failed at City is a damning indictment of his tactical acumen.

[RedAndWhite]

God Spurs fans as thick - the ones I know are using the "You win one match you think your the greatest team on the planet line now" - the only reply is the - you have a couple of good seasons you think your a big team one. Followed by alist of trophies won by both teams.

Gob****es.

[Fredo]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/10517726/Tottenham-Hotspur-0-Liverpool-5-match-report.html

As Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy glumly watched from the White Hart Lane stands, he must have wondered what could have been.
In front of Levy was a manager he wanted to appoint, a striker he nearly signed and a team playing the kind of football he dreams of. Unfortunately for him, they were all in red.

In contrast, Andre Villas-Boas and his Tottenham players were booed off the pitch by the White Hart Lane crowd at the final whistle. Paulinho had headed down the tunnel almost half an hour earlier after being sent off for a wild challenge.
Villas-Boas may not last much longer and Levy must be wondering whether he blew £110 million in the summer. Roberto Soldado continues to struggle as a lone striker, Nacer Chadli looked out of his depth on the left, Paulinho lost his head and Etienne Capoue was badly exposed as a makeshift central defender.
Less than a month after conceding six goals at Manchester City, Spurs were hit for another five. Managers rarely survive such regular maulings.

In Levy’s perfect world, Luis Suárez would be a Tottenham player and Brendan Rodgers would have replaced Harry Redknapp. Spurs had practically signed Suárez before he joined Liverpool, until Redknapp decided the Uruguayan was too similar to Rafael van der Vaart and pulled the plug on the deal.
When Levy started to think about life without Redknapp, Rodgers was the man he initially planned to approach. But Liverpool made their move and Levy was left to look at the alternatives. He thought Villas-Boas would bring similar qualities to White Hart Lane, but, on the evidence of Sunday's performance, Rodgers and his team are far superior.
Rodgers was without injured captain Steven Gerrard. Suárez was given the armband and led by example, while Jordan Henderson produced a superb performance in midfield.
The pair combined to give Liverpool an 18th-minute lead and they never looked back. Michael Dawson cut out a Joe Allen pass, but Henderson picked up the loose ball and played in Suárez, who skipped over a Capoue challenge before scoring.
Four minutes later, Suárez should have doubled his and Liverpool’s tally. Raheem Sterling, who gave Kyle Naughton and substitute Zeki Fryers nightmares, split the Spurs defence and Suárez tried to put the ball through the legs of Hugo Lloris. But the French keeper managed to make enough contact with the ball to divert it out for a corner.
Lloris breathed a sigh of relief when Suárez squandered his best chance of the opening period. A long punt out of defence from Martin Skrtel was misjudged by the onrushing Lloris, who succeeded only in back-heading the ball into his own area for Suárez. It looked to be a certain goal, but Suárez opted not to shoot first time with his left foot and by the time he had pulled the ball back on to his right, Lloris had recovered to save.
Roy Hodgson was in the White Hart Lane stands. The display of Suárez may have struck fear into the heart of the England manager, but he will have been greatly encouraged by the performances of Henderson and Sterling.
Philippe Coutinho hit the crossbar and Glen Johnson shot just over the bar, before Liverpool secured a two-goal cushion. Sterling played a pass over the Spurs defence and Coutinho helped the ball into the path of Henderson. His shot was saved and Suárez’s follow-up was also kept out. But Henderson steered the second rebound into the net.
Spurs had barely managed to threaten before the break. Chadli headed wide and substitute Lewis Holtby missed the target from a Soldado cross.
Soldado was presented with an early second-half chance to fire Spurs back into the game, but shot over the bar. That was to be as good as it got for the home side, who did not manage a single effort on target.
Moments later, Liverpool went within inches of killing the contest as Mamadou Sakho headed a Sterling cross against the post and Skrtel skied the rebound into the crowd.
Any hopes of a Spurs comeback went up in smoke with just over 25 minutes remaining, when Paulinho kicked Suárez in the chest and was shown a red card by referee Jon Moss.
Rather than sitting back, Liverpool went for the kill and Jon Flanagan put the icing on the cake for the visitors by applying the finish to a wonderful move involving Coutinho, Henderson and Suárez.
Rodgers celebrated by charging down the touchline in front of a fed-up Levy, who may well have joined the hundreds of Tottenham fans who decided they had seen enough when Suárez chipped in a fourth.
Sterling grabbed a fifth from close range to rub salt into Spurs’ wounds. Villas-Boas headed down the tunnel arm-in-arm with Suárez. He might soon be getting a tap on the shoulder from Levy.

[ChesterDave]

In Levy’s perfect world, Luis Suárez would be a Tottenham player and Brendan Rodgers would have replaced Harry Redknapp. Spurs had practically signed Suárez before he joined Liverpool, until Redknapp decided the Uruguayan was too similar to Rafael van der Vaart and pulled the plug on the deal.

?



True? Piss funny if so. Arry Fackin Wheeler-Dealer Redknapp!

[Roboklopp]

What a surprise, Spuds were in for one of our players. Wannabes.

[Fosterbloke]

Soldado's wife suffered a miscarriage just before their Europa League match. He scored a hattrick then but I wonder if it's all sinking in now, hence his stinky game last night.

I hope it was his decision to play.

[PTP]

They create **** all.

For a team with a lot of offensive players, although most are on the bench, they don't get behind teams or give Soldado any service.

thats a big issue and something Carragher tried to point out but struggled to get his point across and souness dismissed it a bit

what i think he was trying to say - Soldado is not suited to that role at all - as a lone striker he's far to static and in effective. They should be playing Defoe up alongside him

in fact, they need to change a few things - someone on here yesterday said Holtby was the only player who showed any fight and he was.



for me they should change system, settle on 4-4-2 - with midfield/attack off

lennon-------holtby------sandro-------townsend

--------------defoe-------soldado.

[PTP]

they also need to re think their ridiculous high line defending haha

[Pablo]

They're in a real mess and most worryingly for them Vilas Boas has got that bewildered rabbit in the headlights looks about him, like he has no clue of how to fix this. He has the body language of a beaten man. A poor result against Southampton and I'd say he's doomed.

[Shaggy]

I think he'll be gone before their next game. Laudrup might be a good shout.

[RichC]

Talking to a Spurs fan at work, he really believes that if they don't beat Wham this week he'll be gone.

Leaking 14 games at home against 3 teams is never going to be taken well by the fans and Levy isn't someone who'll shirk from making a tough (albeit wrong IMO) call on getting rid of him.

[PTP]

i just read that article nigey posted - did Spurs really nearly sign suarez? don't recall it.

[Pablo]

Levy's face in the latter stages of the game was a treat . Livid doesn't do it justice.

[Pablo]

i just read that article nigey posted - did Spurs really nearly sign suarez? don't recall it.

I remember signing him virtually uncontested (although it took a while). Unbelievable really.

[baitman]

the way they have stacked up a warehouse full of players and have no idea how to best utalize them is laughable. you have to wonder if these players were even picked by avb or whether they have sent him a lampshade by mistake.