Post match thread v Spurs

[Leyton388]

It is still puzzling me why Rafa decided to take Keane off and Bring Babel on up front..


Keane was doing a good job of holiding the ball up and bring gerrard into play. When Babel came on for 25 mins he didn't do that once, which allowed Spursare****e to put us under pressure.

If your going to take Keane off, you should have shifted Kuyt upfront and put babel on the right.

thats my slight rant over.. until I think about how poor Yossi was when he came on...

Prob because he thought we had the game in the bag as up to that point spurs showed nothing what so ever to suggest they would score. By taking off Keane he allowed spurs to get a hold on the game as we failed to hold the ball up the top end of the pitch so spurs kept going forward and pushing us back.

[Sisterstiffticket]

Spursare****eare****e are superb. Plain and simple. Our firm has a corporate box at Spursare****eare****e so I was at the game with Spursare****eare****e fans who at teh final whistle were going on about finishing 5th and finishing above Arsenal. I agree because, well, what a ****ing good team they truly are.

They completely dominated and controlled the game, it was actually too easy for them, to the extent that when they were creating those chances they weren't playing with the steel and edge needed to convert those chances; They were coasting. In their dominance, we were not professional enough IMO. Only have ourselves to blame. Taking off Keane and playing Babel up front was a mistake as we lost a focal point in attack and Keane's link-up play. Lennon coming on made a difference as it allowed them to double up on that side where previously we were getting little joy. Still stunned we lost it.

Couldn't agree more Dhav. What wise words and very humble of you too.

[badpiggy]

Hmmm when everyone on here was calling me a cynical **** for being pissed off about drawing away at Atletico in that fashion... This game was 100% the reason why. I could see this **** coming. We didn't take our chances and ended up dropping points in a piss easy situation. Here today we ended up losing. Pathetic, Spursare****e are ****e. I'm so disappointed by this, the worst of it all is I could see this result coming especially after the performances against Portsmouth and Atleti. Chelsea aside.

I know it's easy to say that we don't have Torres and with a natural goalscorer with him in the 11 we'd clinch these but there's still no excuse for missing the kind of blatant chances we have in these 2 games. Every player is a professional and should be churning out wins on games like today especially after starts like we've had today.

I guess this is a bit of payback from the start of the season when we were playing ****e and still winning.

Oh and about Dossena, none of the goals were really his fault, arguably the second one he could have done better. I'm really not a fan of this guy, his quality on the ball doesn't look very good, I think he's probably made like 3 good crosses all season after like 10000 attempts a game, doesn't look a particularly good defender and so on. Seems like he's a slightly better version of Riise, what a waste of 8m or whatever we paid, surely there were better options available. He bursts forward and I think he's going to do something positive but when he gets in possession he practically takes a first time left footed cross which is a hopeful ball, or an attempted long ball both of which are usually intercepted much to my annoyance. If he doesn't improve drastically soon I hope he is only used to relieve Aurelio then disappears at the end of the season.

aurelio has groin problems so he'd better be gentle

[Redspin]

Haven't been tested???? They've played us and Manu and absolutely hammered teams that we've stumbled to wins against. They only reason that they haven't been "tested" is because they are so superior that they've made these games look easy.

Take Middlesborough, Sunderland and Portsmouth for example. Games that we found very tough, (the Portsmouth game we were very fortunate), but Chelsea won those 5-0, 5-0 and 4-0.

Either Chelsea or Man Utd WILL win the Premiership. We don't have the depth to cope and we don't play with the attacking flair required to win games at a canter and thats where we will fall short.

We're a better tean again this year, but I still think that there will be too large a gap between us and the top of the table come January, even though we may still be second or third at that stage.

Chelsea will win the Premiership this season by between 10 and 12 points.

You seem to have forgotten Chelsea struggling badly to beat Wigan 1-0, scoring from a free-kick in the fourth minute and then being played off the park for 86 minutes with Cech being man-of-the-match. You also seem to forget Chelsea being outplayed - at home - by Spurs and scraping a 1-1 draw, not to mention being comprehensively outplayed in every area of the pitch by Liverpool, also at home.

Man U have been very mediocre in practically every game this season and were lucky to get a draw at Goodison last week when lowly Everton battered them for the second half. They were shocking against Newcastle at home and could have easily lost instead of scraping a 1-1. We murdered them at Anfield and a 3-1 or 4-1 wouldn't have flattered us at all. Yesterday they were fortunate to scrape a home win against Hull by 1 goal.

As for their respective squads, Liverpool's bench is usually much stronger than either of theirs, so I'm at a loss to understand your fawning admiration of them. For a second I imagined I was reading the Daily Mirror or Andy Gray's blog on the Sky website.

Please get a grip and try to keep a sense of proportion

[Redspin]

WHY? It's a great ground. One of the few real football stadiums left. Not a fkin corperate bowl.

Sorry mate, other fans think it's a ****hole.

[FatTony]

You seem to have forgotten Chelsea struggling badly to beat Wigan 1-0, scoring from a free-kick in the fourth minute and then being played off the park for 86 minutes with Cech being man-of-the-match. You also seem to forget Chelsea being outplayed - at home - by Spursare****eare****e and scraping a 1-1 draw, not to mention being comprehensively outplayed in every area of the pitch by Liverpool, also at home.

Man U have been very mediocre in practically every game this season and were lucky to get a draw at Goodison last week when lowly Everton battered them for the second half. They were shocking against Newcastle at home and could have easily lost instead of scraping a 1-1. We murdered them at Anfield and a 3-1 or 4-1 wouldn't have flattered us at all. Yesterday they were fortunate to scrape a home win against Hull by 1 goal.

As for their respective squads, Liverpool's bench is usually much stronger than either of theirs, so I'm at a loss to understand your fawning admiration of them. For a second I imagined I was reading the Daily Mirror or Andy Gray's blog on the Sky website.

Please get a grip and try to keep a sense of proportion

You're at a loss are you? I'm a football fan, I assume that you are too? When was the last time you recall a side scoring 3 or more goals in 5 out of the 10 opening games (including two 5-0's and one 4-0)? I appreciate good football and you have to take your hat off to them at the moment, especially with a manager in his premiership infancy.

Wigan was their second game of the season, Spursare****e was their 3rd under a new manager, and new to the Premiership. Since then other than the game against us and Manure they've the banged in over 20 goals. They're steamrollering sides with such frequency its worrying.


Get a grip? You need to wake up and take the blinkers off. We're doing well at the moment but Chelsea's attacking football is on a different level.

[rage]

Bit harsh on Keane to be fair he has proved himself over the years to be a great player. "form is temporary class is permanent" rings true on this occasion. He needs time to fit. I think the 20 million pricetag is weighing him down. He is trying too hard to play our style of football. Add the fact that he is a red to this and the pressure he feels must be immense. The last thing he needs at this moment in time is the fans to start getting on his back. Judge him at the end of the season. The jury is out on Dossena but again I would not judge him till the end of the season. New league, new country etc it takes some foreign players a while to settle. I enjoy reading a lot of your posts Rage, you are like a good ol fashioned nemesis, everyone on here loves to have a pop at you but when your not spouting ****e you can make some very good arguments. On this occasion I think you are in the wrong calling our players turd. I think you have been waiting for this moment when we lose a game so as you can come on here and have a pop at the players and manager.

fair do's on most of that but honestly i'm not looking to have a pop at anyone really. i really do think dossena is an awful player. he's clearly overweight, has no tactical nouse whatsoever and is actually a step backwards from riise. as for keane, he is premiership proven but he looks lost out there. how long do we give it? until we're out of the title race because we have a 20 million pound striker that has it in his locker but can't perform for us and a full back that is closer to traore than riise to cost us decisive points? i'd rather act decisively and sell keane at xmas and dosenna asap.

i didn't have a go at rafa. we rode our luck and it was an impressive run but some people can't have it both ways - when we win it was down to skill and when we lose we were just unlucky.

there are clear shortcomings in this team and they need to be addressed. i like everyone else want them addressed. nicey just pissed me off when he came on basically asking me if i was happy that we lost. that's bollocks, i;m still ****in fuming that we failed to finish off a bottom of the league team.

[blacky]

fair do's on most of that but honestly i'm not looking to have a pop at anyone really. i really do think dossena is an awful player. he's clearly overweight, has no tactical nouse whatsoever and is actually a step backwards from riise. as for keane, he is premiership proven but he looks lost out there. how long do we give it? until we're out of the title race because we have a 20 million pound striker that has it in his locker but can't perform for us and a full back that is closer to traore than riise to cost us decisive points? i'd rather act decisively and sell keane at xmas and dosenna asap.

i didn't have a go at rafa. we rode our luck and it was an impressive run but some people can't have it both ways - when we win it was down to skill and when we lose we were just unlucky.

there are clear shortcomings in this team and they need to be addressed. i like everyone else want them addressed. nicey just pissed me off when he came on basically asking me if i was happy that we lost. that's bollocks, i;m still ****in fuming that we failed to finish off a bottom of the league team.

I think the fact that Torres has been injured meant that Rafa has had to play Keane in every game (even though he has had injury problems himself). I think we have a handy enough run of fixtures up till xmas now so I'd like to see Torres and Keane given that time to forge an understanding of each others game. If they don't gel by then by all means Rafa needs to look at different options but to be fair Kuyt/Babel and Ngog are not an improvement so we may need to delve into the transfer market for a striker in Jan. I still think Keane will come good and I wouldn't at all be surprised if he got his 1st prem goal against west brom. we shouldve won comfortably yesterday but as I said on the post match thread every team will lose a game herw and there it's how we react this week thats the key.

[Sisterstiffticket]

Sorry mate, other fans think it's a ****hole.

****HOLE?...****HOLE?...WHITE HART ****HOLE???

[pondus]

****HOLE?...****HOLE?...WHITE HART ****HOLE???

You know it's going to be called White Hart ****hole on here from now on? You have to stop doing that

Have a few "friends" here in Norway who are Spursare****e supporters , and they say it's nothing special. They loved Anfield though

[BG1973]

Travesty. We need to learn a big lesson from this. There is no game in the Premier League where trying to hold a 1-0 lead is good. When you are on top you must score the second. Have to say I thought certain players did not show up today.

Reina - Looked shaky
Agger, Dossena - Great going forward but cannot defend. At this point we should not be starting Dossena. He is not the player we thought and Aurelio must start until we improve this position. Too many times he was out of position. Should have stopped that cross and Agger let Pav get in front of him.
Keane - making the wrong decisions, should have had a couple of shots but was at least holding up the play.
Bennyoun - I just don't understand what people see in him. He takes too long on the ball and constantly loses it. I have my head in my hands whenever he gets a game now. His return is poor.
Babel - Very disappointing replacement for Keane. He simply was invisible. Needs to establish himself soon. How long are we to wait for potential.
Gerrard - wasteful today. One of his poorer games.
Riera - Disappeared for a large section of this game. Made some poor decisions in the first half and was invisible in the second.
Kuyt and Arbeloa are the only ones who came out with any credit today.

Gutted as that was definitely 3 points dropped and its worrying that we always have this great start then fold in November. We need to go on a run for these winnable games. Sorry Rafa, but Harry outfoxed you today.

We played a great game tonight, that was as impressive a performance I have seen away from home all season. the only thing missing was the second goal. It didn't come, we got mugged.

that's football.

Saying Harry outfoxed Rafa when spurs hardly had a kick shows a) how pissed off you are b) that you're a bit clueless.

[wiw]

i've always found you to be a well balanced poster amigo. you expressed most of my sentiments exactly. anyone who actually watches football will know we're not finishing teams off. oh and dossena is turd.

by the way nicey if you don't like my assesment of dossena and keane as turd go and put my on ignore or something instead of abusing me. close to 30 million and they have contributed nothing to date.

Check your facts before posting such ****e. Keane has 4 assists for Kuyt already this season (on lfc.tv today), the assist for Torres in the derby and no doubt countless other things. Not to mention his excellent movement and 2 goals. Yes, we all would've hoped for more than 2 goals, but give him a ****ing chance, he has been an ever-present in a team that has lost it's first match in November!

and put it this way... how do you think you would do if you got your dream job, the thing you'd been working for your whole life..you move to a new team, you have 40,000+ people judging every minute detail of what you do every week, not to mention the papers and millions of other fans you're trying to impress.

Let's be honest, he was trying too hard at first, in addition to adapting to a new team and playing style. Torres has been quoted saying that if you're not exactly where Rafa wants you on the pitch he will let you know about it...I really doubt he will be playing with full freedom whilst adapting.

Yes he is a professional footballer you may say, he should be able to handle all this, but give him a ****ing break would you. He's running himself into the ground every game, playing with injuries (he had to have a painkilling injection the other day) and I'm sure he'd much rather be playing with Torres right now but he's injured sadly. but he IS contributing, and to say otherwise is absolutely moronic.

Rant over

[G]

Check your facts before posting such ****e. Keane has 4 assists for Kuyt already this season (on lfc.tv today), the assist for Torres in the derby and no doubt countless other things. Not to mention his excellent movement and 2 goals. Yes, we all would've hoped for more than 2 goals, but give him a ****ing chance, he has been an ever-present in a team that has lost it's first match in November!

and put it this way... how do you think you would do if you got your dream job, the thing you'd been working for your whole life..you move to a new team, you have 40,000+ people judging every minute detail of what you do every week, not to mention the papers and millions of other fans you're trying to impress.

Let's be honest, he was trying too hard at first, in addition to adapting to a new team and playing style. Torres has been quoted saying that if you're not exactly where Rafa wants you on the pitch he will let you know about it...I really doubt he will be playing with full freedom whilst adapting.

Yes he is a professional footballer you may say, he should be able to handle all this, but give him a ****ing break would you. He's running himself into the ground every game, playing with injuries (he had to have a painkilling injection the other day) and I'm sure he'd much rather be playing with Torres right now but he's injured sadly. but he IS contributing, and to say otherwise is absolutely moronic.

Rant over

Amen

[Craig_H]

I think that once we're past the 'early stages of the season' scenario (and we're almost there now), Keane will start doing better. Once the whole 'new season, new club' thing is finished, he'll get back to his usual self.

[dww]

Can't stop thinking about those near-misses. Xabi's header!

And you just KNEW that clown Gomes would have a stormer. His fingertip save from Stevie effectively won them the game. A galling defeat.

To be honest I don't think he did that well. We played well but didn't create many clear cut chances and he didn't make any clown like mistakes. I kind of feel like for all the good things this season we still lack an extra goal threat in our strongest starting XI. Personally I would have thought of taking Xabi or Mascher off late in the game instead of Riera for Benayoun as we needed to have the ball in their half and to try to win it. The mantra that it was draws that killed us last year is very true and I would have been less unhappy with the loss if I felt we had gone hell for leather to get the extra two points in the second half.

Other than that we played the game soundly in all regards I think and it was just 'one of those days' to trot out a tired cliche. I was gutted at the end but I'm feeling more optimistic the further away the game gets - I hope that continues through tomorrow as well.