Spurs (A) - Post Match

[Fosterbloke]

Sorry, don't like popcorn.

Check out his white glove..

[Mostar]

Collection of high pressing, break-up plays and defending by our midfield and attack vs Tottenham.


[ame="http://www.veoh.com/watch/v65292524HGWwTYXh"]Watch Videos Online | Defending | Veoh.com[/ame]

[Rigadon]

Collection of high pressing, break-up plays and defending by our midfield and attack vs Tottenham.



L4 High Pressing vs THFC - Video Dailymotion

That's really impressive. The midfield three, Sterling and Suarez didn't give Spurs any time to settle on the ball. They also did intelligently - like a pack of wolves*

*does that even make sense? I'm tired - time for bed!

[Rigadon]

I never saw this coming at all. I got this totally wrong and I have to give the manager and players total credit for this.

Its one of the best performances I've seen for decades. The midfield was superb. I slaughtered that trio but didn't they prove me wrong.

Still a long way to go but this result should give them a great boost. I still have doubts about this team but I hope I have to keep making posts like this on a Monday.

Fair play Alan

[Mostar]

That's really impressive. The midfield three, Sterling and Suarez didn't give Spurs any time to settle on the ball. They also did intelligently - like a pack of wolves*

They were like wasps. If you look carefully you'll see 2 almost 3 of our guys at any point in time one of Spurs players would be in the possession of the ball and/or marking the closer Spurs players who the ball should have been passed to.

We pressed and pressured, broke up and disrupted their play to the point that Spurs had no idea of what to do and that was one of the main reasons why we won.

[Fosterbloke]

It's fair to say that Tottenham didn't have a decent shape which meant they played almost as individuals which helped a lot.

Against Chelsea or Man City we can definitely profit but we better be prepared to guard the entire pitch!

[Vermilion]

Check out his white glove..

[meffin]

These pictures have been great this season.

[Yozza]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2524809/REVEALED-How-went-wrong-AVB--Levys-humilation-bust-Freund-Adebayor.html

Anyone remember the bit in red??? Edit - here's the pic... surely taken out of context





REVEALED: How it all went wrong for AVB... Levy's humiliation and his bust-ups with Freund and Adebayor that lost him respect

AVB sacked after showdown talks at the club's training ground on Monday morning
Levy felt humiliated after 6-0 and 5-0 defeats in space of three weeks
Levy was also concerned by Spurs' playing style
Chairman demanded the re-integration of Emmanuel Adebayor into the team
Coach Steffen Freund was left isolated following row over defeat to Arsenal
Franco Baldini was only influential figure supporting AVB by beginning of December


When Andre Villas-Boas was called into a meeting at White Hart Lane with chairman Daniel Levy and director of football Franco Baldini on Sunday evening, he still had a chance to save his job.

Humiliation does not sit well with Levy but after an embarrassing 5-0 defeat against Liverpool at White Hart Lane, it was becoming an all too familiar emotion.

Tottenham’s directors, squirming in their seats high up in the West Stand, spotted Brendan Rodgers hold up five fingers to his coaching staff when Jon Flanagan scored Liverpool’s third.

They were stunned by the audacity, but Rodgers had called it right. Levy was livid. He wanted Villas-Boas to change his ways but the Tottenham coach was in a militant mood during that super-charged meeting inside the stadium.

It had been a scandalous surrender by Tottenham’s players and emotions were still running high. Nevertheless, Villas-Boas was not prepared to change — even if it cost him his job.

Although all three resolved to sleep on it, Levy was not about to let the matter rest.
Only three weeks had passed since he had been forced to make small talk with Manchester City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain and chief executive Ferran Soriano over a cup of tea in the chairman’s suite after City had thrashed Spurs 6-0. Levy vowed never to be put through that again.

On Sunday, Liverpool’s visiting officials were still grabbing their coats from the cloakroom in the boardroom at White Hart Lane when Levy and Baldini made their way down to see Villas-Boas.


During some tense discussions, Levy demanded the re-integration of Emmanuel Adebayor into the Tottenham team and for Villas-Boas to set aside his personal issues with the striker.

Up at Tottenham’s magnificent new training complex in Enfield, north London, it is common knowledge that Villas-Boas and Adebayor cannot stand the sight of each other.
The striker has played once this season, a half-hearted effort after coming on as a half-time substitute during the 6-0 mauling at the Etihad Stadium.
The deterioration of their relationship is the reason Adebayor was instructed to train with the youths at the start of the season. As a senior professional, Adebayor has never forgiven his manager.

Villas-Boas' response to the problem up front was, apparently, to remind the Tottenham chairman that he wanted to sign Hulk from Zenit St Petersburg. Yet this had never been discussed in the summer.

On Sunday evening, when Sportsmail asked: ‘Is this your team? Are these the players you want to work with and are these the players you would choose to work with?’ Villas-Boas offered an interesting reply.

He said: ‘I’m not sure I can make it public. We have worked hard to build a strong team and we have a strong team and we are happy with the signings.’

That night, Match of the Day 2 highlighted the exchange during their analysis of Villas-Boas’ diminishing influence at White Hart Lane.

Next on the agenda was Steffen Freund’s role in the coaching set-up after a spectacular fall-out between the pair when Tottenham were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal on September 1.
Freund, a former Tottenham player who returned to the club as a coach at Levy's insistence, had always taken a seat next to Villas-Boas on the bench.

But after the derby, when they had a huge disagreement over the team’s approach and the substitutions, Villas-Boas promoted Luis Martins and relegated Freund in the seating positions.

Martins, who arrived at Tottenham with Villas-Boas when he was appointed in 2012, became the manager’s primary confidant. Inevitably it created tensions at the training ground and Freund felt alienated as his role vanished.

Levy was also concerned with the team’s identity and he reminded Villas-Boas that playing football with style and some swagger is a prerequisite for any Tottenham side.
Preparation was everything to Villas-Boas, something that factored heavily in his favour when he was chosen to replace Harry Redknapp as manager.

Despite this reputation, Gary Neville's remarkable analysis on Sky's Monday Night Football on November 25, the day after the 6-0 defeat at City, suggested Spurs' players were no longer responding to his methods.

At the moment City kicked off, Neville had spotted two Tottenham players tying up their boots, one looking in another direction and a fourth having a conversation on the touchline.

Thirteen seconds later Jesus Navas put the ball in the back of Hugo Lloris’ net. On high, Neville’s observations resonated.

Despite the escalating internal problems, reserve goalkeeper Brad Friedel — who had a massive row with Villas-Boas over his handling of the goalkeeping situation last season — claimed team spirit was ‘good’. Others would disagree.

The issue of the team’s style had been overlooked when Tottenham won their first four games of the season — two in the league, two in the Europa League — and did not concede once.

It was a decent start, yet defeat by Arsenal, along with their failure to turn the screw on Chelsea after Gylfi Sigurdsson had put Tottenham ahead during an exhilarating first half, caused some concern. The Chelsea game ended 1-1.

Although the 3-0 loss to West Ham at White Hart Lane was written off as an aberration, Villas-Boas then criticised the supporters for failing to get behind the team in a dreadful 1-0 win over Hull.

This was not what Joe Lewis had envisaged when he authorised a massive spending spree from his super yacht moored off New Providence Island in the Bahamas during the summer.

With three of the top four teams in the Barclays Premier League changing managers, Lewis was convinced the league’s big clubs were vulnerable and shared a growing belief that it could be Tottenham’s turn to win the title.

In meetings with Levy, Lewis agreed to plough all the money from the world-record £86million sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid back into the team.
Inadvertently, it placed Villas-Boas under almost intolerable pressure.
He could not handle it.

Last season Spurs finished a point behind Arsenal and missed out on the Champions League. This season’s target was far more ambitious — the title.
To do it, director of football Franco Baldini criss-crossed Europe and beyond to complete the signings of Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Roberto Soldado, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela.

Many of them arrived after the start of the season but it only added to the wave of optimism enveloping White Hart Lane.

Instead, it has all unravelled so quickly and by the time Spurs drew 2-2 with Manchester United on December 1, Baldini was the only influential figure left at the club showing any support for Villas-Boas. The rest were ready to sack him.
That game was followed by an exchange with the Daily Mail when Villas-Boas claimed he was being attacked ‘from the side’ and that the criticism was personal. He could not have been more wrong.

It was a shame it came to that, but it was another illustration of his deepening paranoia. All that ever mattered was whether Villas-Boas was up to the job of managing a club the size of Tottenham and securing Champions League football.

Monday morning, after a good night’s sleep, Levy decided he was not.

[Muddled]

Was Rodgers just going for a high five?

[wiw]

I watched the game again last night, and we were brilliant don't get me wrong, but it could've been a lot different Holtby scuffed that shot, Chadlis had a free header from a corner 6 yards out, Soldado missed two decent chances, Lennon had a close-range shot (brilliantly) blocked by Sakho from close range, Flanagan had a big chunk of Paulinho's shirt in the box and Skrtel had a big chunk of Soldado's on a corner. We were brilliant but big moments in the game swung it for us.

Let's face it who really gives a **** about the above

[Pablo]

Chadli's free header was the only real chance they had to be honest. If that had gone in it may have changed the game. But to be honest they were always second best. There's always the odd moment like that in the game, but the result in this one was never in doubt

[dww]

They created **** all. Essentially as they have done for a lot of the season. My feeling is that both their big defeats were as much about their lack of threat as they were defensive frailty. We played with impunity knowing that they were unlikley to hurt us. Even when they had control of the game at the start of the second half they rarely created space or dangerous positions.

[Fosterbloke]

That's ok because Suarez should have had a penalty and two more goals, another for Coutinho and one for Sakho.

We battered the cunts.

[Mark79]

I watched the game again last night, and we were brilliant don't get me wrong, but it could've been a lot different Holtby scuffed that shot, Chadlis had a free header from a corner 6 yards out, Soldado missed two decent chances, Lennon had a close-range shot (brilliantly) blocked by Sakho from close range, Flanagan had a big chunk of Paulinho's shirt in the box and Skrtel had a big chunk of Soldado's on a corner. We were brilliant but big moments in the game swung it for us.

Let's face it who really gives a **** about the above

Most games can be looked back at this way though.

Overall though they couldn't create many good chances whereas we cut them to ribbons on almost every attack.

Suarez could equally have had a pen in the 1st half before Spurs' claims but I didn't think any of them were big calls tbh.