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A Word for the Defence

THFC6061

THFC6061

Paul Robinson
With our attacking force stumbling along in recent weeks, it's been our defenders who have stepped-up to the plate and produced some great performances to keep us well in the hunt for Champions League Football next season.

Spurs are now unbeaten in the Premier League since mid-December on a run of nine matches (5 wins, 4 draws) in which we've conceded only 4 goals and kept 5 clean sheets...

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...we've averaged a goal conceded for every 202.5 minutes played during this current run.
 
Good stuff! We've had quite a lot of rotation so far this season as well. Everyone has played a part.

Out of curiosity how would that compare to a Man U or City this season?
 
dingdongo said:
Good stuff! We've had quite a lot of rotation so far this season as well. Everyone has played a part.

Out of curiosity how would that compare to a Man U or City this season?
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As the 'Pool game was the first that City had conceded in 2013, i'd say their defensive record is pretty good.



Good news. Though we are 'one late conceded goal' away from everyone melting down over it again.




Gallas has just come back into fitness, and with bae back fit we now have options.
 
Its a real shame we had that 'mad' two minutes at Goodison in December. COuld have been on a 13-match unbeaten run in the LEague, still 1 defeat in 13 aint too shabby
 
Hoping the back 5 can remain a bit settled now: Lloris, Walker, Daws, Verts, Benny. At least Kaboul can concentrate on getting back to 100% fitness, rather than the old days of our players being rushed back too soon
 
I agree that considering we have been swapping players almost every game, from Caulker to Dawson to Vertonghen at left back to Naughton to even Naughton at right back on two occasions to Gallas at centre half etc. I think it's great that we've managed to concede little and keep many cleansheets.

Looks like we are sticking with Walker - Daws - Vert - Ekotto. Up until Kaboul is back at least. Any news on him? I heard late February which could hopefully see him back on the bench for Arsenal?
 
The rotation of the defence in some ways reminds me of what Fergie has tended to do at United over the years. Rotation every now and again of center halves in particular has its critics, but on a positive it keeps all the center halves on their toes and feeling a more important part of the team.
 
Oh... let's not forget that Younes Kaboul should be back in action later this month, which will add more quality to our central defence and provide some extra threats at set pieces.
 
A bit of rotation isn't a bad thing to a degree but I am a great believer in generally keeping a settled back line. For me, I want to see BAE starting more or less the rest of the games because he will be relatively fresh and I am petrified everytime Naughton is played, especially at left back. In the more physical games I want Dawson playing and against the more technical teams who will be a bit cuter I would prefer Vertonghen, both of which should rotate to partner Kaboul when he is fully fit imo.
 
Earlier in the season a lot of people criticised AVB for picking Gallas and Friedel instead of Dawson and Lloris, moaning about how many goals we were conceding. But people leapt to his defence, saying it was just a matter of the team adjusting to the new system, playing a high line and a pressing game is difficult don't ya know.

We are now a far more stable defensive unit and it's great to see the high line and pressing game in full effect. Attack is the best form of defence, and with teams pushed back into their own half it becomes harder for them to attack us, other than with hopeless punts forward that we can deal with. The effectiveness of this strategy co-incided nicely with....wait for it....Dawson and Lloris coming in the team. For all the talk about systems and implementing new styles, it's only a good idea if you have the players suited to play them. Gallas is slow and is a risk in a high line, Friedel is not good enough on the ball and doesn't come off his line quick enough to play the sweeper keeper role. I'm glad AVB has finally seen the light.

And before somebody goes "HOW DARE YOU QUESTION A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL MANAGER, DO YOU REALLY THINK AVB DIDN'T NOTICE THIS STUFF? WHY DO YOU THINK HE CHANGED IT?" - it wasn't like this stuff wasn't pointed out ages before he actually DID change it by several people on this board.
 
SUIYHA said:
Earlier in the season a lot of people criticised AVB for picking Gallas and Friedel instead of Dawson and Lloris, moaning about how many goals we were conceding. But people leapt to his defence, saying it was just a matter of the team adjusting to the new system, playing a high line and a pressing game is difficult don't ya know.

We are now a far more stable defensive unit and it's great to see the high line and pressing game in full effect. Attack is the best form of defence, and with teams pushed back into their own half it becomes harder for them to attack us, other than with hopeless punts forward that we can deal with. The effectiveness of this strategy co-incided nicely with....wait for it....Dawson and Lloris coming in the team. For all the talk about systems and implementing new styles, it's only a good idea if you have the players suited to play them. Gallas is slow and is a risk in a high line, Friedel is not good enough on the ball and doesn't come off his line quick enough to play the sweeper keeper role. I'm glad AVB has finally seen the light.

And before somebody goes "HOW DARE YOU QUESTION A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL MANAGER, DO YOU REALLY THINK AVB DIDN'T NOTICE THIS STUFF? WHY DO YOU THINK HE CHANGED IT?" - it wasn't like this stuff wasn't pointed out ages before he actually DID change it by several people on this board.
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Sigh.......this argument AGAIN?

Plenty of good reasons for AVB to have picked Brad ahead of Hugo for the first few weeks.

Hugo had no experience of English football.

He had no pre season with Spurs.

Plunging him in to first team action too early could have made life far more difficult for him.

Summarily dropping Brad would not have set a good example and could easily have adversely affected dressing room morale. AVB was keen not to repeat his Chelsea mistakes.

Enough banging on about this. Hugo is our undisputed no. 1 now. So leave it be.
 
We defend as a team now - all 11 players press in a very organised way. I've never seen a Tottenham team defend so smartly before.
 
jimmyb said:
Sigh.......this argument AGAIN?

Plenty of good reasons for AVB to have picked Brad ahead of Hugo for the first few weeks.

Hugo had no experience of English football.

He had no pre season with Spurs.

Plunging him in to first team action too early could have made life far more difficult for him.

Summarily dropping Brad would not have set a good example and could easily have adversely affected dressing room morale. AVB was keen not to repeat his Chelsea mistakes.

Enough banging on about this. Hugo is our undisputed no. 1 now. So leave it be.
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We have been over this before, so you're right that it's not worth going into again because we'll never know what would have happened if Hugo had come in. Perhaps he might have crumbled under the pressure of adjusting to a new culture too quickly, made a few mistakes and developed a reputation in the media. Or maybe his faster reflexes and being quicker off his line might have prevented goals in the Chelsea, Wigan and City games and we'd be in third place now. We'll never know.

What I do know is that, when AVB started doing what some of us had been screaming for him to do for ages, we started seeing the results we were hoping for. I don't think that's a co-incidence.

parklane1 said:
Agree, makes me wonder if he has a agenda .
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:rolleyes: yes, you got me, I am actually Harry Redknapp and I am so bitter about being sacked I am looking to defame AVB. Next time you leave your house Joe and Kevin will put a bag over your head and bundle you into the back of a van so I can grind you into mincemeat and feed you to Rosie.
 
All our defenders seem to be more comfortable with the high line now, even Dawson with his steam driven legs. ;)

Walkers lifted his game over the last month or so which has helped as he's not being caught out as much as earlier in the season. Once Benny removes all the rust we'll have a very solid defensive line.
 
It's funny that individually, none of our back four have been all that great in form - Walker's been awful all season, Dawson has his critics, BAE still looks rusty to say the least while Naughton's no LB, and even Verts has been overly casual with his defending at times imo. I think the improved defensive workrate of the midfielders in front of them - Sandro is more of a DM than Parker, Dembele is much more defensively capable than Modric, and Lennon and Bale have both upped their pressing - has really helped, and I suspect having Holtby in can only improve our pressing game while Ade will help us keep possession more than Dempsey or Defoe. Best of all has probably been Lloris though, whose reading of the game is so good that he prevents chances before they become dangerous.

My worry is that we'll burn out with so much pressing and so much usage of Bale, and I think that's why we appear so quick to start settling down and holding back our energy after going up 1-0. That understandably makes the fans nervous and naturally I'd much rather see us go 2 or 3 up before the containment policy kicks in, but in terms of the long view being "controlled and restrained" rather than eager for blood may have its advantages for a thin squad.
 
Sorry, can't buy this...

We were horrible at the back yesterday against an average team. In the first half, Long should have scored two and Daws and Verts couldn;t live with Lukaku. Above all, the only player who can genuinely track back with pace is Walker - watching the centre halfs trying to regain ground on a baggies break was painful to the system
 
SUIYHA said:
We have been over this before, so you're right that it's not worth going into again because we'll never know what would have happened if Hugo had come in. Perhaps he might have crumbled under the pressure of adjusting to a new culture too quickly, made a few mistakes and developed a reputation in the media. Or maybe his faster reflexes and being quicker off his line might have prevented goals in the Chelsea, Wigan and City games and we'd be in third place now. We'll never know.

What I do know is that, when AVB started doing what some of us had been screaming for him to do for ages, we started seeing the results we were hoping for. I don't think that's a co-incidence.



:rolleyes: yes, you got me, I am actually Harry Redknapp and I am so bitter about being sacked I am looking to defame AVB. Next time you leave your house Joe and Kevin will put a bag over your head and bundle you into the back of a van so I can grind you into mincemeat and feed you to Rosie.
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No it was not coincidence, it was due to the slow introduction of LLoris that we are now starting to reap the rewards.


Well done AVB imo.
 
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