***OMT Tottenham Hotspur vs Southampton ***

[milo]

I think Lamela has fallen down the pecking order due to his injury and the levels Eriksen, Alli and Son have reached since said injury. Son in particular massively improved last season compared to his first season with us.

I think that it is difficult to say that with any certainty. Since he recovered Lamela has been consistently involved and has started a game. We are obviously working on rebuilding his confidence as much as his match fitness. I would expect him to get another start in one of the three games we've got next week. If he continues to perform as he is, he will get plenty of game time in the second half of the season.

 

[the dza]

Dier was excellent again as our DM, not sure Wanyama gets back in right now.

Alli was very good again, on a very good form trajectory, and like Son deserves his place.

If Alderweireld was back today I think it would be between Son and Sanchez to make room.

I would take Wanyama alongside Dier. A fully fit Wanyama is better than what I have seen of this season's Dembele, Winks or Sissoko.

Towards the end of last season, Dier and Wanyama looked great in midfield together. Wanyama can take on the Dembele role of carrying the ball, just a more brute force version. And Dembele so far this season isn't playing the role consistently well imo.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Yeah, like I said he always makes one a game! Whether it’s a crap punch, or dodgy kick out, or done at the near post! Not exagenerating at all, it’s how I’ve felt for some time.

Ah ok

A crap punch or kick are nothing really unless the lead to a goal though IMO

Every player makes mistakes during the game but the way you wrote earlier I asssuemd you meant a BIG mistake

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I would take Wanyama alongside Dier. A fully fit Wanyama is better than what I have seen of this season's Dembele, Winks or Sissoko.

Towards the end of last season, Dier and Wanyama looked great in midfield together. Wanyama can take on the Dembele role of carrying the ball, just a more brute force version. And Dembele so far this season isn't playing the role consistently well imo.

Either way their nice options to have

 

[Mikey10]

Yeah, I was a bit surprised by all the empty seats. I thought boxing day was THE day to attend games in England? No train service service to Wembley station would have an effect, but still a bit puzzled by the "low" attendance. 55412 must be one of the lowest we've had in the league this season.

I decided not to make the trip due to the early KO. I would have had to drive as the trains were a joke. An early start would have meant not being able to have a few drinks on Christmas Day, the family wouldn’t have been happy with me heading off for basically all of Boxing Day... I’m sure many others were similar.

 

[markysimmo]

I decided not to make the trip due to the early KO. I would have had to drive as the trains were a joke. An early start would have meant not being able to have a few drinks on Christmas Day, the family wouldn’t have been happy with me heading off for basically all of Boxing Day... I’m sure many others were similar.

Exactly the same, would've had to leave mine at 9am and wouldn't have got back until probably 3.30pm, my mrs wouldnt have had that really and to be fair this was the first Christmas my little one has really known what is going on and I wanted to spend more time with her

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

Let's not forget Lloris nearly conceded three goals from mistakes with his smoke hands attempt at catching Rose's back header.

 

[Baleforce]

Let's not forget Lloris nearly conceded three goals from mistakes with his smoke hands attempt at catching Rose's back header.

rose fudged up the header, way too high and hard

although, I felt Hugo could have held the initial shot rather than palming it away

the frustration for me is that the things he was weaker at when we signed him he’s no better at now

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Let's not forget Lloris nearly conceded three goals from mistakes with his smoke hands attempt at catching Rose's back header.

It was a shocking header back though

 

[Moby]

Ah ok

A crap punch or kick are nothing really unless the lead to a goal though IMO

Every player makes mistakes during the game but the way you wrote earlier I asssuemd you meant a BIG mistake

Yeah, sorry - didn’t mean a goal a game or anything! :-D
Just ‘one moment of varying significance which makes me wince’!

 

[Jurgen the German]

I think that it is difficult to say that with any certainty. Since he recovered Lamela has been consistently involved and has started a game. We are obviously working on rebuilding his confidence as much as his match fitness. I would expect him to get another start in one of the three games we've got next week. If he continues to perform as he is, he will get plenty of game time in the second half of the season.

I expect him to start games, just not as regularly as Son, Alli or Eriksen.

 

[milo]

I expect him to start games, just not as regularly as Son, Alli or Eriksen.

Difficult to tell yet. He is still finding his feet and we do not know whether Poch will switch formation when Alderweireld is fit. An inform Alli would get picked alongside Eriksen in most of the big games in a 3-4-2-1. After that, it will be down to form in the second half of the season but Son clearly starts the new year ahead of Lamela in the pecking order.

I know that you have put a lot into criticising Lamela but you must recognise that him rediscovering his form and pushing for a place, in the second half of the season, would be a massive boost for the club and help our chances of securing a top four finish.

 

[parklane1]

I would take Wanyama alongside Dier. A fully fit Wanyama is better than what I have seen of this season's Dembele, Winks or Sissoko.

Towards the end of last season, Dier and Wanyama looked great in midfield together. Wanyama can take on the Dembele role of carrying the ball, just a more brute force version. And Dembele so far this season isn't playing the role consistently well imo.

Would agree with this, i had several debates/arguments last season at games when some were saying that a M/F pairing of Dier/Wanyamma was not that positive and hindered our attacking force, when in fact we lost only one of the games they played as a pairing winning 7 out of the 11 they started together. if i remember rightly that included wins against Utd, Liverpool and Arse.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Difficult to tell yet. He is still finding his feet and we do not know whether Poch will switch formation when Alderweireld is fit. An inform Alli would get picked alongside Eriksen in most of the big games in a 3-4-2-1. After that, it will be down to form in the second half of the season but Son clearly starts the new year ahead of Lamela in the pecking order.

I know that you have put a lot into criticising Lamela but you must recognise that him rediscovering his form and pushing for a place, in the second half of the season, would be a massive boost for the club and help our chances of securing a top four finish.

I haven't put a lot into criticsing anyone. He's a good player, I just think that he's overrated on this forum and by our fanbase on social media in general. Maybe it's because he has been out for so long it has earned him almost cult status but the way some go on about him and his return you would he we had missed one of our key players who is on Kane's level. Of course it can only be a good thing if he rediscovered his best form, competition for places is key in any squad, I don't dislike him that much

 

[Spurs7891]

It is nice to get another big win at Wembley. Suddenly our home form at Wembley looks much better than our away form. We are now unbeaten in 9 league matches at Wembley since losing to Chelsea. We played well and could have scored more if we had been more clnical. Instead, we got complacent and sloppy after scoring our fourth goal and it almost proved costly. Despite leading comfortably, it was still tense in the last 20 minutes as Southampton scored 2 goals, hit the post and forced 2 great saves from Lloris and Vertonghen. This match could have finished 6-5 or 7-5 !

Well done to Kane, Alli and Son for the goals. Kane has now scored his second hattrick in a row. Amazingly, Kane is now the league's top scorer with 18 league goals this season and is on course to score at least 20 league goals for the 4th season in a row ! Theses 3 goals also means Kane has now scored 39 league goals in 2017, overtaking Shearer's calendar year record of 36 league goals scored in 1995. Kane has also scored 56 goals for Spurs and England in 2017, overtaking Messi's 53 goals to become the top European goal scorer for club and country in 2017. No doubt that it is a real privilege to witness the latest Spurs legend Kane at his best ! Credit also to Son and Alli for scoring 1 goal and assisting 2 goals each. For all his poor form this season, Alli is now our most creative player this season with 6 assists in the league.

Our midfield had a good match. Dembele and Dier did well for most of the match until Dembele was replaced after getting injured. Even Sissoko had a good match after replacing Dembele. Eriksen did well by assisting Kane for the first goal with his freekick but had a quiet match apart from that. Really wish Eriksen can score direct from freekicks. Lamela again looked lively after replacing Son and was unlucky not to score. Too bad Lamela didn't have much time to score or assist a goal.

Our defence did well for most of the match but went to sleep for the last 20 minutes or so. Southampton looked like scoring every time they attacked during that time. Lloris pulled off a few good saves but should have done better for both their goals. It was disappointing to see Lloris conceding these goals on his birthday. Rose was very fortunate not to score an own goal early in the match when his high back header almost missed by Lloris. This is why we should avoid passing back to Lloris unnecessarily.

It is a good feeling finishing the year with a big win. Let's hope we will continue our winning run in the new year. As for Kane, let's hope he will break more records to help us move up the league table and win at least 1 major trophy next year !