*****Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester ***OMT

[SpurMeUp]

Rather than move Dier out of defence for the third game running, will Poch start Dier in midfield on the weekend?

 

[the dza]

i think this will be the kick up the arse we need. I back us for a winning run now, starting at Watford on Saturday.

It seemed like Poch gave them one at half-time, sent them back out to stand in the freezing cold and wait for Leicester. I'm encouraged by how we finished the game, sport is often about momentum and we need to take the momentum built up now into the Watford game and get ourselves on a run of wins.

 

[Mikey10]

I said that after arsenal.....

We had much more about us tonight second half than in either the Arse game or the West Brom one. Saw enough to make me think the bumpy run will come to an end. Everyone (maybe bar City) will have one - we’re getting ours out of the way early.

 

[Daisuk]

...and this side always plays better as the underdog. As soon as get entitled - post RM game - we don't focus on doing the basics well. Verts letting Marez move the ball onto his left around the box for example...

We've got our reality check now.

True that! Let the media rip into them and Poch now, and I'm sure we'll rise again. It's only been three league matches, ffs, hardly anything to cry about.

 

[DubaiSpur]

fudging sucks to lose against a brick Leicester side because we yet again start slow, but we weren't all bad. Thoroughly deserved a point at least today, probably all three. Great having Lamela back, he's going to be mighty useful. Eriksen needs a rest. When is Toby back? We miss him dearly at the back I'm afraid, and probably the reason why we struggle early on in matches.

Still! Please remember, it's goons, WBA (a draw) and this fudging hillbillie lot. Three matches. We look to lack confidence. We can regain that. We have a talented team. No need to panic. We'll come good again.

United, *rsenal, West Brom and this lot. Three losses in those four games, with only Palace in between to make it look barely acceptable. Lost 3-2 to West Ham in the CC as well.

We'll come good again. But this lot think too highly of themselves - *far* too highly. Eriksen and Alli especially. If we want to come back strong, they need to be dropped or drop their f*cking attitudes.

 

[P.D.]

We seem to start so slowly every game. Thats Utd where we were off the pace for 20 minutes, Arsenal, West Brom and now here. Sloppy goals as well, we can't blame it all on Toby being out, he missed games last season too.

Alli needs a rest, he's been poor in the league for a while now. Holding on to the ball for too long and taking stupid shots - I mean why not cross in the 93rd minute with people queuing up.

Nice to see Lamela back, good assist that and looked fairly sharp from what I could see.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

We had much more about us tonight second half than in either the Arse game or the West Brom one. Saw enough to make me think the bumpy run will come to an end. Everyone (maybe bar City) will have one - we’re getting ours out of the way early.

Same time as last year
When we lost the Well gelled one
I wonder if Tobys hair gel is what keeps the team together

 

[Hidden]

I back Poch to turn it round, the first real test for him in his time at spurs.

not the first one
he was on the verge of sacking one time lol

 

[nrenz123]

With or without a beax

He was really poor today. I'll support him whenever I'm at the ground, but he's just not good enough for us, in my opinion. Weakest link by far, and it really hurt us in the first half (and for as long as he was on). Constantly slowing us down.

I just think it's a complete lack of composure under pressure.

 

[fernadez]

The importance of the West Ham game is evident now. You cant just switch off and think you can cruise through games. We should never have lost that.

Too many times we play like we expect to win and the opposition to roll for us. Why are we not starting games like we played in the second half tonight.

 

[paxtonwolf]

Much better in the 2nd half, and showed some b@lls..finally.

At the end of the day, once again, finishing was the difference. Could have finished 5-3 to us. Still not sure htf Eriksen didnt score, Llorente's was probably a touch harder, but still should be hitting the target.

The plus has to be Lamela.
Rose's value must have dropped £5m tonight, his crossing was pants.

I would say anybody that thinks we can still win the title is deluded, I dont care if it is still November. A Top 6 finish is still a possibility, but we have to start converting more chances and finding a way to break stubborn teams down at home.

Watching the remaining mins at Vicarage Road, Saturday will be no walk in the park either

 

[Daisuk]

United, *rsenal, West Brom and this lot. Three losses in those four games, with only Palace in between to make it look barely acceptable. Lost 3-2 to West Ham in the CC as well.

We'll come good again. But this lot think too highly of themselves - *far* too highly. Eriksen and Alli especially. If we want to come back strong, they need to be dropped or drop their f*cking attitudes.

I didn't think Alli was bad today, really, I thought he was pretty positive. Showed more drive and will today than in recent games. I think we have to remember that he's just 21, and will have off matches still (though I don't count today as one). There's really nothing to suggest he's getting entitled or anything of the sort. Just his talent coupled with greedy agents fishing for money. Don't believe the media trolls going on.

Same for Eriksen, I suppose. I have always said though, that for Eriksen, it's his lack of consistency that's his backheel, and why I can't see Barcelona or Real Madrid really wanting him. He is prone to barren patches.

 

[PochettinoPochettinoPochettino]

clams clams clams. So now Wednesday thursday and Friday at work is gonna be pants.

And I won’t even look forward to Saturday. I say to myself I don’t care when we lose but it does suck big donkey balls every time. But hey, there’s a match of the day tomorrow with 6 other games to not watch.

 

[StephenH]

People.
Their goals were top draw.
Let us not forget that.

Lamela was excellent and real bonus.

 

[Benny_Lad]

As soon as Dier moved into midfield and we were 1-0 down it had to be Son for Sissoko. We had a midfield 3 of Dier, Dembele, Sissoko. Not one quarterback there. Should have been Sissoko off and Eriksen deeper with Son joining Ali and Kane.

 

[P.D.]

We had much more about us tonight second half than in either the Arse game or the West Brom one. Saw enough to make me think the bumpy run will come to an end. Everyone (maybe bar City) will have one - we’re getting ours out of the way early.

We did create chances but again it's no use creating chances when we start so slowly.

Alli and Eriksen aren't scoring enough, it's all left to Son and Kane - they badly need to pick up some form.

 

[Robspur12]

Pathetic. We cannot start two goals down and expect to win, or even draw - especially if Eriksen plays like he doesn't care at all, and Alli plays like he's more interested in photoshoots with GQ than winning a football game.

We made chances. Lots of them. None of them came from Eriksen. None of them came from Alli. And if either of them got the ball, our attacks broke down.

F*ck this, at least Lamela came on and got an assist within a minute of coming on. Maybe it'll be the boot up the *rse Eriksen needs - play like this again, miss unforgivably badly like this again, and you can sit on the bench and daydream of Denmark all you want. His heroics with his country mean nothing for Spurs - and I'm glad Lamela is back and firing to remind him of that fact.

If only we had a similar option to drop Alli as well.

Sigh. F*ck this.

Come back, Toby. Verts is brainless without you, utterly brainless - Dier is lost, and Sanchez can't do anything by himself. Lloris just doesn't know what to do or say when you're not around, so he's useless too.

This happened last year as well without Toby. GHod, how we need him - he basically turns our defense from mid-table level to genuinely the best in the league, and it hurts that we're so dependent on him.

Missing Big Vic as well. I don’t understand though, Alderweireld went off against Real and it didn’t change our shape at all. Yet we have looked awful defensively in the last 3 games in the League. We are also now, far to reliant on Harry Kane to dig us out of trouble offensively. Hopefully this is just a blip.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Oh boy.

That is football.

I had a rubbish stream, but saw Fernando and Eriksen miss from a yard out. I saw Dele miss a relatively simply chance in the first half, and from the reports it seems there were a few more besides. Leceister get a 25 yarder and a lovely finish from Vardy. I didn’t see them create as much as we did even with the dodgy stream.

With that said, players had off days. Dier was awful. But he’s played a lot of football - both games for England and then every game for us as Toby and Wanyama are out.

Dele worked really hard tonight. He’s playing his way into form. Kane looked fit. Sissoko was bad.

Overall though, this is a time where we need to stick together. Taken in isolation, this is a really unlucky result that looks worse because we are in a sticky run. But we should not forget Poch has performed miracles at this club and this result feels worse because expectations have increased. But we need to look at the reality. Toby out, Wanyama out long term = Dier mentally if not physically drained. No Lamela, Dele out of form = loads of responsibility on Eriksen, mentally if not physically drained. No WHL = we’ve lost the 17/19 wins advantage that we had last year. Winks barely got back to full fitness after his injury before playing for England and suddenly being overly relied upon for us because Dembele hasn’t been fit all season - he made only what? 3 league starts last season, now we rely on him, and now he’s not available again so yet more pressure on the likes of Dier and Eriksen.

Please people, don’t be lame and over react, start questioning the management or anything like that. We were unlucky today, but we are down to the bear bones and putting some players that are really young under considerable pressure because we don’t have many other options right now. This is a storm we need to ride through together.

 

[DubaiSpur]

I back Poch to turn it round, the first real test for him in his time at spurs.

Nah. We had a bad run last year, too - we didn't lose to Ars*, but I think we had one win in ten games at one point (if I recall correctly) - while we were floundering in the CL.

He'll turn it around, but this sh*t is avoidable - all it needs is for the players to stop thinking one win over Real Madrid makes them football gods. When you let Rondon score in the 4th minute and struggle to a draw, you're not football gods. When Arsenal outclass you, you're not football gods. When Leicester get two goals ahead in one half as you look irreperably sh*te, you're not football gods.

Beating Madrid means nothing if you forget *why* you beat them - because you outworked them, outfought them and outplayed them. If we went out against Madrid the way we did these last few games - as billy big b*llocks, too good to try, too good to care types, then we would have been irretrievably savaged - and maybe that would have woken these dozy f*ckers (Kane aside) up.

 

[spurspinter1]

With the misses I make it 3-2 to us.

I absolutely love this post, akin to a failed candidate in an election, "With the votes against me counting for me, I'd have definitely won". It's the ones that go in that are counted sadly enough!