*** Tottenham Hotspur v Woolwich *** OMT

[Spur of the moment]

Vertonghens the type to do that

Hehas to be caref

I won't rehash what most people have mentioned, but I'll just add that I am loving this team. Way back when people were asking what would constitute "progress" and I had mentioned us playing well, even if we lost the big games. Well, by golly, we're not just playing well, we're winning or almost winning the big games! And doing it week in and week out. No more flash-in-the-pan results followed by turgid performances. This team is consistent!

Regarding the game, I just want to point out that the stats don't do us justice. In addition to the chances we had that resulted in an attempt on goal, there were also numerous occasions where we were one pass away from a clear goal scoring chance. And that's the area where we need to be more clinical. But if our current progress addressing our weak areas is any indication, I'm hopeful this, too, will get sorted out as the season progresses.

COYS!!!

Right on. The big word there is TEAM. Not one player hiding, everyone giving their all for the cause despite our intense high-pressing game making immense demands on their fitness and commitment. Only negative for me is Lamela's habit of jesticulating childishly at team mates when they don't pass to him. Hopefully they just shrug and say to themselves, that's the way he is.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I agree with most of that except I still think we need a number 9 in Jan. Son and Nige would not be adequate replacements for Kane. We need someone who is comfortable playing as a lone striker, ideally a goalscorer with pace, strength and good holdup play. Not easy to find, I grant you, especially in Jan, but that is a position we still need cover for if we are to keep the same shape and the same momentum.

Glad its not my problem but i think its vital for us to carry on this progress if only so that Kane can get a rest every now and then

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Nice to see Mr Magoo is his usual graceless self with his comments that "Spurs are a good side when they have an extra player", surprised he did not go on to explain his masterstroke of playing "route one football".

 

[ShelfLife]

Henry is a begrudging prick. I can't stand listening to him.

Great player though he undoubtedly was, he comes across as somewhat petty and insecure to me. I seem to recall him chastising us in Arsenal's programme notes a few years ago for daring to celebrate a late equalizer against them. Obviously missed the irony in going to such lengths to point out how little he cared about little old Spurs.

 

[Kandi1977]

3 months unbeaten! Just a little shame we haven't converted a few of those draws into wins. Based on performance I genuinely think we should be top of the league, or at least level with City and Arse. Can't see us losing many games this season, so I think we have a real shot at competing for top 3. Team is playing superbly atm!

 

[Finney Is Back]

I agree with most of that except I still think we need a number 9 in Jan. Son and Nige would not be adequate replacements for Kane. We need someone who is comfortable playing as a lone striker, ideally a goalscorer with pace, strength and good holdup play. Not easy to find, I grant you, especially in Jan, but that is a position we still need cover for if we are to keep the same shape and the same momentum.

Agreed. There is absolutely no way that Son or N'jie could've done the job that Kane did yesterday. He did a huge amount of good work with his back to goal, receiving the ball, holding off their centre half and bringing Eriksen/Lamela, Ali into the game.

 

[markysimmo]

 

[Finney Is Back]

I was sitting in with the enemy yesterday (in their East stand). It was quite hilarious to hear some of their comments.

At the start of the game.
“We should be easily rolling this lot over today. They’re nowhere near as good as we are”
“Can’t see them scoring against our defence”

Half way through the first half.
“We’re making them look good”
"Come on Arsenal - wake up!"

Harry Kane’s goal:
“Offside, how the fcuk was that not offside?”.
“The linesman is sh!t”
“You can’t end up that far ahead of play and not have been offside”

Vertonghen/Giroud tangle in the box
(despite the fact that not a single person would’ve seen it):
“Send him off, dirty y!d ****”
“Unbelievable, how did the referee not see that?”
“WTF is the linesman doing?”
“How is that y!d **** still on the pitch”
etc, etc.

Half time whistle:
“Arsenal are playing absolutely rubbish, this lot are sh!t but we’re making them look good”.
“If we were playing at our normal level we’d have won this game by now”

Bob Wilson and Cliff Jones come out….
Wilson says that him and Jonesy originally thought the Kane goal was offside but the replay showed Koschielny had played him on):
“Rubbish – he’s been told to say that to not inflame the situation. Anyone could see that was offside"

Second half.
Moan, groan….
“We’re not at the races”
“Come on Arsenal, you’re letting them play!”
“This ref is terrible, he’s letting Spurs get away with all sorts”
"It's like they're the home team"
"Look at them walking it through us"
“We’re gonna get beat 2 or 3 nil here”

Kane hits it wide when through
The bloke behind me says to his mate next to him: “I don’t rate Harry Kane as a footballer”,
His mate then actually said: “he scored a good goal, has got himself numerous other chances and run our two centre halves ragged all game!”….
The bloke replied “Yeah but I don’t actually think he is a good FOOTBALLER” (like that actually meant something?)….

Gibbs comes on
“What the fcuking hell are you doing Wenger, you haven’t got a clue”

Gibbs scores
“What a brilliant substitution, a tactical masterstroke"
“Come on boys, it’s Arsenal time now. We deserve to win this”

The games ends. Arsenal have barely fashioned a chance from open play in the whole game (although did trouble us from set pieces swung in to Giroud)
“I can’t believe how lucky those y!d ****s are, we should’ve won that”
“How we didn’t win that I’ll never know”
“I thought we weathered the Spurs storm well and really went for it in the last 15 minutes or so”
"We definitely created the better chances"
Admittedly I did hear one bloke say “We got out of jail there, they were better than us all over the park”

 

[Jurgen the German]

Two thoughts on that. We know that we cannot afford players like Aguero or to spend as much on fees and wages as the four richer clubs. So it seems a bit pointless moaning about it. Second thought, when we have come up against teams with big name players this season, we have out played them. Poch's squad are really coming together and you can see them grow in confidence and belief by the game.

I'm not moaning about it.

We have outplayed them yes and fair play to Poch and the team, but over the course of the season, I would put money on Emirates Marketing Project and Scum and probably United also on winning more games whilst playing crap than we do. You can't play well every game, as well as we are playing now, we will eventually have a blip, whether that is 1 game, 5 games or 10 remains to be seen, but you still have to find a way to win those games in which you aren't at your best. Someone asked "what are we missing", the answer I submitted was world class players.

 

[Kandi1977]

Özil MOM??? For doing what? Getting nicked off the ball constantly or just running backwards with it?

 

[markysimmo]

Özil MOM??? For doing what? Gettining nicked off the ball constantly or just running backwards with it?

Carzola with a higher score than a few of ours who played superbly and he got was awful and got subbed at ht hahaha

 

[Lemonade Money]

Ewww, you read that brick?

 

[markysimmo]

Ewww, you read that brick?

No way, was put on twitter earlier

 

[milo]

I'm not moaning about it.

We have outplayed them yes and fair play to Poch and the team, but over the course of the season, I would put money on Emirates Marketing Project and Scum and probably United also on winning more games whilst playing crap than we do. You can't play well every game, as well as we are playing now, we will eventually have a blip, whether that is 1 game, 5 games or 10 remains to be seen, but you still have to find a way to win those games in which you aren't at your best. Someone asked "what are we missing", the answer I submitted was world class players.

I would expect them to do better than us over the season too because their squads are far more richly assembled than ours.

Our only reasonable chance of competing over the longer terms seems to me to be doing things which cost less money better than them. Which is why it is so encouraging to see a fit, well organised and hungry team playing more illustrious opponents off the park.

 

[StephenH]

For all the back slapping and ballyhoo around yesterday excellent performance, for me it felt like two points dropped!

We must stop the draws!

COYS

 

[milo]

For all the back slapping and ballyhoo around yesterday excellent performance, for me it felt like two points dropped!

We must stop the draws!

COYS

Me too but isn't that a sign of how far this team has come?

 

[StephenH]

For all the back slapping and ballyhoo around yesterday excellent performance, for me it felt like two points dropped!

We must stop the draws!

COYS

Me too but isn't that a sign of how far this team has come?

Yes indeed.
'One' of the next lessons to learn is to put teams down and out of their misery - our finishing was poor yesterday we should have had 3. Bayern show how to kill a team, we must learn this. It will need a greater goal input from quite a few.
The likes of Lamela, Alli and Eriksen must step up. No excuses the team's open approach play deserves, no demands more goals!

Just loved some of our play yesterday - but we must learn to deliver the cuda gras!

 

[parklane1]

I agree with most of that except I still think we need a number 9 in Jan. Son and Nige would not be adequate replacements for Kane. We need someone who is comfortable playing as a lone striker, ideally a goalscorer with pace, strength and good holdup play. Not easy to find, I grant you, especially in Jan, but that is a position we still need cover for if we are to keep the same shape and the same momentum.

I do not see us getting anyone better then what we have in Jan especially one who can do all the things you mentioned.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I do not see us getting anyone better then what we have in Jan especially one who can do all the things you mentioned.

He doesn't have to be better than Kane (that would be impossible for a club of our means). However IMO the player that we buy has to have the same sort of attributes that Kane has so that the team don't have to alter their whole way of playing if he is not playing.

 

[parklane1]

He doesn't have to be better than Kane (that would be impossible for a club of our means). However IMO the player that we buy has to have the same sort of attributes that Kane has so that the team don't have to alter their whole way of playing if he is not playing.

I meant Son or Nije which was the original point I made. Come next summer they may/will be better targets around.