*** Tottenham Hotspur vs Anzhi ex-Moneybagscashcowala OMT ***

[90291Spur]

Jurgis Klinby.

Photoshop boys, get on (or under) this!!!!!!

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Yea I get it! He's so positive and looking to attack at every opportunity, but in the 2nd half virtually nothing came off for him except the assist. I'm a big fan of his though.

 

[Jordinho]

I actually think his attitude work rate belief were all fantastic and he got a great assist in the second half. But he can be so much better, I hope Andre talks to him and coaches him to get his head up and use his teammates more. His pace and power are fantastic though and always a threat, but it actually he was almost poor in the second half in a weird way despite being our outstanding player. I know it don't make sense but hopefully you'll know what I mean

First half he was passing the ball to team mates and running past players instead of straight into them. Second half was more Walcott-like, head down and run as fast as you can until you hit something.

First half good, second half average. He won't get this much space to run into in the PL though, especially not as a starter, which is why his decision making needs improving. Should only be used on the left for now.

 

[Jordinho]

Jurgis Klinby.

Meh, I can see the wires.

 

[onlyme]

I actually think his attitude work rate belief were all fantastic and he got a great assist in the second half. But he can be so much better, I hope Andre talks to him and coaches him to get his head up and use his teammates more. His pace and power are fantastic though and always a threat, but it actually he was almost poor in the second half in a weird way despite being our outstanding player. I know it don't make sense but hopefully you'll know what I mean

I absolutely do not get any criticism of AT. If Lamela did what he did tonight he would be eulogised. If all the Spurs players were playing with the flair he showed tonight we would win every game 10-0.

Anyway, I would not like to make any great conclusions from this game. But Lamela disappointed me. Great assist but he looked as if he was doing what he was told (and sometimes if not exactly half heartedly about quarter heartedly)

 

[Cochise]

I get the criticism, because I can see how good AT can be if he changes certain things. For instance tonight he did make a few runs that were head down and into a corner, some of his short range passing was off, and his shooting was wayward. On the other hand he took up some great positions and drove Anzhi back all night. Both Lamela and Townsend got an assist from the right side of the pitch, but as you say AT is a victim of being able to play on either side comfortably, although I do feel that he is just as big a threat from the left as he is from the right.

On Lamela, everything I have seen so far says to me that he is a #10. The lad can spot a pass and can shoot, but will not be engaging in a footrace for the byline. Tonight he had showed us a goal threat. A good shot at the end as well as that header in the second half shows another side of his game that we could see. Playing with one up front we rely on the wingers to provide a threat in the box when the ball is out on the other flank, and he got in good positions all night. Nothing came off for him and you could see he just wanted to get involved. The lad still only got a 6/10 for me (maybe harsh given his assist and workrate) but the more I see, the more patience I have for him, because you can see there is something there.

 

[stinkfoot]

What a great watch we were tonight!

Well played to all=D>

Yup, I'll give some =D> too!

 

[Nigeyman]

Yup, I'll give some =D> too!

oh go on then we did score 4 =D>

 

[metalgear]

holtby is going to be a spurs legend !

 

[THFC6061]

Tottenham Hotspur have now only lost one of their last 21 European matches (13 wins, 7 draws)

Tottenham Hotspur in Europe 1961-62 to 2013-14

 

[lurker of old]

it actually he was almost poor in the second half in a weird way despite being our outstanding player

I thought the same of Townsend...maybe he was trying too hard in the second half, maybe he is just better on the left.

 

[Lilywhite]

Good performance and result last night, as we should expect against a team bottom of the Russian league having yet to win any of their 19 games. It was **** opposition but fingers crossed Soldado's hat-trick gives him more confidence ahead of our next batch of fixtures.

I'm not gonna bother analysing the performance of individuals cos of how bad our opponents were, it was just nice to see us win and score over 1 or 2 goals which is a rarity with AVB in charge. Disappointing to concede one, but I won't lose sleep over that.

 

[Daisuk]

A good offensive performance last night, I thought. We were a bit more shakey in defense at times, but nevermind that. Lots of initiatives on the attack, always moving forwards, going on runs, looking for space and for passes. Great to see Soldado more involved too.

What I don't really get is; if our whole strategy revolves around resting in periods of matches against lesser teams, I did not see a lot of it yesterday. We were, thankfully, speeding up and down, giving it 100% more or less throughout the game. There was very little "resting with the ball". Which begs the question - if this indeed is our supposed strategy for this season, why did we go out all guns blazing in the way we did in the game of the season so far that meant the least to us? We could've lost 5-0 and it wouldn't have mattered. I'm glad we played the way we played of course, I thought we were entertaining to watch, for a change, but I could not for the life of me see the resting aspect of the game.

Anyone care to shed some light?

 

[Jordinho]

A good offensive performance last night, I thought. We were a bit more shakey in defense at times, but nevermind that. Lots of initiatives on the attack, always moving forwards, going on runs, looking for space and for passes. Great to see Soldado more involved too.

What I don't really get is; if our whole strategy revolves around resting in periods of matches against lesser teams, I did not see a lot of it yesterday. We were, thankfully, speeding up and down, giving it 100% more or less throughout the game. There was very little "resting with the ball". Which begs the question - if this indeed is our supposed strategy for this season, why did we go out all guns blazing in the way we did in the game of the season so far that meant the least to us? We could've lost 5-0 and it wouldn't have mattered. I'm glad we played the way we played of course, I thought we were entertaining to watch, for a change, but I could not for the life of me see the resting aspect of the game.

Anyone care to shed some light?

Mostly fringe players last night. First half felt like they'd been told to just go out and play. I said before the game that I hoped we wouldn't waste any time preparing for it tactically, but focus on Liverpool in training. A good opportunity to practice attacking without any pressure of getting a result.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

A good offensive performance last night, I thought. We were a bit more shakey in defense at times, but nevermind that. Lots of initiatives on the attack, always moving forwards, going on runs, looking for space and for passes. Great to see Soldado more involved too.

What I don't really get is; if our whole strategy revolves around resting in periods of matches against lesser teams, I did not see a lot of it yesterday. We were, thankfully, speeding up and down, giving it 100% more or less throughout the game. There was very little "resting with the ball". Which begs the question - if this indeed is our supposed strategy for this season, why did we go out all guns blazing in the way we did in the game of the season so far that meant the least to us? We could've lost 5-0 and it wouldn't have mattered. I'm glad we played the way we played of course, I thought we were entertaining to watch, for a change, but I could not for the life of me see the resting aspect of the game.

Anyone care to shed some light?

I must say as I was sitting there last night I was surprised at how we were upping the tempo and playing a sort of 90 minute fast paced game. I really did expect a slow, methodical grind to see us rested for Liverpool but even in injury time we were bursting forward trying to exploit space when usually we'd purposely slow it down.

Why did we do this? I have a couple of theories - one is that as Jord said, it was mainly fringe players. I'm not sure though if it really meant all that much, I mean Hotlby might have to play on Sunday and he must have been run into the ground last night. Soldado might play. Naughton might play. But for the most part, the team that played last night wouldn't be playing on Sunday.

Another thought I had is that we wanted to really get into the swing of playing a fast paced game before knowing we are going to be in one against Liverpool at the weekend, so we effectively used it as a training exercise in how to attack space efficiently, to try out ideas in that sense. Although I don't know how much I believe this idea either because we played at a slower pace in Tromso before playing a quick tempo against Man United...so we didn't need the 'training exercise' there. But maybe we only do it in certain points and can't play too many quick tempo games over a season.

To be honest it did surprise me and I have no idea behind the true reasoning behind it, but it was very obvious we were playing a quicker tempo and not slowing it down when we had the chance.

 

[Daisuk]

But if the reasoning was, as you say, that we were playing fringe players who aren't supposed to play on Sunday - why aren't we just rotating our squad more to be able to play more like this every game? If team A (a mix of the best and the second best in our squad) play all guns blazing on a Thursday, surely we can field a team B (another mix of the best and the second best) on a Sunday?

Oh, well, we won't ever really know, will we?

 

[BrainOfLevy]

But if the reasoning was, as you say, that we were playing fringe players who aren't supposed to play on Sunday - why aren't we just rotating our squad more to be able to play more like this every game? If team A (a mix of the best and the second best in our squad) play all guns blazing on a Thursday, surely we can field a team B (another mix of the best and the second best) on a Sunday?

Oh, well, we won't ever really know, will we?

Yep, to be honest it's something I don't really have an answer for and can't really do the mental gymnastics in my head to even find one right now. I have absolutely no idea why we would go full tempo last night and how this ties into the usual slow tempo we will employ in certain situations. Of course, maybe it means that we weren't delibrately playing slow before, and that the players were just bad....but I'm 99% sure the players were slowing down attacks deliberately and playing quicker in certain other games so it does tie in with AVB's philosophy that has been documented. I just have no idea what the thinking behind last night was.

Maybe the only thing is that the player's condition is monitored carefully, and so they know Sandro is on 90% and they can push him to get him to 100, or Holtby is on 100 and needs maintaining in that way, and maybe they are judging that a swift workout in some situations to maintain sharpness and enhance condition is better than a preservative training ground esque gameplan. But that's just me looking at the situation with hindsight and trying to piece it together going backwards...I really have no idea.

 

[Daisuk]

Yeah, sure, I'm not expecting you to have all the answers, I'm as intrigued as you are.

 

[Modric THFC]

I reckon at least 6 of the players that will play against Liverpool will play on thursday.

I doubt it

I agree. And its lunacy.

I trust that you will be back on to accept that you were wrong if we put out a team of fringe players, people coming back from injury and kids tomorrow.

I certainly will my friend. By the same token, will you accept you were wrong if AVB picks a side with players likely to feature on sunday ?

Most certainly

Bump

 

[shaney]

Bump

So so true !