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***OMT Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa***, PL, Sat 19th Sept 2026

Still learning to play together it seems to me. Some players who have been playing well in the first few games were not particularly good today - Bentancur, Marmoush, Van de Ven - and some were better than they have been so far - Tonali, Solanke. It's still all very brittle, and the long international break is a shame, because we need to learn and get some rhythm. I am not sure Maddison is the answer. It is perhaps someone like Bergvall, who is still relatively rash and rashly confident, who might make a difference.
 
Rorschach said:
Was out all day. If someone can face it, what is the executive summary of today's match? Same old?
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Played well in the first half and were opening Villa up quite consistently - i think it was our best half of football to date under RDZ - goal came against the run of play. Never really got back in to it after that and the second half was quite poor. Villa didn't do too much to deserve a 3 goal lead but we were at 6s and 7s defensively so couldn't really argue with it.
 
Hotspur75 said:
Still learning to play together it seems to me. Some players who have been playing well in the first few games were not particularly good today - Bentancur, Marmoush, Van de Ven - and some were better than they have been so far - Tonali, Solanke. It's still all very brittle, and the long international break is a shame, because we need to learn and get some rhythm. I am not sure Maddison is the answer. It is perhaps someone like Bergvall, who is still relatively rash and rashly confident, who might make a difference.
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I agree with most of that, but I think we need a Maddison to be available in the small spaces around the box, with his ability to quickly receive, turn and find a good pass. He's a nuisance for the opposition, and can often pull something unexpected out of the hat. Bergvall isn't anywhere near that, in my opinion.
 
billyiddo said:
Played well in the first half and were opening Villa up quite consistently - i think it was our best half of football to date under RDZ - goal came against the run of play. Never really got back in to it after that and the second half was quite poor. Villa didn't do too much to deserve a 3 goal lead but we were at 6s and 7s defensively so couldn't really argue with it.
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This might seem controversial but it felt a little like our time under Ange. Be the better side for the long periods of the game and then lose it with these self inflicted sucker punches.

Ange had plenty of these t-shirts in his tenure.
 
Muttley said:
This might seem controversial but it felt a little like our time under Ange. Be the better side for the long periods of the game and then lose it with these self inflicted sucker punches.

Ange had plenty of these t-shirts in his tenure.
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I'm not feeling that tbh, i don't think we've set up in a way that invites these sorts of sucker punches or situations - we're just not good enough in terms of quality on the pitch (i know I'm repeating myself here)
 
Can someone remind me when we started the injury doom spiral, and when losing at home was normalised and excused for a long, extended period?

I have a vague memory of a bloke in flip-flops and a hat with corks hanging off it, but it’s all a bit hazy now… I do think I remember plenty of people saying not to worry about it, though, and that it would all be fine in the end. 🤔😃
 
Bedfordspurs said:
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Scary
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Watching that just makes me appreciate all the more quite how rarefied Kane and Son’s ability to place their shots into the corners of the goal was.

Then seeing our attackers squandering the handful of chances they got today by hitting their shots straight down the middle of the goal so that Suzuki could make some Vicario style saves for the highlights reel merely emphasised how much we need a natural finisher; don’t know if it’s simply a lack of confidence or he still has some niggling injury issues but Solanke is making Heskey look like Drogba so far this season.
 
makkag said:
5 wins in 36 games at home - im a glass half full kinda guy - but its beginning to feel like a chore rather than a pleasure - its never been this dull for so long - Had a ST since 2000 and with the lad for last 5 years - took me 2 hrs to get to game today (I live 30 miles away) got there 10 mins late and left on 70 mins - im 48 maybe ive just a general disconnect from football - but id have rather played golf .... There is undoubtibly better play than the last few years of dross but got we are crap up front .... Its a team with stage fright - we gifted two goals today ... Robinson should have let it go out or Kinsky should have claimed ... Van heck is dogbrick his first contact to jackson was terrible .. too many mistakes ... walkover .... Nice to see mates when i do a full day but as a mild drinker it aint much fun other than that .. id guess all in its about 4 k a year .. thats a nice holiday - some nice courses or lots of coke and hookers ... TV never felt so inviting - Arsenal .. maybe bodo last time i enjoyed the game and atmosphere ... Grumpy old cnut giving his 2p's worth
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Fair play to you for continuing to go every week, as I’m of a similar vintage but simply cannot justify spending £100+ (not to mention the 4 hour round trip) to attend our home games on a regular basis any more when we’ve been so lacklustre for so long; see that we’ve won just 1 PL game at WHL since last Christmas for crying out loud!!

Played 13 Won 1 Drawn 5 Lost 7 For 13 Against 25 Points 8
 
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Mikey10 said:
Can someone remind me when we started the injury doom spiral, and when losing at home was normalised and excused for a long, extended period?

I have a vague memory of a bloke in flip-flops and a hat with corks hanging off it, but it’s all a bit hazy now… I do think I remember plenty of people saying not to worry about it, though, and that it would all be fine in the end. 🤔😃
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Ah that’s it. 72 games on, it’s still that fudging Australian clam’s fault.
 
Mikey10 said:
I’m actually numb to it now, I think. Reduced to laughing when we let in another completely preventable goal. Feel no connection to any of that team.

Even the second goal with the last action of the game, with no chance to build on it, is totally on brand.
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Agree totally.

I wonder if the board/management are aware of how many fans are completely detached from any feeling now.

I hate the fact I didn’t even cheer the goals. But I’m not cheering a Gallagher goal when 3-0 down and like you say, the second is almost an insult to finally do something right when it matters least.

Supporting Spurs is just becoming a real struggle.
 
I haven't seen the game (and I don't want to, now that I know the result) but one worrying trend is that most people expected us to be poor going forward (credit to them) but defensively solid. I've had my doubts on Van de Ven and Van Hecke as a partnership. Having one of them on pitch because you want speed or passing ability could work but both of them at the same time... not so sure. So far, they haven't proved very solid.

Anyway, we knew before the season even started the first five games would be a drag. There was zero chance this team would hit the ground running. I don't buy the 'losing has been normalised' as most of the players in the starting XI weren't here last season or the season before. It's got as much substance as saying Fernandes is jinxed.

De Zerbi's got three weeks to get his brick together. If we don't get 4 points from the next three games, the pressure will keep on building. I'm disappointed we didn't win any of these early games; if we don't start performing and getting points on the board after the break, I'll be worried.
 
I am probably one of the older people on this forum and I can't remember our home form being this bad over nearly 3 seasons now. And I've seen some poor sides in my time. Our last season at the old WHL seems so long ago. Hard to believe now we went a whole season unbeaten at home. I just don't know what is wrong with this club. We have always been big spenders, there was a time when it was us always breaking the transfer records (the 60's?). I get that every club has bad buys that don't work out, but we seem to be the kings of it recently . I know its a complete rebuild and we have to give RDZ time, but we just look a complete shambles atm. That we get upbeat about the first 25 minutes of yesterdays game shows how far we have fallen. It shows when people were saying yesterdays subs bench looked really strong. Reality check, our squad is about as average as you could get. We finally spent really big money this year, but at the moment none of our buys have looked anywhere near justifying their price tags. I managed to catch most of the second half of Brighton -Arsenal yesterday and I know it is only a snapshot but the Van Hecke-Vuskovic transfers looks like a big mistake to me. Still we have to give it time. I know we managed to score 2 goals yesterday but I am very worried when we get up against the likes of Arsenal and City. And how is it Brentford and Brighton to name just 2 can constantly sell their best players each season mostly for huge profits and still get players in for a lot less and still look good to watch and are so competitive? I know they are not going to win the league but they look so much better than us.
I am probably more pessimistic than most on here but genuine question, on what you have seen so far does anyone think we are going to click and shoot up the table?. To me we just look so bang average I dont think we will get relegated but I dont think this squad is good enough for a top half finish this season.
Anyway rant over, answers on a postcard please!
 
Mikey10 said:
Can someone remind me when we started the injury doom spiral, and when losing at home was normalised and excused for a long, extended period?

I have a vague memory of a bloke in flip-flops and a hat with corks hanging off it, but it’s all a bit hazy now… I do think I remember plenty of people saying not to worry about it, though, and that it would all be fine in the end. 🤔😃
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The 48 game run where we have failed to win a game when going behind started in 2024 under Ange. It’s then continued under 3 subsequent managers. But it is just one of those strange stats because not only have managers come and gone but also the players are very different now than they were at the start of this run. But it does show this continued mental weakness that needs to be addressed.
 
Mikey10 said:
Can someone remind me when we started the injury doom spiral, and when losing at home was normalised and excused for a long, extended period?

I have a vague memory of a bloke in flip-flops and a hat with corks hanging off it, but it’s all a bit hazy now… I do think I remember plenty of people saying not to worry about it, though, and that it would all be fine in the end. 🤔😃
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The relaxed nature of which now our fanbase seems to accept defeat shows how much the rot has set in, the manager doesn't need excuses, the fans write them for him
 
djp82 said:
We’ve circled the drain for two seasons now.Will it be this season we go. I’m worried.

Yes there’s positives but how the club have not added a striker is negligent. City have had our pants down with Marmoush and Savio. Their end product is atrocious.

Solanke, I was against this when it first popped up. Awful awful striker. Offers nothing.

Jan window is difficult to add real quality. So RDZ needs to figure it out lively.

Also the business we done with Brighton looks poor. Lad we offloaded looks better than what we have currently.

As for mentality we were so poor for 15 odd after our disallowed goal. Like we had tossed it off .

RDZ gone by Xmas Is a very real possibility.
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I don't think City have done us - it was well known beforehand that one is more of a traditional winger than say a Gakpo and one is a support striker. Both are decent players but probably need a couple more games to get up to full fitness - I'd say both have looked relatively lively as well albeit you could say they look busy without having done much.
 
P.D. said:
I don't think City have done us - it was well known beforehand that one is more of a traditional winger than say a Gakpo and one is a support striker. Both are decent players but probably need a couple more games to get up to full fitness - I'd say both have looked relatively lively as well albeit you could say they look busy without having done much.
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Savio is not a 75m player even in modern "worlds gone crazy" period of fees

That deal with City looks more mad the more I look at it. We paid 75m for a player they didn't want, who basically failed there, so they could then get another player we wanted for 60m who we also wanted, who is massively better. There is being a serious club and there is being ridiculous

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Nexus1967 said:
I am probably one of the older people on this forum and I can't remember our home form being this bad over nearly 3 seasons now. And I've seen some poor sides in my time. Our last season at the old WHL seems so long ago. Hard to believe now we went a whole season unbeaten at home. I just don't know what is wrong with this club. We have always been big spenders, there was a time when it was us always breaking the transfer records (the 60's?). I get that every club has bad buys that don't work out, but we seem to be the kings of it recently . I know its a complete rebuild and we have to give RDZ time, but we just look a complete shambles atm. That we get upbeat about the first 25 minutes of yesterdays game shows how far we have fallen. It shows when people were saying yesterdays subs bench looked really strong. Reality check, our squad is about as average as you could get. We finally spent really big money this year, but at the moment none of our buys have looked anywhere near justifying their price tags. I managed to catch most of the second half of Brighton -Arsenal yesterday and I know it is only a snapshot but the Van Hecke-Vuskovic transfers looks like a big mistake to me. Still we have to give it time. I know we managed to score 2 goals yesterday but I am very worried when we get up against the likes of Arsenal and City. And how is it Brentford and Brighton to name just 2 can constantly sell their best players each season mostly for huge profits and still get players in for a lot less and still look good to watch and are so competitive? I know they are not going to win the league but they look so much better than us.
I am probably more pessimistic than most on here but genuine question, on what you have seen so far does anyone think we are going to click and shoot up the table?. To me we just look so bang average I dont think we will get relegated but I dont think this squad is good enough for a top half finish this season.
Anyway rant over, answers on a postcard please!
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Brentford and Brighton have stable setups with sporting directors that set the tone rather than a manager so the transfers, style of play etc should remain consistent if a manager or player moves on. Takes time to bed in that system and it's what most clubs strive for, also helps that both clubs know their top players will leave so their scouting caters for that with replacements lined up.

It's why it's strange that our rebuild didn't include a sporting director, I think when RDZ kept us up he had plenty of clout so was allowed to do what he liked transfer wise but a sporting director may well have said we have too many central midfielders that are all similar and stopped us signing one of them or something like that.
 
Mr Gogolak said:
I haven't seen the game (and I don't want to, now that I know the result) but one worrying trend is that most people expected us to be poor going forward (credit to them) but defensively solid. I've had my doubts on Van de Ven and Van Hecke as a partnership. Having one of them on pitch because you want speed or passing ability could work but both of them at the same time... not so sure. So far, they haven't proved very solid.

Anyway, we knew before the season even started the first five games would be a drag. There was zero chance this team would hit the ground running. I don't buy the 'losing has been normalised' as most of the players in the starting XI weren't here last season or the season before. It's got as much substance as saying Fernandes is jinxed.

De Zerbi's got three weeks to get his brick together. If we don't get 4 points from the next three games, the pressure will keep on building. I'm disappointed we didn't win any of these early games; if we don't start performing and getting points on the board after the break, I'll be worried.
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Def ball watches and def weak under the long ball
 
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