*** Tottenham Hotspur - Arsenal OMT ***

[The Portugeezer]

Well, you can always PM me if you change your mind. No need to let the rest of this lot of no-hopers work out your shifting allegiances …

Lol, I would have to suffer a major traumatic brain injury to shift my allegiances to Arsenal!

 

[braineclipse]

Don't feed the troll.

------------------------------

Not quite good enough today. Movement and tempo going forward not good enough. A bit too tentative defensively I thought, not what I expected from our central midfield.

Still early and I'm still very positive about the season overall even though I'm disappointed about today.

Can't wait to see more of our new signings, real shame about Capoue though who will probably be missing for months now.

 

[indospurs]

I think le scum closed space up well, they sat back. When else does that happen ? When 'smaller' teams come to the lane, they used to be scared of our counter attacking and speedy wing play. Now I think AvB wants to boss it, physically, but we have to be wary of fast counter attacking teams.

I'm not too disappointed, result was not good, but have to rebuild and see how this team gels. The scum play in space very well, that's how paedo likes his teams to play now, our defending was off and we got dragged around a tad too easy.

 

[Ginolius]

Now, I'd like to politely disagree. We did not 'set the tempo'. Far, far from it. We tried desperately to avoid Arsenal getting the ball, is what we did. In the main, we succeeded. We had very few ideas on what to do with the ball, and were content to pass it around on the half-way line. Any further and Arsenal's central midfielders pounced, repeatedly nicking the ball from our surprisingly brittle midfielders and bursting forward with pace and purpose. Lloris had to save us time and time again as Arsenal found gaps across our team at will, while anything we attempted to do in their half was quickly and effortlessly snuffed out by their central defenders and midfielders acting as a cohesive unit. They let us have the ball because they knew we would do absolutely nothing with it. That is not a triumph, not matter how much possession we rack up that way. If 'control' means terrified midfielders passing back and forth on the half-way line while the opposition team wait to pounce tigerishly when the ball moves forward ten yards into their half, then give me playing to attack any day.

You know, on second thought, I withdraw my first statement. we did set the tempo. The tempo being slow, laborious passing and penetration followed by quick, incisive counter-attacks and desperate defensive flailing, followed by regained possession, followed by slow, laborious passing and penetration, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum. It wasn't just Daws and Verts losing concentration, it was our midfield failing to hold on to the ball in the attacking third and failing to provide cover for our defenders, it was our full-backs giving away possession time and time again by putting in atrocious crosses, and it was Soldado, Chadli and Townsend struggling up front with no support or movement around them.

We played badly as a team, with Daws and Rose just being the most prominent examples of our bad performance. That much is attested to by my post in the ratings thread, where I gave nearly everyone a sub-par (below six) rating.

Look, I don't doubt we'll improve. And I have faith that AVB will eventually make us the team you envision: able to control possession and fashion chances when they choose to while remaining rock solid at the back. But please don't assert that it's already happened. Today's performance shows we have a long, long way to go.

That is exactly what I saw happen. They were happy to concede possession to us around the halfway line and shepherd us into completely harmless areas, then just wait for us to complacently commit men forward before hitting us purposefully on the break.

We couldn't break them down as long as they stayed back, just like we couldn't break down palace or Swansea until we got penalties.

This team needs time to figure out how to move forward together as we looked amateurish compared to the gooners, who looked like they were pulling a play straight from the training manual every time they swept forward, with loads of movement, options and pace. The goal was due to a defensive howler, but they had plenty of other good moves forward,whereas we looked devoid of ideas.

 

[AuroRaman]

The Spurs of old would have lost this by a fair few goals from the Woolwich counters.

We lost away to the scum. It's a game we can actually afford to lose in the bigger picture. And it came early.

See you at The Lane ****ers.

 

[El Guepardo]

Arsenal won because they scored first. If we had scored when we were enjoying our spell of possession, in the first half, the result would have been different.

Arsenal could afford to sit back against us at 1-0 up. We had no player capable of playing an incisive through pass and our crosses were poor so we couldn't score. Our attacking mentality, in chasing the 1-0 deficit, left us exposed to further Arsenal attacks.

 

[Baleforce]

gutted to be honest, thought it would be comfortable today

I'm sure we'll show em the real us at the reverse fixture

 

[Yossarian]

The Spurs of old would have lost this by a fair few goals from the Woolwich counters.

We lost away to the scum. It's a game we can actually afford to lose in the bigger picture. And it came early.

See you at The Lane ****ers.

All this and more!

 

[braineclipse]

Arsenal won because they scored first. If we had scored when we were enjoying our spell of possession, in the first half, the result would have been different.

Arsenal could afford to sit back against us at 1-0 up. We had no player capable of playing an incisive through pass and our crosses were poor so we couldn't score. Our attacking mentality, in chasing the 1-0 deficit, left us exposed to further Arsenal attacks.

Agreed.

Our problem with breaking down stubborn and well organized teams remains a bit one. It's one of the hardest things to do in football no big shock really.

 

[chancer]

Now, I'd like to politely disagree. We did not 'set the tempo'. Far, far from it. We tried desperately to avoid Arsenal getting the ball, is what we did. In the main, we succeeded. We had very few ideas on what to do with the ball, and were content to pass it around on the half-way line. Any further and Arsenal's central midfielders pounced, repeatedly nicking the ball from our surprisingly brittle midfielders and bursting forward with pace and purpose. Lloris had to save us time and time again as Arsenal found gaps across our team at will, while anything we attempted to do in their half was quickly and effortlessly snuffed out by their central defenders and midfielders acting as a cohesive unit. They let us have the ball because they knew we would do absolutely nothing with it. That is not a triumph, not matter how much possession we rack up that way. If 'control' means terrified midfielders passing back and forth on the half-way line while the opposition team wait to pounce tigerishly when the ball moves forward ten yards into their half, then give me playing to attack any day.

You know, on second thought, I withdraw my first statement. we did set the tempo. The tempo being slow, laborious passing and penetration followed by quick, incisive counter-attacks and desperate defensive flailing, followed by regained possession, followed by slow, laborious passing and penetration, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum. It wasn't just Daws and Verts losing concentration, it was our midfield failing to hold on to the ball in the attacking third and failing to provide cover for our defenders, it was our full-backs giving away possession time and time again by putting in atrocious crosses, and it was Soldado, Chadli and Townsend struggling up front with no support or movement around them.

We played badly as a team, with Daws and Rose just being the most prominent examples of our bad performance. That much is attested to by my post in the ratings thread, where I gave nearly everyone a sub-par (below six) rating.

Look, I don't doubt we'll improve. And I have faith that AVB will eventually make us the team you envision: able to control possession and fashion chances when they choose to while remaining rock solid at the back. But please don't assert that it's already happened. Today's performance shows we have a long, long way to go.

Excellent post Dubai, that's exactly how I saw it. I'm really, really surprised at the fairly positive reviews here for our play. I thought we were awful.

AVB was totally owned by Wenger, our supposedly brutal midfield were shirking tackles and looked so laborious, we passed sideways all day or in harmless areas and, most of all, whenever one of our players got the ball it was like they wanted rid of it as quickly as possible. I thought there were seriously worrying signs out there. Lamela and Eriksen desperately, desperately needed. (Lamela I thought was immediately impressive in his half dozen touches. You could just see the quality oozing off him.)

 

[scaramanga]

Ban this trolling pos please mods.

Done. Also reported for all the kiddie **** he's been posting.

 

[ringo]

I do worry about AVB sometimes. in the post match BBC interview he says we created plenty of chances and he is not worried about that part of our game and we were stronger in the second half. Apart from a couple of shots from Townsend and the scramble at the end I don't recall many of those chances.

(he also said other than loans out he didn't expect any more business tomorrow -or at least I think that's what he said -he does mumble a bit)

 

[Modric THFC]

Excellent post Dubai, that's exactly how I saw it. I'm really, really surprised at the fairly positive reviews here for our play. I thought we were awful.

AVB was totally owned by Wenger, our supposedly brutal midfield were shirking tackles and looked so laborious, we passed sideways all day or in harmless areas and, most of all, whenever one of our players got the ball it was like they wanted rid of it as quickly as possible. I thought there were seriously worrying signs out there. Lamela and Eriksen desperately, desperately needed. (Lamela I thought was immediately impressive in his half dozen touches. You could just see the quality oozing off him.)

The way i saw the central 3 was that they were given freedom to rotate. Sadly because of this none of them took responsibility to do any one thing.
Each of them leaving it other to put the tackle and each of them leaving it to the other to play the really creative pass.
We looked much better with Sandro on who took responibilty.
None of Capoue, Dembele or Paulinho are leaders on the pitch so it ended up being a mess with no one stepping up to fix it.

 

[Modric THFC]

I do worry about AVB sometimes. in the post match BBC interview he says we created plenty of chances and he is not worried about that part of our game and we were stronger in the second half. Apart from a couple of shots from Townsend and the scramble at the end I don't recall many of those chances.

(he also said other than loans out he didn't expect any more business tomorrow -or at least I think that's what he said -he does mumble a bit)

Its PR. He's not gonna go out and publicly slate half a team of new players.
And he always keeps quite (openly lying on occasions) about transfers .

 

[Spursalot]

The way i saw the central 3 was that they were given freedom to rotate. Sadly because of this none of them took responsibility to do any one thing.
Each of them leaving it other to put the tackle and each of them leaving it to the other to play the really creative pass.
We looked much better with Sandro on who took responibilty.
None of Capoue, Dembele or Paulinho are leaders on the pitch so it ended up being a mess with no one stepping up to fix it.

Mostly how I saw it. That the three of them barely know each other meant they just weren't aware of what they should be doing at any one time. They seemed to keep stepping on each others toes.

Sandro, dembele and paulinho should be a bit better, as Sandro and dembele have a good understanding.

 

[Jimmy-g]

Disapointed , Dembele is the new JJ, corners and free kicks were ****e, Walkers crossing is a joke what the hell do we do on the training ground, new boys need time to bed in but we need to use our width better.

 

[Robspur12]

AVB showed an element of naivete. Started with a midfield where 4 of the 5 have not played in an NLD and therefore were not used to the tempo. Playing Crystal Palace, Swansea and Tblisi doesn't prepare you for it. Would have liked to start with Sandro who imo seems to complement Dembele more. Imo Capoue showed, before his injury, that he should be the understudy of the beast.

 

[SteveAWOL]

Now, I'd like to politely disagree. We did not 'set the tempo'. Far, far from it. We tried desperately to avoid Arsenal getting the ball, is what we did. In the main, we succeeded. We had very few ideas on what to do with the ball, and were content to pass it around on the half-way line. Any further and Arsenal's central midfielders pounced, repeatedly nicking the ball from our surprisingly brittle midfielders and bursting forward with pace and purpose. Lloris had to save us time and time again as Arsenal found gaps across our team at will, while anything we attempted to do in their half was quickly and effortlessly snuffed out by their central defenders and midfielders acting as a cohesive unit. They let us have the ball because they knew we would do absolutely nothing with it. That is not a triumph, not matter how much possession we rack up that way. If 'control' means terrified midfielders passing back and forth on the half-way line while the opposition team wait to pounce tigerishly when the ball moves forward ten yards into their half, then give me playing to attack any day.

You know, on second thought, I withdraw my first statement. we did set the tempo. The tempo being slow, laborious passing and penetration followed by quick, incisive counter-attacks and desperate defensive flailing, followed by regained possession, followed by slow, laborious passing and penetration, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum. It wasn't just Daws and Verts losing concentration, it was our midfield failing to hold on to the ball in the attacking third and failing to provide cover for our defenders, it was our full-backs giving away possession time and time again by putting in atrocious crosses, and it was Soldado, Chadli and Townsend struggling up front with no support or movement around them.

We played badly as a team, with Daws and Rose just being the most prominent examples of our bad performance. That much is attested to by my post in the ratings thread, where I gave nearly everyone a sub-par (below six) rating.

Look, I don't doubt we'll improve. And I have faith that AVB will eventually make us the team you envision: able to control possession and fashion chances when they choose to while remaining rock solid at the back. But please don't assert that it's already happened. Today's performance shows we have a long, long way to go.

Excellent post Dubai, that's exactly how I saw it. I'm really, really surprised at the fairly positive reviews here for our play. I thought we were awful.

AVB was totally owned by Wenger, our supposedly brutal midfield were shirking tackles and looked so laborious, we passed sideways all day or in harmless areas and, most of all, whenever one of our players got the ball it was like they wanted rid of it as quickly as possible. I thought there were seriously worrying signs out there. Lamela and Eriksen desperately, desperately needed. (Lamela I thought was immediately impressive in his half dozen touches. You could just see the quality oozing off him.)

Agreed. If we had scored first and were looking to run down the clock then all those sideways passes in the middle third might have paid dividends but as we were supposed to be trying to score an equaliser it was quite frustrating to watch, especially when combined with such woeful crossing as only 4 out of 26 attempts found a team-mate. Surprised not to see Holtby given a chance to play some accurate through balls after his MotM performance on Thursday.

 

[IulianSteaua]

I did not see the whole match, but sorry guys Arsenal's victory is more that deserved. Tottenham did not look as a team yet, we should take this on the chin an go forward, in my opinion the match was lost in the midfield where arsenal were superior 2/3 of the game, not to mention dawson's poor performance which robbed us of a undeserved draw. Time will tell how good spurs will be after the new players gel...

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Now, I'd like to politely disagree. We did not 'set the tempo'. Far, far from it. We tried desperately to avoid Arsenal getting the ball, is what we did. In the main, we succeeded. We had very few ideas on what to do with the ball, and were content to pass it around on the half-way line. Any further and Arsenal's central midfielders pounced, repeatedly nicking the ball from our surprisingly brittle midfielders and bursting forward with pace and purpose. Lloris had to save us time and time again as Arsenal found gaps across our team at will, while anything we attempted to do in their half was quickly and effortlessly snuffed out by their central defenders and midfielders acting as a cohesive unit. They let us have the ball because they knew we would do absolutely nothing with it. That is not a triumph, not matter how much possession we rack up that way. If 'control' means terrified midfielders passing back and forth on the half-way line while the opposition team wait to pounce tigerishly when the ball moves forward ten yards into their half, then give me playing to attack any day.

You know, on second thought, I withdraw my first statement. we did set the tempo. The tempo being slow, laborious passing and penetration followed by quick, incisive counter-attacks and desperate defensive flailing, followed by regained possession, followed by slow, laborious passing and penetration, etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum. It wasn't just Daws and Verts losing concentration, it was our midfield failing to hold on to the ball in the attacking third and failing to provide cover for our defenders, it was our full-backs giving away possession time and time again by putting in atrocious crosses, and it was Soldado, Chadli and Townsend struggling up front with no support or movement around them.

We played badly as a team, with Daws and Rose just being the most prominent examples of our bad performance. That much is attested to by my post in the ratings thread, where I gave nearly everyone a sub-par (below six) rating.

Look, I don't doubt we'll improve. And I have faith that AVB will eventually make us the team you envision: able to control possession and fashion chances when they choose to while remaining rock solid at the back. But please don't assert that it's already happened. Today's performance shows we have a long, long way to go.

Sorry mate but I really don't think it was as negative as you are making out. I'm not saying we are there where we want to be, I'm saying we will be soon. The pieces are there, they just need a few sessions to come together.

Your criticisms of our style of play 'pass, pass, pointless pass' etc it's just the symptom of being a possession based, controlling team. And if we were a defensive team we'd get criticisms saying we don't move forward enough and if we are an attacking team we would get told we are too open. We play for control and the criticism is that the passing is too pointless. Well, it will look like that when we are still trying to gel. Doesn't mean it's not a good way to play. Everton fans are saying exactly the same about Martinez at the moment, but obviously there is more to the system than pointless passing. The rewards, in terms of pinning teams back and playing the game away from our goal, are obvious.

I just don't buy that Wenger 'let us have the ball'. When has Wenger ever played like that, ever?? He is notorious for being stubborn and sticking to his principles, and focussing on his own game rather than trying to nullify the opposition. Last year at the height of the Bale hype, he said he wasn't making any special plans for him. So he's either changed the habit of a lifetime for us, which is a compliment to our team in itself, or we actually were just better on the ball than they were today. They ended the match with 4 full backs for crying out loud, desperately trying to hold on for a 1 goal win after spending the entire game in their half!

I'm not saying we are the finished article yet. But once we settle and the new signings get integrated, we will be a machine.