Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal

No. Their fans rarely encounter each other...

 

Surrey and Devon are a long way from East Manchester

 

Twenty years ago the rivalry was one-sided, as Man Utd fans didn't care

Their fans suddenly started needling them around fifteen years ago, for some strange reason...

 

Ah the joy of a nice 5 hour round trip and the bitter taste of defeat.

Set piece and defense coaches need sacking and I am getting a tad concerned with the keeper. Lovely bloke, great shot stopper and all that but...

That starting 11 didn't work for me and we are so toothless up front when Sonny plays through the middle.

Genuinely worried about Thursday but at least I'm away in Malaga for a few days and in the air whilst the game is on!!

 

I would say play the youth but they’d probably perform better than the first team so best not to be safe.

 

Agree with all of that.

My main concern is that the manager doesn’t think any of that is an issue.

 

Having just listened to part of his interview tonight it is becoming a slight concern to me that I think you are right. However, I am going to sit in the sun from Thursday for 5 days with the wife, indulge in one or two drinks and try to not let it get to me....

 

City and United fans have different accents.

 

Has anyone else noticed that VdV isn’t making those crunching or sliding tackles since his had that slight injury before the international break?

And the one last ditch tackle he made today late in the game on the half way line put him in some discomfort and took an age to get back up on his feet.

Looks like his hamstrings are still affecting him, hence the lack of hard tackles and running.

 

Celtic fans I know (I live in Glasgow) said he will never change his way, he really believes in it and is right to. They also say the second season will see massive improvement because they’ll be used to it and he will have had 3 transfer windows to get in his players.

Time will tell I guess but I’m not been massively impressed by him if I’m being honest. I admire his unbreakable confidence in his system but personally I don’t think it’s suitable for the PL or Europe.

 

In retrospect, loaning Veliz to Sevilla has not worked out for anyone, given he's nailed to the bench

 

And the amount of money that Joe Lewis has put in is negligible in any case.

 

I've got no idea whether his tactics will work or not but they are fun to watch and he seems a decent person so I am happy with him as a coach.

 

I thought we were slightly better than them. Raya's mistake cancelled Højbjerg's. They scored 2 out of the other 3 big chances they created. We scored none out of the three we created. But we were also unlucky with the penalty decision before their second goal and with the disallowed goal.

 

I’m not finding it fun to watch so that’s probably why I’m not pro Ange.

I haven’t found Spurs good to watch since November if I’m honest. I find them reckless at the back and naive off the ball.

 

I just dont understand how you can be so **** at dealing with set pieces as we are

How come Vicario can’t command his area? I’m finding it absurd how glued to the line he was for the Havertz goal, a keeper worth his salt comes out and punches that ball as far as I’m concerned or at the very least takes off Havertz head.

I find it weak

 

I don’t know if it is fault or the coaches fault but it’s clear they’re not working on it in training and opponents know this.

 

We said exactly the same.thing at the match...

 

I think next season will definitely give us a better idea if he is or isn’t.

I was hoping or even expecting him to use this season as a learning curve for himself as much as some players. He’s an experienced manager but not at elite level so there’ll be things that happen in the Prem that he can’t get away with that he would’ve done in lesser leagues.

What has begun to concern me is his lack of acknowledgement in weaknesses though. He **** the bed vs Chelsea by thinking playing a high line with 9 men that had Dier, Hojbjerg, Emerson and Porro as it’s back 4 was a smart thing to do. He seemingly refutes the notions that we’re weak at defending set pieces/ needs specialist training on them. He’s also shown an inability to tweak things during games, most if not all managers only have one Plan A and that’s fine but a lot are usually able to tweak the system/ personnel a little to make small changes to patterns of play and he’s yet to do that either, especially as opposition teams now seem to have us relatively sussed out.

Better players coming in should allow his Plan A to be more effective in theory though so hopefully that’ll combat a few of the issues. I hope he can do well, he seems a good guy to get behind but that alone isn’t gonna make you successful here in England. Club has a hell of a lot of work to do in the summer that’s for sure.

 

Agree with much of this and he must seriously reflect on having to say 'we let the fans down' in back to back games two weeks apart and focus on the 'why'.
The one thing I disagree with is the strategy with 9 against Chelsea. No team would have lasted that long without conceding by just defending. His plan actually recovered some pride and spirit, won the crowd over and nearly got us an equaliser.