Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United

If the refs keep wronging Spurs because of some requirement to display bias in favour of the big teams, what is that saying about Spurs?
Spurs are a big team. Surely Spurs should benefit from this desire by refs to be seen in a good light by the leading sides?
These conspiracy theories make no sense.
The ref is trotted out as the reason why Spurs lose to Utd every time it happens - even when the score's 5-2.
The players had every chance to win the game - they didn't play well enough though.. That was the reason for defeat.
Utd aren't better than Spurs nowadays and any victory now will be as a result of edging a close, hard fought contest.
That was the case today. Utd took chances; Spurs were ordinary. The ref was incidental.

 

People are disappointed Luke but not all of us are blaming the ref. I feel he had a decent game and tried to let the game flow. That will always mean that some decisions are not to everybody's liking. United deserved to win because they controlled the second half even though we had good possession. I hate to see the time wasting and injury faking but it's pro football so not really a surprise.

To be so close and fall at the final hurdle is the worst kind of disappointment, but we'll get over it.

 

Had a lot of practice tbf

 

**** them

 

Look at this facking mug camped on here spewing his biased bile, he`s so used to seeing his own team dragged along by referees he thinks its the norm.

 

Tbf there are only two boards on here who constantly whinge about refs (Spurs and Liverpool), if Sky is laughing at you then you are really clutching at straws

 

I only saw the first half and the start of the second. I’ve got no real complaints about Taylor’s handling of the game. But I do think Valencia was lucky to stay on the pitch. The tackle on Alli alone was high and dangerous, there are many refs who would have red carded that tackle.

 

Massive disappointment yesterday, but nothing that surprises us.
Is there still some mental weakness against the big teams, even though we’ve had some good results against them this season? Maybe.
Should Poch have started Toby and seen the signs from previous games that Kane wasn’t up to it? Probably.

It’s like Deja Vu. Not just in terms of the fact we got beaten again, but there’s Similarities with the Walker situation last season, and Toby not starting yesterday. Once again, it just feels like there’s a bit of a cloud hanging over the club like there was at this stage last season, at a really inappropriate time. Maybe it’s a combination of the things I’ve mentioned, plus the lack of recent trophies, despite us being such a competitive side who are now capable of it that is causing this. To have this feeling for a second season in a row in almost identical circumstances, is going to play a massive part in how our season ends. Once is bad enough, but twice is bound to hurt the players. The amount of thinking time they have between now and our next game worries me to be honest.

One thing is for sure, we have to shake this off immediately, just like last year. And it’ll probably be harder to do so.
IIRC, our next game after the Chelsea defeat last season was the 1-0 v Palace just days later, where we were ****, but Eriksen rescued us and got us back to winning ways.
We have to bounce back against Watford in the same fashion.
We need to take 1 game at a time and grind out results like that palace game, no matter how **** we play. Now is the time to be professional and the whole squad need to step up, no matter how ugly it is.

Some questions need to be asked about who starts in our next game. The last 3 or 4 matches have shown that just because Harry Kane is Harry Kane, when he’s not 100% fit, it’s incredibly negative to the starting 11 and our over all play. We resort to this default mindset of “let’s get the ball to Harry”, when the reality is that without him we were dynamic, exciting, and each of the players brought out the best in one another. They seem to have forgotten that. Time for someone else to start, and Kane to get 25- 30 decent minutes from the bench, rather than 90 mins of nothing.

If Toby is off, so be it. But we are paying his wages and he is a professional person who will do what we need him to do. He’s not like Rose or Walker who have screwed us over in the past. If the game is right for him (which most are), he should play providing he’s fit. Right now we need that leadership and experience at the back. We might only have 4 games left, so let’s use one of the best CB’s in world football.

Regardless of what changes there are next season, and whether some of these players that get us there might leave, we need to go into 2018/19 with CL football in our new stadium. No looking at Chelsea’s results and hoping for slip ups, we are in the driving seat. Mentally, we need to prove we can do this ourselves to help remove the seed of doubt that the players may have.

Over to you Spurs.

 

Unfortunately, we’ll keep being accused of being ‘bottlers’ until we can prove otherwise.

And, yes, Pochettino should have swallowed his pride and started with Alderweireld.

 

What does everyone think of Poch's comments at the 2:30 mark? He also iterates that comment again at 3:45. Hmm....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43853479

 

Seriously, wtf?

 

And rightly so yesterday. We were winning and lost.

But even when you don’t bottle it, a new phrase appears. As we’ve seen with the term “putting the pressure on”. When you’re not in a winning position, don’t come first, and therefore literally can’t bottle it, this is the label you get. There’ll always be something. Take it as a compliment, as the reason we hear so much of this now is because the best teams in the league know we’re a decent side and not a push over anymore.

 

True we’ve come up a long way and that last step was always going to be the hardest.

With the squad we’ve got we’ve done pretty well. But it’s still not deep enough in genuine quality. The result of that is that certain players get worked until they’re knackered. A couple of key injuries doesn’t help either.

If Levy is serious about challenging the big boys serious investment is needed.

 

I think he’s merely stating that the club need to keep pushing for even more of a winning mentality, and it’s the one thing any manager would have to really work on at the club, regardless of who it is. It’s easy to think these comments could suggest he’s leaving, but it’s worth bearing in mind his use of English/language barrier.

Even though we’ve not won anything yet, if you look at the way we’ve progressed as a team and the manner in which we gone from losing positions to turn games round, he’s definitely had a significant impact, regardless of the lack of trophies. Jesus, As recently as 5 or 6 years ago we would have crumbled after going behind in any game. Gives me nightmares thinking about it!!
Only 1 side can win a trophy at the end of a competition, but that doesn’t take away the changes he’s made to us mentally.
The last stumbling block is getting the prize, which regardless of mental state, is pretty hard to do. There’s definitely still work to be done, but at the same time we’ve beaten some massive teams this season. So we can do it.

We shouldn’t forget that it comes down to the football on the day as well. When you’re **** like we were yesterday....well.....

 

We have done really well. As have many other sides that won’t win one of the 3 domestic trophies this season.
As will the European teams that don’t win the CL.
Liverpool have had a fantastic season, but it’s gonna be a massive challenge winning the CL. If they don’t, it doesn’t mean they are mentally weak or bottlers. Sometimes you just get beaten. It’s football.

As for investment, this the the crossroad we’ve been at for some time.

A few years back we didn’t have particularly decent players, didn’t have much of a coaching plan/long term philosophy around the club, and didn’t have the money to improve any of that.

Somehow we’ve ticked the “decent players” box, ticked the “coaching and philosophy box”, but still see struggles with the money side of things. That part isn’t gonna change unless we get bought out.

We’re doing bloody well, but we need wise investment again this summer, with the right players. It’s our biggest Achilles heel.

 

Agree with most.

But this falling at the last hurdle must surely start affecting the players soon.

3 Times now in as many years we’ve been to the final or semi of a cup and three times we’ve lost.

As Alli said in his interview, it’s gotta stop!..

 

Well then they need to step up and do the job on the pitch when it matters!
They’ve proven they’ve got the ability and strength to get to the latter stages of competitions, but don’t produce the goods in the one match when it matters. Literally didn’t turn up for 65 minutes yesterday. Baffling.

And at the same time, behind the scenes we need to weed out a few of the squad players that are completely ineffective and improve on them wherever possible.

 

But how often do you here ME moan about refs?

 

One thing that hasn't been said is how Davies has been having a few poor games lately, noticeably being at fault for both goals yesterday, and the immediate thought is that he's running on fumes as he's played so many games this season due to Danny Rose being (tick all appropriate answers)
a.) Injured
b.) Unfit
c.) Overweight
d.) A shadow of the player he's been for the past couple of seasons
e.) Two yards slower than he's been in the past
f.) Dumb enough to think throwing his teammates under the bus right before the season kicked off was a bright idea

While the full back positions are that rarest of things in our squad, a position where we can actually rotate players and not wonder what the bloody hell we're doing that for, as soon as one of those options is unavailable for any length of time it doesn't matter if we have rotation options on paper if the reality is one player having to play significantly more games than expected as their rotation options is about as appealing as a Vanessa Feltz sex tape.

 

Disagree with him being at fault for the first goal...dembele was at fault for the equaliser...he lost the ball by holding on to it for way too long...something he continued to do for the whole time he was on the pitch.
Have not seen a replay of the 2nd goal as I was not putting myself through that torture