Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

it’s a shame our attacking players don’t have the composure upfront

Tanganga was superb and it’s a shame about his error leading to the goal

Pool were their for the taking today but for the fact that most of our players were wearing Clown Shoes.

 

We look exactly like we did with Poch...remember getting trounced by Brighton and Colchester?

today was worse?

it just shows the limits of the players...if we win everyone will heap praise on the players if we lose it’s Jose's fault

 

Judging by his performance today, I definitely could've done better, even if I'd have been sick a few times after chasing a ball!

 

...19th November 2000:
Alton Thelwell makes Premier League debut vs Saltypool.

Let's hope Tanganga goes on to emulate the other two.

 

Finally, we had a tactical set up something like what was needed for the opponent we faced. One could ask where the **** that system was away at United but at least it finally appeared against a top team and not just against Middlesbrough.

Against a very mobile and creative front 3, we played 2 pacy centre backs and Toby to provide the experience and knit things together. It was a lot better than against a lot of recent opponents. Also, there was no Eric Dier against a team that would have had him on his knees within half an hour.

Unfortunately, our wing backs are just not good enough and ridiculously, Eriksen continues to be selected ahead of Lo Celso. Playing Rose is ****ing madness. He's shot and his time with us is over. Sessegnon has to start, if Davies isn't fit. Aurier is not much better and Eriksen left us some time before the CL Final. These players shouldn't be starting for us because they're done. That Mourinho continues to favour them is mind boggling.

At least the tactics were more appropriate. Now Mourinho has to let go of the players who aren't part of our future and give Skippy, Lo Celso, Sessegnon and the like a chance to turn this thing around.

A small step forward, spoiled by the almighty **** up of continuing to pick players who aren't worthy of the shirt anymore.

Can he really not see this?

 

This was posted at HT - and at that point had not been in the game.

I will credit Jose with the improved 2nd half performance and he made good subs, though I would counter that by saying that at least one of those subs should have started.

Colchester beat us on penalties its embarassing but we were not trounced - Brighton on the other hand ......

 

I have been assured by everyone in the media and by a few Liverpool fans on social media that this was never a red card. I hope Tanganga apologised after the game for colliding with his studs.

 

Even teams at the top don’t always make the correct call. It just becomes the correct call because the players have got the bit between their teeth and have got all their minerals together

Why should one of the subs have started? We were fine apart from the fact that our attackers couldn’t hit a cows arse with a Banjo.

Lo Celso missed an absolute sitter

Do you think Origi is all that? I don’t but I believe he is in a good moment mentally so makes an impact whenever called upon by Pool. Our players can’t reach out for the glory.

 

Well done to Jose for giving Tanganga a game btw

 

He picked Rose again and he's got the entire food section of a Tesco Superstore in his teeth.

Until he stops doing daft **** like that, he doesn't deserve any sympathy.

 

That’s not really true because Rose, Aurier, Toby, Dier, Winks and Eriksen have all been heavily criticised this season by the fans for either not performing well enough or generally not being good enough.

Jose’s also been rightly criticised because he agreed to take over midway through a season where its clear his short term objective is to get top four - which still looks pretty much just as far as it did under Poch - and a long term objective of winning a trophy. He’s not had the desired effect everyone expected and has made just as many daft selections/ formations/ tactics as Poch did.

Yesterday though was the first game, even with it being a loss, where I actually saw signs of a Jose imprint. We looked like a unit at the back for once, granted we still conceded but this is against the best side in Europe at present and if we wanna really scrutinise it, the goal should never of happened because the throw-in they took should have been ours. But aside from that, we countered well and as the game progressed we became the more dominant team and should have won. It finally felt like Jose set us up in a big game with the right idea, formation and tactics, his only two mistakes were the selections of Rose and Eriksen but it was the forwards that ultimately let him and us down as we had two golden chances to score a goal - and the sad reality is, if Kane had been in the side, he’d have very likely been in a similar position to finish one of those.

If that wasn’t a one-off performance then Jose might finally start getting a good run of results because if we play more like that, especially the second half, we’ll finish most teams off if we take our chances, especially if he’s able to add a couple of his own players this window. I do personally still believe Jose can get us top four, I really do despite the up and down start to his Spurs career but he’s rightly been criticised so far, just as he’s had bits of praise in the first few games and yesterday - he was applauded off the pitch along with the players, that to me showed the fans appreciated his (and the players) efforts.

 

I agree, for the first time the team had the look of Mourinho. The problem is that is negative as anything and not enjoyable to watch. Do we really want Spurs to just be spoilers and hope other teams make mistakes in games so they can snatch a winner?

 

Were we really negative? Pool had more possession but we had more total chances and more corners. I felt the gameplan was to stifle them first half and go at them second half. If we’d have scored the two golden opportunities I think fans would’ve been very happy with the result and how we played. Realistically we’re not good enough to go toe-to-toe with Liverpool over 90 mins, so weathering the storm and picking our chances whilst growing into the match made sense. Thought Jose got it right yesterday, it was the attackers that ultimately let him and us down as we should’ve left with at least a point.

 

The first half was so negative and the game should have been well over.
Granted the second half was a big improvement but ultimately it’s still another defeat and another game where the team has lost and not scored.

 

If anything, the way Poch set us up for the defeat at Analfield was even more cautious and defensive. Setting us up to counter attack worked wonders against Dortmund (twice) and against City. It has been a hell of a long time since we had the personnel to just attack relentlessly without fear of fatigue or repercussion. Poch recognised that and Maureen does too. I totally get Brian's frustration at the selection as it means - yet again - we went into the game carrying players who we pretty much knew would be passengers. And that seems to have been the case throughout the season. I can't recall looking at a starting XI and thinking 'here are 11 players who will fight for the shirt'. Losing two of our exemplars of fighting spirit in Kane and Sissoko is a major blow that goes beyond the struggle to put out a balanced team. Davies returning will be a massive boost both in terms of balance and fight. I also think Lloris - for all his faults - is still a hugely respected figure at the club and his return will also lift spirits, even if only slightly.

 

To be fair to Mourinho, there were chances that we had in this game that 9 times out of 10 would be buried usually.

I don't know what people expect any manager to do with the midfield that we have, let alone the wingback situation and the obvious injuries. This game would not have been any better with Pochettino for example. Or even if we cloned Klopp and had him managing us too, I don't think we'd have done better.

The squad needs help. End of.

 

I agree about the squad needing help.

But the style and tactics of Jose is not what Spurs needs.

 

The most obvious thing about yesterday was that, as soon as Lamela and Lo Celso came on, we started pressing and caused them a lot of problems, case in point Lo Celso pressing Wijnaldum is what led to Son's chance

That's been an issue with the team for a couple of seasons now: we have players who press in Eriksen and Dele, and we have players who don't in Eriksen and Lucas - the problem is the former have been missing a lot of games through injury while the latter haven't, and more than anything else that contributed to Poch adopting the Air Raid tactics last season and THAT BASTARD DIAMOND this season to try and compensate for this

It's no coincidence we got a few quick wins when Steptonho took over because we had an energised Dele making a nuisance of himself, although since he's started looking unfit again our performances have slumped

...this is a long-winded way of saying Lo Celso needs to start, isn't it?

 

Yet more proof (how much more do we need) that the majority of referees both on the pitch and in the VAR seat favour VARpool, and are prepared turn to a blind eye when it suits their agenda.

 

I was watching the NBC stream Graham LeSaux said (It was a nothing tackle really, let's move on.)

I could not believe my ears. As Jose said compare it to Son's red card tackle.