Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United

please log in to view this image

Sunday 21st February 12pm
Premier League
London Stadium​

The win against Wolfsberger was a welcome result and performance, showing some promising signs.
Some of those desperately need to be worked into some league matches and this would be the place to start.
Our previous meeting this season lead to some terrible practices being implemented, in my opinion.
Abandoning negativity and pragmatism seems a rather unlikely move for Mourinho, though.
Can he get one over on his fellow former Man Utd manager or will Moyes continue his resurgence?

West Ham dallied with relegation last season and Manuel Pellegrini paid the price for it with his job.
His short-lived predecessor replaced him just after Christmas and slowly turned things around.
A few late wins post-lockdown secured their place in the division, though the locals weren't too happy.
The summer window didn't appear to show much ambition either, which lead to more displeasure.
Soucek and Coufal have been surprising successes though, as have West Ham.

After a very poor opening to the campaign, our hosts have pushed on massively and sit in 5th.
They've only lost four league games since then and even went out of the cups to good sides.
Those defeats came at the hands of Liverpool (x2), Chelsea and Man Utd.
They're not scoring a ton of goals, but they're quite solid defensively and they're hard to beat.
It's reminiscent of Moyes' Everton side that he built his reputation on.

This fixture last season was Mourinho's first in charge at Spurs and it went well, for the most part.
Son and Moura put us two up at the break, before Kane added a third just after it and seemed to end it.
Ben Davies injured himself making a tackle with twenty minutes to go though, which led to a nervy finish.
Antonio fired one in just afterward before he could be replaced, then Rice had one disallowed.
An Ogbonna goal deep in injury time was in vain, as we held out to take the points:

That match should've been something of a warning for us but if it was, then we didn't heed it.
When we faced them at our place in October, it looked like it was going to be an easy win. Not so.
Racing out of the blocks and taking another 3-0 lead should've been a good sign.
Son opened the scoring in the first minute, then Kane added a brace in the first 16.
All seemed well until a late collapse and some dodgy reffing allowed them to nick a point:

Reguilon may return for this one, but Aurier and Lo Celso will still be absent.
Masuaku, Ogbonna and Yarmolenko are out for West Ham, while Antonio and Balbuena are doubts.
Neither side has any suspensions.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Tanganga, Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Ndombele, Hojbjerg; Lamela, Moura, Son; Kane.
Subs: Hart, Doherty, Alderweireld, Winks, Sissoko, Alli, Bergwijn, Bale, Vinicius.
League form: WLLLWL.

West Ham: Fabianski; Dawson, Diop, Cresswell; Coufal, Rice, Soucek, Johnson; Lanzini, Lingard; Bowen.
Subs: Martin, Fredericks, Alves, Baptiste, Coventry, Noble, Fornals, Benrahma, Odubeko.
League form: WWLWDW.

Ref: Craig Pawson. VAR: Andy Halliday.

TV: Sky Sports.

How would you like to line up for this one and what would you change from the Wolfsberger game?
Would you stick with much of the same lineup, make a few changes or go for a wholesale switch?
Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting West Ham to go with?

 

This lot are well and truly punching above their weight. I hope we go there and absolutely stuff them.

 

Been saying this about the Spuds for a while now.

 

"This lot" have some very good players, you will do well to keep in touch with them with the squad you have.

 

Accept of course that in the case of the spammers it is a matter of fact!

This season current position 5th - equal with best ever premier league finish and considerably higher than the average league finish in the premier league era of 13th. Or Ave points per game this season 1.75 compared 1.2 over all matches played in the premier league.

Of course football did exist before the premier league but a 50 year average of top division results comes in with the same average pts per game (so they have been very consistent), and I know that in the 70s that it was only 2 pts for win but the data has taken that into account. Average league position over the same 50 years comes out at a disappointing 15th, with a highest of a very creditable 3rd in 85/86.

Then again our last 10 seasons with an average of 4th is a great improvement on our 50 year average of 8th so maybe you have a point!

Unfortunately on current form I can only see a home win on Sunday and in all likelihood the season will end with West Ham above Spurs for the first time since 07/08

 

What were you counting their finishes in the Championship as? 26th place or something?

 

It`s a damn shame we don`t get a `weekly gifted penalty` to drag us up the league.

 

Could watch that Tom Carroll assist every day of the week, thing of beauty.

 

A "must win" game for Spurs now,

So on that basis I will take any performance to that end
(our frequent "last minute" winners against them - though not
essential, would be advantageous) .

 

This is the season of empty stadiums where home advantage diminishes and results become even harder to predict. On top of the rising quality of players throughout the division we have more players not used to the cold winter conditions we are having this year.
For us Bale and Dele have shown glimpses of what they can do given the chance I really hope Jose has taken on board the mistake of leaving such quality on the bench and we can play the rest of the season utilising all of our assets to the full.

 

I detest the Spammers with a vengence: every last inch of their corrupt club and Neanderthal fans.

So it grieves me to say that I would be surprised if we manage to even get a draw today. We have fallen so far in 2 years and their improvement under Moyes so stark.

The players they may be missing today, particularly Antonio, who has had a great season and always seems to do well against us, may work to our benefit. Let's hope.

For years it wasn't a case of if we would beat them, but by how many.
Not only have those days gone, but a bad defeat today could well be the last rites for Mourinho.

Certainly, even with a game or 2 in hand, it will likely be the end of any chance of a European place this season.

Time for the lads to step up and prove themselves. Can they?

 

I hate 12pm kickoffs, they ruin my afternoon plans

 

I think you could write the same post if your were a supporter of Arsenal or Liverpool and even Wolves. On the other hand teams like Leicester, West ham, Everton, and Villa have reasons to be optimistic but it is still not clear if they will finish the season in a better place. Brighton hover around the bottom but can still beat teams in the top four Leeds can beat anyone on their day and Palace likewise. The league is a far more uncertain place than it has been since the PL was invented.

 

Wolves?
Think they're punching above weight too in the last couple of seasons, for a team whose glory days were more than 60 years ago!

 

The short end season gap to the pre-season, and no decent
pre-seasons for all clubs, has had an equalising effect on the PL.

Similarly the financial mess caused by the Corona chaos has
meant that many of the usual suspects have not been able to
consolidate/strengthen their squad rosters.

IMHO this will be the only season in a long time that many clubs
will have a chance to get into the UEFA land group stages.
How these clubs deal with the rarely experienced pressure to
do so, will be interesting for the neutral.

 

Working today, with 2 spammers in close proximity, they are very confident and predicting a big win, and they have been more buoyed by the news that Antonio is in their squad and likely to start.

Really not looking forward to the match or the aftermath when we lose.

C O Y S

 

Like us?