Match Report and MOM v Spurs

redharry said:
I am sure they had a great view from 100 yards away
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The Daily Racist just popped up with that as well, when I was searching for the image above, ridiculous, also no stamp, just tussling for the ball. Epitomised towards the end when he's taking the ball off Wanyama(?) for our free kick, all about the ball
 
Good report Neil - thanks for doing them every week.
Don’t think there was any stamp from Jeff
And surely Spurs were playing 4-3-1 with Lucas Moura staying up front
 
Actually thought the 1st half was really good. Yes Travers kept us in it, but they weren’t great chances Spurs created, it was good shooting and even better keeping.

There’s really little point analysing the 2nd half. We were a little ponderous but as said, we were never just going to be able to walk it in. Playing 11 v 9 happens maybe once in 5 years. It’s just a strange situation for all involved and in the end we got the win our first half display merited
 
Thanks for the match reports Neil, a real bonus for us "Out of Towners" , all the best and have a sooper dooper summer.:thumbup:
 
Stamp no , went for the ball , the whistle had blown and Son had his hands on the ball .. it was just a lot of adrenaline on both sides , Son had been tussling with wee man and Lerma before the incident but then lost it .
 
Agree with the vast majority of that report Neil, especially about how difficult it is to break down a good team camped in their box no matter how many extra you have. It's also true that we didn't do ourselves many favours, which was partly our personnel available but also partly our regular problem of struggling to break down tight defences.

I'm not sure I'd say it was five in the middle tbh - it looked the same old 4-4-1-1 to me but with Ibe and King swapped. Definitely agree that Ibe looks much better in the number ten slot.

I thought the first half was great but we did leave big gaps between the midfield and back four at times which left us with 4 on 4 and caused problems.

Thanks for the reports and debates this season Neil, I've a lot of time for you as a poster and enjoy our debates. :thumbup:
 
Tinpot Club said:
Actually thought the 1st half was really good. Yes Travers kept us in it, but they weren’t great chances Spurs created, it was good shooting and even better keeping.

There’s really little point analysing the 2nd half. We were a little ponderous but as said, we were never just going to be able to walk it in. Playing 11 v 9 happens maybe once in 5 years. It’s just a strange situation for all involved and in the end we got the win our first half display merited
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Great report thanksNeil.

Didn't we lose to 9-man Bristol Rovers when Mel was in charge?
 
Thanks Neil - thought you were rather generous about the second half, which showed again the deficiencies in the squad - with no one able to put their foot on the ball, beat a man and play a through ball. Even with L Cook back we desperately need at least one competent midfielder.

Travers was better than good - he kicked, he called, he caught - and he stayed cool. Seemed to give the defence extra confidence. Guess Eddie wanted to try him before bidding for the likes of Butland or Pope. Superb debut.

Happy Holidays All.
 
Cracking report and I agree with pretty much all of it! Travers deserves a lot of credit for a performance that we’d expect of a seasoned ‘keeper which he isn’t. One potential blip early second half when Alli closed him down aside, it was seriously a debut to dream of! MoM for me was Jeff though. The bloke just doesn’t shy away from anything. Yes there was the occasional misplaced pass, but when you’re trying to do everything that’s not surprising.

Having grown up in an Arsenal dominated household I’ve grown up with a healthy dislike of everything Spurs. To finally beat them is incredibly sweet. Got to say that they were probably the most disappointing set of away fans I’ve seen this season.

I agree very much with your points around Ibe. For me head clearly not a winger. A number 10 (as per his shirt) he most certainly is. I’m caught in limbo with him though. Do we try to fit him into a system or do we move him on? I can guess what the majority would want, but I don’t think it’s that simple as there’s a very talented lad in there.
 
I thought our defence looked very poor for the first 30 mins, tottenham were cutting through us without getting into top gear. Understandable perhaps given it wasn't the first choice line-up but it wasn't working and remains our biggest weakness to address before next season.
 
SlowDownDerek said:
I'm not sure I'd say it was five in the middle tbh - it looked the same old 4-4-1-1 to me but with Ibe and King swapped. Definitely agree that Ibe looks much better in the number ten slot.
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Yep that’s how I saw it too. I think the difference is Ibe interprets the position as a midfielder rather than striker. It helped us with a few nice passing triangles in midfield which doesn’t really happen when King plays the role.
 
Antofcamden said:
I thought our defence looked very poor for the first 30 mins, tottenham were cutting through us without getting into top gear. Understandable perhaps given it wasn't the first choice line-up but it wasn't working and remains our biggest weakness to address before next season.
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Don’t really agree with this. Spurs’ xG today was just 0.7. If a team were genuinely cutting through us, they’d have created much clearer chances than that. We had a few problems dealing with Moura and Son in 1v1 situations but most teams would
 
Thanks Neil for the report (and to the others who have done them at times). As EH said 'Playing against nine ruined our normal, on the break attacks, because we had the ball so often. Hard to adapt to the tactics Spurs were forced to play but a nice victory in the end. Roll on 2019-20!
:utc:
 
Neil Dawson said:
Thanks. The whole point for me of doing a match report is to start a debate thread on scores etc. It makes football interesting so I’m glad when you do disagree.
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Always happy to oblige Neil!....;).....i actually thought Ibe started in the 10 role in our 4411.......anyway thank you for the effort you make in providing these reports.....fantastic effort.
 
Thought it was hard to tell what our formation was. 4-4-1-1 to start I thought. Then it evolved with the sendings off so that we always had Smith or Clyne pushing up.
Thought we really missed Brooks today, he could have opened up the Spurs back line. But we stuck to it and got our rewards.
Credit to Ake for playing in another unfamilar role - he found it hard early on but blossomed in the 2nd half. Lerma was immense.
 
Thanks for another entertaining and thought provoking season Neil. Much appreciated by me who can only get to away games generally. Have a great summer!!
 
Tinpot Club said:
Yep that’s how I saw it too. I think the difference is Ibe interprets the position as a midfielder rather than striker. It helped us with a few nice passing triangles in midfield which doesn’t really happen when King plays the role.
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This probably sums up why it looked different. That position is crying out for Brooks as many of us have said at various times. Ibe can do a job as understudy by the looks of it too.
 
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