World class facilities FC vs Vitesse 4th November

[Murphy]

Shoulda woulda coulda ... he got the ball and the Ref was spot on.

No he didn't. And decision notwithstanding, you said he didn't put a foot wrong. He did, he just got away with it.

 

[Jenny Talia]

You sure he didn't put a foot wrong all game? He literally got away with giving a penalty in the first twenty minutes from a headless chicken charge.

So what you are saying is he didn't give away a penalty.

 

[Benny]

So what you are saying is he didn't give away a penalty.

Well neither did any of the players, so by your logic everyone had a great game in that case.

:contethumb:

 

[Gatsby]

Actually think Kane was brilliant when we went down to 10 men. He held the ball up, won us fouls and tracked back.

 

[Cozy Parker]

I think the 3 Italian fitness coaches are gonna have their work cut out. I reckon a lot of our problems yesterday were because we blew ourselves out after 30 minutes. Those first 30 minutes reminded me of the best days of Poch.

It's what happened with Chelsea, we played well in the first half then blew a gasket.

 

[Matt1882]

So what you are saying is he didn't give away a penalty.

He'd have been absolutely fucked if VAR was in use. Penalty and a card in the first few minutes.
Who hand balled it in the box late on the 2nd half? They didn't show a single replay during the match and I didn't watch the post match talk.

 

[Biff]

I find that hard to believe from the Dutch

The Dutch being a bunch of liberals is a massive myth imo.

 

[FOK]

Two things about Vitesse now that I'm sober

1. they'll cause Rennes all sorts of problems

2. they're dirty diving cheating bastards!

 

[FOK]

ALSO.................


I loudly cheered GLC's "goal" in the pub assuming it went in

looked a right dickhead!

Cheers Gio

 

[ArtyB]

1. they'll cause Rennes all sorts of problems

Yeah, but they'll have their youth keeper in and their captain is suspended...

 

[ArtyB]

This goal though...

 

[YTpaxton]

This goal though...

Now that’s how you finish a one-on-one, Gio, not hitting it at head height you absolute weapon.

 

[mummy]

Spurs were like one of those cheap chinese fireworks last night. Lovely packaging, promise amazing things, give you two or three impressive bursts, but then fizzle out after a few seconds, leaving you back in the dark.

Good analogy for Guy Fawkes night, huh?

Remember, remember the 4th of November - maybe not.

 

[Bill Madrid]

Actually think Kane was brilliant when we went down to 10 men. He held the ball up, won us fouls and tracked back.

It reminded me of one of his early games, where we won at Old Trafford. The last five minutes or so it was proper backs-to-wall clinging-on-by-your-fingernails stuff. In injury time he fouled someone near the centre circle then hoofed the ball miles into the stands.

It was a brilliant tactical booking, got us over the line. The dour Scottish United fan I was watching with nearly had aneurysm. Then again, he hadn't been kindly disposed to me since I mistakenly referred to Darren Fletcher as being English.

 

[Cozy Parker]

This goal though...

I watched that five times so far...

 

[mummy]

My disagree is for the Kane thing. He wasn't good tonight, though he did essentially score the winning goal. But a twat? Nah. He was actually really up for it. Go rewatch him make a flat-out 30 yard sprint to try to stop a lost cause ball going out into touch in the middle of the pitch. He made quite a few hard and unsexy runs to marginally benefit the team tonight.

As far as I can tell, the reality is that he's just in a rough patch that happened to come at a terrible time for him and his public relations. You think intentionally playing like a cunt is going to get him the transfer he wants? You don't think his natural hypercompetitive streak and renowned professionalism means he wants to win every game regardless? The idea that he's playing badly on purpose is just silly to me, especially when I watch him closely every game and still see him putting effort in -- just not to the usual effect. But, of course, because of the timing, everyone picks the harsher, juicier, conspiratorial explanation that he's on strike or whatever, rather than the more mundane and obvious explanation that he's simply in a rut. Which, after so many years at such a high level, is not unreasonable at all, even if the timing is incredibly unfortunate. (I wouldn't be surprised if the Euro final broke him far more than he's publicly let on, and that the two things are connected.)

I predicted months before all of this happened that regardless of what Spurs fans said at the time, they'd end up hating Kane if he stayed, just by picking up on every single thing he does and interpreting it through the most negative lens possible. Of course, I didn't see him struggling quite so badly this season, but I did also predict that it would be very hard for him, no matter how professional he is and how much he wants to play well for Spurs. So much of motivation is subconscious: you can only will yourself to want something to a certain point. The analogy I used was of those of us who don't like our jobs and would rather do something else: no matter what benefits they offer you and no matter how much you try to gee yourself up, you'll never be able to perform at the same level as you would if you actually wanted to be there. Real motivation has to arise organically. You can fake it - and that's the most people can really ask of Kane - but, as I've hopefully illustrated, that only works to a degree. And personally, from what I've seen of his actions on the pitch, body language, facial expressions etc., I think Kane is attempting to do that -- and that he genuinely still cares what happens at Spurs.

He can absolutely be blamed for failing - and he will be, probably more so than he deserves - but I don't believe that it's through a conscious lack of trying.

Thank you for the nicely reasoned thoughts, mate.
Conte's real problem is that he hasn't got anyone on the subs bench to replace Kane with. The sooner this embarrassing oversight is corrected, the better. It's only 8 weeks till January.

 

[mummy]

Happy to explain. It’s the slagging off of Kane. He’s out of form but for years he has been brilliant for us. I am in the group of fans that remember that and am willing to cut him some slack. He will come good again. I guess you are in the group of people who comment on the club & think he’s a twat. I got home after the game read your post and disagreed.

Thanks mate. Yes - while you're singing 'He's one of our own' (which, incidentally, I didn't hear once last night), I sing, quite unapologetically and at the top of my voice, 'We've got him on loan', or 'He's out on his own', whichever I feel like at the time.
A goal a game and he'll worm his way back into my affections eventually, no doubt.

 

[Murphy]

Thank you for the nicely reasoned thoughts, mate.
Conte's real problem is that he hasn't got anyone on the subs bench to replace Kane with. The sooner this embarrassing oversight is corrected, the better. It's only 8 weeks till January.

I suspect we have enough to get by until then, and I think 4th is the target for this season now.

 

[mummy]

Match was such a good ding dong I didn't bother coming on here. Not sure where the "one shot in the 2nd half" stat comes from but I'm sure I recall more. Passes were actually going up and down the pitch which was far more important to me than silly stats. Players were hunting the ball down and until it went to 10 v 11, we only conceded 2 freak goals from not a lot of chances.

Having had a skim through I've seen quite a few comments that confuse me, none more so than praise for Winks.

A) What exactly did he do? I barely noticed he was on the pitch.
B) He came on in the 73rd minute. 7 minutes later it was 10 v 10, 4 minutes after that it was 10 v 9. He's not gonna play in games like that very often. Even 10 v 10 is a bit easier on a big pitch than 11 v 11, let alone 10 v 9

Anyone else getting concerned Romero could ultimately be a liability? We knew he got a lot of bookings last season and this is clearly happening again this season. And I suspect Serie A refs are more lenient on defenders than PL refs.

Davies is not a PL player. Don't tell me he is a Wales International as half their squad is lower league.

Having had to listen to Internet fans rave about Skipp for probably 2 years, I still can't see it. I can't see him being moved on any time soon because he's home grown but he's a prime example of a player we could probably get decent money for from a bottom half Premier league club at some point.

I think the 3 Italian fitness coaches are gonna have their work cut out. I reckon a lot of our problems yesterday were because we blew ourselves out after 30 minutes. Those first 30 minutes reminded me of the best days of Poch.

'One shot in the 2nd half???' I was in the South Stand and can assure you that we only crossed their halfway line once in the 2nd half. Luckily, I'd smuggled my telescope in.

 

[mummy]

Conte was never going to polish this turd of a squad in a few days.

However, we got the win.

'New Manager Bounce' lasted for all of 30 minutes, didn't it?