I always kind of liked it, even the novelty of playing teams with less vowels in their name than a Welsh nationalist.
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I always kind of liked it, even the novelty of playing teams with less vowels in their name than a Welsh nationalist.
Don't know that I'd critique BAE so harshly. He didn't make any big mistakes that I can think of last night, plus, he's having a laugh with his cruijff turns in our box.
80% pass completion not brilliant, but he got to all 45 balls passed to him. 7/12 on passes in our attacking third is ok, but he did have trouble finding the left wing (Bale), having more success bombing passes across the pitch.
Don't really know what more to ask for.
The others I think played well against a good side. If Ade had dragged his shot 1m to the left, we'd all be in meltdown over teh seks that Dembélé employed putting the ball through to him.
Tough match.
It's probably the crushing negativity of your post.....
For one, I'm not exactly sure what Adebayor did to annoy you last night, in a very tight game that was settled by 3 wonder goals I'm not sure he was ever going to get a hat trick. You say yourself you admire his work rate, and in a game like last nights that's pretty much all you can ask for from a player like Ade.
Then the main thrust of your post seems to be dampening everyone's good mood of the evening by telling us all our goalscorer and best player is "soon to be sold."
There seems quite a bit to disagree with there to be honest.
To disagree is fine with me, that's what the game is all about, opinions. I stand by what I said, there are plenty of people who will agree with me, and do, just look at the other posts, a lot more negative than mine. Ade looks lost at the moment, he needs a goal to get him started, his whole demeaner/body language is lacking, that is something only he can sort out, apart from one move last night when he was deemed offside,(he wasn't offside), he did very little in terms of effort on goal.
We have a lot to thank Bale for at the moment, because he is taking every game by the scruff of the neck and making things happen, I hate to say it, but he is keeping us in more games than we deserve to be in. That's not being negative, that's stating fact.
We need contribution from other areas, ie: up front, that was all I was trying to say. If the team keeps relying on Bale, sooner or later the wheels will fall off. We need a 20+ a season striker to compete, Ade ain't it. Apparently we came close to signing a world class striker in Jan, funny that, because didn't we here that last summer aswell. I love Levy, but he has to break the bank for what we are lacking, otherwise we will be also rans for the foreseeable future. And as for Bale not being sold, he deserves to be playing CL every season, if its not with us, he will be gone and you couldn't really blame him, I for one wouldn't begrudge him the chance.
Lyon are a very good side. AVB wasn't bullshitting this week in comparing this to a CL tie. Its very much on par with something we'd come up against in the better of the two European competitions. If this were a CL group stage game we'd be absolutely delighted. The away goal makes it harder to swallow but we have it in our hands in Lyon.
They lie 2nd in Ligue 1 to a team as rich as Man City. That they're only 6 pts behind is to their credit as they're living in another world. Its akin to us being 6 points behind United (granted the weaker teams are much weaker than those in the Premier League).
So many supporters inside the ground and online took to slating our 11 out of frustration. We weren't playing QPR, and we weren't even playing Newcastle. We were playing a team that has won 7 League titles and 3 Domestic Cups in the last 15 years. We did well. Ade was unlucky not to score a great attempt first time from Mousa's incredible through ball, and Bale missed a sitter.
They lie 2nd in Ligue 1 to a team as rich as Man City. That they're only 6 pts behind is to their credit as they're living in another world. Its akin to us being 6 points behind United (granted the weaker teams are much weaker than those in the Premier League).
So many supporters inside the ground and online took to slating our 11 out of frustration. We weren't playing QPR, and we weren't even playing Newcastle. We were playing a team that has won 7 League titles and 3 Domestic Cups in the last 15 years. We did well. Ade was unlucky not to score a great attempt first time from Mousa's incredible through ball, and Bale missed a sitter.
He played a good game, but he's not at the same standard he was last season. Possibly due to Modrat leaving?
I think our midfield has gone to shit with Sandro missing & Bale playing a much more central attacking position, playing more like a LF.
Dembele hasn't been his usual self, he'll make a great challenge, win the ball, then lose it or make a rushed pass that leads to nothing, very similar for Parker too, he runs the ball out to the line to try and find a pass but with the narrower football we're playing its getting harder for him to find one.
There will probably be stats on this saying all my points are invalid knowing my football analysis skills! :avblol:
Well said. Lyon are 16 places above us in the UEFA rankings, they're also above teams like AC Milan and Man City.
http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2013.html
WE'VE JUST BEATEN ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS IN EUROPE - PLEASE BE HAPPY ABOUT THIS
But if you prefer to moan and be grumpy fair enough. I know lots of moany grumpy Spurs fans, they easily outnumber the happy ones, despite the fact we're unbeaten in the Lge for months, have two world class players to enjoy watching etc, etc.
As the post I've quoted points out LYON HAVE WON THE LEAGUE OVER THREE TIMES AS MANY TIMES IN THE LAST 15 YEARS AS WE'VE MANAGED IN 125 YEARS
WE HAVE JUST BEATEN THEM!!!!!
I agree with
Éperons
to an extent. It is easy to ignore the quality of the opposition. I thought hey were excellent at closing down in midfield, not allowing either Parker or Dembele time or space to play 'their usual game'. But considering both are still to hit the peaks of performance having had injuries and lacking consistency to date, if they hit top form in March / April then I will be more than happy.Interestingly I thought when Holtby came on he did exactly the job the oppo did on our midfield, but higher up the pitch, buzzing around snapping into tackles and letting his presence be known. Shutting dwon the space and not giving them time to play almost led to a couple of breaks. Asides from Bales Goals, his cameo gives me hope that this season might not yet all end in tears.
I know, it would be a massive mistake if he didn't do this to get Moutinho
I was under the impression that he did break the bank for Mouts, only to be fucked around by errors made by Porto officials in the documents that were filed to the relevant bodies. I still think this will happen in the summer, after a little tidy up of the current squad is made. In the list of priorities during the Jan window, Mouts would of been second behind a Striker in an ideal world.
Agree with this completely.
I'm annoyed that I can only click *agree* once.
You don't have a seasoned Champions League side turn up and roll over to have their belly scratched.
It was a bit of a scrappy game at times sure, but we outplayed them on the whole.
So since we lost Sandro, we are averaging MORE POINTS PER GAME than we did when he has playing, but it's all gone to hell in a hand cart.
So why are we unbeaten in the lge since we lost him and have just beaten one of the best teams in Europe.
I think Sandro is a tremendous player, but we're actually doing better without him, which you wouldn't believe from some of the stuff I'm reading on various forums.
Here are some of the games Sandro played in this season
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Tottenham_Hotspur_Results_2012-13.html
Toon 2 Spurs 1 - Spurs 1 WBA 1- Spurs 1 Norwich 1- Spurs 2 Chelsea 4 - So how shit was our midfield in those games?????? (I'm not saying we were shit, because I don't go round talking like that, but IF we were shit last night, or against Toon when we won, WBA when we won etc, er may be a credibility problem here?)
AS I say I rate Sandro highly and yes we miss him, but hey we've played a lot worse than last night when he's been in the team.
So why are we unbeaten in the lge since we lost him and have just beaten one of the best teams in Europe.
I think Sandro is a tremendous player, but we're actually doing better without him, which you wouldn't believe from some of the stuff I'm reading on various forums.
Here are some of the games Sandro played in this season
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Tottenham_Hotspur_Results_2012-13.html
Toon 2 Spurs 1 - Spurs 1 WBA 1- Spurs 1 Norwich 1- Spurs 2 Chelsea 4 - So how shit was our midfield in those games?????? (I'm not saying we were shit, because I don't go round talking like that, but IF we were shit last night, or against Toon when we won, WBA when we won etc, er may be a credibility problem here?)
AS I say I rate Sandro highly and yes we miss him, but hey we've played a lot worse than last night when he's been in the team.
Well said again, we're getting a bit of balance at last on this issue.
Lyon were a very solid force 3 or so years ago but the team they put out last night wasn't that good. I think I'd only heard of 5 their players. I'm very pleased with the result, don't get me wrong, and I certainly think the return leg will be very difficult but to call them a Champions League side would be akin to calling Liverpool a Champions League side.
Well they're still second in their league and way above us in the UEFA rankings, and they looked pretty good to me last night. It would be no surprise if they knock us out and we're one of the best teams in the Prem, so I would say the team they put out last night was good, in fact better than good.
PSG aside, Ligue 1 isn't that great at all, and Lyon are closer to St Etienne, Marseille, Rennes and Nice than they are to PSG. UEFA rankings are not an indicator of a team's quality - Woolwich and ahead of Inter, Atletico and AC Milan, Liverpool are ahead of Man City, Metalist Kharkiv, Basel and FC Twente are all ahead of Dortmund etc.
- 01 Vercoutre
- 05 Lovren
- 06 Fofana Booked
- 13 Reveillere
- 15 Bisevac
- 23 Umtiti Booked
- 17 Malbranque (Grenier - 82' )
- 21 Gonalons
- 09 Lopez (Ghezzal - 88' )
- 10 Lacazette
- 18 Gomis
they're still no mugs though, it's a bit of a silly question regarding how many of their players would get in our side because not many of us even know those players to know if they're even any good.
While they may not be among Europe's elite, it's still a stern test and anyone expecting us to smash 3-4 goals past them needs a good slap.
Oh absolutely. I really can't envisage us going very far in the Europa League; could you see us beating somone like Zenit, Anzhi or Atletico over two legs?
It'd be tough, it's hard to judge who we'd beat based on performances. As Windizzle has often said we're greater than the sum of our parts and we adjust to the opposition. If we are to progress in the Europa League it won't be pretty.
In my heart of hearts I can't see us lifting the trophy but stranger things have happened.