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Reply With QuoteHeroesComesandGoes (12-04-2010)
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First off, I'd just like to say that Spurs actually deserved to lose the game against Portsmouth. But here's what I thought after watching the game:
1) We started thinking victory was in the bag
I think everyone thought we'd win, including our manager and players. I could see no real drive even though it was a cup semi-final, which was very unfortunate. Best player was Bale for me, worse players would be Crouch, Bentley, Defoe, Modric, Kranj, Palacios, Hudds. Our midfield was static and failed to have any patient build up. I liked how Modric dropped deep to get the ball, but the inability of palacios to pass the ball meant that possession was conceded way too easily. Bentley's game was totally shut down on the right and hence the entire right wing option was gone. Bale did not manage as many runs early on and again restricted our options. But in the end, it didn't matter because our strikers went home early.
2) Played a poor choice of players in the starting 11, and did no better with subs
I hear a lot of blaming about the pitch and the referee, but not once did I hear about our poor finishing. Again I'd have to blame crouch, who is such a poor header of the ball. He just missed chance after chance and I could see why we released him early on in his career. Palacios should not have played, given that Wembly is a larger pitch, passing is key. Palacios couldn't pass short range much less long range, and the width meant that his covering was not effective, why was he playing? I think Huddlestone pulled back as covering or deep laying midfield would have offered Modric much freedom up front. This game was undone by tactical failings of the manager, no doubts about it. It was even worse than Pellegrini's decision to play Alonso as covering midfield instead of Diarra on Xavi. Tactical naivety.
3) Our obsession with Fourth has seen us lose all cup competitions and most likely getting Europa league
I do not see us beating the top three clubs, lets be a little honest about that. So Europa would be the only "prize" we get out of this season. But I find that this would be a good thing as getting in the CL would mean early elimination anyways. If we cannot handle the Europa league, then we shouldn't be looking at making the jump up to CL anytime soon. I hope that it gives us an opportunity to steady the ship and gain European experience.
4) Players to leave in the summer
Unfortunately, we must be looking at some players looking to leave. Modric would be the first name I'd see wanting to leave. I am sure the big European clubs have their eyes on him. His style is more fitting to the la liga or Serie A. Lennon might be looking at a large bid as well, given that he is english. Bale would be another player clubs could be ready to offer CL football. The rest of the players are more Europa league than CL material.
HeroesComesandGoes (12-04-2010)
Modric isn't at that level, he's not world class. This is about where he belongs as the playermaker on a team hoping to crack the Champion's League.
I blame our formation. I have said time after time after.... 4-4-2 is so 90's (pre-historic) ... Harry's to stubborn to change things... old skool kinda guy. 4-5-1 is what we need. No point having 2 guys upfront when we can't get the ball to them... we need an extra man in midfield for ffs to regain / retain possession. Any Tom Dick and Harry can see this... oh wait Harry can't... No one is saying don't use 4-4-2 but you need to adapt with different games.
Which games do we know we will lose possession in midfield > Play a 4-5-1
Which games will we be strong and want to attack more > play 4-4-2
Hello! Anyone fail to consider that Pompey gave it their all? remember they had nothing to play for other than the FA Cup....
jesco29 (12-04-2010)
Well there is no doubt after yesterday"s performance CHANGE is required, Ive said it before and I"ll say it again the mentality of the players is not right. We dont want it enough its as simple as that !
A team like Portsmouth showed more bottle, more guts and that hurts me.
They rode their luck of course, but it shouldnt have happened.
Players to leave Crouch, he has such a negative effect on the team, so much would change with a different striker.
to blame was the wembley pitch & crap ref ..penalty my ass
the pitch was shit. but both teams played on it,
the ref?? disgrace simple,
the spurs players ? more of a disgrace,!!
glad i'm at work on wednesday,,, "apart from all trhe gooners there"
I do not think we should be putting blame on refs and pitches. It isn't like the ref gave ten penalties against us.
It all came down to our inability to put the ball in the back of the net!
Crouch is really giving me heart burn these days, why does he smile and laugh about missing ten chances? Are professional footballers these days so deprived of humor that they have to resort to laughing at their own plight?
Where are the players who want to win because they are competitive? Even if C.Ronaldo screams at his team mates for scoring instead of passing to him, its because he wants to be the best, i.e. to beat Messi. What about someone like Crouch? Does he even want to score goals or is he simply earning a paycheck?
I was in awe of Peppy Guardiola for reverting to a formation that was so unexpected, making key tactical changes when he saw that the team did not string their passes as he expected them to, only settling when the fluidity returned, and this was after the 2-0 scoreline. He didn't care about the score line, he knew that if the team clicked into place, they would score, end of story. If not, Real could still come back to hurt them even at 2-0 up. I think we need someone like that, someone young and unafraid of change, someone tactically adept at recognizing what is required. I like Harry, but he is just too rigid!
How naive a display I was forced to watch yesterday. It was painful. My heart burns.
Us fans feel as much part of the team as the players do and we lost lets not play the blame game here or the George W. Bush card as I like to call it and find things to blame it on. We lost because we were crap plain and simple lets try and get over it I know it's hard to take but we have another match this week so we better hold our heads high.
Why blame when the damage is done? we're out of the cup, lets talk about how we could beat Arsenal this Wednesday...
rudi (12-04-2010)
no point on keep moaning about it,its not gona change the result the more you moan,i reckon we'l be more up for the arsenal game seen as it was an embarrasing result on sunday,if we went through i dont think we'd be up for it as much if you know what i mean,im confident that we'l get something on wednesday,i cant wait for the game
champions leagues still on,man city still have man u,villa and us and i can see them dropping points there,keep the faith.
come on you spurs!!!!
Pompey didnt deserve it FFS man take a look at our attempts/corner counts against theres, we lacked a finisher and some bollox on the day the rest is about Pompey getting lucky Dawson slipping to allow their 1st, Crouch having a perfect goal chalked off due to an incompetant areshole of a ref and their 2nd goal due to us chasing the game and getting caught.
People are getting carried away with what Pompey have achieved and good luck to em i hope they win it but we gave the game away they didnt pressure us at all.
To say the players were a disgrace is to not understand the game we call football. You also disrespect Pompey who are far better than their league position, if things had panned out for them this year they would easily be mid table and yesterday they played the game of their lives.
On top of that they had most of the luck that was going, and the ref made 2 crucial mistakes.
Also the pitch WAS a big factor, it makes it more difficult to play the ball to feet which is our game, and easier to stop teams playing "Which was Pompeys game."
Simples.
I understand football and the players were a disgrace!Originally Posted by alfieconn
Pompey are bottom with 6 games to go and they were bottom before their points deduction, how are they better than their league position?
They had most of the luck and the ref was sh1t-2 points we agree on.
imho i think this game has proved we are NOT ready for CL football, i said some time ago that although i would lpove to see us in the CL i dont think we are ready for it, just my opinion of coarse.
it is better to fail aiming high, than to succeed aiming low,
and we spurs fans have set our sites very high,
so high in fact that even failure will have in it
an echo of glory.
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