Sunderland 2 Tottenham 2 match reaction

Definitely concur that the substitutions were strange to fathom out. I don't disagree with Ramos ( I know, I know, we love each other really! ) that it is difficult to play at pace when the opponents are putting everyone behind the ball, but did anyone else not feel that, at times, we allowed them to do that? There were times when we started to break away but slowed down and you could see the Sunderland players racing back into position. That is just a learning curve I expect, or dare. Say it, me being far too critical!!

 

How does lennon get anywhere near the team.worst player in the history of Tottenham Hotspur.

 

Lennon worst player in spurs history. That is one hck of a call when we have seen the likes of Jason Dozell and dean Austin in the spurs shirt.
If Kaboul can get in the team, then Lennon certainly will get in the squad. I actually thnk he is a very good player who works hard for the team. He has faults, but worst player....never.

 

They all knew how to kick a ball correctly,why does lennon never take a corner or freekick, i will tell you its because he doesnt know how to.

 

Our set-play delivery is unquestionably poor at the moment. Eriksen and Lamela BOTH seem to have serious problems when it comes putting their set piece deliveries into areas of the box where the attackers have a realistic chance of scoring.

In fact, so bad have our corners and indirect free-kicks been this season that we have even resorted to taking them short (to save embarrassment, I think).

This is something that will have to change if the team is going to maximise it's scoring opportunities during a game. At the moment, our CB's going forward just seems a bit like a token gesture.

I thought we defended well from the front yesterday,worked hard and pressed high.

Pochettino's substitutions appeared PERFECTLY logical, and reasonable, to me, but unfortunately the team began to turnover possession too frequently as the finish-line became more visable.

The ONLY thing I would have done differently is introduce both Lennon and Kane at the same time to give the team an additional freshness in the midfield during the latter stages when Sunderland looked like getting a grip on the match.

The introduction of two energetic players Buckley and Gia (We'll call him his nickname, for short) gave them some much needed momentum, and it just seemed to me that Spurs didn't really recover after being unsettled by Sunderlands running late on.

I am not too sure a late own-goal, scored by a striker, means we have 'defensive issues/problems' but,yet, you can't help but feel a number of people in that situation could have done a bit better!

Gutting result after such a dominant and commanding team display, but we move on. Like I said, there were plenty of positives the can take from that performance although on a day when most of our rivals slipped up, it would have been great to be able to capitalise on that with a win.

Side note

Pleased to see Paulinho is being FORCED to change, or rot, as far as his mentality/team ethic is concerned. It will be interesting to see how the Brazilian responds to this challenge in the upcoming weeks and months. Personally, I hope the Brazilian DOES decide to make the necessary changes to his game, as a focused, hard-working and team-oriented Paulinho would be like making a new £17m signing!

As I said during the summer, Pochettino is a ruthless manager who will place no one individual players needs before that of the team....Looks like Paulinho is finding that out the hard way.

Spurs have a SPECIAL young manager at the helm, who is fiercely ambitious and extremely demanding. It won't be long before we return to winning ways!

 

Poch is not going to suffer any fools or bad attitudes and Paulinho is simply not learning! Every single player must want to play for the team and for the manager. If they don't, they will be dropped from the entire squad. That is the right way to manage.

 

I'm NOT sure that Paulinho isn't learning. I just feel that there are others already in the squad that already have a better grasp on what is expected of them in a team, and more importantly the EPL.

The last time I saw the Brazilian start a match, in the EL game against Limassol, I thought he did VERY well playing in a 3 man midfield, which seems to suit his game more, at the moment.

He worked hard throughout the course of that match, pressing high, tracking back (with enthusiasm/urgency), filling in for others, and even got a goal, and an assist, to boot.

What the player has to do, now, is PROVE to Poch that he can do those type of things (especially the basics) on a regular basis, and against better/more intense opposition, in the EPL.

 

Fair point. What I would say about yesterday was that Dembele showed what a good player he really is. For me, he should be in the team every week playing like that. He is so good, but has not yet been fully unleashed and for me is a player who oozes class and if allowed the role he had yesterday could be a match winner for us this season.

 

Taking Erecisson Off with 8 minutes plus stoppage time when we could had got a free kick and he can take them was poor.

But if he goes off some should take the free kicks better than improving Lemanla who is improving and looking no bad, but needs to stay fit and sharp and off the chocolate. STAY OFF THE DREAMY CHOCS LEMELA!

 

Some good points being made, unfortunately we do have some defensive issues and problems at the moment especially if we are to start with Kaboul and Chiriches at the back. Vlad doesn't seem to have improved or learnt any lessons from last year, his reading of the game and decision making are frighteningly bad, this is not a player gifted with football intelligence, his tackling is ok but that's more instinctive, when he's on the ball he can either pass straight to the opposition or attempt to dribble the ball out of the box, this has to stop. Yes the last goal went in off Kane but neither Kaboul or Chiriches made any attempt to clear the ball, Kaboul is not the commanding figure that some like to think, more often than not he's too slow to react in the box and is caught flat footed, these two are simply not good enough the sooner we get a look at Fazio the better. Have to feel a bit for young Dier, a very inexperienced 20 year old thrown into the first team from the go and playing at RB, I think he's done fantastically well but obviously has a lot to learn. Once again the goals conceded were due to poor defending and a lack of urgency when under pressure, Kaboul is not a leader and if Poch wants to show his metal and make a statement for the future of this team he needs to relieve him of the armband today.

 

Agree about Pauli, we've said before that the Brazilian looks more suited to playing in a three man MF and personally im not against us playing a 4-3-3 however I still don't see many opportunities for him in that role either, if we were to have three in the middle, say Capoue, Dembele and someone else, id prefer that someone else to be a distributor and able to ping the ball forward effectively, I thought that Dembele had a fantastic game but unless he can move the ball to someone that can do something with it quickly then as good as he looks on the ball he will just slow the game down as usual. Paulinho is not that man and will just loiter around the box and try to nick one. I still believe that Pauli will start in the Europa as a CAM as a replacement for the sacrificed Lewis Holtby.

 

I still cannot understand why Kaboul is getting the armband. He is simply not a captain. Lloris should be captain.

 

When Dembele first came to the club, he made us all forget about the man he had been brought in to replace -Luka Modric - with displays that combined drive ,power, pace, menace (attacking intent), authority and finesse.



A culmination of poor management, injury and Paulinho (a partner who MD could NOT trust to do any leg work going backwards towards his own goal, and would mindlessly vacate his CM position, next to him) meant that Mousa had to curb a lot of what makes him such a threat, and focus the majority of the time wiping the Brazilians backside, in making sure the back 4 were not left too badly exposed.

Dembele is a world-class talent, who has yet to become a world class player! On his day, he has the capacity to dominate ANY opponent in the land, with a skill-set that is yet to be fully tapped into.

Funnily enough I think he faded when he was pushed forward in yesterdays game, although ,again, I feel that was more down to the team losing a bit of their composure in the last 10/15 mins, and becoming sloppy in possession.

What Dembele does so well, at his best, is offer the team an out-ball in congested areas of the field. The defence know that they can give Mousa the ball on the turn and that he can use it effectively, either by gliding past an opponent or playing those clever little forward passes into the attacker.

He is an unspectacular distributor of the ball, but a highly effective one, who acts as a link between defence and attack.

Personally, I think the Belgian will thrive playing under a manager that ALWAYS encourages his players to play the ball forward as often, and quickly, as possible and that was certainly a feature of his game yesterday.

Dembele has his style, and I would be mindful of changing that, but I can't help but feel that the midfielder has another 1/2 gears to go through in terms of his performance.

 

The ONLY reason I would choose to rid Kaboul of the armband is because of the amount of players/talent we have at CB.

Dier, Vertonghen Fazio, Kaboul and Chiriches is a quality pool of defenders to choose from, and given that I believe the team should be picked solely on form, it would be hard for me to justify picking a defender who wasn't playing so well (because he has been given the armband) to the THREE other CB's who will miss out.

By picking a CB to be captain, at this moment in time, you are effectively asking THREE players to fight for ONE spot, and that could prove problematic for a manager whilst trying to maintain the morale of some individuals.

That is assuming the manager gives the role special meaning, of course.

I also believe that it is wise to guard AGAINST writing players off, or claiming they are not good enough on the back of a poor run of form, as there is nearly always mitigating circumstances involved.

I mean is wasn't so long ago that the vast majority of Spurs fans were claiming Chadli was useless, or that Rose was a Championship defender, and now look at them. Nacer is our top scorer with three goals in four league games (and it could've/should've been 4 in 4) and Rose has been one of the clubs better performers this season.

I understand what people are saying with regards to Chiriches knack of ALWAYS wanting to play out from the back with the ball being somewhat risky (to say the very least) but that is a issue that is easily rectified by the manager pulling he Romanian to one side and having a quiet word.

I thought the defence played reasonably well on the weekend, bar one moment where Adam Johnson was allowed to simply waltz his way into the box for the 1st equaliser.

The 2nd goal was more about the poor decision to give away a cheap freekick in such a dangerous area than the defending itself, I feel.

If a ball is put in at around waist/chest height with any kind of pace, from that area, it is always going to be extremely difficult to deal with regardless of who you have, or how many players you have, defending it. Spurs were just unfortunate that Kane was in the wrong place at the wrong time and couldn't readjust his body shape quick enough.

 

I'm a missive dembele fan and wouldn't like to see him play further forward as he's our best ball carrier similar to yaya toure I suppose. The problem with him is that he seems to play within himself and needs to be given more responsibility and also take more. That's where poch needs to get more out of him like he did similar to lallana. As our best player and only guaranteed outfield starter I would give him the armband and build the side round him..

 

Not sure about giving the lad the armband, but I certainly believe the team should be built around the Belgian. I also believe that Mousa's form will have a HUGE impact on whether Spurs will finish in the top 4, or not, and therefore it is imperative that Dembele can produce his best form on a regular basis.

If he can do that, then Spurs will have a superstar on their hands. It's as simple as that!

Like I said, under Poch, Dembele will be encouraged to try to influence the game higher up the pitch and that can only be seen as a good thing for both club, and player.

I prefer Mousa as an orthodox CM, but I wouldn't be against seeing him play in a no10 role PROVIDING he is given license to roam free. Dembele is capable of having an impact on the game popping up in space, almost, anywhere on the pitch. But to have him doing that regularly in the middle/final 3rd of the field could be DEVASTATING.

What better way to say to a player I trust you to make things happen for the team than to stick him in a free role, where he is given license to make whatever type of movements he sees fit?

 

Not only Spurs were the better team (thank you Ramos for taking time explaining why), they dominated the game. Yet we lost 2 points and could even come up with none.
Professional football is a result oriented business and points are hugely important, but football is a game, so result cannot always be in direct function of performance. It is just co-related to it. Luck is what we lacked. Except for , may be, Llorice I cannot give a lower mark to any player. So I am quite happy with what is developing.

 

On his day Moussa looks world class and carries the ball out on a string, he's very good at running the ball out of a congested area and going past a player or two with a powerful run, my only concern is that he is not at all a highly effective distributor of the ball, although he can instinctively use his physicality to run past his man which makes him look immense on the pitch it is often without any real purpose other than to beat that man and then ends up with him being easily closed into a deadend area in which he is forced to play a not very effective 6 yard sideways pass. Look don't get me wrong, I think Dembele could be the player that we want him to be, I just think he needs to work on his distribution and his awareness otherwise while we are all admiring his ability to glide past an opponent the opposite team can just as easily get everyone behind the ball and make it difficult to break them down. For what its worth I think the pairing of Dembele and Capoue could be very exciting and one of the best if not the best in the league with a bit of work and improvement. I don't see Moussa at all in a more advanced role.

 

Wrong, very wrong. I like YK as a guy but for fcuks sake captain. This is wrong. This is very wrong.

What is Pooch doing and why take our Beckham free kick expert off with 10 minutes to go.

There is a bad smell at the club at present. A smell that needs to be exercised. A smell that smells like foul rotting stale crusty bread.

And bty what the fcuk is this all about,

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/rule-2.10-announcement-150914/?

I think something is very wrong at the club. Lossing 3 0 to Liverpool at home is a sign. I seriously fear for our well being home and away against the top teams.

There is a strange smell coming out of WHL at present i tell you. A smell which is not nice. (In fact it smells like sh*t).

 

You're all missing the point of what's missing ! A QUALITY striker of which Adebayor IS NOT!! Our goals coming from midfielders and defenders. Those numerous ' shots on target' should 've been put away!! Understand that MP wasn't happy we didn't get a striker in last window. Gonna cost us - watch!