Tough workout at the lane

After I had stopped laughing at Arsenal being slaughtered in Munich, my attention turned to tonight and our Europe league game against Anderlecht. I still hold great memories of Tony Parkes diving to his right as Spurs won the trophy back in 1984. But now, 31 years later, football has changed and this competition isn't quite as revered as it once was.

That aside, Pochettino selected a very strong side this evening with Lamela, Kane, Alli, Eriksen, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Dier et al all starting. It was encouraging to see Son back on the bench and after some superb performances, Dembele dropped to the bench as Mason returned to the starting 11.

Anderlecht were quick out of the blocks and played at speed , putting Spurs under pressure from the start. Spurs didn't help themselves by giving the ball away too much and Trippier was terrible. From start to finish he was awful. Apart from one clearance he was slow, poor with his passes and simply is not good enough to be on the bench , never mind in the starting 11.
In contrast , I felt Davies on the other side had his best performance in a Spurs shirt. If only his superb effort had just dipped below the bar. It was some effort. He got forward and defended well too. Well done son.

Eventually Spurs upped the tempo and Mason on 28 minutes played a nice ball to Eriksen who slipped it to Kane who lost his man and struck home beautifully from 18 yards.

Anderlecht started brightly in the second half and Trippier was run ragged. Not since Dean Austin has there been a worse right back. Sorry, it's harsh. But true.

On 71 minutes, a pretty low ball was played in to the box and Anderlecht were level. No more than they deserved to be fair.

Then Dembele came on and oh my! What a goal!! This guy is on fire and I am delighted for him. I really am.
In fact, although Mason worked hard, we missed Dembele.

Arsenal lost 5 - 1 on Wednesday. We won tonight and I have to be honest in saying I wouldn't have wanted as tough a game as we had tonight before Sunday. Arsenal will be a very wounded beast and we will have to be at our very best to beat them on Sunday. Our very, very best.

And on our day, we could win, and win well.

Whatever .... As ever.....COME ON YOU SPURS!!!!!!!!!!

 

Assuming we beat the Azeri side we should qualify...COYS!

 

Totally agree on the full backs. Had high hopes on tripper when he signed work with many Burnley fans who rated him highly. Came as a more attack minded full back but offered little in both directions tonight. Doesn't get tight enough and shows players inside rather than the out..
Toby however was awesome tonight but Jan was a little off the pace I felt especially the goal caught flat footed.
Anderlecht are a very accomplished side and played well this evening. We rode our luck and got three big points COYS..
Lloris 7 Trippier 6 Davies 7 Toby 9 Jan 7 mason 7 dier 8 Alli 6 eriksen 7 lamela 6 Kane 7
Dembele 7 Son 6 Onomah 6

 

We ground out the win without playing well against a good Anderlecht side, gave away the ball away a lot and the play broke down a lot in the final 3rd when we were in good positions but great to see Harry score again and at last is Dembele finally showing us what we knew he had? great goal! was impressed with Defour for them, workrate, skill, creativity and a killer passes forward, sign him up! we have missed a player like that since Modric. Onto the Woolwich on Sunday and hope tiredness doesn't kick in! Dier and Kane looked knackered towards the end, great to see Mason and Son back! Coys!

 

Solid core of team, sh¡t fullbacks, incisive when necessary, Dembele stunner. And that's all there is to know

 

It was a good result and again a workman like performance.
We lack cutting edge/movement going forward at pace, and agree these 2 full backs are not good enough.
Decent performance and Toby has made such a difference to r defence watching him play is very reminicent of the great Ledley imo.

 

Was a very up and down game, both teams seem equal to one another. Have to agree, Trippier was dreadful; he seems very timid as oppose to last year with Burnley when the whole team was on edge and aggressive. Hopefully he can bring that confidence back because that's why we got him, let loose and play! Obviously Walker's our #1 RB, no question!

Great to see Son get a few minutes, hopefully on Sunday he can come off the bench; don't think he's fit for a full match. All in all, good solid performance. Wasn't pretty but we got the victory!! As always, great to see Harry on the score sheet again; where he belongs!! Hell of a strike by Mousa....has become a regular starter for us!!

COYS!!

 

Must have been watching a diff game me because Spurs were woeful all round in the game i was watching .. Really poor defensive performance all round ( really worrying ) i taught , not sure what some of the above were watching .. Didn't create much at the other end either but thats the norm , we,re fairly toothless up there every day .. Taking opposition , strength of team we put out and playing at home into account , it was a very disappointing performance i taught ... Generaly been better then that all round this season and all teams will be inconsistent up to a point , especially young inexperienced ones so hopefully was just a bad day at the office but after a lackadaisical performance on Mon and an even worse one last night we,ve got to step it up big time on Sun .. I know we won both games but the performances were average to poor at best i.m.o .. At the end of the day you have to call it as you see it ....

 

We won...again! To analyse and criticise is what we all do as Tottenham and football fans, but we won......again!
Tiredness is my concern. I thought Alli looked exhausted poor kid, Poch needs to rest him occasionally after all he is just a young man with plenty of maturing to go.
What a future we have with our young manager and team.
We won.....again!
COYS!!!!!!

 

There were a number of below-par performances - Alli (has to have a bad game occasionally), Lamela (doing his headless chicken impersonation again), even Toby (who I really rate as one of our best) but the result was all important and that's what we got.
Trippier is playing at one level above what he is capable of and we need a RB who is one level above our standard - his height does him no favours whatsoever. He did however make one very important header and a tad of credit should be given to him for that.
I cannot really say that we have played that great in our last three games but have won all three, scoring ten goals - is that not the mark of champions?

 

I felt Lamela got stuck in and worked hard. Alli was playing a little further up the field and was over excited in my opinion. Spurs were hardly woeful.
Toby was superb at the back and Trippier was very poor which didn't help us defensively at all.
On Monday we were naive and over complacent but I expect a much more solid Spurs on Sunday.

I'm one of the most negative bloggers on here but we have lost three times all season and only once in the league.

That is progress and if you can't see that then maybe watching tennis would suit you better!!!

Come on you Spurs, lets down the Woolwich wanderers!!!!

 

Nobody denying this is a progressive young side but you have to keep perspective when things are going well as well as when things are not going so well .. Toby,s been impressive for us this season no doubt but he was a long way from superb on Thurs night , Jan was back to last years careless self ( stay on your fookin feet for gods sake ) , it wasn't all Trippier who did have a mare but in fairness to him he's played fook all and its way too early to be writing him off ... We were all quick enough writing off Rose , and Davies who was poor last year but while not been great he's deff improved this year .. I don't do positivity , negativity boll1x , it is what it is , try and keep it in perspective which isn't easy at times , we all get a bit carried away one way or another ... C.O.Y.S ......