Beating Burnley shows progression under Poch

Discussion in 'Tottenham forum' started by Josh Bolton, December 20, 2014.

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  1. Josh Bolton

    Josh Bolton Active Member

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    After a Spurs win, much of the inevitable reaction is primarily – don’t get carried away. And for a team such as ours, to beat Burnley at home shouldn’t really count as an achievement, but yet – a gradual smile is somehow returning to the face of fans, albeit a silent smile.

    After being stifled and held at home to teams such as Stoke, Palace, West Brom and Newcastle this season, it would have been typical Tottenham to have put in a mediocre performance today.

    Although the Clarets occasionally troubled us at the back, those watching the game will tell you that Sean Dyche’s men were unable to cope with the dynamism, movement and pace from ourselves going forward.

    What time has told

    We were all adamant at the start of the season, that this year was a rebuilding process where the manager was in need of time and support from fans and the board alike. Yet, when we’re in the thick of this process – drawing or losing games with uninspired performances from players it’s only natural for questions to be asked and positions placed under scrutiny.

    Today we had 65% of the possession and fired 23 shots at the opposition goal. Despite the score line ending 2-1, at least they were signs of us attempting to play an attacking style of football - a style that has been void in recent months.

    After our win at Swansea last Sunday, Christian Eriksen was quick to draw attention to the squad’s fitness and never-say-die attitude – and that the players were constantly improving. This reminded me of something Morgan Schneiderlin said about Pochettino at Southampton. The Frenchman said it had taken the Saints players five months to grasp and understand their coaches style and philosophy. And after around six months in charge of Spurs, maybe the players are finally responding to their Head Coach!

    Midfield not about the money

    For all the money spent on central midfielders such as Dembele, Capoue and Paulinho, who’d have thought that our best partnership, come December, would be Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb? Not many.

    When Ryan Mason went off today, due to injury with a suspected twisted knee, we were ready to reach for the panic button. It’s fair to say that Stambouli came on and did a solid job, but it was evident that he lacks the mobility possessed by Mason – who is able to get things moving a lot quicker in our engine room.

    If we are to say that Mason is irreplaceable, then the same has to be said of his pressing partner – Nabil Bentaleb. Bentaleb is due to head off to the African Cup of Nations with Algeria on January 17, and I think it is only when he’s gone that we will visibly see the huge impact that his presence has on the team.

    Lamela to improve

    A phrase often used for Roberto Soldado – “when he gets his first goal, he’ll start banging them in”. Although it may not be true as of yet, a similar saying can be put towards Erik Lamela I think.

    His goal today was one that was very frequent in his Roma days – where he’d cut in from the right, get the ball onto his left foot and curl a shot into the far corner. Many times this season Erik has done well to drop the shoulder to beat his man, but often to no effect.

    Now Erik Lamela has got his first goal, I’m not expecting him to go on a great goal scoring run, but I do expect his performances and end product to improve. Now he has shaken off that statistic of never scoring in the Premier League, he can hopefully concentrate on being a team player, rather an individual player in a team.
     
  2. jiggeroo Guest

    Guess we should take the positives out of the game. 3 points at home against a timid Burnley. Not much to write home about. Glad to see kane on the scoresheet as well as lamela. Lamela got to learn to use his team mates. He cannot do it on his own.

    hopefully mason not out for too long with his injury. Coys.... we got to make the teams who travel to the lane suffer. Take them chances you create and make them pay.

    onward we go to the next match v Leicester.
     
  3. When lamela scored it reminded me of lennon ha ha ha ha hs ha ha ha.
     
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  4. Felon82 Well-Known Member

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    3 points at home to Burnley should be bread n butter to Spurs, from the off we played well there was an evident width and balance to the side with Chadli willing to go outside Eriksen given space in the centre and Lamela keeping the full back guessing. We have missed walker bombing on up the wing massively which helped make Lamela more useful.
    Nice wing play from Chadli set up HK for the first and we were ticking over nicely, then boom a wonder strike from Burnley not a lot anyone could have done about that but give it the respect it was due and the game burst into life. Again (and I stress) good wing play from Lamela going outside the full back and squaring to HK who was guilty of a Goals 5 aside swing at it and should have scored (note to all wing play creates chances).
    Then at last Lamela with a Balesque finish what a goal and a deserved winner, must do this more often and consistently- I say this because after that he kind of disappeared and we really need to see this end product more regularly.
    We came out for the second half in Spursy snooze button mode and tried to give away the 2 points but held on after making things more difficult than they had to be, why after a couple of years on mind numbingly dull possessional play we can't seem to hold onto the ball in these scenarios towards full time when we just need to kill the game.
    The main turning point was Mason Going off I hope it is not long term he is the one true box to box player we have. I like the partnership he and Bentaleb are forming mason giving the energy and bite and Bentaleb more composed, reminds me a bit of Carrick/Mendez .

    We seem to be turning a corner the last couple of displays I can see players beginning to take responsibility and a team ethic forming which is very pleasing, winning is a nice habit to have and we are beating what's in front of us. We still need to add some proper quality to this side, I think the team he put out today is our strongest on paper the rest who are propping up the squad would not be sorely missed if they were all sold/replaced imo.
     
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  5. Mattj78

    Mattj78 Well-Known Member

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    A decent win if not an overwhelming performance. Good that Lamela scored but his ver all performance was filled with errors, not least the Burnley goal. He needs to do the simple things and will progress by doing so. I don't think his goal will open the floodgates for him, but maybe it will increase his confidence.
    Kane was superb yet again. He never stops running and his goal was nicely taken. I predict a shining future for this lad. He is one of our own.
    We go into Christmas four points off the top four, a cup semi final to look forward to in January and hopefully a run to European glory in the Europa league.
    A trophy, maybe 2 and a top six finish would be a good season. If we can buy and sell well in January and the summer, we could at last start to challenge for the top four.
    The removal of levy, ENIC and Baldini would be welcome also.

    Come on you Spurs!!!!
     
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  6. stevethespur Active Member

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    Harry kane keeps putting up his goal tally, and great to see Lamela correcting his error that let Burnley in. Lets hope the tide is turning, chelski and man u will be a tougher test after Leicester, lots of games over christmas and Stambouli may come in handy against the big guns of the premier. Sorry to see Mason sidelined but Stam may bring some needed grit in those games and we still will have offensive options. Things are starting to look up with progress in the team and the league, and europa and capital one cup to battle in. Coys.
     
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  7. mikespurs New Member

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    3 points are 3 points. Not only that but a home win which is crucial after ade's comments. Harry Kane is probably the most feared striker in the premier league at the moment and eriksen is starting to show his true class.
     
  8. Hotspur24 New Member

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    Hope I'm not tempting fate, but this team has improved no end over the last few weeks. This was a banana skin waiting to happen, especially with our home form in recent games. Fair few positives not least Eriksen having centre mid role. He looks like hes getting back to his best and had the space today due to some true width. Chadli and Lamela looked good, with the latter getting a goal just like he used to do regularly at Roma, hopefully he can push on. This is close to our best team and when we can eradicate some daft mistakes we should progress well. Not getting carried away, as spurs never cease to amaze me, but lots to look forward to. 3 points next game a must. COYS!!!
     
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  9. mikespurs New Member

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    Just watching match of the day and Harry Kane has just been compared to Alan Shearer which in my opinion is the biggest complement a striker can get.
     
  10. dnoll5

    dnoll5 Member

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    I thought the first half was excellent (aside from the wonder goal from Burnley) because the players were moving purposefully. The XI out there seem to finally know their roles and I thought that we finally got a glimpse of what a high pressuring side can do. Pochettino was probably pretty happy with it as well, especially knowing that we could've and should've had at least one, maybe two more. Now, the second half was a different story. Need to tighten it up and play for a full 90.
     
  11. notnats

    notnats Well-Known Member

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    The team looked nicely balanced first half, gave to agree Walker gave us some width that allowed Lamela more space to cut inside, much better from Erik and the goal was indeed Balesque and deserved. Eriksen and Kane are running the foward line but we definitly lost our momentum after losing Mason, Benteleb gave it away a few times but mostly ok to mediocre its a shame that Dembele has lost his wiklingness to impose himself in games
     
  12. Deggsy56

    Deggsy56 Active Member

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    I think our main priority should be keeping Eriksen !! I watched him and him alone on FF . He makes things happen and where there's space he finds it. Built the team around him and maybe try Chadli up front with Kane ! That Burnley 'wondergoal' was equal to Everton's - which we also came back to win 2-1 ! I'd like 3 in those situations just to be safe ! I did notice Lamela was unlucky with a pearler early on in the game. The goal was waiting which gladly he got !! Now play like that or like v Everton or v Newcastle against Mancs and Chelsea. Only THEN can we talk seriously about the coveted ' Top Four' !! (Personally i think we are still miles off it - but getting there slowly).
     

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