We made it too easy for Chelsea

Again man it all depends on how you look at it .. We mugged West Ham in both games , Utd could have scored 5 in the first half alone at our place , Arse all over the place this season and the Chelsea result came at the end of the x-mass period , a notorious time for strange results, add to that the last minute mugging of Villa , Hull and who ever else i missed and it paints a completly diff picture .. All about interpretation .. There has been a lot of improvment in terms of fitness and attitude but not so in terms of quality or shape or style of the team .. At the end of the day you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear so the manager deserves plenty of time to prove himself one way or the other i.m.o ...

 

We do not want the Europa league next season, it knocks us off kilter every time. We threw the FA cup against Leicester, fail every time in the league after a Europa league game and what is worrying is we could finish 7th and still qualify. If Man U, Liverpool or Woolwich win the FA cup then qualification could go to seventh place, and we could be playing silly Europa qualification games in July.

 

transition is one thing but going about Chelsea's millions is pointless. We weren't saying that after we beat them on New Year's Day so you can't use that after today.
Poch will get us being a top six team but not much more. Huffing and puffing is great but if you can't blow the house down, what's the point?

 

The 1st goal had nothing to do with a lucky deflection, a ball is floated in towards 4 Spurs Defenders not a blue or Challenge in sight. Its bread and butter for any Centre Half in Professional football it just needs judging and meeting full on with a solid header.
Put yer name on it and attack the ball, if your not going for the ball yourself you need to be switched on to what is going on around you ie picking up opposition players and being ready to react.
Its basic defending something we are totally unable to do through lack of organisation, players not knowing their responsibilities or taking responsibility and too busy ball watching instead of ball winning.
Week after week basic sloppy defending!

 

My dear stevethespur, I have been a supporter for over 35 years and I merely point out things never change. There is no honour or pride in habitual losing and six fa cup semi final defeats and two league cup final defeats on the spin suggest to me a systemic problem at the club and that we supporters are being cheated by underperformers from playing staff to owners. Our magnificent support deserves better. The fans were immense today.

 

Spot on Felon .. Any dead ball situation against them and one of the first people you should be looking out for is Terry .. Jeez he's at it for 15 years for f**k sake .. My young fella is 7 & when the free was given he said yee better watch Terry and Ivanovic here .. But to some thats unlucky .. Get a grip lads ...

 

Carmine i too have been a Spurs fan for over 35 years, Gilzean and Greaves ! Dave Mckay and Mike England ! Pat Jennings and Cyril Knowles were the heroes of my youth ! I didn 't feel cheated today as watched a young spurs side take it to one of the top, most expensively assembled teams in the world ! I'm sorry you feel 'cheated'. Maybe its just the bitterness of losing, i feel that too. spurs Family ! Lets beat QPR on sat! Coys.

 

I didn't feel cheated, just deflated. It's all very well saying that we should be proud today but you make it sound like we tried hard but because of them being the best team in England it doesn't really matter. No one mentioned that after New Year's Day and we played the same team.
You can't have it both ways folks.
We did play well at times today but Chelsea hardly broke sweat. Poch has done a decent job with what he's got but it could be very hard to keep our best players in the summer. Lloris, Vertonghen, Eriksen, walker. What incentive is there going to be to stay.
A new stadium? At least two season away and that won't make players stay or sign.
Champions league football? Unlikely.
A team that could challenge for the title in a few years?
Players don't wait these days. And levy sells. Walker to Man United is a possibility. Lloris could sign for anyone he likes and sadly I think he will.
You have to look at the bigger picture and the next few season will be transition again.
Maybe the new stadium will be called " transition road"?

 

Not got the time nor the patience to read all the above nonsense. We got beat off a far superior side to any other club in GB and will minimum reach champ league semi. They are years in front and have the worlds best coach. No shame in that. They even set up to stop us playing massive respect. We were well on top but got sucker punched before half time and killed us off. Get over it ffs. The kids done us proud today. Just one step too far.

 

cheer up you miserable lot, good times coming with MoPo. One bad week in a decent season given that this is the weakest squad in years

 

And again. No one mentioned all of this after New Year's Day did they? Were they years in front after New Year's Day?

 

And why do people keep talking about the QPR game? We play Swansea on Wednesday.

 

Just to add to this, yes it woukd be a huge loss to lose Lloris, Vertonghen, Eriksen and so on. But who had ever heard of any of Poch's players at Southampton? Tadic and Pelle they've brought in this season and whilst not being world beaters they complement each other well. This is what we must instigate if we lose our top players.

 

we were probably too busy celebrating my dear friend. Not sure what you want from Spurs. Total World Football Domination ! Never happen ! Support the Lilywhites wherever the fortunes of modern foitball take us. Having to compete with the billions of a chelski oligarch or the Qatar silliy rich, or the Man Utd behemoth is difficult ! The question is, are we punching above our weight ? Coys.

 

Seeing as we chucked in the Europa league for the Capital 1 cup final, after 'dominating' the best side in the country to a 0-2 defeat, being that we're such a great team now with no distractions we should cruise into the top 4 then no?

No more flat, tired, leggy, unimaginative performances then just Poch's clear high pressing high energy attacking football philosophy for all to see.

 

absolutely Matt ! Looked at the Sky site and they didnt have any games this week. Monthly BBC site showed no prem lge this week, but weekly site showed full programme ! Why no TV coverage! Nevermind, theres always the radio ! Coys.

 

Lets hope we can improve everywhere obviously but especially in defending over the rest of the season .. We all differ in opinions on how good we are or how well we,re playing but surely we can all see the defensive mistakes are killing us ..

 

We need to stop selling our best players, full stop; easier said than done I know. But I really do think it is important to build the team around Eriksen, Lloris and Kane. To kick on, a couple of world class players (no more), blended with the ever developing academy players then we would have a bright future and the right blend.

Moreover, a season away from the EL will do the club a favour IMO. It's certainly hard to take the results from this week and it's important that we get back to winning ways and take 6 points from Swansea and QPR.

 

There was absolutely no chance Poch would outplay Mourinho for a second time within a few months. Jose might be eccentric and what have you, but he is one of, if not the best manager in the world. Therefore, as I sad many times Fiorentina should have drawn the most attention and the best XI. The smart manager would do just that. But the club is run by supporter. Like many other fans of the THFC Mr. Levy decided to gamble on Wembley fixture instead and lost as expected...

 

It seems that there is a village somewhere missing a few of it's idiots judging by some of the remarks left on here...Now, why am I NOT surprised, eh!

Listen, I'm not going to go on too much about this one today, I just wanted to express how PROUD I am this evening after a defeat, in a match, that was decided by the smallest of margins.

Spurs were NOT embarrassed despite, perhaps, not quite being at their best.

Instead, the lads gave a GREAT account of themselves, the manager and the work that is currently being done by all those internally connected with the club.

The fact is goals - AND when they are scored - change games, and Chelsea today were fortunate enough to get their goals at just the right moments.

Speak to anyone who knows anything about the game and they will tell you that the 'best' times to take a lead in a football match is just BEFORE, and just AFTER, half-time.

Why? Well, the former gives the opposition/s:

• little, or no, time to respond/react.
• time to stew on the disheartening feeling of going a goal down during the interval. (Which would be exacerbated if like today the goal you concede is against the run of play)
• manager the task of rewriting a teamtalk, as well as lifting and refocusing his players.
• the knowledge that the scoring team will now possess the momentum, confidence and control that you have fought so hard to establish.

Conceding (more or less) straight AFTER halftime can:

• mean that any tactical readjustments, words of encouragement or renewed enthusiasm undertaken/experienced during the break is quickly undermined.
• instantly shift the momentum of the game in favour of the opposition, giving them something to 'hold on to' (for a maximum time of a HALF of a football match)
• offers opponent more tactical choices.i.e play on counter, take initiative or close up shop.
• lift opposing teams fans while deflating your own. In turn, further changing the dynamics of the match and the two teams.
• force manager into another tactical rethink.

So, the fact that Spurs conceded just before AND after halftime should NOT be overlooked in terms of the influence it had not only on the match, but BOTH sets of players/ managers too.

Mourinho who was set to be the busier of the managers at the break, suddenly had a goal to help enthuse, motivate and refocus his team with.

Pochettino who was set to be the happier of the two coaches, suddenly had to lift and galvanize his players after going a goal down despite having the more progressive team.

Having done that, the last thing you want is to concede just after the break and give without a doubt the best DEFENSIVE manager in the game a 2-0 lead.

From that point on, Chelsea were happy to sit deep and play exclusively on the counter attack, which as I have said suited Mourinho and the make up of his Chelsea team down to a tee.

Spurs had some fantastic performers today, though. And, I thought in Danny Rose had one of the best players on the pitch. The kid was SUBLIME today and can consider himself a little unfortunate with his flicked header that lead to Chelsea's opener.

Aggressive, purposeful and defensively sound, Rose was a man on a mission for Spurs, offering the kind of drive, endeavor and swagger that is gradually becoming the hallmark of this Tottenham team.

If anyone was unsure as to why I backed Rose last season so vehemently when EVERYONE else appeared to have written the kid off, it was because I knew what he could become with a little guidance, patience and support.

And although the kid still has A LOT to learn and improve upon, I think it is CLEAR that he is a talent with huge potential.

Danny was, simply, superb today, and with Roy Hodgson sitting among the crowd at Wembley, today, DON'T be surprised if Rose is included in the next England squad on the back of his form this season.

Other standout performers for me included Vertonghen, ( who resisted the urge to needlessly dive into tackles), Kyle Walker (who kept Hazard remarkably quiet) Dier and Bentelab (who both showed real composure, maturity and no little quality in what was their 1st ever major cup final)

The truth of the matter is, after Chelsea's two (fortunate) quick-fire goals, either side of the break, Spurs struggled to establish any real momentum in the game until perhaps the last 5 mins.

But like I said, that won't be a big surprise to anyone who genuinely understands the many little nuances that accompany the game, due to the TIMING of the goals.

Defending a 2-0 lead is INFINITELY easier than trying to reduce a a 2-0 lead...especially against Chelsea under JM.

However, despite the circumstances, the players NEVER stopped trying. Heads NEVER dropped. And their was NO capitulation that would in all probability arisen under similar circumstances before Pochettino arrived.

Spurs ARE making excellent progress under the Argentinian, and, given the young nature of of the team, are likely to only get better.

Regardless of the result today, I can honestly say that I have NEVER been so excited or proud to be a Spurs supporter.

The future is bright!!!

BRING ON THE SWANS!!!