ARSENAL v SPURS - The Big One!

[Geez]

Arsenal 3 - 0 SPURS
Adebayour, Gilberto (pen 2)

Spurs:
Robinson, Chimbonda, Assou-Ekotto (YP Lee 46), Dawson, King, Lennon, Zokora, Tainio (Defoe), Malbranque (Jenas 46), Keane, Berbatov.
Subs: Cerny, Huddlestone

Arsenal:
Lehmann, Eboue, Clichy, Toure, Djorou, Fabregas, Rosicky (Hleb, 55), Ljungberg, Van Persie (Baptista, 80), Gilberto, Adebayour (Walcott, 86).
Subs: Almunia, Hoyte

Our first visit to the Emirates Stadium did not prove to be a profitable one as Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners in the first North London Derby of the season.
Two first half goals pretty much dictated which direction the points would be heading. Emmanuel Adebayor took advantage of being clean through on goal and Gilberto scored from the penalty spot - something he was to repeat in the second period.

The shiny bowl that is Arsenal's new arena was echoing to the sound of a decent atmosphere as the 152nd North London Derby encounter got underway. Regular watchers said the venue had been a little quiet so far, but that was all expected to change this weekend.

The home side were quicker into their collective stride and more incisive with their early passing and tacking, but the first real opening was carved out by Dimitar Berbatov who got the better of Emmanuel Eboue and cut the ball back for Steed Malbranque. The Frenchman opted for the use of the outside of his boot and his effort spun past the reach of Jens Lehmann and wide of his left hand upright.

With 20 minutes on the clock though, it was Arsenal celebrating when Berbatov was harried out of possession by Kolo Toure, who proceeded to spring the offside trap to give Adebayor a clear run through on goal. The striker kept his composure to calmly stroke the ball past Paul Robinson.

Arsenal were looking the more likely to break the deadlock and the scoreline was not an injustice at that point as the men in white had yet to really click into gear as a unit. Our play became a bit ragged and as the half wore on some indiscipline crept in when Benoit Assou-Ekotto was carded for a mis-timed kick at Fredrik Ljunberg. It was fortunate that the resulting free-kick did not lead to an extending of the advantage.

Four minutes before the break they had the chance to do just that when Pascal Chimbonda was adjudged to have tripped Tomas Rosicky inside our penalty area. The full-back definitely got something of the ball, but referee Mr Poll was swift in his decision and Gilberto struck his kick low and firm past Robinson to make it two.

Berbatov had a half-chance to reduce the deficit just before the break, after which Jermaine Jenas and Lee Young-Pyo was introduced in place of Malbranque and Assou-Ekotto.

The hosts continued to play with the greater authority in the second half, but there was a good chance to pull one back just after the hour mark when Jenas tried his luck from distance. Lehmann could only parry back in the direction of the advancing Aaron Lennon, but he was denied when poised to strike after needing a touch or two to bring the ball under control.

It was a strange game in that for all their territory, Arsenal had not created much in the way of chances with Robinson not kept busy at all, while Lehmann's first activity of any significance was the Jenas long ranger. This game seemed to be all about approach play and Arsenal were the sharper.

A miserable early afternoon got worse on 71 minutes when Jenas was penalised for a trip on Van Persie and another penalty was awarded. Gilberto made no mistake for the second time.
We continued to search for what would have been a consolation but it wasn't to be.

Key Action - Official Site (http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/arsenalvspurs021206.html)
3mins: Early possession from Arsenal came to nothing, Dawson heading away from Ljungberg, who claimed a foul, we then broke away, Tainio to Lennon who darted past Clichy, cross to near post cleared.
5mins: Van Persie tried sneaky shot from a free-kick at a tight angle, defensive wall did its job.
7mins: Rosicky pass through the middle intended for Van Persie, straight race with King, Van Persie went over, all appeals waved away.
10mins: CHANCE. Malbranque released Berbatov down the left, he held of challenge of Eboue and cut back for Malbranque, who had raced forward to support, decent chance in left channel of area, 12 yards out, poked it wide of the target.
15mins: Ljungberg off for treatment after challenge with Assou-Ekotto.
17mins: Keane flicked lay-off into path of Tainio, had to take shot early and sliced wide.
20mins: GOAL - ARSENAL. Toure nicked ball off Berbatov and released Adebayour - borderline offside call but pass sent him 30 yards clear, steadied himself and side-footed home one-on-one against Robinson.
Arsenal 1, Spurs 0
23mins: Ljungberg cross from the right cleared back to him by Dawson, this time Ljungberg snatched shot wide.
29mins: Ljungberg fed in Fabregas behind Assou-Ekotto, Zokora back to block cross.
30mins: YELLOW CARD - SPURS. Assou-Ekotto for foul on Ljungberg.
32mins: CLOSE. Van Persie drilled in cross-shot free-kick from right side of box, Djorou elected to jump over the ball when a flick would have diverted it home, Toure couldn't reach at far post.
34mins: CHANCE. Clichy dart down the left, slipped around Chimbonda and cut back for Adebayour, time to pick his spot from 16 yards but hit tame shot at Robinson.
42mins: PENALTY/GOAL. Passing move from Arsenal ended with Fabregas releasing Rosicky into box, Chimbonda slid in and appeared to flick ball away but penalty awarded, Gilberto stuck spot kick away into bottom corner even though Robinson dived right way.
Arsenal 2, Spurs 0

Half-time: Arsenal 2, Spurs 0

Half-time: SUBS - SPURS. Jenas and YP Lee for Malbranque and Assou-Ekotto. Tainio goes to the right, Lennon to the left and Jenas into central midfield.
46mins: Van Persie slid pass through to Adebayour, Robinson out quickly to save at feet.
55mins: SUB - ARSENAL. Hleb for Rosicky.
58mins: Jenas whipped in free-kick from left, caused a moment's panic in home defence but Gilberto's clearing header hit Dawson and went out for goal kick.
61mins: CHANCE. Jenas let fly from 30 yards, ball swerved a bit and Lehmann could only parry out to Lennon, needed to take it first tme but closed down and ball cleared for corner.
68mins: Jenas lashed high and wide from 30 yards.
70mins: YELLOW CARD - ARSENAL. Gilberto for foul on Chimbonda.
71mins: PENALTY/GOAL - ARSENAL. Van Persie managed to get between King and Jenas and onto Ljungberg's long pass down the left, looked like Jenas tripped him in box, penalty awarded and Gilberto rolled spot kick into corner, Robinson diving the wrong way this time.
Arsenal 3, Spurs 0
79mins: Clichy curler straight at Robinson.
80mins: SUB - ARSENAL. Baptista for Van Persie.
80mins: SUB - SPURS. Defoe for Tainio.
86mins: SUB - ARSENAL. Walcott for Adebayour.
87mins: SAVE. Eboue burst into box, right side, powerful strike palmed away by Robinson.
89mins: Clever dink from Lennon for Defoe to try and latch onto, Lehmann out quickly to take ball at his feet.
Full-time: Arsenal 3, Spurs 0

[adamsilver]

This is the team that I wanted (and mentioned yesterday on here) apart from Keane, although I am happy Keane is playing also, as he will drop deep and pack the midfield which is very important against Arsenal.

Wouldn't it be nice if we fucking did it for once....

[Parmenio]

it's exactly the team I wanted. Defoe would have left the game too open at the begining, which arsenal love.... though they are a bit less good at that without Henry.

I expect Keane to drop deep to compact the midfield. I'd still expect to see Defoe before the end though.

Really looking forward to this. Our away record is a definite concern but we can usually play better than our current form in this fixture.

[alfiespurs]

Greetings to all my fellow YiDS across the globe from Cold Canada ! Come on Spurs ! We want our first away win today !!!! We love you ! Keane and Berbs !!!!

[Bulletspur]

This is the team that I wanted (and mentioned yesterday on here) apart from Keane, although I am happy Keane is playing also, as he will drop deep and pack the midfield which is very important against Arsenal.

Wouldn't it be nice if we fucking did it for once....
He still should have started with DeFoe.

It is called consistency, enough of this rotation crap.

I know Keane is a good replacement but I think MJ should have continued with the team (especially the strikers) who started last week against Wigan. Defoe had started to look his old self. Chelsea apart, Keane has not exactly been in form himself.

Lets hope that we are smiling come about 1430 hrs.

[freegardk]

come on the yids!

[KingSpur]

Ekotto not starting well - Pleat keeps kalling him Ekotte or Ekuttu.

Not a great start by Spurs

[KingSpur]

spurs midfield need to get tighter on the arse.

[pkeane10]

Lets best the scum, Berby and Keano all the way ;)

[KingSpur]

Zoko pops giving the ball away too much

Malbranque just missed by 2" - great move

[Parmenio]

aw great chance. Good linkup from Keane, Malbranque, and great play from Berb, just Malbranque could get the shot on target. Our best bit of attacking play yet

[KingSpur]

anyone know if Murphy is injured ?

[Parmenio]

berbatov nearly in again. another great ball from Malbranque

[KingSpur]

Ekotto/Ekuttu needs to be careful - Malbranque may need to provide more cover - otherwise move Tanio left mid & Malbranque to CM

[freegardk]

dont car what the stats say, Assou-Ekotto is our weak link. Zokora seems to be losing the ball a bit too much for my liking as well

[Sanj]

fantastic start by the scum, but we started very poorly giving the ball away at every opportunity.

however we're getting back into it creating best chance and berby through and called offside but blatantly on (though he mis-controlled and lost ball).

and it seems ljungbetg has started his diving antics already as has van persie

[Sanj]

its obvious that jol has started keano as he wants keano to drop back and play midfield. therefore giving us 5 in the middle and overcrowding the scum midfield.
would've been nice to see defoe uptop with berby as this is not a strong ar*e defence.

[Parmenio]

this is exactly the style of play Arsenal hate. Defending deep, and leaving no space and time in midfield. Very happy so far ... even managed to create the best chances.

[KingSpur]

0-1 Damn

but remember Chelsea & Wigan

[Sanj]

adebayor. fcuk. was offside. fcuking sh!te.

[Parmenio]

crap. spoke too soon, fluffed the offside trap, 1-0.

[Reece]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Stavrogin]

eboue rolling round in agony and springs to his feet to fight... you can't make it up :rofl:

[Sanj]

missing the hud in th centre - just not holding onto the ball.

Diving scum, eboue lying on floor - ref says play on, eboue stays down. poll blows up to check eboue who jumps up and chases malbranque. he then gets down again for treatment.

[parj]

zokora and ekotto need to get their acts together

[freegardk]

eboue rolling round in agony and springs to his feet to fight... you can't make it up :rofl:

he did it last time we played when davids played on... hes a real dick

[KingSpur]

come on guys.....

playing way too deep, midfield not supporting the fwds as a result. why aren't we attacking them when they have the ball ??
Lennon not on the ball.

I can see 0-2 very soon unless we start playing.

Yellow for Ekotto - reckless today.... YPL in 2nd half - just in case he sees red

[KingSpur]

this is the 2nd time with no mid week game - the last time was against BBurn where we played equally poor

[Sanj]

Tactically all wrong today, in my opinion.
Ar*e were there for the taking, and we've sat back and let them grow in confidence. we should've played 2 up top and gone at their inexperienced defence.

We're sitting with 10 in our own 3rd with berby up top on his own. Midfield not holding onto ball as none of out midfield seem composed on the ball (bring on hud???).

Ekotto being torn apart by ljungberg ,and already booked. Just hope we can keep it to 1 till halftime and hope for an inspired teamtalk and change of formation.

[Hartfelt]

We're being sliced up down either wing and dominated in the middle. Outclassed. We need to slow things down and keep hold of the ball.

[2bearis2do]

we don't seem to want it..
worst performance this season
absolute trash
cant even pass a ball
horrible to watch

[Sanj]

rosicky just studded daws and poll lets him get away with it. foot was high. we don't even get free kick

[Sanj]

ekotto gives bal away. chimbs tackles rosicky, gets ball and poll points to spot

[Sanj]

gilberto scores.

2 goals from ref/ lino mistakes

[Sanj]

gotta get ekottos off asap. really have an off day today

[parj]

2-0 and fully deserved. dont care if it was offside and it wasnt a penalty, but if we are not willing to play then we fucking deserve to be destroyed

[KingSpur]

cant argue with 0-2 with this performance.

Ekotto at fault for both goals - played them onside for 1st goal and dallied too much on the 2nd one.

Woeful performance.

[freegardk]

clearly wasn't a pen... thanks mr poll

[martins_jolly_babies]

Central midfield has been awful, we need thud on to keep possession and jenas too, zokora (going to be controversial here) is too lazy on the ball. Also Ekotto isnt having his best game. It wasnt a penalty by the way and he was off side, but guess its just not our day

[KingSpur]

2nd half
Defoe on - Keane to left mid - Tanio off.
Possibly JJ to come on

[parj]

jols gotta take the blame....... why the fuck was defoe dropped? why the fuck is tainio in for huddlestone?

keane has been ok, but he's leaving berbatov up front all alone. tainio has been non-existent and we lack any kind of killer passing from midfield.

Zokora and ekotto are on a mission to lose the game. so much for zokora wanting to be our viera........ he should have kept his mouth shut. drop the fool

[Sanj]

Officials 2 - spurs 0.

KingSpur - was chimbs as last defender when they got their 1st (not assou). Though he was still 1/2 yard off when the ball was plaed.
we may deserve to be 2 down on play, but that don't excuse 2 poor decisions from officials. without those decisions could still be 0-0 as i don't think robbo had save to make.

we are 2nd to every ball. Holding on too long b4 passing and not strong enuff in the 50-50's.
Playing too deep, not supporting berby and not passing and moving like we can.
Need to play ball quicker, shorter and play further up pitch - when we have done that we have created the odd chance.

[Parmenio]

I think we started this game perfectly. Sat deep, pressured aresenal, and contested the midfield. Then we conceeded a really really sloppy goal. Defense got caught way up the pitch, just what you should never do with Arsenal, as they can always pick a ball out with their quality ... which they did, leaving us in a hopeless defensive situation. 0-1. I think he was onside also.

After this Arsenal no longer looked to force the play like they were earlier, leaving us to chase the ball around the place. Then we got caught again defending too high up the park, and Adebayor was nearly in again, but clipped Kings feet. After the scored they were able to control the game.

The penelty was pretty harsh I thought as Chimbonda got the ball, but they have been able to get in beyond us too often. We shouldn't be leaving that sort of space in behind against Arsenal.

Zakora and Ekotto have looked a bit off the pace, needing too much time on the ball, and a bit slow to react.

I think our gameplan is now out the window, and we have to start taking risks, and go at them. This will leave us vulnerable but we have to do it, no option anymore.

We really need to contest this now, and get more challenges in, with a much quicker tempo. After the first goal we have looked poor.

[StokeSpur]

Where the fuck are we? have we even turned up?

Ekotto is terrble, Zokora cant keep the ball, Keane is like a headless chicken running round the midfield instead of linking up with Berbs, we cant keep the ball, theres only berb in their half most of the time lookin round wondering where Keano is, not once have we pressed their back four (who dont look comfortable).

Yes ok 2 wrong decissions have cost us 2 goals but theres no way were up for this, wrong tactics sitting back inviting them on, we have made them look dominent, have not seen us play this bad for a long time.

Its time to wake up and realise its a derby game and start to press in their half rather than sit back inviting em on.

Wheres the fucking passion?!?!? WHERES THE FUCKINGGGGGG PASSIONNNNNNNNNNNNN??!!??!!??!!??

[coys63]

Half time and not soon enough. An absolutely woeful performance. Lucky we are only 2 down. I am sick and tired of watching our pedestrian performances away from home. No urgency and no passion. We sit back like primma donnas and continually let teams play. Do they know what man marking is?? Cos all I ever see is us marking space!!

[markspurs]

Ref 2-0 spurs. First goal was just offside, 2nd goal was no way a pen chimbonda got the ball. Why is graham poll reffing all the big games. He is the crapest ref i have ever seen but once again we are losing by wrong decisions.

[Yiddster]

2 blantantly wrong decisions dont tell the whole picture as to how poor we have been.............even with the limited possesion.

Zokora and Chimbonda throw in their worst games of the season and Ekotto just simply aint good enough at this level.

But generally we seem totally feckin disinterested..........a real real shame

[Sanj]

Parj, defoe dropped as jol wanted keano in midfield. tainio in as jol wanted to battle.
both not right imo, but understandable. Ekotto really struggling. Zakora struggling with tainio as neither is the natural playmaker and we are not getting the widemen and the strikers involved.

All is not lost yet, as i can see us getting back into it if we can change our formation and play a more attacking game.

[freegardk]

ok... calm and a cup of tea!
second half is a new start, we can still claw this back... fking hard, but not impossible.

[martins_jolly_babies]

The fact is Tainio hasn't reproduced last years form this season, he was excellent at highbury last year, but that was then and this is now, Huddlestone was excellent against wigan, he keeps the ball and creates, just what were crying out for, come on Jol, get him and Defoe on for christs sake, please stop tinkering, I love you Jol but this is becoming a bone of contention!!!!

[bigspurs]

WHY DIDN'T HUDDLESTONE START??

Too late now Jol...

[bigspurs]

WHY DIDN'T HUDDLESTONE START??

Too late now Jol... :bang:

[freegardk]

thank god Assou-Ekotto is off, send him back to france

[Parmenio]

Parj, defoe dropped as jol wanted keano in midfield. tainio in as jol wanted to battle.
both not right imo, but understandable. Ekotto really struggling. Zakora struggling with tainio as neither is the natural playmaker and we are not getting the widemen and the strikers involved.

All is not lost yet, as i can see us getting back into it if we can change our formation and play a more attacking game.

I think we got the tactics dead right, but we have executed it really poorly, especially by defending to high up the pitch.

I agree though we have to attack now, and not conceed possesion in their half (which is what you should normally do vs Arsenal, you conceed some possesion in their half and defend deep). I think the changes we have made will allow us to contest better, and I think we will now seek to get forward in numbers.

[spoon]

jols gotta take the blame....... why the fuck was defoe dropped? why the fuck is tainio in for huddlestone?

keane has been ok, but he's leaving berbatov up front all alone. tainio has been non-existent and we lack any kind of killer passing from midfield.

Zokora and ekotto are on a mission to lose the game. so much for zokora wanting to be our viera........ he should have kept his mouth shut. drop the fool

I agree with you on Zokora and Ekotto, the two of them were absolutely abysmal (Ekotto in particular). Gave away the ball far too often. Unfortunately we don't have many options on left-back, and I hope that we will look into the market to buy another left-back.

[davidmatzdorf]

The really disappointing thing at half time is that they started out by pressurising us in midfield, exactly the same way we should have been pressurising them.

That's what unsettled us. That's why we started giving the ball away under no pressure, which you simply cannot do away to Arse***, as they get more than enough possession at home anyway, without us giving them presents every couple of minutes.

Arguably Adebayor was offside, but it wasn't clear and both fullbacks should not have relied on offside in that situation.
As for the penalty, if Assou-Ekotto hadn't given the ball away for the XXth time when under no pressure, then Chimbonda would not have had to go in for that challenge.

On the 3 or 4 rare occasions when we created any kind of pressure or chances, Keane and Berbatov looked pretty good and we've made some nice triangles and moves when we've attacked. But we can't possibly score goals when the midfield isn't winning enough possession even to create a fast break, let alone any actual, proper pressure.
Arse*** have simply been doing what they do, not playing particularly sensational football, just executing, passing well and being tidy.

They're ahead because we have been making avoidable, sloppy errors every 2 or 3 minutes. I'm not usually quick to blame Spurs when we are losing, I usually give some credit to the other team's good play. But this is largely self-inflicted so far.

And now we have to chase the game, which risks a proper hiding.


P.S. Nice to see that the new site crashes at half time, too. Makes me feel right at home. :wink:

[StokeSpur]

JJ and Lee on for Ekotto and Marl.

I thought Marl was ok 1st half but needs to get used to his new counter balance swinging in a different fassion.

[Sanj]

lee on for ekotto. jenas in centre with zak. lennon on left and tainio right.

[KingSpur]

come on JJ

Lets get going Spurs.

[freegardk]

we got robbed a'la rebrov when we signed zakora

[Sanj]

tainio limping again.

[martins_jolly_babies]

zokora is making me pull my hair out!!!!!!!!!!!!! keep teh fuckin ball you twat!!!!

[parj]

jols teamtalk worked.....we're still shit

howw can any of our players have faith in zokora? he gets the ball in acres of space n somehow finds an arsenal player to run into!!!!!!

[marleyb]

zokora just hasnt turned up today thought this was the game that might get him going again

whos the commentators on prem plus? they are doing my head in

[Sanj]

marley - its brian marwood, the gooner.

55 mins and we win our first corner??

[freegardk]

zokora just hasnt turned up today thought this was the game that might get him going again

whos the commentators on prem plus? they are doing my head in

and george graham winds me up no end

[Sanj]

lehmann yet again man handling keano. polls gotta sort lehman out. teach him some respect as well.

[freegardk]

marley - its brian marwood, the gooner.

55 mins and we win our first corner??

to be fair, i've met marwood a few times and its sunderland in his heart

[pkeane10]

Time to say our prayers :( all not lost defoe to get a hat trick :)
In Jol we trust, one thing, Jol done heaps better than other managers, so even if we lose today, hold heads high, the big fella done a lot, loadsa other managers lose all time dont get half as much grief, remember we come a long way in a short period, patience is the key, it will happen, in the UEFA cup final when scum get knocked outa champs league ;)

[marleyb]

fucks sake if its not marwood at the game, graham in the studio, its alan 'over-rated' smith on a monday night

how long for defoe?

[Sanj]

fabregas is running the game for them. we gotta cut/ take him out

[Sanj]

fcuk off marwood, that tainio tackle was no worse than some of the van persie/ adebayor (on lennon) or silva tackles. at least take your red shirt off for commentating - tw@t

[2bearis2do]

None of them and I mena none should be paid this week.
An Absolute embarrassment.
:duh:

[alfiespurs]

one word, we were useless ! :evil:

[freegardk]

i can hear us chanting for defoe... hes got to be warming up

[longdistancespursfan]

tainio is shite, no where near enough quality for us, also all those people who go on about assou ekotto i dont know what it is you see in him, he is fuckin crap as well, was woeful that 1st half, we need a new left back in january, someone who is as good on the left as chimbo is on the right. and for fucks dake sign a left midfielder, lennon is wasted out there, the opposition know he is gonna cut inside and jus show him that way and make our play even narrower.

[Sanj]

another pen ar*e

[Sanj]

van persie handles bal to get into area. yet another shite decision

[parj]

we are tottenham hotspur and we're a fucking joke

[Hartfelt]

What I find staggering is that Spurs' players who, objectively, are good are suddenly 'shite' according to posters because they have a bad game. We're being shafted by a better side, playing tactically better and hustling us off the ball at every opportunity. The poor refereeing decisions don't alter the facts or the ability of our players.

[2bearis2do]

Shouldnt be paid and should give their next week wages to charity.
Disgusted.

[Sanj]

gilberto scores again.

you can blame players as much as you want, but 3 crtical decisions from the officals has cost us.

On top of that, we have not played well - but Robbo not had a save to make. we were tactically brilliant against the chels - but jols tactics not worked today. it happens to the best of them.

we will be back on weds at home so lets not give the season up yet.

[martins_jolly_babies]

..... do i have to go to work on monday? 3-0 harsh penalty v persie ran accross jenas and clipped his legs but couldnt get out of the way, feel gutted :-(

[freegardk]

right im off xmas shopping... thats got to be better than this

[grittyspur1]

Reality check? We're not up for it today- I should have stayed in bed!

[longdistancespursfan]

humiliated by our rivals again, this like many of our other performances this season is unacceptable, how many shots has lehman had to save today? not many! our build up play is so predictable and quality teams can easily deal with us,

[Sanj]

I agree with you hartfelt. too many fickle fans who are reactive, ratherthan looking at he big picture.

the players are not shite cos they ave a bad game. the gaffer is not shite cos he gets his tactics wrong.

C'mon lads - we lost to the scum. it hurts. but we are 2 wins off 4th.

[macspurs]

Ffs.

[spoon]

NO, what I find staggering is that Spurs players have shown far less commitment than the Arsenal players, in a derby match. We just did not turn up today.

[marleyb]

agree with sanj also - bad game, bad tactics, bad desicions but still the home game to come + henry.
swings and roundabouts

[longdistancespursfan]

gilberto scores again.

you can blame players as much as you want, but 3 crtical decisions from the officals has cost us.

On top of that, we have not played well - but Robbo not had a save to make. we were tactically brilliant against the chels - but jols tactics not worked today. it happens to the best of them.

we will be back on weds at home so lets not give the season up yet.

the ref only got 1 of those decisions wrong in my opinion, the 1st penalty, good teams can overcome even poor refereeing and make there quality count but today arsenal shows even missing there best 2 players, henry and gallas they are still miles ahead of us, we are closer to west ham than to arsenal.

[spoon]

the only one to blame for that second goal is Ekotto who gave the ball cheaply.

[Ali]

Get over it, he would have made no difference.

[marleyb]

totally disagree - you dont turn into a shit team overnight. 3 home games now, hopefully we'll learn from this esp. tight offside traps and start a good run again

[parj]

anyone who says we're hard done by, you're having a laugh.

adebyor was not offside, chimbonda played him on, proven by the techys at sky.

we have been really piss poor. this second half we have not forced our way back into the game, its arsenal sitting back and picking us off on the counter attack. they know we cant do shit.

The team was piss poor, in fact piss poor is to soft a description. we were fucking shit. forget the injustice, we didnt deserve to be allowed in that impressive stadium.

Tainio and Ekotto decided they were just going to kick everyone. back 4 decided that playing offside is a good idea when aresenal are in comfortable possesion so they can just put ball over the top or around us.

zokora thought he was viera, picked out some great passes to red shirts like viera did, really kept things ticking over.

malbranque i felt sorry for, what could he do with that muppet behind him? the ball never got to him from zokora or ekotto, but when he did get it he tried to do something.

keane abandoned berbatov in the first half so when the ball got up there was nobody supporting berbatov.

lennon, well beat a few players but only one striker upfront meant he had limited options.

now to top it off Jol insults defoe by bringing him on in the 80th minute...what the fuck is he supposed to do in 10 fucking minutes? is he that fucking good that he can turn the game around? if he is then why not start him? my point is what is the point of bringing him on and demotivating him in a lost cause?

Jenas should have just been sent off for the drag back on ljungberg.

absolute disgrace, i really feel for those poor fans that forked out £45 for a ticket.

[Steady_nethercott]

god i wish this would finish, its F**cking embarrassing

[walworthyid]

I don't want to see ekotto play for us again. He is not good enough to play for our team. Zokora is also seriously lacking in desire. I would have brought davids on for him after 5 minutes.
I am most upset by our lack of fight in this game.

Surely it is also obvious that keane and berbatov CANNOT play together in the league it should have been defoe.

I am devastated by this result, gutted. We have let a mediocre team play us off the park, out fight us, again.

Gutted

[Sanj]

Getin there robbie. if all the other players showed the same commitment then we'd be in a much better position. robbie showing some pride whereas others have given up. some gave up at 2-0.

[coys63]

What a day for all and sundry to put in their worst perfomances of the season - bar Robbo as all he has had to do is pick it out the net 3 times.

[StokeSpur]

Jol got it all wrong today and we got what we deserved, cant even see any plus points to take from any of it.

Gutted!

[Ali]

Who was it who posted the other day that if we scored first it would be 1-1 and if they scored first it would be 3-0? How right you were, hope you had a bet on that! I am not at all surprised by this scoreline, to be honest it's just what I expected. We are shocking away from home, I really can't explain it.

[pkeane10]

fuk

[Ali]

Who was it who posted the other day that if we scored first it would be 1-1 and if they scored first it would be 3-0? How right you were, hope you had a bet on that! I am not at all surprised by this scoreline, to be honest it's just what I expected. We are shocking away from home, I really can't explain it.

[Sanj]

the ref only got 1 of those decisions wrong in my opinion, the 1st penalty, good teams can overcome even poor refereeing and make there quality count but today arsenal shows even missing there best 2 players, henry and gallas they are still miles ahead of us, we are closer to west ham than to arsenal.

Disagreed in some points. both pens were debatable. 2nd pen was blatant and deliberate handball by van persie.
1st goal was offside, but only just and can forgive officials for that.

Agree good teams should overcome poor decisions, but not 3 CRITICAL decisions in same game. those decisions cost 3 goals and we'd have needed 4 to overcome that - not even our players are good enuff to do that

[RickyVilla]

God how gutting. I really thought we could get something out of this. I am at work so the ribbing has already started. Should we start a petition to wipe Graham Poll off the face of the earth?? Mine will be the first signature. Fuccckkkkk

[xzander]

What's disappointing is that we've surrendered like a bunch of faggots. Very, very unimpressed. Second half we're alpyed like wankers, as we did the first. Bad bad day al round. We have to sort this away from out.

[longdistancespursfan]

totally disagree - you dont turn into a shit team overnight. 3 home games now, hopefully we'll learn from this esp. tight offside traps and start a good run again


Anything but a win against boro on tuesday and i think we have to make some massive changes, the players have lacked desire and belief today, big fan of bmj but he has failed us today, if there is no response from the players on tuesday i dont want him to defend them, he should get rid of most these tossers in january or go himself, its a load of bollocks these stupid records we have where we havnt beaten a top 4 team away from home for 165 years, we are tottenham we should be the team that the oppositon dread.

[Hartfelt]

NO, what I find staggering is that Spurs players have shown far less commitment than the Arsenal players, in a derby match. We just did not turn up today.


It's wasn't about us, today. It was all about Arsenal. They overpowered us in every department and closed us down. 'Commitment' was nothing to do with it. Talk about tactics. Talk about work rates. Talk about sloppy loss of the ball. Talk about skill levels. Talk about self-belief. Talk about getting to the ball first. These are the things that won this game. There's no lack of passion and commitment in most of the teams that get relegated each season. Commitment's an almost meaningless terms, bandied about as a simplistic explanation for why things go wrong.

We were outclassed. Simple. Teams are made to looks lacklustre when they meet sides they can't cope with. That's what happened today. I hate it but it's still all to play for.

[14/04/91]

ignoring the fact all 3 goals were contentious, we were terrible away again.
no committment and absolutely no movement off the ball.
Comolli can f**k off and take his signings with him - all French or from the French league and clearly not good enough. Ekottos a joke and Zokora doesn't look like he's ever going to be up to the standard.
4th place is there for the taking this season but we won't come close as we only turn up at WHL.

[parj]

thank fuck thats over.....well done lads you did yourself proud

[Bulletspur]

I agree with you hartfelt. too many fickle fans who are reactive, ratherthan looking at he big picture.

the players are not shite cos they ave a bad game. the gaffer is not shite cos he gets his tactics wrong.

C'mon lads - we lost to the scum. it hurts. but we are 2 wins off 4th.

Big picture? We have been looking at the same picture for years and nothing has changed.

Call them fickle if you want but fans have a right to show their annoyance. Tell me you were satisfied with that perfomance.

[marleyb]

definitely need the 3 against boro on tues, really want zokora to do well but since his 'malaria' hes not showed up. would like to see jenas and hudd start against boro. malbranque apart from a few good touches looked below the pace today

[StokeSpur]

[quote=Parmenio;179928]I think we got the tactics dead right, but we have executed it really poorly, especially by defending to high up the pitch[quote]

Wah??? are you blind?

The tactics were all wrong!, a good defence comes from a good offence! if your attacking them they cant attack you, give them something to worry about and dont make it easy for them, tell me? how can you justify letting a team like the scum come at you time after time after time? when you counter its played out from the back with speed to the wings, how can we counter when all we have is Berbs up front and Robo lumping it up to him? that is not counter attacking.

We defended far too deep in our own half, there was only Berbs in their half for the 1st half till JJ came on and pushed us forward.

The tactics were wrong and the players were aweful which meant we made a poor team whos down on confidence look good. They were there for the taking before the match but we couldnt do it.

[MrGreaves]

Can you get a refund on players and managers ( did we keep the receipts). I know M&S have changed their refund policy but surely with faulty goods the warranty is longer??

[Sanj]

we were outclassed, but we did not start the game well - we let them gain confidence by letting them pass it around. we learnt nothing from bolton and fulham who won by getting stuck in and going at ar*e rather than sitting back. Also not good to see that a few of the new players froze or just could not get up for such a big game (berby, assou, zakora, steed) - though team selection and tactics may have had something to do with it.

Oh well, back to the lane and hopefully 3 points against boro and we'll be back on track. and most of you will be saying how wonderful jol and the team are.

[Parmenio]

good to see the usual overractions. In truth we have done little this season to suggest that we would beat Arsenal when we were playing away from home.

We were in the game, and playing decent football until we conceeded a very sloppy first goal. Then Arsenal just passed us to death.

Our away Hoodoo continues, another generally poor performance all round. First half we were getting really over run on the left, second half we made a better stab at it, but 3rd goal finished that.

Silver lining is that Jenas is back, and looked good (penalty aside), and the big thing is that our next 3 games are at home, where we look like a proper team.

[swedespur]

We can blame Poll all we want, but that´s clearly beside the point. We didn´t deserve anything from this game, end of discussion. Arsenal were better than us in all departments.

For the first time this season, not single one of our players deserves credit. Ekotto were responsible for the second goal, as he sloppily gave the ball away right before the penalty, and he just couldn´t cope with Ljungberg. Zokora - as usual - gave the ball away at a terrifying rate. Teemu is a decent player, but just isn´t good enough for Tottenham. Keane was at his worst.

I´m a Keane man myself, but it really is time to give Defoe a five match run. Malbranque gives us something different from midfield, and when Jenas is fully fit again things will start to come good.

[walworthyid]

It is not that we lost is the manner of our capitulation. We lost that game in all the departments that generally earn us points in a game like that. We were out fought and did not earn the right to play. Zokora was SHOCKING, he did not get going at all. I am not saying that we would have won if davids and tt had played in the centre, but we would at least not have been out muscled. Ekotto is too casual, he would not know the true meaning of a derby if he played 200 of them.

It is all well and good talking about bmj's tactics but if the players do not fight for the ball and the right to be there it is pointless having any tactics at all. We just did not turn up, players were left with no options when passing forwards, they lacked conviction and belief after the first 20 minutes.

It is not the end of the world, we will be back, but some serious questions need to be asked and answered not only about this shambolic performance but about our away form in general.

For me I would start the next game without zokora or ekotto. Perhaps we need to think about going away from home and packing the midfield to steady the ship because unless something changes it will undermine our home form and our attempts to qualify for europe next season and if we do not qualify it will be disasterous for the squad and we may lose some players.

[spurs_viola]

Truly embarassing. Zokora is not doing anything in midfield, just standing there most of the time, not providing proper support to defence, not making runs to help attacking play. He also keeps getting caught in possession, and can't seem to realise he won't have time on the ball today!
Tainio has been too slow - perhaps too rusty (maybe understandable, but why keep him on for so long today?
In theory you could understand that Tainio and Zokora were supposed to provide more bite and energy than if Huddlestone was there, but it was clear after first 20 min it wasn't happening, so why keep them on even for the 2nd half? We clearly lacked creativity and composure. And before we say that Huddlestone may be too young/inexperienced, just how do you think the 19yr old Fabregas got his experience? By playing in big matches and gaining in confidence/match-awareness because of that.

Berbatov was so clearly isolated out there today. After he linked up so well with Defoe in the last game, should they not have been given a chance to develop their partneship - and keep Arsenal defence under some kind of pressure at least? As it was, Arsenal knew Spurs were not going to hurt them much up front and were able to get their midfield much further up the field than they may have been if Defoe AND Berbatov were there for them to think about.

Still no problems with rotation according to some people, I guess? Still fine to let Defoe on for the last 15 min with 3-0 down after he had a good game last time? Still fine to change the midfield after 3-1 in last match?

[ibbz]

Oh well, if we lost 1 nil, it wouldn't have been that bad, but THREE NIL? Its an embarrasment, it truely is.
Ekotto is rubbish, Ive said it before and I say it again - he is simply NOT up to our potential class, and he has been weak in almost every other game, thing is, victories seem to gloss over his consistantly poor performances.
Zakora is overated, he is another player who I do not know why Spurs bought, there are better midfielders than him, and I think he is a very WEAK link in midfield. Sure he can run, but he can't dribble, can't pass, has novision and is an incompetant - and has been for most of this season.
Berbatov, has lots of potential, and skill, but is a bottler, a lacklustre gutless player, typical of most eastern European players in the EPL.
I am NOT solely blaming these players, the whole team was below par and Jol is to blame for his tactics, some of which I find inept.

[davidmatzdorf]

It's wasn't about us, today. It was all about Arsenal. They overpowered us in every department and closed us down. 'Commitment' was nothing to do with it. Talk about tactics. Talk about work rates. Talk about sloppy loss of the ball. Talk about skill levels. Talk about self-belief. Talk about getting to the ball first. These are the things that won this game. There's no lack of passion and commitment in most of the teams that get relegated each season. Commitment's an almost meaningless terms, bandied about as a simplistic explanation for why things go wrong.

We were outclassed. Simple. Teams are made to looks lacklustre when they meet sides they can't cope with. That's what happened today. I hate it but it's still all to play for.

Normally, I'd agree with you, as I find people who think they can get into the heads of footballers and then accuse them of not caring are usually just venting, but Arse*** did very little spectacular or inspired today. They simply out-competed us in midfield. First to every ball. And what else do you call it when our midfielders give the ball away under no or little pressure on perhaps 20 occasions?

It's hard to focus on the good stuff, but we had a few good players playing pretty well out there. Berbatov, whenever the ball came near him in the second half, would trap it with great skill, control it, usually retain it and lay it off to a teammate, who would promptly give it away.

Keane, King and Chimbonda (who was good except for the first 15 minutes and the failed offside trap) were the only other Spurs players who could keep the ball.

The match was lost in central midfield, not to poor refereeing decisions. If that match had ended 0-0, we would all have been relieved, but it would have been a travesty, given our complete inability to control the match for any given 5 minute period.

Even in our best spell, 2-0 down early in the second half, we were only level pegging in terms of closing down and keeping the ball.

If you want to blame anyone, don't blame the ref. Blame our central midfielders first, especially Zokora, then blame Assou-Ekotto for his individual error that led to the second goal.

[18Klinsmann]

A very disappointing performance today by the whole team, but the midfield let us down in particular.
We played a good passing side, but also one that was never going to tear us to shreads as long as we didn't give too much away. Unfortunately we did just that; lost the ball in dangerous positions so frequently that it was embarrassing. Zokora was the main culprit throughout the game, but the rest of the midfield was poor as well. The Gooners closed us down well, but there was no reason to lose possession to the extent we did.
The ref? Well, you know that if you put yourself in situaitons where you have to produce a ball winning tackle from two yards behind in the box, chances are that 60,000 voices will provoke a panalty or two. Actually Chimbonda played the ball before slightly carressing TR who fell like a log, and RvP brought down the ball with his left hand before JJ floored him. The first goal was on line I would say, but again one of those decisions you always think might have gone your way.
At the end of the day we can hardly complain that we lost, be it is very hard not to be VERY disappointed by the performance - and lack of desire - from what looked a very capable side before kick off.
Perspective: Our away form has ruined our season and if it does not change before the end of the festive season our hopes of finishing in the top six will be over.

[spoon]

Hate to say it, but Arse deserved it. We did not deserve anything, cannot blame the ref and only had ourselves to blame. Arsenal were up for it more than us, you could see this even when they were lining up in the tunnel.

I don't know what Jol sees in Ekotto, but then again he does not have a lot of competition. Zokora is a decent player but he is not in the same class as Keane or Viera. Berbatov seems only suited against European teams and is often frustrating to watch.

We were also naive defensively, defending far too high up the pitch and trying to play offside!

To sum up, I did not expect much given our away performances this season. But I do expect Spurs to show commitment especially against a derby match with Arse!

[Sanj]

Big picture? We have been looking at the same picture for years and nothing has changed.

Call them fickle if you want but fans have a right to show their annoyance. Tell me you were satisfied with that perfomance.

Bullet - if nowt has changed then you obviously slipped through the whole of last season. You have obviously missed the fact we are through to the knockout round in europe (having topped the group), in the quarters of the carling cup (wit a home game v southend), we have a very good YOUNG squad, we are only 6 points off 4th, we have a very good manager who has done a lot right and a board who are taking the club in the right direction.

But i suppose you're right - absolutley nothing has changed in the last few years. :bang:

as for fickle - yes i will call them fickle. I am absolutely gutted with the performance/ result, but does that really make them a shit manager/ shit team? do you really believe that?

State your anger by all means - but keep it in perspective with what has been achieved in the last 2 years and where we are in the cup competitions this year.

[mawspurs]

We were beaten by the better team today despite three poor decisions by the officials.

But our tactics did not help. We should have stuck with Defoe who was starting to find form. We needed to ask questions of the opposition not sit back and let them ask questions of us.

If you sit back and allow the goons to come at you there is only one result because even if they don't score from open play they will dive all over the place and win free kicks in and around the penalty area.

The thing that really annoys me is we were crap in possession, we passed poorly, movement was poor, we kept getting caught on the ball worst of all we did not attack the ball and allowed a goon to come whipping in and nick the ball. :bang:

Jol better study this video nasty and make note of the mistakes and the general all round poor play and put things right because we can't keep getting a good win followed by a poor defeat.

Thank god we have three home games coming up.

[Parmenio]

[quote=Parmenio;179928]I think we got the tactics dead right, but we have executed it really poorly, especially by defending to high up the pitch[quote]

Wah??? are you blind?

The tactics were all wrong!, a good defence comes from a good offence! if your attacking them they cant attack you, give them something to worry about and dont make it easy for them, tell me? how can you justify letting a team like the scum come at you time after time after time? when you counter its played out from the back with speed to the wings, how can we counter when all we have is Berbs up front and Robo lumping it up to him? that is not counter attacking.

We defended far too deep in our own half, there was only Berbs in their half for the 1st half till JJ came on and pushed us forward.

The tactics were wrong and the players were aweful which meant we made a poor team whos down on confidence look good. They were there for the taking before the match but we couldnt do it.

I disagree completly. That would have been crazy given our away form. Even Manure play deep against Arsenal and hit them on the break, keeping everything tight, leaving no space in behind the defense.

There are two ways to play against Arsenal and win:

1) Get in their face and out mussle them.
2) Sit deep, leave no space behind the defense. Match their numbers in the middle, and hit them on the break.

Show me the team that sits off arsenal and outplays them. Show me the team that plays an open attacking game against arsenal and wins.

You might think we could just go out there and say: we are going to attack them and win, not adjust tactics in any way. I say you are wrong ... the tactics we used against Wigan at home would not have won us this game.

Thus I dont think you can blame the tactics, I think you have to blame the execution of them. Defending high is suicide against arsenal, and not being physical enough in the middle, when we had equal numbers.

It was a poor performance, I think that is where we can agree. The first goal was absolutly critical, we defended poorly and then responded poorly, and then it was a really bad decision for the second goal. We responed better in the second half, but created little. 3rd goal was game over.

[Yiddster]

1. Ekotto
2. Spurs generally
3. Our new and improved site with all the whistles and bells that crashes and takes over 1o mins to post on

to close to call in my mind

[davidmatzdorf]

I don't know what Jol sees in Ekotto, but then again he does not have a lot of competition.

Against Wigan, Assou-Ekotto was one of our 2 or 3 best players. Today, he had a dreadful 45 minutes and resoundingly deserved to come off. He's 22. He's inconsistent. Last time it helped win us the match. Today it cost us.

[Parmenio]

The match was lost in central midfield, not to poor refereeing decisions. If that match had ended 0-0, we would all have been relieved, but it would have been a travesty, given our complete inability to control the match for any given 5 minute period.

Even in our best spell, 2-0 down early in the second half, we were only level pegging in terms of closing down and keeping the ball.

If you want to blame anyone, don't blame the ref. Blame our central midfielders first, especially Zokora, then blame Assou-Ekotto for his individual error that led to the second goal.

yeah I agree with that analysis. Though I thought we also defended to high in the first half. I don't know if that was just players getting sucked up, or if they thought they could get away with it as Henry was out ... but it cost us dearly.

However poorly contesting the midfield, when we numerically matched them was the really disappointing thing

[coys63]

Don't anyone let the 3 contentious goals cloud the fact that we were beaten by (I hate to say) a superior team today. When was the last time any of you have seen our beloved lilleywhites knock the ball around as fluently as Arse***. All their players look capable of beating their direct opponent with the ball at their feet. Can't say the same for us. And their movement off the ball is second to none. We are still very much a work in progress.
MJ hopefully has learned alot from todays debacle. Such as Berbatov and Defoe should be first choice. Lennon - never on the left. Steed will be good - persist.

[dontcallme]

Painful viewing today. I'm not going to bother reading everyone elses post i can guess,
"Jol got the tactics wrong" (he's the best Spurs manager in my 24 year long life you fools)
"there was no commitment" (there was by everyone we just couldn't find any rhythym
"Same old Spurs" (not at all we are in Europe top of the group in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup and have a squad that can consistently compete in the top 6 which we have never done in the premiership)

Very disappointing though that we were outclassed and has ruined what was so far a great weekend, but come next week when we win all of a sudden everyone will be saying how we are on the up again

[JuanRebelde]

Gutless, totally gutless.

[ibbz]

shit

[Ryan]

What has happened to Zakora? Since he's come back from having that bout of malaria he has been terrible. Why Jol didnt replace him with Hudd i'll never know.

That team cost a lot of money and personally i dont think players are pulling their weight. Every single one of their players looked fitter, sharper and hungrier than ours even though they only played last Wednesday.

I am also starting to question some of Jol's tactics.

[offaly_yid]

Spurs:
Robinson, (6) Couldn't be really faulted

Chimbonda (6) Did alright again, unluck to be penalised for penalty

Assou-Ekotto (3) Worst game for spurs, ran around like a headless chicken, not answer to left back problems.

YP Lee (6) did ok when came on, showed up well in attack, did ok in defence

Dawson (5) Played offside trap poorly today, can't be faulted for effort.

King (6) solid as usual without being spectacular today. Clealry didn't look 100% though.

Lennon (5) Gave away alot of ball in 2nd half, didn't see much in first half. I've noticed that when he loses possession he drops the head and gives up, hope this attitude improves with experience.

Zokora, (5) Gave away far too much possession, looked headless at times, was out of his depth today against a very tight Arsenal midfield

Tainio (5) As with Zokora, looked out ofhis depth today, probably lucky to start ahead of Huddelstone or Jenas.

Defoe (5) Couldn't be expected to do much when he came on, should have been brought on at half time in my opinion.

Malbranque (4) clearly not the answer to our left midfield problems (Who is by the way?), more of an attacking midfielder, should have taken his chance early in the game, glad he was subbed.

Jenas (7) Our best player in the 2nd half.. Unlucky not to be started, Tested lehman with good shot from distance and showed plenty of energy when came on.

Keane (6) gave his all as usual, but as ever on our visits away from WHL this season he has to drop deep to gain possesion of the ball, surprised he was started ahead of Defoe.

Berbatov (5) Usual away day blues for Berbie, toothless display, unfortunate to see so little ball comin his way however.

On this display we'll be lucky to finish in the top 8... looks like we'll have to make do with a couple of good cup runs for this season. Bmj will be an unhappy camper this evening one suspects.

[devonte01]

TOOTHLESS!
GUTLESS!
NO BITE!
NO PRIDE!
FUCKED UP SELECTION!
INCOMPETENT AND IMPOTENT REFEREE!
ABSOLUTELY GUTTED!

HONESTLY, WE DIDNT DESERVE TO LOOSE BY 3-0 BUT 10-0

BUNCH OF PISS TAKERS!! :bang:

[Parmenio]

Spurs:

[B]On this display we'll be lucky to finish in the top 8... looks like we'll have to make do with a couple of good cup runs for this season. Bmj will be an unhappy camper this evening one suspects.

hopefully our home form will keep us in contention. After a shakey start we've begun to look the real deal at home ... we just need to start exporting some of that to away games.

Still if we can win or home games, and start to at least draw some away games, we should be in and around the European spots at the end of the season.

This was a very tough away game today, that we probably shouldn't have expected to win. The manner of the loss is certainly wounding, but this game alone won't impact our season

[devonte01]

<TABLE class=tborder id=post180276 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=tcat>Today, 03:21 PM devonte01 </TD></TR><TR><TD class=alt1>TOOTHLESS!
GUTLESS!
NO BITE!
NO PRIDE!
FUCKED UP SELECTION!
INCOMPETENT AND IMPOTENT REFEREE!
ABSOLUTELY GUTTED!

HONESTLY, WE DIDNT DESERVE TO LOOSE BY 3-0 BUT 10-0

BUNCH OF PISS TAKERS!! :bang: </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[spurs_viola]

Don't anyone let the 3 contentious goals cloud the fact that we were beaten by (I hate to say) a superior team today. When was the last time any of you have seen our beloved lilleywhites knock the ball around as fluently as Arse***. All their players look capable of beating their direct opponent with the ball at their feet. Can't say the same for us. And their movement off the ball is second to none. We are still very much a work in progress.
MJ hopefully has learned alot from todays debacle. Such as Berbatov and Defoe should be first choice. Lennon - never on the left. Steed will be good - persist.

Agree totally.

[spurs2dn]

what's with our away form?

[Ryan]

what's with our away form?

I dont understand it either. How can you go from class to shocking over about 10 miles or whatever.

[2bearis2do]

Contentious perhaps?!
I voted him for player of the season last year, on his day he is world class, but I haven't seen many of those days recently.

Its all very well saying "he gives his all, 110%, the only player to 'cover every blade of grass and give a shit" But thats NOT his job (of course the give a shit bit is important, but that should also be a feckin given for anyone in the Spurs shirt).
What he does by running all over the pace like a teenager on sherbert dib dabs is totally destroy any shape we have, he gets in other players space and leaves BBTov up on his own. IMO its simply bad for the team. Its also quite obvious by now that Defoe is a more natural goalscorer and more of a goal threat than Keano, he also links up better with BBTov who lets face it wasn't born to play upfront on his todd.

I won't go through the inept 'others' of todays performance, But shape and knowing where your teammates are is not rocket science. Play him in the hole. That should be his role, take the space across the pitch behind the strikers, or did we buy Malbranque for that?!

My Team.
Robbo
Chim King Daws any1 but that gum chewing cock sure shite.
Hud, Zak, JJ
keano
BBtov Defoe

[Kingstheman]

I am upset at this result.

The first problem is that Clichy is better than Ashley Cole, look at how easily Arsenal's pacey full backs dented Lennon's progress when he (seldom) got the ball. Arsenal's back line had pace about them.

Next, Didier Zokora. He seemed to want all of the time in the world and lost the ball in almost schoolboy fashion several times. Time to use him as a more athletic, powerful player.

Assou-Ekotto has struggled, to say the least. I think it is pretty damning that Jol took him off at half-time.

Ledley King seems a lot slower this season. Jol - rest him and fix him (Get the doctors on him and rest him until he is 100% King) and throw in the young talent we are apparently snapping up, as they need games and need them early (Fabregas a case in point). I love Ledley and the club needs to treat him with as much care as possible. He was given trouble by Adebayor and van Persie and neither is a Thierry Henry for pace.

Dawson and Chimbonda were tigers amongst a team of cats.

I think we need a fit Mido back and to play him with Berbatov as they would offer more threat from the (dreaded) long ball.

Jol needs to work on this slow start factor, by the first goal we were never going to catch up.

Finally, Jenas, although playing in a team not up for it showed that he is better than the 'Jenas is shite' brigade give him credit for. He worked some opportunities for himself.

The midfield need to push forward more and not sit on top of the defence as it crowds us and gives us no room when we have the ball.

DAMN IT.

[BelsizeSpur]

This has nothing to do with our inconsistent form, but I think football desperatetly needs video technology. It seems that both penalties were not penalties and a game is very different for both sides at 1-0 than 3-0.

There is simply too much at stake in the modern game to have results that hinge on the interpretation of a referee.

[GenericID]

Anyone blaming the "dodgy" goals for today's defeat is missing the forest for the trees.

Sign that proper LW (you know, the reason why Jol claims he loves playing 4-4-2 with wideplay), DROP players that are doing badly and stop rotating for it's own sake (Exhibit A: Pool)

[westlondonyid]

I cant honestly say that one of our players had a good game today. I mean a couple of people chipped in with par performances i.e Ledley and Dawson but the rest never really showed up. When will Martin Jol realise how bad Ekotto is. Has never shown any promise as a decent left back and continues to produce shocking performances but still gets picked ahead of Lee. Everythin came down our left in the first half, it wouldnt be a bad thing if he never pulled on a spurs shirt again. Zakora was poor as usual offering nothing and wanted too much time on the ball. Keane is a class player but came woefully short of the sort of standards we expect from him and Defoe should have started after the perfomance against Wigan. JJ came on and at least showed a bit of passion in his perfomance. Was a shame the great bit of defensive covering from JJ resulted in the given away of the 2nd penalty. Certain players such as Bernatov, Lennon, Chimbonda and Malbranque, are decent players but just never got going today for some reason. Huddlestone and JJ should be our first choice sentre mid pairing.

[GenericID]

Besides the obvious MF issues, there's also the incredible irony of supposedly playing a target man in a 2 striker combo, but he can never be found in the box, only out wide or deep. If that's not the plan, Jol needs to start playing the strikers as out-and-out strikers, not glorified midfielders. Either that or start
making runs behind the opposition defence...currently only Defoe seems to be doing that.

[DOX]

I feel so empty:neutral:

[ibbz]

Painful viewing today. I'm not going to bother reading everyone elses post i can guess,
"Jol got the tactics wrong" (he's the best Spurs manager in my 24 year long life you fools)
"there was no commitment" (there was by everyone we just couldn't find any rhythym
"Same old Spurs" (not at all we are in Europe top of the group in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup and have a squad that can consistently compete in the top 6 which we have never done in the premiership)

Very disappointing though that we were outclassed and has ruined what was so far a great weekend, but come next week when we win all of a sudden everyone will be saying how we are on the up again

Best manager or not (and I daresay Berkinshaw was better) he got the tactics WRONG UTTERLY WRONG! He's fallible, so is capable of making mistakes, and well, today he failed.

There was obviously commitment, as if there wasn't any, no Spurs player would have bothered to defend or attack or play - but it was well below par - but the lack of rhythm as you put it is down to a bad bad job by the Coach, or Head Coach in this case, and a few awful players plus better players not performing, they seemed to be clueless, lacking ideas, and were outclassed. Does this mean they're actually rubbish? or was it because they were overawed by the stadium, the fans, and their opposite number who had so much more drive, fire, ideas and vision?

so yes, "same old Spurs" is a valid argument, as our Same Old Spurs have often failed - and today, we FAILED.

Now Jol needs to do some work, get the team to gel, and some heads need to roll, namely Ekotto and Zakora.

And berbatov, a gifted skillful excellent player, but sorry guys, he cannot and will not be able to hack it at the EPL, not enough strength or spirit or drive.

[ibbz]

HOWEVER, I will retract my statement about Berbatov, I'm being too pessimistic and unfair. he is an excellent player, and I personally think that he'd perform best when paired with Mido.

Any thoughts?

[Breezer]

Absolutely DISGUSTED!!!!!!

That has to be our worst performance of the season!!!

I only recall 1 shot on target and that was Jenas in the second half... i maybe wrong!!!

But Jol needs to sit down and have a long hard think about how he will motivate these players. If you cant motivate a team to play against there rivals then there must be some serious issues behind the scenes!

the team that should have played today:::

Robinson

Chimbonda King Dawson Ekkoto??

Lennon Huddleston Jenas Malbranque

Berbatov Defoe


Taino should have been off at half time he doesnt look fit and couldnt keep up with the pace of the match!!

Ohhhh welllllll back to the drawing board!!

[ibbz]

we missed the creativity of Ghaly today, Zakora lacks any sort of creativity and vision, and he also lacks the ability to pass. he's rubbish, here Im not being unfair, he brings NOTHING to the team, adds nowt zilch nada except the ability to lose the ball and assist the opposite team in beating us.
The sooner he is loaned or made to play in the reserves until his so called potential comes to the fore, the better!

And Ekotto, why oh why oh fucking WHY is this shit shit useless brainless player always first choice? He is SHIT, I dont give a toss what anyone says, Ive seen enough games this season to judge him as CRAP.
Ziegler at least can cross the ball, is strong and can defend, why isn't he playing LB?

[ibbz]

I'm especially annoyed today, annoyed like Ive never been recently, I know its only one game, and I know we have sprung back from defeats, but this was especially painful, painful because apart from the fact that we have been thrashed by our rivals, rivals whose fans seldom give this fixture the respect it once earned, is that whinging moaning boastful kiddy fiddling emaciated cu nt Wenger is basking in his own concocted glory, that in the battle of the coaches, Jol came out second best, he was out thought and out guiled. Our players were woeful, and to see such a pathetic crass SHIT performance was painful, it wouldve been painful against any opposition, but against an Arsenal side who have struggled against Everton, Bolton and Wigan - painful! they were there for the taking today, and Jol blew it! I looked on in amazement at his tactics, sometimes Jol can be brilliant, at other times lucky, but also often - shit.

[JimmyWibble]

That was awful. I could moan about the refereeing decisions all day, but even if they had gone our way we wouldn't have taken the points today. Not a good day for the yid army

[speroni]

Was there today, Tottenham weren't up for it.

Zokora gave the ball away so often he was Arsenal's most effective ballwinner.

Arsenal had most of the play but apart from moves where the ref was involved (not blowing for offside, blowing for two harsh penalties) Robbo only had one save to make.

Back to the drawing board, Mr. Jol.

[ibbz]

those ****s on the pitch today get paid tens of thousands a week, we pay good money to go watch them play live at the stadium and on Sky, we as fans PAY THEIR WAGES - however little or however indirectly, if not for us the team would cease to exist.
Jol has had millions to spend and its his THIRD YEAR at the club and we see what we saw today, a team that didn't look like a team, and a bunch of ponses trying to play football like that at a North London Derby?
yes, SAME OLD SPURS, I'm not fickle, I've been watching and supporting Spurs long enough to know that progress is damn slow!
Jol needs to sort it out, because we were THAT POOR!
Ive yet to see a top 4 side play as shit as WE did today, sure teams lose, and teams get thrashed, but top 4 teams do NOT lose cowering like we did today.
So I guess we're not top 4.

Absolutely pathetic

[ibbz]

Was there today, Tottenham weren't up for it.

Zokora gave the ball away so often he was Arsenal's most effective ballwinner.

Arsenal had most of the play but apart from moves where the ref was involved (not blowing for offside, blowing for two harsh penalties) Robbo only had one save to make.

Back to the drawing board, Mr. Jol.

Speroni, what reaction did you get at full time? Any problems with Gooner fans? How was the stadium for a visiting supporter?

[speroni]

Speroni, what reaction did you get at full time? Any problems with Gooner fans? How was the stadium for a visiting supporter?

My experience was not representative -- I had the good fortune to be offered a ticket in an executive box.

The Spurs contingent was penned into half of the lower tier of the South Stand (and gave better support to the Tottenham cause than most of the players in white).

No signs of trouble from my vantage point. Understandably, two thirds of the Spurs fans had cleared out by the end.

[pistolP]

Everyone is to blamed i.e the manager and his side-kicks,players.Jol and co for their lack of motivational know- how. As well as the sort of training that our players undertake,,i do not believe that they do take part in any serious training as non of our players apart from the back four can tackle. What i am trying to say is that we do not presurise the opponent,always giving them all the room they need cause us problem. We will never be any good until we learn how to close the opposition down.Our play is too slow and we need to up the pace a little. Non of our medfield can trackle anymore and it is becoming infestious that even players that were good tackles before they came to us, can not tackle again, maybe the system of training they do has something to do with.

[littlemandefoe]

embarrasing performance...

Zokora, Ekotto and Berbs were rubbish today...

[ashley]

Having lost 2games in a row they were always gonna come out to make sure they dont make it 3 in a row.I was expecting more fight especially after they pipped us to 4th spot last season.Got a feeling we will play them again in the Carling Cup semis.

[PaulM]

We were dreadful today. And BMJ has to take a lot of responsibility for it. When 1 or 2 players underperform that's their fault, when 7-8 do, you have to ask questions of the management. Saying "there was no passion, that's why we lost" is the refuge of the clueless.

Saying we defended too high for the first goal is ridiculous. You can't sit in your own penalty are against Arsenal for 90 minutes. When you're a full-back holding the line with your centre backs is basic stuff. Chimbonda didn't do it. Whether it was offside or not is beside the point, I can't tell from looking at it again and again and the linesman only had one look at it. It was poor defending from Chimbonda (who has been excellent this season, today aside).

The second one wasn't a penalty, but to be honest, when I saw it first, I was sure it was a cast-iron penalty. The third was a penalty, Jenas clipped the scum player. Whether he did it intentionally or not doesn't matter.

We have no right to berate the ref.

Zokora was awful, Assou-Ekotto was abysmal, and Berbatov was disinterested mid-way through the second half. Chimbonda was off the pace all game as was Lennon and Tainio. I hate to say this, because it is lazy in a way but we missed Carrick a lot today; someone to put their foot on the ball and find a white shirt. Thus far, Zokora has been a poor replacement.

We were that bad, and have been all season away from the Lane, that questions have to be asked of Jol.

Why he didn't start with Defoe I'll never know. Defoe is more likely to score against good teams than Keane. Defoe is losing the best years of his career by not getting a sustained run in the team and he will walk sooner or later.

Finally this "Tainio is not good enough for us, we are Tottenham" is absolute drivel. Who do we think we are. We have been mediocre for so long now that to claim that a player of Tainio's ability is beneath us smacks of delusions of grandeur. And before anyone says "we finished fifth last season", it means nowt unless we follow it up. Ipswich finished fifth not so long ago, Leeds finished in the top 4 as did Everton. At the moment we are struggling to maintain mid-table respectability.

It's not all doom and gloom, we have a good squad and a good manager but they need to start performing and quick. They were infinitely worse today, and all season away from home, than Graham Poll.

[blankom]

When will Martin Jol realise how bad Ekotto is. Has never shown any promise as a decent left back and continues to produce shocking performances but still gets picked ahead of Lee.

Neither of our left backs are good enough as none of them can defend. Signing Assou-Ekotto was a gamble from Jol, but he has turned out to be a failure. Lee is IMO even worse than Assou-Ekotto. Worse when it comes to defending, but also when attacking - hope we sell him this January. I'm actually beginning to think we should leave out a DC signing and instead go for a Baines or go for Bridge on-loan-deal.

Our best lineup:

Robinson
Chimbonda Dawson King Assou-Ekotto
Lennon Jenas Tainio Malbranque
Mido Keane

[KingSpur]

Yep - watched the 1st 60 mins or so - then had to go off to my daughters 4th b/day party, which was watching a crowd of class A people, a few immature people chasing around, sulking and the few who didn't want to contribute - sound familiar ??

in fairness to Jol - I have NEVER criticised him - but the way we approached, ehh sorry, executed, the 1st half was pure and utter manure, possibly the worst performance of the year.
Only seeing the 1st 15 of the 2nd half, I'm not at liberty to say who played well etc, but from my 60 min vantage point the following is very clear;

(1) Ledley is injured and cant cope with all these games - he needs to be rested and have an operation.
(2) we need to have a settled midfield - our mf today was basically a newish formation, which against a top passing team is dangerous.
Jol played Tanio only cos he had a blinder last year against Arse- he does that from time to time, Jol, - maybe a fault on his part.
(3) Lennon needs a rest - full stop.
(4) to get the best out of Malbranque, you need to play him with a similar front 2 - this rotation (or not rotation) needs to stop - even at the expense of Defoe or Keane (big picture folks)
(5) Solve the left full position - Ekotto had a blindetr against Chelsea and played fantastic against most UEFA teams - but had a disaster today - he just seems to 'not care' at times.
(6) The 1st 15 mins (that I seen) of the 2nd half, shows why we need JJ- makes things happen - doesn't always get it right, but does more than others and ALWAYS looks for the ball.

Sorry guys - Arse deserved today, bad decisions apart, they destroyed us for most of the game.

Roll on 'boro, we need to get a good result, which we will - The Godfather will have spoken by then.

[KingSpur]

Blankom

I respect your opinion, but how can you put Mido in our best 11 ????

What has he given us this yr ??

BBtov has proved a class act when he has the support - all too oftyen, Mido goes missing (as does bbtov), but bbtov has the class to make certain things work ?

That said - I like his passion - but question his ability

[KingSpur]

sorry guys - those here & on other threads who question why Defoe wasn't brought on before the 80th min, well, when has Defoe really worked for the team ? McLaren was watching, so Defoe would have only tried all the things he usually does, and bypass the team - we didn't really get he ball to the fwds today, so what difference would he make.

If its a question of bringng JJ on, or dropping Keane to left mid, then I'd agree - but defoe is a goalscorer - keane is a footballer - both different.

anyway - that said - we could have played with 11 ZiZous and still lost today............

[swedespur]

Finally this "Tainio is not good enough for us, we are Tottenham" is absolute drivel. Who do we think we are. We have been mediocre for so long now that to claim that a player of Tainio's ability is beneath us smacks of delusions of grandeur. And before anyone says "we finished fifth last season", it means nowt unless we follow it up. Ipswich finished fifth not so long ago, Leeds finished in the top 4 as did Everton. At the moment we are struggling to maintain mid-table respectability.

We think we have a team that should be able to compete with the five or six best teams in the league. Yes, Tainio definitely has some ability. He is a decent footballer. But he rather should be in the starting eleven for a team like - for instance - Sheffield United than playing for us. You don´t need to have "delusions of grandeur" to have the opinion that Teemu Tainio isn´t good enough for Tottenham. We have - of course - no God-given right to be in the top six. But we should strive for it, don´t you think? We then need players who at least have the potential to bring us closer to the big four. As I see it, most of our top 15- or 16 players have got that potential. But Ekotto doesn´t. And Tainio doesn´t.

[swedespur]

Even if the results haven´t shown it yet, I strongly believe we have a better team today than last year. Sure, we lost Carrick, a player who will always be underestimated (well, not always, looking at the price Man U payed) because most of the work he does, he does rather quietly. But three of our five new recruits will become sensational.

- Chimbonda is probably one of the best three or four in his position in the league,

- Berbatov may seem lazy and uninterested sometimes, but has better feet than any forward in the premiership, except - of course - Henry,

- Malbranque just got back from injury, but is exactly what we have been missing. He always look for that killer ball to our attacking two, and at least three or four times in a game, he will find it.

As for Ekotto, sell him! The jury is still out on Zokora, but the way he´s been playing lately, the signs are not good.

[striebs]

Agree with everyone else , King is definitely suffering . Looks like he needs that major op we have been talking about for the last 4 years which will put him out for the next 12 months .

Zokora , I'd love to give him the benefit of the doubt after the Malaria but he is not willing to die for the cause .

Needs to be shipped out ASAP .

What is the point of playing a holding midfielder who can't do it and won't even try ?

Better of reverting to 4.4.2 and bringing in a few more attacking players .

And Oh Yeah , BMJ is blameless today , it's all down to our journeymen players .

[luisp]

How the game for me developed. First of all i think the choice of Keane instead of Defoe was a mistake. Second the teams started 50 - 50, first big chance was for spurs when Berbatov showing his class vision again found Malbranque but the second just couldn't fuckin hit the area. AND before that! there was a NO Offside on berbatov but the fucked up ref give it anyway. After that the same situation on Adebayor for the goal,even more questionable than Berbs one but NO offside - Goal. big shit from the ref. Second pretty fast NO penalty on Chimp,2nd BIG mistake now from them main Ref (thats) supporting the Arse for me here -Goal 2-0 GAME OVER. Team is down. can't find his rhythm. Nothing. Now for some players. Ekotto is shit,not good for the prem. Jenas,Zokora's,Tainio's,Lee's even Ghaly and etc. - Shit. Ask yourself how many of them will play in the Arsenal midfield or Chelseas or Man us or whatever. If you wanna be with the big fish you should play Big. Which means spend-maybe more but for quality players. Keane-headless chicken,showed it many times for me,almost every game.Can't stop a ball good,can't fight for the ball,always goes wherever players are-bumping into them,not a very good passer,not a very good finisher.Average quality. Mido pretty much useless. Defoe much better quality than Keane,can a make a goal out of nothing,weak physic though. Chimp is a very good player,Lennon too,along with Berbatov,King and dawson too. I think thats the core of the team,the others average. and for all of you Berbatov bashers, give him service and in 7 out of 10 situations he'll make a goal or will set up someone. gutless and shit like that you don't know what the fuck you talking about, i watched him all career in germany and wherever his dominating,just give him the fucking service.

[spurs2dn]

Are we really affected by being in Europe?

[blankom]

Blankom

I respect your opinion, but how can you put Mido in our best 11 ????

What has he given us this yr ??

BBtov has proved a class act when he has the support - all too oftyen, Mido goes missing (as does bbtov), but bbtov has the class to make certain things work ?

That said - I like his passion - but question his ability

I guess it's hard for me to explain, but I've always rated Mido's ability aswell as I admire him as a person. Mido and Berbatov are in my opinion the same kind of players. Berbatov overall might be better - Mido allways offers his passion, which I actually prefer as a spectator. I'm sick of £10 m Berbatov who appart from being lazy also seem to get an attitude when things don't go his way(Reading a, Arsenal a etc.).

[KingSpur]

I guess it's hard for me to explain, but I've always rated Mido's ability aswell as I admire him as a person. Mido and Berbatov are in my opinion the same kind of players. Berbatov overall might be better - Mido allways offers his passion, which I actually prefer as a spectator. I'm sick of £10 m Berbatov who appart from being lazy also seem to get an attitude when things don't go his way(Reading a, Arsenal a etc.).


Yeah, ok point well made - I suppose when both playing well, I'd take bbtov - but I agree with his laziness at times.

[ibbz]

:whistle: sorry guys, apart froma class touch, i do not rate Berbatov above Mido, they both have their own pro's and con's, and are different players. . Mido gives us more, strength, passion, defensive ability, drive, vigour and is as good a finisher as berbatov (ok, a few scuffs aside, he needs confidence). In other words, we SHOULD play BOTH together!

well lets hope for the next game and a BIG resounding victory!

C O Y S

[steve]

yes, SAME OLD SPURS, I'm not fickle, I've been watching and supporting Spurs long enough to know that progress is damn slow!
Jol needs to sort it out, because we were THAT POOR!
Ive yet to see a top 4 side play as shit as WE did today, sure teams lose, and teams get thrashed, but top 4 teams do NOT lose cowering like we did today.
So I guess we're not top 4.

Absolutely pathetic


Man Yoo lost away 4-1 to Boro last season........does that put them in the same boat as Spurs? Liverpool also lost 3-0 at the Emirates....is it the same for them?

Yes you are fickle - you've engaged your mouth before engaging your brain and you've let you're emotion be the basis of your argument......

Are you saying via your 3-year argument against Jol that he should go? In his 2nd full season in charge?

Emotional people are ALWAYS fickle, because emotions change all the time.......and you my friend are emotional....

If you can't see the progress then you must be blind or stupid......i guess it's the 2nd one......