Gomes wake-up call as 'dozy' Spurs lack bite against Wolves

[mawspurs]

Source: Evening Standard

Heurelho Gomes has admitted Tottenham lack concentration when playing the Premier League's lesser teams and fears it will cost them a place in next season's Champions League.

Last night's 1-0 defeat at Wolves was the second time Spurs have lost this season against Mick McCarthy's men, while they have also dropped points against Hull and Stoke at White Hart Lane.

These results have put a dent in Spurs' chances of finishing in the top four and Gomes could not hide his frustration at such a worrying trend.

The Spurs goalkeeper said: “We lose a little bit of concentration for games like this. The best sides win these games and that makes the difference in the table.

“It was our most disappointing result of the season. Away from home, we normally play very well but not in this game. We were poor.

“We had just one chance to score in the first half and in the second half we created nothing. Wolves deserved to win. It was a difficult day but we have to forget about it and concentrate on Sunday's match against Bolton in the FA Cup.”

The two results against Wolves alone will not define Spurs' season, yet they suggest that the quest to secure a place in next season's Champions League might end in disappointment.

With attacking talent such as Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar and Eidur Gudjohnsen, who made his debut last night, in their squad, Harry Redknapp's men should be able to test any defence, yet in 180 minutes against Wolves they struggled to create clear opportunities.

Kranjcar's failure to beat Marcus Hahnemann when clean through in the first half at Molineux was the only time in either match that Wolves looked likely to concede against Spurs.

For a team aspiring to join Europe's elite, that is simply not good enough.

Redknapp called his side's display their worst of the season, admitting that his players had “never got a grip” on the game, but some of the manager's choices were questionable.

On his first appearance for the club since returning from Portsmouth, Younes Kaboul, one of five changes to the Spurs starting XI, looked nervous at right-back.

The Frenchman was not the only one to disappoint. Tom Huddlestone and Jermaine Jenas were ineffective in central midfield and it was no surprise to see Jenas replaced by Wilson Palacios for the second half.

Spurs' reliance on Palacios to lend a mean streak to their midfield has meant the Honduran carrying a great deal of responsibility, which has left him jaded at times in only his second full season of top-level football.

Wolves' winning goal midway through the first half exposed neatly the deficiencies of Spurs' central midfield duo.

After easing the ball to Matthew Jarvis on the left, David Jones was allowed to drift between Huddlestone and Jenas and guide Jarvis's cross beyond Gomes from 12 yards.

Neither man had remembered to track Jones run — an astonishing lack of concentration.

Defoe's 20 goals so far mean he is on target for the most prolific season of his career, yet some question marks remain after he failed to threaten.

The former West Ham forward is one of the most accomplished finishers in Europe but he has a worrying habit of disappearing for long periods of matches.

Against the League's third-highest scorer this season, Wolves centre-backs Jody Craddock and Christophe Berra had an easy evening.

Gudjohnsen was partnering Defoe for the first time and the former Chelsea player's skill and awareness suggested the pair may hit it off.

He was replaced by Crouch midway through the second half, signalling a more direct approach from the visitors, but Craddock said the change had simply played into Wolves' hands.

Spurs club captain Ledley King said last weekend that his team-mates love watching their Premier League peers compete in the Champions League.

But if Spurs cannot find a way to win games like this one, the closest they will come to experiencing the world's top club competition will be on their top-of-the-range flat screen television sets.

[kicked]

Well said Gomes! Now if your team mates can find some fire in their bellies for a fight and start playing like they actually want champions league football then maybe we'll have a chance. But personally i think its too late and that we have blown it!
We've had players all season saying we got the team, the players to get champions league and they are right....however, there is one important ingrediant that they are lacking and that is passion. Passion to win, the passion to fight for points. We have too many top players go missing in matches like these!

[GlennHoddle]

How many times have we rested Wilson, only to bring on at at half time or not long after because the team is not performing? Quite a few times i'd imagine

[UncleBuck]

I was never one to bash Jenas but he has gone backwards, last night highlighted how much he has deteriorated. Whether that's a mental thing or lack of match practice I don't know.

He certainly nees to be shipped out at the end of the season and with whatever we get for him being used for someone who can cover/battle with WP for that CM role as we can't rely on WP and AR each game.

[pistolP]

We are still 7th and soon to be 8th, please support Harry, the club and the players. Thanks for your co-operation, guys.

[CliffJones]

I do support Harry, the club and the players, but not blindly, everyone has to be able to take criticism in their working life, provided it is thought out and lacks emotion, unlike some of the stuff that has been rattling around the threads since last night. The back four have by and large had a good season to date.
The midfield does need some attention, but having said that we do an embarrassment of talent in that department, but only a little endeavour to use it properly.
Up front needs to be looked at when we are not scoring goals, in the league. Again we are well enough off for strikers to do this. Although EG started last night Sir Les has his work cut out to get a combination that works.
Like all managers HR and his large team need to rethink their approach, maybe to change tactics during a game if plan A is not working. Also they need to look the players in the face and ask them for an honest contribution for the rest of the season. Some one to ones between the players and the manager might deliver something positive. Its a shame that Harry was not at the training ground this morning starting the whole process of improvement.
He has to get across that the level of performance and contribution are everything.
No one should immune from the hairdryer if they are not giving it 100%.

[Dannyparklane]

We are still 7th and soon to be 8th, please support Harry, the club and the players. Thanks for your co-operation, guys.

We're still 6th - perhaps soon to be 7th. Still a bit of a cushion back to 8th and the rest but I agree that's where we're heading unless we buck our ideas up. lennon's return is vital but it will not solve all the problems!

[StokeSpur]

Trying to weigh it all up and put it in to some perspective.

1, were in trouble, we have a new manager that speaks no or very limited English, we have good players but the players have lost all belief in themselves, the pressure is intense and we are trying so hard not to lose games it becomes inevitable that we do lose them.
Enter Harry Redknapp, he coaches the basics, he speaks English and his man management starts to lift the players, we start to get results and the players start to regain their confidence.
A lot of us fear the worst when the transfer window looms, we all know about 'Harrys sort of player', who will he buy. Jan saw the return of Chimbonda, Defoe, Keane and we find the missing piece of our timid midfield in the mighty Palacios.
We have a safe end to a miserable season, thanks Harry.

The transfer window opens, will it be Huntelaar? will it be Sandro, maybe Carrick will make a return? .. we soon remember Harry is now at the helm when rumors of Bellamy and Barton become rife, the fans anger at the rumors are so intense Spurs community forums are in danger of melt down.

We add Bassong, Crouch, Kranjcar, Walker & Naughton and kick off 2009/10 in fine style beating Liverpool 2-1 at home, we then beat Hull 5-1 away and wet spam 2-1 away and harry seems to have disproved the myth that keane and Defoe can not play together.
We follow that up with a 5-1 thrashing of Doncaster and then go and beat brum 2-1 before losing to Manure and Chelski. We then put 5 past Preston and another 5 past Burnley, we are playing fantastically and football has finally come home to Tottenham, surely were heading for the top four this year, its a dead cert, isnt it?

We hit a blip v Stoke when they snatched a 1-0 win in the 90th min but the stats sugested we could have put a cricket score past them, we set a new record for the club and our star striker by hitting 9 past Wigan with Defoe scoring 5.

We had another blip losing to Wolves 1-0, Crouch has now firmly established himself in the starting 11 and it maybe a daft thing to say but our way of playing football has change dramatically since the start of the season, we no longer pass it around like Brazil on fet, we are now hitting it long to him at every opportunity and seem to have trouble in breaking down defensive teams.

We then showed our rivals Man city that they would not be moving past us in the table without a fight and we brought our top game to the table and smashed them 3-0.

We beat Blackburn away, drew with Fulham away and beat Wetspam, we draw 0-0 with Hull, another defensive team, at home then lose a crucial game to Liverpool because (1) the ref forgot that the keeper cant hold the ball for 12 seconds and (2) the officials dont understand phase 1 & 2 of the off side rule.

We draw with a hard working Leeds, beat Fulham, draw with a defense minded, hard working Brum and draw with a defensive, poor Villa. Is there a patten forming here? Has Harry spotted it? what can he do about it?

Why cant we beat hard working defensive teams? What has happened to the team that scored 30 goals in their first 9 games while only letting in 12 (6 of those were against Manure & Chelski).

anyway it dosnt matter because everyone is beating everyone else, weve just been unlucky.

We have to go to Wolves and stamp our authority on the game, we need to win this one so that we can start to build on our 4th place efforts again, this would be the game that we would regain our ground on Liverpool and especially as they are playing the Gooners and have a good chance of losing that one. Harry should know this, right?? Come on!!

Ok, out comes the team sheet and for some reason only known to Mr Redknapp we decide to play 2 players we bought in Jan and a player that weve been carrying for years, enter Eidur, Kaboul and Janus (i know its spelt wrong i just like it that way).
Surely it makes perfect sense to play a forward who isnt fit or up to speed of how we play, a center back at right back and the most sorry excuse for a footballer we have in our squad in the most important position for this type of game, Janus playing DM.

Not only that, he also left our best players on the bench to accommodate them, well ok, it is only Wolves, he knows what he's doing.

I dont buy the 'resting players for the cup game' idea because as soon as he saw the game was lost he brought all the players that should have started the game on, too little way too late. The truth is, he underestimated them and it back fired.

I'm sure a lot of us realized when we signed Redknapp that he was/is a limited manager with very little in the way of tactics in his locker so at the end of the day we have to accept that he is doing his best and we have to ask ourselves, is Harrys best good enough for Spurs?
He's always been a mediocre manager at other clubs so why should he be anything else with Spurs? and dont forget the world class back room staff we have now in Ferdinand and Sherwood, i'm sure their pedigree will come through in training.

I'm willing to give Harry the benefit of doubt if he stops shrugging his shouldners and making silly excuses for our bad performances and starts to put it right, starting with learning from his own mistakes.

[pistolP]

Trying to weigh it all up and put it in to some perspective.

1, were in trouble, we have a new manager that speaks no or very limited English, we have good players but the players have lost all belief in themselves, the pressure is intense and we are trying so hard not to lose games it becomes inevitable that we do lose them.
Enter Harry Redknapp, he coaches the basics, he speaks English and his man management starts to lift the players, we start to get results and the players start to regain their confidence.
A lot of us fear the worst when the transfer window looms, we all know about 'Harrys sort of player', who will he buy. Jan saw the return of Chimbonda, Defoe, Keane and we find the missing piece of our timid midfield in the mighty Palacios.
We have a safe end to a miserable season, thanks Harry.

The transfer window opens, will it be Huntelaar? will it be Sandro, maybe Carrick will make a return? .. we soon remember Harry is now at the helm when rumors of Bellamy and Barton become rife, the fans anger at the rumors are so intense Spurs community forums are in danger of melt down.

We add Bassong, Crouch, Kranjcar, Walker & Naughton and kick off 2009/10 in fine style beating Liverpool 2-1 at home, we then beat Hull 5-1 away and wet spam 2-1 away and harry seems to have disproved the myth that keane and Defoe can not play together.
We follow that up with a 5-1 thrashing of Doncaster and then go and beat brum 2-1 before losing to Manure and Chelski. We then put 5 past Preston and another 5 past Burnley, we are playing fantastically and football has finally come home to Tottenham, surely were heading for the top four this year, its a dead cert, isnt it?

We hit a blip v Stoke when they snatched a 1-0 win in the 90th min but the stats sugested we could have put a cricket score past them, we set a new record for the club and our star striker by hitting 9 past Wigan with Defoe scoring 5.

We had another blip losing to Wolves 1-0, Crouch has now firmly established himself in the starting 11 and it maybe a daft thing to say but our way of playing football has change dramatically since the start of the season, we no longer pass it around like Brazil on fet, we are now hitting it long to him at every opportunity and seem to have trouble in breaking down defensive teams.

We then showed our rivals Man city that they would not be moving past us in the table without a fight and we brought our top game to the table and smashed them 3-0.

We beat Blackburn away, drew with Fulham away and beat Wetspam, we draw 0-0 with Hull, another defensive team, at home then lose a crucial game to Liverpool because (1) the ref forgot that the keeper cant hold the ball for 12 seconds and (2) the officials dont understand phase 1 & 2 of the off side rule.

We draw with a hard working Leeds, beat Fulham, draw with a defense minded, hard working Brum and draw with a defensive, poor Villa. Is there a patten forming here? Has Harry spotted it? what can he do about it?

Why cant we beat hard working defensive teams? What has happened to the team that scored 30 goals in their first 9 games while only letting in 12 (6 of those were against Manure & Chelski).

anyway it dosnt matter because everyone is beating everyone else, weve just been unlucky.

We have to go to Wolves and stamp our authority on the game, we need to win this one so that we can start to build on our 4th place efforts again, this would be the game that we would regain our ground on Liverpool and especially as they are playing the Gooners and have a good chance of losing that one. Harry should know this, right?? Come on!!

Ok, out comes the team sheet and for some reason only known to Mr Redknapp we decide to play 2 players we bought in Jan and a player that weve been carrying for years, enter Eidur, Kaboul and Janus (i know its spelt wrong i just like it that way).
Surely it makes perfect sense to play a forward who isnt fit or up to speed of how we play, a center back at right back and the most sorry excuse for a footballer we have in our squad in the most important position for this type of game, Janus playing DM.

Not only that, he also left our best players on the bench to accommodate them, well ok, it is only Wolves, he knows what he's doing.

I dont buy the 'resting players for the cup game' idea because as soon as he saw the game was lost he brought all the players that should have started the game on, too little way too late. The truth is, he underestimated them and it back fired.

I'm sure a lot of us realized when we signed Redknapp that he was/is a limited manager with very little in the way of tactics in his locker so at the end of the day we have to accept that he is doing his best and we have to ask ourselves, is Harrys best good enough for Spurs?
He's always been a mediocre manager at other clubs so why should he be anything else with Spurs? and dont forget the world class back room staff we have now in Ferdinand and Sherwood, i'm sure their pedigree will come through in training.

I'm willing to give Harry the benefit of doubt if he stops shrugging his shouldners and making silly excuses for our bad performances and starts to put it right, starting with learning from his own mistakes.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

[Twizzle]

is dozy the new word for pathetic

[spud]

Trying to weigh it all up and put it in to some perspective..........

.........I'm willing to give Harry the benefit of doubt if he stops shrugging his shouldners and making silly excuses for our bad performances and starts to put it right, starting with learning from his own mistakes.

I haven't quoted all of your post Stokespur simply because it takes up a lot of space, but it's all top quality.

Great job. If I could rep you on the front page, you'd be getting some.

[GlennHoddle]

pistol sarcasm !!!

As for professional footballers needing a rest, i can never get my head around this.
they train for roughly 3 hrs a day, and what's so exhausting with playing two 90 minute games a week. i can't fathom it

[pistolP]

pistol sarcasm !!!

As for professional footballers needing a rest, i can never get my head around this.
they train for roughly 3 hrs a day, and what's so exhausting with playing two 90 minute games a week. i can't fathom it


Easy now or i will go and support another team.

[striebs]

....and dont forget the world class back room staff we have now in Ferdinand and Sherwood....

I'm glad we've got people who made a commitment to go into coaching a long time ago on the books - Joe Jordan ,Tony Parks ,Clive Allen Kevin Bond .

That is the way it should be and frankly there is no excuse for inviting uncommitted figures like Les Ferdinand , Sherwood and brain dead Jamie to come and try coaching at Spurs to see if it's what they want to do for the rest of their lives .

If they are anything like as good at coaching as they are TV pundits then it's no wonder we are having problems .

Can only have been brought in to strengthen Harry's powerbase at the club and the sooner they are replaced the better .

[GlennHoddle]

:rofl:

[jenko]

I gave up on dreaming about 4th after the Hull game. Spurs lack the experience.

Take the recent game against Villa for example. We were brilliant. But had we been able to score the world and its mother all know that we would have immediately started to play shit and let villa equalise.

Its been fairly obvious for a while now that we're missing something still. I don't like being the voice of doom but it hurts less this way rather than getting you're hopes up and seeing performances like wednesday....