Blackburn Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[ziggy]

¨Great game by Dawson yet again! Good job by Crouch up front, but where was Defoe today??

I guess jenas is leaving in january...he must see his plainride to South-Africa slowly fading away.....

Assuming the WC is his prime motivation.

The players have to get used to the fact that it's a squad game at the top of the PL. Jenas did well when he came on as did Keane so both did their jobs today as squad players, in another game they may start and then be subbed but that's what we need, quality players as part of a squad who do their jobs when called upon, either from the starting 11 or from the bench if we are to progress.

 

[haxman]

With the performances of Dawson and Bassong recently, would be silly to suggest that maybe they should be our future centre back pairing with Dawson as club captain?

We need a settled back 4, so why not? Good as they are King and Woodgate are too injury prone to form a settled partnership.

Very happy with today's result against a team and a style of "football" we normally struggle against.

 

[ziggy]

With the performances of Dawson and Bassong recently, would be silly to suggest that maybe they should be our future centre back pairing with Dawson as club captain?

Not silly at all, considering they are the apparent understudies it's great to have such strength in depth.

 

[Yidiot]

good performance, good defending etc etc. dawson's diagonal ball to give possession away still gets on my tits. try a simple pass, thicky.

 

[handsomecake]

Hughes sacked.mancini new city boss

 

[BringBack_leGin]

This was so important. We went up north, in miserable conditions, against a thug side who keep the ball in the air at all costs. We did not have much space or time, and our midfield was bypassed for much of the match. However, Our goalkeeper and 4 defenders all performed admirably. Bassong and Dawson are looking better together every time, they are beginning to look a good pairing, while Ekotto and Corluka are both at their cool, collected best right now.

We matched Blackburn for effort and fight, always looked more dangerous on the occasions that we did have a chance to attack, and the players who weren't involved as much as they are used to managed to still use the ball well when they had the time.

The manager made the right changes as well. Defoe just wasn't coping with the amount of ball in the air, and perhaps looked a touch jaded, so on came Keane and he played well and looked composed and controlled. Palacios was subdued and beginning to fade, so on came Jenas and he put in all the leg work he would have been asked to put in so that Blackburn didn't have a chance to compose themselves. Hutton for Lennon was just a better safe than sorry exercise, and we weren't sorry were we?

Not a match for the purists, but we've shown that we can cope with the rough stuff instead of just taking advantage of open teams like City. This result has done a lot to boost my optimism at least, hopefully the same for everyone else here.

Oh, and well down Crouch. He's received a lot of unfair criticism in the past couple of weeks and he took both his goals as well as any finisher around.

 

[Bulletspur]

Yeah - Harry's subs have worked like a charm today...

I concur

 

[spursgirls]

With the performances of Dawson and Bassong recently, would be silly to suggest that maybe they should be our future centre back pairing with Dawson as club captain?

I never thought I would say it, but the news that Ledley might play over Christmas disappointed me. I love a fit Ledley, but I hate the chopping and changing of the central pairing, and Dawson had been fantastic this season. I'm not 100% convinced about Bassong yet, and would prefer a fit Woodgate with Dawson, but they are playing well together, so no real complaints from me. I've also always thought that Daws would be captain one day, and maybe now is the time for him to be given the captaincy permanently.

 

[gibbs131]

Did you hear the ground announcer say the man of the match award over the PA? And even the Blackburn fans were like..WTF???? I didn't catch the name, but whoever it was the ground dint agree.

 

[mattdefoe]

tbh i thought our performance was flat. But i couldnt care less. The attacking just wasnt there and our only two shots at goal went in, No complaints about that. Robbo only had a few free kicks and picked it out of his net twice. My standouts, bassong and Bae together were class along with gomes and dawson. Lennon showed glimpes but had some sloppy passes. Kranjcar just oozes class.

 

[mattdefoe]

Oh MOM was Vince grella.

 

[3Dnata]

Oh MOM was Vince grella.

Yep clearly by some distance:rofl::rofl:I guess Blackburn fans must be going home happy this xmas.

 

[DC_Boy]

probably the best result and performance of the season - i predicted a win - but for spurs to actually win a 'must win' - unbelievable

for the first time this season i actually believe we can can finish top 4

what a game at craven cottage next

wish i had a ticket for that one i can tell you - that will be electric

great team performance - crouch and gomes exceptional amongst amny

if only harry had picked crouch v wolves we'd be 3rd this evening i'm sure

i thought we'd need our squad to win it and sure enough jj came on to play a crucial role

 

[gibbs131]

Hughes sacked.mancini new city boss

Damn. I rate Hughes as a manager.

 

[gibbs131]

Oh MOM was Vince grella.

haha. Did they throw a dart at a team photo for that one?

Maybe they thought it was MMA and the dozen takedowns he had on Crouch, Defoe and anyone else within push and lean territory?

 

[mattstev2000]

probably the best result and performance of the season - i predicted a win - but for spurs to actually win a 'must win' - unbelievable

for the first time this season i actually believe we can can finish top 4

what a game at craven cottage next

wish i had a ticket for that one i can tell you - that will be electric

great team performance - crouch and gomes exceptional amongst amny

if only harry had picked crouch v wolves we'd be 3rd this evening i'm sure

i thought we'd need our squad to win it and sure enough jj came on to play a crucial role

Strangely I thought today was one of Crouch's worst games for us recently despite the two goals. He didn't offer much at all other than three strikes (all of which went in). Also he seems to get pushed off the ball far too easily for me...

 

[spurs mental]

Oh MOM was Vince grella.

Think that was only the home team's MOTM. Not sure who the commentators picked.

 

[Coyboy]

probably the best result and performance of the season - i predicted a win - but for spurs to actually win a 'must win' - unbelievable

for the first time this season i actually believe we can can finish top 4

what a game at craven cottage next

wish i had a ticket for that one i can tell you - that will be electric

great team performance - crouch and gomes exceptional amongst amny

if only harry had picked crouch v wolves we'd be 3rd this evening i'm sure

i thought we'd need our squad to win it and sure enough jj came on to play a crucial role

You are so wise, how exactly can you be sure that Crouch would have won us the game against Wolves?

 

[raf18]

You are so wise, how exactly can you be sure that Crouch would have won us the game against Wolves?

might not have been a dead cert but the whole world could see we couldnt break wolves down after 10mins. We waited far too long to bring him on. He's a nightmare and lets us go through teams easier.

Anyways, loads of IFs. We're doing well overall and got an uncharacteristic win today

 

[davidmatzdorf]

I missed chunks of both halves with faulty streams, but what I saw was very pleasing, not because we played brilliant football - obviously we didn't - but because it's actually more important now that we learn the knack of getting solid results, especially away, when we play a team who set themselves out to prevent us from playing brilliant football. That's what Man Utd and Chelsea do, it's what Liverpool used to do and it's why Arsenal, despite their ability, haven't won anything in awhile. We have to have an alternative to sweeping, classy passing play. We have to have defensive solidity and midfield aggression and we've had both in our past two matches.

I thought our defence was collectively excellent again - we saw the merits of a settled side with a strong bench throughout the team today. Gomes hasn't had much to do recently, but he did today - and he did it.

And it doesn't matter how many people start screaming about Huddlestone's bad shooting today, that's just more evidence of the "individual errors and brilliant moments" school of football criticism. He was absolutely central to our win today. With Palacios again off-colour (however, I'm sure he was substituted to avoid a 5th yellow card), Hudd played an attacking midfield role in the first 50 minutes and then dropped smoothly back to a controlling position in front of the defence to let Jenas run at Blackburn. It was mainly the same simple, positional stuff we've seen from him this season and this is why he keeps starting all of our matches. Not because of his flashy passing or belting shots, but because we need him keeping things under control in the middle so the attacking flair players can do what they do. He won a lot of ball today and was less guilty than others of losing possession. Jenas played well when he came on and ought to be getting enough game time over the busy period to come.

Lennon and Kranjcar played well without being as scintillating as they were against Man City. Nevertheless, we owe our win to Kranjcar being the only player on the pitch who didn't go to sleep for our first goal, listening for the half time whistle.

Defoe was out of touch. It wasn't his kind of game. Crouch made up for it by being a right nuisance and finding his finishing touch. Keane made some good runs after he came on and looking a bit hungrier than he has recently.

When we did get a chance to pass, we looking good, without finding much reward. We were the better team, not because we controlled the game totally, but because we looked more focused when we attacked and looked well-organised when we defended.

Redknapp also shone today. The right starting 11, then the right substitutions at the right time.