Bolton Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[Bill_Oddie]

Please. Pav was abysmal. Young Boys all over again. Blistering finish masking the fact he gave away the ball time and time again. He was deeper than the midfield most of the times and total gutlessness meant he failed to push himself into the areas we needed him to to get us a crucial goal. Pisspoor.

Not that there are any better but I wouldn't play Pav away from home at all. Unless he comes off the bench in the vague hope of producing one moment of magic in his sea of polluted turds.

 

[theShiznit]

Crouch was Crouch same old same old, Headers to no one, hold up non existent...

but ran about. well done.

and the fuckers cost me double as all the other legs in my acca came in!!!

 

[Bill_Oddie]

If you think the game was bad, at least the vast majority of you don't have to watch highlights presented by Jason de le Pena.

"Open as a barn door" according to Harry. "That was the problem. We were open as a barn door. We didn't defend well enough, we went 4-4-2 and it was too open."

Better than seeing priests in sugar, I suppose.

 

[mike_l]

Sat with 4 arsenal fans in a backpacker hostel?

Still rather be in Oz, weather is shit in Yorkshire.

 

[SpurSince57]

Does harry not pick the team ?

Would any spurs fan have picked that staring 11, just look at the starting 11 its laughable you wouldn't even play that team in a computer game.

Then we have to waste subs just to get the balance of the team right.

How do you go from playing an attacking team against inter to a defence team at bolton :-|

You'd trust a Spurs fan to pick the starting eleven?

How quaint.

How mad.

 

[mike_l]

Couple of things. Pav is our best striker at the moment. He needs to start ahead of Crouch every time. Also is Sandro really ahead of Jenas in the pecking order? Jenas should have played today, its not like he had a full game aganst Inter.

I wonder what Pav has to do to start regularly? When he is allowed on he is scoring goals, what more can he do?

I keep hearing that Crouch puts more of a shift in but my eyes ain't seeing it, he barely runs, doesn't close down the keeper and offers no movement, not to mention his pathetic goal return. On the other hand since being given his chance last season Pav has scored his fair share of goals, is often seen closing down the keeper and defenders and stretches defences with movement.

Whilst he might not be the world class, all round monster striker that everybody would like, he is our most potent available striker and I think also more beneficial to our teamplay all round.

 

[theShiznit]

The thing with Crouch's closing down, is it's so slow it's mildly irritating to the defenders. and that accounts for about 40% of his "shift"

And this is a striker who has a run of games under his belt so should be match fit and on top of his game, where as Pav will come on for 20 minutes once in a blue moon and get slated (esp by Redknapp) for being off the pace or having poor touch.

Sandro, Kranjcar, Palacios have not all of a sudden become poor players, they are off the pace and lacking touch which is achieved by playing games (and not games in a park against a schoolboy league 2 side)

I believe we are backing the wrong horse;

TIme to give Pav the run of games that Crouch has been afforded. a few assists for VDV do not make up for the fact that we are (at least up until today) one of the lowest scoring teams in the Premiership.

 

[Dr Know]

The thing with Crouch's closing down, is it's so slow it's mildly irritating to the defenders. and that accounts for about 40% of his "shift"

And this is a striker who has a run of games under his belt so should be match fit and on top of his game, where as Pav will come on for 20 minutes once in a blue moon and get slated (esp by Redknapp) for being off the pace or having poor touch.

Sandro, Kranjcar, Palacios have not all of a sudden become poor players, they are off the pace and lacking touch which is achieved by playing games (and not games in a park against a schoolboy league 2 side)

I believe we are backing the wrong horse;

TIme to give Pav the run of games that Crouch has been afforded. a few assists for VDV do not make up for the fact that we are (at least up until today) one of the lowest scoring teams in the Premiership.

I agree with nearly everything you saying there. I think Pav's first touch (even when he has started) and somewhat lack of work rate is keeping him behind Crouch

 

[mike_l]

I agree with nearly everything you saying there. I think Pav's first touch (even when he has started) and somewhat lack of work rate is keeping him behind Crouch

What work does Crouch do that Pav doesn't though? Genuine question as I have been happy enough with Pav's effort since he got his chance midway through last season, he had well higher than team average stats for distance covered in the CL game vs Twente.

On the other hand I am always frustrated by Crouch's lazy jog to close down a keeper with the ball at his feet.

 

[spur_souljah]

i didn't watch the game due to working, and i think its a good job too.. I don't know what happened in the game but conceding 4 goals to bolton is not on we are fast losing ground on the top 3 and manchester city now have the ideal chance to cement 4th for themselves.. Not long ago liverpool were in the relegation zone now if they beat chelsea they are level with us..
Every other football fan that i meet says spurs must be loving it right now, but to be honest aside from the champions league which we have performed exceptionally well in, we have been relatively non-potent in the league..

 

[riversmonkey]

Harry's selection of Crouch against Knight/Cahill was surprising. I'd rather have seen a more mobile forward such as Pav, rather then a tall guy who matches up too well with the centre backs from the start.

Having said that, the whole team was lethargic - the likes of Krancjar, Bentley and Palacios should be playing their hearts out. Hutton and Kaboul have shown that if you play well and take your chance then you will get given a run of games.

Lord, how we need Defoe and Dawson to return from injuries, and maybe a new forward in January.

 

[Raxscallion]

"Maybe"?

I thought that was the ONE thing that we were all agreed on!

 

[Misfit]

Very disappointing. We're not the first team this has happened to but Harry and the players need to find a way of just getting the job done consistently, regardless of performance. A point would have been decent but to lose that game and in the sloppy manner we did - just bleh.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

What work does Crouch do that Pav doesn't though?

I don't really know. I would prefer it if we played Pav but he can be infuriatingly dozy and you can hear Harry going off his rocker with him on the sideline. You could hear it today, you could hear it at OT and I think you could hear it against Inter.

Also, not sure if it's been said already, but Pav gave the ball away for fun today. Scored a great goal but he could have cost us one or two as well.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

Anyway, that whole performance is yet more proof that Harry doesn't have what it takes to get us to the next level. We need to show him the door pronto and move quickly to install the dream-team of BorisTM and Bus Conductor.

:lol:

 

[speccy_spur]

One of Harry's worst performances today I thought. A seemingly total lack of preparation and "that'll do" team selection. Coupled with one of BAE's rare poor performances this season, and yet another apathetic 'effort' from Crouch which meant there was zero ball retention forward.
Made Kevin Davies look like Messi. Nuff said.

 

[SpurSince57]

I don't really know. I would prefer it if we played Pav but he can be infuriatingly dozy and you can hear Harry going off his rocker with him on the sideline. You could hear it today, you could hear it at OT and I think you could hear it against Inter.

Also, not sure if it's been said already, but Pav gave the ball away for fun today. Scored a great goal but he could have cost us one or two as well.

This is the problem. Poor as Crouch was today, Pavlyuchenko was actually worse, no mean feat; his ability to pull a ZOMG! goal out of nothing seems to blind some people to his shortcomings. It's hardly the first time we've seen this.

 

[Wsussexspur]

This is the problem. Poor as Crouch was today, Pavlyuchenko was actually worse, no mean feat; his ability to pull a ZOMG! goal out of nothing seems to blind some people to his shortcomings. It's hardly the first time we've seen this.

Young Boys away springs to mind!

 

[Alfieconnman]

This is the problem. Poor as Crouch was today, Pavlyuchenko was actually worse, no mean feat; his ability to pull a ZOMG! goal out of nothing seems to blind some people to his shortcomings. It's hardly the first time we've seen this.

Crouch was dire today and has been suffering a goal drought in the EPL yet is given a continous run of starts. Pav may have failings but he scores. Surely that is the prime purpose of a striker.

 

[brett.spurs]

This is the problem. Poor as Crouch was today, Pavlyuchenko was actually worse, no mean feat; his ability to pull a ZOMG! goal out of nothing seems to blind some people to his shortcomings. It's hardly the first time we've seen this.

I know you don't like Pav but that's just completely wrong. Apart from his goal(oh look something Crouch hasn't managed in the League this season) I remember him getting involved far more than Crouch and generally being a far bigger threat, one piece of good control in the box before turning and laying the ball into Niko springs to mind.

I just don't get this attitude where some fans have to support individual players, I'm not a Crouch fan, I'm not a Pav fan, I'm a Spurs fan, and today Crouch was shit and Pav was decent.