Chelsea Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[CowInAComa]

I am normally the one who comes in and berates our performances, players and manager, as well as ENIC and Levy. I also criticize all the optimists and naive posters.

However, even considering how bad we've been over the last 18 months, the last two performances should give us hope. I don't even remember the last time we played two games in a row with that kind of energy. Yeah, it's only two games but there is an actual identity to the side again. It's not very strong yet, but it is growing. Other times, our performances seemed liked flukes or a player or two having a good day or whatnot. This time round, there is a belief growing. Yes, we capitulated to dumb errors, but this is against Chelsea, unbeaten this term, and at Stamford Bridge. We didn't lose our heads when we could've. Last year Chiriches would probably have been sent off and heads would have dropped and made it easy for Chelsea to score 8.

Even when we tried passing and passing around the box, there was a sense of prying, trying to find an opening and not the AVB pass it back to goalkeeper nonsense. When we had chances go bad with Lennon and Kane, these were the players trying and once they get the hang of it, we will be converting them. This doesn't seem like before when half-chances or chances were by accident.

The ITK may or may not be true, but without several of the players out "injured", the team has improved drastically. If these are the players giving their all in training, then the Pochettino project is well underway and finally he has had backing to drop the assholes that are lazy and think they are bigger than the club.

Yes, we will have to deal with scum like Chelsea at the winner's table, but I am optimistic in my belief that their bought success will come to an end and, really optimistically, their scourge of a club will soon get what they are due. There will come a time when badly managed clubs fall and, if Levy has changed his tune, we could be the predators waiting in the wings.

Back the squad. They are looking like they have the potential we all though they would have 18 months ago.

History will come to know it as Before Stoke, and After Stoke.

The season starts here. Im gonna lump some money on a top 4 finish.

 

[thinktank]

I am normally the one who comes in and berates our performances, players and manager, as well as ENIC and Levy. I also criticize all the optimists and naive posters.

However, even considering how bad we've been over the last 18 months, the last two performances should give us hope. I don't even remember the last time we played two games in a row with that kind of energy. Yeah, it's only two games but there is an actual identity to the side again. It's not very strong yet, but it is growing. Other times, our performances seemed liked flukes or a player or two having a good day or whatnot. This time round, there is a belief growing. Yes, we capitulated to dumb errors, but this is against Chelsea, unbeaten this term, and at Stamford Bridge. We didn't lose our heads when we could've. Last year Chiriches would probably have been sent off and heads would have dropped and made it easy for Chelsea to score 8.

Even when we tried passing and passing around the box, there was a sense of prying, trying to find an opening and not the AVB pass it back to goalkeeper nonsense. When we had chances go bad with Lennon and Kane, these were the players trying and once they get the hang of it, we will be converting them. This doesn't seem like before when half-chances or chances were by accident.

The ITK may or may not be true, but without several of the players out "injured", the team has improved drastically. If these are the players giving their all in training, then the Pochettino project is well underway and finally he has had backing to drop the assholes that are lazy and think they are bigger than the club.

Yes, we will have to deal with scum like Chelsea at the winner's table, but I am optimistic in my belief that their bought success will come to an end and, really optimistically, their scourge of a club will soon get what they are due. There will come a time when badly managed clubs fall and, if Levy has changed his tune, we could be the predators waiting in the wings.

Back the squad. They are looking like they have the potential we all though they would have 18 months ago.

Bravo.

 

[yido_number1]

His pass completion and someone put a stat up about the number of successful takeons was 3 or 4, and that there were none failed.

His performance was good last night, as was Kanes. Kane also ran down blind alleys a lot last night, and gave the ball away, and so did others who had worse games, yet Lamela is the one who is alway singled out. Price tag, hidden agendas, seems to be the case.

Have a look in the Lamela thread I've written nothing but positive things about him and rate him highly... he wasnt great yesterday...

 

[bigfrooj]

I have only read this page of the thread but there are two things I took out of the game. It confirmed my thought that we haven't found a way of playing Eriksen and Lamela in the same team without becoming unbalanced and if we play one then it is Eriksen who contributes more. I like Lamela but he is so frustrating - just release the fecking ball Eric.
Secondly most goals against us are the result of unforced errors- I know Christmas is coming but Chelsea don't need our help.Pochettino needs to work on that defensively and then pick only the most trustworthy players- and again its Lamela that continues to give away the ball time after time. I know his pass completion is good but he is too easily robbed in possession.

 

[shelfmonkey]

Just watched last night's goals, just another Spurs masterclass of top quality wank defending tbh!!

 

[SpurSince57]

History will come to know it as Before Stoke, and After Stoke.

The season starts here. Im gonna lump some money on a top 4 finish.

The trouble is, everybody else's started in August. And we have no points (depending on what you define as 'here').

In the real world, we have 20 points from 14 games, a less than impressive 1.43 PPG which would equate to 53 points over a season.

I suspect it won't require 80 points for us to take fourth this season; however, merely to equal last season's 69 points means we will need 2.04 PPG. This is something we've achieved precisely twice in our entire history.

 

[ronspurs]

dont know if this has been covered already, but the chelsea stewards are a joke

didnt get in til 8pm so missed first 15 minutes. created a dangerous crush by not having enough turnstiles

and all the police could say was "oh this happens every week"

 

[SpurSince57]

Just watched last night's goals, just another Spurs masterclass of top quality wank defending tbh!!

It was the same last season. We weren't as threatening as we were in the first 15-20 minutes last night, but we kept it tight for nearly an hour, during which Chelsea really hadn't looked like scoring at all. Then Vertonghen had a major attack of the Stupids and put Eto'o through, Kaboul clattered Eto'o in the box, got sent off and conceded a penalty, and that was Goodnight Vienna. Sandro falling over and Walker's kamikaze back-header to Lloris were the icing on the cake. No wonder Sherwood went apeshit.

I know other clubs aren't immune, but we just seem to do it in triplicate.

 

[SpurSince57]

dont know if this has been covered already, but the chelsea stewards are a joke

didnt get in til 8pm so missed first 15 minutes. created a dangerous crush by not having enough turnstiles

and all the police could say was "oh this happens every week"

I'm pretty sure that someone commented early in the thread that it looked a bit empty.

I haven't been to the Bridge since the 80s. They were tossers then, and they're probably even bigger tossers now.

 

[Beni]

Have a look in the Lamela thread I've written nothing but positive things about him and rate him highly... he wasnt great yesterday...

Its all about opinions, and I am fine with if yours is different than mine. How I saw it is different to yours, but feel my opinion is also backed up with stats (Which I hate by the way) that he touched the ball more often than most, had a high pass completion, and had a number of successful take ons.
On another night, he could have had 3 assists to his name, 1 in the first half, where he put Kane in, who was offside. 2nd where he did a scoop ball over Chelseas defence that Paulinho didnt control, and 3rd was a through ball that was just too fast and infront of Kane to get hold of.

I just can't accept fans scapegoating the same player every game, when others were a lot worse or even if he wasn't that bad. Like, he was awful against Everton when he came on, so feel that the criticism was waranted.

I am not saying Lamela is the greatest player to ever wear the Spurs Jersey, as he clearly isn't. What I see, is someone who is young, with raw talent, that has had a slow start to his career due to injuries, manager changes, unworking systems etc and is young and hungry to develop, and with the right manager, could develop into a great player.

Its practically his 1st season, and learning another new system with his 3rd manager at the club, he is going to be inconsistent, but how I can be more acceptable of him, is that he is one of few that isn't hiding, he is looking for the ball from defence/midfield all the time, and always wanting to look forward for that through ball, instead of sideways. We need someone in the team with creativity and that unpredictability, and I feel he provides this, and will only improve if persisted with.

 

[ronspurs]

does anyone know if there is a fan liaison officer at spurs and how to contact them?

i remember speaking to a lady from spurs who had that role when i went to Old trafford a few years ago when one of their stewards started beating up a woman and a kid inside the ground

 

[yido_number1]

Its all about opinions, and I am fine with if yours is different than mine. How I saw it is different to yours, but feel my opinion is also backed up with stats (Which I hate by the way) that he touched the ball more often than most, had a high pass completion, and had a number of successful take ons.
On another night, he could have had 3 assists to his name, 1 in the first half, where he put Kane in, who was offside. 2nd where he did a scoop ball over Chelseas defence that Paulinho didnt control, and 3rd was a through ball that was just too fast and infront of Kane to get hold of.

I just can't accept fans scapegoating the same player every game, when others were a lot worse or even if he wasn't that bad. Like, he was awful against Everton when he came on, so feel that the criticism was waranted.

I am not saying Lamela is the greatest player to ever wear the Spurs Jersey, as he clearly isn't. What I see, is someone who is young, with raw talent, that has had a slow start to his career due to injuries, manager changes, unworking systems etc and is young and hungry to develop, and with the right manager, could develop into a great player.

Its practically his 1st season, and learning another new system with his 3rd manager at the club, he is going to be inconsistent, but how I can be more acceptable of him, is that he is one of few that isn't hiding, he is looking for the ball from defence/midfield all the time, and always wanting to look forward for that through ball, instead of sideways. We need someone in the team with creativity and that unpredictability, and I feel he provides this, and will only improve if persisted with.

Thats all fair and often in football your opinion hinges on certain moments of play from a game. There were two occasions he lost the ball on the half way line trying a stupid pass trick. In addition to this he made some really stupid tackles that could of got him sent off. Those are the main things that I reflected on from the game and those shaped my opinion.

As you said he doesn't hide constantly shows for the ball and puts in a lot of tracking back effort (apart from the time he lost it on the half way line and walked back which had me shouting at the tv). I like him and as you said he isnt the finished product yet. There is so much potential in this team and as a whole we looked good yesterday but a 5 minute spell cost us the game. I am really excited for when we get it right on a more regular basis.

 

[StartingPrice]

I am normally the one who comes in and berates our performances, players and manager, as well as ENIC and Levy. I also criticize all the optimists and naive posters.

However, even considering how bad we've been over the last 18 months, the last two performances should give us hope. I don't even remember the last time we played two games in a row with that kind of energy. Yeah, it's only two games but there is an actual identity to the side again. It's not very strong yet, but it is growing. Other times, our performances seemed liked flukes or a player or two having a good day or whatnot. This time round, there is a belief growing. Yes, we capitulated to dumb errors, but this is against Chelsea, unbeaten this term, and at Stamford Bridge. We didn't lose our heads when we could've. Last year Chiriches would probably have been sent off and heads would have dropped and made it easy for Chelsea to score 8.

Even when we tried passing and passing around the box, there was a sense of prying, trying to find an opening and not the AVB pass it back to goalkeeper nonsense. When we had chances go bad with Lennon and Kane, these were the players trying and once they get the hang of it, we will be converting them. This doesn't seem like before when half-chances or chances were by accident.

The ITK may or may not be true, but without several of the players out "injured", the team has improved drastically. If these are the players giving their all in training, then the Pochettino project is well underway and finally he has had backing to drop the assholes that are lazy and think they are bigger than the club.

Yes, we will have to deal with scum like Chelsea at the winner's table, but I am optimistic in my belief that their bought success will come to an end and, really optimistically, their scourge of a club will soon get what they are due. There will come a time when badly managed clubs fall and, if Levy has changed his tune, we could be the predators waiting in the wings.

Back the squad. They are looking like they have the potential we all though they would have 18 months ago.

Excellent post...pity we don't have ye olde clapping smileys anymore because that is what this deserves

Just another little thought: While recognising everything you say, I was still a little I am disappoint, Son about the whole thing last might. I mean, we failed to take our chances, then gave them soft goals - it does have such a familiar sounding ring to it. But then, this morning I thought, as well as all of the above being true, we have now, on paper, played our three hardest games, Citeh, Chelsea, the Goons away. And that while Poch is sorting which of the playing stuff he can rely on and which he can't, and they are still learning/adjusting to his methods. And we are still not too far off the top four. If we can improve on the Everton performance against Palace, I believe we can really look to push on from there

 

[TheGreenLily]

Yedlin's coming, fredericks may be in the back of poch's mind, walker is close to being back properly.

Can also see more pacey players being bought in the summer to suit poch's style.

I would like Pooch to move Fredricks back to RW, I think we are fine for RB, but we are completely under supplied in the winger departments,

 

[worcestersauce]

Excellent post...pity we don't have ye olde clapping smileys anymore because that is what this deserves

Just another little thought: While recognising everything you say, I was still a little I am disappoint, Son about the whole thing last might. I mean, we failed to take our chances, then gave them soft goals - it does have such a familiar sounding ring to it. But then, this morning I thought, as well as all of the above being true, we have now, on paper, played our three hardest games, Citeh, Chelsea, the Goons away. And that while Poch is sorting which of the playing stuff he can rely on and which he can't, and they are still learning/adjusting to his methods. And we are still not too far off the top four. If we can improve on the Everton performance against Palace, I believe we can really look to push on from there

Building a team and getting it to gel leads to some absolute certainties along the way, one is failing to take chances and another is giving away soft goals, they are the very things that get sorted out when it comes good, I am beginning to think that this time we'll get the time to come good so actually those two failings are, sort of, positives.

By the way I'd love, one day, to play chelsea over there with both a proper right back and a proper left back together at the same time, that'd be novel wouldn't it.

 

[StartingPrice]

If ENIC's game is about profit, then why aren't they making any?

2010: £6.5m loss
2011: 400k profit
2012: £5.7m loss
2013: £1.5m profit

When I was a lad, we had this simple kid working on our gang. Nice kid, just not the full shilling and got the job 'cos his family new the charge-hand. One tea break, he picked up the paper and started to do the crossword. There as a clue that was 5, 6 and 4, can't remember the exact question or answer, but it was something about a US TV crime series. Big Al had filled it in. His answer was H I L L Y...S T R E E T S...B L U E

 

[Beni]

Thats all fair and often in football your opinion hinges on certain moments of play from a game. There were two occasions he lost the ball on the half way line trying a stupid pass trick. In addition to this he made some really stupid tackles that could of got him sent off. Those are the main things that I reflected on from the game and those shaped my opinion.

As you said he doesn't hide constantly shows for the ball and puts in a lot of tracking back effort (apart from the time he lost it on the half way line and walked back which had me shouting at the tv). I like him and as you said he isnt the finished product yet. There is so much potential in this team and as a whole we looked good yesterday but a 5 minute spell cost us the game. I am really excited for when we get it right on a more regular basis.

Yes, sometimes he needs to pick the right moments and area where to try and be adventurous and where to keep it simple. At this moment, we will have this inconsistency as he continutes to develop his game, and adjust to the league, where he may have had that time in Serie A, but here you don't.

I don't like the slating of players constantly on here, it just grates on me, is that, yes he loses the ball sometimes, but loads of others in the team do aswell and are also inconsistent . But, its always pages on pages of Lamela done that, Lamela done this, and thats why and others feel obliged to stand up for him, and see past theses inconsistencies and see the bigger picture.

 

[dimiSpur]

Funny how a lot seem to think we played our best football when we lost 4-1 to city and now 3-0 to chelsea.

When you put it that boldly I guess it's hilarious.

 

[Glenn_Purvey]

The stewards were shocking yesterday, when there was a charge forward one steward had hold of my coat and ripped the arm. I asked him for his details as I will be billing him for the damage, he just told me to shut up and get on with it. We then ended up having a row and them trying to not let me enter the game. The spurs stewards at the game were even questioning what the Chelsea staff were doing.

 

[StartingPrice]

does anyone know if there is a fan liaison officer at spurs and how to contact them?

i remember speaking to a lady from spurs who had that role when i went to Old trafford a few years ago when one of their stewards started beating up a woman and a kid inside the ground

Say what?