Fulham Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

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Does the replay fall at the end of their run of games against Juve (twice) and Manyoo?

 

[chrissivad]

Does the replay fall at the end of their run of games against Juve (twice) and Manyoo?

yes, they go:

Thursday- Juve (A)
Sunday- ManU (A)
Thursday- Juve (H)
Sunday- ManCity (H)
Wednesday- Tottenham (A)

 

[ShelfSide18]

yes, they go:

Thursday- Juve (A)
Sunday- ManU (A)
Thursday- Juve (H)
Sunday- ManCity (H)
Wednesday- Tottenham (A)

Thats a bitch of a run in of games!

 

[stevenurse]

isnt this the sort of game eidur was recruited for?

 

[nicdic]

I wasn't aware they had set a date for the replay yet.

 

[nicdic]

Wasn't on the Spurs site but is on the BBC as Wednesday 24th March.

 

[Wellspurs]

Wasn't on the Spurs site but is on the BBC as Wednesday 24th March.

Its on ITV sports page as the 24th as well.

 

[worcestersauce]

I think this is the important part here. No-one, as far as I know, taking part in the debate who believes Bale is primarily a full-back and shuld stay as such, is actually saying he CAN'T play as a winger, or even function efficiently there. What we are saying, very, very clearly is that he is an excellent and improving who wants to be a full-back, who the club see as a full-back, and links up superbly with or two very talented left-midfielders (Modric and Krankjar). It is also the case that the attacking play that makes many of us believe he might not convert to a winger quite as well as you imagine has actually occurred whilst playing as a full-back. Against that you are looking for more and more qualifiers, more and more justifications nad explanations, more and more moving around of the team, more and more players out of position, more and more players developing new (or imporoving existing) skillsets, just to perservere with this belief that Bale ouwld be a great winger. All this to fix something that is not only not broking but is actually functioning pretty damned well (i.e. the Bale - Modric/Krankjar partnership on the left). Why?

Now, what we saw yesterday was that even when he plays withfull effort and not a little ability on the left he finds it difficult to cope with being doubled-up on. Yeah, he did get some crosses in, but mostly in the second half when the game was opening out and, as I observed, when Modric began coming over to the left more (probably to replicate their normal partnership, and probably at the suggestion of 'Arry). Suggesting that Lennon had the same problem at one stage doesn;t mean that Bale WILL overcome this problem and still leaves you with requiring a new back-up for BAE, who, himself, just doesn't provide the attacking outlet that Bale provides; it still leaves you with having to accomodate Modric and Krankjar, who now don't only have to compete with one another but Bale as well for the left spot; it leaves you with players out of the team in central midfield; it leaves a first choice central midfield pairing (I am assuming) of Modric and Wilson, which, despite arguments to the contrary, is IMHO suspectedly lightweight; and Modirc in the middle may only work as part of a 4-5-1, which then means only one striking berth. And, after making all of these adjustments, how long will you persevere with it if it don;t work immediately:shrug: 1 month, 6, 18:shrug: It ain;t broke, Bale isn't a winger, he is a full-back and he wants to be a full-back. I am only glad that 'Arry, in the latest issue of 'Hotspur Magazine' showed a clear appreciation of the situation and disinclination to play Bale as a winger other than in emergencies - like right now.

I don't disagree SP but clearly Harry Redknapp believes he is good enough to play as a left winger as does his International manager although Harry may prefer to see him stay at left back, will this continue after Modric has moved on?
We didn't swap the team around to make him a left winger we made him LW in the absence of a central midfielder and right winger but I suspect he will be played at left back when possible but just as an aside I am having difficulty remembering any chances or attacks coming from Fulhams right wing so maybe we could argue that Bale and BAE are a formidable partnership.

For the record I would refer back to one of my very early posts that I believe he will move forward and inside to become a central midfielder, the same migration Gareth Barry made and I believe this would be right because a player with the fantastic skill and ability is wasted 80 yards from the oppositions goal, he is simply too good not be used where his skills can be used to their maximum in the final third.

 

[nicdic]

I don't disagree SP but clearly Harry Redknapp believes he is good enough to play as a left winger as does his International manager although Harry may prefer to see him stay at left back, will this continue after Modric has moved on?
We didn't swap the team around to make him a left winger we made him LW in the absence of a central midfielder and right winger but I suspect he will be played at left back when possible but just as an aside I am having difficulty remembering any chances or attacks coming from Fulhams right wing so maybe we could argue that Bale and BAE are a formidable partnership.

For the record I would refer back to one of my very early posts that I believe he will move forward and inside to become a central midfielder, the same migration Gareth Barry made and I believe this would be right because a player with the fantastic skill and ability is wasted 80 yards from the oppositions goal, he is simply too good not be used where his skills can be used to their maximum in the final third.

Does his playing at left back stop him from getting forward?

 

[donny1013]

Surely his strengths ie pace, dribbling and crossing are suited to a wide role rather than central midfield. I think Barry moved into the centre as he hasn't got the pace or dribbling ability of someone like Bale.

 

[StartingPrice]

1) I don't disagree SP but 2) clearly Harry Redknapp believes he is good enough to play as a left winger 3) as does his International manager 4) although Harry may prefer to see him stay at left back, will this continue after Modric has moved on?
5) We didn't swap the team around to make him a left winger we made him LW in the absence of a central midfielder and right winger but I suspect he will be played at left back when possible but 6) just as an aside I am having difficulty remembering any chances or attacks coming from Fulhams right wing so maybe we could argue that Bale and BAE are a formidable partnership.

7) For the record I would refer back to one of my very early posts that I believe he will move forward and inside to become a central midfielder, the same migration Gareth Barry made and I believe this would be right because a player with the fantastic skill and ability is wasted 80 yards from the oppositions goal, he is simply too good not be used where his skills can be used to their maximum in the final third.

1) Taking this on board;
2) 'Arry believes it, you believe it, I believe it - I have never said otherwise (see interview with 'Arry in this month's 'Hotspur' Magazine, were he makes it clear that he sees Bale as a full-back, and winger is 'a different position');
3) But Wales is a small country with a very finite number of players above a certain level available for selection;
4) I hope Modric will be here for many years to come (if we can in any way match his ambition), but we already have Krankjar - who, as I said i the post you quote, is very much at his best on the left, and also links up well with Bale;
5) I know, and I am more than happy for Bale to play on the wing n emergencies - but how many tmies will we be so depleted that Modric and Krankjar both need playing out of position due to lack of options:shrug:;
6) No, I also thought BAE/Bale were fine - just that they didn't quite offer the same attacking threat as Bale?Modric do, and some on here were 'blaming' BAE for not 'playing like Bale' (ignoring the obvious repost that Bale didn't play like Modric, either);
7) That's a new one - full-back, full-back, full-back, full-back (SPs knuckles go white, clutching his desk, small flecks of spittle line his lips:grin.

 

[bubble07]

I dont understand why benny didn't play left mid and bale left back

 

[spurs_viola]

Wouldn't have been a harsh pen to give at all.

Hangeland has his arm above Crouch's head and stops him from connecting with the ball, the commentator said it would be harsh to give a penalty because his arm was already up - what has that got to do with anything :duh:

Agree fully. His arm was in an unnatural position and he should not have had it so much above his head - that's just asking for trouble as a defending player. Quite similar to Kanoute's handball v L'pool in that QF at WHL a few seasons ago. And very different to ball hitting defender's arm held down by his side.

 

[SpurSince57]

I dont understand why benny didn't play left mid and bale left back

And if they had, you'd probably have posted: 'I don't understand why Bale didn't play left mid and Benny left back'.

 

[Goldman]

I dont understand why benny didn't play left mid and bale left back

Maybe because Bale has played in that position a several times for us, where as BAE hasn't played there once (atleast to my knowledge).

BAE has been excellent at LB, but is an unknown quantity at LM. Whereas Bale has been excelllent at LB and decent at LM.

Doesn't seem worth risking BAE in that position when we know Bale can perform sufficiently, whilst still having an excellent option at LB.

Seemed very logical to me.

 

[$hoguN]

Playing Bale at LM made him completely ineffective on Saturday, yes he beat his man a couple of times but never had the same space he has been recently been seeing... Modric in centeral midfield was completely neutralised by their midfield and again we frustrating hit Crouch with the long ball far too often.

Was disappointed by the result as despite all that we were the better team, lets hope we can do them at the Lane.

Palacios was amazing too

 

[Blockbuster]

I thought Crouch played really well and so did Bale, we wasn't creating much and when we hit it long to Crouch 9 times out of 10 he won the ball controlled it and did good placed knock-downs, but so many times Pav was way off the mark either too far behind or in no mans land.

He was so poor it was unreal where was the Pav of last week running around and really wanting to 'prove a point' Arry needs to rip the piss out of this guy to make him play again.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

With Defoe next to him, Pav dropped deeper in previous matches and got involved while Defoe stayed on the shoulder of the last man. With Crouch in the side, Pavlyuchenko ends up on the shoulder for the whole game while Crouch drops deep and gets involved. Therefore, if we don't break down the opposition, Pav looks bad, just like Defoe does when he is playing and we don't manage to break down the opposition. Nobodies fault, just good defending from Fulham.

 

[worcestersauce]

Playing Bale at LM made him completely ineffective on Saturday, yes he beat his man a couple of times but never had the same space he has been recently been seeing... Modric in central midfield was completely neutralised by their midfield and again we frustrating hit Crouch with the long ball far too often.

Was disappointed by the result as despite all that we were the better team, lets hope we can do them at the Lane.

Palacios was amazing too

He wasn't completely ineffective at all, he beat his man more than a couple of times and if our forwards ever start attacking the space at the near post we'd really start to benefit from his crosses.
The fact was that Fulham defended in numbers and did it very well so there was very little space to be had, ironically against that set up I don't think Hud's presence would have made a great difference as there was no space behind their defence for him to play that lovely pass to Defoe for Pav's goal last week.
We will do them at the lane don't worry.

 

[sidford]

fulham are a well organised effective team who set out with a system to stop us playing and to launch the ball up to zamora whenever they get it which is what they did.
we will beat them at the lane. if we score first that'll force them to actually start to venture out of their half and if they do that we'll get more chances against them and beat them again.
it was a disappointing game to watch but thats because only 1 team wanted to play footie