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Good Week/Bad Week

Krafty

Well-Known Member
May 26, 2004
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Good Week



Erik Lamela



A first goal for the club, and the first signs of a £30million player. The goal had a touch of fortune about it but the boost in confidence was there for all to see as he slalomed through the Sheriff defence to win the penalty.



Lamela has gone from a player who people did not even mention to one that people think should have come on against Newcastle to turn around the deficit. It’s important not to place too much on the young man’s shoulders after one good game against pretty average opponents, but then again he was the best player on the pitch on Thursday night.



Jermain Defoe



Good week for JD for two reasons: firstly, he broke Chivers European goalscoring record for the club, and secondly after another goalless display his chances of playing have surely improved. Whether it will be with Roberto Soldado or instead of the Spaniard remains to be seen.



Younes Kaboul



Back in Premier League, hopefully his fitness worries are now behind him.



Sandro



Irrational as it sounds, the introduction of a proper defensive midfielder helped improve our attacking play as the Beast gave us that bite, energy and initiative in midfield.



Simon Dawkins



Playing regularly in a Derby side going great guns under Steve McLaren. It’s been a great struggle for the lad (now man), and he will not make it at Tottenham, but the club deserves some credit for sticking with a player who suffered a leg break and at one point did not look like having a professional career. We talk about youngsters breaking into the first team but the club has a duty beyond that, and it is nice to see more of the youth products staying in the professional ranks.



Bad Week



AVB



On the one hand, we have qualified from our Europa League group nice and early. On the other, we struggled to score despite having plenty of the ball in both games. AVB is being asked the same questions, and the same answer (4-2-3-1, inverted wingers) is not the solution.



At least we gave it a go in the second half. It was the type of 1-0 defeat we are used to at the Lane – plenty of efforts on goal, keeper plays pretty well, we all go home frustrated – but all those who remained upbeat after our recent disappointments, saying we were still in fourth and kept seven clean sheets etc, can now see the worry when a team does not score goals despite being handed the ball for most of the game.



It only takes one weak challenge to let the opposition in, and 17 out of 20 Premier League teams are more ruthless than us.



Moussa Dembele



While it was Paulinho’s weak challenge that led to the only goal on Sunday, alongside the Brazilian Dembele was worse than poor. Sometimes players are anonymous, but Dembele seems content in his anonymity.



Sandro showed what a defensive midfielder is all about in his second half appearance. Paulinho has scored more goals in his short Spurs career already than Dembele, and the ex-Fulham man is no playmaker. His movement off the ball is terrible, often simply offering a backwards option which the centre backs were already offering, his passing is slow, he takes too many touches, and his greatest skill – that tight, muscular dribbling that sees the ball stuck to his foot as he jinxes past a player – all too often happens on the halfway line instead of around the penalty box.



With Capoue back as well, I just don’t see where Dembele fits in. It may do Moussa some good to take a step back, and I am not surprised that as the team struggles Dembele struggles as he still seems a little unnatural in the middle of the park. Perhaps AVB will rejig the side and Dembele will rediscover his mojo.



The Swindon loanees



Dumped out of the FA Cup at non-league Macclesfield 4-0. Ouch.
 

Montasura

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2008
7,256
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Been looking forward to this week's edition and had it not been for the Europa game then the good week section would have been a little barren.

Agree with Dembele sadly. There's no doubt he is a talented player and I'm not sure what the problem is, whether he feels constricted by AVB's tactics or whether he is just losing interest. Either way he needs to be dropped for a while but that then raises other questions of who replaces him. Sandro needs to be playing weekly but he shouldn't be alongside Paulinho either.
 

edgey

Well-Known Member
May 16, 2013
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I agree with Dembele part too. I think he'll feature less as the likes of Capoue and Sandro regain full fitness. I think Sandro/Paulinho combo is the best option but then Capoue's form at the start certainly should give AVB some selection headaches. Sadly tho Dembele is not the player he was last season at the mo.
 

tcyrus

Well-Known Member
Dec 7, 2006
1,663
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Correct me if i'm wrong,Dembele !
Did he not play as a forward for Fulham ?
 

14/04/91

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2006
3,527
5,693
I thought Dembele was poor and he lost the ball originally in the build up to their goal.

However I find it strange that he played 90 mins against Sheriff AND started Sunday. I'm not making excuses for him but he's never struck me as the sort of player that looks like he can perform at his best in 2 games in quick succession.
He certainly looked out of sorts when over-played last season (January onwards).
Sandro was fit enough to come on (and boy did he look fit!) so he should've started.

The Paulinho/Dembele axis is not improving and we're into mid-November.
 

TottenhamMattSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
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16,007
Dembele offers ball retention and not a lot else for me.
I guess his worth is linked directly to how much you value keeping the ball vs how much you want to do with it.
 

TottenhamMattSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
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It's also worth mentioning that Dembele was superb alongside Sandro last year but when playing with Parker he looked out of sorts. Mostly because Parker seemed hell Bent on attacking leaving Dembele covering.
Perhaps with him playing with Paulinho that's the problem
 

AB27

Active Member
Jun 17, 2012
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558
Not sure Defoe had a good week to be honest with you, considering his lacklustre performance against Newcastle. Was anonymous.

And it's good he broke the record, I'm pleased for him - but if we're slamming Soldado for only scoring from the spot, then I'm not sure what Defoe did any differently to deserve praise in that match?
 

greywizard2020

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2003
331
709
Definitely a bad wk for the gaffer. A man on a flying horse could see that the inverted winger option limits us so much. All our wide options just funnel themselves into the middle without the opposition having to anything much to initiate this.

Don't his coaching staff tell him to maybe switch the wide options around for 10mins. We need to be more expansive. Come on coach pull your head out of your arse.
 
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Jenko

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2004
5,290
4,157
Who would the wingers cross to?

Not being smart, but we do need to get people in the box to receive the crosses as well and that ain't happening.... In fairness, who really is gonna bust a gut to get into the box for a cross if Townsends on the ball?
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2003
9,187
11,149
Correct me if i'm wrong,Dembele !
Did he not play as a forward for Fulham ?
He did, was originally bought in as a striker but was woeful. Fulham dropped him back into an attacking midfielder and that's where he flourished.
 

miles_64

If Carlsberg did Members
Sep 10, 2004
1,697
1,069
Drop Townsend. Put Lamela on the left, Lennon right.
Then we'll find out if Soldado is lacking service or just shit.
I agree that we need to get balls into Soldado, however, I don't think that's the configuration to do it.

I would keep Towsend but move him to the left where he has played most of his career. He has the pace to go beyond his defender and putting him on the left will rein in his tendency to take shot after shot. It will also serve to make the pitch bigger as I often see Andros positioned at least 10 yards in from the touchline.

I would love to see Lamela included but on the right. Yes, this would still leave him as an inverted winger but this is the position he made his name in. It's only fair to give him a good crack at something he does well. He appears to be a more intelligent footballer than Townsend and as such, I would still expect him to find Soldado from the right, even if he hasn't gone past his man. I believe Townsend's successful passes into Soldado on Sunday totalled 0.
 

vigospur

Well-Known Member
Dec 10, 2006
1,115
807
Sorry to agree with everyone else about Dembele. Unfortunately he wasn't even anonymous but positively halted progress any time he had the ball. Europa League for the time being.
I am surprised not to see Soldado on the bad week list. This was my first time at The Lane this season and I was horribly disappointed at his lack of movement and inability to influence a game.
May seem harsh and of course he is no mug but at this level we are talking Suarez as the ultimate. Yes I know he has Sturridge up front as well but he could do the job Soldado does only twice as well.
I know he has plenty of admirers on here and I have even seen him defended on the basis that he doesn't make runs because he knows a pass won't come! I have even read that he works his socks off. Not on Sunday he didn't.
May come good but something off at the moment.
 

TottenhamMattSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
10,925
16,007
Sorry to agree with everyone else about Dembele. Unfortunately he wasn't even anonymous but positively halted progress any time he had the ball. Europa League for the time being.
I am surprised not to see Soldado on the bad week list. This was my first time at The Lane this season and I was horribly disappointed at his lack of movement and inability to influence a game.
May seem harsh and of course he is no mug but at this level we are talking Suarez as the ultimate. Yes I know he has Sturridge up front as well but he could do the job Soldado does only twice as well.
I know he has plenty of admirers on here and I have even seen him defended on the basis that he doesn't make runs because he knows a pass won't come! I have even read that he works his socks off. Not on Sunday he didn't.
May come good but something off at the moment.
agree with all of that, especially Soldado being made of stone
 

JamieDaCosta

Well-Known Member
Nov 14, 2003
1,954
1,243
Drop Townsend. Put Lamela on the left, Lennon right.
Then we'll find out if Soldado is lacking service or just shit.

It made me laugh when we put in a superb cross at the start of the game and Soldado wasn't even in the box let alone on the end of it

What will peoples excuse be for that......he's not getting any service!!! Oh, wait....Well, erm, he just, I dont know, he just didn't think it was worth the gamble! Hmmmmmm
 
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