Match ratings- spurs v's sunderland

[Bus-Conductor]

As some were saying last week, right now you find a way to win! Newcastle did and we found a way to give Sunderlands keeper nothing to do at all!

If we do live to regret it then it will be extremely sad, one thing is for sure we can't play this way through the last 6 games!

Newcastle found a way to win by playing the way Sunderland did yesterday - who didn't find a way to win. Newcastle managed to score with their only two trips into Swansea's half. Is that really how you want us try and find the way to win ?

How exactly do you set up differently when you are trying to "find a way to win" ?

It's a stupid cliche that means absolutely nothing.

 

[Legend10]

Newcastle found a way to win by playing the way Sunderland did yesterday - who didn't find a way to win. Newcastle managed to score with their only two trips into Swansea's half. Is that really how you want us try and find the way to win ?

How exactly do you set up differently when you are trying to "find a way to win" ?

It's a stupid cliche that means absolutely nothing.

Do you really want us to play 90 minutes and not give the oppositions goalkeeper a single thing to do? You obviously like the fact that we flooded the centre of the midfield with 4 players, had no width and moved the ball at a snails pace, but for me that was a negative display from both sides. I'm thrilled that Parker got over a one hundred passes by getting the ball of the centre backs and passing it back to them, getting back of them and passing it back to them, getting it back of them and passing it back to them for 90 minutes, it was thrilling stuff and really put Sunderland under intense pressure!

Finding a way to win simply means that the result is more important than the performance, you obviously think we done really well and Newcastle were crap, well guess what they got 3 points and we got 1. Not only did we not find a way to win, we didn't find a way to have a single meaningful effort on goal, Sunderland actually had what chances there were.

Offensively that was our worst performance of the season by some considerable distance!

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Do you really want us to play 90 minutes and not give the oppositions goalkeeper a single thing to do? You obviously like the fact that we flooded the centre of the midfield with 4 players, had no width and moved the ball at a snails pace, but for me that was a negative display from both sides. I'm thrilled that Parker got over a one hundred passes by getting the ball of the centre backs and passing it back to them, getting back of them and passing it back to them, getting it back of them and passing it back to them for 90 minutes, it was thrilling stuff and really put Sunderland under intense pressure!

Finding a way to win simply means that the result is more important than the performance, you obviously think we done really well and Newcastle were crap, well guess what they got 3 points and we got 1. Not only did we not find a way to win, we didn't find a way to have a single meaningful effort on goal, Sunderland actually had what chances there were.

Offensively that was our worst performance of the season by some considerable distance!

But we did have width, we had Bale on one side and Walker on the other, not to mention Ekotto. And as a collective performance we did plenty of things right, but individuals just couldn't deliver that spark of quality needed to make a difference against the most obdurate of opponents who have used the same tactics to beat teams better than us.

You must have missed the Liverpool away game where not only did we not see the ball, but we also failed to see their half of the pitch for 90 minutes.

I'll take ball domination and Parker touching it 100 times over what Sunderland served up every day of every week from here to eternity. And any fan that would rather watch what Sunderland did yesterday than we did definitely deserves whatever they get.

 

[Legend10]

But we did have width, we had Bale on one side and Walker on the other, not to mention Ekotto. And as a collective performance we did plenty of things right, but individuals just couldn't deliver that spark of quality needed to make a difference against the most obdurate of opponents who have used the same tactics to beat teams better than us.

You must have missed the Liverpool away game where not only did we not see the ball, but we also failed to see their half of the pitch for 90 minutes.

I'll take ball domination and Parker touching it 100 times over what Sunderland served up every day of every week from here to eternity. And any fan that would rather watch what Sunderland did yesterday than we did definitely deserves whatever they get.

I have no idea what you are even talking about here, none at all?

That said ball domination and Parker touching it 100 times actually served up the same total of what Sunderland did, absolutely nothing!

Who would sooner watch Sunderland? I should think nobody, do you know somebody?

believe what you like about the width but we actually had none, until Lennon come on anyway! Walker could really provide us with loads of width when he had Mclean on his side and nobody in front of him to help him, as it was he had to chase him back on a umber of occasions. Bale didn't stay wide, he kept roaming around rather than offering us constant width which is what we needed.

We just needed a spark of quality? What were you watching? We needed a hell of a lot more than that, we needed some pace, agression in our attacking, some immagination in our attacking, some crosses, some bodies in the box, some goal attempts would have been nice and a hell of a lot more besides.

I iknow you'll defend it until the cows come home because it was you're favoured formation and so on but make no mistake this was our worst offensive display for many a moon, and I totally saw the game against Liverpool where we absolutely created better chances than this and Bale should indeed have won it for us late on!

How can you have over 70 odd % possesion and spend the majority of the game in your own half? I'll tell you how, its if you play too slowly, play without options and play too deep yourselves!

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I have no idea what you are even talking about here, none at all?

That said ball domination and Parker touching it 100 times actually served up the same total of what Sunderland did, absolutely nothing!

Who would sooner watch Sunderland? I should think nobody, do you know somebody?

believe what you like about the width but we actually had none, until Lennon come on anyway! Walker could really provide us with loads of width when he had Mclean on his side and nobody in front of him to help him, as it was he had to chase him back on a umber of occasions. Bale didn't stay wide, he kept roaming around rather than offering us constant width which is what we needed.

We just needed a spark of quality? What were you watching? We needed a hell of a lot more than that, we needed some pace, agression in our attacking, some immagination in our attacking, some crosses, some bodies in the box, some goal attempts would have been nice and a hell of a lot more besides.

I iknow you'll defend it until the cows come home because it was you're favoured formation and so on but make no mistake this was our worst offensive display for many a moon, and I totally saw the game against Liverpool where we absolutely created better chances than this and Bale should indeed have won it for us late on!

How can you have over 70 odd % possesion and spend the majority of the game in your own half? I'll tell you how, its if you play too slowly, play without options and play too deep yourselves!

It's got nothing to do with formation. I've praised many of our performances this season with various formations and different players used in key positions. Liverpool, Wigan, Norwich away, Villa, Newcastle home, Chelsea away, Swansea home. 4411, 442, 4231, 433.

You have mentioned how they looked dangerous on the break, and we have all seen that's exactly how they have got their results since O'Neil took over, so we would have been stupid to go hung ho and losing would have been even worse than drawing. Some games are a battle and years gone by we'd never have won the battle, we'd have been bullied out of it. Instead we stood our ground, dominated the game from the first minute to the last, tried to break two banks of defenders squeezed into a third of the pitch but couldn't.

That performance was miles better than Liverpool. Christ, Liverpool actually came out and played, it should have played into our hands perfectly, but we shrunk into our own penalty box and barely poked our heads out.

We obviously just differ on the way we believe the game should be played I guess. But how you can defend that performance against Liverpool or call it better than yesterday is beyond me. It was timid, clueless crap.

 

[Legend10]

It's got nothing to do with formation. I've praised many of our performances this season with various formations and different players used in key positions. Liverpool, Wigan, Norwich away, Villa, Newcastle home, Chelsea away, Swansea home. 4411, 442, 4231, 433.

You have mentioned how they looked dangerous on the break, and we have all seen that's exactly how they have got their results since O'Neil took over, so we would have been stupid to go hung ho and losing would have been even worse than drawing. Some games are a battle and years gone by we'd never have won the battle, we'd have been bullied out of it. Instead we stood our ground, dominated the game from the first minute to the last, tried to break two banks of defenders squeezed into a third of the pitch but couldn't.

That performance was miles better than Liverpool. Christ, Liverpool actually came out and played, it should have played into our hands perfectly, but we shrunk into our own penalty box and barely poked our heads out.

We obviously just differ on the way we believe the game should be played I guess. But how you can defend that performance against Liverpool or call it better than yesterday is beyond me. It was timid, clueless crap.

I didn't say they looked dangerous on the break at all, I said they looked more dangerous than us! Which is saying nothing because we were as blunt and dangerous as a broken pencil!

And we didn't win any battle at Sunderland! They surrendered possesion we didn't win it, we just had no clues or options to do anything with it! I repeat that their goalkeeper made not 1 save, not even a very simple 1!

I didn't say either that the Liverpool game was a better performance, I said we created more chances and Bale should have won it for us late on, this is true!

The Sunderland performance was our worst offensive display in a very very long time, I for one can't remember the last game where we never gave the oppositions keeper anything to do, can you?

If we tried so hard to break two banks of defenders squeezed into the last third of the pitch why was the majority of the game played in our half?

 

[stemark44]

I didn't say they looked dangerous on the break at all, I said they looked more dangerous than us! Which is saying nothing because we were as blunt and dangerous as a broken pencil!

And we didn't win any battle at Sunderland! They surrendered possesion we didn't win it, we just had no clues or options to do anything with it! I repeat that their goalkeeper made not 1 save, not even a very simple 1!

I didn't say either that the Liverpool game was a better performance, I said we created more chances and Bale should have won it for us late on, this is true!

The Sunderland performance was our worst offensive display in a very very long time, I for one can't remember the last game where we never gave the oppositions keeper anything to do, can you?

If we tried so hard to break two banks of defenders squeezed into the last third of the pitch why was the majority of the game played in our half?

You are obviously someone who doesn't watch football a great deal.

Our only problem against Sunderland was that we didn't have enough intelligence in the final third,we didn't have enough players who could shoot and score from outside the box and we didn't have a referee who felt compelled to award us a penalty or send one of their players off.

 

[leffe186]

You know, yesterday was the first time in a long, long time I really missed Huddlestone.

 

[ravo]

Friedel 6 - Not a lot to do.

Walker 5.5 - Was OK, but gave away stupid fouls in dangerous positions against a team who were set up to score from set pieces only.

BAE 6 - OK.

Kaboul 7 - Dominant.

Gallas 7 - Dominant.

Parker 7 - Broke up play well

Sandro 5 - Poor. Should have come off at half time for Lennon. First touch and passing made me feel like Pav was back. Reckless challenge for his yellow was the icing on the cake.

Modric 6 - Struggled to play his game.

VDV 7.5 - Probably our best player.

Bale 6 - Stick to the left !!!

Ade 5 - No service

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Lennon 7 - Great little cameo, hope he starts tonight.

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Harry - Got the starting line-up correct IMO, but should have changed Sandro for Lennon at HT.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

You are obviously someone who doesn't watch football a great deal.

Our only problem against Sunderland was that we didn't have enough intelligence in the final third,we didn't have enough players who could shoot and score from outside the box and we didn't have a referee who felt compelled to award us a penalty or send one of their players off.

Can't really agree with that. I think Legend10 makes some very valid points. We had a lot of possession and Sunderland had a lot of man behind the ball and pressed us pretty well, but we kind of allowed them to do it. Whilst I always like to see us with the ball at our feet and I think we certainly tried to win the game we just weren't doing enough to ask questions of the Sunderland defence. We passed the ball around in deep positions which allowed the Sunderland midfield to push on to us and create a firm barrier to the defence and you can argue that it was the Sunderland pressing that forced us to pass in deep positions but I will counter that argument.

The reason I think that the flow of the game was determined by us is simple, we didn't have anywhere near enough off ball movement. If we are passing the ball patiently around that means that there should be plenty of time to make concerted efforts to stretch the opposition or alter the way they are set up. A diagonal burst from Bale, or Sandro bursting through the middle would surely catch the attentions of an opposition player or maybe more as they may not be sure who should be tracking him in that case. That then creates space which means it is much more difficult for them to press en masse as someone will have to cover the space left or it can be exposed. The result then is that the Sunderland midfield start to become more wary of gaps appearing, drop deeper and allow us to push higher and start playing the ball in dangerous areas of the field. The off the ball movement would then start creating spaces in the defensive line and we start to make more goal scoring chances. I don't think it is important if the run made is connected with every time and many times the runs aren't ever intended to be passed to. I don't even mind that players moving early get caught offside when a ball is played through. At least we are asking the question of the defence and they have to adjust for people moving.

So whilst we were very comfortable too it is disappointing that we didn't really manipulate the opposition and alter the flow of the game in our favour. We just seemed to have no ideas and I think that is what Legend10 is alluding to. I disagree that it was the fault of our players not being able to shoot from outside the box or the fault of the referee.

 

[Legend10]

You are obviously someone who doesn't watch football a great deal.

Our only problem against Sunderland was that we didn't have enough intelligence in the final third,we didn't have enough players who could shoot and score from outside the box and we didn't have a referee who felt compelled to award us a penalty or send one of their players off.

If you think that was our only problem then good luck to you, and as for relying on goals from distance, you aren't going to win many games of football by doing that! And if you really believe the distance point, which is a strange one, you would surely have put Defoe on way earlier seeing as he is somebody who can find the net from range?