Only one Man to Blame for Yesterday...

[Jack2]

I think part of the discussions here are just impossible to believe to be true! Some are trying to find someone to blame for the loss, there is already a "Ramos out" thread (haven't bothered to look at it, so it might be just a joke) etc. Just can't believe this!!

Come on now, that was our FIRST game of the season! We had 4 new players (Gomes, Modric, Bentley, Dos Santos) in the starting 11, it was the first game in competitive football in England for 3 players (Gomes, Modric, Dos Santos), first game in the league with new tactics and systems "learned" during the Pre Season! It was an away game against a team which played very well!!

It is good to analyze the game etc., but finding some to blame in the way many here have done is just ridiculous. One would think we've lost 10 matches in a row after reading some posts after our first game!

Come on now!!!

COYS!!!

 

[double0]

I think part of the discussions here are just impossible to believe to be true! Some are trying to find someone to blame for the loss, there is already a "Ramos out" thread (haven't bothered to look at it, so it might be just a joke) etc. Just can't believe this!!

Come on now, that was our FIRST game of the season! We had 4 new players (Gomes, Modric, Bentley, Dos Santos) in the starting 11, it was the first game in competitive football in England for 3 players (Gomes, Modric, Dos Santos), first game in the league with new tactics and systems "learned" during the Pre Season! It was an away game against a team which played very well!!

It is good to analyze the game etc., but finding some to blame in the way many here have done is just ridiculous. One would think we've lost 10 matches in a row after reading some posts after our first game!

Come on now!!!

COYS!!!

As fans do we analyse till the next game (thats football). What we saw against Boro was just like Ground Hog Day. We've seen it all before-thank above Robbo wasn't in goal, otherwise well.

The goals Boro scored including the disallowed one was typical Spurs defending...not strong enough at the back.

We need the players to encourage us more and not the money we've spent.

 

[Tonio]

Look guys, we spent a LOT of money pre-season and we really need to be taking the initiative in the seasons opening game...top 4 aint gonna come if we keep on getting results like this ffs. ok we can all say "awww it was our first game this and they need to gel that" but how many games like this can we afford to lose in the fashion we lost it. the players have had all pre-season to "gel" and we SHOULD have beaten boro..simple as that! if arsenal had lost that game their fans would have gone fkin mental. if we lose to sunderland (god forbid) will everyone say" get off their backs it was only the second game"?? already 3 points behind chelsea/arsenal/wham et all..i totally agree with lots of you saying WTF is zokora doing in defence? he is a midfielder is he not? jesus christ why not play the reserve goalie up front with bent. i am of course joking..but all the same. i understand some people not wanting to jump on the slagging off bandwagon but i really hope this isnt the shape of things to come.
3 points against sunderland NO EXCUSES.

 

[MarkTHFC9]

I don't think picking a strong side or dominating possession is anything to credit Ramos for. You can pretty much only pick a strong side from the players we have and we are going to dominate possession against 80% of teams in the league. With the likes of Modric, Bentley, Dos Santos and JJ will pass the ball better than nearly all teams, as they are simple technically superior. Lets' face it O'Neil and Shawky aren't even comparable with JJ and Modric. O'Neil couldn't even get in the Pompey side ahead of players we discarded 2 and half years ago. Saying we dominated possession, when they were Borob's CMs isn't exactly a great achievment.

Also, we can't claim that if we'd finished a couple of chances then we'd have won, as Boro had far better chances that they missed, so really you equally could have argued that they could have stuffed us. Are people forgetting Wheater's disallowed goal, Alves poor finish or when Allidaire was through with a one on one? The fact we had the possession means nothing. Southgate deserves the credit as he realised what the strengths of his team were and the weaknesses of our were. We had the better midfield who bossed possession, so Boro simply didn't play through midfield. They played very direct counter attacking football, particuarly exploiting the right hand side and this made them dangerous throughout the whole match and this is why they had by far the better chances. We had the possession, but Boro kept themselves very organised with 2 defensive lines and continually got their depths right. We played this terrible system by which we had 4 players trying to play in the hole and until Bale came on, we had little width. Boro weren't particuarly bothered by this and hence we had so few clear chances.

The fact we had more of the ball and created a couple of clear chances counts for shit, when you look at the vast difference in quality between the players we had and theirs. Southgate deserves lots of credit, as his team was better organised defensively and in attack played to their strengths and our weaknesses. Despite our great team sheet, our system and organistation did nothing to help us. Sometimes we need to be more gracious in defeat and just admit the better team won on the day.

I made a lot of these points somewhere around page 2, but you put it across a whole lot better.

I absolutely hate people who think we would have definitely won if Jenas scored, hence its his fault. People seem to think we would have cruised to a 3-0 victory, and no doubt if Wheaters goal was given in first half we would have made an almighty fightback in the second half according to some peoples basis of the argument.

 

[KingKay]

In the words of corporal jones ..... DONT PANIC!

 

[camaj]

I was quite suprised at the team selection, I think Bale should have started, perhaps Berba too. I like Modric and Dos Santos, but they need to impose themselves on the game. Berba was probably the best player and almost won us the game.

Villan of the match was Dawson. I won't write him off but he just looks off the level he can be. Was at fault for the disallowed goal, the scorer just turned him inside out. For the first goal he simply didn't track the goal scorer, for the second he was just badly positioned, he should have been between Mido and the goal.

BAE had a bad game yesterday defensively but there's no reason to single him out, you have to look at his overal performance.

Zokora was very lucky, he was way out of position for an early chance and god knows where Dawson and Woodgate were!

 

[Rackybear]

You lads can crack on as much as you want about Jenas and Modric dominating the middle, and us having 65% possesion away from home. But lets get down to the raw facts...

Boro 2-1 Spurs

To rub it in, we didnt even score a proper goal, we didnt open them up, it wasnt a brilliant team goal, just a good delivery from Bentley.

Anyhow, my main point is, possesion does not win games, goals do, and when we had possesion we did not do anything with it. Its positive that we can keep a lot of the ball and stop the other team from playing, but once we turn possesion into chances and goals, thats when we will be the team everyone is talking about.

As martin jol said ....we're not quite the finished article.

 

[Class1987]

If we must indulge in that soon to be Olympic event 'blame', (In which we would be serious Gold medal contenders) then I feel it should be directed toward me.

I was the one who forgot to kiss our lucky teddy bear 'Paxton' three times before placing next to my bottle of real ale. I was the one who didn't put on the wifes lucky matchday panties with the Spurs badge on the front and it was me who didn't perform my pre match ritual of my Spurs version of the Hukka before firing one into the wife the night before the game.

I'm sorry lads. I'll do better next week.

Of course you will, mate, or people here will run riots again next week.

 

[TrueYid]

saved me a lot of typing :shrug:

Mark, i have a glass on the side here which was full to the brim with fruit juice not long ago - i've drunk half. Now, tell me - half full or half empty? :think:

We looked like a team that still needs to find it's rythmn yesterday and we need to address the way our defence can so quickly be dragged out of position, but other than that i wasn't too upset by the way we played, just the scoreline.

See this is where I see things from a slightly different angle. I have never had my glass full, only 3/4's so now after a result which I feared before the game nothing much has changed, so now my cup is hovering somwhere between 2/3's and 3/4's full.

If you were to have a full glass before the season started than you were being way to extreme, extremism isn't good, because that makes us either top4 or bottom half of the table.

Nothing changes overnight, long way to go, I know that there are issues to be ironed out, but I also know we have a fine side and are the envy of most of the PL outside the top4

 

[biggsyboy]

any info as to why King on bench? if he wasnt 100% why was he in squad?

 

[AllSeeingEye]

I think Ramos may have had an off day as well.

It was no surprise that the team, although intially looking good with the addition of Bale and Berbs, conceded the first goal.

I though he should have brought O'Hara on a little earlier or given King a run out and had Huddlestone and Berb, or Hudd and Bale. There was no bite in the midfield with Jenas and Modric not really communicating. And Lennon was largely ineffectual since Bentley was occupying his usual spot.

When Berb came on, Bent should have gone off, it was not his day, he wasn't looking as sharp as he was in pre-season.

Jenas looked frustrated too, should have been replaced by Hudd.

Just my opinion of course and i'm no cup winning manager, but even cup winning managers can get it wrong sometimes.

Pressure is high right now, and we don't seem to have kept a lid on it against a team that didn't really have too many shots on target and simply wanted it more.

 

[worcestersauce]

You lads can crack on as much as you want about Jenas and Modric dominating the middle, and us having 65% possesion away from home. But lets get down to the raw facts...

Boro 2-1 Spurs

To rub it in, we didnt even score a proper goal, we didnt open them up, it wasnt a brilliant team goal, just a good delivery from Bentley.

Anyhow, my main point is, possesion does not win games, goals do, and when we had possesion we did not do anything with it. Its positive that we can keep a lot of the ball and stop the other team from playing, but once we turn possesion into chances and goals, thats when we will be the team everyone is talking about.

As martin jol said ....we're not quite the finished article.

But had we only had 35% possession that would have been more worrying, what we have to do now is convert that possession into goals rather than work at trying to get more possession to convert into goals.
I agree we are not quite the finished article yet but I do think we are geting closer to it.

 

[Bonjour]

You lads can crack on as much as you want about Jenas and Modric dominating the middle, and us having 65% possesion away from home. But lets get down to the raw facts...

Boro 2-1 Spurs

To rub it in, we didnt even score a proper goal, we didnt open them up, it wasnt a brilliant team goal, just a good delivery from Bentley.

...

You say let's just look at raw facts, i.e. the scoreline, and then mitigate our goal as 'not a proper goal'. Surely, in similar vain, you can look at the scoreline and try to draw the positives, of which I'd say the possession for certainly was one.

 

[Fordy]

I cant wait for saturday, i really think we'll put on a good performance and get a good result. The boro game will soon be forgotten and we can go onwards.
Will be interesting to see Berbs too! if he's still there.

 

[Supernova.M]

BAE was alright but got caught out of position. If we had a good DM he would have covered for him and you'd have said BAE was the best player on the field.

 

[Jamturk]

I think it was what the management said whoever got the 1st goal would win, if we had scored it would have forced Middlesbrough out of their counter attacking stance and we would have countered them. Top 4 teams face this week in week out and we have to face up to it ourselves because we have a quality team. we need a centre forward with more presence than Bent, Bent strengths lie in getting behind a defence who are pushed further up the pitch.

 

[mackay59]

Ramos got it wrong. Poor choices:

1. Ekotto is turd. There is no argument, he is turd. He cant defend at all, regardless of his average crosses we need full backs who can defend. Whether Bale can defend is another matter, but we defo need some solid full backs for once.

2. Bale simply has to start. He didnt make an impact when coming on but give the lad a chance. Lennon has done nothing pre season instead of score a few headers and a tap in or two. Yet nothing in terms of the creative Lennon of two years ago.

3. King has to play. If hes not fit for the first game of the season then hes not fit at all. Got to be more with this story.

4. Modric and Jenas will not work away from home. Can be destructive at home no doubt but need more steel away from home. Personally i might have played OHara

Basically, Ramos got it totally and utterly wrong.

ekotto and dawson should have been gone....neither can defend.

tanio should have stayed.

plain to see....

 

[Rackybear]

You say let's just look at raw facts, i.e. the scoreline, and then mitigate our goal as 'not a proper goal'. Surely, in similar vain, you can look at the scoreline and try to draw the positives, of which I'd say the possession for certainly was one.

Ok, the possesion might be seen as a positive to take from the game, but not so much in my eyes.

If that possesion had at least led to 3 or 4 openings or chances in which we could have scored, then you can walk away knowing the foundations are their, and its just a case of being ruthless and converting the chances we create. Man Utd might be dissapointed with their 1-1 draw, but they created plenty of chances to win the game comfortably and only shay given thwarted them. With our 65% possesion, we created 1 goalscoring oppurtunity, and that was largely down to berbatov, who i fear is not going to be here for much longer, so we better start getting used to not replying on him.