Sunderland Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[Mr Pink]

The chance from Holtby's through ball was a sitter and he should have scored. The header was a tight angle with not much space between the keeper and the post. Probably a six-times-out-of-ten-you-score chance, not really a sitter. The other time he hit the post was actually a pretty difficult chance.

Also, as I suspected, all the post-match focus is on the penalty Sunderland should have had with absolutely zero mention of the penalty we should have had in the first half when Brown went all WWE on Dawson.

Not a perfect performance by any means, but definitely a step in the right direction performance.

The highlights on MOTD made the game look closer than it was. Didn't show our chances at the end, or our break away when Chadli nearly picks out Holtby who was certain to score. Yet they showed some of Sunderland's half chances.

Bizarre really - and like you say the pen incident on Dawson.

 

[SpurSince57]

Defensively obviously, but on the ball he was quite decent actually.

He always has been. Problems arise when he gets some competition on the ball.

Don't let that baby face fool you. He's going to be another Jenas. People will be saying, 'Wait until he's 25,' and then realise he was 25 three years ago.

 

[DiamondLites]

MOTD always distort our highlights to make games look a lot closer, it really grinds my gears

 

[Mr Pink]

He always has been. Problems arise when he gets some competition on the ball.

Don't let that baby face fool you. He's going to be another Jenas. People will be saying, 'Wait until he's 25,' and then realise he was 25 three years ago.

Yeah I agree, he wasn't tested really so it was what it was. He's always been tidy enough on the ball and can rake the odd long good pass as well.

 

[Spurger King]

As you would, if you have fuck all to do.

He touched the ball on more than one occasion, but none of them directly led to us conceding a goal. By his standards, that's bloody excellent.

 

[yankspurs]

Credit where it's due. Naughton had a good game today. Looked a lot more comfortable with Chadli in front of him.

Yes he did. And Vertonghen acknowledged that having Chadli in front of him helped him as well last match, if I am not mistaken. I think we might have found ourselves a left winger. Finally.

 

[SpurSince57]

Yes he did. And Vertonghen acknowledged that having Chadli in front of him helped him as well last match, if I am not mistaken. I think we might have found ourselves a left winger. Finally.

Didn't we have a bloke called Bale once upon a time?

 

[Bulletspur]

I still think we can catch them.

And you also think England will win the World Cup dont you?

 

[THFC 1882]

Very good second half
should at least nicked five goals and Defoe let alone three of them!

very important win
we can all smile now, 7 points in the last week

 

[nightgoat]

The highlights on MOTD made the game look closer than it was. Didn't show our chances at the end, or our break away when Chadli nearly picks out Holtby who was certain to score. Yet they showed some of Sunderland's half chances.

Bizarre really - and like you say the pen incident on Dawson.

Yeah, we had a couple of decent attempts in the first half which were ignored as well - the little link up between Lennon and Paulinho being the most obvious one.

 

[Sweetsman]

And you also think England will win the World Cup dont you?

Forget about the World Cup, we're having trouble saving the Ashes. Bloody Cook has a complete brain fart and tries to hook Johnson, gets out caught! FAAAAARRRRKKKKK! #cookout
Seriously though, they may be playing well, but it's because of the run or relatively easy games that they had to build up their confidence. However, they've blown it before, except this time the other teams aren't coming to the fore. They just need a negative spiral of immense dimension.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Last year was our record points total. This year we're currently on course to match it...

Last season we accumulated 72 points. This season we have 27 points from 15 matches, which corresponds to 68.4 points over 38 matches.

So not quite.

 

[JamieDaCosta]

This all day long. This has been my one and only gripe with us. Keep this up, we will finish top 4, of that I have no doubt.

Had Soldado been on, he would have scored 2 I reckon today. Taking nothing away from Defoe, his movement was hos best for ages, but Soldado would have thrived on those chances today.

Very happy with that win. Come on Spurs, lets move on from this now.

Its horses for courses, Soldado doesnt make the same runs or have the same movement or workrate as Defoe hence why he hasn't been getting those chances on a more regular basis

Defoe gave Soldado an example of how he should be working harder in order to get those types of chances although he should have finished the one on one and I dont understand why he didn't move towards the ball when it was played across the goal toward the end of the match, very strange

On another day he'd have got a hat trick

 

[NorthSide]

Only one downside to the game for me, how good is Walker and how long till the vultures start to spot it ?
I know some of our supporters don't see it, but Walker is a top class RB who is only getting better.

I don't post much but wanted to agree about Walker. He was sublime today, completely dominating their left side threat. He played with more intelligence than them, getting into the right positions to break up attacks often. He was much stronger than them, muscling them off the ball time and time again. He was much faster than them, as always, at times managing to keep out attacks of three on one simply by chasing faster than they could pass it. They didn't have a sniff against him all game and I was really impressed.

Not only that but second half he was bursting past their defensive line and leaving them for dead and then finding a pass too.

Bring it on Kyle!

We all know he has all the attributes to be an amazing player, and today he brought them all together brilliantly. Bravo!

 

[beats1]

Didn't we have a bloke called Bale once upon a time?

HES A LEFT BACK!!!

 

[davidmatzdorf]

It's horses for courses, Soldado doesnt make the same runs or have the same movement or workrate as Defoe hence why he hasn't been getting those chances on a more regular basis

It's also the case that Defoe has been hopelessly isolated in earlier matches, for same reason as Soldado - we have been playing the ball forward so sluggishly that we never deliver any crosses or through balls for either of them to attack. Defoe played well today, but that was partly because he benefited, after the first turgid half-hour, from Lennon, Holtby, Walker and others getting the ball through and behind the defence for the first time in ... well ... months.

Defoe gave Soldado an example of how he should be working harder in order to get those types of chances although he should have finished the one on one and I dont understand why he didn't move towards the ball when it was played across the goal toward the end of the match, very strange

It wasn't obvious at full speed, but the defender (was it Ki?) got a toe on it. Defoe was in line with where the ball was headed until it was deflected.

 

[deka_spur]

In the grand scheme of things, we really shouldn't be giving a shit about what Arsenal are doing.

Absolutely... To be honest, I hope that whenever other teams in top 4 or 5 play they get a draw.
But I would rather arsenal run away and beat all our closest competition and we finish 2nd or 3rd, than have arsenal finish 3rd and us 5th. Simple.

Now we need to start with Lennon and Townsend on there proper sides against Liverpool, with Soldado in the middle. Pauli, Demb and Holtby in the middle is fine by me for now. I think we will cause them a lot of problems - although happy if Sandro starts too. Only thing that concerns me is our defence and shaky keeper at the moment. They could also score a lot ... I love Dawson, but not convinced he is man to lead our backs with the system AVB likes.

 

[DiamondLites]

Just got done watching my football first highlights, thought I had leant on the fast forward button with some of the passing in the 2nd half

 

[Bulletspur]

Forget about the World Cup, we're having trouble saving the Ashes. Bloody Cook has a complete brain fart and tries to hook Johnson, gets out caught! FAAAAARRRRKKKKK! #cookout
Seriously though, they may be playing well, but it's because of the run or relatively easy games that they had to build up their confidence. However, they've blown it before, except this time the other teams aren't coming to the fore. They just need a negative spiral of immense dimension.

All they have to do now is match the most inform team with regards to results for the rest of the season, and they would have walked the title!

 

[yankspurs]

Didn't we have a bloke called Bale once upon a time?

I meant this season...