Sydney FC Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[willy white wonka]

Bloody hell we actually kept a clean sheet? Sydney must have a half arsed forward line!

 

[JimmyG2]

Bloody hell we actually kept a clean sheet? Sydney must have a half arsed forward line!

That's four games without conceding a goal.
Need to keep this up until Xmas.
At least.

 

[Timberwolf]

That's four games without conceding a goal.
Need to keep this up until Xmas.
At least.

Danny Rose's gorgeous header past Lloris begs to differ.

 

[only1waddle]

I hope one of the main improvements next season is playing out from the back, too many goals conceded with sloppy possession leading to mistakes and us conceding, there were moments against Sydney where better sides would have taken advantage.
We got better as the game went on with some of our youngsters showing real promise, fingers crossed we have a few quality graduates out of them.
Still disappointed with the pressing at times, it's fairly easy to bypass as Sydney played some easy passes into an empty midfield, again, I'm sure this will be worked on tons in pre season.
Too much random shooting again for me, but some really nice close control from the whole squad and a good attitude from the guys not to let it turn into a training session.
Post season games a success in my book.

 

[spurs-r-us]

I'll have to knock up a longer post soon, but as said earlier this was my first ever Spurs game...

Kicked off at the pub around 3, hundreds of people packed into one room singing their hearts out for about an hour and a half until the police came and told us to move on. Got very rowdy when they had to stop the beers, and the chants got rowdier and rowdier. There was even a quiet rendition of the old Campbell song...wherever he may be...but just one.

The highlight was the walk to the station. Hundreds of us marching and singing through to Sydney Central with a police guard and people openly gawking. Arrived at the platform and the half an hour we waited was used for the best singing of the night. Some idiots had bought their young kid in an Arsenal shirt, and felt quite sorry for the lad because the abuse took a while to become good natured.

Boarded the train and kept on going, there were a few awkward pauses where the only Sydney FC fan on the train tried to have a go back.

"STOP SINGING ABOUT ARSENAL, THEY'RE ENGLAND NOT HERE"

(pause)

"WHO THE FUCK, WHO THE FUCK, WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU. WHO THE FUCKIN FUCK ARE YOU"

Best part was during one of the rare silences between songs, one bloke gets up form his seat and busts out the old "The Wenger bus is coming, and all the kids are running" .

We sat behind the goals "Park Lane" at the game, but the chants were poorly organised because of the shit acoustics at the ground and too many people wanted to sit down. The sitting was a shame but ok, but for the few guys who absolutely refused to sit and made the experience incredibly uncomfortable. They didn't sing, they just stook defiantly and told everyone who asked they sit down to fuck off.

Game was alright, great to see Harry score.

Must say that the best part was the build up and anticipation. A more passionate crowd you will never see.

COYS.

 

[JimmyG2]

Danny Rose's gorgeous header past Lloris begs to differ.

I don't count OG's.
I meant goals by our opponents.

 

[stevenqoz]

Went out to ANZ with the family. Vert and Dier with be our future cb pairing ....both absolute quality last night although they only played half the game each. Expected Yedlin to play more of an attacking wingback role but it was the first time he has actually got on for us. Thought Mason Townsend and Dembele were half hearted while Bentaleb tried to exert his superiorority over anyone he faced. Chadli ran and effortlessly glided past opponents throughout. Nice to see Harry tuck the chance away. Lamela nothing special last night....not suited to the number 10 in my opinion, if only because his distribution at the end of runs is haphazard at best.
Good being amongst so many yids again....took eight of us....actually got on a supporters bus that was arranged which brilliant. Playing a week after the season finishes is much better than seeing them pre-season.....at least it was a contest

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

I came over from Auckland for the game. Fantastic turn out.
Was impressed with Yedlin going foward but you could not evaluate his defence as SFC offered very little. Best of the subs for me was Winks. Lamela looks better in a more central role. Townsend looked very average.
Thumbs up to Sydney rail. Getting there and back was really easy.

I suspect there's probably a really good, but extremely bloody obvious reason for that

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Yes I thought Ibini was the standout for Sydney. Controlled the game for them and looks quality. They were not poor opposition by any means, they play a very European based game with lots of posession, good movement and passes on the grass. This is not a hoof it and pray side. Remember the national team with lads who started locally came within a whisker of beating a full strength German side only a few months ago.

The remarkable thing for me is how much of a European come South American side Spurs are now. Beautiful close control from all our players in tight situations. Intricate passing patterns. Even the English lads. Very good movement into space by all the boys. Not static at all.

I was in London at the beginning of the season and again later in the year and saw a few games. We looked static and players were not running into space, most of them were standing off the ball waiting for the pass and not making space for the pass. You could see the frustration on Poch's face on the sidelines. I havent seen the side for a few months live and the change is quite dramatic. The way the team sets itself up on the park now has come on leaps and bounds. Not surprisingly the young lads coming through also display a lot of that close control and movement. The 60% posession stats tell no lie. However you cant see this on your TV screen, you need to watch the game live. But, you still need end product and that decisive finish and we lack that explosive quality in the last third when teams put up the shutters.

I think the biggest problem is that we dont have a player in the No. 10 position who can release his colleagues into space behind the defense. Eriksen is not that player. We could try Lamela there and to be honest some of his passes are lovely and beautifully weighted but he is lacking that maturity we need. If we want to fast forward, we really need a seasoned advanced playmaker like Mata and one fast winger who can stretch defences and provide that cross for Harry, Chadli and Lamlea who ususally make those runs into the box.

The other alternative is developing fast attacking full backs who can provide that width. This is the Poch system but we are still very tentative in that respect. Rose showed a lot of improvement last season but Walker was playing on half his batteries. The injury obviously still fresh in his mind. However, you can see the team is a work in progress and the improvement has been remarkable. If we get that similar exponential team improvement next season, top 4 is looking very gettable.

If we develop a decent defensive formation that can tame the high line, we will make a lot of sides suffer next season. Get ourselves an experienced advanced playmaker as well as an explosive flanker and we will rip teams apart.

Cracking post, thank you for sharing your thoughts about the game. May I pick your brains about a couple of bits, though? In your post, you stated ,

"Beautiful close control from all our players in tight situations. Intricate passing patterns. Even the English lads. Very good movement into space by all the boys. Not static at all."

And then,

"Not surprisingly the young lads coming through also display a lot of that close control and movement"

While I was reading through the comments after the game (that's when I logged onto the site) , there were a couple of posters who pointed out we were struggling to make a good first touch, and the passing was going astray. So, were they perhaps just talking about one or two individuals, in your opinion ?

I only ask because I much prefer your side of the story

 

[Bulletspur]

A nitpicking observer's comment

Ok cool, you must have went for a piss when he does his kamakaze closed eyes cross the park passes that goes straight to the opposition then in the back of our net.

Followed by the sensible and balanced retort

All younger players are going to make mistakes, it's called learning.
We've all done it, those mistakes become less frequent as we grow older.
If they continue frequently making the same mistakes and not learning then it's time to reassess there position.
I've seen every member of our squad make bad mistakes.
But scapegoating any player because of one mistake is taking the pis.

 

[carpediem1906]

same observations about townsend then... its not just that he doesn't have an end product... rather, it's the fact that when he's dribbling, he loses awareness of whats going on around him and doesn't have the quick glance up that many better players have... also better players will immediately release the ball once they sense an opportunity to pass it to space / team mate who are in the better position. townsend doesn't do this, frustratingly - either he doesn't see the pass, or he doesn't execute it fast enough.

same observations - as in that's what i saw live, about him against malaysia, as well

 

[carpediem1906]

yedlin... besides pace, what impressed me (against malaysia) was his leap.

the boy can really jump high and head.

 

[VegasII]

yedlin... besides pace, what impressed me (against malaysia) was his leap.

the boy can really jump high and head.

Quantum Leap? Maybe he can put things right that once went wrong.

Now where does he want to start?

 

[Blackcanary]

My internet broke and I couldn't watch this.

Any lovely, generous person want to give me a quick rundown of the goods, the bads and the Townsends?

(With particular reference to Yedlin, Stambouli and CB, Lamela and the young 'uns of most interest!).

 

[Flashspur]

Cracking post, thank you for sharing your thoughts about the game. May I pick your brains about a couple of bits, though? In your post, you stated ,

"Beautiful close control from all our players in tight situations. Intricate passing patterns. Even the English lads. Very good movement into space by all the boys. Not static at all."

And then,

"Not surprisingly the young lads coming through also display a lot of that close control and movement"

While I was reading through the comments after the game (that's when I logged onto the site) , there were a couple of posters who pointed out we were struggling to make a good first touch, and the passing was going astray. So, were they perhaps just talking about one or two individuals, in your opinion ?

I only ask because I much prefer your side of the story

Hi Coopsie, there were a few wayward passes to begin with, which you'd expect in the first 10 minutes but this was a very good passing display overall. Sydney were not easy to play against and they play a very similar game, relying on posession and quick breaks. They are also a pacey side and tried to break up play as much as possible.

My real excitement came from our movement once the lads started to warm up. It was a joy to watch. I am really commenting on this in reference to our performances earlier in the season when we were so bloody static and the movement was awful reminding me of the worst days under AVB.

Poch is developing a real possession based game with this team and the movement was very un-English. It was pure continental. The static movement and standing around waiting for the ball to feet was gone. Everyone was moving and offering themselves as options. The control was great. I think this was partly to do with it being a friendly and the lads being able to relax, but the teams real DNA is starting to shine through. There was a lot of slick passing patterns and continuous probing of Sydney's formation and quite a bit of patience being displayed. It was keep ball until opportunities appeared. As soon as the gaps appeared, we had an extra man to take the pass. You can see its a work in progress but the green shoots are well and truly growing now.

I know a lot of people on here have this fixation on the instantaneous forward pass but if there isnt someone to receive it, you are then fighting to get it back. Bill Nick used to say something about you cant win a game without the ball.

The main complaint I have is that we do not stretch the opposition enough and youve all heard the same complaints on here. The front 3 behind Harry cut in and if the opposition play narrow we run into brick walls. The FB's still aren't overlapping and generally I think the team are still very cautious about being exposed with the high line.

The other thing is that playing such a high line leaves you open to instant punishment if your passes are wayward. We left ourselves exposed a few times and you can see why the defensive record for goals against was so bloody awful. This is probably going to be the hardest bit of Poch's rewiring of Spurs and last season was proof that we dont know how to do it properly yet. I think next season we'll still be a work in progress on the high line but we'll cut more of the silly errors out.

I do a bit of work with the A League and the Football Federation on the legal side and know a few people with good footballing backgrounds and they were very impressed by the quality of Spurs and the very 'unEnglishness' of the team. Sorry, that probably sounds like an insult but its actually quite a compliment coming from these guys who have mainly European and South American backgrounds.

 

[chinaman]

By the way, did we win our 2nd trophy of the year?

 

[DaiT]

Also remember this was our 3rd game in just under 5 days and we travelled to Malaysia and Australia during that time.
It was a great performance for the team to do that.

 

[not_tenth-again]

My two bobs worth....

Game of two halves. First half good value, second half was pretty meh.

I was sat up near the Sydney FC end, one bay from the cove. Their support was very good - loud hailer, drums, persistent singing. Kudos to them.

From Spurs point of view... nothing too new to report. Kane and Lamela were the closest to me in the first half. Wow, when you see them up close you can't be anything but impressed with their movement and workrate. I didn't really notice Eriksen but in a good way, he just seemed to pop up in space all night. Must be an absolute nightmare to mark, so hard to track on the field.
Yedlin seemed ok, didnt do much wrong but always got the impression he's immature, just need to be patient with him.
I also though Stambouli looks quite assured in central defense, worthy of much more playing time than he gets.
I could babble on about each player but the two I really want to mention are Dier and Bentaleb. They are young in the scheme of things but you'd never know by watching them. They are so in control of their games. I was massively impressed. They are, along with Kane the future of the club, heres hoping they stay around long enough to have testimonials at Spurs.

Anyway, bit of a so/so game but was great to see the team live. Reassured me of the clubs trajectory too.

 

[E17yid]

Yedlin arrived in bloody January!

What is most "telling" is that people expect a young kid to come across walk straight into an established side that was at that time was fifth in the PL and that players like Walker, and or Dier or Chiriches to be dropped for no reason other than a player has been brought into the Club?

You could have said the same about Dele Alli as we bought him at the same time. Perhaps he isn't good enough because he remained at the Dons? If Yedlin is good enough a footballer for Klinsmann to recommend him then he's likely good enough for Levy to have gone and bought him.

I don't get all the negativity about a young kid that has moved a Continent and is learning the PL.

Don't you hate lamela? I only ask as its funny reading all this "he needs time to adapt" stuff when last year you would have hung drawn and quartered lamela

 

[Sir Henry]

A nitpicking observer's comment Followed by the sensible and balanced retort

Have you actually got anything worthwhile to say or you gonna just copy and paste other peoples comments ?

All younger players are going to make mistakes, it's called learning.
We've all done it, those mistakes become less frequent as we grow older.
If they continue frequently making the same mistakes and not learning then it's time to reassess there position.
I've seen every member of our squad make bad mistakes.
But scapegoating any player because of one mistake is taking the pis.

Excellent, so if my 20 year old daughter starts crystal meth, I just give her a hug and tell her its ok its a mistake, you're just young. Then if she does it for the 4th/5th time, I just say 'you're learning' it will get better as you get older but we might have to reassess things soon. Dont worry though sweetheart, if you do it again I'll have a well timed bunch of bullshit excuses to tell your friends. On the plus side, you're fine, all your friends take meth too so its ok.

Or, could I not just tell her shes fucking 20 years old not fucking stupid, kick the shit out of her and tell her if she does it again I'm gonna kick her in the fanny ?

Which one would stop her doing it again ?