- May 7, 2005
- 6,108
- 5,038
Anywhere I can find the crowd size at Wembley yesterday ?
Obviously talks of a hoodoo is ridiculous because such things do not exist. But...
Losing to Chelsea in extra time, conceding an equaliser to Burnley in extra time and having a blatant penalty turned down in extra time won't help the players' mindsets.
Things like that could easily create a mind block that the players will struggle to get over.
I think there's already a mind block, tbh. Not saying we can't get over it but we've only taken 2 points from Chelsea, Burnley and Swansea so not exactly off to a great start.
I know last seasons home form was ridiculous but I didn't think we'd be 3 home games into the new season and already be in a worse position
I think the most important thing is how we play with all this hoodoo talk. We dominated Chelsea but got hit on the break and we were complacent against Burnley which cost us 2 points that were in the bag. We couldn't find a way through Swansea's 10 i formation and we played badly. If we had been bad in all 3 games I'd be much more worried but we've actually played pretty well.
When we do finally get into a position to shoot the finishing is woeful especially son who I like he works hard etc, but surely during the week he must shooting lessons off of Owen Farrell as his shots are always ballooned miles over the bar.I think there's already a mind block, tbh. Not saying we can't get over it but we've only taken 2 points from Chelsea, Burnley and Swansea so not exactly off to a great start.
I know last seasons home form was ridiculous but I didn't think we'd be 3 home games into the new season and already be in a worse position
I think the most important thing is how we play with all this hoodoo talk. We dominated Chelsea but got hit on the break and we were complacent against Burnley which cost us 2 points that were in the bag. We couldn't find a way through Swansea's 10 i formation and we played badly. If we had been bad in all 3 games I'd be much more worried but we've actually played pretty well.
I don't think we have been playing that well to be honest. Controlling the games yes and on other days maybe having some of our chances being goals yes but the Dortmund performance has been the only one that's encouraged me in any way. Put it this way, if someone said to me that we will play the rest of the season at Wembley as we have done thus far I would not be very hopeful at all. Our football there can just look way too slow and pedestrian for my liking.
I think our wide play will be vital at Wembley. The sooner we have both Aurier and Rose bombing down the flanks the better IMO, will hopefully open up spaces that we don't seem to be finding too much.
I saw a average position map in a paper comparing Sunday's game and the one where we beat them 5-0 before Xmas. Other than the 3 at the back compared to two at Xmas it was almost identical. The difference was we got an early goal back then and that first forccd them to try and play and we spanked them. We just couldn't get the ball in the net this time, if we had I'm sure we'd have put several past them. I'm really not worried in the slightest by this result. We dominated them. Just poor finishing and bad luck meant we didn't get all 3 points.
I don't think Wembley made one iota of difference to yesterdays result.
We could not break Swansea's defensive set-up and IMO it wouldn't have been different if we were still at WHL. We didn't create many clear cut chances and when we did we weren't efficient in our finishing.
Football 365 seem to be in the minority when it comes to credible and intelligent articles relating to Spurs.Gotta admit, think this is a great write up on the whole 'Stadium Myth' and our issues this season. Apologies if this has already been posted elsewhere.
http://www.football365.com/news/premier-league-winners-and-losers-72
Tottenham and Wembley
The notion of a Wembley curse is obvious piping hot nonsense, but even used in jest alleviates Tottenham of responsibility. Their struggles in their temporary home are not through some ethereal crisis that can only be solved by Barry Fry urinating in each corner of the ground. The only solution is significant improvement and better back-up plans.
Watching Tottenham at Wembley is a different experience to watching them at White Hart Lane, for sure. Their former ground was not daunting or unnerving for the opposition, but it was special. The stands were close to the pitch and that could help create a surge of atmosphere and goodwill that occasionally dragged the team on.
That atmosphere is lacking at Wembley, which truly does still feel like a neutral ground for Tottenham. On Saturday evening, supporters were waiting for something to happen rather than assisting it, and that was reflected in a ponderous first-half performance. When it became clear that Tottenham were running out of time, the reaction was to groan and gripe at individual players and the team as a whole.
Yet the biggest issue is not the stadium or the atmosphere, but how opposition managers have worked out the best way to combat Tottenham: give up the ball.
In their three home league games this season, Tottenham have registered possession of 67% (Burnley), 68% (Chelsea) and 75% (Swansea). The exception is Borussia Dortmund, who had 68% possession and conceded more goals in 90 minutes than Burnley, Chelsea and Swansea combined. Perhaps it was arrogance or just poor planning, but Dortmund got it wrong.
The difference between last season (when Tottenham dropped just four points at home) is obvious. Rank the 22 home games since the start of last season according to Spurs’ total possession, and Swansea would rank first, Chelsea fourth and Burnley fifth. Teams have calculated that by sitting back they can negate the threat of Tottenham’s counter-attacks led by Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen and typically finished by Harry Kane.
In fact, last season offered hints of this possible strategy. Three of Tottenham’s tightest home victories over bottom-half teams (1-0 vs Sunderland, 1-0 vs Middlesbrough and 3-2 vs West Ham) came in the five home games in which they ranked highest for possession. As Swansea showed, these tactics require some good fortune and perhaps even refereeing incompetence, but they provide the best hope of frustrating Mauricio Pochettino’s team.
That would also explain why Tottenham have been more effective away from home. They dominated possession against Newcastle, but struggled to break down Rafa Benitez’s side until Jonjo Shelvey’s sending-off. Against Everton, Tottenham had less possession than their league opposition for the only time this season, and won emphatically.
Pochettino’s challenge is to find a way to overcome this latest roadblock, but the performance against Swansea contained little to please the manager. Having looked sluggish in the first half, as if waiting for Swansea to make a mistake rather than pushing the issue, Tottenham veered straight from patience to desperation.
Supporters may wonder how on earth Tottenham failed to score with any of their 17 second-half shots, but only five were on target. Sixteen of their 26 attempts were from outside the area. For all Tottenham’s dominance, Lukasz Fabianski did not make a save that prompted standing applause.
Improvements will come. Pochettino is too good a coach not to work on another Tottenham USP that can overcome this difficulty. Yet until he does, Burnley and Swansea have offered a blueprint of how to thwart Tottenham. Blaming some abstract notion of a curse does those two teams a disservice.