Tottenham Hotspur Vs Liverpool Match Thread

[CrazyConrad]

Excelent game today but if our game is only about long balls with Crouch on the field I rather have Defoe and Keane on. When Crouch cam on today our game changed totally from playing via the midfield to the long shit towards Crouch. God forbid us to play like that in the future.

And on a sidenote: Crouch hardly won any duels :/

 

[Son_Of]

Conrad, funny thing is crouch has good ball control and wouldn't advocate the long ball approach himself. should bear in mind that late on in the game, when leading it is very natural to get bodies behind the ball and clear it long. it makes for a lot of pressure but psychoologically it's understandable

 

[bubble07]

Martin O'Neil

 

[KingKay]

Quality game, top result! we finally look like a team with a bit of backbone about us. Up the spurs!

 

[woodyspur]

AAAAAAHHHHHH.... well done lads, well done.

So no one screaming about firing anyone for at least a week, right?
COYS!!

 

[hughy]

Anyone else a bit suprised by the amount of emotion Ekotto showed after he scored his goal? I expected maybe a fist pump, and a slight upgrade on his usual cocky smile when he finally got off the mark. Really happy for him. He has a sweet left foot, we've seen how good it can be with the majority of his crosses. Hopefully this gives him the confidence to use it more often.

 

[markiespurs]

Just got back from todays game, what a result.

Our work rate today was fantastic from back to front, we really worked hard to deny Liverpool space and time on the ball, which really frustrated them and resulted in them losing their discipline for large parts of the game.

Huddlestone and Palacios look like they could forge a really good CM partnership, Wilson in particuler looked good going forward, while Huddlestone got some important blocks and tackles in.

Great goal by Benny.

Bassong and the King looked liked they'd played loads of times togheather, good headed goal by Bassong, while the King is just a total freak of nature, totally unbelievable that he can't train properly and has two dodgy knees, yet still puts in fantastic performances.

Was a bit surprised to see Keane and Defoe start, but thought that Harry got his tactics spot on today, Defoe was a constant handful for their CB's while Keane's movement and link up play was fantastic, he's starting to look much more like the keane of old and was a bit unlucky not to score.

Fantastic atmosphere at the Lane today, loved the abuse Gerrard got, such as You should be in Jail and Self Defence, your having a laugh.

 

[SpurSince57]

The reason for wanting Hudd off wasn't that he was having a bad game but that he was dead on his feet after 70 mins. He needs to improve that for sure. His slowness indirectly caused the penalty too. I think in general everyone played well with Wilson and Corluka the stand out two. Bassong also had a great game and King once again showed his class by playing so well after not having a pre season.

He could have tried a Zokora-style last-ditch tackle, but the slightest touch and Johnson would have gone over. In the end he did a pretty good job of keeping Johnson wide and that should have been that.

 

[markiespurs]

Anyone else a bit suprised by the amount of emotion Ekotto showed after he scored his goal? I expected maybe a fist pump, and a slight upgrade on his usual cocky smile when he finally got off the mark. Really happy for him. He has a sweet left foot, we've seen how good it can be with the majority of his crosses. Hopefully this gives him the confidence to use it more often.

Agree, he's looked capable of scoring for a while now, what a way to get of the mark though, absolutly beutiful strike.

 

[full-frontal-nudity]

Just got back from the match.
I love spurs, we're the best.
Park Lane Life

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Well, that was an intensely satisfying football match for all kinds of reasons. I could make a list. In fact, I think I will.

First, my new, first-time-ever season ticket lost its virginity. I got to sit where I'll be sitting until...we move.

Second, the defending was magnificent throughout. Unlike others, I thought Gomes was really good, except for the penalty incident. Although he underestimated Johnson's pace, he shouldn't have been in the situation - I had just been saying "too much space, close them down" for the first time in the match and, sure enough, Liverpool got real penetration, got behind our adamant defensive line for virtually the first time. Bassong and King were simply excellent, not only good individually, but good together. They weren't playing against chopped liver, after all, it was Torres and Gerrard and Kuyt bearing down on them mob-handed and, whatever they tried, one of our defenders, usually two, would disrupt it, thinking faster, moving faster and cleaning up after each other.

It was all the things we do not associate with pre-Harry Spurs: it was organised, it was robust, there was teamwork, people knew their jobs, people knew when to come out of position to help out and the clearances usually went to a white shirt.

Man of the match, by a lengthy mile, was Wilson Palacios, who was just everywhere in the first half and nearly as much so in the second. He passed beautifully, anticipated brilliantly, tackled, intercepted, made himself available for balls out of defence, had a great shot ... just everything.

Huddlestone, in the first half, when we were the vastly better team, was also very good. He has been given his chance and he did what he has previously not done. He tackled. And he won the ball. After about an hour, when Liverpool were monopolising the ball, he started tiring and slowing visibly, got caught in possession a few times and sent a couple of passes to opponents. But he had a good game.

Lennon did not see enough of the ball in the first half - and when he did, in the second half, he was most often used, very effectively, as a way out of defence, replacing Zokora's lengthy dribble up the middle with a mazier one up the right. It was effective three times at ending periods of Liverpool pressure. And, of course, in the first half, he had a 60m run straight through about three Liverpool players, before finally falling over under pressure in the box before he could shoot what would have been goal of the month, without a doubt.

Modric and Keane were the orchestrators. Anyone who thinks Keane had a bad match because he missed one chance and had two (one of which he really ought to have scored) brilliantly saved is not thinking at all. Keane was excellent. Tireless, involved in everything, showing much improved judgment of when to drop back to help in midfield and when to lead the line.

Defoe had a quiet first half, but in the second, he showed three times how much stronger he has become, repeatedly holding up the ball with his back to goal to good effect. And he won the free kick that led to the winner.

Crouch was ineffective, winning only one header and creating no chances, but he was really on there as an outlet, to relieve pressure.

Most important of all, we showed mental strength. We got pegged back in a match where we should have been 2 or 3 goals ahead, but we came right back, went ahead again and then held out, without too many scares, against some persistent pressure by a good opponent.

If we're going to achieve anything this season, we have to defend like this. It's the difference. Look at the tables over the history of the Premiership and what sets the top sides apart, statistically, is not their goals-scored records, it's their parsimonious defences.

If we get defending of this quality from the back four and Palacios, we will be extremely difficult to play against. If we can achieve that, then we have the creative players to win matches.

It took us nine matches to get this many points last season.

Sadly for my shiny new season ticket, the schedule is not kind. I will be out of the country for the next home match and then, infuriatingly, I have a gig out of London, which I can't miss, on 12 September, so I'll have to miss Man U instead. The way the schedule is set up, what with international breaks, we have virtually no other home matches until November. Typical. But that's just about the only thing I can think of to moan about :wink:.

 

[Shell]

Just got back from the match.
I love spurs, we're the best.
Park Lane Life

Just got back.What he said :clap:

 

[Joe091]

It took us nine matches to get this many points last season.

I've been thinking this all day, what a great match!

COYS! :clap:

 

[MarkTHFC9]

Handball!

 

[speccy_spur]

Great start. All the boys looked good. Outplayed Liverpool until Bennyoon (?) came on, and then still matched them. Leds and Bassong shackled one of the most effective attacks there is - wonderful to see Torres getting all hot & bothered towards the end!

 

[Jolly_Spud]

Anyone Seen DanishVillan about?

 

[werty]

Great performance today. Bit slow at the start but that was to be expected I guess. After the slowish start we dominated the rest of the half and could/should have been 2 or 3 goals up at half-time. Two bad misses by Keane, but he stilled played well. Defoe was unluck with his header. Great strike by Ekotto(I also have him in my Fantasy football team :grin

Slow start to the second half again, but Liverpool weren't doing anything. The penalty came against the run of play. I thought Gomes was right to come out but he over-comminted himself. Great response by us and that's what pleased me the most. Normally we feel sorry for ourselves, but not this time. Great header by Bassong from a very good Modric cross.

The last 10 minutes or so I wasn't too pleased about. We left them come onto us to easily and non of the front two filled into midfield to help out our over run mudfield at the end. Still, defender like Trojans. All the back 4 were great and the four in front of them protected them well.

Atmosphere seemed great today so well done to the crowd :clap: Especially after the Liverpool goal, they seemed to really get behind the team.

 

[spurs mental]

Handball!

:lol: That made me laugh.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

I'm a very happy young man now!

We started poorly, very poorly, and it was down to our defence that Liverpool didn't make their early dominance count. Then, Skrtel and Carragher clashed heads, a few minutes were wasted and Liverpool lost their momentum while we calmed down, regrouped, and began to asssert ourselves. By the time we scored we had been the better team, carving out the only real chances. Liverpools penalty, though a definite spot kick, came against the run of play, and we hit back straight away when in the past we might have reverted to type and folded.

Some good passing football, some committed and resolute work, and some great individual performances.

Gomes: Tipped over the bar, had little to do overall. Collected a couple of crossed, I think I remember him saving a weak Gerrard effort. Stupid to give away the penalty, Johnson was going nowhere, but at least it didn't cost us ultimately.

Corluka: Good defensively throughout, but first half he was sloppy in possession and gave the ball away a lot. Also failed to give Lennon the usual level of support, which led to Lennon being doubled up on and not really getting into the game. Second half all of this changed as Charlie brought the defence out superbly on a number of times, dribbled well and passed beautifully, releasing Lennon exquisitely down the right on one occasion.

Ekotto: Disco Benny finally has a goal, and what a sweet one. Not long before that he had skied an effort, I turned to my dad and said "He hits them with more purpose than Zokora ever did, he'll blast one in one day. Even Edman got one, and against Liverpool". My dad dismissed the notion, but I had the last laugh and how sweet it was. Aside from that, he was his usual calm and collected self, good in both halves of the pitch. Only question of him is where he was when Liverpool burst into the box leading up to the penalty.

King: Made on mistake, to which he responded by immediately winning the ball back. Distributed like a playmaker, fast, strong, tackled well, owned Torres. The best centre back in world football, no contest!

Bassong: I'm not going to get ahead of myself, but wow. Strong, fast, brought the ball out really well, not intimidated at all by Torres and Gerrard, good in the air and read everything fine. Scored a great goal too. If this is sign of things to come, then we robbed Newcastle. Let's see how much Kings influence will guide this boy.

Lennon: Quiet in the first half, was always doubled up on by Insua and Lucas. Second half however, he was superb. If only he had not been uncharacteristically selfish after that wonderful dribble, but I guess adrenaline can get the better of even the best players. Liverpool were shit scared of him adn rightly so.

Modric: Overall I thought he was a bit quiet today. Didn't do much when he had the ball, didn't really control things as I expected. Johnson did a good job on him though. However, he did set up our winner with a lovely free kick (all his set pieces were pretty good actually) and he put two chances on a plate for Keane, one a lovely dinked cross and one a classy through ball.

Huddlestone: The game looked like being a mixed bag for the Hudd, with some poor passes and decisions but also some superb cross field balls (most notable to Lennon) and a couple of through passes. However, as the game wore in, he grew in influence. His passing, short and long, relieved us of pressure a number of times. He was positionally good as well, making a lot of interceptions and blocks. He had a good day and I think he answered a lot of questions. Deserves to keep his spot for now.

Palacios: I wasa bit underwhelmed by Sergeant Wilson for a while today, but like Huddlestone he grew in stature when we needed him to. He made a few errors of judgement, seemed a touch off the pace and definitely wasn't his usual blood and thunder self. In fact, I though his forward play was his best point in the first half. However, in the second half he made a number of important tackles and broke up a lot of Liverpool play, and his passing was also pretty good, making the right decisions at the right times on most occasions.

Defoe: I thought he was superb. He fought for the ball, played some very nice passes to the other forward players and never shirked the fight. He was involved with some good link up play with both Lennon and Modric, and in the second half when we needed him to keep the ball up the pitch, he did. A combination of great first touch and being rather strong meant that he caused the Liverpool centre halves the sorts of problems that you'd associate with a far larger human being than JD. In a game where the chances for him were lacking, he still shone.

Keane: He had three glorious chances. The diving header was on a plate for him. The one on one with Reina when Modric put him through should have been slotted in. The volley, why did he not take it down, he had so much space! However, I felt he played well. He linked with Defoe well, he fought non stop, and he looked dangerous. I won't criticise Robbie for missing chances, I'll criticise him when he doesn't get chances because he's too busy playing defensive midfield. Today, no criticism's. Job well done and made it work with Defoe, and we all know how hard that is for these two.

O'Hara: Well, he didn't really do anything that wrong or right, but Liverpool had begun to get on top of us again and Modric was shattered, so the fresh pair of legs undoubtedly did us some good.

Crouch: I was a bit dissappointed with him. He didn't win his headers and he didn't hold the ball when it came to him. Still, we have 4 t'riffic strikers at the club, they are all options, we know this, and Crouch will definitely cause defenses problems.

Pavlyuchenko: A very well earned weeks wages. Not for his contribution, he barely was on the pitch, but for the bombastic celebrations (thank you half time jumbotron) when Ekotto scored his goals. Superb attitude!

Can't complain. First day of the season win.. check. Beat one of the best teams around.. check. Play with both passion and panache.. check. A good day was had by all.

Oh, and a special mention for

Gerrard: Self defence, you're 'avin a laugh, Self defence, you're 'avin a laugh! Brilliant!

 

[jurgen]

I think the long balls to Crouch forced the Liverpool defenders into a panic and won us a number of throw ins which helped to relieve pressure. Of course was this to be a primary mode of attack it would be concerning, but as a tool to let us see the game out, it worked, and hopefully will continue to work - I thought we played well within ourselves and looked the better team and should have sewn it up in the first half really.

And honestly its really pleasing to see us be able to bring alternatives on from the bench which help to alter our game in a positive fashion such as this, we could hope to control a game for 90 mins, but frankly the likes of Barcelona, Milan or Man Utd cannot control a full 90 minutes against the qualities Liverpool have, and if it takes Crouch menacing defenders to win us a bit of breathing space, then we should celebrate this. I was impressed by us today - if for the simple joy of the disaster around the corner never appearing - we now seem to have heart to match our ability - but we obviously need to push onwards and upwards from this great result...