Tottenham v Burnley: Carling Cup semi-final 1st leg Match thread

[Damo1176]

Can I just say a big well done to all the boys in the second half...my two negatives were:

1. Bentley who I'm sorry is crapper than crap at the momewnt, he tries tricks when he can't even do the simple stuff right.
2. When we got to 4-1 with 15 mins left why did we not give Taarabt or Gio a run out, Harry you can use subs even when you're winning fellaa I thought a waste of a good lead, if you can't give them a run out then when can you?

 

[Damo1176]

Oh and postivies.

When O'Hara came on I was puzzled but glad bentley was off, then remembered that O'Hara has more passion in his little toe than Bentley. If ever a man is needed for a battle on a cold winters night pick O'Hara and not Bentley. Zoko very good for the most bar some woefull passing to Burnley players at times. The defence settled once they had some protection. One minus was Bale who is not a Left Back in a million years, his positional awareness is way off.

Pav's goal was brilliantly taken and I hope to see him and Defoe scoring a lot of goals

 

[sunnydelight786]

Just in from the game.... What does Bentley have to do to get dropped? Once again he was shocking. I asked the guy next to me if we had really paid £15m for him and Burnley paid under £2m for Eagles as Eagles was by far and away the best player in the 1st half.

O'Hara coming on in the 2nd half changed the game. Once Daws put that header away we never looked back and the result was never in doubt. I was kinda hoping we could see GDS today but it was not to be. Pav looked good again too as did Lennon and Charlie.

Good win and lets hope for more of the same on Sunday...

 

[Goldman]

I agree with you Damo, i think at 4-1 we should of brought on some fresh legs, as i think a 5th goal was there for the taking.

 

[bomberH]

Anyone know the date of the final? Can't seem to find it on BBC.

 

[ladi100]

Sunday March 1st

 

[bomberH]

Cheers Ladi, is that 100% definite?

 

[Wsussexspur]

went to game tonight first half was really poor, bentley was dreadful what has happened to this guy since signing for us! I know he is playing out of position at moment but he really looks half the player he did at blackburn! 2nd half we were excellant mainly thanks to jamie ohara! Really hope he now gets run on side on the left mid ahead of bentley! He deserves it as it was his passion which turned game on its head! Was my mom closely followed by dawson who is looking more like is old self after a poor season last season!

I must say fair play to burnley as much as we were very poor in first half I thought they were excellant and I don't think this tie is 100% over an early goal for them in 2nd leg and you never know! But equally early goal for us then you think it would be game over! Shame after we scored fourth we didn't push on to try & get one or two more goals which would then made the tie 100% safe!

 

[bomberH]

Sunday March 1st

Cheers Ladi, is that 100% definite?

Just found it on Carling official site. Was checking the BBC site but couldn't see it anywhere. Yay. 1st is a good day for me. Not that we're through yet or anything....

 

[ladi100]

Cheers Ladi, is that 100% definite?

100%

I can "apparently" get you tickets behind the goal for the game for £375.00. You have to start learning to trust the IC3 contingent.

But seriously mate, its Sunday 1st March 09 according to the Carling website and my favourite ticket tout website.

 

[ShelfSide18]

Brilliant fightback from the lads. First half we were, well...dreadful.

Second half we bestowed 45 minutes of Premiership football upon poor Burnley and have made next weeks return leg pretty much a formality. All we have to do now is not concede an early goal away(which we all know we probably will) and then we can get our heads set on another Wembley date.

2 other points, after tonights effort I confidently predict Zokora will never score a goal for Tottenham.

The other, Michael Dawson. 'Tonight Matthew i'm going to be Maradonna'! If Daws can beat defenders with ease why the f**k can't Bentley!

 

[Reg]

Just two things;

1) Zokora has been one of the most consistent players since Harry arrived (consistently good, before you start).

2) You don't muck about changing players in a cup semi-final when you are controlling the match and all but through. If Harry had made a change and we conceded it would have meant Burnley could go through by winning 2-0 at home and they would have left with hope of turning it around. Also those on the pitch gain confidence of turning the match around completely then holding on to the advantage and thus building confidence. Obvious really.

 

[Chris12345]

Zokora played well except for when we were 4-1 up and he was a bit complacent. Why are people calling for him to be dropped, he's been like a new signing recently?

I'm a Zokora fan, but he wasn't great today, made a fair few sloppy passes and weak tackles... also, even by his own standards, his positioning was woeful...

 

[hellava_tough]

Cheers Ladi, is that 100% definite?

It's not 100% definite that we'll make the final!

If there's one team that can fuck-up a 4-1 lead, it's Spurs :lol:

 

[PT]

I wonder if Bentley threw his shirt to the floor at half time....? Guess we'll never know, but I would like to think that Harry Redknap's famous man managements skills don't effecteively destroy the confidence of an expensive acquisition. I still believe there's a good player in there waiting to fulfill his potential.

Come on Harry, put your arm around the boy and tell him he's the fucking best!

 

[DC_Boy]

Harry can say what he likes to Bentley, as long as he stops picking him, he's the type of player who can get you relegated

I swear I'll burst a blood vessel if he starts on sunday

 

[riversmonkey]

For the third consecutive cup game we've had decent second half's after diabolical firsts.

I think the substitution of Bentley was a fine decision by Harry and his coaching team, the guy was awful, partly at fault for Eagles getting through to put in the cross for Burnley's goal and wasteful at almost every set piece. Those little flicks that lost possesion also didn't adhere him much. I think the problem on the left side needs to be addressed, we had a stop gap in Malbranque but we need an out an out left winger to compliment Lennon on the right. At the moment Bentley just gets in the way, for some reason despite being an experienced pro he lacks the ability to sacrifice his own ego and do a job for the team.

 

[DC_Boy]

Hi rivers - the last thing I think we need is an out and left winger to comlement Lennon and Modric in a 4-4-2

we'll get driven thru by prem sides just like last night with zokora/jj running around like crazy in a futile attempt to plug the gaps (jj would probably do the futility bit in a different way to zoko but it'd be the same result far too often - defeat)

what we precisely need is o'hara on the left or if not available a similar LM, eg malbranque, maybe even someone better if possible

by all means get downing in, but that means bye bye to one of lennon or modric in a 4-4-2 for that particulat game

unless downing doesnt play like a LW, but tucks in and tracks back to make it 3 mids

 

[riversmonkey]

To an extent DC I agree with you, but Lennon for instance is an out and out winger who tracks back and does some fairly decent (for a guy of his stature) defensive work which helps out the full back no end. I think it's possible to get a player on the left who offers not only more threat than Bentley going forward but a bit more balance, a player who also can deal with the defensive aspects of the game. I don't think that kind of signing would threaten Lennon or Modric's place in the team.

In the past we've had great wingers such as Ginola or Waddle who weren't much cop in tracking back, in that regard they are similar to the likes of Robben in the shape of an out and out present day winger that offers nothing defensively and everything going forward. The Robben's of this world are a dying breed due to the changing nature of Top Level Football where even strikers and playmakers are given more defensive responsibilities.

 

[MattyP]

Biggest negative from last night, yes even more so than Bentley's performance, was the attendance of just over 31k.

With the camera's located on the East Stand, the two blocks of empty spaces on the West Lower must've looked embarrassing on the box.

I know, I know, credit crunch, just after Christmas, no money, it was cold, it was midweek, it was against championship opposition, it was on the box, the club's pricing policy was all wrong, but it was also a fucking semi final of a cup for fuck sake.

I know we have been spolit by being in the semis three years in a row, but come on is that the best we can do.

No doubt if we get through to the final there'll be a whole load of people whinging about not being able to get tickets because they didn't have enough loyalty points. Well, if you can't be arsed to even go to the semi finals then quite frankly I've got absolutely no sympathy.

Sorry for the rant, I know a lot of people have genuine reasons for not being able to go, I just felt it needed to be said. Maybe I've still got some of the -9C in me today.