Match Threads Tottenham vs Arsenal : Match Thread.

[mrlilywhite]

With Liverpool and Man city away still to come - I can't see us keeping pace for the top 4 if we continue to play like this. We scraped a point here and didn't look good at getting that either. Poch has become desperate using Rose in the DM position - Would have surely been better pushing Siss back than Rose - I ain't gotta a clue what the hell is going on at this club. Makers of our own misery from top to bottom. Can't sort out the stadium, can't buy a player for toffee, Top players on the verge of leaving and to top it all Kane's body language looks like he is considering his future too. ENIC's mindset about not needing to win things and only CL considered as the realistic target is worrying. How much is this stadium gonna cost us long term I wonder?

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

I'm a big Eriksen fan but the lad just ain't playing.

Trouble is we can't drop him, haven't got enough players

 

[thinktank]

After he made the foul on Leno Poch was called him over and put him in midfield. That was on the 69th and Llorente came on the 79th according to the game log.

Definitely me flitting into here too much at that stage of the game, then.

If that's accurate it's extra concerning then tbh.

Still gonna watch again.

 

[Bulletspur]

It was my dad's funeral yesterday. I'd like to think there was a little intervention with that penalty save.

RIP Dad. COYS.

My sincere condolences

 

[werty]

The window we bought Lucas (Jan 2018?) wasn't the window we needed a new CM. Yes Wanyama had gone down with a serious knee injury at the start of that season, but players tend to recover from injuries - you don't buy new players to cover for injured ones.

Last summer we tried to buy Grealish to bolster our options i.e. we were looking to replace Mousa once we had reached the conclusion he was done.

What's Tielemans done to show he's better than Winks, Sissoko or Dier?

Rose ended up in CM because Dier and Winks are both injured and Poch, not for the first time, made the weird decision to put him there (Jan would have been fine there for 15 mins).

We've needed two midfielders with at least two years now, and much longer in actuality. An understudy for Eriksen when he goes through a spell like he is at the moment and one for Dembele because he was the only one who can receive a pass under pressure. Grealish isn't good enough so I'm happy we didn't sign him.

 

[shelfmonkey]

Can't see Madrid or Barca busting a gut to bring him to Spain based on recent no shows

They KNOW he's a better player than he has beenfor us this season!

 

[Cruyff]

He has been with us for nearly 6 seasons to be fair. That's not really a 'stepping stone' scenario

He's been used far too deep this season because we have no creativity in midfield and he may not be happy with the chopping of positions. Isn't he also playing with an injury as well as the contract/transfer speculation? In an ideal scenario he'd be dropped by now.

 

[SirNiNyHotspur]

When was this?
We're 4 points above a team with much greater resources than us, and you think you're in the right to be pissed off?
Weirdly entitled fan base we have nowadays.

Entitled has nothing to do with it, if you can’t see the last few years we were way ahead of them and that has changed this season I can’t help you

 

[shelfmonkey]

He has been with us for nearly 6 seasons to be fair. That's not really a 'stepping stone' scenario

He was very young when we bought him, just biding his time.

 

[Jack2]

Bollocks. We've could have got Tielemans on loan for example - that would have been better than Rose in CM. Torreira didn't cost that much. Doucoure cost 10m etc. We spent 25m on Moura last year so we could have bought some kind of CM that's better that what we currently have.

Could we? Why didn't we do it then? In your opinion, is the blame on Levy for not giving the money or didn't Poch want them? Or didn't they want to sign for us? There seems to be a lot of discussion going on about Levy not investing for players, but as far as I remember some ITK's said the money was there in the summer and January as well. On the other hand there was some ITK also that Poch had a list of players he wants and nobody out of his list. Who to believe? But anyway the results against like Burnley and today were not because we have not made signings, it's something else. We have enough quality to win these kind of games.

 

[Haddock]

I see the knee jerk brigade is out swinging again. Once again some absolute sh*te is talked about our own players and our manager. We're not in turmoil and the sky isn't falling down on us. We're just horribly out of form. That's it. And it's been a long time coming.

Pretty much everything and everyone have been against us this season. The new stadium delay, no incoming players two windows in a row, selling Dembele, injuries to key players, post WC hang over and the list goes on. Considering we're third in the league 4 points above Arsenal and we're still in the CL with a very good chance of going further in the competition - We're overachieving when you take everything in to perspective.

This group of players and Pochettino have brought a new renaissance to this club, show them some respect and give them the benefit of a doubt and they'll sort it out.

Peace.

 

[g_harry]

We beat Southampton and Utd arse draw with a break. We can do it.

 

[TheChosenOne]

the stats from the game favour us compared to them - strange that.

70% possession in our favour when they scored.

 

[Lighty64]

I think this is around the 5th time I've ever posted in here, but for the amount of decisions that ref gave against us, and fouls he never gave made a big difference in that game.

Yes lucky to get the pen due to being offside (revenge for last season at their place)

but if he gives a foul and deserved yellow for the challenge by Xhaka then his game gets distorted because he lives on the edge. that free kick changes what happens in the next 30 mins. yep we could of been in an even worse position, no 1 knows, but to not giving that, the free kick Lamela should of had, to then give them a pen for something very soft equals another very poor ref AGAIN (becoming a habit)

 

[DJS]

Wonder if Eriksen is missing having Dele as his foil?

Dele can be often maligned on here, but he has nice movement and finishing and whereas Eriksen is about passing range, Dele balances this being the more direct goal threat and also contributes a lot to our one touch movement.

Not making excuses for Eriksen mind, but wondered if it was a factor.

 

[spursbhoy67]

One bonus for us is that Arsenal play United next. One or both will drop points.

 

[Gassin's finest]

It's hard to dominate possession when the opposition has the better midfielders.

We shot ourselves in the foot in the transfer window/Windows.

Now whoever was to blame for that arrogance is likely to pay big time.

We had 60% of the possession.

 

[spursfan77]

I thought we were going to sneak it in the end with that freekick than jan and Sanchez almost scored from.

Would have been delicious that. A draw was probably right. Sissoko and Rose in midfield at the end shows what we are glaringly missing.

 

[Gb160]

Entitled has nothing to do with it, if you can’t see the last few years we were way ahead of them and that has changed this season I can’t help you

We were ahead of them, we're still ahead of them.
I don't need your help thanks... entitlement has everything to do with it, and I find it quite odd.

Anyway I'm off to the pub to laugh at some of those slags...you enjoy your afternoon shouting into the internet

 

[thinktank]

It’s going to be a very uncomfortable watch for me until the end of the season unless we start to show substantial improvement in our play.

There’s just not enough fire in the belly for most of the players. If Dier & dele had played today, I bet there would have been more tasty tackles.

Dier has become a liability in losing the ball in the middle and making dumb fouls.

I just don't trust him anymore.

Dele would have brought some nice nasty, though.

We have to face the fact that we've over-performed so far with the squad we have - FB's that don't function properly; no proper, proper quality DM.

So as much as poch has been dodgy, tactically - especially of late - he has worked wonders to get us this far this season with what we have tbf.