Tottenham Vs FC Twente: Match Thread

[danielneeds]

Pav was poor until his he scored the first of his penalties, after that he worked very hard, his first touch got miles better and he did a decent job of holding the ball up. So its very unfair to say he had a bad game apart from the penalties.

Thought Pav was decent enough last night. The interesting thing for me was that he was getting many more decisions from the the European ref than he would in the PL, but he was still looking for more protection from defenders coming in to him. Its no surprise that he struggles with the physical battles in the English game. Unless he is prepared to build up his upper body strength in a similar way that Defoe did last summer, he will always struggle to hold the ball up.

 

[sidford]

Was anyone else as worried as me when Bale went down and started hitting the ground? I was thinking NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

you werent alone on that one man! if it was bale a few years ago pounding the ground then i wouldnt of been that worried because he wasnt exactly 'ard back then but these days he doesnt make a meal of things so i had horrible thoughts of him being out for a few months which is something we could definitely do without!

 

[Maske2g]

Pav was poor until his he scored the first of his penalties, after that he worked very hard, his first touch got miles better and he did a decent job of holding the ball up. So its very unfair to say he had a bad game apart from the penalties.

Absolutely agree, but this seems to happen every time he plays. Does it really take a gift of a goal for Pav's confidence to increase and for him tostart doing his job to a decent level? Because as we all know, he wont get a gift in every game.

 

[sloth]

bizarrely enough i thought we played better when we went down to 10, and that seemed to spark life into T'hudd and Pav as well who i would have pulled at half time, but was quality 2nd half

Anyone else liken Pav's 2nd half performance to that of Berbatov's against Bolton a few seasons back after Keano got sent off? Proved he can play as a lone front-man with enough support.

Up until the first penalty, I thought Pav was poor, very poor actually. Afterwards, I though he looked pretty good if I'm honest. I've long noticed this, he's a good striker when he has confidence. He can hold it up, control the ball, pick a pass and run at defenders with the ball, even if he is slow as fuck. However, why he can't play like that before he scores is beyond me. He has to be the most confidence based striker I've ever seen.

Thought Pav was decent enough last night. The interesting thing for me was that he was getting many more decisions from the the European ref than he would in the PL, but he was still looking for more protection from defenders coming in to him. Its no surprise that he struggles with the physical battles in the English game. Unless he is prepared to build up his upper body strength in a similar way that Defoe did last summer, he will always struggle to hold the ball up.

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking along these lines re Pav's performance.

On a different note, I'm slightly concerned that Harry in his post match interview chose to highlight playing two up as a critical factor in the win. It seemed to me that playing two up had little or no positive effect on the game. Crouch and Pav played like strangers when they were both on the pitch. It was VdV feeding off Crouches knock-downs with Pav anonymous.

For me it should be Crouch or Pav and maybe even Crouch first 55 mins and Pav the rest. That would mean we could play either Lennon or JJ/Palacios as well as the other four midfielders from last night. For me that would present far more of an attacking threat with a better defensive balance than the Pav/Crouch partnership.

 

[WhiteHart4Ever]

I watched the game and for me it's reinforced an opinion I've had since seeing us lost to Wigan at home.

We are better with Benny at left back and Bale on the wing. To me it is no coincidence that in the games we have moved Bale to left back, in order to accommodate still having him in the team plus VDV, Modric and Huddlestone all in midfield (so we can still play 2 up front) we have lost our attacking impetus.

I think we're getting to a stage now where we seriously need to consider playing a 4-5-1 in order to get the best out of the players we have.

Gomes
Hutton, Dawson, King, Benny
Lennon, VDV, Hud, Mod, Bale
Crouch/Pav/Defoe

I think this could be the way to go in future.

1) We are better with Benny at the back because he's a better LB than Bale. Defensively it might be obvious, but also attackingly with respect to our build-up play. From a LB position BAE is more intelligent, calmer and a better passer of the ball than Bale. He's also an integral part of the build-up - in fact, if I remember correctly he had the most passes of all Spurs players yesterday (not blind to stats, doesnt mean he played well, but it means he's heavily involved). Trying not to fade back into a long gone debate I think it's fair to say that the way he's playing at the moment he's far too much of an attacking threat to be a LB. Bale/BAE also seem to have a strong understanding and play very well together.

2) You can call it 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 or even 4-3-3 as much as you like, it'll always be 4-5-1 in my book. It is what we've been playing most of the season, dominantly (I think) due to VDV's arrival and the display at YB. I dont think it has worked very well, mostly due to our strikers inability to play the lone role. 4-4-2 at The Lane I say.

 

[Maske2g]

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking along these lines re Pav's performance.

On a different note, I'm slightly concerned that Harry in his post match interview chose to highlight playing two up as a critical factor in the win. It seemed to me that playing two up had little or no positive effect on the game. Crouch and Pav played like strangers when they were both on the pitch. It was VdV feeding off Crouches knock-downs with Pav anonymous.

For me it should be Crouch or Pav and maybe even Crouch first 55 mins and Pav the rest. That would mean we could play either Lennon or JJ/Palacios as well as the other four midfielders from last night. For me that would present far more of an attacking threat with a better defensive balance than the Pav/Crouch partnership.

4-4-2 was deffo a better shape, and gave their defenders more to think about, but in the first half especially, they were dreadful.

We got 4 or 5 cracking balls into the box in the first half, and both of them were absolutely dead to the situation. Every time, Crouch pulled off to the back post to no avail, and Pav was on his heels, making no attempt to get across defenders. When Bale gets wide, they have to mix their movement, and be lively....neither have this in their locker.

 

[$hoguN]

Harry was right, playing 4-4-2 definently was a contributing factor to the win. Very few teams now play a 4-4-2 and it caused the Twente players problems as they weren't sure who they should be marking at times. The problem with the 4-4-2 was that we needed a Defoe or Keane in to gamble on some of the balls that were getting whipped in low, which neither Pav nor Crouch did.

 

[Maske2g]

1)

2) You can call it 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 or even 4-3-3 as much as you like, it'll always be 4-5-1 in my book. It is what we've been playing most of the season, dominantly (I think) due to VDV's arrival and the display at YB. I dont think it has worked very well, mostly due to our strikers inability to play the lone role. 4-4-2 at The Lane I say.

When top teams play it, who have played it for years, Arse, Ski, and Barca, it's completely different to us, and its more a 4-3-3. Their "wingers" have variety and drift all over the shop. They attack a lot more than defend. And they have more players to get goals other than the striker. We just aren't used to it, and our strikers as you say, aren't good enough. Would sooner play 4-4-2 with Van der vaart anywhere in there, than 4-5-1, even if that meand being slightly exposed. We just have to work on covering him if he goes wandering.

 

[thfc1989]

Did VDV have a song last night?