Tottenham Vs Lazio: Match Thread

[nightgoat]

Two perfectly good goals. Lazio deserve sod all from this game. Townsend is embarrassing.

Can't see us racking up the goals this season. Lacking a creative spark.

Those stats in full for Andy 'Lazio deserved a point' Townsend;

Shots: Spurs 9 Lazio 1
On target: Spurs 7 Lazio 0
Corners: Spurs 6 Lazio 2
Fouls: Spurs 7 Lazio 21
Possession: Spurs 59% Lazio 41%

They really do deserve that point, don't they Bellend?

 

[cozzo]

Just back from the game, no creativity, no guile all very predictable in terms of attacking play with balls in behind the fullbacks our only approach .... Oh and Lennon as captain wtf!!!

Positive was Dembele but needs to play further forward ....

AVB Out

 

[Blackcanary]

I was impressed with our play against a team that has won seven in a row in a resurgent Italian league. These games are decided by solitary goals an we scored at least one legitimate goal. I don't know what the "natives" wanted, but this is European football and they sound ignorant. We are learning to play together and there seems to be quite rapid progress. You could say that as the away team, esp an Italian one, they would sit back, but we pinned them back and won the ball back quickly. The weakest player was Walker, who gets caught out positionally too often.

Exactly. I was expecting us to look shoddy for months to be honest, am amazed we look as good as we do. I'm frustrated by the result but I think it's one of those ones where you just have to shrug and go "eh, one of those days".

The positives:
Hugo!
Caulker!
Verts!
Dembele! Demble again just for being such a bloody magnificent bastard out there!
Lennon tearing their right-back a new one all night!

And I cracked up at one point when it cut to AVB sitting with his knees up to his chest and I was sat in the exact same position. Unlike him however, I didn't appear to have a price sticker still stuck to my shoe. He's a barking mad fanboy, really, isn't he? And I mean that in a good way.

 

[panoma]

Ben Pearce ‏@BenPearceSpurs
#thfc Kyle Naughton just walked past us on crutches and wearing a protective boot.

no left back now.

Well im not to worried.

Bale will have to play LB, and Dempsey will simply take his spot. This is where Dempsey scored most his goals last season, and Lennon will keep the width on the right.

Atleast that seems like a solid plan until BAE or Naughton gets back. Could also just use Verts on the LB, but he have been so good at CB so far!

 

[Spurs_Bear]

I think we've had two reality checks in the last 2 games. Reading showed us that we aren't a 'bad' team at all after the indifferent start, but tonight showed us we won't always play teams as shite as Reading.

It was a decent-ish performance against a team that didn't come to win.

Thank god we have Dembele, that boy can seriously play football, and the other main positive was Hugo Lloris, he managed to look like he played well when he didn't even have that much to do. When we have the ball he is 5 yards outside our area, loved it. Get him in straightaway, no room for sentiment, I'm excited by him.

Negative for me was Defoe again, but its his limitations as a lone striker rather than a lack of effort, it's not his fault, he just isn't built for the role.

Naughton as well, is doing 'a job' while we have injuries but I really wish we had proper back up for Benni, would love to see Bale there just for a couple of games, the way Villas-Boas sets us up he will actually get more room to run at people than he does from the left wing.

I'm becoming a big fan of Villas-Boas as a person, love his passion, seriously want him to succeed here.

 

[Blackcanary]

I think we've had two reality checks in the last 2 games. Reading showed us that we aren't a 'bad' team at all after the indifferent start, but tonight showed us we won't always play teams as shite as Reading.

It was a decent-ish performance against a team that didn't come to win.

Thank god we have Dembele, that boy can seriously play football, and the other main positive was Hugo Lloris, he managed to look like he played well when he didn't even have that much to do. When we have the ball he is 5 yards outside our area, loved it. Get him in straightaway, no room for sentiment, I'm excited by him.

Negative for me was Defoe again, but its his limitations as a lone striker rather than a lack of effort, it's not his fault, he just isn't built for the role.

Naughton as well, is doing 'a job' while we have injuries but I really wish we had proper back up for Benni, would love to see Bale there just for a couple of games, the way Villas-Boas sets us up he will actually get more room to run at people than he does from the left wing.

I'm becoming a big fan of Villas-Boas as a person, love his passion, seriously want him to succeed here.

Naughton has looked very steady and capable but he definitely doesn't have the same capabilities coming forward, which I think made us look a bit lopsided tonight.

And yes, i'd adore the chance to see Bale back there for a little while - I still think LB was his best position.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Naughton has looked very steady and capable but he definitely doesn't have the same capabilities coming forward, which I think made us look a bit lopsided tonight.

And yes, i'd adore the chance to see Bale back there for a little while - I still think LB was his best position.

Naughton has looked steady-ish I would agree, but you're right about the lopsided thing, he didn't get forward enough on the overlap, but then I guess that's because he's a right back playing at left back, it's shoes on the wrong feet territory.

 

[Maske2g]

I agree with you both on Naughton. Done a very good job, but you know when he gets it, it's going to slow down the build up more often than not cos he doesn't wanna turn out to his left foot.

To clarify my opinion on this competition being a waste of time. To win it takes 19 games, it cannot fail to have a negative impact on league form, in my opinion. It certainly has for us in prior years where we went gung ho.

 

[kdspur]

if disallowed goals stood obviously a different game that would have probably gave us better chances to score but ill keep saying it till im blue in face..... where is the fucking inteliigence and that little bit of class when we are attacking and at edge of box... its way too predictable .

its the difference between us been good (which we are but thats all)and dangerous class team... time and again we were predictable as anything and going no where ... lennon and defoe in games like this are really lightweight and clueless and until such time as we can get players who not only take their position and offer more of a goal threat then draws against good sides is all we can hope for....

dont get me wrong lennon is a vital asset to have and should be used most games in some capacity as i like his pace and it puts defenders on back foot and makes them think more but he cant score for shit and no where near ruthless enough when he gets a chance.

 

[Blackcanary]

My one over-riding thought from tonight - other than that Lazio fans are a racist bunch of eejits - is PLEASE GARETH, STEP AWAY FROM THE FREE KICKS AND STOP DOING THAT DICKISH CR7 POSE!

 

[kdspur]

naughton done alright tonight. a steady eddie but he was up against nothing as lazio played pure defensive.. lets see how good naughton is against united away in weeks time.... maybe unfair but if he comes thru that by playing well my confidence in him will grow but hand on heart i bloody doubt it... valencia and rafael will have him for breakfast.

 

[Matt_Spurs]

Just back from the game. Thought we played well and it is clear that the team is improving as they get to know one another and AVB has more time with the players on the training ground. Impressed with LLoris, Caulker and Sandro tonight. Caulker seems to habve bulked up at Swansea and could be a real asset to us in physical away games like Stoke.

However I think the team at the moment is probably missing VDV more than Modric. We are keeping possession well but lack the cutting edge/ killer edge in the final third that VDV often provided. Hopefully with games Sigurdsson and or Dempsey can help to compensate for the loss of VDV in the way that Dembele has softened the blow of Modric leaving.

 

[nipponyid]

Just checking but you do know that Romania is a country towards the eastern side of Europe, the other side of Hungary and Serbia... Whilst Rome is the capital city of Italy???

2 browny points for your geographical knowledge..0 for sense of humour..

 

[L-man]

Carrie Brown @CarrieBrownTV
#THFC Nice chat with Hugo Lloris. Said he'd answer Qs in French then spoke fluent Eng. Loved WHL atmos & is itching for more.

 

[Snarfalicious]

I thought we made Lazio look incredibly uncomfortable. Terrible challenges, balls that were simply kicked forward to get it out of their half, a couple of hurried touches which should have had better end results.

As for our squad, Lennon is becoming beyond frustrating. I honestly don't know anymore. He's got this phenomenal buildup only to fuck it up with a horrible final ball. Him not even taking that wide open shot was such a terrible moment to watch.

Of course there were a ton of positives like Dembele, Lloris, Caulker, Sandro, and Verts.

 

[sunnydelight786]

I think we've had two reality checks in the last 2 games. Reading showed us that we aren't a 'bad' team at all after the indifferent start, but tonight showed us we won't always play teams as shite as Reading.

It was a decent-ish performance against a team that didn't come to win.

Thank god we have Dembele, that boy can seriously play football, and the other main positive was Hugo Lloris, he managed to look like he played well when he didn't even have that much to do. When we have the ball he is 5 yards outside our area, loved it. Get him in straightaway, no room for sentiment, I'm excited by him.

Negative for me was Defoe again, but its his limitations as a lone striker rather than a lack of effort, it's not his fault, he just isn't built for the role.

Naughton as well, is doing 'a job' while we have injuries but I really wish we had proper back up for Benni, would love to see Bale there just for a couple of games, the way Villas-Boas sets us up he will actually get more room to run at people than he does from the left wing.

I'm becoming a big fan of Villas-Boas as a person, love his passion, seriously want him to succeed here.

Bear I'm so sorry I was meant to click like but my fat fingers on the iPhone thought otherwise, sorry bro...

Your post pretty much sum up my thoughts. We are work in progress and it may take a dozen games or so for us to click but when we do boy oh boy will we be a bloody good team!!!

 

[Gardham90]

I don't really think Aaron Lennon has enough goals in him to play in a front 3. Always shys away from shooting.

Can't moan about the performance though, we were just on the end of some unfortunate refereeing decisions.

Can't wait for Sunday!

 

[davidmatzdorf]

It's hard to fault us for lack of imagination when we were playing against a team that approached the match like a lower-half Premiership side ... but one that can actually play. And when they couldn't play, they fouled. Over 20 times before I lost count. Most of those fouls were not just incidental or clumsy - they were committed intentionally in order to end threatening Spurs attacks. You're supposed to get a yellow card for doing that. Lazio could justifiably have had 9 or 10 yellow cards.

It's also hard to fault us for lack of imagination when we actually had the ball in the net three times. The second time was offside, but I couldn't see anything wrong with Dempsey's goal and Caulker's header, which was right in front of where I sit, looked fine and foul-free.

There's a good team in there waiting to break out. Our midfield was far smoother and more creative, we were better at retaining possession and we had superior movement off the ball. We needed a bit more protection from the constant foul play and some better judgment in the box.

Lloris had little to do, but looked calm, confident and smooth. Caulker and Vertonghen played beautifully together and the tactic of having Sandro drop back when they pulled wide and the fullbacks advanced looked very coordinated. The high defensive line that has been absent since the first half of the West Brom game was used extensively this evening and, for the first time, the compression of the pitch when we were in possession worked as it is supposed to work, especially in the first half: there was always a man to pass to in close quarters. Andros Townsend also looks a more mature player now and fit in nicely on his 'wrong' wing.

Lazio defended with great organisation, we made bad decisions in the box (Lennon made numerous brilliant runs and chose the wrong final option just about every time) and the officiating was ... strange.

The atmosphere in WHL was curiously jovial and indulgent. There was none of the fan frustration evident in previous matches when we have dominated for an hour without scoring. Any annoyance was directed at the referee, not our own players.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Bear I'm so sorry I was meant to click like but my fat fingers on the iPhone thought otherwise, sorry bro...

There is an 'undo rating' button. No one ever seems to notice it.

 

[sbrustad]

There is an 'undo rating' button. No one ever seems to notice it.

Ratings should just be removed on mobile devices. I get them all the time, and people say they will rectify but usually they don't.