Tottenham Vs Lazio: Match Thread

[camaj]

Just got back from the game. Sadly we're not allowed to watch replays there so it's hard for me to call any of the decisions but all three goals looked fine by me although apparently Bale was offside in the second, fair enough. God knows how we didn't bury that scrambled chance either.

Overall I think we played fairly well but we didn't look as sharp. There were times where opportunities were missed and runs weren't made, on sunday there were very few times that happened.

Lennon still can't cross, if AVB only does one thing and turns Lennon into a good crosser then he's a success in my book.
We're still rubbish at free kicks even players who are supposed to be good at them.
Lloris looked good IMHO but I thought Dembele was brilliant, Sandro too. Cauker is massive, didn't realise that until tonight.

 

[Reg]

Just got back from the game. Sadly we're not allowed to watch replays there so it's hard for me to call any of the decisions but all three goals looked fine by me although apparently Bale was offside in the second, fair enough. God knows how we didn't bury that scrambled chance either.

Overall I think we played fairly well but we didn't look as sharp. There were times where opportunities were missed and runs weren't made, on sunday there were very few times that happened.

Lennon still can't cross, if AVB only does one thing and turns Lennon into a good crosser then he's a success in my book.
We're still rubbish at free kicks even players who are supposed to be good at them.
Lloris looked good IMHO but I thought Dembele was brilliant, Sandro too. Cauker is massive, didn't realise that until tonight.

Bale was offside, but the other two should have stood. Weird it seems people who watched at home were more impressed. Personally I haven't seen a Spurs team play with such effort and desire to win the ball, keep the ball and keep another quality team pinned back so much for ages. Maybe on TV you see more of what's going on off the ball. They actually looked like they cared about football more than money.

 

[Yid121]

I really do hate it when referees ruin games. This ref was far too lenient on Lazio and their blatant fouling, he also ruled out 2 perfectly fine goals from what I hear too (i was at the game so haven't seen replays)

 

[camaj]

Did I give the impression that I wasn't impressed? As I say we played well but weren't as sharp.

You generally see less of what's going on off the ball on TV, or at least you can see anything you want if you're in the stand, as long as you want to see what's going on off the ball. I spend most of the game looking at players who are probably off-screen

 

[Spurger King]

I really do hate it when referees ruin games. This ref was far too lenient on Lazio and their blatant fouling, he also ruled out 2 perfectly fine goals from what I hear too (i was at the game so haven't seen replays)

I think Dempsey was just about offside. Very close, but looked slightly off to me.

On the other hand Caulker's goal should never have been disallowed.

 

[Yid121]

I think Dempsey was just about offside. Very close, but looked slightly off to me.

On the other hand Caulker's goal should never have been disallowed.

Ah cheers.

Also, I couldn't help but feel we should've rested some more of our players. Huddlestone for Sandro, Townsend for Bale and I think we would have got the same if not better result. We needed someone to spray the passes as there were a number of times our wingers/fullbacks were free, but our midfielders wouldn't spray the cross-field ball. Also Dempsey was through a few times in the middle. Huddlestone would have been perfect for this. Also, Bale didn't offer much, Townsend would have given our attacking line-up a more fresher look.

 

[hugrr]

From the replays, Dempseys goal was marginal and I can understand why it was called off. However Caulkers goal, I cannot see what was wrong with it. There was hardly any tussle with the defender whatsoever, yet it was chalked off. If that wasn't a goal then we may as well just dispose of crossing for corners right now.

 

[TH1239]

This has the makings of an incredibly entertaining side. I love the line-up Villas Boas put out there tonight. All we needed was a healthy Adebayor in for Defoe, and we'd have a side capable of challenging for the title, in my opinion.

I really hope Caulker, Lloris, and Dempsey all start this weekend against QPR. We really need our best players playing, and that includes Adebayor, if he can become fit enough by Sunday, too.

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

For a 0-0 it was an entertaining game that we dominated. The missing link i thought was Ade. The team played some great footie and are emerging as a confident, passing team with direction and shape.

Not too miffed about not scoring as i thought that Caulkers header was legit and Dempsey was level with the last defender. We will play worse than today this season and win!

COYS!

 

[sweyid]

There's no way that Caulkers goal should have been disallowed. His defender was already off-balance and Caulker doesn't really push him. I thought Bale was offside, but the Dempsey offside was impossible to call. Might have had a toe offside, not more. The linesmen just see an attacker running towards goal and a defender running away from the goal and makes a decision.

All in all I think we did pretty well, sure, we could have been better but Lloris, Naughton, Caulker, Demspey and Dembele are all very new or with limited game time at Spurs, as are Gylfi, Verts and Townsend. Given time I think we'll be a very good team.

We should have won the game though. Lennon, I thought, personified Spurs last night - flair, creativity and some beautiful football but no end product what so ever. Think he needs a confidence boost and that Andre tried just that by making him the skipper. Sandro looked very good and was active, running into space a lot but never received the ball, must have been slightly frustrating for him.

Nice to see Caulker too. Disappointed we were disallowed one in my mind legit goal (Caulker) and one very very vague offside (Dempsey).

 

[Durbs]

Definitely short 1 striker and it showed last night!

 

[Bilko]

I have no reservations about AVB anymore-we have a very good man

 

[sunnydelight786]

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

Correct but that's only available on your lap top/desk top not your iPhone....

 

[sweyid]

Correct but that's only available on your lap top/desk top not your iPhone....

You can actually click the greyish area next to the ratings to undo it on your phone.

 

[buttons]

I thought it was a good team performance, the work ethic we are developing is excellent, almost everyone in our starting 11 is a fantastic athlete. We got a clean sheet too which can only help confidence!

I watched the game in a hotel bar with muted sound. What was the atmosphere like? We're the fans more on side? I.e. no booing?

 

[sunnydelight786]

You can actually click the greyish area next to the ratings to undo it on your phone.

You learn a new thing everyday, cheers fella...

 

[jonnyp]

This has the makings of an incredibly entertaining side. I love the line-up Villas Boas put out there tonight. All we needed was a healthy Adebayor in for Defoe, and we'd have a side capable of challenging for the title, in my opinion.

I really hope Caulker, Lloris, and Dempsey all start this weekend against QPR. We really need our best players playing, and that includes Adebayor, if he can become fit enough by Sunday, too.

Come on now.

Apart from the ruled out goals and the scrambled chance Lennon had, what did we create last night? Had the goals been allowed we would've been extremely efficient in front of goal. We need to create more, I'm worried about our lack of being able to break teams down. We're missing a lot in the final third, and it's not just having Ade in for Defoe either. Sigurdsson and Dempsey just aren't the answer for me.

I was impressed with the overall work rate of the players though. They seemed to want to win, which is good to see.

 

[tobi]

Sorry but this is nonsense. Getting him to repeatedly stick to the left and cross the ball in is entirely predictable and easy for a team to plan against. Having him roam he can create chances like the one for Dempsey that he carved out on the right hand edge of the box. Bale is world class, and can play across the middle no problem. Get of the guys back.

I agree about Bale roaming but he has to pick his moments better.

Also he is nowhere near being world class and deserves constructive criticism.

His game (like Lennon) has stalled and apart from his goal scoring, the only part of his game that has improved in the last two years is his ego.

 

[beuller]

I don't understand some of the comments about pedestrian football. It didn't look pedestrian to me.

I think people need to understand that you can't always blitz teams. Especially excellent sides like Lazio. If you think we should be beating Lazio as a matter of course, you seriously need to grow up.

The only explanation is if it is people still crying about the redknapp sacking. Trying to do anything to undermine the current manager. If so.... Pff.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

I thought we were excellent. It's clear to me that there is team focus rather than just expecting one of our better players to do something special.

The fact Lazio had to foul us 21 times to our 7 shows how many problems we caused