Tottenham Vs Manchester United: Match Thread

[dimiSpur]

Crouch is a joke. Seriously. :roll:

 

[andyw362]

But we don't, so there's no point in discussing it. I don't think we outplayed Utd, atleast they worked Gomes whereas VDS had nothing to do all game except claim a couple of crosses.

Thats why they are champions and we are contenders. They may not get much of the ball but when they do the make the keeper work. That is why we must get a striker worthy of our midfield in january.

 

[fortworthspur]

I felt pretty pathetic watching us sling ball after ball into the box knowing we were never going to score.

 

[StartingPrice]

I rarely post and just tend to read opinions but I cannot believe that people are so negative.

Spurs were clearly the team that dominated and Vidic put in one of the best defensive displays I have seen in a long time. He would have been a match for any striker.

Crouch is an easy target for most fans and yes he missed a big early chance but people seem to easily look over VDV's huge chance from a short corner in the final ten minutes.

We should be very proud of how far the team has come, one thing you can tell is Harry didnt have the greatest faith in the bench when it would have been wise to freshen things up.

I wonder if Alan Hansen could moan about Benni's performance today? I though he was superb as was the rest of backline.

With some tinkering to the squad and Huddlestones return we have nothing to fear for the 2nd half of the season.

With such sensible posts you should participate more often.

Yeah, VDV should have scored (as I said in my post, above, all of our players except Benny seemed to lose their composure anywhere near the United box). And he should have had a pen when Vidic tried to strip him (in fairness to Dean, who I was frustrated with on the whole), VDV had his back to him, so it would have been impossible for him to see what Vidic was doing.

One defeat in 14 now for us in all competitions. Not bad.

A timely reminder of the Big Picture. And a very nice Big Picture it is.

 

[Damian99]

But we don't, so there's no point in discussing it. I don't think we outplayed Utd, atleast they worked Gomes whereas VDS had nothing to do all game except claim a couple of crosses.

Again we don't but if we had the quality of forward players they do, or something remotely close, maybe we would have worked their keeper.

It is all we lacked really today.

 

[Damian99]

I felt pretty pathetic watching us sling ball after ball into the box knowing we were never going to score.

Unfortunately you have to put the ball in the box occasionally.

 

[andyw362]

I felt pretty pathetic watching us sling ball after ball into the box knowing we were never going to score.

At least its not slung in our box.

 

[StanSpur]

Didn't agree with the tactics today, playing the long ball to crouch who can't head a ball (and who's up against 2 of the best centre halfs) was never goingto work. Palacios is a liability, fouls every time he goes near a player and leaves a massive whole in midfield as he is useless with the ball. Modric was amazing and old red nose must have been thinking about what he could do with him at utd, truly world class today and far and away the best player on the park by a country mile. Felt we should have got more from this game but if you never shoot you'll never win.

 

[ShelfSide18]

So gutted we didn't get anything out of this game, we outpassed them and gave them very few scraps to feed off but you just got the feeling that when the crunch moments came we were guilty of playing against Man Utds reputation rather than the actual team we came up against.

Vidic and Ferdinand were unfortunately excellent, and are probably the reason for their lofty position in the league so far, Crouch worked hard but he found it difficult to get any change out of them. All this abuse he is getting though, consider this - do you really think Defoe, our apparent impact sub who touched the ball twice in 15 minutes, would have offered anywhere near as much as Crouch did today? Or Pavs who has a habit of getting blown off the ball by a moderate gust of wind? Whilst they may offer more moments of quality, they are so fleeting that the trade off between quality and determination isn't worth it. At least Crouch tries, grafts and battles - just today only a magnificent defensive display got the better of him - no crime that.

I thought Gallas was tremendous today, and Daws was also very good for the most part but it's pretty obvious that Luka was on another planet to every other player on the park, he was sublime. Wilson, barring one of his trademark one a game passes to no one in particular was also excellent. Unfortunately the player we really needed to find that moment of matchwinning quality VDV wasn't quite at the races today, but it's always worth keeping him on because of his knack of popping up at the right moment - unfortunately today he was gifted that one opportunity I though he needed but he just bent it wide, I'd have put my house on him hitting the back of the net there.

 

[am_yisrael_chai]

How exactly is this different from the match thread ?

 

[spurious1]

As many have commented (including Modders), the positive point is that we're disappointed to have drawn with ManU, which would certainly not have been the case in years gone by.

We can't complain about the result, they were immense in defence; we can't blame the ref - I hate to say it but they were more hard done by than us in this particular case.

My highlight of the match was BAE's first ever (as far a can recall) right footed cross at around about 86' I think, which was very surprisingly pinpoint.
Oh but if only we had a clinical stiker...

On a side note, Boris is a Gooner troll, no? I always make an effort to not criticise any other poster but that's a bit flagrant.

 

[Jaydog]

Thanks Starting Price

I am in the States and I am maybe slightly removed from all the hype surrounding the club at the moment

I just can only see good things in the next few months, my only problem is that we focus so heavily on playing down the wings (obviously our strength) that we sometimes become a bit predictable. I am loving the way Modric is playing but I am just looking forward to Huddlestone returning so we can have Luka more involved further up the pitch and closer to VDV. This would really open things up attacking wise and result in a better balance of through balls in behind not just crosses. Which in turn would mean we would benefit from playing a striker with better movement (dare i say it like Suarez).

Other than that, 3 clean sheets out of 4 in the league, shows great improvement. Man Utd are the perfect example of building a winning team on solid foundations.

 

[Wsussexspur]

Think it says how far we have come that we are all really disapointed with a draw against Man utd.

I thought we were the better team by along way today. If it wasnt for Ferdinand and Vidic we would have won that game. Modric was outstanding yet again!

 

[MikeCOYS]

Unfortunately you have to put the ball in the box occasionally.

I don't mind the occasion long ball into the boxes but only if we nod the ball down to another player. I don't remember Crouch even touched the ball with his head from those long crosses, VDV had more touch on his head in spite of his height difference. Then again, Vidic was on fire throughout the game, so was our CB Dawson.

I swear when our defence got better we losing out goals. I bet if Gallas and Kaboul were at the back we'd conceded 2 goals but won by 3 or 4....

 

[roosh]

One defeat in 14 now for us in all competitions. Not bad.

will it be good enough for 4th though?

 

[Mr Pink]

So gutted we didn't get anything out of this game, we outpassed them and gave them very few scraps to feed off but you just got the feeling that when the crunch moments came we were guilty of playing against Man Utds reputation rather than the actual team we came up against.

Vidic and Ferdinand were unfortunately excellent, and are probably the reason for their lofty position in the league so far, Crouch worked hard but he found it difficult to get any change out of them. All this abuse he is getting though, consider this - do you really think Defoe, our apparent impact sub who touched the ball twice in 15 minutes, would have offered anywhere near as much as Crouch did today? Or Pavs who has a habit of getting blown off the ball by a moderate gust of wind? Whilst they may offer more moments of quality, they are so fleeting that the trade off between quality and determination isn't worth it. At least Crouch tries, grafts and battles - just today only a magnificent defensive display got the better of him - no crime that.

I thought Gallas was tremendous today, and Daws was also very good for the most part but it's pretty obvious that Luka was on another planet to every other player on the park, he was sublime. Wilson, barring one of his trademark one a game passes to no one in particular was also excellent. Unfortunately the player we really needed to find that moment of matchwinning quality VDV wasn't quite at the races today, but it's always worth keeping him on because of his knack of popping up at the right moment - unfortunately today he was gifted that one opportunity I though he needed but he just bent it wide, I'd have put my house on him hitting the back of the net there.

Spot on. I have mixed feelings about todays game - on the one hand we dominanted a lot of possession, particularly second half, and had United pegged back and on the back foot for a lot of the game which was pleasing. United never really got to grips with the midfield apart from the opening 5 minutes of each half.

What was dissappointing is that we didn't breach their defence emphatically enough at any point in the game and we had a lot of the ball to attempt to do this. It just felt we didn't believe that we could tear into them. Yes their CB pairing was exceptional and mopped up practically everything but we didn't have that killer ball or clever run today which would of exposed their back line. Lennon was so close to getting in behind on a few occasions but it just didn't come off.

By Bale's high standards he wasn't at his very best today, nor VDV but again you havce to credit their backline.

Ekotto, Gallas, and Dawson were all very good but Modric was outstanding.

Also thought Wilson had a good game and made some good incisive passes, just a pitty he shot twice when better options were availabile each time.


Overall all I am dissappointed, second half we should of gone on to win that - and even if they hadn't gone down to ten men. Our best spell was a ten minute period in the second half before they went down to ten men.

We need that striker though, could well be the difference to making top 4, we cant keep relying on Bale and VDV week in week out.

 

[walton]

Didn't agree with the tactics today, playing the long ball to crouch who can't head a ball (and who's up against 2 of the best centre halfs) was never goingto work. Palacios is a liability, fouls every time he goes near a player and leaves a massive whole in midfield as he is useless with the ball. Modric was amazing and old red nose must have been thinking about what he could do with him at utd, truly world class today and far and away the best player on the park by a country mile. Felt we should have got more from this game but if you never shoot you'll never win.

:bang: Unbelievable. Palacios was brilliant today, really impressive - and surprisingly good on the ball in combo with Modirc. His shooting is useless, but we all knew that anyways.

As has been said throughout, we're lacking upfront and that's it. 1-10 we're as good as anyone, better than most.

 

[spurs mental]

will it be good enough for 4th though?

If we go through the next 14 games with only one defeat, I'm sure we'll be incredibly close, and into the next stage of both the CL and FA Cup, I think.

I reckon most would be happy with that.

22 points from a possible 30 from the next ten games in the league is the minimum we need to still be in touch I reckon. And it's very doable.

 

[ardiles]

If we had Carroll (or someone similar) up front, instead of Crouch, he would have battered Vidic and we would probably have won this game easily.

We need a striker that would strike fear to opposition CDs.

 

[Gilzeanking]

Overall a good performance . VDV was a percent or two below par leaving us
without a killer forward .

If no new forward comes in this window , I fear for us getting 4th .

Little gripe , I think Harry doesn't quite see that its a 14 man per side game these days and that some fresh input could have created more chances for us near the end . Someone posted that this was proof he has no faith in the subs , I disagree ,Harry often doesn't use many subs .