Tottenham Vs Manchester United: Match Thread

[liam17oi]

Typically a point won against Man U is great for some of you. We're not Tottenham of old. We dominated them and should have beaten them with half a competent striker upfront. We had chances but unfortunately Crouch is shite. 3 points should have been won today.

 

[StartingPrice]

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.

Not that you highlighted me (Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it in for memg, but I for one never made any complaint about Crouch today. And I never suggested replacing him from the start with either JD or Pav. What I said, which is a very different call, is that it may have been worth taking him off at the same time as Wilson, and putting JD AND Pav on after Rat-Boy got sent off.

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.

:clap:
Three clean sheets out of four - it didn't even register with me. That's pretty damned good. Obviously United are unbeaten, but we are still pretty much the form team. And I agree, once THudd comes back I think Modders will be able to interract more further up the field.

 

[roosh]

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.

it would certainly be a great achievement, but it's still might not suffice, and anything less than that would probably see us with a really tough battle on our hands for 4th.

We have to start scoring more, and we have to either hope we sign someone in January or that Defoe hits a rich vein of form, because failing that I honestly think we will fall short.

 

[ShelfSide18]

Not that you highlighted me (Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it in for memg, but I for one never made any complaint about Crouch today. And I never suggested replacing him from the start with either JD or Pav. What I said, which is a very different call, is that it may have been worth taking him off at the same time as Wilson, and putting JD AND Pav on after Rat-Boy got sent off..

It was definitely not aimed at you, more at the people who come on here with nothing else to say other than the particularly insightful, 'Crouch is shit'/'Crouch is a lanky streak of piss'.

I wasn't against Defoe/Pavs being given a chance, although Defoe has often showed himself to be a rather poor impact sub, but I fail to see what Pavs and Defoe would have given us today against a particularly impressive CB display. Crouch, whilst not quite his day got on the ball a lot more than Pavs/Defoe generally do, and in a game where we dominated possession - a rare thing for us actually against the top sides, Crouchs workrate and ability to be available to receive the ball shouldn't be underestimated.

I think everyone knows we need a top striker in who will match the quality with bollocks, I'm just trying to defend Crouch from mindless criticism and abuse.

 

[StartingPrice]

It was definitely not aimed at you, more at the people who come on here with nothing else to say other than the particularly insightful, 'Crouch is shit'/'Crouch is a lanky streak of piss'.

I wasn't against Defoe/Pavs being given a chance, although Defoe has often showed himself to be a rather poor impact sub, but I fail to see what Pavs and Defoe would have given us today against a particularly impressive CB display. Crouch, whilst not quite his day got on the ball a lot more than Pavs/Defoe generally do, and in a game where we dominated possession - a rare thing for us actually against the top sides, Crouchs workrate and ability to be available to receive the ball shouldn't be underestimated.

I think everyone knows we need a top striker in who will match the quality with bollocks, I'm just trying to defend Crouch from mindless criticism and abuse.

No, I know it wasn't aimed at me...still think making that double substitution when Rat-Boy got sent off would maybe have broken the deadlock. And that is the important thing to remember. We didn't score. What Pav and JD would have given us was two sets of fresh legs, two strikers who have a decent shot, two strikers who interract reasonably well on occasions, and two strikers who can actually score. We were going all out, throwing caution to the wind, etc...well, we really should have done just that. Against a resolute but tiring United defence this might just have worked, whereas with Crouch staying on we got more of the same, and it had failed to break them down for 75 minutes. Besides, VDV wasn't his usual self, and as the main reason for playing Crochy was for his knock-downs that VDV could pick up, I don't see that it would have actually hurt us any taking him off.

 

[BorisTM]

Some of you guys are so silly - giving credit to Rio and Vidic as the best central pair, in a game that we made it easy for them to defend, and totally forgetting about the other pair of central defenders that had to deal with the "barn door was wide open on the back" against Rooney and Berbatov.

 

[JollyHappy]

Does anyone think that we'd have won today if we had Berbatov (if he was still with us) up front instead of Crouch.

Personally I don't think it would have made any difference but what do others think?

 

[danielneeds]

Yeah obviously Crouch stunk up the place, and we never quite looked like breaking down the door, but United couldn't wait for the final whistle, they were dead on their feet. We player some good stuff. Sign Carroll and we could batter them next time round.

 

[SpurSince57]

Does anyone think that we'd have won today if we had Berbatov (if he was still with us) up front instead of Crouch.

Personally I don't think it would have made any difference but what do others think?

His passing was much better than Crouch's, but otherwise he was no more effective. In truth, he's been very on and off all season.

 

[Spurger King]

His passing was much better than Crouch's, but otherwise he was no more effective. In truth, he's been very on and off all season.

As you and JollyHappy say, he wasn't all that amazing today. However we can only speculate on the external factors they were subjected to. Berbatov has been pretty poor at WHL since leaving for United, so who knows how well he could have played had he still been a Yiddo...personally I can think of few strikers that would tick all the boxes of what we need more than Berbatov...sadly.

He's also been far less impressive since he left the Lane, but again how much of this is due to issues such as the new players/manager/philosophy?

Former players aside...Crouch really was a let-down. It sums up just how much we need a new striker to add to Defoe, Crouch and Pav. Defoe really should have started, however if we are serious about competing for titles we need to get a top quality striker. Which we are all well aware of.

 

[Bulletspur]

Some of you guys are so silly - giving credit to Rio and Vidic as the best central pair, in a game that we made it easy for them to defend, and totally forgetting about the other pair of central defenders that had to deal with the "barn door was wide open on the back" against Rooney and Berbatov.

I was thinking the same thing. Vidic and Ferdinand looked good because Crouch being as useless as he made them so, not the other way around. ie they made Crouch look like bad, he always did!

 

[Seth]

Bale wasted a lot of our decent play, his final ball was poor today.

Is this poorly disguised sarcasm?
If we had a target man with an ounce of pace he could've got on the end of one of Bale's crosses

 

[Seth]

I said atm (at the moment). neither Chelsea, Man Utd nor Arsenal have a top class striker they can rely upon because they are all out of form and have been for quite a while. We are in no different position than they are.

except we have out of form strikers who are not world class. They just need to be patient, we need to change personnel

 

[Rout-Ledge]

Pretty sure our recent tendency to pick up clean sheets has nothing whatsoever to do with the return of Dawson. Nothing at all. I think. Pretty sure...

 

[Seth]

To the ppl saying we should replace crouch with suarez to play the tottenham way.
I disagree, proper target man is a necessary option imo, just one with a little pace so we can play the ball in behind as well as to his head

 

[mattdefoe]

Hutton had some woeful distribution at the start of the second half and his link up with Lennon needs sorting. Man u were there there for the taking and we looked scared at times , Defoe came on to late

 

[StockSpur]

It was definitely not aimed at you, more at the people who come on here with nothing else to say other than the particularly insightful, 'Crouch is shit'/'Crouch is a lanky streak of piss'.

I wasn't against Defoe/Pavs being given a chance, although Defoe has often showed himself to be a rather poor impact sub, but I fail to see what Pavs and Defoe would have given us today against a particularly impressive CB display. Crouch, whilst not quite his day got on the ball a lot more than Pavs/Defoe generally do, and in a game where we dominated possession - a rare thing for us actually against the top sides, Crouchs workrate and ability to be available to receive the ball shouldn't be underestimated.

I think everyone knows we need a top striker in who will match the quality with bollocks, I'm just trying to defend Crouch from mindless criticism and abuse.

crouch should be our impact sub, defoes movement probably would have created more problems for their cb pairing than just hoofing it.

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

I think this game has shown how far we've come but also how far we need to go (a new striker, ideally).

We definitely edged the game, as Harry would have it, and if we'd had a bit more cutting edge we'd have nicked it.

You only have to look at who's happy with the point (them) and who felt they should perhaps have nicked it (us).

Modric was the best player on the pitch by far, and I was genuinely surprised how poor Man Utd were. Time after time their passing was poor and went out for throwings, etc.

But for stout defensive displays from Ferdinand and Vidic they had very little to offer. Rooney and Berbatov were in the pockets of Dawson and Gallas. Nani was yanked off for being ineffective. The ultimate insult for him was being subbed for Anderson, who is dreadful!

We're moving in the right direction. We're getting there. We need that striker and then we're good to go! We're so close now.

COYS!

 

[There's always next year]

IWe're moving in the right direction. We're getting there. We need that striker and then we're good to go! We're so close now.

COYS!

If we don't get a striker soon and miss out on th CL next season, the more difficult it will be to hold onto Bale, Modric and VDV.

 

[NEVILLEB]

If we don't get a striker soon and miss out on th CL next season, the more difficult it will be to hold onto Bale, Modric and VDV.

Exactly right

But Levy will try to do business on transfer day to give him maximum negotiating power

We haven't scored enough goals this season. I don't doubt that if we had got a top striker in the summer we would be above Man City in the league now