Tottenham Vs Watford: Match Thread

[spurs mental]

...we're 2nd in the league despite our questionable player moves, not because of them...we are capitalizing on a down year in league quality - any of the 3 players I mentioned would be a significant upgrade over the wasteful and reckless tin pot tourney Rabona specialist...

COYS

 

[diamondlight]

He's a throwback winger. Great for a Redknapp side, awful for a Pochettino one.

Would that be the same Lennon who is currently thriving in Martinez's 4231 system? You're simply wrong: he's more than an out and out winger.
Poch obviously didn't fancy him - Lennon is obviously a confidence player.
As the risk of being too hypothetical for you, I think that a fully fit Lennon, fully backed by Poch, wouldn't look out of place in this Spurs team.
To save you from the making any more false statements, let's agree to disagree.

 

[degoose]

Would that be the same Lennon who is currently thriving in Martinez's 4231 system? You're simply wrong: he's more than an out and out winger.
Poch obviously didn't fancy him - Lennon is obviously a confidence player.
As the risk of being too hypothetical for you, I think that a fully fit Lennon, fully backed by Poch, wouldn't look out of place in this Spurs team.
To save you from the making any more false statements, let's agree to disagree.

you mean the one that plays with wingers perhaps

 

[diamondlight]

you mean the one that plays with wingers perhaps

Cleverley a winger?

 

[dirtyh]

lol at the view that it's a down year in quality. it only seems that way because the so-called weaker teams have got a lot stronger and the obligatory top 4 haven't run away with it as they always have in the past. for me this has been a far harder league than usual. in previous years the top 4 could get away with playing shit as they'd still win, not any more.

and anyone who says lamela isn't worth his place in the team can suck a dick. he may not score many goals but the kid gives everything and the assists speak volumes. any non-trolling barely-sighted non-doorknob can see that ffs.

 

[Sweech]

Would that be the same Lennon who is currently thriving in Martinez's 4231 system? You're simply wrong: he's more than an out and out winger.
Poch obviously didn't fancy him - Lennon is obviously a confidence player.
As the risk of being too hypothetical for you, I think that a fully fit Lennon, fully backed by Poch, wouldn't look out of place in this Spurs team.
To save you from the making any more false statements, let's agree to disagree.

As I said before we're not discussing hypotheticals even though you're trying to add superlatives.

We know he doesn't work in a Poch team. Period.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Lennon was a great player for us over the years, and I think a lot of our fans do him a great disservice. I also don't think it was comprehensively proven that he didn't fit our "style" at all. If anything in the games he did play in last season (predominantly cup games) he worked his bollocks off, and was usually one the best players on the pitch. I think Lennon the player would be excellent in this team.

What did him was his taking the side of Kaboul and Adebayor, which I think he very quickly regretted. He was also one of those party boys with Hudd and JD. So Lennon the personality is what wouldn't fit.

 

[degoose]

Cleverley a winger?

no, are we talking about cleverley here or lennon playing in a system that uses wingers. Sure it was the second one.

 

[diamondlight]

no, are we talking about cleverley here or lennon playing in a system that uses wingers. Sure it was the second one.

Everton play 4231, often with Cleverley and Lennon out wide. Spurs play 4231 with Son/Erikson/Lamela taking the wide positions. But of course in a 4231 it is not a 'proper' wide position. There is lots of interchanging within the 3. Under Martinez, Lennon has proved he can thrive in the 3. How difficult is this to understand?

 

[diamondlight]

We know he doesn't work in a Poch team. Period.

Er, no we don't. Poch hardly ever picked him, and he was coming back from injury.

On the other hand, we DO know Lennon can thrive in a 4231 when fit and backed by the manager.

There is nothing hypothetical about that. Do you just not like facts which don't fit with your preconceptions?

 

[Sweech]

Er, no we don't. Poch hardly ever picked him, and he was coming back from injury.

On the other hand, we DO know Lennon can thrive in a 4231 when fit and backed by the manager.

There is nothing hypothetical about that. Do you just not like facts which don't fit with your preconceptions?

He played in 23 PL games last year, 1347 minutes mate. 6 Europa games, 328 minutes

You're saying he's thriving with a sample size which is half of that yet disregarding the sample size with double.

If anyone is avoiding facts it is you.

Also fact it's a 4-2-3-1 is irrelevant, that doesn't denote the tactics...or do you actually think we play exactly like every other team playing a 4-2-3-1. When you watch Everton do you think they use the same gameplan?

 

[Shadydan]

We know Lennon doesn't fit into a Poch 4-2-3-1, why is this even being debated?

 

[Sweech]

We know Lennon doesn't fit into a Poch 4-2-3-1, why is this even being debated?

Because I'm getting trolled I guess.

More shocking that two people actually thought we'd be better off with Lennon.

 

[diamondlight]

He played in 23 PL games last year, 1347 minutes mate. 6 Europa games, 328 minutes

If anyone is avoiding facts it is you.

Bizarre post. He was at Everton after January, so those '23 PL games' obviously weren't all for Spurs. In fact, he played 14 times for Everton last season, which means that he played 9 PL games for Spurs.

Indeed, only 3 of those 9 were starts, and we won two out of those three.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the argument against Lennon so far looks like this:

- He underachieved at Spurs (TRUTH: He was an integral part of a squad that finished fourth twice and reached the last eight of the Champions League)
- Poch gave him a fair chance (TRUTH: three PL starts, two of which we won, then loaned him out after January)
- He doesn't fit into Poch's system (TRUTH: he is currently playing well in the same system for Everton)
- Oh, but Everton's system is not 'exactly the same' as ours (TRUTH: now this is just getting boring).

Anything else?

 

[diamondlight]

We know Lennon doesn't fit into a Poch 4-2-3-1, why is this even being debated?

Because it is complete and utter bollocks.

 

[spurs mental]

It's not the same system at Everton. They do not press high like we do nor do they defend as a unit let alone from the front. Their attackers are allowed to do what they like in a we'll score more than you type game plan.

Lennon would be required to do a lot more in our team that what he currently has to do for Everton.

A good player on his day and he's in form at present but if he had not scored three in three this discussion wouldn't even be happening right now.

 

[teok]

From http://www.football365.com/news/premier-league-winners-and-losers-21

Tottenham
We’re not sure we can say it better than Watford boss Quique Flores: “For me, it’s the best [team we’ve played]. We played twice against [Manchester] City, twice against Tottenham, twice against Chelsea, and I think this is the more complete team. It was impossible [to deal with them] We try to train a lot and try to take care a lot what happens in transition. We know perfectly what we want to do when we [recover] the ball, we try to play, but it was impossible.”

Twenty-five shots. Twenty-bloody-five shots. There were no outfield starters for Tottenham who did not have at least one attempt on goal. Christian Eriksen – playing centrally in the absence of Dele Alli – made eight key passes. It was relentless. After Manchester City utterly failed to deal with Leicester on Saturday, how the hell will they cope with the Tottenham tsunami?

Unlike Leicester, Tottenham’s style (as close to Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund as we currently boast) does not need a compliant opposition. Watford were by no means compliant, but they were powerless against a Tottenham side Flores went on to call “animals”. Good luck to an ageing, vulnerable City; it’s difficult to envisage anything other than a mauling.

Kieran Tripper

The 13th player to score for Tottenham in the Premier League had not even started a top-flight game before Christmas. He must now be dreaming of a Premier League winner’s medal just 12 months after being relegated.

This Tottenham side is a nirvana for attacking full-backs, with Eric Dier nominally playing in midfield but actually dropping back into defence to form a three-man safety net. Enjoy this Trip(pier).

 

[chrissivad]

Bizarre post. He was at Everton after January, so those '23 PL games' obviously weren't all for Spurs. In fact, he played 14 times for Everton last season, which means that he played 9 PL games for Spurs.

Indeed, only 3 of those 9 were starts, and we won two out of those three.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the argument against Lennon so far looks like this:

- He underachieved at Spurs (TRUTH: He was an integral part of a squad that finished fourth twice and reached the last eight of the Champions League)
- Poch gave him a fair chance (TRUTH: three PL starts, two of which we won, then loaned him out after January)
- He doesn't fit into Poch's system (TRUTH: he is currently playing well in the same system for Everton)
- Oh, but Everton's system is not 'exactly the same' as ours (TRUTH: now this is just getting boring).

Anything else?

There was always a question mark over Lennon's end product, the same can be said for Lamela as well
Lennon would have also had training to impress to get start, and after Toby's quotes this week (or last) about having to commit to Pochettino's philosophy if they want to stay at the club, the talk of a bad attitude could have played a part.
This would also go into fitting into Poch's system, its not just about being able to play in that position and why we have brought in a team to get players that will fit into Poch's system, and not just the formation.

This season:

----------------------------Lennon--------Lamela
Goals----------------------3-----------------3
Assists--------------------0-----------------3
Goal/assist every------203--------------248 mins
Key Passes--------------12---------------44
Per 90--------------------1.8--------------2.7
Dribbles-------------------22--------------47
Sussessful---------------12---------------28
Per 90--------------------1.8--------------1.7
Accurate cross passes--10-------------24 (not including corners)
Per 90---------------------1.5------------1.8