Match Threads WBA vs Spurs - Match Thread - Round 8

[rossdapep]

Ledley is well pleased but who is it with legs draped over the seats not showing any passion.
View attachment 77264

Probably waiting for VAR to step in like I was

 

[buckley]

I dont know if its relevant to everybody but it is to me last season after 8 games in Europe lost 4 drew2 won 2
This season up to now after 6 games in Europe we have I think won 5 and drew one . not quite sure but definitely unbeaten after Europe .
So I can put up with the dismal games after Europe midweek games .

 

[Timberwolf]

Great 3 points but iffy performance. I don't want to be overly negative though: we've played great and drawn games so let's not get down on the team.

My main issue would just be our conservatism. I don't like the Hojbjerg Sissoko double pivot and feel is does as much damage as good, although I appreciate that Jose is only playing it cos Lo Celso isnt completely fit and he doesn't trust Winks (agreed). I also think it's no coincidence that our best attacking performance was against United when we played 2 fast attacking fullbacks. Doherty is neutered in a back 4 and as a result everything comes down the left.

Long term I think we need to be much more expansive against the bottom half teams, although I'm hopeful our current set up will hopefully work better against the top sides over the next few weeks.

 

[Spurs 1961]

Great 3 points but iffy performance. I don't want to be overly negative though: we've played great and drawn games so let's not get down on the team.

My main issue would just be our conservatism. I don't like the Hojbjerg Sissoko double pivot and feel is does as much damage as good, although I appreciate that Jose is only playing it cos Lo Celso isnt completely fit and he doesn't trust Winks (agreed). I also think it's no coincidence that our best attacking performance was against United when we played 2 fast attacking fullbacks. Doherty is neutered in a back 4 and as a result everything comes down the left.

Long term I think we need to be much more expansive against the bottom half teams, although I'm hopeful our current set up will hopefully work better against the top sides over the next few weeks.

There will be no change in style under the current regime. It’s the standard way they approach the game. Expansive games are a mistake deviating from the plan. Players are chosen who can adhere to the narrow guidelines. We do have more chance against top teams who will come full steam at us and maybe leave gaps that can be exploited with the 30% or so possession we will get.
However the upside is that it’s much easier to predict results and scores in the predictor league as we know exactly what the approach will be game to game

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

Oh no we didn’t win in the exact way that I think we should be winning so everybody really will eventually agree with me that we are shit.

 

[Ionman34]

You misunderstand Mr Pink, we weren't running smoothly up front today and people were concerned about it and asking why can't we score against teams defending like this. My observation by way of an explanation is that Son Kane and Bale isn't working....yet.
I'm sure you believe they'll get better together too.

You might want to factor in that they effectively defended with 9 players in a very deep block, so this isn't really the game to judge the effectiveness of a front 3 that had little to no room to operate in.

Despite that, we still carved out chances. Had Son taken his then the dynamic changes.

I've seen our ability to find solutions questioned on here. So far I'm failing to see how that is the case when it's pretty obvious that we have. 6 points is proof of that.

 

[Rusta81]

Oh no we didn’t win in the exact way that I think we should be winning so everybody really will eventually agree with me that we are shit.

Correct

 

[ShayLaB]

I dont know if its relevant to everybody but it is to me last season after 8 games in Europe lost 4 drew2 won 2
This season up to now after 6 games in Europe we have I think won 5 and drew one . not quite sure but definitely unbeaten after Europe .
So I can put up with the dismal games after Europe midweek games .

I was coming to post the exact same thing.

Any win after a midweek game, especially away, is a great result regardless of performance.

 

[Monkey boy]

Did you go to the Post Office?

on a Sunday, are you mad?

 

[NEVILLEB]

If you are paying £15 for a game like this you are only shooting yourself in the foot

 

[shoggy33]

We were dreadful in the first half, OK in the second. We definitely deserved to win on the balance of play. Its just frustrating watching us come up against the worst teams in the league and just surrender the ball time and time again. It just doesn't seem sustainable, sooner or later we are going to drop points playing this way. Fingers crossed people are right and we will be better suited to playing the better teams, but there is no reason for us to be so cautious against teams like West Brom.

 

[UbeAstard]

Hope West Brom go down, they never should’ve been allowed back up in the first place they’ve had numerous chances to be a relevant and interesting premier league club but have continually failed - let someone else have a go and toil away in the championship where you belong

What a load of tosh

 

[hamsup_sotong]

Its hard to get any rhythm when the west brom mids were fouling our boys on almost every touch or turn. I lost count on the number of times That boy on loan from chelski (gallagher i think)and livermore clattered into our players. Factor in the fact that sissoko cycles the ball slowly thats why we struggled.

Vini could actually be a good alternative against teams that park the bus for us as harry can play the number 10, pushing ndombele back to 8 providing a link man

All in all, win is a win (never in doubt )

 

[Ickle73]

Watching the highlights on Motd2.

I didn't notice live, but after Kane scores, Vinicius runs into the net and collects the ball, runs out and launches into the stands...... clever ****

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

On MOTD2 Ian Wright said Spurs were brilliant today, no criticism at all of the team play in fact all positive, maybe the ex-professionals have more of an appreciation that playing Thursday evening then 12 noon K.O on a Sunday is not ideal.

 

[rez9000]

Your points all have equally valid responses, picky. I'll start off by saying I'm really not having a go, just presenting a different perspective as I go through.

What's there to get excited about? For starters we're in November and what 8 games in. I'm not like many/most of you and mentally masturbating with thoughts of "oh my god little old Spurs are top of the league!!" (we're well capable of it as a club, and that should be the aim...) or "if only Liverpool slip up we're legitimately top!!" or "can we hang on/do it with 30 games to go??" and having it occupy my mind 24/7. It will happen or not, it fucking barely registers to me. Honestly.

That's fair enough. You're entitled to draw whatever conclusions you like. I would suggest that maybe those people 'mentally masturbating' over being top of the League are drawing some pleasure from doing so? Like masturbation itself. We do it because it's pleasurable. I think that your phraseology suggests that this is a bad thing. I can't really say this in any less a confrontational way (which isn't my intent), but: why? What's so bad about doing that?

Then for you, and everyone else who has given my post some stick, I'll reply once again with the argument/discussion that's been had many times in the last year or so. But once more.......... It come's down to why you actually watch football. For me it's as entertainment. Do I want Spurs to win, matches and trophies, yes of course. But I am obviously different to most fans - who really largely care only about the outcome (the match result) and don't care anything for the process (the 90 minutes of football). It largely gets reduced down to 'we won so that's all that matters' and you have no opinions on performance etc. Truth be told - and I honestly don't mean this to insult people - it often puzzles me why quite a lot of you spend the time watching the match when you could be doing something constructive, and just check the score and then you'd get the win = all is good, lose = we're shit narrative.

Because, and this may seem like a very simple answer.... we're not all the same. We take pleasure and enjoyment from different things. Speaking personally, I find it very difficult to analyse a game of football. I never played at anywhere near even pub league. The closest I ever came to playing the game was a kick about after school. But some of the best moments of my life have been watching Spurs. I've formed friendships because of Spurs and this very forum. I've even attended the funeral of a friend who was a member of this forum - the thing that brought us together was watching Spurs. I spent 80-odd minutes chewing my fingernails this afternoon, wound up like a spring until Kane scored and then another ten minutes in the same state of tension while I waited for the whistle to blow. Because the anticipation, the joy of seeing us score and win brings me pleasure. What gives anyone the right to say that I should or shouldn't take pleasure in that?

But I can't do that, I watch football as much for the actual game of football, and the 90 minutes of it and performance, tactics etc. as anything else and rate what I see to a) the effectiveness of what we do out on the pitch and also b) my tastes and ideas as to how the game of football should be played. I want to win, and dare say (having spent 10+ years on this forum) I have higher standards than pretty much any other poster, but I can't and don't separate the process from the result.

Firstly, that's your choice. If you want to do that, fill your boots. Who am I to say you nay. However, stating you have 'higher standards' than pretty much any poster is, forgive me for saying this, monumentally arrogant. What 'standards' are we talking about? Philosophical ones? Moral standards? My hope is that you've simply phrased that badly and that you're meaning is otherwise, because, my apologies, but saying that basically undercuts everything you say.

If I'm going to invest my time, which for a match will be a couple of hours a pop, watching a game of football (Spurs, or otherwise) then I want to watch something of quality (eg. standard of performance), or at least something interesting (eg. the plan of a team setting up tactically). At the moment, 99.9% of what I watch from Spurs I find to be neither.

And again, that's your choice. That doesn't mean it has to be my choice, or anyone else's choice. And my challenge to you on that score is this: if the only thing that matters is the way the game is played, why do you have any loyalty to a particular team? That's not the 'you should support someone else' statement that you occasionally hear - it's a genuine enquiry. Or more accurately, it's a rhetorical question to highlight the fact that there's more to your watching of football than simply wanting to analyse a game. If it weren't, you wouldn't have spent '10+ years' on this board and however many more following one particular team. Is it outside the realms of possibility that other people may have different reasons for watching a match than just to see good football? Isn't it just possible that people watch Spurs for reasons of camaraderie, tribalism, nostalgia, or any of myriad human emotions that extend beyond simply analysing a match?

Then there is that - probably linked to the fact I watch as much for the match as the result - quite honestly I get over results pretty much instantly. I'm not buzzing for ages after a win, I'm not stewing after a loss. If we win at 5pm on a Saturday then by 5.30 I'm over it, I'll be doing something else in my life by that point and mentally moved on. Same goes with trophies - I woke up the day after the CL final and was over it, the same would have been the case if we'd won it. Happy to be on here, discussing it to the nth degree and sharing my opinions and ideas, but any emotion has gone out of it.

And again, that's your unique take on it. Others feel differently.

So Spurs can go and win say the league but might end up playing most matches with an approach I don't like and serve up something I find rubbish to watch. I'll be glad of that, but at the end of the day if I've sat through hundred plus hours of football week in week out I haven't enjoyed, does that make up for it? For most of you, obviously yes. For me, no.

I sense a lot of you need Spurs to win trophies as some sort of validation that it was all worth it. That just isn't how I approach it.

But that's just how I am, maybe it's because I am dispassionate and cold hearted. Maybe it's because I am lucky to have enough other interests or things going on in my life besides football. Maybe I can compartmentalise it all better. Dunno. But put it all together and results seemingly mean less to me (vs. performance) than most other fans.

As I said, it comes down to why you watch football. And my reasons obviously aren't what the typical fans are.

End of essay.

This last section (to my mind) demonstrates some level of considering an 'other' perspective. The majority of what you've said though smacks of an air of superiority - that your approach is more 'elevated' than those of us who watch football for the visceral emotional experience it gives us. Again I hope you can forgive me, but It comes across as snobbish.

If you derive pleasure from analysing a match and unpicking the intricacies then, as I said, fill your boots. I do that with films and books. But equally, I also read books and watch movies for the simple joy of escaping for a short while, for immersing myself and allowing myself to be swept away without having to have my mind constantly looking over it. I do that in equal measure, because I enjoy doing both. But if someone wants to just treat every book, every film as an exercise in criticism, that's their choice. Likewise, if someone wants to watch a movie just for the joy of willingly suspending their disbelief, again, that's their choice. There isn't a 'better' or 'worse' way. I sincerely apologise if I've misread what you're saying, but I can't get over the thought that you seem to believe that your way is better.

We all derive pleasure in our own unique ways and for our own unique reasons. As long as it's not harming anyone, what is so objectionable about people celebrating being top of the League for 15 minutes if that brings them joy?

 

[inclineyid]

Son Bale Kane... may not have worked perfectly... but last 3 league games... each of them won us the game with a late crucial header... They are all quality finishers, world class finishers... not doing too badly... it's why we got 9 from 9

 

[slartibartfast]

Your points all have equally valid responses, picky. I'll start off by saying I'm really not having a go, just presenting a different perspective as I go through.

That's fair enough. You're entitled to draw whatever conclusions you like. I would suggest that maybe those people 'mentally masturbating' over being top of the League are drawing some pleasure from doing so? Like masturbation itself. We do it because it's pleasurable. I think that your phraseology suggests that this is a bad thing. I can't really say this in any less a confrontational way (which isn't my intent), but: why? What's so bad about doing that?

Because, and this may seem like a very simple answer.... we're not all the same. We take pleasure and enjoyment from different things. Speaking personally, I find it very difficult to analyse a game of football. I never played at anywhere near even pub league. The closest I ever came to playing the game was a kick about after school. But some of the best moments of my life have been watching Spurs. I've formed friendships because of Spurs and this very forum. I've even attended the funeral of a friend who was a member of this forum - the thing that brought us together was watching Spurs. I spent 80-odd minutes chewing my fingernails this afternoon, wound up like a spring until Kane scored and then another ten minutes in the same state of tension while I waited for the whistle to blow. Because the anticipation, the joy of seeing us score and win brings me pleasure. What gives anyone the right to say that I should or shouldn't take pleasure in that?

Firstly, that's your choice. If you want to do that, fill your boots. Who am I to say you nay. However, stating you have 'higher standards' than pretty much any poster is, forgive me for saying this, monumentally arrogant. What 'standards' are we talking about? Philosophical ones? Moral standards? My hope is that you've simply phrased that badly and that you're meaning is otherwise, because, my apologies, but saying that basically undercuts everything you say.

And again, that's your choice. That doesn't mean it has to be my choice, or anyone else's choice. And my challenge to you on that score is this: if the only thing that matters is the way the game is played, why do you have any loyalty to a particular team? That's not the 'you should support someone else' statement that you occasionally hear - it's a genuine enquiry. Or more accurately, it's a rhetorical question to highlight the fact that there's more to your watching of football than simply wanting to analyse a game. If it weren't, you wouldn't have spent '10+ years' on this board and however many more following one particular team. Is it outside the realms of possibility that other people may have different reasons for watching a match than just to see good football? Isn't it just possible that people watch Spurs for reasons of camaraderie, tribalism, nostalgia, or any of myriad human emotions that extend beyond simply analysing a match?

And again, that's your unique take on it. Others feel differently.


This last section (to my mind) demonstrates some level of considering an 'other' perspective. The majority of what you've said though smacks of an air of superiority - that your approach is more 'elevated' than those of us who watch football for the visceral emotional experience it gives us. Again I hope you can forgive me, but It comes across as snobbish.

If you derive pleasure from analysing a match and unpicking the intricacies then, as I said, fill your boots. I do that with films and books. But equally, I also read books and watch movies for the simple joy of escaping for a short while, for immersing myself and allowing myself to be swept away without having to have my mind constantly looking over it. I do that in equal measure, because I enjoy doing both. But if someone wants to just treat every book, every film as an exercise in criticism, that's their choice. Likewise, if someone wants to watch a movie just for the joy of willingly suspending their disbelief, again, that's their choice. There isn't a 'better' or 'worse' way. I sincerely apologise if I've misread what you're saying, but I can't get over the thought that you seem to believe that your way is better.

We all derive pleasure in our own unique ways and for our own unique reasons. As long as it's not harming anyone, what is so objectionable about people celebrating being top of the League for 15 minutes if that brings them joy?

Posters, on SC, with an air of superiority?
Surely not.
You should give your opinion of a tv show, a movie or a book in those relevant threads. Just better be the right opinion lol.

 

[CanadaSpurs]

Had Son converted that (wonderfully created by Ndombele) chance in the first I think Spurs would have won by two or three after they opened up to try and get back in it. They seemed to sit deeper and deeper as it went on and taking a point from the game seemed possible.

God bless Harry Kane.

 

[pedrodelawasp]

So far this season we've seen some of the best of our potential and the flip-side of how the team can underperform - in the case of the West Ham match both within 90 mins!

I believe we will be seeing more of the good stuff through the remainder of the season as the team gels. We've not had our 'First XI' consistently yet for one reason, and certainly not firing on all cylinders at once. It could come, though. Plus, we're still picking up points when playing badly, or below par, when we might not have in the past. Handy to have in the back pocket.