Match Threads West Ham Vs Spurs

[worcestersauce]

We can obviously afford to have a few (but not many) draws against lower side. But it puts more pressure on us every time we drop points. Draws just aren’t going to be good enough against sides outside the top 6, home or away.

I believe West Ham are a top six side, they will be challenging for top six for sure.

 

[worcestersauce]

how are arsenal in a false position?

They're not, they're absolutely in the expected position, you would expect these games to be a win in any year spread through the season, that they've come all together at the beginning doesn't make it a false position but they won't remain there.

 

[Spurs 1961]

West Ham is always a difficult game made harder by the fact they made a bad start to the season. I actually thought we looked sharper than usual at the beginning of the game and expected us to power in once we got the goal. Often we finish games strongly but on this occasion we stumbled to the end.
The tactics are clear. We sit back, soak up pressure then seek to counter. We expect other teams to have run low on energy and in the last 20 minutes bring on some subs to enable us to attack more. We have one approach to the game with everything down to wing backs or wide forwards. We don’t have a midfield as such, they are supplementary defenders, relying on two of the best forwards in the world to create for themselves.
In this system there is no place for creative midfielders yet having something different in the squad surely gives options? After all everyone knows how we play and even the best plans sometimes don’t come off.
It’s all ver well trying to build a squad of two good players in every position but if you just have like for like you reduce your options. All our central midfielders are pretty much the same; some clear variety is needed to make us less predictable. Yet I guess predictability is a Conte mantra so don’t see it happening. Sensibly though the management are buying some decent youngsters so post Conte we have something different.
Yet at the end of last season we showed that a more attacking mindset, with the forwards we have, can produce some exciting as well as effective football. It just takes a bit of faith and courage from the manager

 

[zepstar]

Accumulating points away from home, unbeaten still, sat in 3rd, Yves had his first start, few more players to bed into the system. Still more system to bed into the players. What are people meaning about exactly? That we’re not currently Brazil 1970 from minute 1 to 95. This team will get close to Poch’s teams in time. Don’t sit there and act as if you’re not thrilled and that your eyebrows don’t do a little raise as you confidently watch Perisic skin a player with ease multiple times every single game, something that’s not happened here since 1987.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Trying to play through the press without any CB's comfortable on the ball is pointless. Romero makes such a difference.

Yep and Lenglet will be a starter soon enough I think.

 

[shelfboy68]

West Ham is always a difficult game made harder by the fact they made a bad start to the season. I actually thought we looked sharper than usual at the beginning of the game and expected us to power in once we got the goal. Often we finish games strongly but on this occasion we stumbled to the end.
The tactics are clear. We sit back, soak up pressure then seek to counter. We expect other teams to have run low on energy and in the last 20 minutes bring on some subs to enable us to attack more. We have one approach to the game with everything down to wing backs or wide forwards. We don’t have a midfield as such, they are supplementary defenders, relying on two of the best forwards in the world to create for themselves.
In this system there is no place for creative midfielders yet having something different in the squad surely gives options? After all everyone knows how we play and even the best plans sometimes don’t come off.
It’s all ver well trying to build a squad of two good players in every position but if you just have like for like you reduce your options. All our central midfielders are pretty much the same; some clear variety is needed to make us less predictable. Yet I guess predictability is a Conte mantra so don’t see it happening. Sensibly though the management are buying some decent youngsters so post Conte we have something different.
Yet at the end of last season we showed that a more attacking mindset, with the forwards we have, can produce some exciting as well as effective football. It just takes a bit of faith and courage from the manager

I agree with your post but Jose and Nuno have taken so much flak for effectively similar negative tactics, but as yet Conte has been given an easy time in comparison.
The football is a real bore to watch and so far we have been lucky not to concede more and lose games.
I hope we spark soon otherwise it's going to be a long season of watching that rubbish and we are nowhere near the top twos level.

 

[BH_spurs]

Two London away sides who saved their peak performances for us out the way. Point is not a disaster.

 

[archiewasking]

They're not, they're absolutely in the expected position, you would expect these games to be a win in any year spread through the season, that they've come all together at the beginning doesn't make it a false position but they won't remain there.

Hope you're right, but people said the same about Leicester.

 

[14/04/91]

All seemed to go wrong after PEH's injury. I thought we were very, very comfortable in the first half and kept West Ham at bay and the crowd extremely quiet.

Not sure what went on with Hojbjerg. He appeared to signal he was 100% done right after half time - I'd have thought Skipp & Sarr would've had an extensive warm-up at half time in case that happened but everyone seemed surprised. Somehow he stayed on though.

After that it was clear he was very uncomfortable and barely getting around the pitch; coupled with Bissouma being on a yellow that meant we lost the middle of the park.
Skipp clearly isn't match fit and they felt he couldn't last best part of 45 minutes.

Even so, West Ham still weren't in the game until we gifted them a goal. Conte should be fuming; so many players switched off but I'm going to pinpoint Perisic as worst culprit and with his wealth of experience that should not be happening.
This lifted the crowd and gave West Ham belief that really didn't seem to be there before that. Instead of keeping them at arms' length we got into a nasty habit of passing the ball slowly (especially at the back), not giving each other options (partly due to PEH immobility) and their backs were up meaning they found an extra 20% and their press become much more aggressive.

 

[bigfrooj]

I'm not picking up much flack for Hugo this morning but last night I was absolutely furious with him. You can talk about the system and the defenders but this draw and the struggle in the last twenty minutes was wholly his responsibility and I'm still furious. It feels like a loss.

 

[spurs mental]

I'm struggling to watch the team so far this year a tough watch really boring.

Nuno ball was boring to watch because we got mullered every week. So much so I stopped watching after the Chelsea game at home last season until Conte arrived.

This is nowhere near that bad. You're over exaggeration is laughable. But I know you're generally negative in your posts anyway so it shouldn't be surprising

 

[shoggy33]

Two London away sides who saved their peak performances for us out the way. Point is not a disaster.

Yeh but everyone saves their peak performance for us, which should tell us something. We are so weak on the ball from front to back, if you press us we will give you chances. West Ham weren't even particularly good last night, if we had played even kind of well we would have beaten them. So the point is fine, but our performances so far have been pretty bad on the whole and really need to improve. That said we scored a ton of goals last year and played some great football, so I don't buy all this 'we are boring to watch' stuff, it just isn't clicking at the moment.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

My god, some of you really do come out with some pure untreated sewage. I mean the industrial stuff where fifty elephants take a poo in a hole half full with baboon vomit.

There's been a handful of sensible, fair and balanced posts which criticise last night's performance or aspects of it but far too much of it is just the usual suspects with their tantrums and bullshit. The same people who actively find and laugh at posts by opposing fans actually make the same kind of posts themselves. Self entitlement is rampant, self awareness is absent without leave.

We're five games into the season. We're also now at the point where some of you are now actively looking for reasons to complain. The minute a team has an attack you'll pipe up again because week in, week out, our team plays against useless patsies, cannon fodder to be casually swept aside with cavalier football. It's not a fucking hard league you see? Surely we should be the finished article by now.

Last night (If the commentators are to be believed) we were within one goal of our best start to a season in over 50 years, the team is a work in progress, there's value in sticking with it to see where it takes us, there's hope around the club which we haven't had for three or four years, we're in the process of changing the whole culture of the club both on and off the pitch but three or four games into the season, it's not fucking good enough, the time is up on all that, entertain me. Entertain me now. Oh and PS, win as well This is the measure of our patience. Embarrassing.

It's not as bad as some of you want to make out and it will, I hope and think, get better.

 

[JimmyG2]

How far up your personal disappointment scale did that one go?
Safe in 3rd for a few more days, unbeaten.
What's not to like?
Well, the football Antonio the football.
He's not interested in playing only in winning,
which may suit the current agenda
but could cause long term damage to our health.
A sluggish, uninspiring performance
against a struggling West Ham, carried by Rice.
This slow dance of death along the back line will be our undoing eventually.
Not one of our back four (Lloris included)
can pass the ball consistently or well.
Richarlison was the only bright spot
and should start or get at least half an hour.
Bissouma was careless at times but should settle in quickly.
The tantalising glimpse of Skippy gettin ready to replace Hojbjerg
gives us a clue what we are missing, some energy and enthusiasm.

I cant see past City for the title now that Haarland has settled so quickly
and probably Liverpool for second.
Chelsea are a mess and Arsenal will implode before the World Cup.
·3rd. is our to lose if only because the quality of the oppositions currently is so poor.

It's being so cheerful as keeps me going (Mona Lott ITMA)

 

[TheChosenOne]

I'm not picking up much flack for Hugo this morning but last night I was absolutely furious with him. You can talk about the system and the defenders but this draw and the struggle in the last twenty minutes was wholly his responsibility and I'm still furious. It feels like a loss.

The lousy and inane kicking out is a rinse and repeat cycle.
Maddening to see it happening.

 

[shelfboy68]

Nuno ball was boring to watch because we got mullered every week. So much so I stopped watching after the Chelsea game at home last season until Conte arrived.

This is nowhere near that bad. You're over exaggeration is laughable. But I know you're generally negative in your posts anyway so it shouldn't be surprising

Not at all mate but if you are enjoying it then fine it's yours to enjoy ?

 

[HedgieSpur]

'Kin ell

I dont disagree with anything the poster wrote. Our performance was horrendous imo. Did you think we played well then?

 

[dimiSpur]

I think that we saw last night we had some really poor passages in the game, which are a plus and a minus at the same time.

What I mean by that is, at moments, we were really sloppy. We fell completely asleep for their goal. Hugo was so sloppy in just booting it out when he could have just tried to ping it up to Harry who was winning aerial duels often and just re group. After the equaliser, we looked hellbent on getting caught in the triangle of death that was Dier, Lloris and Sanchez last night. All three of them were super poor.

The positive is that I'd forgotten almost that we were capable of being so shit and careless. It was "Spursy" at times in that 2nd half, in that we looked to create our own problems. The reason this is a positive, IMO, is that it shows how far Conte has pushed them in eliminating this shit from their game. Yes, we aren't the finished product by any means and we need some bolstering at the back (Dier just isn't good enough IMO and is the one of the three that needs immediate upgrading, more so than Davies). However we haven't seen shit like that from us in ages, where we almost lack intensity.

It was almost a window into our past, when Conte first came in and I'd forgotten what we were like.

Whether it's because we have this newfound grit, generally speaking, or just plain luck that no one was there to tuck home that last minute chance for the Pikeys, in any other season we lose that game 2-1. So all in all, despite the fact that they were there for the taking for long periods of the game, I do think it's a point gained rather than 2 lost overall.

 

[robin09]

We played really well in the first half, the perfect antidote to the criticisms of our play against Forest.

2nd half we struggled. I think that was in part due to Hojberg's injury, Bissouma's nervy debut while also on a yellow, Sanchez being fed the ball instead of Romero being available, Kane and Son still not sharp or in form, and of course the fact it was a derby game away from home which means eventually West Ham were due a few strong spells!

Despite all that, we came away with a well-earned point, which could have been 3.

We'll get stronger. We need a little more variety in our build up, and at least some key personnel are critical. (Romero, Perisic) Some will become more influential hopefully. (Bissouma, Sess, Spence/Doherty)

Conte doesn't trust the bench options in tight games, but that should change as they all get a chance to make their case during the fixture pile up. Conte also needs to dispense with the short passing game at the back when the personnel don't suit it.

But all that aside, 5 games unbeaten in which we've played Chelsea and West Ham away and sit 3rd in the league. The future is bright!

 

[wadewill]

The whole World has enjoyed going on about “what will Spurs do when Kane and Son aren’t playing well”

Guess what…. They haven’t been playing well and we are 3rd after 5 games

We know they start slow, once they kick in we are going to be very strong. We are an extremely solid defensive side now, that is the first building block, the rest will come