Wigan Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[Syn_13]

It was sadly Huddlestone inclusion which tended to slow the game down to much for me. Also the Wigan condensed the pitch well and left us hitting long balls. Prefer Huddlestone to come only when there is some space to exploit. Young Carrol would have been a better bet. Our build-up was slow and predictable. Not the sort game for big Tom, I'd have gone for little Tom instead.

I thought Huddlestone did well today, he made some good forward passes and played from deep which is what the manager would've wanted. But I also feel you are right. He slows the tempo down and since Wigan don't attack you with velocity and are happy to sit back and counter then there's no need for it. The problem is Carroll is a youngster with limited experience and it's very rare for a player like that to get a start at such a crucial time in the season. Plus, I think AVB might've worried about Wigan trying to bully him a bit.

 

[Mr Pink]

It was sadly Huddlestone inclusion which tended to slow the game down to much for me. Also the Wigan condensed the pitch well and left us hitting long balls. Prefer Huddlestone to come only when there is some space to exploit. Young Carrol would have been a better bet. Our build-up was slow and predictable. Not the sort game for big Tom, I'd have gone for little Tom instead.

Jesus fucking Christ. The one player who wasn't actually that bad, in fact he was good in the first half.

The movement in front of him was poor. He's in there to get our passing going from deep. A lack of movement ahead was the problem.

Incredible to actually imply Huddlestone was the problem.

 

[rupsmith]

Jesus fucking Christ. The one player who wasn't actually that bad, in fact he was good in the first half.

The movement in front of him was poor. He's in there to get our passing going from deep. A lack of movement ahead was the problem.

Incredible to actually imply Huddlestone was the problem.

Yep agree. The reason why it appears frustrating watching Hudd Daws and Vertoghen stroke it about in defence and look for long raking balls to the flanks is because of the lack of options up front. They clearly set up the team to give us room on the flanks and jam the middle of the pitch with their players restricting inward runs.

The only way to counter that is to have a challenge to their defense in terms of physical presence or movement. Dempsey puts in the effort Ill grant him that. Defoe unfortunately is a very very poor all around striker. He can strike the ball given a bit of space but that apart he offers almost nothing. What they both are NOT are top 4 strikers. That is why although people get frustrated with Ade - what he offers is a physical presence and movement when attacking. Defoe is good for a team on the break or when partnered with a big man - what he needs is space - he is not a clever player.

Wonder why Ade was not in the squad today. Injured?

 

[Sweetsman]

He oversaw a performance that saw Wigan gift us 2 goals outside of which we hardly troubled their goal at all. Not much in it in IMO.

Nice try, but you didn't really answer my rhetorical question. AVB is trying to get Spurs over the line without the benefit of Modrić and VDV; and his substitutions are attacking, not putting in a defensive substitution against a flagging Villa team, because he was afraid to lose. I ran from the centre of Florence to get to my hotel to see that on Sky Italia, which I can tell you didn't exactly put me in a good mood. Still, I defended HR's decision. HR had the benefits of a more complete first eleven, including an in-form Adebayor. If you are seriously trying to argue that AVB is inferior, then I wouldn't bother, because unless has frozen over you'll lose.

 

[noiseboy55]

hey! we didn't lose!!!! that's good surely? I mean who actually expected us to beat a bottom club after beating a top one? this is tottenham this is how we do. coys!

 

[scat1620]

Nice try, but you didn't really answer my rhetorical question. AVB is trying to get Spurs over the line without the benefit of Modrić and VDV; and his substitutions are attacking, not putting in a defensive substitution against a flagging Villa team, because he was afraid to lose. I ran from the centre of Florence to get to my hotel to see that on Sky Italia, which I can tell you didn't exactly put me in a good mood. Still, I defended HR's decision. HR had the benefits of a more complete first eleven, including an in-form Adebayor. If you are seriously trying to argue that AVB is inferior, then I wouldn't bother, because unless has frozen over you'll lose.

I think you're misunderstanding the point I was trying to make. I'm not trying to argue that AVB is inferior to Redknapp at all. In terms of managerial talent (during their tenures at Spurs, which is all I care about) I genuinely don't think there's a lot in it, albeit AVB is a lot younger than Redknapp was during his time at Spurs and by the time he's Redknapp's age he'll probably have developed into a better and more successful manager than Redknapp has ever been.

But the point I was trying to make is that the performance that AVB's team served up yesterday in a crucial "must-win" game at Wigan was no better than Redknapp's team showed in the similarly crucial "must-win" game at Villa last year. If anything, I'd say yesterday's performance was slightly worse (we didn't look like we were going to lose against Villa) and Redknapp's introduction of Parker (in a game where we WERE down to 10 men, albeit against a poor side) is no less heinous than AVB's selection of Naughton over BAE at left-back in a team where he knew our width on the left would already be restricted by playing Dempsey. But, in big bold letters, I'm not trying to make a general AVB-is-better-than-Redknapp or vice versa argument - I was solely trying to make the argument about the double standards we seem to have for different managers and players, because if yesterday's game had been on Redknapp's watch, I'm sure that the manager's performance would be getting a LOT more grief than AVB has since the full time whistle blew.

 

[SteveH]

Jesus fucking Christ. The one player who wasn't actually that bad, in fact he was good in the first half.

The movement in front of him was poor. He's in there to get our passing going from deep. A lack of movement ahead was the problem.

Incredible to actually imply Huddlestone was the problem.

Calm down, we are all entitled to an opinion. Big Tom for me does not press and break play up due to his lack of mobility, when we are in a battle like yesterday .
Wigan defended deeeeep and very well, giving us no space for Tom to pass into.

He is one of the best passers of the ball in the EPL but he needs someone to get the ball for him to perform his passing magic. IMHO it was not the game for him.



Hudd is one of my favourite players - but sadly he will never be a regular.

 

[Mr Pink]

Calm down, we are all entitled to an opinion. Big Tom for me does not press and break play up due to his lack of mobility, when we are in a battle like yesterday .
Wigan defended deeeeep and very well, giving us no space for Tom to pass into.

He is one of the best passers of the ball in the EPL but he needs someone to get the ball for him to perform his passing magic. IMHO it was not the game for him.



Hudd is one of my favourite players - but sadly he will never be a regular.

I'm Calm Steve, was hammered last night though

 

[SteveH]

I'm Calm Steve, was hammered last night though

We were not that bad!

 

[Mr Pink]

We were not that bad!

Just very frustrated, I know we are still in this but it does feel like we may have blown it with a bit of a whimper. I don't get the lack of urgency either. I know Wigan sat off us and pressed well when they needed to which really affected our performance but we can't keep relying on Bale to conjure something up/

I really thought we were going to put in a big performance yesterday. The players talk about the importance of top 4, the problem is a lot of the performances recently havn't reflected that at all.

 

[tomo]

Take a Zanex people. We may not finish above Arsenal, but we will finish above Chelsea. They are going to drop points, they have an interim manager who wants to win a trophy. 4th is not essential for him!

Don't really agree mate.
Appreciate the positivity but top 4 is important for Benitez - he wants a big job when he becomes free in the summer and finishing out of the top 4 is not going to look good on his CV. Chavski don't seem to be feeling the pressure of playing so many games either - their huge squad is just soaking up the hectic schedule. Hard to compete with the riches those wankers have.

I'm more gutted about being behind Arsenal. They are crap and typically getting a lot more luck than us but it wouldn't surprise me if they win today - how much will Man Utd really give a shit. Being behind them is doing my Swede in, can't believe we are handing it to them on a plate again.

Anyway trying to think positive and hoping for some favourable results.