North London Derby - Thread

Hatch99

Well All...whats our feelings on the eve of another derby. 3 points is a must if we want to catch Everton or Bolton, although I sense we may be playing for 7th anyway.

Keane is out I see...will we see defoe partner Berb, or will Lennon play off the main man and maybe ghaly on the right !!

Ifill to start at left full I assume !!
Who will get the nod on the left to protect him, i wouldnt have thought malbranque would be the man, maybe Tainio !

adampaulburke

I think we need a good start tomorrow, straight for the throat, quick pace and pray to Holy Mary that Defoe has a good day. I think Berbs will really cause them problems, so JD needs to be on same wave length. Could easily be 6-6 :eek:

Ill be at home (Longford) watchin on the box, hating every minute !

Be nice to finish 5th again but think 6th is more likely.

COME ON YOU SPURS !

Dublin Spur

Lookin for our 1st win over the scum since Nov 99.
Fcuk me that's a long time.

If we nick a late goal we have a chance, don't fancy us if we take an early lead. Remember the semi and recent derbies at the Lane. We never close them out - too much panic and not enough belief.

I'm going for another 1-1 but praying for a famous home win.

Anyone on the 8.10 flight to Stanstead ??

yiddo

Just back from the game and too tired to put my thoughts into word so I nicked this from Rosie on FTL. Agree with alot of it but on a more positive note we've appeared to have found some balls and fight and have for the 3rd game in a row fought back from being behind to draw.

In a pub in Liverpool Street after the game were about a dozen guys dressed up as Mr Monopoly, including a top hat, eye piece and a stick. Whether they were going to collect £200 on their way out is open to question, but what isn't is that Tottenham today used their Get Out Of Jail Free card.

We've played Arsenal four times this season and have, ultimately, been outclassed by the end of every game. An average first half today saw Tottenham take a 1-0 lead although Arsenal could count themselves unlucky as they also had their chances. However Spurs were absolutely pitiful in the second half and we were nothing but lucky to get a last gasp equaliser.

Jenas should not have been on the pitch to score it as he was surely the worst footballer on the park this afternoon. However our problems in midfield are not new nor indescribable. Berbatov, up front, carried the team as everyone else could not move off the ball, cross, run into space, or shoot from long range (save the equaliser).

At the end Robinson kept hoofing the ball up to Berbatov as we had no other attacking outlet. Jenas would not run off the ball, Lennon would not run at the opposition (his fifth poor game in a row), Zokora made some nice runs but did little else and Tainio...well, he did not look fully fit. Keane up front did not support Berbatov and so the Bulgarian tried to run the show. However, despite staying on the near post for opposition corners, winning the ball in the middle of the park, running at the Arsenal defence, and creating chances, he cannot do it all by himself. If I were him I would leave Spurs in the summer because, quite simply, he is too good for us.

There were other problems today of course. We conceded two goals from set pieces. Whilst I think our defenders are good individually, as a unit they cannot handle crosses from deep and this needs to be addressed.

Martin Jol made naive substitutions and at the wrong time. Taking Tainio off when Jenas and Lennon needed to depart was a mistake. Bringing Huddlestone on was a negative change at 1-1 when we needed to try and win the game. Finally Defoe was only brought on when we were 2-1 down; like Hoddle (peace be upon him) a reactive as opposed to a proactive substitution. I don't blame Jol for playing Lennon on the left though. Lennon has played on both wings throughout the season, often in the same game, and his recent poor form is down to him and him alone.

While many may lament our currently poor defence football is a game in which the aim is to score one more goal than the opposition. Thus in my eyes our biggest problem lies in our inability to create chances in more than one way; namely by trying to pass the ball around so much that the opposition fall asleep and the ball is effectively passed into the net. Our inability to cross the ball, shoot from long range, run at the opposition defence or split them apart is the reason why our season is falling apart.

A last minute equaliser and a 50th point may be crucial come the end of the season. Other results have gone for us today and a top six finish and European qualification is in our own hands. However Arsenal have extended their unbeaten run against us to 18 matches in all competitions. Tottenham will never ever become a big club again until that type of run comes to a end.

jrd

Lads

Was at the game myself. As were quite a few from Dublin, judging by the shirts on the 1725 flights from Stansted. We got lucky today. A combination of poor defensive play, a poor (not the first time either) decision by the manager to defend a one-goal lead, and headless chicken play from the entire midfield and Robbie Keane in the second half all contributed to the worst 45 minutes of play from Spurs at the Lane this year.

Quite simply, all the midfield were ****. There was an incredible sense of irony that the worst player on the pitch scored the equaliser. MJ has a big decision in the summer - major overhaul in midfield or he will suffer the consequences in 12 months.

Put simply, we cannot tolerate the level of performance against Ars*nal once Fabregas came on. One midfielder does make a difference. An open but dangerous question ... who would you rather have ... Jenas or Fabregas?

Now decide the Spurs transfer policy in the summer.

Joe

galinka

Also at match - 2nd half dreadful display ,could have lost 5-2.
Midfield was seemly non existent - to me Lennon is a liability, did little going forward and a major problem in defence. Tanio picked up a knock and had to go off. Jenas was our worse player this week after being our best last week, such inconsistency.
We have no idea how to defend cross ball - will Robinson ever come to claim one? With effectively 3 Centre backs playing we looked like a team who no idea what to do - same as Wigan last week
Gap is growing between us and top 4 - still think we will make UEFA - Everton have to play Chelski and Man U yet.

Met 2 lads from Cork and 2 from Waterford on return flight - look at potential support if we were successful!

COYS.

yiddo

galinka wrote:

Met 2 lads from Cork and 2 from Waterford on return flight - look at potential support if we were successful!

COYS.

Saw you at the airport on the way home but missed ya on the plane and in Cork. Those Waterford lads have been going for years. They are members of the Waterford supporters club.
Don't think that the goons are that far ahead of us to be honest. We make them look good cos we don't hassle and harry them like other teams do. If you stand off them and let them play they'll destroy you.
Still as I posted earlier we are showing some fight and heart which was absent in previous years.

Hatch99

Very dissapointing performance having gone a goal ahead..I fancied us to push on and beat them. Once again we looked very suspect defensively even though Ledley was back, it will take him the rest of the season to find that sharpness again. Robbie looked very laboured in the 2nd half as did many of them.Lennon has been a massive dissapointment recently, is it tiredness or what is it ???

Dog Fight for the Uefa spots now !!