Tottenham -v- Manchester United 16th Jan 16:10 (match thread)

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

vs

A really big game for us. We will have had plenty of rest by the time this game kicks-off (@ 4:10, why not 4 anyone?) what with the FA Cup and no midweek games. This is probably our best chance in years to beat Man U, they may be unbeaten, but they haven't exactly set the world alight with their performances. They have been conceeding sloppy goals this season which uncharacteristic for them. It should benefit us though, our attack has been nothing short of phenomenol this year (injuries considered), our defence however, leaves a lot to be desired. My biggest worry for this game is the midfield however. At OT we were simply destroyed there, which ultimately cost us the match IMO. Palacios has to start, along side Modric of course, and hopefully Van der Vaart will drop deeper than normal, somehow, I doubt it though.
I've heard Vidic is an injury doubt for them, which would be a huge bonus if he missed out. Also a bonus, Rooney and VDS have a doubts over their fitness, but I imagine both will start. Scholes is also out but AFAIK they have a full strength team to pick from otherwise. We will be missing long term absentees Thudd, King, Woody (?) and O' Hara. Other than that we have a full squad.
IMO the teams will line out as follows;
United:
VDS
Rafael --- Vidic --- Rio --- Evra
Nani --- Fletch --- Anderson --- Giggs
Rooney --- Berbatov

Spurs:
Gomes
Hutton --- Dawson --- Gallas --- BAE
Lennon --- Palacios --- Modric --- Bale
Van der Vaart
Defoe

COYS

reverenddave

A Little premature ??????

SuprSi

Not premature at all, this is a huge match. It's a very similar situation as last year - we're flying relatively high, having lost only once in 13, 4th in the table and with a team playing the true Tottenham way. Utd, on the other hand, have had a hanful of good performances, have won so many games with scrappy, hard-fought results, and are somehow sitting on the top of the table with the league already completely in their hands without having hit top gear.

Last year we almost expected that we were going to beat them (I know I did) and we were well beaten, with Anderson scoring his first ever goal for Utd. We've scratched one hoodoo by beating a top 4 team away this season and it would be lovely to finally put one over them.

I'd love to beat them. We are now a tough team to beat and battle to the last minute, but so do they. I have an awful feeling that they'll beat us because it's the same feeling I have every time we play them, but (and I hope I'm not jinxing it) we're a much better team now, with much better options than even last year. It's definitely the best time to take them and I really hope we do.

As for the team, I agree with exactly what THFC has above.

reverenddave

Oh it's in White hart lane too isn't it

i think it was a few years ago when Roy Carroll ''saved'' the ball or was that Old Trafford

This is always a controversial match

it was Nani's controversial goal in september/october wasn't it ???

tippspur

Anyone know who's refereeing this game?I hope for our sake It's not Clattenburg or Webb.United have to Lose a game sometime and it would be brilliant if it was us who beats them but as everyone knows our record against them is ****e, but seeing that the game is being played at the Lane my hopes for a win will be well up.......COYS.......

ziedth

I've given up on the Utd games to be honest. I'd love to do them.

I'd be delighted with a point.

RichMc70

tippspur wrote: »

Anyone know who's refereeing this game?I hope for our sake It's not Clattenburg or Webb.United have to Lose a game sometime and it would be brilliant if it was us who beats them but as everyone knows our record against them is ****e, but seeing that the game is being played at the Lane my hopes for a win will be well up.......COYS.......

The way things have gone over the years, if I was in charge at Spurs, I'd be asking for a foreign neutral refereeing team.

Far too many bad decisions in games gone by and always to our detriment.

pleasant Co.

^^HA yup

I was about to post that I'd like to think we'd win this game, but we'll see what the ref has to say about things

SuprSi

Mike Dean is the ref for Sunday

everdead.ie

SuprSi wrote: »

Mike Dean is the ref for Sunday

I was kinda hoping for phil dowd I like him and i think he likes us :pac:

RichMc70

At least its not Fergies love child, Mark Clattenburg again.

Hatch99

Clattenburg or Webb and we were fcuked, we'll beat them now

tippspur

SuprSi wrote: »

Mike Dean is the ref for Sunday

Relief:)

BERBA

SuprSi wrote: »

Mike Dean is the ref for Sunday

he likes gallas , especially when he in offside positions:D

yiddo59

THFC wrote: »

and hopefully Van der Vaart will drop deeper than normal, somehow, I doubt it though.

If VDV drops too deep it'll leave Defoe isolated up front. VDV will have to stay as close to Defoe as possible if we're to have have a chance.

Quandary

Looking forward to this game, ill be hoping for a Utd result - at least a draw hopefully

Spurs have drawn a lot of home games this season & in the premiership haven't really been scoring as heavily at WHL as they should imo.

VDV, Bale, Modric etc - plenty players who can hurt Utd.

Should be a great match but my money is on the draw.

Oh and btw - come on Utd!!!

RichMc70

You have to wonder if the media clown Beckham will be there to witness this one.

Maybe he'll come out at half time and do a song or possibly show off his newest tattoo.

God help us.

pleasant Co.

Maybe Rich, I'm sure that's a possibility.

irelandspurs

3-1 win spurs

Vanbis

Manutd to win 2-0.

That is all.

Hatch99

Harry Redknapp expects Gareth Bale to be fit to face United on Sunday.

The midfielder departed early from the loss at Everton on January 5 with a back problem and was rested for last weekend's FA Cup win against Charlton.

"Gareth has missed a couple of days training but he should be okay," reported Harry on Friday. "We're in good shape. We've pretty much a full squad."

Younes Kaboul is available again after suspension and that leaves long-term injured Ledley King (groin) and Tom Huddlestone (ankle) on the sidelines.

yidweiser

We are going to win this Ladies and Gents.
I can feel it in me waters!
It's about time we took United down to size.
Great to have Kaboul back with Michael D

Hatch99

yidweiser wrote: »

Great to have Kaboul back with Michael D

Gallas will play id imagine with Daws..

everdead.ie

VDS is doubtful for United could play though he is traveling with the match day squad.

rovers2001

Can see a high score draw here maybe a 3-3.

tippspur

RichMc70 wrote: »

You have to wonder if the media clown Beckham will be there to witness this one.

Maybe he'll come out at half time and do a song or possibly show off his newest tattoo.

God help us.

God help us is right..

ziedth

I have a funny feeling about this, my head is saying it's gonna be 1-3 oh but my heart is just slowly saying that today might be the day. I'm going with the heart and saying 2-1

Seillejet

I have butterflies with this one. I usually watch this fixture with a Motley crue of United fans, but not this one, I just want to enjoy it. We are well up for it from Rafaels and Harrys comments. I hope Crouch doesnt start though, he is doing my head in again.

I expect Lennon to have a stormer in this, with the sideshow of Becks as a motivating factor. I expect to be bopping after this one, I am all in Spurs to win!!!

Hatch99

1415: Some early news from Spurs, not of the team variety. Tottenham High Road has been shut off for an hour with 500 Spurs fans protesting about the proposed move to Stratford. They want the stadium redeveloped in north London. Police have arrived and there's major disruption, with directors getting there late and players using a different entrance.

Kiith

Tottenham: Gomes, Hutton, Dawson, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Palacios, Modric, Bale, Van der Vaart, Crouch.

SuprSi

Crouch starting is interesting and doesn't fill me with confidence as we'll most likely try to hit his head for a VDV lay-off, but with Vidic back there we'll struggle to get the ball properly to him.

larry1

SuprSi wrote: »

Crouch starting is interesting and doesn't fill me with confidence as we'll most likely try to hit his head for a VDV lay-off, but with Vidic back there we'll struggle to get the ball properly to him.

Super Pav required for 2nd half!

Glebee

Anybody any decent links.
Mine are prity crap so far...

MonkieSocks

Glebee wrote: »

Anybody any decent links.
Mine are prity crap so far...

here ya go M8

It may take a min or so to load

http://www.everythingon.tv/channel/view/sky-sports-1-1


:pac: COYS

Woodgate

Glebee wrote: »

Anybody any decent links.
Mine are prity crap so far...

www.atdhe.net

Glebee

Cheers, nice link

MonkieSocks

Glebee wrote: »

Cheers, nice link

Try This also

http://eplsite.com/stream1.html

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Didnt see the whole match, had a game of my own today but from what I gather we were unlucky not to get all 3 points. Heard we should have had a peno as well?? A point from United isn't the worst result, but considering our ambitions I'm not exactly happy. Anyways, at least referee decisions didn't ruin this game. Heard Modric had a stormer, fair play to him.

everdead.ie

Modric was unreal today thought we deserved 3 points we dominated throughout today.

mushykeogh

Didnt create enough to win. Crouch was awful, beyond awful.

marty2002

Modric was unbelievable, what a player we have. We are 1 world class striker away from being world beaters.

yidweiser

Disappointed we didn't win.
Just think Hudd would have buried one of those chances from the edge of the box!
VDV was very unlucky.
Great effort from the lads.
Modric was class and the clean sheet is encouraging.
We are 5pts behind City with our game in hand.
Looks like Champ League place will be a fight with Chelsea!

yiddo59

everdead.ie wrote: »

Modric was unreal today thought we deserved 3 points we dominated throughout today.

Fantastic performance by Modric but we got what we deserved. a point. Never seriously troubled Van der Sar. The striker situation will need to be sorted asap if we want to get top 4.

ziedth

Crouch was simply out of his league by a great distance.

Great performance and nice that we made united look poor. I think on another day with a top striker we could have made them look foolish.

2 points dropped but I'm happy with the Clean sheet.

Hatch99

Good Performance but a point was fair as we didn't create enough to warrant winning. We got in plenty of good positions in the final third, but we lacked the killer touch to break them down.

Modric was excellent, as was Vidic for them.

If we had a top centre forward, we'd be such a better side.

We are fighting for 4th spot now in my opinion.

Liam Byrne

THFC wrote: »

Didnt see the whole match, had a game of my own today but from what I gather we were unlucky not to get all 3 points. Heard we should have had a peno as well?? A point from United isn't the worst result, but considering our ambitions I'm not exactly happy. Anyways, at least referee decisions didn't ruin this game. Heard Modric had a stormer, fair play to him.

Just saw the highlights there now - there was one blatant shirt-pull that should have been a peno alright.

Tight game with a few chances at both ends that were a whisker away from being goals.

Pity about the peno because it skews the "pretty fair result" conclusion that would apply otherwise.

mushykeogh

THFC wrote: »

Heard we should have had a peno as well??

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Just saw the highlights there now - there was one blatant shirt-pull that should have been a peno alright.
Pity about the peno because it skews the "pretty fair result" conclusion that would apply otherwise.

Ah lads, come on, if Dawson had a little tug on Rooney or Berba's shirt like that we would be going mad with the ref.
It would have been a very very soft penalty, it happens at every corner in every game in the prem. If refs were to award them there would be ten pens a game!

tippspur

Fair result I suppose in the end,Modric was excellent again and our defence coped very well I must say esp Ekotto who had a fine game.
Wilsons long rang shooting was something to behold (not)

yiddo59

mushykeogh wrote: »

Ah lads, come on, if Dawson had a little tug on Rooney or Berba's shirt like that we would be going mad with the ref.
It would have been a very very soft penalty, it happens at every corner in every game in the prem. If refs were to award them there would be ten pens a game!

I take your point but rather than being a soft penalty it would be an unusual penalty in that they are never given. Also if refs awarded them once or twice the shirt pulling would soon stop.

mushykeogh

yiddo59 wrote: »

I take your point but rather than being a soft penalty it would be an unusual penalty in that they are never given. Also if refs awarded them once or twice the shirt pulling would soon stop.

Maybe, but look at how many players this season that have dived in, two feet off the ground and studs showing, everyone knows its goin to be a red but it still happens.

SuprSi

I agree with Yiddo - the refs need to take a firm stance on shirt pulling and start giving penalties for the offence. If Vidic concedes a couple of penalties for tugging someone's jersey, he'll stop doing it. It's the same for all defenders. Kaboul did the same thing on Nani when we played in OT and should've really conceded a penalty. Those offences outside the box will result in a free kick but for some reason they're hardly ever awarded inside the box.

As for the game, while I'm disappointed not to have won it, I'm happy enough with a point. Bale looked knackered after 70 minutes so couldn't exploit the extra man, and we were short of ideas. Palacios needs to be told to never shoot on goal again. Utd's defence was very impressive, though I thought starting Crouch was a bad idea as any high balls were cleaned up by Vidic. He also should've finished that opportunity in the first half.

The important thing is that we're now 14 games with only 1 loss, which is a very impressive stat. 5 of our next 6 games are away though so this is going to be a difficult part of our season.