West Brom vs Tottenham 3:00pm Saturday 15th October

Wonder how Toby is? Think it was a good point considering the blow of losing him

Sugarlumps

Tottenham Hotspur remain unbeaten in their first eight league games for the first time since 1990.

Jason 5pu45

Think that's an excellent point considering we lost Toby and went a goal down with just 8 mins to go.In the past we would have crumbled but we showed great character.only negative is Janssen not scoring and for me he is too similar in style to Harry plus he seems to get caught in non threatening positions too often.

Kiith

My problem with Jansen up front on his own so far is every single ball is played into him with his back to goal. I've not seen a single instance where the ball was put in a position where he could get a shot off early. I know his strength is one of his...strengths, but i'd like to see him put in better positions.

Left Back on the Bench

Thought we played very well, dropped off abit 2nd half but still unbeaten. Hope Tobys ok, massive loss. Wimmer must've seriously pissed off poch

galinka

Not much space behind Jansson today - usual line out by Pulis playing at home for a point.
Thought we did well considering we had an on Leverkusen game no doubt - which could decide qualification

DubPerryman

If Liverpool win tomorrow night we go 4th, despite our best PL start.... Just shows how competitive this season is.

eoinola

I was at this game yesterday - Spurs were absolutely dominant in first half and should have had 2 goals at least. Some of my thoughts ...

Ali's movement in the first half bewteen the lines was unreal, he drifts in and out of really great positions. Unfortunately erikisen, Davies, Lamela, wanyama didn't see them or weren't able to pass the ball to him. But Ali needs to practice his finishing. The one on one chance - from when took the ball to when he hit it he never looked confident that he was going to score. Second half west Brom pushed up a little more and Ali wasn't in the game nearly as much. But popped up for the goal. A brilliant player who will be immense as he gets more experienced.

Jansen - was excited to see him play - had heard that a lot of agents were shocked that spurs went for him, that his style would suit a west Brom more than a Spurs. After yesterday I can't disagree. He was way way to easy to mark for the likes of Johnny Evans etc. West Brom has pretty much a back line of 4 centre halfs and a static Jansen did little to threaten. They allowed him to take a touch and turn forced him back out the field. Jansens movement was non existent. Yes he runs a lot but without any real threat. Unless you play ball to his feet every time you get little or nothing from him. Kanes movement was missing. He looked awkward on the ball at times too. The game called out the quicker feet and thought of an inform Son.

Lamela - was very poor today - very casual in his passing and gave the ball away a lot. Can't fault his effort but needs to be way more clinical in his passing, decision making. Also had a great chance in first have that he dragged wide when a little bit more composure would have helped.

Wanyama - a beast. Was really impressed with his discipline in front of our defence. Always looking for the ball, very tidy and keeps it simple. Yes he ain't going to thread balls through and open defences but he wins so much ball back and gives it off simple. A real leader too.

Davies - I thought he was poor. Our weakest link. He looks like a player short on confidence or something. Never looked comfortable taking a touch. Rash clearances and passes. Hard for the winger in front of him to get good passes from him. His positing is also poor. Opposition managers definitely target him.

Walker - impressive. An absolute winner, even in warm up. He is up and at it. While he didn't get forward as much as usually does he was really good defensively. Won his headers and made some really strong tackles. Again passed it well but needs to really work on crossing. His battle with McLean was very good and really tough.

Toby - Verts - Dier (when he came on). Toby is a colossus. Huge guy who completely runs the show at the back. His passing range is unreal. He rarely breaks sweat because his reading of the game and positioning are top class. Talks to walker and Verts all day long. Verts on the other hand, yes a good player but not in the same league as Toby. Verts didnt control or instruct Davies which was even more obvious when Toby went off. Dier came in and while they are all good players there was very little cohesiveness. West Brom definitely sensed it and took the game to us more as a result. We had no leader at the back once Toby went off. Diers decision making when going for the ball was very odd. Went for ball he shouldn't and vice versa.

Others:
Sissoko - struggled. Strong and eager but very ineffective

Erikisen - drifted in and out of the game. No doubting his ability when on the ball in tight spaces. Really super some times. But I expected a lot more cutting balls. But given Jansens static nature the west Brom defence wasn't moved around so they stayed tight and ensured quick one twos etc were kept to a minimum. Like I said if Son had started both his and Ali's movement would have killed the west Brom back four allowing the likes of erikisen to make more telling passes.

Son - only on for a bit but he looks really good. Pace, movement etc. Should have started. I understand the champions league idea but surely the league is the priority. The travelling he did on int break was a lot but so was lamelas.

Lloris - class act. Positioning, quickness of reaction is unreal. My only complaint is when he sometimes got the ball to feet and west Brom pressed him - he struggled and gave away possession. But top top keeper.

Dembele - only on for a bit too. But showed is ability. Drove forward with purpose which I felt we lacked the whole game. While wanyama, erikisen etc pass it and show again they did so while all the time in front of a very disciplined west Brom back 4 and mid field. Dembele on the other hand broke the gain line so much. Need him back fit and starting.

Overall Spurs were completely dominate. First half especially but we did struggle to really break them down in second half. Pulis clever. Pushed his team forward a little, crowded it more. Knew Jansen wasn't good enough to run the channels and allowed spurs to play in front of them all day.

One thing I really liked about Spurs yesterday was even when they went behind They didn't panic. They looked like a team who believed that another chance would come along if they played as they did. And it did. I would have loved to have seen more width as the full backs for west Brom were really poor individually. But our lack of width combined with a static Jansen ensured there back 4 could stay tight and never truly stretched.

I was lucky enough to meet a west Brom player in the box after the game. He was shattered and said at half time the west Brom lads couldn't believe how good Spurs were on the ball, the pace of passing etc. But he said in second half given how west Brom set up they felt they could go nick a goal as they did. But he thought Spurs are the real real deal. I agree. He also said that the feeling is around the league is that Spurs are right up there in terms of going for the league.

A point clawed back in the end. Next stop Bournemouth in the league. Must win.

Sorry for the long post - but really was great to see Spurs away from home in terms of set up, attitude etc and the park the bus attitude of west brom first half.

COYS - exciting season continues.

dodgygeezer

Thanks for taking the time to write such an insightful firsthand account of the match.

From the above - Getting increasingly worried about Janssen. Davies is a nice lad but so clearly a class below what we need - so rigid in style of play. Also telling re Vertonghen - not as strong a personality as Alderweirald.

Anyway, 1st of 7 matches in 23 days over with. COYS.