Clint couldn't handle a pass from Defoe and the crowd groaned; that pass had a lot of mustard on it, though. Clint had a lovely exchange on the left side just before halftime, crowd appreciated that. Big Brad: The Nightmare of Young Hugo...
Dempsey had 25 touches in the half but was mostly anonymous. Had that good link up play with Vert at the end of the half down the left side, though.
BTW, I will use this moment to tear into Defoe. He recieved the ball on the outside of the 18 yard box. Dempsey came to the edge and opened his body. Defoe brick footed a pass that was extremely fast and out of control. Dempsey could not keep it under control and lost possession. There is no excuse for Defoe to be doing that. If there is any way for me to summarize the chemistry between Dempsey and Defoe, that is it. Defoe is a limited player and needs to be replaced with a forward who has broader set of abilities. The other possibility is to remove Dempsey and pair Defoe with a better player who will compensate him. Last I checked, Van der Vaart and Modric left.
First, let's give props to wigan tactics. They have nullified the counter. They arent giving bale or lennon room to run into. I remember Fulham did this to Lennon with great effect. THey would mark him very high up the pitch so he couldnt turn and run at the defense. The Spuds dont have the possession to move forward as an offense which leaves...Verto and Walker with a ton of space to run into. Verto is pressing, which is nice to see, however, it would be nice to see either an earlier pass or better touch on his dribble. When Sandro left, Wigan took control of the middle of the pitch. Those two chances were through the middle.
Fun facts from the BBC pre-match Only Robin van Persie (55) and Wayne Rooney (40) have scored more Premier League goals since the start of the 2010-11 season than Clint Dempsey (31). The American has scored six league goals against Wigan - more than against any other side.
It looked like Sandro pulled a muscle. Tottenham needs to slow the tempo down a bit. Not their style, but when simple passes aren't being made they need wear down Wigan.
wigan and bolton have always been clint's whipping boys. he gets no service in dangerous areas. This team hates itself.
Ade is warming up. Personally, I would take Defoe out, he has been invisible. HOnestly, I can't believe this match is at WHL, the Spuds have no reason playing this slow and bored at home.
depends on the replacement. I have had players that were so bad they hurt us vs being down 1 Defoe and Lennon absent this half. Gimme some Ade please.
I like the commentator. He's been saying Dempsey should be subbed off for Adebayor for the past 5 minutes. Now when it's Defoe who is subbed, he admits that Dempsey has been better than him. And it's true.
Well to be fair, the commentators were saying that they expected Dempsey to be subbed off. And after the sub, they said Dempsey's been the livelier of the two, but because of Defoe's goalscoring record so far this season, they expected him to pair up with Adebayor.
Tottenham have really found another gear since the Adebayor switch. Edit: although as I say that, they're starting to struggle again.
Ok, now Demps will win this setting up Abe and hitting a "chip/shot" to the back post that will nick in off the woodwork. At 89 mins, btw.