Dempsey: Tottenham v. Lazio (Europe League - Nov. 22)

Tottenham Hotspur

25 minutes ago
Good evening from Rome for our match vs Lazio tonight.

Our starting team tonight is: Lloris, Walker, Caulker, Vertonghen, Naughton, Sandro, Carroll, Sigurdsson, Bale, Dempsey and Adebayor

And our subs: Cudicini, Dawson, Livermore, Lennon, Dembele, Huddlestone and Defoe

IMO this is close to Spurs's best lineup (which would include a healthy Dembele obviously). Interested to see how they play.

Dempsey starts, up front alongside Adebayor according to Al Jazeera Sports, but the commentators are saying he'll probably drop back.. they're also taking the piss out of the fact that he's a center forward wearing a #2 jersey lol...

Bale with a disallowed goal. Seemed to not be offsides. Dempsey wasn't involved. Dempsey has drawn 2 fouls and had one decent ball to Walker who couldn't get a cross in.

Lloris is a very lucky man. He nearly got fooled by a long-distance shot that swerved directly above where he was standing, but was able to paw it onto the post.

After a Tottenham corner is cleared, Lazio counter. A Kyle Walker blunder puts Kozak in 1-v-1, but Lloris comes up with a big save with his right foot.

It's a good thing Kozak sucks today. Another chance blown.

smh Deuce

That's not going to endear Tottenham fans to Dempsey, and for once they will be justified. He tried to be a little to fancy on the ball, lost it and the Spurs defense was caught sleeping. Lloris saved the day.

Demps is going to score. He's getting hacked pretty good.

He has been pretty bad so far. His main contribution has been getting fouled.

If Dempsey is getting hacked with no fouls called, then he will look pretty bad.

Foul him on his left
Foul him on right right
Our boy Dempsey
is having a poor night.

He's pulling a serious Fernando Torres this year. So depressing

From the BBC livetext:

@BenLewis1995
Sigurdsson is being forced to play out wide to accommodate Dempsey who hasn't done anything all season and looks very poor.

Mean.

Honestly, Clint just looks extremely lazy. He looks terrible because he's not competing.

Based on what I have seen so far this season Sandro is hurting Spurs more than helping. He can look decent on attack in spurts but he also has a very noticeable habit of going on long stretches of being a possession & defensive liability. For every one time he makes a decent attacking run he seems to have four other times when he will either a) turn the ball over or b) turn the ball after leaving a gaping hole behind him for the opposing team to exploit or c) simply get blown by on defense.

I understand that Dembele would bring more control to the midfield for Spurs, but he also goes into the attack a fair amount so I don't see how Sandro fits in their scheme with or without Dembele. He plays like an attacking midfield player or winger even, when what they need in his spot is possession type player. Either way I think Spurs could easily do a lot better in that spot both tactically and talent wise.

The problem is Dempsey's body language, too. He always seems relaxed, which can be interpreted as not giving a care.

That's true, but I still don't think he's competing like he has in the past. He looks to get fouled nearly every time he receives the ball instead of working through contact to make something happen.

What a miss by Kozak. Lloris commits to the middle, the near post is gaping and he slides his shot narrowly wide.

Poor play by Sandro to create the chance for Lazio.

SPURS look soo bad.

Not even close - although he was seriously double teamed all day. It will be interesting to see if Defoe can do something. I think the midfield is the bigger problem. Just not enough creativity.

And Lloris looking pretty good today.

Well, they're not a flashy team. Even when they're rolling full steam, they look pedestrian, winning based on spurts of brilliance by one of their players. Only reason I tolerate watching them is to see what Clint does.

Nobody on Spurs looks all that special. They lack cohesive flow and have for awhile. They still play like a bunch of parts thrown together without forethought on how their qualities would mix together on the field.

Bale could actually be a world beater if someone manages to convince him this isn't a solo act.

In regards to the uninitiated "Clint looks lazy" comments. Clint has always looked that way. Always. It used to annoy the hell out of me too but he's looked that way since playing with New England. I would also say that Tottenham's lack of capacity to link together is killing any appearance of momentum for anyone on the team save the track stars Bale, Lennon etc..

I'm done watching spurs and CD for the foreseeable future. Far too infuriating for me. Not worth getting worked up over