Tottenham vs Portsmouth 1/10 pre/post match talk

[OrlandoSPUR]

....at the end of the day we needed the 3 points......if you look at the United, Fulham and Liverpool games we had NO luck, Sunday the lady started smiling on us.

Sure I don't like cheats, and wish he had got clipped, but I'll take the goal it was needed.

I thought Berbatov was absolute quality in the first half with out threatening a goal, his link up play was superb and he has the type of pace where he don't look quick but can make space for himself....i just hope he stays healthy.

Still not sure why JJ has been villified by some for his performance, I thought again that he did well, and I'm sure he did the air kick so the faithful can have a bit of a laugh, in a second half where pompey tried to get back into it. ;)

[IvanIV]

WOW!
We won. Dive or no dive. If this were the only game ever decided by something like that I would also be let down and ashamed. But it is only one in a long history of a very old sport and a very long season and finally one that went our way. ;)

"Glory, Glory..."


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http://www.otrefugees.com/goatsstuff/spurssig.jpg
"By the bowels of Jesus Christ...Friend, render what you owe.."-Henry V to Charles VI-Agincourt, Henry V and the Battle that Made England

[IvanIV]

Thank you for restoring my faith in Spurs supporters.

What? Did they ban u from the Arse forum? Welcome aboard but yer gonna have to change your favorite team now...

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http://www.otrefugees.com/goatsstuff/spurssig.jpg
"By the bowels of Jesus Christ...Friend, render what you owe.."-Henry V to Charles VI-Agincourt, Henry V and the Battle that Made England

[DigitalTron]

Couple of things about and related to this game:

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Spur_Forever again.

I could quote the whole post, but that would just be redundant. Excellent post Spur_Forever ... I tried to rep ya.

-Digital

[DigitalTron]

I've never been known as a Jenas appologist, so listen up ... it's one of those rare times I'll actually praise him, lol. In Jenas' defense, the ball took a very odd hop immediately before it arrived at him. The whiff in front of goal was unavoidable, and anyone--including Rooney--would have whiffed that one. I agree with Spur_Forever, Jenas actually had a good game. He played very sound defense, pressuring and picking up the slack of his teammates. He had the only bite of any midfielders in a Spurs shirt. All in all, I'd say he had a very productive game ... but woulda liked to have seen a half dozen more crosses.

I think it has become clear that Huddlestone must start. I love what Davids gives us, but he simply clashes with Zokora. I've been a fan of Zokora since he was in the French league, and knew he'd prove a good buy. But I must say that the biggest difference maker thus far has been Huddlestone. He's like a poor-man's version of Michael Carrick, and that's what this team sorely lacks. I wouldn't mind seeing how Jenas does at central attacking midfielder in front of Huddlestone ... or paired with him in a flat 442.

Honestly, Huddlestone looks just about as effective in the Premiership as he does in an English Youth game.

-Digital

[Miles Brasher]

I've never been known as a Jenas appologist, so listen up ... it's one of those rare times I'll actually praise him, lol. In Jenas' defense, the ball took a very odd hop immediately before it arrived at him. The whiff in front of goal was unavoidable, and anyone--including Rooney--would have whiffed that one. I agree with Spur_Forever, Jenas actually had a good game. He played very sound defense, pressuring and picking up the slack of his teammates. He had the only bite of any midfielders in a Spurs shirt. All in all, I'd say he had a very productive game ... but woulda liked to have seen a half dozen more crosses.


-Digital


To be fair Jenas played well, and the ball hit his standing foot which caused the 'very odd hop'

[Danners9]

Perhaps those upset with the win should petition the FA to take the points away and put us back down to 17th..

and while you're there, on the soap box, you can get all the points this season won with dubious decisions... I think everyone would appreciate starting on 0 again.

it's not good to 'cheat', but in the current game it's the way to compete. How's this for a scenario:

Manchester United vs Arsenal, Arse going for their 50th unbeaten... Campbell hangs a leg out, Rooney goes into him and over, penalty. 1-0. Game finishes 2-0? and Manchester United win.

Arsenal in the Champions League final, Eboue swan dives over, free kick, cross, header from Campbell, 1-0. They hold the lead til 10 mins to go, with 10 men.


Alright Arsenal lost that game, but it was an unexpected lead - after they should have been 1 down from Lehmann's challenge.

Point is, everyone does it. You're naive to think that by playing fair you will get all the decisions in your favour because you don't. It's as much down to referee incompetence as it is players being mischeivous.

I'd rather a game decided on the actions of a player (forcing the issue) than a mistake of a referee.

[Miles Brasher]

Perhaps those upset with the win should petition the FA to take the points away and put us back down to 17th..

and while you're there, on the soap box, you can get all the points this season won with dubious decisions... I think everyone would appreciate starting on 0 again.

it's not good to 'cheat', but in the current game it's the way to compete. How's this for a scenario:

Manchester United vs Arsenal, Arse going for their 50th unbeaten... Campbell hangs a leg out, Rooney goes into him and over, penalty. 1-0. Game finishes 2-0? and Manchester United win.

Arsenal in the Champions League final, Eboue swan dives over, free kick, cross, header from Campbell, 1-0. They hold the lead til 10 mins to go, with 10 men.


Alright Arsenal lost that game, but it was an unexpected lead - after they should have been 1 down from Lehmann's challenge.

Point is, everyone does it. You're naive to think that by playing fair you will get all the decisions in your favour because you don't. It's as much down to referee incompetence as it is players being mischeivous.

I'd rather a game decided on the actions of a player (forcing the issue) than a mistake of a referee.

And I'm sure every Spurs fan was describing the Eboue 'dive' as mischievous the day after the fianl :rolleyes: The point is that the vast majority of spurs fans would have been using phrases like 'cheating wanker' and now it's just mischievous

[MartinJol]

well it was a much better performance than we have seen recently. we defended very well - king was near perfect and dawson played very well, although he was sleeping for kanu's goal. pompey only created 1 chance other than the goal, whilst we had 5 or 6 very good chances so it was definitely a deserved win.

murphy played well - easily the best performance by anyone on the left for us this season. zokora was excellent again - but he needs to cut out the diving. I think he has dived at least once in every game he has played for us so it wasn't an isolated incident. but to be fair to him he was playing in the french league where diving is expected. hopefully the uproar over it will make him realise that that sort of thing is not tolerated over here.

however, i have to ask - how the hell did the ref get conned by that? i was sitting in the north stand (about 150 yards away) and straight away i said that it was a dive. and that is the thing about zokora - he is a diver, but he is really bad at it! I can't see him fooling another ref like that so he may as well stop.

and props to robbo! he has struggled this season but he saved us big time at the end with that stunning stop from lualua. i have also noticed that he is throwing the ball out more often now. he still lumps it more than i would like but he is improving.

as for the forwards; great to have berbatov back - he is class. his first touch is fantastic and he does a lot of selfless running (unlike mido!), and holds the ball up brilliantly. when he gets a bit sharper he will be huge for us. and defoe is looking back to his best - brilliantly set up the opener and very confident with the penalty. his run and shot in the second half was vintage defoe and i really hope he can keep it up.

[IvanIV]

And I'm sure every Spurs fan was describing the Eboue 'dive' as mischievous the day after the fianl :rolleyes: The point is that the vast majority of spurs fans would have been using phrases like 'cheating wanker' and now it's just mischievous

"He who is without sin cast the first stone...So Simon Peter picked up a rock and knocked her in the head... "

It's somewhere in the Bible...near the back I think...


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http://www.otrefugees.com/goatsstuff/spurssig.jpg
"By the bowels of Jesus Christ...Friend, render what you owe.."-Henry V to Charles VI-Agincourt, Henry V and the Battle that Made England

[Danners9]

And I'm sure every Spurs fan was describing the Eboue 'dive' as mischievous the day after the fianl :rolleyes: The point is that the vast majority of spurs fans would have been using phrases like 'cheating wanker' and now it's just mischievous

Well maybe, but such is the hypocrisy of the game.

Things happen to you and you moan, things happen for you and you're happy.

People slate players all game and when they score it's all cheers and happiness.

People have short memories.

[drc003]

I have been. Countless times. I've been a Spurs fan for over 25 years and like I said, it's happened before. In the end, there's no resolution unless you accept that these things happen.

Actually there is an easy resolution. The FA should get off their ignorant throne and start punishing these acts with 2-3 game suspensions. It would be easy enough to have a review board who looks at these incidents each week and takes action. This case would be an obvious suspension. This would easily cool off the diving and clean up the game we all love.

And no, diving is not the single most dispicable thing in the game. Diving "saves" made by defenders (with their hands); goalkeepers whose mission it is to get opposing players sent off; and managers who never "see" anything negative that their players do are even more disgusting.

No. Other than blatant violence diving is the most disgusting thing in football today. It is becoming ridiculous and must end.

Anyway, Spurs aren't the first and won't be the last team to get a result from this type of rubbish. So congrats on the win. Still I feel bad for Pompey who deserved a point from an otherwise well played match by both teams. It also highlights the continued subpar job refs in the Premiership get away with. Did anyone see the horrible fk awarded to Bolton this week? Absolutely pathetic.

Cheers,

Dave

[SpursGlory]

Didn't get to watch the replay until late... I'm happy we got the 3 points but to be completely honest we really deserved a draw and Pompey was unlucky to not score. Thank you Robbo.

Add the dive to that unluckiness... but what really bothered me more was the amount of possession we just gave away to them. The repeated bunkering mentality that seems to plague this team (Jols tactics?). It's the same crap from last season...the inability to finish games off. It's inexcusable that the game go down to the last nail biting seconds of extra time.

How can you expect to get a result when you let the other team dictate possession in your half of the field! You're going to get scored on! Especially with 25-30 minutes left in the game and the corner kicks we gave away on sloppiness.

Zokora made some great runs... but nobody can finish or put themselves in a position to finish. That miss by Jenas takes the cake but I thought he played alright otherwise. I was impressed with Murphy's performance, as well as Chimbonda and Huddlestone... we closed down well and made some nice steals but nobody except Zokora and the strikers seem to know what to do when we get possession... we just give it right back after some pretty passing and/or a bad clearance.

Can't wait until we get Lennon back... combine that with Zokora's runs and Berbatov/Defoe up front and hopefully we'll get some creativity in the final third.

[jumhed]

Actually there is an easy resolution. The FA should get off their ignorant throne and start punishing these acts with 2-3 game suspensions. It would be easy enough to have a review board who looks at these incidents each week and takes action. This case would be an obvious suspension. This would easily cool off the diving and clean up the game we all love.



No. Other than blatant violence diving is the most disgusting thing in football today. It is becoming ridiculous and must end.

Anyway, Spurs aren't the first and won't be the last team to get a result from this type of rubbish. So congrats on the win. Still I feel bad for Pompey who deserved a point from an otherwise well played match by both teams. It also highlights the continued subpar job refs in the Premiership get away with. Did anyone see the horrible fk awarded to Bolton this week? Absolutely pathetic.

Cheers,

Dave

The FA have punished players and upgraded and downgraded cards in the past, but have been banned from doing so by FIFA.

Unfortunately, diving is all over the place now. Drogba, RvN, Owen, Pires, Diouf, Bergkamp, as well as many others all jump about trying to deceive Ref's, who I believe are rather excellent in this country, give or take the occasional mess up.

[drc003]

The FA have punished players and upgraded and downgraded cards in the past, but have been banned from doing so by FIFA.

Unfortunately, diving is all over the place now. Drogba, RvN, Owen, Pires, Diouf, Bergkamp, as well as many others all jump about trying to deceive Ref's, who I believe are rather excellent in this country, give or take the occasional mess up.

Well you are right it is FIFA who really needs to take the stand. However I think we all know how far their heads are up...well you get the point. Somehow letting players get away with deception that decides huge matches equals fair play. :rolleyes:

As far as the refs, I have to disagree big time. The amount of alarmingly terrible decisions are through the roof imho. Also, some of the bigger name refs such as Grahm Poll and Steve Bennett are downright incompetent. This is not to say that there aren't a few solid refs in the EPL. There are. Overall though the quality and consistency is seriously lacking.