spurs next 2 PL matches vs aston villa and Bournemouth Villa is crap and nearly certain to be relegated & they know it, no fight left in them. Bournemouth is playing well, and are very close to safety. may not feel they need to put up an intense fight if they remain in a safe position. would rather play those two squads over Sunderland or Newcastle at this point
Watched the second half. Immediately, tactics changed. Spurs went more direct while Arsenal went more possession. Even without the red, I would have said the goal was coming. On the ball, Sanchez is just so calm. Even that yellow was more from the embellishment of Lamela. Millimeters...millimeters...and then Ospina went down with some slight injury. The two following goals came shortly after and he seemed to have not yet recovered. In particular, the Alde goal Ospina looked like he was afraid to go full extension. Harry Kane - that was magic. Lamela seemed to be playing better in the 2nd before he was being subbed off. Certainly he was getting the corners in. I understand the caution for the sub, but I think it was not the right decision. The Sanchez goal was as much the fault of Dembele's marking as it was to Sanchez's pitch intelligence. On the replay, it was more Sanchez's pitch intelligence and speed. I noticed in the first half that Rose was attacking while Walker was hanging back a bit more than usual, seeming to keep Sanchez in check. In the 2nd half, Walker was attacking far more often as Sanchez had slipped over to the other side, yet Rose was still attacking. And Sanchez's goal came from that side. The sub was probably because Rose was attacking too much. And watching further, Sanchez wanted the ball and yelled at Ramsey a couple of times. And when Trippier came on, Sanchez switched back over to the other side. Holy crap, that "shot" from Gabriel... Great tackle by Wimmer on Ramsey...and the pass came from Sanchez. Over all, I'm gonna say it was a Spursy-esque perofmance, if not percisely that. Dominated the first half, but Arsenal got 1 shot off, it was on goal, and went in. Second half was even until the red, the Spurs had control for the most part, certainly were the better attacking team, but the one moment from Sanchez and a goal. Saying that, it was a NLD, and Arsenal did play much better in the second half. To only injustice to this match would have been an Arsenal victory (and that is always an injustice in the NLD ). And, at the end of the day, this match was more second half, and it seemed to be Harry v. Sanchez. They were definitely the players of the match, Harry slightly more if only for the quality of the goal.
Lamela had to be subbed off. he was diving into tackles and it was gonna catch up with him eventually. unfortunately it also cost spurs the defensive intensity. Dier played well except the foul for the booking and the foul where he shoulda been sent off. two terribly dumb fouls neither necessary I really think a few of the players got caught up in the excitement/intensity of the NLD. youth...
Agree. I kept saying out loud while watching that Pouch needed to get Lamela out before he got a second yellow. Dembele sub also was understandable coming back from injury layoff. UNfortunatley the team lost defensive intensity when the subs happened.
6 points are a must from these two games or it will be a tough fight just to stay in top 4. Club dropped 2 points to just about every top 4 competing team this weekend and 5 points to West Ham in the past week.
Watching it live, and watching the first half, I agree. But watching the second half on replay, Lamela was more restrained, and that is what he has shown this season - his maturity. Last season he would have had a definite red. This season he might not have received it.
Newcastle seem like they are almost totally bereft of confidence now. They have the squad to stay up, but seem like a gentle breeze will make them fall over.
Keep hearing people talk about how tough our schedule is the rest of the way. In a "normal" year, yes, but this year...?
well thing is, if the other top 5 teams have matches against each other, that means that some must drop points. that's good for spurs for example: arsenal have to play 4 tough away matches: at everton at west ham at sunderland (fighting relegation) at city their home matches are seemingly easier with Villa, Norwich, Palace, Watford, & WBA city and utd have to play each other. Leicester and west ham have to play each other. you get the picture if spurs don't do their job the next two PL matches, it really doesn't matter who has the easier/harder schedule, IMO. absolutely must get 6 pts.
The worrying thing for me is that Spurs play Newcastle away on the final day. I hope that match doesn't matter for either team.
I am sure everyone has done the math...but if we win out - doubtful - LC have to at least lose and draw - and it gets worse for every other team below us. Having said that - every spot is up for grabs - and we have 3 Monday games coming up towards the end? is that right? is that an advantage or disadvantage?
it depends upon what the others do. when they win, it's a psychological disadvantage, knowing that we have to win just to keep up. but when they lose, it can be a real motivator, knowing that we'll be gaining ground by doing the job. that said, we just went into a game knowing that a win would take us top of the table, and we put in our worst performance of the year. so who knows? for myself, I'd prefer to be playing on Saturdays.
well that "eliminates" the excuse of having to play on Thursdays... and then can blame EL poor play due to playing on Mondays...
Leicester at Chelsea on the last day... That could be a big plus for us or it could have destiny written all over it for the Tinkerman Rainieri especially if Chelsea are mentally on the beach.
For what its worth, if the exact same results happen, as happened in the previous fixture between the teams, for the rest of the season, then Leicester would still be first (with the most points gained from the last 9), while Spurs would drop to 4th behind City and Arsenal