Matchday 7-Tottenham vs. Manchester City [R]

Much will depend on us not making any stupid individual mistakes in defence and being competitive enough in central midfield.

The KAK partnership is looking potentially lethal, give them enough of the ball and they can rip Citeh's fragile defence apart. We just have to stop them (and particularly Anelka) from burying us at the other end.

Should be exciting and relatively incompetent (defensively) stuff.

 

Well.. i am not that hopeful here. But i am much more hopeful after the midweek win, and City's struggle vs the bottom side in Belgium.

Plus, it's my birthday and i think Pleaty will motivate them especially.. and we will win.

Seaman is a dodgy dodgy dodgy keeper at times. Man City are *#*#*#*# in defence, but good in attack.. hmm, sounds familiar.

Have to watch out for dodgy free kicks around the edge of the box, Tarnat can finish us off with those alone. Anelka's pace is a worry, easiest way.. cut off the supply, that means Berkovic and McManamanamanamanaman mainly.

Then, Keane and Kanoute can terrorise a terrible defence and win us things around the edge or punish with shots. I want to see Postiga play really, with Keane slightly withdrawn. Wrong game maybe, see who we get in the Cup next.

 

Happy Bday Dan!

I think the opening 20 minutes of this game may be crucial. We have a tendency to give up early chances and they have a habit of scoring early. If we can take an early lead I think we can expose Citeh's defense often. If we're forced to commit too many people forward, then it could get ugly.

Should be an exciting game. I'm interested to see how Pleaty uses Dalmat in this one. It's the type of game where he could really excel.

-Digital

 

Thank you!

Spurs will win, because i told them to!

 

I hope Konchesky plays, City are vulnerable defensively down the right hand side, and Konch will give us more width from the left full back position than Tanno.

I'd be tempted to say that we should go 3-5-2, but we had a decent result with 4-4-2 so we might well stick with that.

http://www.spurs.co.uk/article.asp?article=165389

West Haaaaammm at the Lane.

 

I want both Konch and Dalmat to play! Both give us some much needed width and creation.

Wham is ok Palace got Blackpool away.

 

Agreed, as I think Konchesky and Dalmat could each do well. Dalmat's ability to quickly switch from defense to offense should allow us to catch Citeh's Reyna-less midfield caught upfield. Citeh's back line can be exposed with our talent up top.

I will be very curious to see the Konchesky-Reyna matchup if the rumors of Reyna at RB are true. These guys are polar opposites. Reyna is the cautious, conservative, possession and mistake-free silent dominator, while Konchesky is the wild, attack-minded rebel who is hell-bent on getting forward and proving himself. It should make for a very entertaining match-up!

A win here really goes a long way towards returning to the hunt. With Liverpool, Newcastle, Everton and Leeds also underperforming (well may not Leeds), we're not that far off the mark at the moment. I feel confident that when we right the ship, clubs like Charlton, Fulham, Southampton, etc. are going to fall back to mid/lower table. So our points of reference aren't too fare ahead of us despite the miserable start.

-Digital

 

Poor starting team selection today, Poyet and Bunjevcevic in central midfield is inadequate for the Premiership, let alone in a tough away game against a good attacking team. Konchesky in left midfield, he did well defensively but I really think he should have been at full back. Ricketts our brightest midfield player this season was not even in the starting XI, which made no sense and he looked bright again when he came on. Also Dalmat not being included from the start looked a questionable decision.

Gardner and Richards were also poor - overworked as usual, but they just don't seem to be aggressive or motivated enough at times. Richards was also lucky not to get sent off. It was a miracle that we got anything from this game and on a normal day it should have been an easy win for Man City, they had so many chances.

Kanoute and Keane just didn't get enough support at all, which is disappointing as they were our best chance to get anything from this game, and as it is it was a very one-sided stuff. We could have knicked it, especially through a penalty appeal on Keano. But that would have been robbery.

I hope Pleat has reasons for choosing this lineup. Decent result but a poor performance and no sign that we really earnt it, Man City blew it. I hope O'Neill wasn't watching and for some mad reason agrees to take over and work some magic. Failing that Curbs is looking better than a journeyman like Toppmoeller or Antic, who surely won't be able to turn this lot around and do better than Hodd.

In January we desperately need at the very least 2 defensive midfielders, one starting General with the quality to lead us and one tough hard worker who'll run and fight to the finish to fill out the squad and come off the bench. If we can get them in then that would make a lot of difference.

 

Just got back from the game (it was on downstairs ) and i have a few things..

1) Anderton and Poyet out, and Ricketts and Dalmat in, please.

2) Defence is shaky still. Richards is supposed to be a sort of talisman, and isn't up to it at the moment.

3) Passing and crossing. Too short, too narrow or too deep. Very rarely was it just right.

4) Bunjevcevic.. no thanks. Ricketts central, and Dalmat central too. Davies and Konchesky on the flanks.

Think that's about it, a draw was lucky.. the performance was edgy at times but not hurried.

Not bad result really.

 

We've had some horrible results at Man City, so I suppose I'm grateful we got a draw. Especially as our lack of a proper defensive midfielder really is horrendous. Saying that, the best way round that is to use pace and energy - i.e. Ricketts and Dalmat.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3122926.stm

 

However, having made all these points and considered the club's current situation.. an away draw is a decent result.

Was it just me, or.. does the new City of Manchester stadium have VERY LITTLE atmosphere. It was pretty much quiet when Spurs almost had the ball in the net, and nothing much above a mumble throughout most of the game.

Perhaps it's my TV or the mic's at the ground. But it sounded very odd to me.

 

http://www.glory-glory.net/news/show_story.asp?story_id=186

I think this article sums up a lot of how I feel about it. This is a negative time and I can't believe that Pleat decided to play Bunji, Poyet and Anderton in midfield. That's ****ing ridiculous. Absolutely no pace, energy or committment from any of that trio, and i think that's reflected throughout the club.

Ricketts must be furious, he's played great, with a lot of heart despite being an A*senal boy and yet he know finds himself dropped to the bench for these fools. Dalmat might as well have stayed at Inter and Blondel must be tearing his hair out for joining us and not moving to ManYoo.

 

Player ratings from Glory-Glory.net

http://www.glory-glory.net/news/show_story.asp?story_id=188

Keller - 7
Some fantastic saves, especially from McManaman. Did well to stop some of Wanchope's "shots" but I think Wanchope made him look good. Was still suspect on crosses, and not very commanding in his area. The defence seemed to lack organisation, which Keller has to take some responsibility for. He should have at least bollocked the lads after Sinclair's free header.

Carr - 6.5
Was in soccernets team of the week, not sure why. He was the best of our defenders, but was a very routine Carr performance of late. Nothing too inspirational, but the goal line clearance gives him brownie points.

Richards - 5.5
Didn't seem interested. Gardner did all the defensive work and Richards seemed like a passenger. He's there as the old head at the back, but appeared to be still sulking that his old pal Glenn had been given the sack. Or maybe he was just sooking coz Carr was captian (why wasn't Richards captain anyway - should we read something into that?)

Gardner - 4
Nightmare. Richards has to take some blame, example that backpass header. Sure Gardner should have known to clear it, but Richards and Keller should have been shouting for him to clear. Anelka took the piss out of him far too often, tho he did seem to redeem himself in the last 20 minutes or so. Could do with a break I feel.

Taricco - 5
Another nightmare, perhaps getting off lightly due to how obvious Garnder's nightmare was. The amount of times Jihai got behind him was unbelievable. Caught ball watching so many times, arrgh it was frustrating.

Anderton - 6
Same old same old again from Anderton. Seemed to go through the paces. Set up a few good moments in the beginning, but for most of the game was unnoticeable. Much better when moved into the centre though.

Bunje - 2
No comment.

Poyet - 1
Even no-er comment. Did he do anything? Was a liability and a passenger for the entire 90 minutes. Should have been dragged at half time. You can't play 4-4-2 with a centre midfielder who goal hangs.

Konchesky - 7
Impressive. Showed a lot of heart. That bit where he chased that Man City player after he fouled him was brilliant. A few careless balls, but all in all a solid performance, tho he played more like an attack LB than a LM.

Keane - 5
Tried his guts out, but it wasn't happening for him. Should have been subbed after the hour for Postiga as Keane is a confidence player, and he seemed to be lacking it after the break.

Kanoute - 7.5
My man of the match. Everything good came through him and always looked a threat with the ball. Shouldered a lot of the responsibility in the second half during the period where Poyet and Bunje must have been tying up there shoe laces for 20 minutes. Could have had a couple, but it just wasn't dropping for him, was it.

Subs:
Ricketts - 6.5
Tried well and got stuck in. Some things didn't come off and looked a bit out of touch with the pace of the game, but we were a better team with him on the pitch.

Dalmat - 7
Did well when he came on. Should be given a start next week coz he oozed class, even if he seemed a bit slow. Has some good tricks on him and has to be a better option than ig & ook who played in the middle today.

Ref - 8
Can't really complain, so I guess thats a good performance. Keane's penalty call was touch & go, but sometimes they're paid, sometimes they aren't.

Crowd (us) - 8
Sung it well again lads. Could make out Super Tottenham, also Ricketts when he came on.

Crowd (them) - 5
Umm, I thought they were the true supporters from Manchester? What a crock of *#*#*#*#. HANDBALL!!!!!

 

To be honest, i couldn't hear a thing. First 5 mins was all Spurs, and then until the final 5 mins it was near enough silent. Then Spurs fans kicked in again, feeling it was safe.

Either it's the stadium or their fans.. but on TV it came across to be nothing more than a mumble! Very eerie considering there were 46k people there!!