The e-Spurs Daily Dose 06.10.13

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Tonight's Dose written by Mark Viales.

Spurs slaughtered at home, AVB’s not so crude assessment and ‘Y’ word defiance.

Spurs slaughtered at home:

Spurs slump to a 0 – 3 defeat at White Hart Lane at the hands of a resilient West Ham side who were flattered by the overall score.

Spurs failed to capitalise on there overwhelming possession as they failed to carve out the final pass despite a host of attempts on goal.

Tottenham were limited to half chances with the game lacking width as both wingers inverted their play towards the middle.

Andros Townsend was Spurs’ most effective player as he pushed the Hammer’s left side back with his driving runs.

Townsend’s impact was, however limited due to Defoe other’s inability to get on the end of his crosses and when he made his way inside he was instantly surrounded by players.

But what really contributed mostly to the defeat was the lack of drive in the team as they huffed and puffed with no conceivable plan B.

Even Lamela’s introduction, however late it came, was not put to its most effective use, due to his insistence to also cut inside and consequently crowd himself out.

With Spurs chasing the game West Ham took advantage on the break as well as from some leggy defending by Vertongen and Dawson in particular.

The whole team looked off pace, and despite a long list of changes to the side that played in Russia, they failed to move the ball around quickly and incisively like they have done in recent games.

Christian Eriksen also could not quite hit the heights of recent performances as he was consistently outmuscled and gave the ball away frequently.

Andre Villas-Boas’ changes were more like for like than anything else, and although he introduced Soldado late on, it was not enough to break the opposition down.

Villas – Boas’ side took a good beating today and many in the media will likely scrutinise the shortcomings of this defeat and question Spurs’ top four credentials.

Tottenham will need to pick things up and will most likely need to pick through the errors in this game one by one in order to put things right for the next game.

AVB’s not so crude assessment:

Andre Villas – Boas gave a subdued assessment on a crushing defeat at home to the hands of a West Ham side that were hovering above relegation before this fixture.

The Portuguese first team coach did not criticise his team or any of the individuals responsible for the lacklustre performance and seemed to bemoan his side’s lack of luck more than anything else.

"West Ham deserve full credit, they played very, very well," said Villas-Boas.

"The first half we played well, but not enough to score. We started the second half very strongly, but unfortunately for us their set-play goal came a little bit against the run of play.

"They totally deserved it, and every time we tried to make changes to come back into the game, they scored again. The three goals came in a quick sequence, which did not allow us to bounce back and react.

"We wanted to throw in all our weapons but as we were ready to put Soldado on, they made it 2-0. It made it even more difficult to come back into the game.

"We never had that chance, but West Ham did extremely well in the second half. They were very aggressive, getting to the ball first and they deserved the result."

Spurs have now slipped to sixth place instead of keeping pace with the leaders and are now three points behind Arsenal, who drew 1-1 at West Brom.

‘Y’ word defiance:

A sector of Spurs fans rebuffed the threat of arrest at White Hart Lane by chanting the “Y” word en mass during their team’s 0 – 3 defeat to West Ham.

Police had warned both set of fans that any sort of what they deemed racist language by the usage of the word would result in arrest.

The defiant group of supporters were vocal throughout as they came together to protect what they feel is a “badge of honour” with deep roots.

The Spurs fans chanted “we’ll sing what we want” as it seemed that many escaped being apprehended by the police patrolling the stands.

The FA’s attempt to stamp out the usage of the word looks to be more complicated than they originally though and they may need to soften their support if they wish to “educate” Spurs fans, as they so sensitively put it.

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