So at the time of writing this, I got up at 3AM to watch Wembley fill up (Australia Mate) and I’ve not really slept since, just been having one of those days where you just have to chew on a little bit of disappointment. It’s getting late and I have a lot I want to write about, so I figure it will work to chuck the whole week into a big Spurs stew and serve you a few different spoons full.
Article by Lachlan Peters @loque91
Stoke! Who saw that coming?
No one I was paying attention to was predicting the same score line against Stoke that we walked away with last April. I had been away at a beach house for the weekend and managed to shun the internet completely until I could limp home, sunburnt and hungover and watch the game at my leisure. The impressively loud Spurs support belting out ‘Stoke City Its Happened Again’, really made me feel better. Gave me some soul back.
It is hard to say how much of that was up to us and how much was down to how poor Stoke have been at the start of this season. They were mostly toothless, but we dominated proceedings. Really great to see Son proving he was worth selection, as well as Eriksen blooming from the cloud of his contract talks and providing a vintage performance. Couple of extra cherries on top with Dele and Kane getting on the scoresheet as well.
One negative should be mentioned here however, there is a pretty good shout that Wanyama should have seen a second yellow before we scored the second goal. It does slightly take some of the shine off of an otherwise brilliant game. The legitimacy of it being called into doubt. The first signs we have seen of his reported disciplinary issues.
It was a result that I don’t think many supporters had thought was ready to expect. We hadn’t played that well since.. well.. Stoke in April? For me it just felt good to see us scoring, the goals we have popped in so far have been great – but lacking a certain confidence. I guess it didn’t hurt to get a goal in the first half of a game.
It was a great game for the team, the guys really seemed to relish in it. I think the supporters really needed a game like that as well, a bit of reassurance. Especially considering the game that was just around the corner!
*sigh*
Monaco at Wembley. The largest gathering of disappointed Yiddos ever
Yep, who didn’t see this one coming huh? You are a Tottenham supporter. This is the deal. We came into this game, as I’ve just illustrated – feeling pretty good. The team news was indicating Dele would be dropping back to partner Dier with Son, Lamela, Eriksen in behind Kane. I don’t think that worried anyone. Son deserved to get picked, Lamela scored a hatrick against Monaco last year and Eriksen was ready to be Eriksen again. Nope, nope nope nope. I was smart enough to not let my emotions get the better of me again, and put a little bet down on Monaco to win (I also put a few bets for Spurs to win 4-0 and for Lamela to get another hatrick – I’m not a smart gambler), but if all else failed and we lost at least I could get a few dollars for my pain.
We looked fine up until they scored though. I mean, we were unlucky not to have had a couple at that point. Lamela confidently took the ball off of Walker, almost saying “don’t worry mate I can do a fancy pass give it here” and promptly kicked it straight into oncoming traffic. We got punished instantly for that lack of steel.
I think Walker was the best one out there this morning; he has been really great so far this season. I’ve seen a lot of people blasting Vertonghen, but I didn’t feel he was particularly bad. It is hard to pinpoint what was so wrong about the whole performance. It seemed each of the players out there were just waiting for someone else to do something. We just stood about, passing back and forth around the half way line while no one even tried to make an option viable or make Monaco work for their points.
Things were mildly better in the second half. That goal was a godsend, much like the reincarnation of Hercules who put the ball in the net for us. What a player Toby is for our team. Another notable mention has to be Dembele, I had forgotten just how incredible he is. He can do this amazing trick where it seems at the same time very easy what he is doing, yet incredibly unique and impressive. I struggle to think of another player quite like him. He just doesn’t lose the ball. So his re-introduction into our squad should be all we need to start getting solid results once more.
It must also be said that Monaco are not a bad team. They are currently top of the French League and recently battered PSG. They have some real quality on the ball and they got pretty lucky with both of their goals. On another night the score may have been very different.
It was a tough watch this morning, or last night for many of you. I realised that I and perhaps some others have become bad at loosing again. It has become such a rarity that it really affects us. Especially when it seems we are capitulating in such a mundane manner, with no fight left, just when our expectations had been raised once more.
We are Spurs though, so we shouldn’t pretend to be anything we aren’t. We love the club, not results.
Sunderland at the Lane
Well this is the kind of fixture we needed next isn’t it? Sunderland are sitting down the bottom of the ladder with Stoke and are doing their beginning of the season routine where they don’t win. They do have Jermaine Defoe, so we can never be completely relaxed, but he is a known quantity. They pushed us a fair bit last season too; we overcame them through a late Ryan Mason goal early in the season and in the revers an eventual come from behind victory that ended with some emphatic scoring.
I think it is set up really well for us. We smashed Stoke, started really playing and getting our game together earlier than most would have thought. We get blinded by the lights at Wembley and brought back to Earth, now the team and Poch have something to prove again this weekend. It will be very interesting to see how Poch reacts to the mid-week loss, he did not seem too happy with the lack of passion out there and indicated he wanted to sub everyone at half time. We shall see just how much of the squad that were such a letdown against Monaco come back to face Sunderland.
It may be an unpopular opinion, but I am within the camp of people who think Harry Kane needs to rest at least a couple of games. The lad has been playing basically non-stop since he exploded into the first team and I can’t help but think that some quality time with his expecting girlfriend, playing catch with his dogs or something could do him really well. His work rate is still outstanding, and he still looks a threat. But who knows what a week or so of downtime could do for his game at the moment. I mean, this is why we bought Vincent Janssen right? So we didn’t run Kane into a ditch.
We’ve got the squad depth to deal with Sunderland and rest a few players I think, and then have a few of the youngsters out in the cup later that week. We will be back to winning ways in the Premier League instantly, and we can hopefully take some lessons from Monaco and apply them as soon as possible.
It was a good week to be Spurs, we can be proud of the stage we are at. I’d rather be losing to Monaco in the Champions League than picking off minnows in the Europa League still. Onwards and upwards.
COYS
© e-Media Group 2016 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of @e_media_group
Yes was at Wembley and great atmosphere, but much for the players to get used to. Large ground, different atmosphere to WHL, the surface was so quick. We really miss Rose and seem lopsided with Davies there and he had been great for Wales, but small mistake on first goal and big mistake on second goal and does nothing going forward, unlike Walker who was very good. Dier had a very bad game and looked tired. Dembele did quite well and is awesome and didn't quite have that sharpness, from not playing. Eriksen was great against Stoke, but not great, Lamela got the assist and great ball in for Alli, but thought he was our worst player and silly on the first goal. That big pitch, really needed Sissoko's power and Janssen did very well when he came on, looked much stronger physically than Kane did. Harry was awful too. Really worried about him and two games off, Sunderland and Gillingham, could be best thing for him. The goal against Stoke has done nothing to change his poor form. Pochettino seemed to stay loyal to last year's players for the Wembley game. Time to use that squad now and rest those not performing. Also Son, amazing against Stoke and needs to have less of those games where he adds little, as the ability is surely there. Real pace at Wembley is also needed and sure when we play Leverkusen we will set up better. The other worry is playing all our games there next year. We need to get used to that place fast.
ReplyDelete