Tottenham Hotspur’s first team didn’t quite manage to reach the dizzy heights of Burnley as we limped over the line in our last clash with Fulham, but back to back victories for the first time since November certainly shouldn’t be sniffed at.
Manager Jose Mourinho has already confirmed he will again be rotating the pack ahead of the next run of fixtures the club has which again sees us on the Sunday/Thursday schedule but you’d like to hope we will persist with the front three of Sonny, Harry and Bale for obvious reasons.
Palace themselves will make the trip with boosted spirits as they are on a run of three without defeat, and this weekend they should be able to welcome back Wilfried Zaha after his five game spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
For us, the game still comes too early for Giovani Lo Celso but we may be able to welcome him back to the bench for the Europa game. Serge Aurier will likely face a late fitness test after his calf tightened up against Burnley, but otherwise we should be good to go.
Now we play the ‘which Spurs will turn up’ game…
Phew that’s what we have been waiting for . At last a real team performance with few long balls and good passing movement .
Bale , if he maintains this form , will continue to inspire the team . He is a class act which he has shown at last .
His vision and passing ability to bring others into the game is very good .
Excellent goals esp. the 3rd with the build up play .
Sanchez still worries me but got away with a couple tonight .
I cannot praise the team highly enough even Doherty didn’t look quite the donkey he has appeared all season .
What a lovely watch .
Yes Allan, credit where it’s due, Doherty did have a decent game tonight.
At last, a dominant team performance despite Winks and Doherty playing. But Doherty looked a lot happier tonight and played well. In fact, it was a top team performance from all. Superb strike for Kane’s first goal. Two good goals from Bale. Lucas ran his socks off and so did Sonny. Reguilon will score soon. Now let’s keep up this style of play. Pleasing to watch and we score good goals.
Niall D – “I’m sort of, of the opinion that we could’ve spent a bit less on facilities in our “new stadium” and a bit more on players “, I’m just wondering how often you actually go to the stadium ? When we aren’t in lockdown I go to every home game and do appreciate the stadium.
One thing from tonight’s game is the value of a forward who can tackle. Moura caused all sorts of problems for Palace as he not only pressured them but actually won the ball. In the modern game where teams try and play from the back with defenders slow to get rid of the ball someone like that can do a lot of damage.
Absolutely jod. Lamela is another one who does that, sometimes a bit too aggressively. Both these forwards are just what we need against bus parkers too and fortunately both are excelling themselves at the moment. Great to see the lads coming good as I said they might with a more attacking lineup and approach.
Interesting what Jose said on Sky about being glad that Palace got the equaliser since it made us go on the attack rather than sit back as we have done in the past when we go 1 up.. He also urged the lads to go for more goals once we went into the lead again. Looks like he has been reading our comments here.
Jod,
Either José has been listening to us or he’s a hypocrite of real substance. Either way, it took him a hell of a long time.
It’s impossible for me to take at face value a claim that all the bus parking was the player’s doing and not Mourinho’s Really? a band of football players who value scoring goals over all else in life decided on their own and against Mourinho’s wishes to start passing the ball sideways and off the pitch and did so against his wishes. This is akin to claiming that the Africans forced the whites to ship them to the sugar plantations as slaves against the wishes of the plantation owners. Really? Kane and Son refused to attack and to try to score goals against Mourinho’s instructions? It’s this disingenuousness of Mourinho that irks the most. Sincerely mates, this is one insincere man.
stuff a sock in his mouth and stitch the lips closed. give our ears some rest.
The difference Moura is making in the number 10 role is key, evident in the first goal today and overall he was just a menace , pressing, allowing space for others.
Hi folks great result tonight, looks like over the past few games we can actually play dominating, attacking football, with lots of possession. Fantastic goal by Kane surely goal of the month, if not the season.
BTW Jod you are right, living where I do unfortunately it ain’t a bus or train ride to games, I used to get about 4 times a year, mostly away games Liverpool, Everton, Man U (my Bro is in one of those supporters clubs) even S’oton as travel is much easier.
As each time due to flights it usually means a costly hotel stay at London prices. So perhaps I am a bit biased, but not the only one who has made this statement re the stadium m8.
Two more assists from the PL’s best Midfielder. Oh, yes, and he chipped in with two goals as well!
That was a really good watch.
The stadium was planned as a money maker for THFC. The American NFL was to play there, bringing in dollars and TV exposure. Bands would play there. Maybe circuses would rent it out. Supporters would buy beer brewed on the grounds.
It hasn’t turned out that way. Maybe it will yet as the pandemic comes to an end–assuming it will if it doesn’t keep mutating into versions that vaccines never quite extinguish. So it has turned out that some of that money spent on an extremely expensive stadium project could have gone into getting more and better footballers on the pitch.
As of today, I’d prefer the money went into new footballers, but in 10 years, who knows? If I’m still breathing, maybe I’ll have a better idea.
The timing of the stadium and the debt burden could not have been worse, but that was not something obviously foreseeable. I know only one person who told me a few years ago that we were due for a pandemic. He was from Hong Kong and had the SARS experience. SARS also was a coronavirus, but it pretty much died out before going full bore pandemic. But at least a few people saw it as a precursor.
I don’t think, though, that we can blame DL for failure to foresee this. It’s likely to burden us for many years to come if we have a wee bit of bad luck. Paying off that debt without CL money will hurt for a long time, so we really do need to get into the top four with regularity.
TK …. I think your last paragraph made what came before irrelevant. None of that was predictable.
That was my point, Geof. The timing could not have been worse, but was unforeseeable. As it is, we may be stuck with a big debt for some time that will hamper spending on new footballers coming to us. things didn’t turn our as planned. we’ve still got the best stadium debt can buy.
Not sure what result I want to see from tonights Chav v Toffee game, if we still have aspirations of top 4 then I guess a draw would be best however, if we think top 4 is a step too far now then Everton dropping all 3 points is probably to our advantage.
TQ …. Top four looks much more possible than it did three weeks ago. I’m hoping for a draw.
Niall, I take your point regarding the cost of the stadium but every time I go there – I think I have been to about 20 matches there, I am overwhelmed by how good it is. Even with a 62,000 capacity it doesn’t feel like a vast bowl like The Emirates for example. it is a wonderful accomplishment and maybe has helped us to get the additional events (NFL, concerts, boxing etc). Still if only Levy had held back £50m or so for a decent centre-half. COYS
A good win but… spurs players backed off after about 30 mins. palace attacks and sanchez was out of position, for their goal, as dmf not there for him. Credit for jose and players 2nd half started on front foot again, bale and harry very good efforts. Lucas has shown an abilty to the no.10 position, pressing and harrying which lamela can do too. Where by dele does the creative passing and ghosting into the 6 yd box looking for chances. There was some sloppy passing and awareness, but we won and that’s 9pts in 3 PL games, and a massive boost of confidence for players jose and fans.
Jose had his smile saying spurs scored 100 goals for a defensive team… at last he has seen the light at spurs, his “effective” football stopped working for us from mid december.
I was told at weekend by someone I know quite well, who has spiritual ability and she is a spurs fan…. had a dream at weekend… spurs scored a very important goal, so poss. League Cup Final v city.. a win perhaps ? COYS
Hi Geof……I’d like to think so, Chelsea look the most catchable but they are unbeaten since Tuchel arrived and I’m not sure I see us matching never mind bettering their results. Sorry if that sounds negative but it’s just my feeling from what I am currently seeing. Everyone has been expecting Leicester to fall away but they have somehow managed to maintain fairly decent results despite losing important players to injury.
Hi TQ …. It’s hard to know what to think the way this season is going. I seem to be changing my mind about the top four after every game at the moment. I doubt that will change until the last whistle of the season. But I am slightly more optimistic than I was a few weeks ago. The last time we all expected Leicester to fall away they went on to win the title. One game at a time …. with a dream, a prayer and a lot of hope!
The stadium is very well planned and built. Every home game ive been to is packed and fans all say its still a homely atmosphere and gives good vibes. Should be a serious multi events earning stadium for many years to come, once pandemic is over. For example…The brewery freshly makes / sells over 23,000 pints every home game, and multiple catering outlets / restaurants gives fans a good choice.