With some decent positives to take from Tottenham Hotspur’s showing at the weekend in the North London derby against Arsenal, the individual player improvements we saw we definitely want to see carried through to the midweek clash with Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United side.
Bruce has got Newcastle on a reasonably even keel in terms of their performance levels this season, but they have lost the last two games, so even despite our own mixed form this year, we have to go into this game looking for another win and all three points.
A European adventure for 2020/21 seems feels like a long way off given the points we have lost in recent times, but mathematically it is still possible if results elsewhere go our way, so we just have to keep that pressure on and take advantage of any slip-ups as they come along.
Whether manager Jose Mourinho can welcome anyone back for this tie remains to be seen – but we have to take the confidence shot and make it count as the games continue to come thick and fast, but there aren’t that many of them left.
Newcastle...
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Spursy Takes On A New Meaning As Bournemouth SomeHowe Take Us To School – Match Stats
Well, I was strangely optimistic about beating Arsenal but…….
I wouldn’t be surprised if this one doesn’t go quite to plan…….
Maybe I’ll perk up by Wednesday and then predict that Spurs will thrash them… Without sitting back and playing a ton of long balls. And, without thinking that our defence needs Harry more than our attack does…. ???
HT – have to agree on the long balls – I pointed it out after the Bournemouth game aswell and even last year under Poch also towards the end – it’s not even that effective – neither of our goals on Sunday came from this – and it’s very boring to watch and even dangerous as it gives the opposition the ball a lot of the time and very cheaply at that!
I did jest about HK10 being our best defender against Bournemouth also but I just read against Arse he had 5 shots with 4 on target – should probably have scored twice both when Moura sent him through – on another day I guess – HK10 rarely goes very long without goals lol!
Hoping for a win – we need it – decent money in the EL from what I’m reading especially if you can go far in it and we need every bit of dough we can get our hands on at the moment for all sorts of reasons including to improve the squad as best possible this summer already!
Hopefully fatigue won’t wear us down too much having already played 4 matches in the last 10 days or so and another 2 to come this week – let’s wait and see what happens……!
Not even sure I can watch on Wednesday – might have to settle for the radio as not showing up on Portuguese Sky at the moment (rarity as so far under JM for obvious reasons all games have been live even FA Cup 3rd round and replay, etc, etc, etc) – the Leicester game is which is great but the Newcastle game ain’t which will be a big shame as haven’t missed a single game for a long while now – not that we’ve been very entertaining but as a loyal fan one watches all the same – don’t we just….!
EJ …. We did score from one long ball on Sunday. lol
This result …. 0 – 3
EJ, I don’t have a problem with long balls as such… OOOOOH er!
It’s not good if that is the only outlet used and they are mostly aimless punts upfield to nobody as they mostly were vs Bournemouth. Against Arsenal it wasn’t the case as we had Harry and Son up there to attack those long balls.
Hoddle was a long ball player. Fantastic ranging, cross-field passes from deep and perfectly placed. Many other great playmakers have done the same.
It’s more about mixing it up. The way I saw it vs Arsenal is that we did drop quite deep and let them have a lot of the ball. But them, with just 3 at the back and playing a high line, the long ball was tactically sound for me as a 4-4-2. But only if we could find our players and then exploit the space behind. And we did…
And with Poch we utilised it very well a lot of the time. With players like Jan, Toby, Dier and Eriksen all very good long range passers…
There are many ways to play a good game. But variation is key for me. Mix it up Jose!
I watched the Foxes do it brilliantly for a season and they won the PL doing it. I thought a lot of their play was exciting. A lot of swift counter attacking and the long ball out and up to Vardy often worked a treat.
But what was good for the Foxes then ain’t strictly needed at Spurs right now. We have the players to mix it up… They can mix it up…..
HT …. I agree. We haven’t mixed our game up enough for some time. One thing we should be doing much more of is SHOOTING. We get into some great positions to shoot at goal but then stop, pass the ball sideways, or back. Dembele is a great example. We have many forwards and midfield players who can really strike a ball. If they did that more often it must result in goals …. even if some are just deflections through a crowded penalty box. It’s a matter of percentages, some will go in. None will go in if the player passes back. Wasted opportunities?
That’s something I’ve been banging on about for a good while Geof, it goes back some way with Dembele being a good example when he was with us. Look what happened when Davies had a rare pop against the gooners, it took a world class save from Martinez to deny him a goal.
Just re-checked the Portuguese Sky schedule and Wednesday it’s on live after all so happy days – will be able to watch and Sunday live also – found it a bit strange regarding Wednesday as I say since JM took over every single game has been live even the FA Cup 3rd round, the replay, the 4th round, the replay, 5th round, etc – ALL LIVE – anyway will stop boring everyone with these details lol!
Geof – good point regarding the 2nd goal – lol!
HT – good post and I fully agree with you let’s mix it up nicely and always keep the opposition guessing and also us the fans entertained as much as possible! Nothing wrong with Hoddlesque type passes lol – completely agree……!
Funnily, a lot of the Spurs matches I watch are with Portuguese commentary, EJ. When I’m searching for decent streams, I will stick with the first one that has a good connection because I know I won’t always find a decent one with English commentary.
The first half vs Arsenal was in Portuguese and the second was in English. But I’ve listened to the football in Arabic and Russian many times too… I like to “mix it up” when I’m watching. 🙂
I now know from Sundays 1st half commentary that Bill Nicholson is still Bill Nicholson in Portuguese…
I haven’t a clue why they mentioned him but I thought why not? 🙂
Hi HT – I was watching and listening and they were talking about HK10’s modern game record against Arse in the Prem but then referred back to Bobby Smith and his record in the NLD and said that he was around in the time of Billy Nick – that was why he was mentioned in the 1st place! Both have 10 goals in NLD’s along with Adebayor aswell!
SportTV 3 on Wednesday for the match by the way! English football is usually on SportTV 2 – that’s the home with Portuguese football on SportTV 1….!
Thank you for the translation. 🙂
Geof – fully agreed there as regards shooting – 2 players already come to mind straight away – Dele and Lo Celso! Dele never shoots from range and needs to add this to his game to become even more complete – his peers like Lampard, Gerrard and even Scholes played similar to him and they were master’s of long range shooting and scoring regularly from such aswell as getting in the box and helping themselves further! Lo Celso got 16 goals at Betis in his season there I believe so surely must be a decent shot and we need to get him more involved in and around the box – that’s why I said I wanted to see Lo Celso, Dele, Sonny and HK10 as our regular 4 berth attacker’s- lot’s of goals and creativity there!
EJ …. Yes, and the other thing with shooting (sometimes) is that if you don’t score directly there is still a chance of a deflection or a corner. We do have a lot more goals in the team than we are currently scoring, I think. It’s all about percentage decision making.
Agreed EJ with the above posts. There were occasions where the long shot was on. Look at the first couple of minutes against the “Gooners” Lucas let rip a long shot. This sort of play mixes it up a bit, it puts the opposition defence on the back foot. And as you say you could bag a corner or deflection. Long balls, play from the from the back, short corners, long corners mix the game up a bit.
Don’t talk to me about side ways and back wards passing there is a time for it but not every time(Wonksy, or is it Wunksy), know what I call him.
The tactics used against arsenal may not work against newcastle, def gonna be a tough game, we must win otherwise we are back to square one.
It could go either way with Newcastle, 123. As to how they play. They have nothing much to gain or lose points wise. This could mean they just relax and play football. Which could just as well make it either easy or harder for us. But I see no reason for it not to be an open game. But with Jose and the team who knows. And Newcastle as always these days are up and down. Good one week, poor the next.
If the two teams don’t cancel each other out, as with Spurs v Everton, then it could be a high scoring contest in favour of Spurs. Who knows?
Its simple v Newcastle, its always a tough game, so do not let them be on their front foot, as I said simple, lol! COYS
I watched Newcastle get thrashed 5-0 by City. And the Magpies didn’t exactly work hard and make it tough for City in that match. City could’ve scored twice as much… They then lost a close game with Watford.
One thing I had forgotten is that Nabil Bentaleb is at Newcastle, on loan. He may have a point to prove but maybe not. Then of course there is Yedlin and Rose. Maybe they’ll all take it easy on us…….
Danny is injured. But of course Danny wouldn’t be able to play against us anyway.
Agreed 123 – we defo need to win – keep the momentum going and hopefully secure a EL place as it sounds as if JM is up for it and will be worthwhile financially if we can get far in it – hope so because we could do with all the money we can get at the moment and it’s always nice to see us doing well whatever the competition!
LOL ND – but I’ll back Winksy up a bit here – I read a report with stats saying that he’s 1 of the most progressive forward passers in the league – I think for the likes of Winksy and N’Dombele to flourish for us they need someone to sit and protect – a proper DMC in there to hold the line (unfortunately not Sissoko, who actually likes to run with the ball also) – I keep reading reports of Hojbjerg – is maybe he that man and will do this for us?! Hope so as we can’t really afford to get it wrong! Dier could have been and still could help out there but he wants to be a CB primarily and JM seems to agree. Skipp is another who could be interesting in the future as regards this much maligned DMC role in the team – as we all agree – we need competition and cover for places especially if we are going to be in Europe and put up a fight of it on all fronts next season and beyond!
Looking forward to the game and hopefully another win – here’s hoping anyway!
Morning all, yes am with everyone here, lets make it a win tonight, as has been already said keep the momentum going.
Winks, my opinion is, there is a good CM waiting to get out with the right tutor/coach, and I also agree that a specialist “would bite his Granny” DM is required at all costs.
So a prediction 1- 3, Kane(200th Prem gl) Son & Bergy. COYS
Hugo
Tanganga Sanchez Toby Davies
Sissoko Winks
Lo Celso
Lamela Son
Harry
Tanganga in for Serge, if Serge opts out and if Tanganga is fit enough. If not, Sissoko at RB? Fernandes, Skipp? Harry K?
As for the formation? I haven’t a clue… But I’m sure our manager knows. 🙂
“Hey Hugo, on me head!” Shouts Harry… “Hey Son, pass you ******!” Shouts Harry. “Hey Ref, that’s a pen!” shouts Harry and all the rest of us.
Hey all… Stay Safe, Stay Sane, Stay Spurs…
Harry Winks rules, OK!
Magpies 0-4 Spurs!
I must say, as the season draws to an end, I am feeling rather nostalgic.
Spurs, sitting 8th in the PL and in a fight for a EL spot… Just like the old days, pre Poch… Nice!
To be fair to Son. He has the most assists for Spurs this season, with 10. followed by Aurier with 5. Deli, 4.
And to be fair to Serge. He has made by far the most tackles this season, with 83. Surprisingly it’s Lucas next on 46 followed by Lo Celso on 42. Serge has also made the most interceptions, 42. Next is Jan on 33. Toby (158) and Sanchez (115) have made the most clearances. (As you would expect from the CD’ers). Next is Serge on 77…. Blah blah blah………
This is all according to the official PL player stats. For what it’s worth and for those who care… 🙂
Anybody know about this…just read that we are about to sign CB Kim Min-Jae of Beijing Guan for £15m by 25th July, he is 24, apparently Son recommended him.
HT…in your player stats who is Blah blah blah, is he another one of our underrated stars lol!
Yep fighting for a EL spot, nostalgic or what lol!
Give us a win tonight lads. COYS