With another quick turnaround in the fixture list for Tottenham Hotspur, we certainly go into Sunday’s clash with Crystal Palace in good spirits.
On the back of our successful Europa League Group battle that saw is finish in top spot, it’s been a steady campaign so far, albeit not spectacular – but with so many changes for our midweek clashes, we continue to see the benefit of that in the Premier League campaign with players in good form and remaining fresh.
Under Roy Hodgson, Palace refuse to roll over and despite not being very spectacular themselves, they are more than having a steady league campaign and we’ll have to be lively to work through their more defensive mindset – but we know there are goals in this team, so that shouldn’t be too much of a worry.
I doubt we’ll welcome Erik Lamela back for this one, but Serge Aurier’s knock might not prove to be anything to worry about.
Let’s hope we’re celebrating another win and we keep ourselves ahead of the chasing pack at the top of the table.
Palace...
Win
Draw
Lose
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TQ …. Never mind JM’s game management capability …. I’ve got 3 games to watch, all kicking off at the same time today ( approx 10pm my time)!! Luckily, they will be ‘on demand’ with Optus so I can focus on the Palace game first.
I have a similar dilemma Geof, our ladies match kicks off at 2pm, our boys kick off at 2.15pm, the Exeter Chiefs kick off at 3.15pm, and there is also the snooker final between O’Sullivan and Selby to fit in somewhere! I will somehow have to configure 4 screens to cover it all…….and they say men can’t multi-task! 🙂
At the beginning of the 5 game strectch against City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Palace and Liverpool, I said getting 10 points or more from those games would be huge.
Well, we’ve got 7 after 3 games, so a win today would meet the objective!
I am very curious to see how Palace is going to line up. They seem good going froward but the defending is suspect. Knowing this, will they play to their strengths and attack us (which plays into Jose’s hand), or will they sit back (but play in a way which doesn’t really suit them)?
Either way, there is a way to beat that team today and I just hope we don’t get complacent. The Spurs fan in me tells me that on the back of such a good run, we are due a bad result sooner or later, but on the other hand, maybe we really have turned a corner.
I don’t think the upcoming fixture congestion will be problematic because we have been able to rotate so effectively in the EL. I’m sure Kane, Son and our star performers can deal with 2 games next week, because we haven’t been over-reliant on them so far. I also think Bale is improving and his time to shine in the PL may come now.
Some results have gone our way yesterday and others may yet today. I am not expecting Fulham to perform a miracle today, but I do think that Brighton could also cause an upset.
I feel Brighton are a better side than the table suggests, they’ve had a couple of bad VAR moments go against them recently, but they’re a good team and they are due a positive result and a bit of good luck.
Leicester, on the other hand, seem to be over performing right now. They’ve managed to get a few good results recently, but they left things VERY late last week agaisnt Sheffield and if anything happens to Vardy, you wonder where the goals are going to come from.
Banking on the continued fitness of a striker who will be 34 in January and who relies on pace to score goals may not be a great plan, especially if said striker has to play many games in quick succession. If it isn’t today, i still think Leicester’s lack of depth in certain positions might hurt them.
BS …. We will get a bad result sooner or later but I think it will be later, not in this one.
I totally agree with your comments about Leicester and Vardy. Even though many of us thought they would drop off when they won the league, I think it’s much more likely to happen this time.
Our next game is the real tester although, as it is at Anfield, losing would not harm us too much (especially if we win today) as we will still be able to give them a welcome at The Lane.
Geof… Your post about Jose tactical game is an Italian method, is a fair assessment. He did win major trophy with Inter. Also Italy have won more World Cups than England, Italian clubs more CL than English clubs, so their system of defence 1st attack 2nd (RIP Rossi) works in wining games, and silverware. Effective football and wining cups / PL Title is what THFC desperately need now, after the costs of building new stadium and training facilities last 10 years. COYS
Good point, B108.
Again a great deal of deserved optimism for a win today .
I hope Jose plays an attacking side since most feel that Palace will play a mainly adefensive game . However if he adopts a similar game plan vs Antwerp and we win 2-0 I will be quite happy .
How would you play Zaha ? Perhaps put Sissoko on him ?
Allan….that’s probably a fair call and a tactic we have seen before where Sissoko provides additional cover to the RB to deal with tricky and pacy wingers. Zaha has historically been the main threat for Palace but the introduction of Eze now provides another which we will need to be aware of.
The Italians have used some very effective “tactical” ploys over the years…
Match fixing, drug abuse and general crimes against the art of good and fair football being most prevalent in recent years…..
HT…your so right there pointing out the “tactical ploys” in Italian football, win any way, that is necessary no matter the costs.
Today/later a win is important, if only to prove to the doubters that we are in the mix some where about’s. COYS
PY …. Win, lose, or draw, we’ii remain in the mix. So there’s nothing to prove at this time. It’s all on display in the Table.
That’s very true Geof….even if we were to lose today only Liverpool can demote us to second in the table short of Leicester winning by a cricket score in their match.
Just hope we don’t play a Russian roulette deep defensive game at some point. We’ve been having the luck in these situations but eventually the chamber with the bullet come up.
Same ol spurs again, 3 great results only to be undone by this performance, that’s what happens when u invite pressure.
Jose got it all wrong, what a chance to make a statement and we failed yet again, a loss to pool next week and gap will be 5 points, game over let’s be honest. Expect more results linethsi if jose adapts these tactics against bottom have teams.
Jose got it all wrong, what a chance to make a statement and we failed yet again, a loss to pool next week and gap will be 5 points, game over let’s be honest. Expect more results linethsi if jose adapts these tactics against bottom have teams
After a dominant first half, we just retreated back into our half. Two points thrown away by a miserable rear guard second half. We were the better team overall just kept giving away possession and the inevitable Palace goal came. Very disappointing and this type of play will not win us the Prem. No wonder Jose was scowling. Crunch game against Liverpool on Wednesday. 6 pointer.
Seriously what were they thinking in the 2nd half. After been 1 up, Weak mentality against a bottom half team and not trying to score, this is why we won’t win the Premier league.
Though I have been reasonably happy the way we have been playing, getting results etc, for me today it should have been go for the throat esp when winning by a narrow margin, because if you invite teams on at only 1 up, all it takes is a shitty goal/bad luck, as Palaces was, then you have to start again, but with that you cannot account for a goal keeper playing like his life depended on it, well played, not!, CP goalie.
At the start of the 2nd half, in the first couple of minutes, if the cross/pass from the right had been correct we would have been 2 up, so for me it said “here we go again” and my thoughts started getting a bit negative and was expecting a draw.
Ah well off to Anfield in the league next, will we win, we might, why not! COYS
It does seem a poor decision to try and manage the game, we had them on the rack when we decided to attack them after conceding, if we had pressed for a second goal earlier the game might have easier to manage.
It says it all when the Palace keeper was Man of the match.
As PY says we could’ve /should’ve went for the throat,and Palace got a shitty scrappy goal.
We lost our way a bit around the hour mark, as usual with” Sahas”diving got em possession and some impetus.
Much like the W/Ham game they had a spell from 60 min to 80 ish mins when they scored.
We had a spell of poor possession /passing at this time and a lack of concentration.
After their goal, we got the perverbial “Rocket” and started to play again and only excellent play from their keeper saved a point for them.
They were happy with a draw, we were the ones looking for a win.
But it says it all when we are so unhappy at the result.
Wow……Fulham have been all over ‘Pool in the first half and have a deserved lead, could have been 2-0. Let’s hope they continue in the same fashion in the second half. Come on you cottagers!
I see Jota is out for a while which is a bonus for Wednesday, he has been in terrific scoring form of late.