Match Threads Spurs vs Chelsea - Match Thread

[C0YS]

Thought Alli was totally and utterly dreadful against Wolves and against West Ham he did nothing at all. Alli will still have a few good games but I personally don’t think he is very good.

He is very good, very very very good. He just isn't consistent. Today I kind of felt for him, the reality was we didn't get the ball into our front 4 at all in the second half. We were hoofing too much and the back three meant that they were first to any second balls. We changed the system in the second half and were playing much much better but the sending off killed it. For my Dele was our best attacking player today, which unfortunately is more a sign of how blunt we were rather than how good he was. On a side note he was great against west ham, maybe you mean Burnley?

The thing about this game is it was incredibly boring, Chelsea were not up to much either. The main difference is that Chelsea stopped us playing more than we stopped them playing. The reality is that it seemed like Jose set the team up to counter Chelsea. Frustrate their attacks and hit them on the counter. Now, this may have worked if we didn't concede the first goal. But we don't have the right mentality to play that way. We are simply too used to playing very open and are not at a point were we know how to control a game from sitting deep. I thought we did this fairly effectively against wolves, but we got the first goal which helped a lot.

I also think if we were to just set ourselves up to play football, we could have won that game. Tactically we were too focused on stopping them and not enough on beating them, and Chelsea played a system we didn't accept and nullified it quite well. If we kept to 11 men we could have fought for something. It is a shame because it killed any chance of us really playing the game.

 

[Jamturk]

Well Levy seemed to imply this was the case in the interview he gave to the standard this week.

Maybe they're are trying to keep the prices down?

 

[Marty]

One final word on the racism stuff.

Even disregarding any other motive than just being pissed off at Rudiger for getting Son sent off, if you can't behave and control yourself you should not be going to football and supporting a football club clearly isn't for you.

It's football. For fuck's sake, it's not like anyone was killed.

 

[TonyS]

Get fit or don’t play that should be the message to Ndombele

Jesus Christ, he must be fit now. If not, WTF, is he up to and our backroom staff

 

[Jamturk]

Jesus Christ, he must be fit now. If not, WTF, is he up to and our backroom staff

This is what I'm thinking.

If he is unfit then they should be working him night and day to rectify.

 

[SirNiNyHotspur]

The problem with VAR is consistency, one day it’s not a pen next day it is, one awful tackle or swing at someone is ignored, a graise with the foot is a clear red as the player went down in a heap, are we rewarding theatrics?
That said I’m not too pissed about VAR today as had we the 11 and they 10 we still weren’t up for it, our energy levels were zero, tactics clueless, passing worse than pub league, and we had a few headless chickens, we defeated ourselves, pathetic top to bottom.

 

[dondo]

Jesus Christ, he must be fit now. If not, WTF, is he up to and our backroom staff

For whatever reason the last time he started for us he clearly wasn’t

 

[ethanedwards]

I was at my boys U9 futsol game yesterday. It was friendly game, in Florida, with nothing at stake. The kids still wanted to win and my boy, who on his day is good, was awful. He was second to every ball and looked lethargic, a bit like Spurs players today.
With three mins to go in his game, I laid into him, told him to get stuck in, play like ha can and get something out of the game.
What happened? He stepped up, put in a great last three mins, and on top of it, scored the winner.
What has this to do with today's game you say?? Well, our boys today are professionals, get paid tons of dough, have the best of everything available to make them masters of their craft and to put in a shit performance like they did, is totally unacceptable. If my son can raise his game, then surely , surely our beloved Spurs players can theirs, in a game that would have put us in fourth and made a solid statement going into 2020.
I bet they will be on SM with the usually nonsense, which for me, is bullshit. Sort your shit out and put in an effort. None of them bar one maybe, deserved to wear our shirt today. Money grabbing legends.
Sorry for the rant, but today fucked up Christmas for me or should I say "The Holiday Season"

The ghost of Christmas past.

 

[dondo]

What’s Diers excuse as he sure isn’t fully fit.

Same rules apply to him if it was up to me

 

[Gassin's finest]

Definitely no racist stuff in East upper, but there was a tear up in the posh seats, which was entertaining.

 

[TheVoiceofReason]

This essentialism won't help us solve the problem. It will only obstruct understanding.

What will solve the problem out of curiosity? Is the solution for the left to stop hyping race conflict? What defines hyping race conflict?

Your theory of an increase of racism as a result of the left hyping race conflict is just plain wrong and trying to rationalise your theory as fact is even more infuriating.

For starters, your theory insinuates that there is MORE racism than there used to be. There's significantly less. It's just it gets far more attention when it happens now, and fucking rightly so. Hyped you might say.

The problem is that it's still happening and people with the power aren't doing ENOUGH to stop it. Race conflict is under-hyped.

You have touched a nerve to be honest, apologies for being a snowflake, or a keyboard warrior, but your opinion is wrong and poorly researched.

 

[Ledders Army]

Not for you per se, but does anyone honestly believe Mourinho does not think we need to sign players or would have come to Tottenham if he could not sign players short term or long term?

Yep. Wouldn't be too useful to come out & say we're desperate to buy & have money to burn in Jan. Jose's probably persisting with Dier to show Levy the squad needs strengthening

 

[Munny Man]

The idea of bringing Eriksen on to gain some ball control wasn't bad but he wasn't so effective. Ndombele showed again his class but it wasn't enough because the others did not take it up a level. I don't blame Sissoko at all he gave everything he had unlike some of the others.

Totally agree with this. N’Dombele looks like he’s trying to create/get things moving every time he’s on the ball. This long ball malarkey is tiresome and really not working. I think we need some guile in the middle of the pitch, rather than bypassing it.

 

[Saoirse]

Mourinho taking the mick out of a player who got kicked in the chest, had something chucked at him, and then suffered racist abuse? I miss Poch and his class so bad.

 

[bubble07]

Jose is meant to be a world class manager and he has earnt it. However most all of us on here understand that Dier and Sissoko in midfield is just not a viable plan for how we like to play football. He seems hellbent on continuing his hard on for Dier and I just don’t understand it.

If a player is hooked after 29mins and then after 45 mins within the space of 5 odd games it means either the manager is making the same mistakes or the player is performing poorly.

NDombele might be out of shape but he has the potential and ability to be world class and to not play him boggles my mind.

If he had better alternatives to Dier he would play them. Its embarrassing the alternative is s Crocked wanyana and a youngster

 

[Jamturk]

Mourinho taking the mick out of a player who got kicked in the chest, had something chucked at him, and then suffered racist abuse? I miss Poch and his class so bad.

He's diverting

 

[worcestersauce]

This is Chelsea's biggest game of the season, this is the one they don't want to lose so they'll be up for it. Attitude is everything today if we are up for it we will take them down.

I posted this on page three, I think it stands the test of time.

 

[freeeki]

Our next 6 PL games include Brighton, Southampton, Watford and Norwich x2.

Only big one is vs Liverpool.

No reason we shouldn’t be looking to win at least 5 of those. Hopefully this will he where the newer players can get game time and establish themselves, and the dismal pedestrians can start being phased out.

 

[frost14]

Some views don't deserve a respectful reply.

well, I'm sad you feel that way.

 

[JKendall13]

Feels wrong to even talk about the football, massively shameful and embarrassing. Really hope the club handles the racism incident quickly and forcefully. Can’t say I’ve felt much worse than this as a fan.

As for the football, our problems are clear and Frank delivered a masterclass in exploiting them. Our fullback play is appalling and if you attack down the flanks in numbers, you don’t have to worry about being outnumbered in the middle of the pitch because our pivot play is so poor. Really sick of hearing how we don’t need signings. It’s so obviously incorrect from anyone who has watched us the last year.

It’s all easily explained: Walker/Dembele sold, Wanyama/Dier crocked, Trippier/Rose total collapse in form. None effectively replaced.