Premier League 2/3/4 March 2013

rosenthal wrote:That's Gareth Bale 20th goal in all competitions this season \o/

Meh. Suarez is on 28. Bale has the same stats as Ba and Michu, should they be WPOTY?

The thing is, I really don't think there's much difference in the quality of the two squads. Bale apart, the level of players is pretty similar, it's just that AVB has some capacity for organising a team, whereas Wenger seems to be lapsing into senility. Spurs haven't had to do anything special to get a two goal lead, no one does against us, just don't make stupid mistakes yourself and Arsenal will gift you the space and hapless defence to grab goals.

Wilshere is going ballistic

rosenthal wrote:That's Gareth Bale 20th goal in all competitions this season \o/

Awesome for a midfielder, oh wait, he's playing up front. Definitely the new Ronaldo.

Luis wrote:

rosenthal wrote:That's Gareth Bale 20th goal in all competitions this season \o/

Meh. Suarez is on 28. Bale has the same stats as Ba and Michu, should they be WPOTY?

Bale's a midfielder

Sheffield gunner wrote:The thing is, I really don't think there's much difference in the quality of the two squads. Bale apart, the level of players is pretty similar, it's just that AVB has some capacity for organising a team, whereas Wenger seems to be lapsing into senility. Spurs haven't had to do anything special to get a two goal lead, no one does against us, just don't make stupid mistakes yourself and Arsenal will gift you the space and hapless defence to grab goals.

Same with us and Everton though. It's mentality and Spurs have a far better one than us, Everton or yourselves when it really matters.

rosenthal wrote:

Luis wrote:

rosenthal wrote:That's Gareth Bale 20th goal in all competitions this season \o/

Meh. Suarez is on 28. Bale has the same stats as Ba and Michu, should they be WPOTY?

Bale's a midfielder

Doesn't look like he's playing midfield to me.

1.United - 71
2.City - 56
3.Spurs - 54
4.Chelsea - 52

5.Arsenal - 47
6.Everton - 45
7.Liverpool - 42
8.Swansea - 40
9.WBA - 40

If the passing from Spurs was a bit better they could be even more goals ahead. That high line of Arsenal is actually suicidal.

Sheffield gunner wrote:The thing is, I really don't think there's much difference in the quality of the two squads. Bale apart, the level of players is pretty similar, it's just that AVB has some capacity for organising a team, whereas Wenger seems to be lapsing into senility. Spurs haven't had to do anything special to get a two goal lead, no one does against us, just don't make stupid mistakes yourself and Arsenal will gift you the space and hapless defence to grab goals.

Couldn't believe how simple (and identical!) the goals were - Siggy threatened to do it once before but until Bale scored I thought we were woeful in possession, could barely string a pass together.

We are doing the high line thing too but Lloris is far better at sweeping up than Chesney and we've always been able to get a foot in just at the right moment.

Deluded F*ck wrote:

Sheffield gunner wrote:The thing is, I really don't think there's much difference in the quality of the two squads. Bale apart, the level of players is pretty similar, it's just that AVB has some capacity for organising a team, whereas Wenger seems to be lapsing into senility. Spurs haven't had to do anything special to get a two goal lead, no one does against us, just don't make stupid mistakes yourself and Arsenal will gift you the space and hapless defence to grab goals.

Couldn't believe how simple (and identical!) the goals were - Siggy threatened to do it once before but until Bale scored I thought we were woeful in possession, could barely string a pass together.

We are doing the high line thing too but Lloris is far better at sweeping up than Chesney and we've always been able to get a foot in just at the right moment.

Plus Bale and Lennon are delaying their runs better than our players. Walcott is going too early to catch the defence square, Giroud isn't making those runs, and Cazorla is the player usually dropping deep to pick up the ball rather than go beyond the defence.

As I said earlier though, as much blame goes to the midfield as to the defence though. Especially with the second goal there was so much time to pick the pass. A high line is one thing, but playing a high line and putting no pressure on the ball is suicidal.

Sheffield gunner wrote:

Deluded F*ck wrote:

Sheffield gunner wrote:The thing is, I really don't think there's much difference in the quality of the two squads. Bale apart, the level of players is pretty similar, it's just that AVB has some capacity for organising a team, whereas Wenger seems to be lapsing into senility. Spurs haven't had to do anything special to get a two goal lead, no one does against us, just don't make stupid mistakes yourself and Arsenal will gift you the space and hapless defence to grab goals.

Couldn't believe how simple (and identical!) the goals were - Siggy threatened to do it once before but until Bale scored I thought we were woeful in possession, could barely string a pass together.

We are doing the high line thing too but Lloris is far better at sweeping up than Chesney and we've always been able to get a foot in just at the right moment.

Plus Bale and Lennon are delaying their runs better than our players. Walcott is going too early to catch the defence square, Giroud isn't making those runs, and Cazorla is the player usually dropping deep to pick up the ball rather than go beyond the defence.

As I said earlier though, as much blame goes to the midfield as to the defence though. Especially with the second goal there was so much time to pick the pass. A high line is one thing, but playing a high line and putting no pressure on the ball is suicidal.

That's exactly what I meant

Sheffield gunner wrote:The thing is, I really don't think there's much difference in the quality of the two squads. Bale apart, the level of players is pretty similar, it's just that AVB has some capacity for organising a team, whereas Wenger seems to be lapsing into senility. Spurs haven't had to do anything special to get a two goal lead, no one does against us, just don't make stupid mistakes yourself and Arsenal will gift you the space and hapless defence to grab goals.

This was same as last season though, bar Van Persie we were on even keel.

Assuming we don't throw this away and choke 4th, we will finally have a proper chance to develop out squad with the one or two top class signings we haven't had the luxury of doing.

Game on!

Bale should have restored the two goal advantage.

Rosicky on for Jenkinson. Ramsey to rb I guess.

I'm a bit worried about that call. Ramsey's had a decent game, but he's on a booking and I can see Bale switching to run at him as the match gets stretched.

It's all a bit tame for a derby.

I remember even last season, Spurs fans were still saying Bale was destined to be a left back.

Another great chance for the third. Exactly the same again, squaring up the defence and playing a late runner in from the flank.

-------

Brilliant chance for Ramsey to equalise, but he dragged his shot horribly.

funny, its unthinkable in die Bundesliga, there is simply no resistence in midfield, from both sides

Bye bye Champions League

Stoppage time was a bit of a piss-take with the amount of time waiting for the ball to come back from the crowd.

Well done Spurs. I think we were the better side up until their goals, and they played better than us for the remainder of the match. No St Totteringham's Day this year, we won't catch them now.

I won't say it's season over, as Chelsea could implode, and we have an easier run in for the remainder, but I think we are going to get precisely what we deserve this year. We've been bailed out by individual brilliance in the last couple of seasons, but finally our arrogance and mis-management is going to get what it deserves. Can't see how it will get better with Wenger and Kroenke at the helm.

Useless c**ts

I can't even get angry about the result - it's actually a bit more favourable to us than I'd predicted. As Sheff has said, we are getting exactly what we deserve and we don't deserve CL on the basis of this season's performance. Even if Chelsea do implode, that doesn't guarantee us anything - I heard something about, if both us and Utd go out in the k/o stage, the UEFA coefficient will kick in and one of the English places for next season's CL will be lost - so no CL unless we finish 3rd and that ain't gonna happen.

Nervy, unspectacular, but thats a given due to the emotional baggage that comes with our recent relationship with Arsenal. Will take it without any hesitation.

If we go on and deny them CL, it will be a lovely feeling. Karma bitches, it's our time

Kroos wrote:funny, its unthinkable in die Bundesliga, there is simply no resistence in midfield, from both sides

I have no idea what you are talking about up until the two goals both goalkeepers had nothing to do all the resistance was in midfield yes you could say the midfield started to break down it is the Centre Backs that should control how the midfield plays in front of them defensively.

If I was obese I would have had a heart attack from the tension.

Thought we defended well in the 2nd half (Vertonghen especially) and should have really killed it off on the counter. The local battle is won but we still have to go to Liverpool and Chelsea, not to mention Stoke, Wigan (who turn into the World's best team in the Spring) and Citeh at home.

We can do this *fist pump*

Tottenham have been much better since that mouth-breathing Sol Campbell wannabe left to spend more time with his crutches.

High-line with no pressure on the ball, where have seen that one before?

Spurs were truly outclassed in the 1st half, we made them look average with our pressing, passing and positional game. However this game just reinforces my view that we should ditch this dominant/attacking style for a more reactionary game(compact, deeper defensive lines, less of the ball, more vertical passes, looking to punish any mistakes by the opposition). We simply lack top quality match winners to justify such a high risked game. We did to them exactly what Bayern did to us, with only difference being, Bayern had the players to make their dominance count, how many times did we trouble Lloris with all our dominance in the 1st half? he hardly had anything to do. And with the lack of sufficient quality in the team, we are always liable to switch off in defensive phases and that's exactly what happened; one moment when we didn't press well + a high defensive line(consisting of a positionally suspect defender and another one with the turning circle of an oil tanker) = disaster! bang! goal!

Can't see us making the CL this season. Congrats to Spurs
I normally don't wish them any good but they are a very ambitious and a well run club, so I think they deserve to be in the CL.

You think? Although we pressed well in the early stages, I'd say there are more similarities between Spurs and Bayern than us. We had more possession in both games and did fuck all with it, against an opponent who were happy to stay compact and keep their shape, and then had far more quality to pick us off on the break and created good chances with regularity as they exploited our space and defensive indiscipline.

Wenger makes some mealy-mouthed platitudes rather than come up with his usual complete bullshit this time. Makes no difference, he's the one most responsible for this. Perhaps in the future he might consider preparing the team against our opposition's strengths can be helpful, and at the least, do something other than set up in the most accommodating manner for them.

Outclassed and made to look average sounds like someone is finding it difficult to credit our performance. We should have been 4-1 up by 60th minute. You had more of the ball (unsurprising since you played with 3 in CM vs our 2), we had more of the clear cut chances.