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Match Tottenham Hotspur v Brentford | Saturday 21st Sept | Tottenham Hotspur Stadium | 3pm

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Forgot to mention earlier that I was particularly amused at the commentators talking up the Brentford set pieces. They spoke of them as if they were some kind of witchcraft. And were then greeted by their keeper hoofing the ball in the general direction of our box, but many yards away from the nearest Brentford player.

Their set piece specialist is a snake oil salesman.
 
Played much quicker today and was exciting to watch. Maybe them scoring early forced us to play quicker, also Brentford playing out from the back suited us.

I've been critical of Maddison lately but he was very good in this game, his best for quite a while.Vicario was so good and so bad all in one game.
 
Starks said:
Perhaps shape wise at times but todayt it was much more noticeable that Maddison was further forward and the full backs weren't as central.

Tbh, helped alot that Solanke was absolutely brilliant.
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Umm... Maddison played deeper as he always does when paired with Kulu in midfield. He even mentioned it in his club interview.

And being at the game I didn't notice anything particularly different about either fullbacks positioning at all. 🤷‍♂️
 
Maddison was back to his very best and has been good all season tbf.

Kulu is a running monster. His fitness and endurance is incredible.

Our press is becoming elite. But we simply have to get the rewards in goals first half.

Great game to be at.
 
ShutUpPatrik said:
Finally got around to watching the game.

Probably our most well rounded performance all in all so far this season as far as the play style went. We pressed well and kept the high line but you could see some small tweaks. The defenders were not as gung ho going forward and picked their spots much more smartly. And play was more focused on getting the ball forward quickly and onto goal. And kudos to Brentford for giving us a good game. They didn't lie down.

Dominic is going to become a productive and important player for us once he clicks more with the other attackers.

Onwards to the Europa.
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Udogie back to his best, Madders my MOM and special mention to Mickey, Johnson and Romero.

Solanke off the mark, and his game is improving.

I still think our biggest issue is at keeper.

Any successful team (including us) have always had a coo, headed keeper. Vic for me is a weak link, irrational in his decision making and terrible at corners and crosses i general.
 
Great game.
Ange must of heeded my SMS about playing a 4-4-2 formation😁😁
But seriously, we need to keep Kulu playing down the middle.
If Kulu, Mads & Dom do some extra training together to streamline their passing, we'll be cooking down the middle.
 
Bloodbath said:
Definitely need to keep that momentum going with Europa league getting underway.

The Man United game is huge. Both teams mid table and both should be desperate for the 3 points, should be exciting.
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Good time to get ManU. If we win the Euro game we'll have the wind up us. We're starting to see the forward-line dynamic gelling and I just want to see the same manner of play: keep the ball moving forward, press like mad cunts, create a fucktonne of chances, and take them.
 
For me the first half was positive, when we attacked the ball was played forward quickly and with purpose, not the normal sidewards & backwards possession rubbish we have seen for a year
second half went to the sidewards backwards possession football leading in most parts to nothing
maybe the players were worried they would run out of stream ?
in second half we did see a few quick passes though their lines wiyh our players running on ( like the 3rd goal, romero plays the pass spliting ball for Son to run on to0
Why was romero standing off thier striker for their goal ? what was his thinking at that time ? Has Ange asked him why ?
romero may be more worried about the goalie than his own position ? without asking how does ange cut out Romero's mistakes
 
Phomesy said:
Umm... Maddison played deeper as he always does when paired with Kulu in midfield. He even mentioned it in his club interview.

And being at the game I didn't notice anything particularly different about either fullbacks positioning at all. 🤷‍♂️
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Did you even watch the game?

Maddison was constantly floating left. Like he was doing early last season and what he hasn't been doing all season. Which allowed Son to occupy the central spaces, something he hasn't been doing all season. Hopefully that's the end of Son attempting to be a touchline winger.

Udogie and Porro was the most noticeable thing all game. Still inverted but nowhere near as much. It was no wonder it was Udogies best game of the season.

There's a full match replay going around if you fancy watching the game.
 
ThePreacher said:
Udogie back to his best, Madders my MOM and special mention to Mickey, Johnson and Romero.

Solanke off the mark, and his game is improving.

I still think our biggest issue is at keeper.

Any successful team (including us) have always had a coo, headed keeper. Vic for me is a weak link, irrational in his decision making and terrible at corners and crosses i general.
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That stuff can be improved (Vic). De Gea was the same at first. I think he needs to be told to go long if in doubt and remove that doubt of always playing for the back / risk taking and focus on his goalkeeping whilst in a rough period like this

Just boom the fucking ball 2 or 3 times a game, won’t affect the team build up really but will help him mentally - mate
 
bus-conductor said:
First half was the type of football I love most, super aggressive and high intensity, and that's probably the most intense we've been under Ange, possibly that I've ever seen a Spurs team be, and we've been getting more and more intense under him in general (the stats seem to bear this out). The way way piss away great situations, hard won with that intensity is absolutely fucking infuriating though, and must be killing Ange inside. Time after time the pre-emptive ball or final pass is just clumsy, careless or badly executed. we should have been comfortable by half time and able to shell out the second half or at least last 30, but constant bumbling meant the game was vulnerable and we couldn't fully commit to shell or attack for the last 30, which between 60-75 minutes got a little bit unnecessarily squeaky for 15 minutes.

Great example was late on (at 2-1) Son has been played through (again - I think by Maddison) and completely unaware that Maddison (I think) has made a run to his left, chooses an equally open Johnson, and he only has to play a 3 yard pass into the stride of Johnson and he's running clean through on goal. he slightly overhits the pass forcing Johnson to drift slightly wider than his stride, then Johnson, lacking the technique to compensate or wit to take another touch and choose a different option, chooses to trickle a wonky footed shot straight at the keeper.This passage just totally sums up our ineptitude in forward areas.

So many times we got to the byline, past the last man and just spaffed aimless balls to nobody, people not getting their heads up. We have to create absolutely tons of chances for this lot to turn them into goals. This is not going to change until we upgrade.

It's Kulusevski pissing away the ball needlessly that starts their goal in motion and VDV is probably not tight enough to Mbeumo, but it's a hell of a finish from a low probability chance, which sums up our luck lately.

Romero's box defending is still a fucking worry. He really isn't the smartest or most composed cookie. He just seems to lose focus and markers so easily. VDV is quick as fuck but can't jump. I actually won't be devastated if Real Madrid want to give us silly money for Romero. I'd like us to buy a good footballing CB who is quick but can actually be a bit more composed when box defending. The fact that VDV isn't the smoothest in possession, means we have to have at least a RCB who can be comfortable on the ball, otherwise Dragosin might be more viable, I think he's quicker than Romero and probably a more reliable box defender...maybe..but looks far more uncomfortable on the ball - that great, incisive pass for the third goal by Romero being a great example of his upside.

It was fascinating to hear Maddison talk about how we'd been prepared for Brentford's man for man pressing/marking. In many ways that suits Angeball, but only if we get it right, and today that was Angeball working. Bentancur was good today when the game was in front of him, safe and steady, but there were odd times when he was reluctant to show when we trying to build out from the back as he's not as keen as Bissouma to receive with a man right up his arse. Today, it was minor grumble but it maybe did play a part in Vicario's clusterfuck as Bentancur is too slow ambling toward him. Bissouma is usually offering himself a bit quicker there.

Maddison was outstanding today. With and without the ball. He was involved in the press/moves for the first couple of goals. He has to take more responsibility when Kulusevski plays as the other floating 8, and also has to get on the ball in deep areas, because he's more press resistant than Bentancur in deep build up. He was fundamentally everywhere today, and then popped up with a great dink finish to wrap up the game. One of those great moments where the MOTM crowns the performance with a cracking goal that relaxes all our sphincters.

That third goal was fabulous, they are on the attack with their guy bearing down on our box, Bissouma sprints hard, catches him, tackles and scoops away the ball in one motion, Romero then plays a fantastic ball through to Son, who plays in Maddison, who, unlike all our other bumblers, actually has the technique and finesse to dink the keeper. I haven't punched a goal as hard as that one for fucking ages.

Good performance, good result.
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Interesting in that post match Maddison interview how he’s getting used to playing with kulusevski in midfield because it’s totally different to playing with Sarr. Hopefully they are working on this in training rather than finishing out about it and working off the cuff during games.

Playing them both means Maddison just won’t be as close to goal. I don’t want kulusevski deeper because he’s a risk at losing the ball as we saw yesterday.

I think it’s worth persevering with though because it just makes us that much more attacking.
 
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