NK Maribor vs. Spurs - 25/10/12 - Europa League.

  • The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...

    Get involved!

Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports

It's not that they need a rest now, but if they play every game up until March, they'll be wiped out for the rest of the season, as was shown in the last two seasons for us. There's a reason United always tend to come on strong, it's because Fergie uses opportunities to rest his key players. They don't always need the rest right at that point, but it keeps them fresh throughout the season.

So playing Sandro and Defoe against Maribor has condemned us to a disappointing finish 5+ months from now?

There will be players coming back from injury and some rotation, stop getting your panties in a twist.
 
I'll tell you why we our best players every game, is because we're TOTTENHAM! We never play well against fucking shit pub teams like Maribor. We can't afford to play our reserves, when our fucking first team players can't perform.

And the reason why fergie plays carrick at centre back with other shit like Anderson is because not matter what team they put out they will win.














Unless they play us:baletroll:
 
So playing Sandro and Defoe against Maribor has condemned us to a disappointing finish 5+ months from now?

There will be players coming back from injury and some rotation, stop getting your panties in a twist.

No panties in a twist here. But funnily enough EVERYONE was saying we should have rotated more earlier in the season when it got to March and Parker could barely run around anymore. Strange that very few were saying that back in October/November though.
 
No panties in a twist here. But funnily enough EVERYONE was saying we should have rotated more earlier in the season when it got to March and Parker could barely run around anymore. Strange that very few were saying that back in October/November though.

Not really true, as its a total myth that we didnt rotate last season:

Alot is being said about the lack of squad rotation costing us. Which is odd, because during the season, tinkering, and changing the team was also blamed.

Now I remember an excellent bit of research done on another forum by a guy named elltrev, in regards to this issue, and have posted it below. I think the notion of not using the squad is being greatly exaggerated, and when you consider our injuries at certain times, and some the bench's we were forced to use, I think people are being unrealistic:



Wolves 2-0 > 4-4-2 > despite missing both Lennon and VDV. Niko played on the right, Ade and Defoe up top.
Liverpool 4-0 > 4-4-2 > this time VDV came on for Niko at half-time.
Wigan 2-1 > 4-4-1-1 > Ade up front, VDV behind him, Sandro and Parker in the middle, and Luka on the right.
Woolwich 2-1 > 4-4-2 > Ade and Defoe back up top, VDV on the right.
Newcastle 2-2 > 4-3-3 > Ade up top, VDV and Bale supporting, Livermore in with Luka and Parker.

> So 5 good results and performances on the trot, despite missing Lennon, playing 3 different systems, and playing Sandro and Parker together against Wigan (where we played some fantastic football).

Blackburn 2-1
QPR 3-1
Fulham 3-1
Villa 2-0

> For 4 games in a row we then played the 'classic' 4-4-1-1 - Lennon back on the right, Ade up top, VDV behind him, Luka and Parker in the middle. We dominated QPR and Villa, but were dominated by Blackburn and Fulham and arguably didn't deserve even draws, let alone wins.

West Brom 3-1 > 4-4-2 > Were missing VDV and Modric, so replaced them with Defoe and Sandro. An excellent away performance despite missing Luka and VDV, and playing Parker and Sandro together in the middle.
Bolton 3-0 > 4-4-2 > Luka came back in for Sandro. Cahill sent off after 15 minutes made this one easy at home against a relegation candidate.
Stoke 1-2 > 4-4-1-1 > Back to the 'classic'. Played well and didn't deserve to lose, but got Foyed.
Sunderland > 1-0. ? > Not sure what we played here. Bale was missing and was replaced with Sandro, suggesting a 4-3-3. Pav came on for Lennon though after 27 minutes. Parker, Sandro and Modric all started.

> Again, a mixture of formations and lineups. Lost the only game in which we played 'the classic', though we were robbed.

Chelsea 1-1 > 4-3-3 > Ade, Bale and VDV supported by Sandro, Parker and Modric. Lennon out again. Pav came on for VDV at half-time.
Norwich 2-0 > 4-3-3- > Same starting lineup as previous game. Dominated Norwich, as Bale began 'the roam'.
Swansea 1-1 > 4-3-3 > Same system again. Swansea were the better team.

> Played the same 4-3-3 system 3 games in a row, with mixed results.

West Brom 1-0 > 4-4-2 > a return to 4-4-2, as VDV shifted out to the right and Defoe came in for Parker. Comfortable win.
Everton 2-0 > 4-4-1-1 > Almost 'the classic' as Lennon was back, but Livermore and Modric started in the middle. As they did against Norwich... We were level with United at this point.

> 2 wins with 2 different formations and lineups.

Wolves 1-1 > 4-4-1-1 > 'The classic' was back as Parker replaced Livermore. Dropped points here, but absolutely dominated Wovles.
Man City 2-3 > 4-4-1-1 > 'The classic' again. Almost snatched the win, but ultimately got 0 points.

> 1 point out of 6 for 'the classic'.

Wigan 3-1 > ? > Again, not sure exactly what we did here. Niko came in for Lennon, I assume in a 4-4-1-1, but Livermore came on for Rafa after 30 minutes. A 4-3-3 with Niko and Bale supporting Ade? Either way, an easy win.
Liverpool 0-0 > 4-3-3? > Ade up top, Niko and Bale supporting, Livermore in with Luka and Parker in midfield. Quite a cautious, tense game. Not a bad result at the time.
Newcastle 5-0 > 4-4-2 > Memories..... Ade and Saha up top, Niko and Bale out wide, Luka and Parker in the middle.

3 good results with 3 different formations and lineups.

Woolwich.... Where the downward spiral arguably began.

What is the point of all this?

There seems to be a perception, admittedly that I also had, that for most of our good run we played consistently 4-4-1-1 with Luka, Parker, Bale, Lennon, VDV and Ade. But actually we only played it four times in a row, then once against Stoke, then twice in a row against Wolves and City. Out of those 7 games we won 4, lost 2, drew 1. And against Blackburn and Fulham we were by far the worse team.

We didn't play 'the classic' 16 times, and had 12 wins, 4 draws and 0 losses.

Missing Lennon and / or VDV, switching lineups and systems from game-to-game, playing Sandro and Parker together, playing Livermore and Modric together etc - were constantly happening throughout the season, when we were on such a high.

When results start to go wrong, everyone naturally starts to make arguments for why. And tactics / lineups etc is probably the easiest thing to blame it on. But I think the above shows that our lineups and formations in this dip aren't really very different to those during our great run.

With thanks to "elltrev"
 
Wait a minute. We weren't BAD. There were few answers up front, but you can't say that we didn't dominate that match.

There were a bunch of chances that might have gone our way on another day, and Maribor parked the bus on defense. Defoe didn't have a great game. I'll be excited to see Adebayor starting again.

Vertonghen and Caulker looked great. Huddlestone had a really good game, that whiffed tackle aside. Sig looked alright and didn't disappoint.

We didn't smash em, which may be seen as a disappointment, but we're still in decent position.

Lazio and Panathinaikos drew today, so every calm down.

edit: Sammy, those italics are obnoxious.
 
dont know why anyones getting worked up about the game. the players werent. if the pre match talk wasnt 'dont get injured' then i'd be more concerned.
we also now know that tom huddlestone taking corners is without doubt the stupidest single idea i've witnessed at any time in my life. he's 6 foot fucking 13 inches with his hair bear bunch do, he stands still in the box and opponants are still gonna have to put a big man on him, he really should be positioned about 30yards from goal, anything cleared and he can rifle it back or do what he's best at and clip one in for a header, it also means he only has 20/30 yards to get back in position if opponants break on us. lennon is a winger, his job is crossing, he's 2 footed and 2 foot tall, why the fuck is he not taking the corners ?
you cant always odds what happens on the pitch, we play poor, opponants play well, shit happens, but you can do the fucking basics right and we are woeful at attacking and defending set pieces and corners. so easy to remedy and you dont have to be stoke to do a bit of work in this area.
 
The problem is it was a borefest - like the Pana game, Spurs fans dont like boring.

I'm really looking forward to the home leg though. First becuase we will hopefully smash them but more for the block J takeover.
 
Pre importantly why the hell were the advertising hordes flashing up with horse power for Adebayor or whatever it said. He's not playing but he gets his own ads?
 
dont know why anyones getting worked up about the game. the players werent. if the pre match talk wasnt 'dont get injured' then i'd be more concerned.
we also now know that tom huddlestone taking corners is without doubt the stupidest single idea i've witnessed at any time in my life. he's 6 foot fucking 13 inches with his hair bear bunch do, he stands still in the box and opponants are still gonna have to put a big man on him, he really should be positioned about 30yards from goal, anything cleared and he can rifle it back or do what he's best at and clip one in for a header, it also means he only has 20/30 yards to get back in position if opponants break on us. lennon is a winger, his job is crossing, he's 2 footed and 2 foot tall, why the fuck is he not taking the corners ?
you cant always odds what happens on the pitch, we play poor, opponants play well, shit happens, but you can do the fucking basics right and we are woeful at attacking and defending set pieces and corners. so easy to remedy and you dont have to be stoke to do a bit of work in this area.
Say what you will, his corners were still excellent, and Siggy's were shit while he was in charge of corners. I'd like one of our small guys to take the crosses, but if Huddlestone can keep lofting those beautiful crosses dead onto the penalty spot, then I'm perfectly happy for him to do it.
 
Back
Top Bottom