Tottenham 0 West Ham Utd 0 (19/03/11)

Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.

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The Rebirth
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Re: T*ttenham v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by The Rebirth »

Listen every week we have to hate someone like to the point where you'd like to see them beaten dipped in an acid vat and his eyes spooned out.

Last week it was Steve Claridge the next game it will be half of Sky as they suck off Man Utd when they play us live on Sky.
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goingunderground
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Re: T*ttenham v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by goingunderground »

The Rebirth wrote:Listen every week we have to hate someone like to the point where you'd like to see them beaten dipped in an acid vat and his eyes spooned out.

Last week it was Steve Claridge the next game it will be half of Sky as they suck off Man Utd when they play us live on Sky.
I have no doubt it'll be the ref.

We'll play brilliantly against them only to be undone by a wrong decision on a critical free-kick/penalty.
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Re: T*ttenham v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Dan1326 »

The Rebirth wrote:Listen every week we have to hate someone like to the point where you'd like to see them beaten dipped in an acid vat and his eyes spooned out.

Last week it was Steve Claridge the next game it will be half of Sky as they suck off Man Utd when they play us live on Sky.
goingunderground wrote:
I have no doubt it'll be the ref.

We'll play brilliantly against them only to be undone by a wrong decision on a critical free-kick/penalty.
I bet £10 to charity that there will be at a game changing refereeing decision again against us against them.
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Re: T*ttenham v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by irving boleyn »

Just read the report of game in Loughton Recorder-

"Da Costa... more blocks than a box of Lego"
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The reason behind Redknapp's twitch

Post by Hackney Hammer »

http://www.themondaysupplement.co.uk/sp ... ar-twitch/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:lol:
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Re: T*ttenham v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Luke (THFC) »

Howdy all.

I was overseas working for a few weeks so not been able to get on to give my thoughts on the game.

My thoughts might be a little bit hazy from nigh on 3 weeks of corporate lunches and nights out but this was how I remember it....

I ended up watching the game in a bar in Hong Kong with a number of ex-pats, a few locals (who were mainly waiting for the Man Utd game coming up next I think) and a couple of clients who weren't really massively into football but happy to come along for the free drinks...

Basically I thought it was a really entertaining game to watch and it was one of those that you just could not believe could ever end up nil nil. The two clients that I was with also thought it was a cracking game to watch and despite being fans of egg chasing said they might try to watch Tottenham more often from now on.

Anyway on to the game... I thought that we had more possession/shots/attacking play, but you also had a couple of good chances as well as a few opportunities for other chances where the wrong option was taken at the key moment (although we were also guilty of that time and time again).

I thought that Grant got his tactics pretty much spot on by defending deep to counteract Bale and Lennon's pace out wide. I thought that him playing four central midfielders across your midfield 4 was probably a ploy to try to ensure that you won a lions share of posession but it just didn't seem to pan out that way with Sandro and Modric somehow still winning the midfield battle and then us playing lots of good football and retaining the ball well, while at times your midfield appeared to be chasing shadows (mainly Modric's).

I thought that Redknapp probably made a bit of a mistake in not bringing on Crouch as we had a huge number of opportunities to get the ball into the box but just didn't have a target in there and it meant that you could pack the middle and be ready for us having to keep on coming back inside and trying to thread the ball through the eye of a needle to create a chance.

For you lot I thought that Bridge and Green were outstanding, neither putting a foot wrong all game. I thought your centre halves also defended like heroes. Other than the 4 in defence and the keeper I thought that Carlton Cole was the pick of the bunch for you. Yes he missed a good chance and also could've done a bit better with a more difficult chance, but he provided an outlet, didn't let our defence settle on the ball and was a real handful offering presence and also good movement to get into good positions in between the centre halves and also in the channels between our centre halves and fullbacks. Once he went off I thought that you lost any attacking impetus that you had and our defence also then had a lot more time on the ball, allowing us to inch even further forward.

On the flip side for you I thought that your entire midfield were disappointing. We seemed to just play it around you and when you did get possession you couldn't really make it stick. Your midfield tended to look slow and ponderous on the ball without enough movement off of it either. I was watching Parker closely after him being linked with us in the last two transfer windows, but watching that I wasn't sure how he would fit into our team. Admittedly it was only later that I found out about his extremely unfortunate news, so perhaps that influenced his game somewhat and fair play to him for still playing having had that just happen to him.

For us I thought that the game summed up much of our season.... Great to watch, especially when attacking but lacking a top class centre forward to make something of it. We then look a bit shaky when defending because we commit so many men forward (5 out and out attacking players in Defoe, VDV, Lennon, Bale & Modric as well as fullbacks that like to get forward) so our centre halves get very little protection (interesting that in the CL away to Milan we looked much more defensively solid because we played both Sandro and Palacios in front of the defence). I do like the look of the player that Sandro is turning into. Wins a lot of the ball both through his tackling ability and also his positional sense, also like the way he always stands up in the tackle and his ability on the ball is also good with him being calm in posession and a good passer - presents a much better option than Palacios as he doesn't dive in and also gives far less of the ball away. I think we have finally found our holding player that can let the rest of our midfield three play the football that we want to see.

In this particular game I thought that Modric was outstanding. The way he plays football is just poetry in motion. He reminds me very much of Ossie Ardiles in that he doesn't have any physical attributes and yet his balance and skill are such that he always comes away with the ball. If he could add goals to his game then he would be the true complete midfielder, but even without those I just love watching him play. I have a horrible feeling that the Fergie press machine will be put into full operation soon, followed by a series of bids made in the Summer as Man Utd seek to replace Scholes in their midfield. We have no need to sell financially or contractually - but we all know what happens when a player gets his head turned by a bigger club and I hope we don't end up with another Berbatov situation (although at least Modric has over 5 years remaining on his contract unlike Berbatov who was going into his last 2).

Overall I thought the draw was probably just about the right result in the end. Even though Spurs dominated the posession and played most of the football, it would've been unjust if your spirit and defensive organisation hadn't resulted in any reward. I have said it for a while now but I cannot see you being anywhere near the bottom 3 come May. There are easily a number of teams in the division that you are better than in terms of organisation, spirit and ability and I can see you pulling up to finish pretty comfortably somewhere between 12th and 15th (at worst).

From our perspective - this is the best Spurs team that I have had the pleasure of watching for a number of years. I feel that we are just that top class centre forward away from being proper challengers. We just need to hang on to the core of our team this Summer irrespective of where we finish, and then somehow add that top class forward that would complete the picture. Whether we can attract and (more pertinently) pay the wages for such a player is another matter however.

FYI - regarding the comments on Van Der Vaart. He doesn't pull a moody when subbed - it's that he has been playing carrying calf and hamstring niggles so goes to the dressing room for a warm down and massage straight away. He then comes out to sit on the bench after this is complete.

Anyway - all the best for the remainder of the season. I'm sure I will be on here off and on to give you all somebody to argue with from now until then :wink:
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Re: T*ttenham v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Hackney Hammer »

Luke (THFC) wrote:FYI - regarding the comments on Van Der Vaart. He doesn't pull a moody when subbed - it's that he has been playing carrying calf and hamstring niggles so goes to the dressing room for a warm down and massage straight away. He then comes out to sit on the bench after this is complete.
Why is it then that when Redknapp was questioned about it in the post match interview he admitted that he was disappointed with Van Der Vaart's attitude and will 'have a word' with him?
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Sloop John B
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Re: T*ttenham v West Ham Utd: match thread

Post by Sloop John B »

Luke (THFC) wrote:Howdy all.

I was overseas working for a few weeks so not been able to get on to give my thoughts on the game.
Well...Thank God you've finally found the time!!!
Luke (THFC) wrote:FYI - regarding the comments on Van Der Vaart. He doesn't pull a moody when subbed - it's that he has been playing carrying calf and hamstring niggles so goes to the dressing room for a warm down and massage straight away. He then comes out to sit on the bench after this is complete.
Sure I read an interview after the game where he said essentially "Yes I sulked, because I don't like being subbed, I'm sure it'll all blow over by the time I get back to London!". But I'm sure you know best!!

There's an good video of him here not sulking as he's getting subbed....http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... ouble.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; :D
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