Typical Spurs
Another typical Spurs performance, no point making it easy when you can make it hard. A recurring theme lately has been to demonstrate how slowly we start and how our first half performances have been costing us any chance of Champions League football this season.
We headed into this game on the back of two games where we had to put in performances and we did. This was an ordinary game, a run of the mill game, would those players going through the motions revert back to type.
Our standard slow start continued with Southampton looking twice the side we were. Rose was hopeless, Naughton showed once again that he simply isn't good enough, Dembele back from injury was way off the pace, Vertonghen was doing what he had to do.
There was no energy, no drive, no hunger. Southampton two up and coasting, Spurs looking clueless. Why do we continue to start in this way. That has to be mental, it has to be the frame of mind they go out with. They don't seem to have a we must win mentality but a we mustn't lose one. There is a significant difference and it has a significant difference in attacking play.
Fortunately for us the Saints gifted us a goal, if they hadn't we wouldn't have won. Soldado was working up front, Eriksen was lively around him and Bentaleb was showing desire at the base of the midfield, with a little bit from Chadli thrown in. That was about it.
You can not win a football game when it matters to so few players. That attitude has to change, we have to start trying to win games in the first-half if we are ever to be successful.
Once again we are in the position of a potential hammering, an embarrassment and I've no doubt Tim Sherwood made it clear that what they were producing was unacceptable for the fans. His chest was pumping again as his anger was rising.
The second-half statistically is the half where we actually try, Sigurdsson was on for Dembele and Soldado chased a lost cause. A gentle shove in the back and he had won the ball, he saw Eriksen's run and presents him with a tap-in.
The game was now all Spurs, Southampton were rattled, their centre-half had lost it mentally and had to have Lambert try to get his mind back on the job. Rose continued to be useless either giving the ball away, giving away needless free-kicks in dangerous areas or jogging slowly back when he had ventured forward. His contribution for the day was a couple of decent tackles. He is miles short of the class we need.
A late pot shot goes in and we win, relief, relief that papers over the cracks, well gaping chasms rather than cracks. Congratulations for securing a win, congratulations to Tim Sherwood for his half-time team talk bit performances like that are the performances of an average mid-table team.
Bentaleb and Eriksen stood out, there were flashes of brilliance from Soldado and Chadli is growing. In an interview last week he revealed that he is still not fit, that he is slowly getting to the level he should be at. That makes you wonder with all the injuries we have had how many of the others are not fully fit. Townsend has looked short of fitness until the last couple of games when he has looked fit enough, but just produces nothing. He is another that looks to be going through the motions.
Football is a 90 minute game not a 45 minute game. Far too many times and especially under Tim Sherwood we have been hopeless for 45 minutes. That is down to the players not caring. This result has changed nothing.
The club is still in desperate need of a quality manager, these 7 games can't go quickly enough.
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We headed into this game on the back of two games where we had to put in performances and we did. This was an ordinary game, a run of the mill game, would those players going through the motions revert back to type.
Our standard slow start continued with Southampton looking twice the side we were. Rose was hopeless, Naughton showed once again that he simply isn't good enough, Dembele back from injury was way off the pace, Vertonghen was doing what he had to do.
There was no energy, no drive, no hunger. Southampton two up and coasting, Spurs looking clueless. Why do we continue to start in this way. That has to be mental, it has to be the frame of mind they go out with. They don't seem to have a we must win mentality but a we mustn't lose one. There is a significant difference and it has a significant difference in attacking play.
Fortunately for us the Saints gifted us a goal, if they hadn't we wouldn't have won. Soldado was working up front, Eriksen was lively around him and Bentaleb was showing desire at the base of the midfield, with a little bit from Chadli thrown in. That was about it.
You can not win a football game when it matters to so few players. That attitude has to change, we have to start trying to win games in the first-half if we are ever to be successful.
Once again we are in the position of a potential hammering, an embarrassment and I've no doubt Tim Sherwood made it clear that what they were producing was unacceptable for the fans. His chest was pumping again as his anger was rising.
The second-half statistically is the half where we actually try, Sigurdsson was on for Dembele and Soldado chased a lost cause. A gentle shove in the back and he had won the ball, he saw Eriksen's run and presents him with a tap-in.
The game was now all Spurs, Southampton were rattled, their centre-half had lost it mentally and had to have Lambert try to get his mind back on the job. Rose continued to be useless either giving the ball away, giving away needless free-kicks in dangerous areas or jogging slowly back when he had ventured forward. His contribution for the day was a couple of decent tackles. He is miles short of the class we need.
A late pot shot goes in and we win, relief, relief that papers over the cracks, well gaping chasms rather than cracks. Congratulations for securing a win, congratulations to Tim Sherwood for his half-time team talk bit performances like that are the performances of an average mid-table team.
Bentaleb and Eriksen stood out, there were flashes of brilliance from Soldado and Chadli is growing. In an interview last week he revealed that he is still not fit, that he is slowly getting to the level he should be at. That makes you wonder with all the injuries we have had how many of the others are not fully fit. Townsend has looked short of fitness until the last couple of games when he has looked fit enough, but just produces nothing. He is another that looks to be going through the motions.
Football is a 90 minute game not a 45 minute game. Far too many times and especially under Tim Sherwood we have been hopeless for 45 minutes. That is down to the players not caring. This result has changed nothing.
The club is still in desperate need of a quality manager, these 7 games can't go quickly enough.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recent Article:
Video: Defoe scoring again, plus news
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