CALM REFLECTION ON TONIGHT

[Ian Paisley]

Scott Parker ? When Craig Bellamy was signed a few eyebrows were raised but he's probably first on the team sheet for most.I wonder if Parker could add whats missing

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Here is what I think

We tried to play a very high defensive line to negate the threat of Crouch - perfectly understandable, just look what happened when we dropped deep - 85 yard ball, Crouch wins the flick - goal.

However, this created problems - the middle of the park got very congested, and players that rely on space to create things couldn't find any. We had no natural width and therefore Spurs could flood the middle of the park and were able to negate much of our attacking threat.

If we had natural width we could have carried much more of a threat, but then Petrov is still coming back from injury and Weiss is young and inexperienced and would have undoubtedly got absolutely slated if he had a bad game, Hughes obviously didn't want to knock his confidence. In hindsight we should probably have taken the risk and played one of the two.

So in conclusion Hughes got it wrong, but I can completely understand his reasoning behind the tactics, it just didn't work for him. If one of our early long range efforts had flown in we could have stolen a win, but it wasn't to be. That being said I think a couple of the players really should be giving a lot more to the cause, and that certainly didn't help our chances.

Very very good post indeed, and looking at the game in isolation, is my opinion exactly. Throw in the fact that we had an ageing left back and no alternative.

 

[tony h]

My opinions, for what it's worth..

Barry - 1st 15 mins was doubling up on Lennon with Sylvinho then he stopped this and just got on with his own game i.e. passing and heading to the opposition.
Richards - constantly out of position.
Onouha - 1 st proper game back will improve?
Toure - He must have felt like General Custer, one second he's covering for Richards, looking after Onouha etc.
Robinho - Did ok for 20 mins.

We needed a midfield to keep the ball and when somone runs into space i.e. Ireland pass it to him.
Most of all we needed width, should have made changes at half time reminded me of Fulham at home last year 1-3, where got worse in the 2nd half....

 

[halpo123]

Here is what I think

We tried to play a very high defensive line to negate the threat of Crouch - perfectly understandable, just look what happened when we dropped deep - 85 yard ball, Crouch wins the flick - goal.

However, this created problems - the middle of the park got very congested, and players that rely on space to create things couldn't find any. We had no natural width and therefore Spurs could flood the middle of the park and were able to negate much of our attacking threat.

If we had natural width we could have carried much more of a threat, but then Petrov is still coming back from injury and Weiss is young and inexperienced and would have undoubtedly got absolutely slated if he had a bad game, Hughes obviously didn't want to knock his confidence. In hindsight we should probably have taken the risk and played one of the two.

So in conclusion Hughes got it wrong, but I can completely understand his reasoning behind the tactics, it just didn't work for him. If one of our early long range efforts had flown in we could have stolen a win, but it wasn't to be. That being said I think a couple of the players really should be giving a lot more to the cause, and that certainly didn't help our chances.

spot on mate Bellamy was a huge miss last night and that wasn`t hughes fault nor the injury to Bridge.
The first goal was vitally important and once that went in you could see only one winner .

 

[Quinny851]

here's my opinion for what its worth.

last night was up there with one of the worst performances of the season. too many players this season have had off days, to many games where i've come away saying they were there for the taking.

if it wasnt for the good start we had we wouldn't be in the top 10. the table doesnt lie. we've spent 200million quid and we're 8th behind birmingham. i'm fed up of the excuse 'yeah but we've got a game in hand'.

the game in hand is against everton who incidently always beat us and tim cahill seems to have the game of his life.

this is how it is realistically. come the new year we wont be in the top ten, we wont have a game in hand an come the end of january we wont be in the cup.

i'm afraid its been another poor year. as a football club we cant afford to have any more. spurs are far and away twice the team we are and that for me is not good enough

 

[pee dubya]

I think we still lack a true leader, someone who will take a game that's going away from us, and pull the rest of the team through, just as an example - Gerrard.

When we have the momentum, we look unstoppable, but we seem to be in the ascendency in matches only for short periods, we need dominate matches for longer periods of time. We need a true winner to push us forwards when the oppo team are starting to gain the upper hand.

That would also relieve a lot of the pressure on the defence, although that still needs sorting out as well.

 

[The Pink Panther]

I think we still lack a true leader, someone who will take a game that's going away from us, and pull the rest of the team through, just as an example - Gerrard.

How often in the last five years have you seen a City player "boss" a game?

 

[pee dubya]

I think we still lack a true leader, someone who will take a game that's going away from us, and pull the rest of the team through, just as an example - Gerrard.

How often in the last five years have you seen a City player "boss" a game?

Exactly, Ireland occasionally last season ran the match, but that's when we have time and space and he was playing right at the centre of the team. De Jong has sometimes bossed the midfield, but again only in certain kinds of matches, which are battles rather than football matches like last night.

I haven't seen him often enough to judge for sure, but Yaya Toure could be the kind of all complete all round midfielder/dominating presence we need?

Perhaps the only one currently on the books who could do it in any match is Johnson, at the moment he's just unfulfilled potential.

 

[Marvin]

We haven't been that far away for most of the season.

I don't think there's too much wrong.

Short term we have some problems with injuries especially to Lescott and Bridge