do they care about 3rd

we stand as good a chance as arsenal or chelsea, and we showed that in our first foray into it 2 seasons ago. lets see how chelsea fare against barca. not many can live with them at the moment.today was dissapointing not to get the win but if we win monday its still looking good, then semi final v chelsea which could be winable so its not all doom and gloom just yet.

If I ever really needed any reminding of why I rarely ever post on here any more, this thread should do the trick.

Some of the comments on here are clueless.

Ion mate, there are plenty of old school decent posters on here too!!

no away win in 7. same players undropable

come on ion whats your view on our recent slump

The special one is light years ahead of harry.
He instills mental strength into his teams and gives them belief instead of excuses

Loughtonlegend wrote:The special one is light years ahead of harry.
He instills mental strength into his teams and gives them belief instead of excuses

Lought, no one is not saying that he is not a better coach, but his a mercenary that will never come to us because we wont pay him enough and wont give him unlimited funds.
Mancini will be gone as it looks like Manure has won the title (wonder if the Citeh boards have a Lought moaning about how they blew a big lead) , Citeh will give tso unlimited funds and he will sit round the corner until Fergie retires, cos thats the only job he is interested in.
So, we need to get behind Harry and the boys and see what happens in the summer.

Interesting to see that tso team have had their lead over Barca cut to 4pts. Maybe not so bloody special!

BazSpur wrote:It's a forum ion. People put there thoughts on here. Mate, like you I went to football matches at Spurs for years and I never heard anyone who saw the same game as anyone else lol. Why don't you tell us what you thought of the game and then we can discuss it. As I said I didn't see the need for two holding players in midfield. Just my opinion. You may see it differently. At least I aint on here slagging players every day.

Post wasn't a dig at you Baz. Funnily enough, I expected the negativity as we didn't get 3 points, like it was a foregone conclusion.

The game was, whilst engaging in the first half, a bit of a let down. Not because it was 0 -0, but because that is how Sunderland set it up to be.
N
Incidentally, anyone ever mention MON as a prospective manager will get a mouthful from me. If there is a more negative, unimaginative manager out there then I'm a Dutchman. One poster, on another board, described his coaching as 'anti Football,' I couldn't agree more. They played for a point....... at home, with the hope that they could nick it with a counter. They used the same tactics against Cite and should have won. Aitch was cannier and set the team up to prevent that, whilst keeping an attacking line up. As a result, Sunderland sat deeper and were extremely well drilled. The team worked hard but just lacked that moment of luck or brilliance that cracks a game like that wide open. It happens.

For me, starting with a 451, 4511 or 433 is what we should do every time. Win the battle in midfield then look to stretch the game. Spurs tried to do this and were successful up to a point. However, Sunderland showed no real ambition to go out and win the game, content to put 10 behind the ball and hope for a breakaway.

It's a complement, in a way, that they fear us that much.

For me this was a good point, we were dominant but were up against a team with no real ambition. Wemight have made more of some of our chances but such is life.

We now have pressure on us but, to be honest, I don't really feel it. I am really confident about this run in as I think the team is set up well, confidence is high and they are hungry for CL.3 points from Norwich and we put the pressure firmly back on those around us. Cheatski are running on pure luck ATM, Wigan nearly put them to the sword away. Only a blatant offside goal saved them. Newcastle are still vulnerable, their win at Swansea was a true smash and grab. However, the goons are on fire, at least against top opposition.

In a nutshell, it was a solid performance that lacked a little luck or magic, more due to the negative approach of Sunderland rather than the lack of industry from Spurs.

ion what did you think of the game today.

just winds me up that we dont see players come of the pitch sweating anymore.

our form has gone downhill since bale been given permisson to roam.

there was a time harry said bale is best at left back so he can pick hes runs

Loughtonlegend wrote:ion what did you think of the game today.

just winds me up that we dont see players come of the pitch sweating anymore.

our form has gone downhill since bale been given permisson to roam.

there was a time harry said bale is best at left back so he can pick hes runs

A itch f*cked up and the players let him, and us, down big time. I said in the earlier post that 442 should be left as an option not a starting line up, then he starts 442. Even so, that is how Norwich lined up so it wasn't like we were swamped in midfield. They had more hunger and set up, from the off, to bypass midfield, hit their forwards with long balls and pick up the second ball. It worked like a dream for them and Aitch did nothing to counteract it really. I lost count of the times the ball went into midfield to be picked up by one of their midfielders in acres.

It mystifies me how he can be so tactically astute one game then glaringly limited in the next.

But the players too need to take on a huge portion of the blame. We matched up like for like against Norwich and got schooled on our own pitch.

But the root cause for me is the initial set up. 451 or 433, for me, should be our default set up. Games are won or lost in midfield, win that battle you dominate possession. Dominate possession and, the majority of the time, you win the game, particularly with the creativity at our disposal. Even with such a lax performance we could still have won that game, we created enough, although we'd have robbed Norwich if we had.