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Tottenham 2020-21: To Dare Is To Park

DeepEastTexas

By DeepEastTexas
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midtown
midtown

Because it's Spurs related. Look what arrived today. My daughter is a huge Alex fan.      

Captain Ron
Captain Ron
Captain Ron
Captain Ron

When this shit is all done, I'm going to London to watch some soccer. Who's with me?

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midtown

midtown 3346

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Watched it down with the gang at our SA spot.   Happy.   Chelski def had some chances but man our defense is just finding a way.   Hugo with a game winning save.  We had some great chances.  Le Celso had two options should have finished 1-0.   Top of the table baby. 

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kingkoopa6

kingkoopa6 8376

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6 hours ago, midtown said:

Watched it down with the gang at our SA spot.   Happy.   Chelski def had some chances but man our defense is just finding a way.   Hugo with a game winning save.  We had some great chances.  Le Celso had two options should have finished 1-0.   Top of the table baby. 

I almost went to the ice house. Ended up ordering some jaliscos and watched at the parents 

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mr. littlejeans

mr. littlejeans 184

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43 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

With the Leicester City loss, another week at the top!!

Spurs need to remain sharp, I kid about Arsenal and relegation. But despite their troubles, they can be a dangerous team. And they would love to knock Spurs off the top perch.

as long as wilshere doesn't come out of his forced hiatus even though he could totally, like really, still play dominant top flight football retirement, we should be good.

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12886

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Wilshere never scared me. The guy probably would injure himself walking out of the tunnel.

While they are old, what does scare me is Aubameyang and Lacazette. Their numbers aren't good, but if they can find space (and our back line has been known to give that up - something else that scares me), they can be deadly.

If we play our game, AND execute we will be fine. Mourinho loves nothing more than beating Arsenal, so I don't question he will have the team ready.

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midtown

midtown 3346

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

While they are old, what does scare me is Aubameyang and Lacazette. Their numbers aren't good, but if they can find space (and our back line has been known to give that up - something else that scares me), they can be deadly.

This.  Eventually one or both of them will score.  Then again its not clear if Arteta has any idea how to manage  I would hope we could get a few in on them but none the less; I expect a nail bitter. 

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12886

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The problems with Arteta this year IMHO are less his ability and the fallout of the team that is assembled there combined with injuries. Looking at what he can roll out for a starting 11, it's hard to see a winning combination, right now.

That said, he has a few things going for him right now:

  • He gets to rest his top team this week in Europa having virtually locked up the top spot in Group B
  • Spurs need a point to guarantee advancing to the KO round from Group J
  • Spurs are just the target Arteta needs to get his team fired up

The Athletic has a couple of pieces up right now on Arsenal's issues, much of the issue is their cohesion as a team. If Arteta gets that right again, they are going to be dangerous and this is the week they can do it.

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mr. littlejeans

mr. littlejeans 184

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lots of discussion about arsenal's issues in the epl thread too. it's the north london derby so anything can happen, but as long as they don't decide that a headbutt doesn't warrant a straight red i think we'll be alright. 

i am guessing mou will heavily rotate the squad for the euro match and we'll be pretty fresh as well. they're gonna have to hit some balls over the top to auba or laca and hope that dier or rodon/sanchez switch off and they can get in behind, otherwise i think it'll be tough for them to navigate through sissoko and hjobjerg with their midfield. and don't forget, they still have david luiz...

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12886

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The Athletic has a a few good pieces up right now about Spurs.

First is a good piece on the Spurs-Chelsea game. It's titled "In defense of the defensive – it’s not Spurs who should regret ‘not going for it’"

The overall idea is that Spurs were fine with the 0-0 draw. As someone else said, a road point to go top of the League is not a bad thing. If anything Chelsea should be the one that is down on just a point playing at home.

Spoiler

If there is a team that should be ruing a lack of adventure during Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge, it is not Tottenham. As the away side against a big rival, and with the untested Joe Rodon making his full debut in the heart of their defence, this was a valuable point for Spurs.

And a fourth clean sheet in five Premier League matches should not be scoffed at for a team that started the season without a shut-out in their first nine games, culminating in the 3-3 collapse against West Ham. Sunday’s draw was also enough for Tottenham to move back to the top of the table.

Spurs were largely unambitious, certainly, but the onus was surely on Chelsea, as the home side and with a richly-assembled squad, to try and take the initiative.

That they didn’t says a lot about how far Spurs have come this season. Put simply, Chelsea were afraid of the threat of the likes of Son Heung-min and Harry Kane on the counter. It meant they opted against taking the kind of risks required to upset Mourinho’s low block that had no desire to move out of their defensive shape. “I think they also respected us,” Mourinho said afterwards. “They respected us and I believe there was… I don’t like the word fear because I don’t think there is fear at this level. I think the word is responsibility.”

His opposite number Frank Lampard admitted: “You know the manager and the attributes of the players for counter-attacking; Son, in particular, and Harry Kane can pretty much do anything at the moment. They were how I expected because I saw the Manchester City game last week.”

Chelsea’s passing was largely accurate but they were so wary of losing the ball that they invariably took the safe option. Just prior to half-time for instance, Chelsea had a few spells of possession that lasted around a minute each but went nowhere as they opted against trying to play in behind the Tottenham defence.

Lampard’s substitutions also spoke of a team not willing to roll the dice. He made three changes in the end but they were all like for like, and none risked upsetting the shape of his own side. “In the end, it was a game that I believe both teams wanted to win but at the same time, both teams don’t want to lose,” Mourinho said. “In the last 10 minutes of the game, that was pretty clear. Normally, you expect — Chelsea at home — that a draw is not good for them. You expect some more risk.”

As Lampard alluded to, results like last week’s 2-0 win over Manchester City, as well as beating Manchester United 6-1, have earned Tottenham this level of respect. And it’s a kind of respect that has to be earned — cautious performances like Chelsea’s don’t happen in isolation. In theory, with Rodon deputising for Toby Alderweireld and against a team they have routinely swatted aside at home, this was a game there for the taking for Chelsea. Instead, they largely backed off, and Hugo Lloris only had three saves to make, two of which came in the closing 10 minutes. Spurs could even have nicked it at the end had Giovani Lo Celso shown a touch more composure on the edge of the box.

Perhaps that was what Mourinho was thinking about when he said afterwards that his team had been disappointed with a draw. It prompted much mirth and Roy Keane said on Sky Sports that in reality, Spurs would be delighted with the point. Whatever the reality, the fact is that this was a great point for Tottenham — the kind of result required to win titles. The usual debate ensued afterwards about whether the club’s fans would be happy with a performance like this but the truth is that supporters are savvy enough to know when a result is the consequence of well-thought-out planning and coaching, and when it’s their team getting lucky.

Sunday was the former, just as it was against City last week, and given Spurs are averaging more than two goals a game in the Premier League this season, there’s been plenty to enjoy going forward. Top of the table, with the third-most goals scored and fewest conceded, is not a bad place to be.

Returning specifically to the Chelsea game, there was also the context of Lampard’s side overcoming Mourinho’s in both fixtures last season. On both occasions, Lampard switched to three at the back, prompting Mourinho to react and try and match-up with his system for the away game in February. It backfired and Chelsea won by a margin far more comfortable than the 2-1 scoreline suggested. On Sunday, Lampard was not emboldened enough to take a similar risk.

Going further back in time, a look at the scoreline and Tottenham’s generally defensive approach makes it tempting to return to one of Mourinho’s favourite phrases: “parking the bus”. He first used a variant of it in England after another 0-0 at Stamford Bridge, this time in his first match against Spurs in September 2004 when Jacques Santini’s side dug in for a dismally dull draw.

After games like that, one can wonder what the Tottenham fans made of their side’s approach. This, though, was very different — this was a side taking advantage of the respect earned by its attacking threat, as demonstrated so clearly earlier in the season.

The result did nothing to change Mourinho’s strategy of publicly playing down Spurs’ title chances as he revisited the “little horse” analogy of his second Chelsea spell. But when the side in third is scared to attack you at home for fear of reprisal at the other end, you must be doing something right.

Most importantly, it’s now four points from the City and Chelsea games, and the first part of a daunting run of games has been safely navigated.

Another battle has been won.

 

Another good one is an alternate reality view of Spurs-Arsenal if Arsenal if they nabbed Mourinho first. It's called "Imagining Jose Mourinho’s Arsenal". While the piece is more fun than anything, it does have some great pieces that lead me to HOPE that Mou knows the right buttons to push with Dele.

Emphasis mine:

Quote

There is another timeline. A timeline in which, when Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur meet in the north London derby on Sunday, Jose Mourinho emerges from the tunnel not with a cockerel on his chest, but a cannon.

In that timeline, Mourinho leads out a team with Mesut Ozil installed as key playmaker and captain, with a 39-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the line. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is not wearing the white of Tottenham, but patrolling the Arsenal midfield alongside Thomas Partey. And David Luiz is long, long gone. Hold your nose, grit your teeth and wonder: just what might a Jose Mourinho Arsenal side look like?

...

Mourinho and Ozil share a strong bond. The former Real Madrid manager is one of the few coaches to have struck the delicate balance between carrot and stick required to get the best out of the playmaker. In his autobiography, Ozil recounts an episode that demonstrates Mourinho’s demanding management style. Real were leading Deportivo La Coruna 3-1, and Ozil returned to the dressing room at half-time expecting praise. Instead, he was met with a barrage of criticism.

“You think two beautiful passes are enough. You think you’re so good that 50 per cent is enough,” Mourinho is reported to have said. When Ozil responded by throwing his shirt on the dressing room floor, Mourinho bit back again. “Oh, are you giving up now? You’re such a coward. What do you want? To creep under the beautiful, warm shower? Shampoo your hair? To be alone? Or do you want to prove to your fellow players, the fans out there, and me, what you can do?”

Ozil has admitted the incident forced him to reconsider his performances, and he subsequently produced the best football of his career. The pair spent three years together in La Liga, with Ozil scoring 19 league goals and making 54 assists. Ozil then joined Arsenal, and when he was criticised during his first season in England, Mourinho rode to his defence, demonstrating a nuance to his understanding of the player. “I learned with him because we were together for quite a long time, that he’s a very sensitive boy,” the coach explained. “He needs confidence. He needs trust. He needs to feel that people are with him. When he’s on the pitch, every time he touches the ball, the ball goes beautiful.”

There is a myth that Mourinho is not willing to tolerate classic playmakers. Ozil, along with Deco at Porto and Wesley Sneijder at Inter Milan, would beg to differ. Mourinho might be one of the few managers around with an understanding of how best to motivate and manage Arsenal’s mercurial No 10.

Fingers crossed. The word is that Dele is finding his way back to Mou's good graces.

One other piece that looks interesting is a look back at Harry Kane's loan to Norwich back in 2012.

HARRY-KANE-NORWICH.jpg

I haven't read it, but just think about that season compared to now.

Lonely lunches, injury and one big miss: Harry Kane’s forgotten loan at Norwich

Michael Bailey

“I was 19 when I went to Norwich. Obviously that loan didn’t go great so I ended up going to Leicester the same season. That was probably the time in my career where it was the hardest. I’m thinking, ‘If I can’t play for Norwich or Leicester, even in the Championship at the time, how am I then going to get back and play for Tottenham?” – Harry Kane on the ITV Football Show, November 2020

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12886

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Men. Last week a point was fine. It was a road game and a point was enough. But not today.

Today you need three points to get back on top.

Today is at home.

Today it is against your biggest rival.

Today is the day where you start to make it happen.

You show everyone that there was nothing fluky about the last two weeks. The team that was at the top of the table deserved to be there.

You are the best team. Today? Easily. You fight for the title while they languish barely out of relegation.

But not just today. This whole season. You are the best team. You’ve lead the league for weeks now. Because you are the best.

Now go out there and be the best. And start the run that will bring a trophy to the glorious stadiums.

You. Are. The. Best.

Today prove it. 

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