Tottenham v Fulham

I may have been overreacting a bit, but just because it was such a frustrating match. With no Holtby, we just don't have the skill in the middle of the park to generate offense through the midfield. They were vulnerable at the back, too. We should have gone to a 4-4-2, played some long balls and let Hugo and (take your pick) run at them. Hugo actually played really well; he just had so little opportunity to do anything.

 

Matt's comment in the chat room referring to "Death by set piece" was the highlight of my second half viewing.

 

There's no secret I don't like the Greek Tragedy, but that's because of his antics. However, I didn't mind him coming on for Parker and had suggested that swap in the chat before half time. The problem with Parker is he doesn't have a good range of passing and when he's at cm, our attacks are very narrow and go right up the gut. Tottenham were there to be had on the wings and we created our best chances from the wings today...when we utilized them. At one point in the first half, it looked like Dejagah was doing jumping jacks to get someone's attention b/c he was so alone on the wing. Karagounis has a much greater passing range and has shown a propensity to spray the ball around and utilitze the wings. Plus, when he came on, we were only down 2-1 with over a half hour still to play.

I thought Kvist showed just how invaluable Diarra has been recently. I was a little surprised we didn't lift him in favor of Woodrow. Woodrow could have played a hold up role while Hugo did the running. You'd have the wings to play off to plus an advancing Sidwell. Karagounis would have been the deep lying playmaker. It leaves us open at the back, but at 3-1 with every point needed, it was probably our best option, imo. In not a fan of Barren Dent. It also didn't help that Felix had his hand forced on two of the subs due to injury, though in hindsight, I don't think Zverotic offered anything so maybe a more attacking option could have been brought on there.

What's most concerning is that we looked like we have against all of the top 6 teams. We have appeared to have an attitude that we don't expect to win those matches and our efforts have reflected that for the most part, to me anyway. It's a shame we're now 0-0-12 in those games while watching our fellow relegation battlers picking up points against them.

The set piece thing is a pet peeve of mine. It's not as bad as missing your free throws, but it is the closest thing to a great equalizer football has. It's the one time you can literally manhandle the opposition when you're defending. Have you ever seen Skrtel? He gets to third base with everyone he marks on set pieces. It's a wonder he doesn't have to change his shorts several times a match. Offensively, aside from delivery, it simply comes down to want to. Flair players tend to shy away from the congestion and gritty players thrive. During our better days, we feasted on set pieces while for some of the better clubs, like Chelsea in particular, set piece defense was a known Achilles heel. I'll never forget Clint rising up and heading home to earn us a 2-2 draw with the Scum, for example. To let so many people score completely unmarked against us has been a massive letdown for me this year. I see it as inexcusable and a reflection of a lack of effort and desire.

 

The most disturbing thing about this one is that we quit again. Not as blatantly as in some pre Felix fixtures, but it happened. The weaknesses were all the old bugaboos that we've seen all season that others have mentioned already, set piece defense, etc., so I won't rehash them. But when you're fighting for your relegation lives, you've GOT to make penalties. I don't know who our best penalty taker is, but it's a safe bet it ain't Steve Sidwell. He's been a rare bright spot in an otherwise dismal campaign, but I find it impossible to believe that he was our best option on the pitch at that point. Somebody mentioned Berba in the chat, but that's water under the bridge. What does it say about your striker(s) that you put a central midfielder up to take that? I'm not saying that it would have made any difference in the outcome, but there was ample time to get an equalizer and steal a crucial, unexpected road point if we take care of business and make that.
But we didn't.
And that, amongst many, many, MANY other factors, are how clubs get relegated. That and conceding 77 bloody goals.

BUT...

There were still some positives. Stockdale is still improving and, given a chance, has kept us in some recent games that we've gone on and won. Set pieces aside, the overall defense is also improving. And we were in this one until their third goal and the missed penalty, despite not playing particularly well. And, most importantly to me, we showed some balls we hadn't previously this season by equalizing, in very short order even, after conceding the opener. That hasn't happened very much, and it's encouraging to see. But will any of it be enough? All of our remaining matches are against beatable opponents in our half of the table. Stay tuned.

 

Perfect 4 word summary.

The second goal might as well have been a set piece once Ashcan decided to jump in the air for no reason and give Lennon all day to cross it.

Have to give credit to Lloris for denying Hugo twice, the second one was ridiculous.

Why after Parker got hurt in the first five minutes of the match and limped around the rest of his shift wasn't he replaced earlier?

Clint Dempsey thought that penalty was poor.

Not even sure 7 points from final 3 matches will be enough.

 

We said the same thing in the chat.

 

:lol: On the other hand since that was the identical penalty shot I've ever seen Clint take, perhaps Deuce would say that penalty shot was perfectly struck :roll:

 

Neither PK was well taken for my taste but to each their own. I just prefer a penalty taker who can put it in the side of the net. Most of the saves I see are just to either side of the keeper.

 

Speaking of penalties, Messi is deadly. I'm sure there are others, but Messi is a 90+% lock to nail a penalty and he always places it in a corner. Even when the keeper guesses correctly, he puts it by them. What this has to do with Spurs v. Fulham, I can't say...