Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Watford FC - 19/10/2019

I thought he was terrific. But then again I am wearing my rose tinted glasses.

 

I've heard that we've got a couple of keepers who might be able to replace Foster, but as neither I nor anybody else has seen them play a competitive match I've no idea whether that's right or not

 

That's never stopped anyone before, especially on here.

 

Went to the game yesterday and am still annoyed we through it away. Their goal is entirely Fosters fault. If you cannot catch that then you are in the wrong job.
It is handball and should have been disallowed
The penalty. There are two people in the world that don’t think that’s a penalty. The ref and the bloke on VAR.
The ref. If he thinks that isn’t a penalty what does he think happened. Did the defender get the ball? If that’s the case it should have been a corner. Did Delefeou dive? If that’s the case, he should be booked. Was it just a coming together of two players? No because Delefeou is in front of the defender so it can only be option 1 or 2. So the question for me would what did he think happened?
VAR. How, having watched the replay is the decision not overturned? It is absolutely a clear error.
The performance. So much more organised. Everybody knew their job, it was noticeable that every time Janmaat went forward, Cleverly dropped back to cover.
Doucoure, welcome back. The desire, the skill, the strength were all back. Best performance in 6 months. Great to see Chalobah back and not just as a passenger. He was pretty decent for the whole game. The back 5 were organised and never looked in too much danger of conceding. Peryra. Loved him in that position, so much more involved and he annoyed the Spurs fans by going down with cramp instead of walking off.
Delefeou. I saw somebody post earlier that he was a waste of space. It’s all about opinions but that one is utter tosh. He was always looking for space to run in to and provided an excellent outlet. He totally shattered in the last few minutes.
It was a very positive performance but we must build on it. Next week and November are absolutely vital as there are some very winnable games. If we’re still 4 or 5 points adrift come December then I fear the worst

 

It's the will of the people, and can't be changed

 

Before the game I would have taken a point gladly. Shame we were denied three.

 

On a side issue but pertinent given what happened in Bulgaria last week and in the Haringay/Yeovil match yesterday, I was appalled to hear one of our so-called fans screaming 'F off you Jewish c....s' at Spurs fans sitting above us. I didn't see who was guilty as it was one of a bunch of lairy idiots to the side of me. You know, the sort who can't bear to be away from their mates so stand where they want rather than the seat they've been allocated, thus clogging up the row and forcing others to find a seat elsewhere. The sort who like to spend half their time with their backs to the pitch making w@anchor signs at opposition fans 50m away with their oh-so-brave 'see you outside' gestures.

Twice during the match I had to swipe the arm of one terwat out of my face as I tried to watch what was on the pitch. I don't suppose any of them are members of this forum as that would be far too uncool for them but I just wish they would grow up or don't bother coming.

 

A rush to judgement.

 

That should help!

 

On the subject of Foster

I thought apart from the goal he had a goodish game , trouble is for 90 mins our goal has been battered with very little time to regroup or recover , I imagine it takes a lot of mental strength to remain focused under that pressure for that long

I spend a lot of the game just willing our team to take it into midfield and keep it for 5 mins just to give the defence time to breath

I think (and am not expecting much grief here) Janmaat with significantly better in all areas of the pitch than Kiko , so hope his injury is not too bad

 

Either way, the officiating in this country is a joke. For the handball equalizer the referee was terrible.

 

Some, from other clubs, might say that Deulofeu is too. Not yesterday though.

 

I hope I'm right as I think it was cramp, he hasn't had much game time and he covered a hell of a lot of ground.

 

When did the battering happen? I must have missed it.

 

Apart from the 4 or 5 corners in a row and Son hitting the bar, I thought we looked quite comfortable. Their attacks were breaking down on the 18 yard line.

 

We have already avoided losing to the Top 6 at this point more than we did the whole of last Season.

 

Let's not forget Doucoure going down like a sack of **** either.

 

Spurs were horribly slow at the back in the first half. They played it like a pre season game. Son had an impact coming on but other than that they were toothless. I'm sure that's the first time he hasn't scored against us for ages?

 

It’s at the point where family members of referees and the FA need to be kidnapped and ransom letter handed out. Stating that they won’t see them again until they make the game fair and give Watford 10 incorrect decisions in our favour that cause us to win the game. Only then will they see their family member again.

 

I heard this too. Unfortunately didn’t see who it was after turning round. Otherwise I would have reported it.
Also lots of islamaphobic bell ends on the walk back to station. Racism is in the rise again.

 

You'll stuggle to kidnap any of their fathers.

 

A top 6 place is in our grasp, then.

 

I thought there were some excellent performances from some of our players yesterday, notably Dawson and Doucoure, and despite the 5-3-1-1 formation we had chances. The game should have been sealed long before the 86th minute.

Psychologically, the way things that are out of our hands are working against us must be hammering our players, but they've got to take a lot of heart from that performance. Slightly cooler heads in front of goal on a few occasions, and we're two or three to the good going into those last few minutes and Tottenham aren't coming back.

This season has been horrible, but the sharp improvement from certain individuals yesterday and the increasing effectiveness of the team defensively gives me hope, IF we can continue making those chances. They dried up halfway through Flores' last season with us. We've got to hope that the better players we have now will keep them coming as Flores drills the team to be a defensive unit.

 

One thing I don't thing has been said is the team deserve some credit for not folding after the Alli equaliser. We've seen us time and time again concede two goals in as many minutes or just mentally collapse completely. No real wobbles yesterday. Even though Spurs had the better of the remaining play, we kept sticking bodies on the line and looking to break out.

 

I think we looked fairly controlled but let’s be honest 80% of the game was spent in out half running towards our goal , the period when they had 6 (I think) corners in the space of 5 mins definitely looks like a barrage to me. I do think in general we held up against the threat well though and thought foster made some good saves

 

That's a good point. I was expecting the 86th minute equaliser, but also expected that to lead to a 90th minute winner......just like last season, where we conceded two late goals to lose 2-1. Same thing occurred in the Carabao Cup as well.....although at least Capoue managed to equalise after the mini collapse.

It's clear we are more organised, and this approach will help grind out draws. It's a good approach for games like Spurs away, or the vast majority of away games for that matter, but it's not an approach we should be using for the likes of Sheffield United at home. Ridiculous to play that way IMO.

Stopping goals at one end is one thing, which looks like Flores is having an impact, but to play that way effectively, we have to be able to take chances at the other end. This is something we cannot do.

We need to gamble a little now.....we have to start winning. Draws are like defeats to us. We have to take Bournemouth on. We can beat them, but I'm not sure we will if we are too cautious.

 

I see you’re still mentioning the Sheff Utd game. I thought the players look more comfortable with it yesterday which came from using it before. We do not need to gamble and I will be amazed if we change much from yesterday. Maybe allow the full backs to push forward more. If we went more attacking, Bournemouth are the kind of team that will pick us off. We have played this way for two games and should have won both. I would say that’s a huge positive and I don’t see a change in formation coming soon. The defence must feel a whole lot better and if we gambled next week and we lose
3-0 we will be back to square one which we cannot afford to do. Carry on as we are and pick up some much needed points which I’m sure we will.

 

We should have won, but we didn't......and haven't won a game all season. Many of those could and should have been victories. Common theme has been missing big chances at vital moments.

We are not a side that can take opportunities, therefore we need to play an expansive game to create as many goal scoring opportunities as possible.

To be honest, it's all pretty futile really. If we play expansive, we concede too many, if we play defensively, we don't score. We're playing a system in the hope we stay tight and score on the break. That can only ever produce the odd 1-0 win if you're pretty much perfect. Fall short of that, then draws or narrow defeats will be the outcome.

 

OK, slightly wrong procedure. But the official on the VAR screen still is the one who got it badly wrong.

 

I'm not sure that Foster did an awful lot apart from a possible touch on a Son shot onto the crossbar, which he should have saved anyway.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

Zing, zip. Your form on this thread is outstanding.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

We dealt comfortably with most/all of those corners though. It seemed comfortable apart from one or two good balls in from Lamela and Son getting behind, until their goal.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

True. Although Delia's forren innit, so more picked up on.

 

Great post. Well said.