Spurs vs West Ham - Thurs 7th Dec - 8.15pm ko (Amazon Prime TV)

claretandbluesky

I think we have achieved some results without the performance to deserve them lately, but we will need to really produce something better than of late if we are going to get anything from this. The good thing is we will be assured scoring opportunities as Spurs are an attacking side now, so we will need to take them when they come, and hopefully Kudus and Bowen will be on song. The downside of that is our defence is likely to have a busy night. We will need to hope Zouma is back as Mavripanos does look a third choice to me and I don't see us getting surprised as we did with Dawson and him turning into a first choice, however Coufal and Emmerson have both looked really good lately.

Head says 2-0 loss, heart says 2-3 win. Kudus 2 and Emmerson.

chicagohammer

Funnily enough this is the type of game where our default game plan may well pay dividends - for me I do not think we can realistically go toe to toe with them in an open game so the strong defence and counter attack strategy seems the way to go.

They are not exactly on fire themselves right now and assuming they find us difficult to break down, I see them getting frustrated and making a few mistakes.

i am actually very hopeful that we can get something out of this game, 1-2 to the happy hammers

Nurse!! :-)

steve

I to think we may nick something .However our defence really need to be on there game .Going for 1_1 with fingers crossed

nychammer66

Calling Lanzini….

BubblesNeverDies

Looking at the fixture list, when was the last time, if any, when one team was involved in three London derbies in a single week?

alderz

I can't see Moyes changing the side unless Zouma is fit to take Mavropanos' place, but personally I don't think having Paqueta, Alvarez, Ward-Prowse and Soucek all in the same midfield is working for our build up play. I'd like to see one of those come out and either Cornet or Fornals start on the left.

buffybegood

alderz said:

I'd like to see one of those come out and either Cornet or Fornals start on the left.

From the little we've seen of Fornals this season I'm not sure he'd be an improvement, and goodness only knows about Cornet.

OutcastLondoner

I think it might be time to take JWP out. He's offering the least of the midfielders right now in open play IMO. Alvarez still does a lot of good defensive work and Soucek's been getting goals, so hard to drop unless we decide to use him as an impact sub. Paqueta tbh hasn't had much impact in the last few weeks either, I don't think, but has the potential to create out of nowhere. At the moment, JWP just constantly passes sideways. The most progressive thing he'll do is switch to Coufal. At the end of the Palace game he at least started trying to come to the edge of the box and cross from the right - I wish he'd do that more during the game. I wonder if dropping him for a bit might make him realise he needs to do more. Even his set plays haven't been that effective most of the time.

Also wonder if Paqueta plays better if we bring in a winger and have Paqueta more central.

thornburyiron

I doubt Zouma will be back following the burglary at his home on Saturday whilst the family were all present. The club have offered a £25k reward for info leading to an arrest.

Giant_Hammer

Outcast, I get what you’re saying about this constant sideways and dare I say backward passing (cue Palace’s goal) but surely it has to be the players obeying instructions from the manager. I can’t bring myself to believe that the team we have can’t produce better than the turgid displays we been subjected to lately.

Some of the attacking play I saw from other prem teams this weekend has been amazing. Surely our lot aren’t so bad they can’t produce more attacking and attractive football. It just seems to me that players we sign seem to suffer a bout of regression when they join and other than playing to instruction I can’t figure any reason why.

thornburyiron

I don’t think for one second that’s what they’re instructed to do. You only have to read Moyes comments after the game. He was fuming at the sloppiness for the goal and had a go at them for not attacking more with more urgency.
There may have been more attacking at the other games but City suffered by spending most of their time going backwards and sideways or as the pundits call it “recycling”. Silva said after the game the ref made a bad mistake with the advantage but they should have killed the game off.
Haarland had a rant at the ref but he missed chances, one of which my missus would have put away.

buffybegood

thornburyiron said:

I don’t think for one second that’s what they’re instructed to do. You only have to read Moyes comments after the game. He was fuming at the sloppiness for the goal and had a go at them for not attacking more with more urgency.

I'm sure, like all of us, Moyes was fuming at the sloppiness for the goal as it was a dreadful mistake, but I honestly believe the players are generally trying to play how he instructs them to.

My feeling is that we generally set up to play a risk averse, low block style, and to hopefully counter quickly and effectively. The problem, or one of them, is that we are seem to struggle to counter effectively a lot of the time (certainly recently) and, when we try to build we both struggle to keep possession, and, if we do, we struggle to break down set defences.

We also, despite having full backs who are having fairly decent seasons, and generally playing 3 (if not 4) CMs, are conceding far too many goals with only one clean sheet in the league so far; 5 teams below us in the table have conceded fewer goals than us.

thornburyiron

That’s the problem. These are all our opinions and not one of us has any knowledge of what is actually discussed or planned for games and how we are to play. A fly on the wall documentary may give us a true insight but that ain’t gonna happen.

alderz

If it’s not the game plan then the question changes to “why can’t he get them to play the way he wants?”. I think that’s a more dangerous question for Moyes than “why is this your system?”.

Lukerz

Areola
Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
Soucek - Ward-Prowse - Paqueta
Bowen - Kudus - Cornet

buffybegood

I'd be surprised if it isn't the same team as against Palace apart from Zouma coming back in for Dinos. I really can't see Alvarez not playing.

Areola
Coufal-Zouma-Aguerd-Emerson
Soucek-Alvarez-JWP
Kudus-Bowen-Paqueta

Lukerz

Alvarez doesn’t offer anything & Paqueta is not great out wide.

buffybegood

Lukerz said:

Alvarez doesn’t offer anything & Paqueta is not great out wide.

Valid points maybe, but I'm not sure Moyes would agree, and I certainly don't see him dropping our main defensive midfielder against a dangerous Spurs side in favour of an almost always out-of-favour Cornet.

BerlinHammer

We play to counter attack and our left hand side isnt quick enough. Paqueta is wasted on the wing and cornet should be given a chance, as no one else has played well there.

OutcastLondoner

Alvarez is the only midfielder doing his job properly imo. (Well, plus Soucek with the goals)

claretandbluesky

A bit harsh on JWP who has been stable even if not exciting as in the first few matches. What I am not seeing from him is this dead ball expertise. Our conversion of corners into goals feels less than previous seasons and he is hardly giving Payet a run for his money regard direct free kicks.

steve

One of JWP free kicks will fly in tonight .Then there will be no stopping him

buffybegood

Fabiański, Coufal, Zouma ©, Aguerd, Emerson, Álvarez, Souček, Ward-Prowse, Kudus, Paquetá, Bowen
Subs: Anang (GK), Kehrer, Cresswell, Mavropanos, Ogbonna, Fornals, Benrahma, Mubama, Ings

Fab in for Areola (no mention on the OS why he's missing), and Zouma returns for Dinos. Cornet not even on the bench.

steve

What's the problem with Areola .just a bit worried about this one

buffybegood

steve said:

What's the problem with Areola .just a bit worried about this one

Someone on KUMB said it's a wrist injury, but I don't know where he got that from.

alderz

Great stuff from the commentator

Commentator said:

Under Ange, this Tottenham team are different

Followed by:

Commentator said:

It’s easy to forget they haven’t won a game of football in six weeks.

😂

alderz

steve said:

What's the problem with Areola .just a bit worried about this one

They said on comms he injured his wrist in training yesterday

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

They almost got in within the first minute

alderz

Looks like Kudus through the middle and Bowen on the right

buffybegood

We haven't started playing yet, wake up boys.

Yeoldhammer

Why is it so easy for them to pass through us its actually sad how bad this team looks. Its not as if its defence splitting passes either its just simple trap pass and they are on their way through with every one of our players 5 yards away from them.