Starting at the end - we were definitely faffing around after the sending off. With Ade, Modric & VDV trying to create a wonder goal when all you wanna see is the ball in the back of the net.

I think we saw enough to know that it'll work, especially away from home. Also Parker & Sandro have worked an understanding pretty quickly - the amount of times they won the ball back was incredible!

Bales :

Forgot that Sandro (get your f---ing hair cut !!! ) and 60s Scotty were both on.

I don't think both of them need to be on at the same time, but with Hudd/Niko not being selected, twas an opportunity I guess to see whether they negate eachother +/- the overall MF attack.

RDBD

Yeah was an interesting one, and they did get in each other's way a couple of times early on - I don't think it'll be a regular lineup in CM. Having said that Sandro offers more going forward - there was at least one occasion when he popped up on the right as Modric drifted in - he's got pace & a decent cross

For me I'd have Sandro out of the two - in an ideal world we could've bought Parker on yesterday to calm the game down. Wigan came out firing in the second half and it'd be nice just for once to not have the usual stresses of being a Spurs fan!

I consider Sandro and Parker to be variations on the theme (the holding/blocking CM) . Sandro is more silky smooth, where Parker is yer classic English grafter.

I assume Niko was injured, as he wasn't playing and what I've read to date states Luka was not playing his proper CM conduit role, but was more on the right.

Not sure what's happend to Niko to be honest fella, there is sickness going through the squad though - apparently JD had to go home & you could see Benny was not 100% all game.

Was interesting to see Gio get 10 minutes in the VDV role, to be fair he didn't do a lot going forward but he made a great defensive block, he's working hard if nothing else

Regarding Ade - he was class but he's got stick for moaning about an eye injury he got in the second half. I don't know how bad it really was but it did raise the point again that we need another top striker. Even if we had Defoe on the bench he's shown he can't play up top on his own. I'd like to see Damiao or similar arrive in Jan to make sure we don't have a repeat of last season.

'Arry said that the Parker/Sandro combination worked, and he liked it, so I guess we'll see more of it. But I think we should avoid playing BOTH Luka and VDV in that case. When Wigan started to pump the ball forward early and deep, we ended up defending deep and then, when we eventually won possession back , neither of those two could get forward fast enough to take advantage, so we played tippy tappy again, trying to work it forward. Trouble is, Wigan had the bit between their teeth, and closed us down in our own half. Still, most of our poor passes were unforced errors.

Comfortablynumb - I could definitely see the combination working - Sandro is more box-to-box than Parker who likes to pick the ball up off the back four. My only concern is that this might mean Modric starting at RM more often. He did a job there for sure but his natural instinct to play in the middle left us open on that side - at various times we had Walker and Sandro filling in for him.

Fine for the Wigan's of the world but I'd be concerned if he was playing there against any of the top 6 sides. I've never been a fan of the idea but maybe the solution is to play VDV on the right and Luka in the hole.. either way it's a good problem to have!

For me the starting premise is that Luka is required to be nothing other than silky smooth on the offense. Then select the holding/breaking CM for when we are on the defensive.

didn't see much of the game,link playing up.

so this is just a general comment.......

we gotta learn to control the WHOLE game,we done this to good effect vs l'pool....


true,we didn't add to the scoreline until they were down too 9,but we were rarely if at all threatened.....

good control of the game,summat imo we must get better at.....

junction :

The strange thing was that we played so much better 11 vs 11 to Liverpool than 11 vs 10. When we really need to be utterly ruthless, we're not.

However, to be fair to Wigan they were the home team so they had to push for something, one man down or not (so credit to them for trying) . Perhaps Spurs didn't set themselves up well enough to play rapid counter-attack (as they often can) .

junction & RDBD

I think the two results in similar situations say more about the opposition than our own performance. Liverpool are an attacking, passing side similar to ourselves and they kept trying to play the ball on the floor even though they were outnumbered. Wigan are a more physical, hard working team and (as comfortablynumb pointed out) they started pumping the ball forwards when they went a man down.

I think if we'd had another striker on to ping the ball up to it would've been 3 or 4.. get well soon JD!

all good points for sure and i return that bale's with a nice big sunday squeezy of my own.......

and your right a quick out ball wlda helped,ade aint shy of pace tbf but if he had this eye thing,then probably wasn't as effective as he could be,just hope that wasn't the first early sign's of his aledged sulky nature.....

i guess what i'm saying,is real TOP TEAMS don't give the oppo an 'in' back into the game....

but i don't want be to negative,gr8 little jonathon of wins we on,follow it up in the NLD,and we'll be in GREAT shape for that top 4 slot.......

Sunday squeezy!

From what Ade said to Talksport it was a genuine problem: “I couldn’t see the ball, I couldn’t see my opponents or anything but at the end of the day I managed stay on the pitch for 90 minutes....”

http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/1134/36/adebayor-win-was-perfect-medicine-my-eye-injury

Yeah I guess we have to learn to be more clinical, it's a great sign that we are now comparing ourselves to the top teams in the league.. and rightly so!

HELL YEAH..........

weird aint it......

Weird and wonderful!

COYS

The strange thing was that we played so much better 11 vs 11 than to Liverpool than 11 vs 10
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Which is it exactly what Hrry was meaning last week when he said he feared Charlie Adam's sending off would rebound against us.

Not sure how there was any "rebound" effect yesterday. Wigan got back into the game and then went a man down. If there is going to a be a lot of heat but no light from such opponents, then IMHO set the stall out for rapid counter-attack though in these scenarios.

Still feel there is a lack of fluidity as the dynamic of the game changes. No doubt partly new personnel gelling, but also about the MF seeing the signs and adjusting accordingly.

As much as I hate to agree with a MOTD pundit, I think it was Lawro that said it was typical Spurs of a few years ago. Excellent first half perhaps lacking an extra goal or two, they get one back and we hit the panic button and everyone except Benny hoofs it, while Ekotto persists with skinning players in our own box and those blóódy bicycle kicks in our own half.

Hopefully this will give the players a bit of a kick up the Jacksie and we'll work harder to put the game beyond doubt when we're on top next time.

We always used to have a hardish man in the middle or at the back to make sure we didn't panic in a match. Alan Mullery and terry Yorath spring to mind. I don't know who we have to do that now.

Tohbi - Scott Parker