[Archived] Tottenham Hotspur vs Blackburn Rovers

[Exiled_Rover]

Agree. That would be my first choice attacking midfield three at the moment.

Except Dunn can't play more than 5 minutes.

It should be:

Kalinic

Olsson - Diouf - Hoilett

.......Jones - Emerton

[roversmum]

Am I the only one who thought Salgado was doing okay against Bale?

No. I assumed he had been injured when he was taken off.

[Parsonblue]

Am I the only one who thought Salgado was doing okay against Bale?

I totally agree with you. We were commenting at the time how he was using his experience to position himself to counter Bale's pace. I thought he kept him relatively quiet during that opening period before being replaced when we switched to a back a four.

[AggyBlue]

No. I assumed he had been injured when he was taken off.

Not from the bemused expression on his face from the the close up it showed as he was putting his tracksuit top on.

[Amo]

Seriously, Nicko, who's writing for The Mirror these days?

"But for Michel Salgado nothing he faced in his career with Real Madrid and Spain could have been as embarrassing as being substituted after 35 minutes of being destroyed by Tottenham’s Welsh wonder Gareth Bale."

[Eddie]

He was containing Bale, but the problem was that he was doing so at the expense of the rest of the defense. He was tracking Bale up and down the touchline, which did reduce Bale's effectiveness, but several times it allowed other midfielders to run into the hole behind Salgado and that was causing problems. Changing the team around didn't really work, but the truth is that we should have gone with two fast fullbacks from the start.

[Exiled_Rover]

Seriously, Nicko, who's writing for The Mirror these days?

"But for Michel Salgado nothing he faced in his career with Real Madrid and Spain could have been as embarrassing as being substituted after 35 minutes of being destroyed by Tottenham’s Welsh wonder Gareth Bale."

Tut tut, Topman. Bale is the flavour of the month.

[47er]

He was containing Bale, but the problem was that he was doing so at the expense of the rest of the defense. He was tracking Bale up and down the touchline, which did reduce Bale's effectiveness, but several times it allowed other midfielders to run into the hole behind Salgado and that was causing problems. Changing the team around didn't really work, but the truth is that we should have gone with two fast fullbacks from the start.

Whom did you have in mind? Serious question.

[John]

Poor poor performance but it happens frequently as the players are simply not good enough to maintain anything else. Can't be bothered discussing tactics or team selection as it's as simple as that.

The passing ability of our team is quite woeful and still confused why anyone thinks we should pass it around more, as clearly we get ourselves into trouble when we pass the footabll.

Need to start Dunn now, his quality compared with the rest of our squad is there for all to see.

[Eddie]

Whom did you have in mind? Serious question.

Emerton on the right with Chimbonda on the left.

[roversmum]

Not from the bemused expression on his face from the the close up it showed as he was putting his tracksuit top on.

Didn't see that. Was it on Spurs' big screen? We were pitchside at the away corner.

[Brfcrule1]

I can confirm when looking at the interview with Sam afterwards taking off Salgado for Diouf was tactical due to Bale's pace however looking at it I thought Salgado used his experience well to keep Bale relatively quiet so was a bit of a strange one. I guess Sam thought Salgado might get a bit overun as the game wore on. However I must reserve special praise for our budding young winger Junior Hoilett who for me was MOTM at times his delivery leaves a lot to be desired but for pace he skinned Hutton many times and got into some great positions and more often than not his delivery yesterday was good but still needs to work on his delivery to try and polish it up to be more consistent on a regular basis. But the signs are promising for the future and it epitomises his statement about finding the right club after turning down Man Utd hopefully with the upcoming Man Utd game he can really rub salt into the wound. I hope also after that display Sam throws him in more regularly as he will cause Villa loads of problems with his pace soz to go off topic & well done Junior keep it up son!.

[AggyBlue]

Didn't see that. Was it on Spurs' big screen? We were pitchside at the away corner.

I saw it on sky's one hour highlight thingy last night. Football First I think they call it.

[rigger]

If taking Salgado off was tactical, then its one of the worst tactical changes I have ever seen, Salgado had control of Bale, in fact he had forced him to try the right wing, to have some joy.As soon as the change took place he reverted to the left wing and ran riot. Surely you make tactical changes to counter something that is actually happening rather than something that may happen, also the timing of it, ten minutes before half time. Why not wait till the break when you could ask the people involved, their thoughts.

[Brfcrule1]

Yes it was that football first thing on sky sports one but I agree with many on here tactically taking off Salgado who was doing well against Bale & really prevented a lot of Bale's crosses was strange to say the least and have to say hearing those comments although Sam said Salgado was being overun I have to question what game he was watching as I thought Salgado did well against Bale.

[Amo]

Yes it was that football first thing on sky sports one but I agree with many on here tactically taking off Salgado who was doing well against Bale & really prevented a lot of Bale's crosses was strange to say the least and have to say hearing those comments although Sam said Salgado was being overun I have to question what game he was watching as I thought Salgado did well against Bale.

Well, I think that was proven when Bale set up the second goal minutes after Salgado's substitution.

[roversWASmylife]

Not sure what to make of our performance, too little too late. Can't give teams like Spurs to go 2-0 up on their own patch and to be chasing the game.

At least two of Spurs's goals were poor defending. Bale's first and Crouch's stand out, Givet not tight enough and Givet for not hoofing it into the stand. Although, Givet hasn't done too bad in the past but Givet's mistakes aren't the reason we lost.

The main difference was the difference in class. Tottenham's midfield were all over us. Class players against average ones. The movement from their midfield was brilliant to watch, Modric, Van Der Vaar and Bale on the left, constant movement everywhere. Bale was outstanding, pace, power, movement, ability to pick out passes, their second goal.

I was fortunate to watch Spurs v Inter and have never seen a perfomance like Bale's that night, everytime he had the ball the crowd are on their feet. Salgado didn't do too bad against him, didn't let him have too much space in behind and then Bale switches to the right.

Frustrating at times yet, defensively we don't do too bad, we counter attack. Kalinic holds it, brings Emerton in, he switches it, Holliett gets it, takes the full back on, cuts inside then doesn't deliver.

Maybe with a bit of class upfront we might have caused more problems. Kalinic was unlucky, he didn't do too bad at the top on his own.

All in all, we weren't good enough however we were well beaten. Tottenham is what football is all about.

[joey_big_nose]

I missed the game as I had to entertain friends. Is the feeling that we will continue with the 541 formation we started at Spurs with and the whole barcodes game? I want to see it used at home as well, particularly with Olsson in the team as it works to our players strengths - especially Hoilett, Dunn and EH Diouf.

So do people think 541 it is here to stay, or does it seem it was just an experiment for a couple of away games and we will be back to 4231?

[47er]

Emerton on the right with Chimbonda on the left.

Agree that Emerton could probably have done the job, I've always felt he played his best football there.

However Chimbonda has a tendency to switch off at critical times. Then, so does Givet! A tough one.

[deryck guyler's spoon]

*I guess if your child was male and had been circumsised there'd have been no problem.

What a complete and utter **** you are. There was absolutely no need for that whatsoever. Prick.

[thenodrog]

What a complete and utter **** you are. There was absolutely no need for that whatsoever. Prick.

I'm not sure that I like your tone dgs.

Can you never lighten up? Or are you condoning what can only be described as a £20 'fine' for taking a baby into WHL?

[deryck guyler's spoon]

I'm not sure that I like your tone dgs.

btw Are you condoning what can only be described as a £20 'fine' for taking a baby into WHL?

Couldn't care less and no I'm not, you know I'm not. That filth is about to be reported.

[SouthAussieRover]

Couldn't care less and no I'm not, you know I'm not. That filth is about to be reported.

You're wasting your time DGS.

[ABBEY]

Couldn't care less and no I'm not, you know I'm not. That filth is about to be reported.

ANOTHER CRY BABY..PLEASE SIR GORDON HAS MADE ME CRY...SPANK HIM

What a complete and utter **** you are. There was absolutely no need for that whatsoever. Prick.

PLEASE SIR DEGSY USED THE PRICK WORD

[AlanK]

Was quite happy reading peoples reports about Bale / Salgado but now we are on to him again.

This MB is dire these days.