having just watched that so called game i find it very hard to understand how the likes of solano'speed. acuna, are in the team every week surely to god there is better than that in reserves or in the club somewhere,spurs are not a bad side.but just wanting it more never used to be enough to win a game but that is why we got beat if we won a 50/50 ball i missed it,it really pisses me off when i hear the the crowd applauding the slightest hint of good football ,basic stuff that when i used to go to games was taken for granted. what a stan anderson,or a barry thomas.dave hilley.willy penman,worth now,bellamy reminds me of barry thomas only thomas knew where the goal was wich did help so after this bit of a ramble on i must be pissed as well as pissed off but when you are 12000 miles away watching that sort of game you can not scream and carry on like an idiot at the tv in the early hours of the morning people dont understand ,stupid thing is by tuesday i will be looking forward to next week and go through it all again.[they say the older you get the daffter you get ,and they might be right]

mick grey[melbourne oz]

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Answers

Welcome to the club Mick!! Agree with it all.

Now John Macnamee would have let them know there was a game going on!!

Hiro Perth Oz

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

hi hiro i realise we are out of touch down here but if that is the best we can put out god help us lua 2. was like a breath of fresh air when he came on. half an hour earlier and who knows .some of these kids just need a chance there has to be more like him waiting for a chance

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Totally agree, the kids need a chance. Bollocks to European Qualification, we wouldn't win it anyway. Why not get safe from relegation and play a team of youngsters. If we start blending players like Lua Lua, Gavilan, Bernard and possibly Chopra, Offiong, Ramage and the like, then they we might get a pleasant surpirse.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Bobby has to give Bassedas a game, we have no invention or movement in the centre, giving assedas a chance to prove himself before Dyer gets back may mean we can give Rob Lee his free transfer & free up some wages (make that Speed as well)

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!! Here is my two penorth for what it's worth. Written after a 300 mile round trip in driving rain I might add.

WHAT the hell was Bobbyd oing playing that formation? For what purpose? It plainly didn't work and he should have changed it after 5 minutes!! We have played well 442 and won games so why??????

However apart from tactics, the players were spectacularly inept and made Spurs look like REal Madrid.

As well as needing Dyer back soon, to make good runs from midfield which are sorely lacking at the moment, we are crying out for a box to box midfielder. We all know this but there is no sign of any transfer movement by the club. Dunn would be brilliant but Souness wouldn't sell him to us anyway.

Sad to say but we missed Lee? Where was he anyway? Not convinced by the sick note story. There's more to this than meets the eye.

P*ssed off.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

btw only NUFC could advertise a flag day and then people from taking flags into the ground!

I didn't see any flags in the stands. Metro radio were giving them out outside but as people took them in they were confiscated! Unbelievable.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Lynda - I saw quite a lot of flags being dished out outside the ground, but as you say, not so many inside. I seem to recall that the statement said that flags without sticks (dangerous weapons, up there with nuclear bombs, Exorcet missiles and Anthrax) would be banned.

If that's the reason, then Metro want their b@lls chopping off for dishing them out in the forst instance. As you say - yet another NUFC a cock-up. Mac, what's the socer (and don't say two nowt to Spurs).

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Isn't a flag without a stick a banner?

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Interesting about Bassedas Dave. He undoubtedly can pass a ball, he just needs more time to do it than most. However, he was prepared to shoot when given the chance today, unlike our other midfielders. I take the attitude, what have we got to lose? I don't think we have seen Lee and Bassedas together in the centre yet. I wonder if that would work.

Having seen the first goal on Sky after I got back as well, I am starting to think we were a bit unlucky, the shot was going nowhere and deflected off Speed's shin into the net - Given had no chance, I thought it was a straight shot by Anderton at the game.

At 1-0, Spurs would have been easier to break down as they wouldn't be able to pose a counter attacking threat as much. Sigh.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

I am beginning to get a complex. Everytime I watch them they seem to lose! Despite the two goals, I think that the back four -- playing as a back fou -- of Hughes, OBrien, Dabs and Distin showed more promise than I can recollect in a long time. I think we completely lost out in the centre of midfield. Speed and Acuna are simply not good enough and Solano is too unreliable. I think that Lua2 should replace Solano. When fit, I would put Cort up with Shearer -- although the immobility and lack of inventiveness of the latter is of growing concern. The other three mid fielders to be Dyer, Bellamy and Robert. In the meantime let's give Bassedas a chance - he surely could not be any worse than Speed

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

I thought the back 4 (or however many defenders there were supposed to be - hard to say given our lack of discernable tactics) were dreadful as a unit. For the Poyet goal nobody was marking any of the Spurs players, there was no possibility of playing offside when the ball went down the wing because our defenders weren't even approaching being in line, and the one player we had supposedly identified as a key danger was being marked (and I use the word loosely) by one of the shortest players on the pitch. The man who was supposed to be sticking to Poyet like glue was nowhere to be seen.

For the other goal it's all very well saying it was an unlucky deflection, but that doesn't explain why Anderton (I think) was standing unmarked in our penalty box when the corner was taken. Spurs have used that corner time and time again over the last few years (usually Anderton to Sheringham on the corner of the box to volley in a shot, or variations on that) - if I know that, and Nick sitting next to me knew that then surely Uncle Bobby and the players do too?? Even aside from the goals our defence were shaky throughout and were rescued once or twice by dubious flags. O'Brien at least took some responsibility for bring the ball out of defence, but as a unit they were poor.

That said, it wasn't just the players - I agree that Bobby really screwed this one up. Man marking Poyet is ludicrous, he's not the player that makes Spurs tick. Yes, he's great on set pieces and makes terrific runs into the box, but he's not their play maker, marking him just removes his contribution (in theory), it doesn't disrupt his team's general play.

And I think Bobby has to accept that in the short term we're going to have to play 442 and not tinker with the formation. We've got 2 good wingers and a number of adequate full backs, but (with the possible exception of Dyer) we don't have a single player who can play as a wing back. Stick with the wingers and splash on a central midfielder and we may start to win games like this. Chop and change every week and we'll continue to be inconsistent.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001