...gary speed has turned into michel platini and tottenham hotspur veterans have turned into real madrid, circa 1956.

i think a lot of youse need a comfortable chair some slippers and a nice hot toddie.

don't mind those big pink shapes flying by the window now, everything will be alright.

i hope me uncle bob isn't afflicted

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Answers

tell you what

on that big pitch at WHL

with a midfield 4 of

Robert/Acuna/McClen/Solano

we will make them look like Real Madrid

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

He's not wrong though - at least about Spurs. One good win agaisnt Chelsea and we seem to be following the London press line that they are a terrific side. A quick glance at the league table reveals otherwise. As far as Speed goes, the problem is not so much how good Speed (and Dyer) is, but how poor their replacements are.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

When was the last time we beat Spurs in London?

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Dont worry so much - we are now in a reverse london jinx, where it is the cockneys who cant beat us in london for at least 30 games.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Agree with gb up to a point, its not the team that YBR puts out, as always it is how they apply themselves to the task in hand, coming off Peterboros display on Saturday is an example, Acuna and Mcglen are taking the knocks but mainly due to Elliots complete lack of distribution and in my view Shearers dis-interest on the day the game was passing them by. Did Al put a challenge in up front? nah. Dyer/Speed may have made a difference, who knows but whatever team playing against Spurs they must have the same approach as Boro had against us, games are not won on paper, over the season yes, lets treat this as a one off muck and braces job and then regroup

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

What Acuna and McClen can do is harry and close down - something Chelsea thought was beneath them and didn't attempt. If and it's a big if, they can distribute the ball out to Solano and Robert, we may do enough to cause some damage.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

That's not the way I see it....I say we give up on the midfield battle and attempt to soak up the pressure (not our strong point!) and break FAST...get the ball wide/forward to Robert/Bellamy very quickly and see what mayhem they can cause....

Spurs will knock it out to the wings and then whip it in for Les...the ir midfield will be steaming forward in support...if we clear it forward fast then we strand their midfield, if we can support with speed we give ourselves a chance....

Scary game.....

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

Whichever we play, whether it's 4 in the midfield and knock it to the wings - wing backs to counter the or whatever. We are going to lose by three goals. I have NEVER felt so negative about a game.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

I'm not sure I can see that approach working, if we totally sit back and let them come onto us. They've got too many smart players able to unlock our defence. If we give them time on the ball, the likes of Sheringham, Anderton and Poyet will pick us off eventually. Even if we get the odd breakaway, Bellamy needs at least 4 chances in a one-on-one to actually score :-(( If we soak up pressure, we have to do so with a high energy midfield putting their play makers under pressure and not giving them a nanosecond on the ball.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

Soaking up the pressure is very risky, but it might just work...

If we had a decent left back on Sunday we could have kept a clean sheet. The midfield was largely irrelavent as Peterborough played long balls, bypassing the midfield completely.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

there there now,

i told you gary speed wasn't michel platini & spurs old men are not as good (or bad) as you thought.

now get a good nights sleep and don't forget your blood pressure medicine.

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002