Sunderland Vs Tottenham Hotspur
The Premier League is back and Spurs play Sunderland with the first early kick off of the new season.
Spurs go into the game with big problems down the left side - how often have we said that - and of all the big money spent on the team we still have no one to play the left wing. Our only left footed purchase, Gareth Bale, is still 2 weeks away from fitness and Lee and Benoit are both out - Lee is back in training but lacks fitness. With these problems Ricardo Rocha is likely to play at left back. I suspect Tainio will feature in front of him to try and protect the left side as Sunderland will look to exploit our weakness there. Joining Rocha in the back four will be Chimbona, Kaboul and Dawson. Completing the midfield will be Zokora, Jenas and Malbranque. Steed has looked good during pre-season and may show more class now he has had a full pre-season behind him - something he clearly missed last year.
Jol has a decision to make up front but I reckon he will stick with Berbatov and Keane as Keane will drop deep to support the midfield. After £40 million spent we only have one change to our starting eleven and that is a little concerning. Bent will be on the bench but I am not sure if Defoe will be there.
The most disappointing thing to see however is the inclusion of Ghaly in the squad. I also think playing Bent would be better over Keane - his pace will cause the Sunderland back four to sit deep. If they attempt to play the offside trap Bent, with passes from Jenas and Berbatov will soon slip that. We must be more attacking in our approach to away games if we are to break the top four.
Playing Sunderland away from home for their first game back in the Premiership will not be easy - I would much rather play them in January after they have had an awful Christmas and I think Sunderland will be a tough team to play tomorrow. If we draw here and win our next two it would represent a good start.
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COYS!
posted by Paxton Road at 2:58 PM
8 Comments:
Why are you soo negative, we've come 5th twice now with no left sided midfielder and I'm sure that's not the reason we leak goals, if we don't let in half the goals we did last year we will finish above both Arsenal and Liverpool this year and all that without a left winger, so then were will your argument of we need a left winger be?!?!
In Jol we trust....COYS!
3:36 PM, August 10, 2007
It is going to be a tough one. The midfield doesn't excite me - but as the season progresses expect Kevin "The Fresh Prince" Boetang, Aaron "Give Pace a Chance" Lennon and Adal "if he is good enough he is old enough" Tarabet to provide more width and skill.
3:37 PM, August 10, 2007
A makeshift defence (Kaboul, Rocha), King and Lennon injured, no left footed midfielder. Déjà vu anyone?
3:39 PM, August 10, 2007
what the f.......do only pessimistic Spurs fans come on this site, just get behind the team, believe in the manager and support your club no matter who plays, there good enough for our squad, there good enough to play....oh and Kaboul was brought in to play alongside King in Dawsons place this year, I love Michael Dawson, but Kaboul will be better, alot better you mark my words!!!
Remember the scum got to a champs league final with a so called make shift defence!!!
In Jol we trust....COYS!!!
3:50 PM, August 10, 2007
What has happened to Routledge?
3:54 PM, August 10, 2007
Me a pessimistic Spus fan? No, a realistic one.
Which of the problems of the previous season did we address? In the transfer window we bought players for the future, not for the present. No left footed midfielder. In the pre-season friendlies we still leaked goals (against average opposition). King, our most important player, is out for another two months.
We have good players and Jol is an excellent manager, but I don't expect miracles to happen. There is still a gap between us and "the big four".
COYS!
4:42 PM, August 10, 2007
what do you mean no left footer? malbranque, taarabt??? piss off you miserable spurs fans. tomorrow is the start of the new dawn and we all start with nil points and the same goal difference. fucking deja vu my arse. feck off. get behind your team you twats.
coys
9:08 PM, August 10, 2007
Lovely start to the season for you SPUDS. Whatever happened to 'We're a big 4 team, we're gonna knock the arse out of the top 4, blah blah, blah' Looks like you boys are bottom at the moment, ha ha!!
As for a left sided midfielder, Bale could easily play left mid - last season for saints he was practically left back and left mid!
3:01 PM, August 11, 2007
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