OTF

True to the word.

It really has been. Mixing in some quality passes now as well. Geez that was close!

Nice ball from Shola good run Sissoko... the shot, not so good.

Tiote still getting the shoot calls from the crowd from distance, and still obliging them willfully!

Me too, but shhhhh!

Lovely start there. Terrible from their keeper though!

Sports Direct, I suppose don't figure in that reckoning because they not only get shed loads of advertising from their 'sponsorship' but they also get money.

It's largely a semantics argument. Something may have been said or an action may have been taken without any racist intent, but it can certainly be construed as racist by someone else. So the statement or action itself wasn't racist but the interpretation of it was. In this case I wonder if anyone has actually felt persecuted or belittled by Taylor's picture. Perhaps Anita, though we're all victims of dated looks retrospectively.

Cheery bunch of films there.

Thought he was catching up with Oba and Kazenga

As much as he had a poor season last year there was still a game or two where he was our best player. I'm hoping he comes back refreshed and renewed as his biggest problem last season was how stale his thought process was. Certainly not suggesting that he comes back into the side, but if the chance arises he deserves a run.

Debuchy is suspended for this match I believe.

Adding to that - With Debuchy missing next game through suspension I'd like to see Santon moved onto the right and either Haidara on the left, or M'Biwa moved there to facilitate Coloccini's return to the side.

I think in the first half (spare for the time where he very cheaply gave away possession and only Krul spared his blushes) he was quitre solid in defense and had a lot of work to do covering plenty of runs. Perhaps that's why in the second half whenever he had the ball he was slow and awkward, and when defending he was not particularly convincing.

Another great result there. Extremely one sided second half there, with Krul completely dominating their attack

Interesting game so far, Spurs came out of the gates quickly, but since then have mostly faltered. Their attack is very one dimensional, with everything coming down their right side through Townsend and Eriksen, with the latter receiving frequent diagonal ball from the former. Santon and Gouffran are doing well to keep them mostly well marshaled out there. If they're particularly effective the ball will sometimes be shifted across to their left where some space has been created. There's just about nothing from them through the middle which has meant that Tiote has had a pretty quiet game. Now I will freely admit to not watching a great deal of Tottenham outside of highlights and our matches, but from just about everything I do see of them Dawson does not appear to be very good. Perhaps he's their Steven Taylor?

Dodgy from Vertongen there IMO.

Beautiful goal! Wonderful ball slid through the middle from Gouffran and great touches from Remy to round Friedel and then slot into the empty net. Huzzah!

Yes, it appears that some of the players who started last match have been rewarded for the results of the players who they were substituted for.

Set piece marking still woeful.

Our kit is somewhat fetid in appearance. Also, I dislike the camera angle at White Hart Lane.

Is the fact that we're starting with the same team that started against Chelsea confirmation that we will be playing the same tactics, and that in fact that our tactics were indeed to create nothing but look relatively assured in the first half before making changes that give us an added dimension of attack for the second? All this and more to be answered in the next 110 minutes.

They seem a pretty well reasoned bunch tbh.

I believe that this is the kind of game that suits our players. We're not favourites and they're not a physical side. Despite their excellent defensive record so far they're not what I would call a defensive side so I'd like to think that we'd create a few chances. If Coloccini is back then indeed it is a tough decision to make, there's a case for all three options. Defensively Williamson's size is generally put to good use, he's good at getting his head to the ball. Both Colo and M'Biwa seldom attack the ball in the air but both are superior with the ball and in making tackles (Colo vastly so). M'Biwa is the quickest of the three, but not so quick that he can match fast forwards. It should depend on how they've trained during the week.

No it doesn't. Watching in a pub with mates and a few drinks really isn't conducive to proper analysis. At the ground you also get a different perspective which allows a wider appreciation of players work rate, movement and positioning off the ball, but doesn't give you the closer lounge room TV view (poor streams don't count on this front) where you can better appreciate skill, technique and the like. Having watched plenty of games of football in each circumstance I can say with complete confidence that I can in general better appraise a players performance if I'm watching a game with no distractions. The fact that games are on for me late at night/early in the morning means that generally the only distraction I have is posting my comments on here.