Match Thread: Tottenham Hotspur vs Watford

[Neil_Vaughan]

Talk about the game in here before, during and after.

[Ginola's Son]

I say, drop all of our big guns for this one. Play Mido up front, this is the time for resting. We should be able to beat Watford with a half strength team.

[spurs61]

Given the hard work we made of a fourth rate Dago side, can we really afford to play a second string side when we need the points to rise up to sixth place?

I'm guessing the little meep meep won't play and I hope that Berba is given a rest for Mido. I'd quite like to see Chimbo get a rest as well, he's looking a bit tired and has played as many games as Daws in a much more energetic position. Here's what I'm thinking;

Cerny

Lee Rocha Dawson Stalteri

Malbranque Tainio Hudd Ghaly

Defoe Mido

I'd have Robbie and Jenas on the bench in case of any hiccups.

[Ginola's Son]

Chimbo had the Chelsea game off? Dawson is undroppable. He relishes playing anyway.

I would not describe Braga as 4th rate.

[Gino Ginelli]

Well Watford are playing for survival so I wouldn't expect a push over. But certainly rest Berba, Lennon, and Robbie. Dawson could do with a well earned rest, and carry on with Cerny in goal. Jenas should play to get some match practice in before Monday. My team would be:

Cerny

Salty
Rocha
Hudd
Ekotto

Taraabt
Jenas
Murphy
Ghaly

Defoe
Mido

[SurreySpur]

Well Watford are playing for survival so I wouldn't expect a push over. But certainly rest Berba, Lennon, and Robbie. Dawson could do with a well earned rest, and carry on with Cerny in goal. Jenas should play to get some match practice in before Monday. My team would be:

Cerny

Salty
Rocha
Hudd
Ekotto

Taraabt
Jenas
Murphy
Ghaly

Defoe
Mido

Id go along with that, maybe with the exception of Taarabt and Murphy, I'd prefer Hudd to play as i cant see him starting on Monday and on the left i'd play steed.

[spurs61]

I would not describe Braga as 4th rate.

You think they're not as good as that? Come on, they never once threatened from open play, all their goals came from set-pieces (worrying) of which two were never free-kicks in the first place. They managed to allow Lee the freedom of the left touchline and Berba the freedom of their entire stadium last week and London this week. It's no wonder the UEFA cup is considered a poor relation to the CL when a side like Braga can get into the final 16 clubs in the competition. There was not a single player in their squad who could do a job in the Championship nevermind the Premiership.

[singapore spur]

Well Watford are playing for survival so I wouldn't expect a push over. But certainly rest Berba, Lennon, and Robbie. Dawson could do with a well earned rest, and carry on with Cerny in goal. Jenas should play to get some match practice in before Monday. My team would be:

Cerny

Salty
Rocha
Hudd
Ekotto

Taraabt
Jenas
Murphy
Ghaly

Defoe
Mido

and captain , rocha ? or jenas ?

[Ginola's Son]

You think they're not as good as that? Come on, they never once threatened from open play, all their goals came from set-pieces (worrying) of which two were never free-kicks in the first place. They managed to allow Lee the freedom of the left touchline and Berba the freedom of their entire stadium last week and London this week. It's no wonder the UEFA cup is considered a poor relation to the CL when a side like Braga can get into the final 16 clubs in the competition. There was not a single player in their squad who could do a job in the Championship nevermind the Premiership.

I'm not saying they were a real threat to us, but they weren't as bad as all that, we were just a wake-up to it and had them pegged from the get-go. In Portgual they're considered the 4th best club, and that isn't too bad, they have a good home record, and we did exceptionally well to make them appear as average as they looked.

Thats my take

[derek zoolander]

just wondering how long it will take before someone mentions ekotto is injured. and murphy for that matter.

id leave players like berbatov, keane, zokora, lennon (if fit) on the bench and play a team like:



cerny
stalteri rocha dawson lee

malbranque huddlestone tainio taarabt

mido defoe

still a fairly strong team although it does contain mido is in my opinion is shite.

[Spur]

I will be very disappointed if we play a full strength side. Very, very disappointed.

[olly27]

I will be very disappointed if we play a full strength side. Very, very disappointed.

Me too Spur....But I think it will be a pretty stong side though, given than MJ revealed yesterday that he would prefer to will all our remaining league games and finish fifth (dont quote me on that though!)...I hope he rests Keane, Lennon, Berby, Zokora and Chimbo for the Chelsea game.

[Ginola's Son]

Jol has to say that, he can't say that we don't give a shit about the league as that will give teams like Watford the opening to beat us, but I think Jol is clearly eager to right the wrongs of last season, and is putting a lot of work into the cups.

[Chewy]

I'd go for

Cerny/Robbo
Chimbonda Dawson Rocha Lee
Ghaly Hudd Jenas Malbranque
Mido Defoe

Bench: Cerny/Alnick, Stalteri, Lennon/Taabart, Keane, Berbatov

[spurs61]

Quick question guys, almost rhetorical really. Why have we spend £1 mil on Ben Alnwick, announced that he is a future England number one and then not played him in the past two games? Seems a bit strange to me especially as he can only learn from the experience, I would have thought a 90 minute outing against Braga would have been beneficial to all parties?

[SurreySpur]

He's injured i think

[suBerb]

Cerny/Robbo
Stalteri Dawson Rocha Lee
Ghaly Hudd Jenas Malbranque
Mido Defoe

Bench: Cerny, Chimbo, Lennon, Keane, Berbatov

with Lennon, Keano, and Berba to play the last 30 min if necessary

[jrio]

Alnwick's a player for the future. Cerny is the reserve keeper and if he wasn't playing it would question why he's still here. I've always found him to be very reliable and it wouldn't make sense to ditch him just to give Alnwick questionable experience against Braga.

[spurs61]

I never doubted Cerny's reliability, I just think it's daft to pay £1 mil for a young player and then stick him in the reserves, what can he possibly learn from it? Surely we could have found a lower division club who needed a decent keeper on loan for the remainder of the season?

How is any first team experience "questionable"? It is what it is regardless of calibre of opposition.

[MaccYid]

I think he was cup tied in the F A Cup and i thought he was on the bench last night????

[MiloMinderbinder]

Quick question guys, almost rhetorical really. Why have we spend £1 mil on Ben Alnwick, announced that he is a future England number one and then not played him in the past two games? Seems a bit strange to me especially as he can only learn from the experience, I would have thought a 90 minute outing against Braga would have been beneficial to all parties?

the same reason Ledders, BAE, Jenas etc etc didn't play. It's a pre requsite for signing for Spurs; "are you 100% fit, if so you're at the wrong club".

How the hell does a goalie go about injuring themsleves, what did he do, hurt his back picking the ball out of the net?!

[wayne wonder]

Burch was on the bench the other day against chelski

[ilovekeano]

LOL LOL Cerny is actually quite a good keeper, he should have been in earlier when robbo had his bad spell which cost us some games.....

[derek zoolander]

cerny was a beast at the peace cup last year, he would be a very good goalkeeper for most premiership sides, more than happy to have him there. im mates with tommy forecast and with all the signings im a little bit disappointed for him. with robbo and alnwick's injury i even thought he might get on the bench against chelsea.

even though we have a lot of games coming we must beat watford and beat them comfortably, im not saying dont rest our top players because they do need a rest and now is probably the time but we must crush watford.

[RuFuS]

Will we get a refund if there's only three goals scored in the game ?
I'm getting used lots of goals :D

[Spur]

Alnwick was injured vs Chelsea but on the bench vs Braga. Cerny has served us well, i'm wquite sure he has a sub role in coaching also, whether it be with the youngsters or Robbo, because he has aspects to his games which are better than Robbo's so i'm positive he was brought in with that intention.

His loan ends at the end of the season and the least we can do is give him a few more appearances, especially when, as said, he would comfortably be number one for several PL sides.

[wayne wonder]

I bet it'll be a 1-0 to the mighty spurs!!!

[singapore spur]

2-1 spurs ........

[Spur]

4-0 Spurs.

[SurreySpur]

Spurs 3-1 watford

[spurs61]

I know I've said it before and you're probably bored of hearing it, but a clean sheet would be nice! 3-0 to us, Jenas, Defoe and one of the Egyptians to score. I'm hoping that either Daws or Chimbo get a rest as well otherwise we'll have an absolutley knackered back four on Monday. I'm hoping Taarbat will be given a 20 minute run out.

[jrio]

Interesting to see how many players are rested as the UEFA Cup seems to have been Jol's priority in the last week.

[SurreySpur]

Here's the Team:

Spurs: Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Rocha, YP Lee, Ghaly, Jenas, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Mido, Defoe. Subs: Cerny, Lennon, Berbatov, Keane, Stalteri.

[wayne wonder]

Here's the Team:

Spurs: Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Rocha, YP Lee, Ghaly, Jenas, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Mido, Defoe. Subs: Cerny, Lennon, Berbatov, Keane, Stalteri.

Hmmm dawson really needs to rest but we've got **** all in reserves!! hope we get a few goals and take him off

[SurreySpur]

Everyone keeps saying Dawson needs a rest!!! I think if we rested daws he'd end up down his local park playing football with kids. This guy lives and breaths football.

Dawson is old school, he wants to play every game so i say we let him.

[Thfc4Life]

Why does Ghaly have to play, he is forever giving the ball away :confused:

Watford have Chris Powell at left back, can you imagine Lennon v Powell, it would be like a lamb to the slaughter :) but instead Ghaly is up against him :(

[Ioang]

Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!! I actually want to win this 1-0.

[SharX]

Why does Ghaly have to play, he is forever giving the ball away :confused:

Watford have Chris Powell at left back, can you imagine Lennon v Powell, it would be like a lamb to the slaughter :) but instead Ghaly is up against him :(

with Lennon resting (and to avoid him getting injured from the barbaric, desperate Watford players), there is no option other then Ghaly. i think he will be great and will tear Powell to shreds, just like he did with Traore :D what a laugh that was seeing Traore eating grass behind Ghaly 3 times in the Arsenal game.

[Gregzy]

Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!! I actually want to win this 1-0.

Why, are you having a flutter on such a scoreline? ;)

[\jackdaw]

LMAO .. Robinson from a goal kick ..

[Ioang]

Against the keeper being 'tipped' to replace as england no. 1. Legend!!

[Gregzy]

I remember having a chat with SurreySpur and him saying it was only a matter of time before Robbo scored...how nice it must be to be proved right, SS!!!

[\jackdaw]

Why cant we keep a clean sheet ffs ...

[Ioang]

the ubiquitous dirty sheet..

[AssaTM]

That was just an individual error that made us concede there, cant blame the team for that one

[\jackdaw]

Thats 4 out of the 5 I said we should win in the league, its looking like a very good run now. The next big step is Chelsea Monday night, a good result there will really boost us.

Results going our way to and with us playing Reading next week we can get into 5th spot before the end of the season.

All we need to do is to start keeping some clean sheets !!

[Gregzy]

Exactly Jackdaw. Our GD is still a potential stumbling block and if Mido had taken his chances today or Pascal hadn't slipped up we would be back in the black, so to speak.

Nonetheless, we got a more than convincing result today with a weakened line up, so there isn't really much cause for complaint. Let's just hope Berby and Keane get the most from their little rest and come out fighting on Monday night...

[ilovekeano]

What about robbo's goal superbio!!!

[SurreySpur]

I remember having a chat with SurreySpur and him saying it was only a matter of time before Robbo scored...how nice it must be to be proved right, SS!!!


Cheers Gregzy!!
I also predicted 3-1 today. Bow before the master!! :p

[suBerb]

We keep scoring at least three goals in each game. That's amaizing.

[MarlowSpurs]

Cheers Gregzy!!
I also predicted 3-1 today. Bow before the master!! :p

I'm bowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some good results for us today, we are 2 points behind Bolton and with a better goal diff. Good job well done today

[SharX]

I know I've said it before and you're probably bored of hearing it, but a clean sheet would be nice! 3-0 to us, Jenas, Defoe and one of the Egyptians to score. I'm hoping that either Daws or Chimbo get a rest as well otherwise we'll have an absolutley knackered back four on Monday. I'm hoping Taarbat will be given a 20 minute run out.

so close. nice one! ;)

[hastingsyid]

great result today.......COYS

[Spur]

I had a tenner on Paul Robinson to score!

I can't believe it, what a ledge. Great shot, maybe some of our other players can take finishing lessons off Robbo.

It just had to happen whilst the red tops were bigging up the Robbo vs Foster thing aswell.

Saw the highlights, the result not exactly a shock, specially not as big of a shock as Ireland actually winning a game of cricket :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Chewy]

Saw the highlights, the result not exactly a shock, specially not as big of a shock as Ireland actually winning a game of cricket :eek::eek:


Excuse me... We also beat Canada in the warm up games! :p

[Ginola's Son]

Robbo!!

Yes, what a moment. And MOTD showed the Jennings goal! Great moment, good win, we're full of momentum for tomorrow.

[Gino Ginelli]

We're looking so good now. In the past this was the sort of game we'd go into expecting to win, and we'd get turned over. Now we're going into them expecting to win and doing just that. With ease. It shows that we can trust our squad to win these games when the key players are rested.

Of course it does help when your Goalie is a bonafide superhero and pings em in from 90 yards!

It would be nice if we could keep at least one clean sheet though wouldn't it? Sheesh, what does it take?!

But I read on here that people are impressed with Jenas' form since he returned from injury. Have to agree with that, he's getting into excellent forward positions and grabbing important goals. I think he's relaxed and isn't worrying about the defensive elements while enjoying his attacking game. Shows that the midfield players are comfortable playing with each other and trust each other now. Great to see.

Bring on Chelsea, we're on storming form at the moment.