A win for Tottenham this evening against Burnley would see Jose Mourinho’s men go fifth, just two points behind league leaders Everton. A loss, while not disastrous, would be a significant blow and totally undermine their prospects for this season.
A lot was made about the collapse against West Ham last weekend but that was a freak result and detracted from how good Spurs really were in that game. A repeat of that performance, without the defensive mishaps, will surely be enough to pick up all three points at Turf Moor.
Tottenham will dominate possession and the attack will pepper the Burnley goal, that is expected but the defence really has to do its job and no doubt Mourinho will have drilled them relentlessly this last week.
Anyway, this is the team that Mourinho has gone with and it is, on paper, more than capable of getting the win this evening. Lets us know what you think to the line up in the comments below.
Agreed on all fronts. AVB! I had put him in the deep recess of my dark brain. Thanks for reopening that!
I agree that we had improved much more after a year under Poch than when he arrived. But then again, Poch took over from AVB then Timmy, Poch went on to raise the bar. First job for Jose is to get us to that level; regulars in the Champions League. Top four is the bare minimum this season, in fact failing to do it would cost Jose his job. I think he will though, he should get top 4 without too many problems.
This is my view on it as well. Our best recent defensive season was under Poch with that Walker, Verts, Toby, Rose back four. They also had an in form Dier and Dembele in front of them most of the time.
Thing is, it was defending higher up the pitch with the pace to get back and cover if needed. We are an attacking side. Very similar to how Liverpool abs Citeh defend, and I don’t see them doing too badly either!
I agree, we don’t look any better organized or drilled defensively. We look more static up to the front two or three attackers, the theory being that you ‘defend’ with 7-8 players by denying space. Win it back and fire it into the path of the two attackers for a quick break.
I’ve mentioned before that it’s very similar to AVB, although he adopted a more in-vogue higher line. It was however that same positional, reactive rather than proactive approach. You try to suck the life out of the opposition’s play and counter. I was at the game when Liverpool did us 1-4 at home I think it was just before he got sacked, they just overwhelmed us.
It has worked well in the past, Benitez is similar in some ways but I personally don’t think that you can get away with it enough these days as much.
I don’t see it as an equally viable tactic to the higher intensity attacking approach of other top sides. The world has moved on.
I’m not saying that it can’t work to the point of winning something in the right circumstances because it probably can.
I just don’t like watching it, I prefer the Pochettino/Bielsa, Pep, Klopp brand of football. Good to watch and it also gets results….
Just looked this up. Sean Dyche has been at Burnley 8 years. There I was thinking about 5! Tempus fugit. The fact they are in the EPL and have been for so long has to be applauded, but watching it wouldn’t inspire me to pay and watch or even play. The ridiculous £15 Sky rip off won’t be getting much attention from Burnley fans will it?Defence is so important to win a trophy or even stay in a league (Woy and Palace proved that last year. I might have made this up but in the whole of last season Palace only had 5 shots on target!!!!), but with that defence a team has to look like they they want to attack. This was my gripe with Mourinho post Lockdown. I had no idea what he was trying to achieve, especially against Newcastle and Bournemouth. I still don’t think he has improved us as a defensive unit, but with Aurier, Dier Davies, and Sanchez (add Doherty to that after Monday’s game) he can’t be asked to work miracles can he? I am sure we could continue to play like Burnley or a Palace but what would be the point. We don’t have to lower our standards to be Palace +.
It can’t be… But because he did it before does not mean he will do it again. At this point in time he has not been as good as Poch. That is my stance. He has had a year, and has not been as good. Time will tell if that will change, but for now, he is a dude with a past. Just because your misses used to date a model does not make you a model.
He’s not a manager I’ve ever warmed to. I’m not that bothered about the post match stuff it’s always been the style of football. Even the media went off him which started towards the end of his second spell at Chavski. The combination of the football and the terrible moods became a bit wearing in the end. Same at Utd .
His trophy record can’t be argued with though.
Jose is getting a lot of slack right now for the football because we’ve been free scoring. When games get tight he generally doesn’t go for the attacking option. As we have learned that familiarity sometimes leads to contempt. Once you get to know a manager well you understand his quirks.
Five years? 😂
The post lockdown games were abysmal viewing for me. I am so glad we are a bit more expansive. Couldn’t imagine watching 2 banks of four for 5 years!
Thank You. Onwards and Upward.
I disagree a little, and agree too. They stifled us, but we had some real game changers on the bench that didn’t get used despite not being able to unlock them.
We are on the same page. I like to actually WATCH football rather than just fall asleep for 90mins and celebrate the result. I like us when we attack, but Jose does not. He didn’t bring Bale on as he didn’t want to lose a defensive player. Burnley have scored 3 in 6 games I believe. If we not attacking teams like that!
Agreed. Jose is a hard watch. In my “memories” on Facebook today 5yrs ago today. I was laughing at how bad he was at Chelsea and how I almost felt for Chelsea fans for what he dished up. My Chelsea mates agreed with me. Can’t stand his brand on or off the field.
I don’t mind PEH though, he does what it says on the tin, and he does it well. Players like that allow flair players to play.
LOL
Ha ha
Probably be 0-0 then.
That’s what he did. Yay!! 😂
I’m sort of split, Burnley is a horrible place to go away but the very best (like Citeh did) go there make it look much easier and create far more chances. A good three points at the end of the day. I don’t like Jose’s approach to a game like this but if you win you accept it…
Unless the attacking players find space on the counter it usually is with Jose. He doesn’t have much of a plan of unlocking a defensive opponent other than grinding it out.
I think it’s a bit rich for any team managed by Jose to moan about an opponent sitting in deep. What goes around comes around…
Burnley did what Jose likes to do, frustrate the opponent. Jose’s best environment is away at an attack minded opponent. No pressure on us to attack as we’re away, invite the home team on but Burnley don’t do that. We scraped that win, but still a good three points.
Doherty might still prove to not be good enough for the mighty Spurs. Buy a player Wolves are happy to sell and there a chance it might get complicated. 🤔
He’s a Gooner too so if he doesn’t work out he won’t get much mercy! 😂
Shadow of his former self already? He’s played what two full games for us so far?! 😂
It was complete pance against a team of cloggers, difficult cloggers mind.
We need to beat a decent side now, home or away to progress that. Too many points dropped at home so far and that can’t continue if we are serious this season…
Burnley’s home form has kept them in the division pretty much. They manage to draw of win 1-0 quite often there. Two points gained I would say.
That’s the truth.
Agreed on all fronts.
Agreed, Burnley away no matter what day is going to be tough. Sky definitely helped them with a Monday nighter! It did us no favours. They do need to show more attacking intent though. To me it looked like they were playing not to lose, which is ok if they don’t, but their negativity backfired in the end. I am sure we will read that in the past we would have lost that, but even with Poch we won more of these than we lost. It was the top 6 he struggled with, something Mourinho looks to be fixing.
They defended for their lives and waited for the mistake. It is anti football but I agree that not all teams have the quality to play tiki taka so they have to play to other strengths, even ourselves. Imagine playing the Barca way with Sissoko! In the past the League had Wimbledon, Sheffield Utd, Stoke are more recent and now Burnley. It is effective to an extent but that doesn’t mean I have to like it or have sympathy for teams like them. Give me a Leeds any day, until they beat us! Thankfully, we came through, and from my dodgy North African stream we deserved it. The shots they had were towards the end of the first half and we would have slated Hugo if they had gone in.not that I care but Dyche will have to show more attacking intent if he wants to stay in this league. One point v WBA is far from good enough.
Reguilon would sort it.
yes, I think 5-2 was a good result..
They are controlling midfield. Our slow build up will not work against this lot. We must change our game in the second half. Davies can’t be trusted.
Once again the mighty Spurs revert to glorious inconsistency.
Agree.
Looks like the dirty northerners are playing equally average as us .
We won’t score playing slowly in front of two banks of four.
Looks like we’re running through treacle. No creativity at all. Poor first half, we’re giving them too much respect. Strange performance, reminds of some from last season.
they need to be relegated..sick of seeing teams like this in the PL..
they need to be relegated..sick of seeing teams like this in the PL..
Thank You.
If we give them the ball they’ll probably score!
Teams like Burnley have perfected the art of dragging the opposition down to their level.This is really hard going.
Need to let them have the ball and hit them when they turn it over.
Too much long ball rubbish from Spurs so far
Haven’t had a single shot on goal yet… think we should win over the 90 though.
Keep. It. On. The. Deck.
Move the ball quickly.
Not many will be either based on that! 😂
Tanguy i’ll pay to watch too, the only creative element in midfield. PEH and Sissoko have zero flair between them…
Pretty much agree with that, a tough place to go. Citeh won 0-3 there but even a point at that place isn’t terrible for most of the league. Why does the football have to be such pance though? Why?
Although horrible for us a tough battle against a horrible team will make us more resilient ,it won’t be the last game like this and next time they will remember they won.
Yes, Lamela is a funny old bean….terrible in a starting 11 but great as a sub….he helped us win that game for sure..
To be fair to Moura – he is really good on a Thursday night ;D
Citeh won 0-3 there and Brighton won 1-2 so hardly a fortress but nevertheless a difficult place to go. I’ll take the result, but it was turgid…
Big for confidence, big in terms of everyone else dropping points this weekend.
Theatre closed was it!
A good win, dunno about big considering the opposition. Yes very much ‘Jose style’. 😂
A tad harsh methinks CowSpurs. They weren’t just rugged, they took it to us especially in the first half and had several shots at goal, they were brave despite being one of the Prem’s less affluent clubs. This division should always have a Burnley or Stoke around, gives the top teams a different sort of test. We passed, but only just.
Happy about the points ! Moura , Davis , sissoko Thursday nights await you …….. hopefully
They aren’t good enough
Very much get out of Dodge at Turfmore, Burnley always play like that, it’s got nothing to do with who they play. It almost worked too. Thank gawd for Sonny boy and Kane!
A good three points though, even if we played sh*t footy. Same as last season really…
Tell that to the morons who think its ALL about entertainment ALL the time
Doherty is very frustrating right now.
Lamela deserves more than a 1 Lilywhite….
I thought Alderwiereld and Dier were very solid
They’ll take 2 points off a lot of top half of the table suckers
Burnley are a pig of a team, that game was a case of take the 3 points and get out of Dodge.
Saves me typing ,just to add clean sheet and opposition parking the bus is what we can expect in many games to come so better get used to it.
It’s the Jose way, always has been. Benitez wasn’t dissimilar, back in those days it was seen as a winning approach at the expense of team flair. Since then we’ve seen top sides blowing everyone away with high pressing and high energy, interchanging etc. It’s hard to watch this stuff now…
Setting up not to lose at home. This is how much they fear us.
Well 3 points is what it’s all about …………. isn’t it? I trust we’ll see many matches more fun to watch. A comforting nights sleep if not a satisfyingly smiley evening, even for Limerick Al perhaps; my condolences sir.
Ah but it’s all about the winning, f*ck how you do it. Bill Nic would not be impressed if it became a theme for any Spurs side.
We ground it out and it’s three points at the end of the day. I’m just not actually seeing this imperious, powerful and dominant team that a lot of people are saying is emerging.
So far this season we only seem able to defend by being boring, when we go a few goals up we lose the plot.
It’s as if the main tactic is to just frustrate the opponent into submission and let a couple of forwards do all the attacking. It was the same under AVB. Who incidentally learned under Jose.
If we win something worthwhile this season i’ll stomach it but you’re never gonna see Ciry or Liverpool playing like this. There’s more than one way to skin a cat these days in football, this is the kind of butchery I can kind of do without! 😂
Most of us agree Davies is pretty poor as a LB,but how bad has Doherty become.He’s a shadow of his former self.
We got the points and that’s about all you can say about the performance. Burnley on a wet and cold Monday night is a dog awful place to go and play. Davies was absolute pants and Docherty worries me as he looks poor and not the player we thought we were signing. Toby was immense and even Dier looked better alongside him. Sissoko did very little to write home about. Ndombele looked dangerous and seems to be improving. Lamela made a big difference. Son and Kane are becoming a mighty double act. Pierre turned in another strong performance.Lloris looked solid in goal. Burnley will take points off other teams up there so I suppose we must be grateful to be sitting fifth with the Bale Boy still to come good for us.
Not happy but can accept and analyse the reasons instead of just criticising. Yh we could of played better but they kept their shape well ball over top not their too compact to pass through, the performance was them more than us imo
That’s a big win. Dug it out Jose style.
The game itself reminded me of the 0-0 away at Bournemouth after the restart. Difference being now that we have Son and Kane on fire and they took the only chance we made over 90 minutes. Burnley deserved a point tbf we lacked creativity, but sometimes you have to win dirty. We showed the character to do it.
We played them at the wrong time you could say – as the commentators said, they’re desperate for a win at this point to start their season…cos it hasn’t started for them yet.
I get Jose needed a game plan against them but it didn’t work..still, win ugly, happy days..
Happy I called that wrong…Kane to the rescue..
Kane 5
Son 5
Ndombele 8
Jose and everyone else 1
Think we did what was necessary, was never going to be pretty but they found a way! Their defense was so deep ball over top never an option, bring on Thursday!!
Your right, wouldn’t say shocking. Shocking implies some level of excitement. I would say turgid and dull.
Burnley deserved all they got. A tough, tough game to watch and win, but win we did. We were better than them, which wasn’t hard but we need to keep concentrating. Our silly mistakes allowed them chances. Cut them out and we win more games. At least we don’t have to go there for a while, hopefully they’ll get relegated.
Just be thankful for the 3 points. We must build momentum no matter what.
I thought Toby and Dier acquitted themselves quite well considering what they had to put up with.Probably our best pairing if the opponents don’t offer too much pace.3 points but a dire performance.
If you are happy with performances like that. That’s cool. Each to their own.
Wouldn’t say shocking they set up to stop us playing so of course we didnt look pretty
It’s all about the win, that’s what matters, job done.
Are you kidding yeah they set up to stop us scoring we found a way why the negativity not every match can be 6 goals
I wonder how much tomorrow we will be told that “we won, it’s all that matters” when we only managed 3 shots on target against a team with 1 point and -6 goal difference. Such a turgid, boring display. Yay…3 points, who cares about what you watch anyway.
How horrible are they to play against. Job done though. Let’s get back down south boys. Fk this place.
Glad about win but shocking performance and Jose needs to sort things out.
That was butt awful but all about the points – Lamela the MOTM by a million miles this time
Moura still can’t produce two good performances in a row
You focus on the negative, I’ll focus on the positive. 3 POINTS
Job done. Brill.
Pammy has done well since coming on .
Those 2 are literally the only players worth watching on our side.
LONG BAAAALLL IT!! 😂
a fairly static team but with quality in the forward line had always been his approach.
Aerial bombardment incoming.
Jose is so lucky to have son and Kane to bail out his dreadful tactics.