Spurs.
It’s just so damn frustrating, you know what’s coming, you know what they can do to stop it ending up like this, you even see them do it but they only do it the once, Spurs versus a flat back ten at Wembley is such a joyous occasion.
So up stumps a team that haven’t won a league game in living memory to Wembley but of course they’ve just sacked the losing manager and have a new caretaker in charge. It doesn’t matter that the new guy hasn’t managed a team since before West Brom actually won a game or that he was packing in the game before getting the call to be Pulis’ assistant, it’s just that it’s a new guy in charge now they face Spurs.
Of course what didn’t help was Spurs gifting West Brom a goal so early on, that they could defend with their lives.
Weak from Dele in the middle – why was he so deep? It’s West Brom – and oh so predictable that Sanchez would be involved after the praise following the last game. He kinda bounced off Rondon, don’t think Davinson was expecting that. He’s so good at actually tackling, should have gone for the ball. The scruffy shot dribbled in leaving Hugo rooted to the spot.
Everyone knew what would follow. West Brom defend their box with pretty much two backs of five, one about two yards in front of the other, dropping into a flat back ten when needed. While Spurs couldn’t break them down.
Spurs of course choosing the “through the middle method” of trying to get through these ten players. A method that doesn’t work, didn’t work and was never going to work because it doesn’t work. This type of game generally leads to calls for players to be bought in January, calls for Barkley. Well if he is actually fit in January I’m failing to see what a central player such as him will do differently to those we already have.
Nowt, he’d go straight down the middle, straight into the mass ranks of defenders.
What was and will be required the next time some relegation fodder comes to Wembley is quick, one touch passing, triangles and getting to the byline.
Only Son got to the byline in the first half, put a cross in that someone should have been on the end of. But it happens to rarely that no one gets there. The equalising goal, when it eventually came, was through a bit of width, with Dele’s cross being put in by Kane.
But after seeing it work what did they do? Yup, they went back to running into the brick wall in the middle of the goal.
I don’t know what Pochettino tells ’em to do, surely it can’t be to keep on doing this, even though it’s not working and won’t work, just keep doing it. It’s that old definition of insanity.
And it’s oh so predictable.
As was the ineptitude of the officials. The ref knew from the moment West Brom scored what they were gonna do and that was waste time. They did so at every opportunity and quite frankly were taking the piss. When the fourth official held up the board at the end of every half it should have read in double figures. What possession they had in the game was just time wasting.
If the ref had booked the goalkeeper, Foster, when he swiped the ball from the ballboy as he should, it would have stopped Foster’s shenanigans. But his pathetic response of not wanting to penalise the keeper for going over the six second rule, shows the level of drivelling wimps currently overseeing the game in this country. It had to be stamped out early on. It wasn’t so we West Brom just took liberties.
So it’s more dropped points as other get lucky and pull away. Man U, City the goon scum, Cheatski all got some luck, Spurs… well if it wasn’t for bad luck…