Although the result showed a close game I feel that the saying "Its a game of 2 half's" couldn't be more true.
Our first half I had this down for the game of the season. The likes of Lennon and Bale were incredibly composed for the first half and from midfield up we looked like a completely different team! Dembele is a huge boost to have back in the team and his build up play and creativity was what we have been missing. Dempsey is looking like the player we signed from Fulham. Confident and getting into those hard to mark positions. COYS is needed for Dempsey as he seems to be settling in now.
Although Caulker was injured and that lead to AVB's choice of putting Gallas back in, it showed that it was to the detriment of the squad. In this situation I believe slotting Vertonghen into the back 4 and Naughton drafted onto the left would have seen the required balance through the back. My head sunk when I saw Gallas's name on the sheet and as always he looked out of sorts and tactically unaware of what he or his team mates were doing. Also this showed Dawson's weaknesses again as he needs a better partner to raise his game.
Lloris I feel for as he didn't deserve to come away without a clean sheet and if it wasn't for Lennon not looking up before clearing the ball Lloris would have got the clean sheet he deserved. I am a lot more comfortable with him now in between the sticks.
All of the bad points aside the first half saw what the team is really capable of. If we can sustain long periods of possession then we will break the opposition down and our pace on the wings and creativity in the middle would cause the best of teams too much hassle.
However the second half was a complete shambles. Lennon and Bale pretty much disappeared (as if they thought their job was done) and Dembele struggled to keep pulling the team forward without any help or commitment. Defoe may as well not have been on the pitch for the entire game and I was very disappointed not to see him create more chances for himself. Liverpool began the second half well, but as always it was as if the team thought they had done the job. Liverpool would have begun to faulter if it was not for Lennon, who paniced instead of showing his composure from the first half and looked up before clearing the ball into Bale's face! This was almost the catalyst to change the game around completely.
Looking at the match as a whole Liverpool deserved a goal from their second half performance, but I feel that we should have scored more in the first half and were completely dominate.
We are getting better as time progresses and I don't like to moan after a win, but we must learn to properly kill off a game before sitting back and patting ourselves on the back (job well done).
All those that have been critising AVB I hope that you can see that his tactics are beginning to work and it is the players sitting back now that is causing the issues. Its a matter of time before AVB has this out of their system and once he does we will see regular performances like the West Ham game and the first half of the Liverpool game.
Overall its a big COYS for the staff and players for a victory against Liverpool and 2 wins now on the trott.
Come on you Spurs!!!!
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