Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester United

Carl

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Wouldn't be that surprised if this got called off.
Yeh we're in for a very snowy weekend apparently. I've heard we're getting about 15 inches (steady!) in the north.
 

ben_foster

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on last nights showing.......irespective of the penalty.....i dont understand how anybody can justify the selection of rooney.

im getting abit sick of this "he has to play 90 minutes everyweek to maintain fitness" ....well for me his form has to justify his selection and this season i would say out of the for strikers we have then rooney has performed the worst
 

Kraftwerker

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We can't stop here. This is bat country.
After how they tore us apart at OT I would take a draw right now.
They tore us apart early in the game, however the 2nd half fight-back was amongst the best performances we've had this season.

In the end we were very unlucky to not to come away with at least a draw.

The best form of defence is attack. Spurs offered no threat to us when we kept them pinned in their half.
 

Carl

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on last nights showing.......irespective of the penalty.....i dont understand how anybody can justify the selection of rooney.

im getting abit sick of this "he has to play 90 minutes everyweek to maintain fitness" ....well for me his form has to justify his selection and this season i would say out of the for strikers we have then rooney has performed the worst
Are you talking about over the course of the season?

If so then you're wrong. Very wrong.
 

AngeloHenriquez

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on last nights showing.......irrespective* of the penalty.....i dont understand how anybody can justify the selection of rooney.
That is mental, because he is our best player? You don't drop everybody when form disappears, and he is coming back from injury, the more minutes the better.

im getting abit sick of this "he has to play 90 minutes everyweek to maintain fitness" ....well for me his form has to justify his selection and this season i would say out of the for strikers we have then rooney has performed the worst
It's not to 'maintain fitness' it's because Rooney is a world class player and you don't drop them players, you need to play them through it as they are indispensible.
 

ben_foster

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That is mental, because he is our best player? You don't drop everybody when form disappears, and he is coming back from injury, the more minutes the better.



It's not to 'maintain fitness' it's because Rooney is a world class player and you don't drop them players, you need to play them through it as they are indispensible.
based on what????? his last 2-3 performances prior to his injury where shocking. in particular the perfomance against west brom which was absolutley shocking.

since the injury.....van perise has continued to score goals for fun (blowing the theory that rooney was important to him doing so) hernandez has scored goals, welbeck has impressed when given the chance and the team has looked like its going through the gears.

introducing an out of form, short of fitness player into the team for an important away game at a top 4 side at the expense of an in form sharp as a tac player would be the wrong thing to do in my opinion. of course if it was ronaldo, messi or RVP they'd go straight back in but rooney's performance and physical fitness is a long way short of that level.
 

Anduin

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on last nights showing.......irespective of the penalty.....i dont understand how anybody can justify the selection of rooney.

im getting abit sick of this "he has to play 90 minutes everyweek to maintain fitness" ....well for me his form has to justify his selection and this season i would say out of the for strikers we have then rooney has performed the worst
9 Goals and 11 Assists in 20 appearances. Yeah, he's been fecking shit this season :wenger:
 

FlawlessThaw

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Worst performing striker... :wenger:
I know you are joking but that would be Welbeck. I presume if Rooney was still injured Welbeck might have started against Spurs for a flexible option. Given Rooney is significantly better than Welbeck at the moment, it makes sense to start with him.
 

finneh

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We could just as easily go with:

Valencia Cleverley Carrick Nani
_______Kagawa
________RVP
 

Tomuś

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based on what????? his last 2-3 performances prior to his injury where shocking. in particular the perfomance against west brom which was absolutley shocking.
Ronaldo's Madrid's best player and would still be one even if he went on a slump. Right now, RvP is technically our best player but Rooney's as important as any other player. Those who discredit Rooney's importance to the team have memory of a goldfish. Surely we should have learned that by now?

And I hope you do realize he didn't feature against West Brom.
 

AngeloHenriquez

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based on what????? his last 2-3 performances prior to his injury where shocking. in particular the perfomance against west brom which was absolutley shocking.

since the injury.....van perise has continued to score goals for fun (blowing the theory that rooney was important to him doing so) hernandez has scored goals, welbeck has impressed when given the chance and the team has looked like its going through the gears.

introducing an out of form, short of fitness player into the team for an important away game at a top 4 side at the expense of an in form sharp as a tac player would be the wrong thing to do in my opinion. of course if it was ronaldo, messi or RVP they'd go straight back in but rooney's performance and physical fitness is a long way short of that level.
Because of ability. Thats why and because Rooney plays attack and mid in one game, appreciated his form hasn't been there but it never bloody is and he is usually one of the better on the pitch
 

sammsky1

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doubt nani will start given last night was his first game back in a long time.

Id start with Kagawa on the left and Welbeck or Young on the right and then bring nani on after an hour.

I'd like us to play Rio, Vidic, Carrick, Cleverley as the engine room all the top tier games we have for the next 6 weeks, incl Madrid.

Would be great if that 4-some could build some momentum, as the 'central defence-central midfield' relationship has been the only real weakness we have had so far this year.

Solve that and we could be in for the jackpot.
 

AttackingFlair

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on last nights showing.......irespective of the penalty.....i dont understand how anybody can justify the selection of rooney.

im getting abit sick of this "he has to play 90 minutes everyweek to maintain fitness" ....well for me his form has to justify his selection and this season i would say out of the for strikers we have then rooney has performed the worst
He had a poor performance in a Cl game before scoring twice against City
 

Ruud10

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I'm always worried. Crap, we lost to Norwich, didn't we?

But I don't see Spurs doing the double on us, especially now that our troops our back on the pitch. An interesting coincidence, though, that Roo is returning from injury again against Spurs.

I like our chances in this one. Spurs are a solid squad, but we've gotten our act together on the back line and RvP is a purring panther. The safe bet, though not a lock, is a win for United.

1-3.
 

Scrumpet

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I don't think I'd be happy with a point even though I know I probably should be.

Things will be thrown if I see AVB's constipation celebration on the touchline.
 

sammsky1

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Subs: Lindegaard, Jones, Smalling, Anderson, Giggs, Hernandez, Welbeck

No room for Vidic, Scholes, Buttner, Fletcher, Young or Valencia on that bench :drool:
whatever squad SAF chooses, wonderful we have a strength in depth back finally.

Hope it lasts a few weeks!
 

Orton

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We can beat them. Chelsea destroyed them at the lane a few months ago. We can do the same on sunday.
 

Unam333

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Damn, damn, damn! This game's on Sunday 4pm. I have to work that day. :(
 

Eyepopper

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on last nights showing.......irespective of the penalty.....i dont understand how anybody can justify the selection of rooney.

Sorry, but didn't Rooney score the only goal of the game last night?
 

Ruud10

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Sorry, but didn't Rooney score the only goal of the game last night?
The record shows Rooney did score the lone goal.

Based on what we knew during yesterday's game, it made perfect sense for Roo to take the pk. But based on what we know now, it may no longer make perfect sense.
 

Eyepopper

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What did we know yesterday 'that he doesn't have the best record from the spot'?

And what do we know now - 'his record from the spot is slightly worse than it was before'?

You can't judge a player based on missing a fecking penalty, shit happens. His play in the first half was good I thought, looked to tire a bit after the hour mark.
 

Castia

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Sunday is going to be one crazy fukking day on the couch!

Spurs/United
Chelsea/Arsenal
49ers/Falcons
Ravens/Patriots
If the football is even on! weather in England is supposed to be terrible this weekend, you know what London is like 2 inches of snow and it comes to a fecking stand still.
 

Unam333

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If the football is even on! weather in England is supposed to be terrible this weekend, you know what London is like 2 inches of snow and it comes to a fecking stand still.
Right! Well, hopefully the game will be postponed (yeah, I'm a selfish bastard).
 

Brightonian

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If the football is even on! weather in England is supposed to be terrible this weekend, you know what London is like 2 inches of snow and it comes to a fecking stand still.
Ugh, I'll be so pissed off if it's postponed. You just know we'll end up playing it two days before a CL tie, in the middle of an injury crisis, with Spurs suddenly looking like world-beaters.

To those claiming that 'we'll do well to win' or that 'a draw would be fine' etc, and defending it by reminding us that Spurs are on for fourth place: we're looking good for first place, at the moment. Spurs are playing well, but we're still comfortably the better team and should be looking for a strong win there.
 

Sandikan

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We certainly owe Tottenham one, and we definitely won't get the tactics wrong this time.

We'll have Cleverley in that centre mid area this time round, and Rooney will also drop into there.

Certainly a tough game though, but if we can still be 7 points ahead of City after this one we'll really be in for good times.
 

Ramshock

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I know it's just a figure of speech, but I just don't get this at all. The difference between a draw & a loss is 1 point, so you'd rather take 1 point than risk losing or the opportunity to get 3?

Are you saying we aren't good enough to beat them then so you'd rather a point than nothing?

We're top of the league & 15 points ahead of Spurs, we're much better than them ffs!

Edit: Brightonian got there before me...
Rather a point than nothing obviously. Looking at how both teams set up tactically I just think the way we play suits their counter attacking game. If Bale and Dembele have stormers they will be hard to deal with. However if Fergie changes things around a bit and slows them down and we are solid at the back then I fancy us to win. If we play the way we did previously without a Vida at the back they could be dangerous again.
 

Beachryan

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Anyone know who is confirmed missing for Spurs? I know Sandro is out, and Adebayor is at the CAN - is that it?

Worried bout Bale and Lennon...
 

McGrathsipan

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We have beaten city Liverpool and Chelsea away.
We are capable of beating spurs.

They will raise their game obviously but we must cope with that.
We will have a somewhat fresh team and will take a massive step towards the title if we can get this one out of the way with 3 points.
Other than these and arsenal we have no away matches against top teams left.
 

Ruud10

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I know it's just a figure of speech, but I just don't get this at all. The difference between a draw & a loss is 1 point, so you'd rather take 1 point than risk losing or the opportunity to get 3?

Are you saying we aren't good enough to beat them then so you'd rather a point than nothing?

We're top of the league & 15 points ahead of Spurs, we're much better than them ffs!

Edit: Brightonian got there before me...
Brightonian and Colin are spot on. There's no reason to believe we'd be fortunate or somehow lucky to take three points from WHL. Yes, Spurs beat us earlier in the season but in truth we gave them at least as good as they gave us in the second half, when Fergie decided to bring on the maestro. And, more importantly, we've tightened things up on the back line since then.

Spurs are capable of beating us, no question about, but we have the strongest XI in the league and we should not be shocked at all if we came out of there with a 0-3 win. I'll stick with my 1-3 prediction, but I can see three nil or even four nil win.

While I do respect where they are in the league right now, there's nothing about Spurs that scares me. Go for the win and leave the pussy "I'll take the draw" mentality back home.
 

Nick 0208 Ldn

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They tore us apart early in the game, however the 2nd half fight-back was amongst the best performances we've had this season.

In the end we were very unlucky to not to come away with at least a draw.

The best form of defence is attack. Spurs offered no threat to us when we kept them pinned in their half.
You seem i interpreted that half in a quite different way. Yes our level of performance improved [how could it not] but also Spurs changed their approach.

As we do with a lead they attempted to consolidate what they had, and also i suspect there was a psychological element involved created through all the past results.

Ultimately we lost, IMO both teams deserved the result they got.

Would it be so beyond Spurs to use their midfield to try and intimidate our CMs once more? Carrick still certainly in fine form but is as susceptible as ever if the opposition go out fo their way to make thigns uncomfortable for him.

Hopefully the game will be a much more even contest and we'[ll have prepared properly for the threat posted, however i'm not expecting a stroll in the park.

Spurs and Everton have been a particular problem for us for a reason, not mere coincidence.