FIVE things we learnt against Spurs

Yesterday, Tottenham Hotspur hosted the Premier League fixture against rival London club West Ham United, which finished 3-1 in favour of the home side. But what 5 things did we learn against them?

 

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1. The first and most noticeable outcome from this game that would have caught the eye of nearly every Hammers fan, was the fact Andy Carroll finally proved that he is capable of hitting the back of the net; finally ending his goal-duck. 

 

Not only does this now put a smile on the face of the doubters, but it will give Andy some well-needed confidence in front of goal and this will without question give opposition managers something to think about, now that he is off the mark.

 

I personally in some respects am more happy about Andy finally scoring than getting the three points, as we have had to rely on goals from the midfield now for far too long and it could have started to cost us in the long run.

 

This is one of those games the lads are going to have to brush aside and start to focus on the Manchester United fixture in the midweek.

 

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2. Secondly, is it just me or does Jermain Defoe always seem to come back and haunt us like he wants to rub something in our faces? I love his ability and on his day he is possibly the most lethal striker in the Premier League. However, I can’t stand his attitude against our club and it chills me to the core when he scores against us.

 

When players such as Defoe are matched against our backline a new approach should be taken; they need to learn to adapt to their surroundings. In my opinion it always seem like we have a fixed way of defending, at times it pays off, but when you have players like Defoe and Gareth Bale constantly moving you need to change the game plan to stay on top and I just didn’t get that from today’s game.

 

I think its fair to say that when it comes to dealing with players that have the ability to cause problems solemnly with their movement off the ball, our defence struggles and this is something Defoe proved today.

 

3. The third lesson I felt we learned today, is that despite Jussi Jaskelainen’s amazing form of late, after so many hammer blows to his goal, even he will cave in eventually if the rest of the squad isn’t pulling their weight around.

 

Every team should rightly so have a goalkeeper capable of winning a game single handedly and with Jussi at the helm I feel we have that, but I can’t help but feel if we had our own Nemanja Vidic or Carlos Puyol, his game would benefit so much more. I mean don’t get me wrong, James Collins, Winston Reid and James Tomkins have come on leaps and bounds this season for us, but they still are each prone to concentration slip-ups and that’s frustrating for a goalkeeper to have to worry about on top off his normal duties.

 

At the moment there is too much pressure on Jussi and this is something Big Sam will need to change and I can’t help but feel a more attacking approach will give him that and change the enfaces by putting the pressure on the opposition instead for a change.

 

4. Something that caught my eye today was the fact we didn’t concede a goal in the first 44 minutes (which for us is a change) as we always seem to have a tendency to concede early on and be left clawing our way back into the fixture as the game progresses and it was nice to witness a change; even if it was for only one half, it’s still an improvement.

 

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5. I am one of our biggest admirers when it comes to our fans and how we can pretty much out-sing every club in the Premier League (with a couple of exceptions) and really help get behind our club. However, as great as our fans are we always seem to get ourselves in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

 

Having to hear chants of relating to the gas chambers back in WWII is a little sickening, as this is something that many people connect to; a part of history that leaves wounds deeper than the eye can see, and for us to bring it all back and abuse the event is quite shameful.

 

The fans have a lot of thinking to do and rather than directing the singing as an insult to the away fans, why not encourage our own club with words of support? I wouldn’t be shocked to hear Big Sam come out and apologise on behalf of the fans soon.

 

Well there you have it, five things I feel we have learned from yesterday’s fixture against Spurs.

Follow me on Twitter @JimboWHUFC77

COYI!