keeping Gareth Bale quiet

[Vhero]

If Johnson is on form, hopefully bale with be too busy having to try and defend to think about attacking!

That's the best thing about Bale he's like our Gaz he's shit at defending but great going forward. So if we keep bombing down his side he won't get a chance to do much.

Although they have been playing assou-okotta at lb and bale on the wing, but they are both as shit as each other defending and I think Johnson should be able to give them some scares!

I know but Bale constantly pulls back to help defend so if we keep that side busy he will in theory stay down that side more often than not. A bit like Bellamy does with Bridge he is constantly pulling back to help Bridge. It's why teams struggle to break them down the wingers pull back to defend.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

The media frenzie around Gareth Bale has astounded me. He has a few good games and all of sudden he is world class. God he couldn't get in the team 3 months back. As already covered in this thread I'm more concerned with Lennon.

Bale does laspe at times with his defensive dutys so i say play the weird
looking fucker.

I was going to post pretty much the same. Spot on.

Gareth Bale is ridiculously overrated. Sure he is decent player going forward and young and British. But truth is, he isn't much of a defender. He has improved defemsive side of his game but still lacks in positioning and wonders all the time front leaving his position uncovered.

I actually hope that Mancini has picked this up and will play quick balls behind Bale to Johnson and strikers to run to.

Johnson vs bale...... I'd have Johnson any day of the week.

keeping spurs quiet,easy attack is the best form of defence

I disagree. Spurs are absolutely deadly in quick counter with the pacy players they have got. Leave space behind defence going gung ho and Defoe and Lennon will eat us alive. If we take sensible approach and defend well, we WILL score goals against Tottenham. No question about it.

[Slim]

I get the feeling that Ekotto will be at leftback and Bale will be on the left wing with Modric drifting inside.

Bale, Modric, Lennon and Defoe are blisteringly quick and our defence will need to be perfect to stop them from getting in behind.

[Vhero]

I disagree. Spurs are absolutely deadly in quick counter with the pacy players they have got. Leave space behind defence going gung ho and Defoe and Lennon will eat us alive. If we take sensible approach and defend well, we WILL score goals against Tottenham. No question about it.

I watched the Gooners play them the other week and they couldn't break them down all game until they made the sub second half and brought Van Persie on showing how strong they were in defence against that kind of method. We haven't exactly been the best all season at breaking teams down and Spurs will be no exception. Mancini will no doubt have something up his sleeves for this one. See the main problem we have is we cannot afford a draw Spurs can.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Bale's a great player, you chumps. I can't believe he's not being played on the wing rather than LB though.

I'd like to see Ned @ RB tonight to stop him.

[Fish111]

Fuck Bale & Lennon. Spurs need to worry about how they are going to stop Bellamy, Tevez & Johnson.

[Ted Hughes]

The media frenzie around Gareth Bale has astounded me. He has a few good games and all of sudden he is world class. God he couldn't get in the team 3 months back. As already covered in this thread I'm more concerned with Lennon.

Bale does laspe at times with his defensive dutys so i say play the weird
looking fucker.

I was going to post pretty much the same. Spot on.

Gareth Bale is ridiculously overrated. Sure he is decent player going forward and young and British. But truth is, he isn't much of a defender. He has improved defemsive side of his game but still lacks in positioning and wonders all the time front leaving his position uncovered.

I actually hope that Mancini has picked this up and will play quick balls behind Bale to Johnson and strikers to run to.

Johnson vs bale...... I'd have Johnson any day of the week.

keeping spurs quiet,easy attack is the best form of defence

I disagree. Spurs are absolutely deadly in quick counter with the pacy players they have got. Leave space behind defence going gung ho and Defoe and Lennon will eat us alive. If we take sensible approach and defend well, we WILL score goals against Tottenham. No question about it.

Attacking doesn't have to be Gung ho initially it just has to be enough to push their players back. If we fail to score, it has to become more & more gung ho as the game goes on or we're out of the chumps league. We tried to play tight games against Everton, rags, Liverpool & Arsenal but failed to score against any of them. Those tactics also kill off the crowd & hand the initiative to the opposition. The '12th man' will no longer be effective.

Spurs have players like Crouch who can out jump our defenders at set pieces & nick a goal at any time without coming out of their own half & players who can score from free kicks at any time. Because of our wasted opportunity v Arsenal, we have to win tonight & unless we're very lucky, we'll have to take risks to do it. Bale & Lennon could tear us apart of course, they could put 4 past us. They could have torn the rags apart but the rags went for them anyway & beat them. The rags did what champions do, attacked them & beat them. If we lose, it should be because we went down like champions, not like impostors.

[Esky]

keeping spurs quiet,easy attack is the best form of defence

I disagree. Spurs are absolutely deadly in quick counter with the pacy players they have got. Leave space behind defence going gung ho and Defoe and Lennon will eat us alive. If we take sensible approach and defend well, we WILL score goals against Tottenham. No question about it.

Exactly. Whoever plays fullback for us (lets assume Zabs and Bridge) cannot be asked to offer anything in the attacking sense - our back four *must* play deep and they must play flat. Defending should be their one and only priority.

-----------Gomes/Alnwick--------------
Kaboul--Dawson--King--Assou Ekotto
Lennon---Modric---Huddlestone--Bale
-------Pavlyuchenko--Defoe--------

I don't think we need to change much from the side that took apart Villa - fitness or injuries should be the only things that dictate changes. Harry will go for the above (Palacios and Eidur being the obvious changes) so we will have to be mindful of their width.

[Ted Hughes]

keeping spurs quiet,easy attack is the best form of defence

I disagree. Spurs are absolutely deadly in quick counter with the pacy players they have got. Leave space behind defence going gung ho and Defoe and Lennon will eat us alive. If we take sensible approach and defend well, we WILL score goals against Tottenham. No question about it.

Exactly. Whoever plays fullback for us (lets assume Zabs and Bridge) cannot be asked to offer anything in the attacking sense - our back four *must* play deep and they must play flat. Defending should be their one and only priority.

-----------Gomes/Alnwick--------------
Kaboul--Dawson--King--Assou Ekotto
Lennon---Modric---Huddlestone--Bale
-------Pavlyuchenko--Defoe--------

I don't think we need to change much from the side that took apart Villa - fitness or injuries should be the only things that dictate changes. Harry will go for the above (Palacios and Eidur being the obvious changes) so we will have to be mindful of their width.

Play deep, spurs will lump the ball at Crouch's head, he'll get a touch & DeFoe or similar will score & there'll be absolutely no need for the rest of their team to come past the hallf way line or take any risks to do it. Madness.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

keeping spurs quiet,easy attack is the best form of defence

I disagree. Spurs are absolutely deadly in quick counter with the pacy players they have got. Leave space behind defence going gung ho and Defoe and Lennon will eat us alive. If we take sensible approach and defend well, we WILL score goals against Tottenham. No question about it.

Exactly. Whoever plays fullback for us (lets assume Zabs and Bridge) cannot be asked to offer anything in the attacking sense - our back four *must* play deep and they must play flat. Defending should be their one and only priority.

-----------Gomes/Alnwick--------------
Kaboul--Dawson--King--Assou Ekotto
Lennon---Modric---Huddlestone--Bale
-------Pavlyuchenko--Defoe--------

I don't think we need to change much from the side that took apart Villa - fitness or injuries should be the only things that dictate changes. Harry will go for the above (Palacios and Eidur being the obvious changes) so we will have to be mindful of their width.

Play deep, spurs will lump the ball at Crouch's head, he'll get a touch & DeFoe or similar will score & there'll be absolutely no need for the rest of their team to come past the hallf way line or take any risks to do it. Madness.

I wouldn't be least bit worried about that scenario. Defoe isn't fox in the box type but pure speed merchant. Give him no space to run behind defenders and he'll do fuck all. Lennon isn't great dribbler or good at shooting outside box so we'd nullify his threat as well. Modric is good on tight spaces and has decent shot but he'll also have De Jong covering him all game.

On the other hand, Spurs defence isn't the greatest and we will have chance no matter how we play. ON THIS OCCASION I'd fully approve cautious tactics and IF the game is still 0-0 after 75-80 minutes (which I don't think for a moment) start to be more adventurous.

There's no better way to fuck up this game than to concede first goal. They know we'll need two after that and will get 9 men behind ball and get their super fast attacking players on counter. THAT is the scenario we need to desperately avoid. Nothing would be worse than to be 0-1 down after first half.

[Ted Hughes]

keeping spurs quiet,easy attack is the best form of defence

I disagree. Spurs are absolutely deadly in quick counter with the pacy players they have got. Leave space behind defence going gung ho and Defoe and Lennon will eat us alive. If we take sensible approach and defend well, we WILL score goals against Tottenham. No question about it.

Exactly. Whoever plays fullback for us (lets assume Zabs and Bridge) cannot be asked to offer anything in the attacking sense - our back four *must* play deep and they must play flat. Defending should be their one and only priority.

-----------Gomes/Alnwick--------------
Kaboul--Dawson--King--Assou Ekotto
Lennon---Modric---Huddlestone--Bale
-------Pavlyuchenko--Defoe--------

I don't think we need to change much from the side that took apart Villa - fitness or injuries should be the only things that dictate changes. Harry will go for the above (Palacios and Eidur being the obvious changes) so we will have to be mindful of their width.

Play deep, spurs will lump the ball at Crouch's head, he'll get a touch & DeFoe or similar will score & there'll be absolutely no need for the rest of their team to come past the hallf way line or take any risks to do it. Madness.

I wouldn't be least bit worried about that scenario. Defoe isn't fox in the box type but pure speed merchant. Give him no space to run behind defenders and he'll do fuck all. Lennon isn't great dribbler or good at shooting outside box so we'd nullify his threat as well. Modric is good on tight spaces and has decent shot but he'll also have De Jong covering him all game.

On the other hand, Spurs defence isn't the greatest and we will have chance no matter how we play. ON THIS OCCASION I'd fully approve cautious tactics and IF the game is still 0-0 after 75-80 minutes (which I don't think for a moment) start to be more adventurous.

There's no better way to fuck up this game than to concede first goal. They know we'll need two after that and will get 9 men behind ball and get their super fast attacking players on counter. THAT is the scenario we need to desperately avoid. Nothing would be worse than to be 0-1 down after first half.

If you're in the ground when City play that way, the atmosphere dies after 10 minutes. It will be like a Spurs home game if we do that & the only way we'll win is if they miss their inevitable opportunities to score. If we lose, we lose, we'll have another go next year. It's not right for us to be approaching games like this negatively. No one is advocating being stupid but we have to seize the initiative tonight & attack. If we don't, we're leaving it to luck & personally I'll be embarrassed if we don't attack them & we'll rightly get slated over here in the media for having no bottle. With our players, at home, it's Spurs who should be worried & if they win, they should have to earn it & be better than us. If that's the case then they deserve it but at least we'll show what we're made of & what's to come next season.

There's more to being a top club than just results. If we can't have the bottle to go for a win on a night like tonight then we don't deserve to be in the Chump's league. Spurs would be going for us if it was the other way around that's for sure. So would Villa or Everton. The only person who'd think twice is Rafa. Tonight's about more than just the result, it's about showing the world we mean business, not that we're scared to lose.

[Crossie]

Does Robbie Keane still play for them or has he gone to Celtic, i can never remember. He is due to bite us in the ass again.

[Ted Hughes]

Does Robbie Keane still play for them or has he gone to Celtic, i can never remember. He is due to bite us in the ass again.

He's at Celtic.